Month: April 2014

Its Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens

It's Complicated Book Cover It's Complicated
Danah Boyd
COMPUTERS
January 13, 2015
296

If you have pre-teens or teens, this is a MUST READ for you. The author reviews the online social habits of American teens and analyzes the role technology and social media plays in their lives, examining common misconceptions about such topics as identity, privacy, danger, and bullying. Illuminating. Terrifying. But super helpful. Here is a quote:

Social media is not only a tool; it is a social lifeline that enables her to stay connected to people she cares about but cannot otherwise interact with in person.

Posted on by mikelally_isx036

An Army at Dawn: The War In North Africa, 1942-1943

An Army at Dawn Book Cover An Army at Dawn
Rick Atkinson
History
Macmillan
May 15, 2007
681

This is the first volume of the Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson. It is set in 1942 and 1943 in North Africa.  It follows the American and British armies as they fight the French in Morocco and Algiers, and then take on the Germans and Italians in Tunisia. Again, I love the format. Atkinson pulls from personal and government records/documents from privates to the Commanders. He really weaves it all together amazingly well. He really gets into the extraordinary but flawed commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel.

Posted on by mikelally_isx036