Discover's 25 Greatest Science Books

The magazine Discover recently published a list of what it considers to be "The 25 Greatest Science Books of All-Time" and Mabee Library owns 22 of them. The library has a subscription and electronic access to the magazine, but I'll go ahead and list the Top-Ten books and their respective call numbers.

1. [tie] The Voyage of the Beagle (1845) / The Origin of Species (1859)

Charles Darwin
AC1 .A4 vol. 29 / AC1 .A4 vol. 11

3. Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)

Isaac Newton
AC1 .G72 vol. 34

4. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632)

Galileo Galilei
QB41 .G1356 1967

5. On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres (1543)

Nicolaus Copernicus
AC1 .G72 vol. 16

6. Physics (circa 330 B.C.)

Aristotle
Q151.A7 H6

7. On the Fabric of the Human Body (1543)

Andreas Vesalius
QM21 .V426 1969 - Includes facsimile of Latin text

8. Relativity: The Special and General Theory (1916)

Albert Einstein
QC173.55 .E384513 1920

9. The Selfish Gene (1976)

Richard Dawkins
QH437 .D38 1976b

10. One Two Three...Infinity (1947)

George Gamow
Q162 .G23 1947

The article includes an introduction, brief reviews for all of the books, a list of honorable mentions, and an online poll for readers to vote for their favorites.

Online Tools for Cataloging Collections

The following sites assist with cataloging a personal collection of books online:

LibraryThing

LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone—. Because everyone catalogs together, LibraryThing also connects people with the same books, comes up with suggestions for what to read next, and so forth. A free account allows you to catalog up to 200 books. A paid account allows you to catalog any number of books. Paid personal accounts cost $10 for a year or $25 for a lifetime.

GuruLib

GuruLib is a free web service to organize your home library. In addition to cataloging your books, you can catalog your DVDs, CDs, games and software online using a book shelf metaphor.

Shelfari

This free service allows you to catalog your book collection, discover new books, see what other people are reading, get or give book recommendations, and talk about your favorite books.

Reader²

This site allows you to keep a social list of the books you read and/or recommend. After you sign up you can add books to your unique list. You can view anyone else's books and they can view yours. Extra user-defined data can be added to each book entry to organize and describe the book further such as descriptions, link, and tags. You can use tags to categorize (and thus organize) books so that you and others using this site will have an easier time finding new and interesting books.

Here are some other sites that help catalog a variety of items:

Bank of Ideas

Use this site to keep a social list of your ideas. You can view anyone else's ideas and they can view yours. Extra user-defined data can be added to each idea entry to organize and describe the idea further such as descriptions, link, and tags. You can use tags to categorize ideas so that you and others using this site will have an easier time finding them.

TagFacts

Use this site to keep a social list of your notes. Extra user-defined data can be added to each note entry to organize and describe the note further such as descriptions, link, and tags. You can use tags to categorize notes so that you and others using this site will have an easier time finding them.

MyProgs

Use this site to keep a social list of the programs you use. Extra user-defined data can be added to each program entry to organize and describe the program further such as program descriptions, a link to the program's homepage, and tags. You can use tags to categorize programs so that you and others using this site will have an easier time finding new and interesting programs.

MyFilmz

With this site, you can keep a social list of the movies you see and/or recommend. Extra user-defined data can be added to each movie entry to organize and describe the movie further such as descriptions, link, and tags. You can use tags to categorize movies so that you and others using this site will have an easier time finding new and interesting movies.

National American Indian Heritage Month

National American Indian Heritage Month

2006 Official Proclamation from the President
Read President George W. Bush's proclamation of November 2006 as National American Indian Heritage Month.

Brief History on the Creation of National American Indian Heritage Month
This is a short article about the creation of National American Indian Heritage Month.

National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is the sixteenth museum of the Smithsonian Institution. It is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans.

Native American Technology and Art
This site focuses on the arts of Eastern Woodland Indians. It provides historical and contemporary background, instructional information and references.

Native Americans in the United States Military
Learn about Native Americans' involvement in the U.S. military throughout history.

The National Register of Historic Places
This site showcases American Indian and Alaska Native historic properties listed in the National Register, National Register publications, and National Park units.

American Indian Tribal Directory
Search the American Indian Resource Directory for Indian tribes among seven regions of the country.

Facts and Features about American Indians and Alaska Natives
This is a press release from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Statistical Data about the American Indian and Alaska Native Population
This site from the U.S. Census Bureau presents data from the 2000 census.

The Differences Between Copyright and Public Domain

If you need to know whether a work qualifies for the public domain, Cornell University's excellent Web site is as clear as copyright can get. It is located here.

This page from Stanford University provides detailed information about copyright, fair use, public domain, releases, and permissions.

Check out Washburn's copyright information page and student copyright information page. Washburn also has a page specifically about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Learn about issues facing law, art, property and an increasingly digital world in a comic book from Duke University's Center for the Study of the Public Domain: Tales from the Public Domain: Bound by Law?

Here is an interesting article from the National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage that discusses the value of the public domain.

You can learn about copyright directly from the U.S. Copyright Office.