Win a Free Book!

Yesterday we brought you an excerpt from Gini Graham Scott's brand-new book: The Very Next New Thing: Commentaries on the Latest Developments That Will Be Changing Your Life. The excerpt was from "Chapter 8: The Plane Truth" and commented on living "green" and the popularity of sustainable building--which reached new heights in 2010. 

Other topics in this fascinating collection include: Advances in Medicine; Animal Behavior; Animal Hybrids; Arts, The; Breakthroughs in Space; Changes in the Business Environment; Changing Lifestyles; Entertainment; Forensics; Genome Sequencing; Healthcare Technology; Human Behavior; Love, Marriage, and Family; New Developments in High-Tech; New Products and Services; Popular Culture; and Scientific Breakthroughs.

CONTEST: We want to hear from you! What was the most important, interesting, or significant event or product of 2010? It could be anything from the iPad to President Obama's visit to Indonesia to the WikiLeaks controversy. Tell us what you think and, most important, WHY it's significant, and you will be entered to win a free copy of Scott's The Very Next New Thing and one copy of a book of your choice from the ABC-CLIO website. Email your submission to abcclioblog@gmail.com by Midnight, January 2. Good luck and Happy New Year!

Rules: Submissions must be in by 12:00 a.m. January 2, 2011. The book of your choosing must be a single volume title. The winner will be notified the week of January 3rd.

Winner Announced in ABC-CLIO Dream Contest!

And the winner is...Sarah F. from Goodyear, Arizona! 

Sarah will receive a book of her choosing from the ABC-CLIO collection, as well as a complimentary copy of The New Science of Dreaming (Praeger, 2007) by Deirdre Barrett and Patrick McNamara.

Thank you to all those who participated in our "Wake Up and Tell Us Your Dream!" contest. Please check back soon for more giveaway opportunities.

Wake Up and Tell Us Your Dream and Win Free Books!

The deadline to enter the "Wake Up and Tell Us Your Dream!" contest is today! Have your answers in by midnight to be eligible to win a copy of The New Science of Dreaming AND any single-volume book from the collections of ABC-CLIO.

Take me to the contest!

Read the full blog entry and rules here.

Free Books! Enter to Win!

The deadline for entering ABC-CLIO's "Wake Up and Tell Us Your Dream!" contest is fast approaching. You have until Friday at midnight to enter for a chance to win a free copy of The New Science of Dreaming AND any single-volume book of your choice from the ABC-CLIO collection.

Take me to the contest!

CONTEST: Share Your Dreams and Win Free Books!

Wake Up and Tell Us Your Dream!

People all over the country are packing into movie theaters to see Inception, the Sci-Fi blockbuster about a man who extracts secrets from the subconscious of people while asleep in the dream state. But the movie is also sparking a flurry of media attention around the topic of dreams and what we know (and don't know) about them, and two real experts in current dream science are joining the conversation. Professors Deirdre Barrett and Patrick McNamara are the editors of The New Science of Dreaming (2007), a 3-volume set from Praeger and the most authoritative source that exists regarding the biology and psychology of dreaming. And now ABC-CLIO is inviting all of our faithful readers and first-time blog visitors to get involved in the discussion, have some fun, and generate even more thought on the topic of dreams, by taking part in this contest.

Please share with us your most remarkable dream--one that brought you to an "inception," or the beginning of a new personal path or idea. Perhaps it was a dream that made you recognize a problem or set you on the road to a solution. Maybe it was a dream that initiated a later action that changed your life, for better or worse. Or possibly it was a dream that simply moved you to an important insight that nothing in your waking state had--or could have--ever revealed so effectively. Tell us about your dream and what kind of inception it launched for you! Psychologists Barrett and McNamara will choose one winner to receive a free copy of The New Science of Dreaming set AND one single-volume book of your choosing from the collections of ABC-CLIO.

Click here for the link to the contest.

Click here to browse all ABC-CLIO titles.

Rules: All entries must be submitted by Midnight on Friday, July 30. Please submit only one entry per valid email address. One winner will receive a free copy of The New Science of Dreaming and one single-volume title of your choosing from any of ABC-CLIO's imprints (ABC-CLIO, Greenwood, Praeger, Libraries Unlimited, and Linworth). The contest is open to all librarians, teachers, high school and college students, and general readers.

Further Reading on Inception and Dreams

Wall Street Journal article w/Deirdre Barrett: "How to Tame Your Nightmares"
New York Times article w/Patrick McNamara: "Take a Look Inside My Dream"
New York Times article w/Deirdre Barrett: "Winding Through 'Big Dreams' Are the Threads of Our Lives"
Inception review for the International Association for the Study of Dreams by Deirdre Barrett
CNN interview w/Deirdre Barrett: "Can Your Dreams Be Manipulated?"
ABC News article w/Deirdre Barrett: "Inside 'Inception'"
USA Today article w/Deirdre Barrett: "With 'Inception,' Christopher Nolan's Head Games Continue"

Author Guest Post: James Rourke on Comics in the Classroom

James Rourke, history teacher and author of The Comic Book Curriculum, shares the importance of using comic books in the classroom and explains his motivation for writing his book.

Welcome readers! I suppose this book is a merger of two enthusiasms; my love for comic books that I developed in my childhood and the love for teaching and learning I developed as an adult. As someone who owes his love for reading to comics it made perfect sense that, in the never-ending quest to motivate my students to become engaged readers, I reached out to comics to enhance my classroom.

Initially, I used the work of Matt Morris (co-editor of Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way, Open Court, 2005) – who uses Batman to illustrate Aristotle’s levels of friendship – but I quickly found myself making my own comic references consistently, and effectively, in class. The recent popularity of superhero movies made the references even more effective and powerful. Of course, the problem with such references is that not everyone has watched those movies. It always helps a teacher to create a shared experience in class that everyone can draw from – whether it is through showing a movie or having a shared reading. Comics, therefore, became an unexpected but welcome tool to bring certain curriculum points to life.

A great example of an effective comic book reference occurred just this year. While teaching a unit on Taoism some of my students struggled with the concept of wu-wei. Lao-Tzu, the founder of Taoism, emphasized that when someone embraces wu-wei everything gets done. The students struggled with this thought. If you do nothing, how can anything, let alone everything, get done? Thankfully, the superhero Wolverine came to the rescue.

I shared with my students an episode in Wolverine’s career when he was training a younger hero, Kitty Pryde. Kitty was attempting to free herself from the psychic manipulations of a super villain. Wolverine felt a strong body would help strengthen her spirit so the two went on an extended jog. While running through the snow, Kitty twisted her ankle and fell. She asked Wolverine for help and he refused, stating she had the strength to rise on her own. When she claimed she couldn’t, he offered the cold consolation that freezing to death in the wilderness would solve her problem and jogged off. Kitty regained her feet and finished the jog home. By Wolverine taking no action, everything was completed.

The students, thanks to Wolverine, realized that there is a level of discernment in wu-wei. They found meaning in the idea that we often take action for others when they don’t need us to, or we sometimes request others to help us when we can actually do for ourselves. This simple episode only reinforced for me the value comics can bring to classroom discussions. The Comic Book Curriculum is teeming with such practical applications for anyone seeking to find just a little more enthusiasm in any pages that they read.

-- James Rourke, author of  The Comic Book Curriculum: Using Comics to Enhance Learning and Life (Libraries Unlimited, 5/2010) 


JAMES ROURKE teaches history at the Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut. He earned his M.A.T. from Sacred Heart University and holds an Ed.D from Johnson and Wales University. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Shannon, and their four children, Juliana, Logan, Alice-Ann, and Ray. Also in the house are two cats, two dogs, two guinea pigs, and a degu. You can learn more about James and his work at JamesRourke.com.






CONTEST! Leave a comment and tell us how you use comics in your classroom. One winner will receive a free copy of The Comic Book Curriculum. Be sure to include an email address so we can contact the winner!