Books make good gifts, especially at the holidays. Here are 13 new titles, all published by °”TV faculty, alumni or staff during the past year (with two 2007 exceptions). Included are books that will appeal to beer lovers, bike enthusiasts and science fiction fans as well as soccer nuts, farmersâ market regulars and Wikipediacs. Three of the books, in addition to being written by authors with °”TV ties, also focus on the campus: One is a photographic tribute to the arboretum; another is a full-color catalog of works by Wayne Thiebaud and other renowned art department faculty; and the third is a novel set on campus in the â60s.
For beer lovers. Or wine lovers. Or beer-and-wine lovers: âGrape vs. Grain: A Historical, Technological, and Social Comparison of Wine and Beerâ by Charles Bamforth, chair of food science and technology and the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor in Malting and Brewing Sciences at °”TV. Says Alan Tardi, author of âRomancing the Vineâ: ââGrape vs. Grainâ offers a thorough, comparative look at mankind's two most beloved and culturally significant beverages (and) will surely change the mind of anyone who thinks of beer as wine's less-sophisticated 'poor relation.â (The bookâs) jovial approach to the subject is as clean and refreshing as a Blanche de Bruges on a hot summer day ... I'd love to sit down and share a pint with its author!â
For California history and Chinese American history buffs: âMarysvilleâs Chinatown,â co-authored by Brian Tom (â70, law). While enrolled in law school at °”TV, Tom led a coalition that established the Asian American Studies Program, the first student-founded academic program in the universityâs history and one of the first Asian American studies programs nationwide. Tom went on to practice law in San Francisco for more than 25 years and now directs the Chinese American Museum of Northern California, which he also founded. âMarysvilleâs Chinatown,â part of Arcadia Publishingâs âImages of Americaâ series, provides a wealth of information about one of the most important Chinatowns in America.
For poets and painters: âMyself Painting: Poemsâ by prizewinning poet, painter and novelist Clarence Major, a professor emeritus of English. Like a painter, Major evokes form and color to communicate images: "Desire, artichoke green ... leaves all radiant, / creating the thickness of blue shadows." He also âpaintsâ sounds. Major is a National Book Award Bronze Medal finalist, winner of the National Council on the Arts Award and the New York Cultural Foundation Prize. He is the author of numerous books of poetry as well as critically acclaimed fiction and nonfiction.
âThe Global Game: Writers on Soccer,â includes poetry and prose from Ted Hughes, Gay Talese, Eduardo Galeano, GĂŒnter Grass, Giovanna Pollarolo, Mario Vargas Llosa and Elvis Costello, among others. The volume is edited by Alon Raab, a lecturer in religious studies, together with freelance soccer writer John Turnbull and Thom Satterlee, an associate professor of English at Taylor University. Andrei Markovits, author of âOffside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism,â praises the bookâs âwonderfully rich essaysâ and âdeeply nuanced literature.â
âYOU SEE: The Early Years of the °”TV Studio Art Facultyâ will catch the eye of art lovers on your holiday gift list. The softbound volume is a full-color catalog of works in the campusâs permanent collection by Robert Arneson, Roy De Forest, Manuel Neri, Wayne Thiebaud and William T. Wiley, five of the most significant artists to live and work in Northern California. The catalog, published in 2007 and available only at the °”TV Bookstore, was created to accompany âYOU SEE,â an exhibit of the works held last summer at the Nelson Gallery on campus. The collection is now on a two-year tour of four other cities in California and Nevada.
Weight-conscious readers, slogging their way through holiday feasts and dreading the perennial News Yearâs diet resolution, may find welcome relief in âHealth at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight,â by Linda Bacon, a °”TV nutritionist and independent nutrition consultant. Bacon encourages readers to emphasize healthy living rather than dieting or exercise programs, and to pay more attention to internal body cues that signal hunger and fullness than to calorie-counting. Her research has shown that obese women who follow this strategy make significant improvements in both metabolic and psychological health.
Arboretum fans will recognize some of their favorite places in âA Walk through Nature at the Universityâs Arboretum in Davis, California.â Photographed and written by Carol Chandler, an administrative assistant at °”TVâ Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, the 52-page, full-color tribute to the 100-acre refuge was published in 2007.
âCalifornia's New Green Revolution: Pioneers in Sustainable Agriculture,â by cooperative extension specialist Desmond Jolly, profiles a cross-section of farmers and marketers who use and seek out innovative methods to protect natural resources while building community links with consumers through farmers markets and community-supported agriculture. Jolly, former director of the Small Farm Program, wrote the book with Isabella Kenfield, a former staff member. The full-color volume is available from the Small Farm Center, at .
âDelanceyâs Stapler: Love, Lust, Duty, Doom, Rage, Revelation and Pizza,â a novel by 1966 alum Dave Veith, is a flashback to °”TV in the â60s, when draft boards loomed, âguys had to sign out the girls from their dormsâ and female students âwore nylon stockings to the pizza parlor." Veith, now retired, lives with his wife in Northern California. His book, based on his undergraduate years on campus, is available at .
âThe Bike to Work Guide: What You Need to Know to Save Gas, Go Green, Get Fit,â by Paul Dorn, assistant director of marketing for campus recreation, and Roni Sarig. The paperback guide is for cyclists who want to extend the fun they have biking on weekends to their daily commute. Those who haven't been on a bike in years but want to start saving on fuel and car costs will also find useful information.
For scientists and science fiction lovers: In âNanovision: Engineering the Future,â Colin Milburn, assistant professor of English, argues that nanotechnology theories, laboratory instruments and research programs are inextricable from fictional narratives. Davis-based science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson has this to say about the book: âThere has been so much hype and controversy surrounding nanotech that it has been hard to figure out what it really is or might become. This wonderful book spectacularly clarifies matters ⊠That Colin Milburn is also often wickedly funny is much appreciated, and a very appropriate response to nanotechâs constant evocations of paradise or apocalypse.â
For Wikipedia users (and who isnât one?): âHow Wikipedia Works: And How You Can Be a Part of It,â by Phoebe Ayers (user=phoebe), a librarian at the °”TV Physical Sciences and Engineering Library and organizer of Wikimania conferences; Charles Matthews, a mathematician who has taught at Cambridge and Harvard; and Ben Yates, a technical editor who writes a blog about Wikipedia. In âHow Wikipedia Works,â the trio offers insight, anecdotes and tips for finding information and evaluating the quality and reliability of articles; contributing to existing articles; adding new articles that conform to Wikipediaâs guidelines and best practices and therefore wonât be deleted; and communicating with other Wikipedians.
For science fiction fans who also appreciate poetry: â25Âą Rocket Ship to the Stars.â Written by Gary Osgood Clark, the book is slim enough to fit in any stocking. Reviewer Paul Di Filippo, writing in Asimovâs Science Fiction, calls it âenchanting.â Clark, retired after 25 years as a library assistant at °”TV, has published three other collections of poetry. He lives in a Davis mobile home with his cat, Ariel.
About °”TV
For 100 years, °”TV has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, °”TV has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges -- Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science -- and advanced degrees from five professional schools: Education, Law, Management, Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine. The °”TV School of Medicine and °”TV Medical Center are located on the Sacramento campus near downtown.
Media Resources
Claudia Morain, (530) 752-9841, cmmorain@ucdavis.edu