Library Notes 23 October 2019
Published on October 23, 2019
Top 10 books
New Non Fiction
Have Dog will Travel by Stephen Kuustito
Normandy & D-Day Beaches Road Trips by Lonely Planet
Let It Go: My Extraordinary Story by Dame Stephanie Shirley, CH
Elsewhere by Rosita Boland
Don’t Stop Believin’ by Olivia Newton John
Who’s Minding the Farm In this Climate Emergency by Patrice Newell
Clean Enough by Katzie Guy-Hamilton
Clean Desserts by Karielyn Tillman
Living with Air Plants by Yoshiharu Kashima
The Art of Gouache by Jeremy Ford
Pam Coleman- Community Engagement Librarian
At least once a week we hear the phrase “What did we do in the days before google?”
Thinking back to the mid-90s, can you remember finding your own way around an unfamiliar town? I remember learning new hobbies from books instead of you tube videos. Where could you find answers to questions like: Is it ok to turn my cat vegan?
According to their statistics, Google receives 63,000 searches per second on any given day. It is said that the average person performs three to four searches a day, but a glance through my browser history shows I regularly exceed 20. Many of these are purposeful; many more are not… what plane movie was Denzel Washington in; the local recycling timetable; definition of the word liminal; Scottish granny reading dinky donkey; can you actually die of a broken heart; what is 19 inches in cm; difference between a tigon and a liger. We must all be friends now because it’s a rather personal and startling admission of yourself. It’s rather like revealing your favourite music playlist on a first date.
I have decided to go on a google diet. My reasons have little to do with Google’s monopoly on searching, or its free and easy way with my data. I am worried it is doing something to my brain. Actually, I am worried that Google is my brain. “Is Google making us stupid?” So like any good librarian, instead of googling the question, I read a book about it.
In his book “The Shallows; how the internet is changing the way that we think, read and remember” (available from our library catalogue) Nicholas Carr proposes that our highly plastic brains are being rewired by the demands of online existence: an increased knack for mental multitasking comes at the price of our ability to think deeply. Google, he says, is a huge part of this: “Google is, quite literally, in the business of distraction.”
The Shallows was published in 2010, and it is unlikely anything has improved since then. Carr maintains that the rise of the smartphone, along with social media, has magnified the problem considerably. “A decade ago, you could still make a distinction between ‘online’ and ‘offline. We spent a lot of time on the internet, but we didn’t live there. Now, we do. Today, essentially, people are always online.”
So like any good librarian I am switching to offline and reading another book –Plato’s “Phaedrus,” where I discover that Socrates laments the invention of books, which “create forgetfulness” in the soul. Instead of remembering for themselves, Socrates warned, new readers were blindly trusting in “external written characters.” The library was ruining the mind.
Oh dear! Deja vu!
What’s On
Exhibitions
An exhibition of sculptured paintings, photographs and wooden furniture by local artists Radha Sahar and Charles Bagnall. 3 October to 31 October
Anne Frank ‘Let me be myself ‘Exhibition: Friday 1 November to Monday 2 March 2020 Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom
This international exhibition tours New Zealand to challenge prejudice and racism. The diary of Anne Frank captures the real-life story of a young girl in hiding from the Nazis in an attic in Amsterdam, during World War II.
Heritage room:
The Heritage rooms at Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō are manned by volunteers 10am-12.30 pm Monday to Saturday.
Wednesday October 23:
Quiz Night: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō $5
Thursday October 24:
Raukawa Whanau Ora playgroup: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 9.30am-12.00pm
Lego Hour: Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom 3.30pm-4.30pm
Friday October 25:
Friday Concert: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 12pm
SeniorNet: Get help with your tablets, phones and laptops
-Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom 10am-12pm
-Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 2pm -4pm
Monday October 28:
Tai Chi Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō Main Space 10am
Tuesday October 29:
Raukawa Whanau Ora playgroup: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 9.30am-12.00pm
JP Service: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 11.30am-1.30pm
Wednesday October 30:
Social crochet and coffee club: Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō 10.30am
Quiz Night- 7pm Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-pō $5