Cornell University Lecture Series collection, 1962-2020
Collection Number: 8-3-3222

Drawing from his acclaimed 2005 book, Chris Barrett reflects on the real impact of US food aid practices in Africa and other countries and argues for simple changes that could make American food aid relief far more effective than it is.

In her 2005 book, Jan Jennings describes a series house design competitions for architects in the 1879 to 1909 period, noting the insight they offer on the development of architectural history and practice in the U.S

Poets Yu Chang, Tom Clausen, John Stevenson, and Hilary Tann of the Route 9 Haiku Group set the stage for celebrating National Poetry Month at Mann Library, reading haiku and related poetic forms and sharing reflections on creating poetry and friendship.

Kraig Adler of Cornell's Department of Neurobiology and Behavior highlights current efforts to preserve the Ringwood area amphibian population and discusses the problem of dwindling amphibian populations in global perspective.

Historian Carol Kammen and a team of graduates from her Knight Wrighting Seminar at Cornell bring 150 years of diverse Cornell student experiences to life, reading from student letters and diary entries of the past as well as email and blog postings of today.

Forest farming is the sustained cultivation and harvest of fruits, mushrooms, nuts and plant medicinals under a thriving tree canopy. In a special lecture at Mann Library, horticulture professor Ken Mudge reflects on the promise of forest farming for the northeastern United States.

Charles Brainerd and Valerie Reyna of the Department of Human Development at Cornell's College of Human Ecology review a comprehensive trove of studies in cognitive science to highlight what is currently known about why people can remember things differently from what really took place and why some people have vivid memories of things that never took place at all.

Reporting on the results of widely acclaimed research, economist Brian Wansink explores the effects of different marketing "tricks" on the volume of food people consume.

Professor Jordan Le Bel of Cornell's School of Hotel Administration explores the history of chocolate consumption from the Olmec Indians of Mexico to the current frenzy for all things chocolaty.

In a book talk timed to commemorate International Women's Day, professor of policy analysis and management Andrea Parrot and health educator Nina Cummings explore the diverse ideologies and cultural conditions that promote violence against women. Their book offers compelling stories that women themselves share about the physical, emotional and economic impact of their victimization.

Cornell Professor of Education Scott Peters presented a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library on March 29, 2007. Colleges and universities are increasingly being called upon to deepen their engagement in the public work of addressing economic, social, and environmental challenges. How should they respond? Engaging Campus and Community examines the practice of public scholarship as a promising means for academic professionals and students to join with external partners in addressing our most pressingpublic problems. Based on four years of collaborative research by a team of scholars from six different institutions in the national state and landgrant university system, Engaging Campus and Community is the first—and only—qualitative study of public scholarship in American higher education. The book presents and analyzes eight in-depth case studies of public scholarship involving close community-university engagement in public work initiatives that address the economic, social, and environmental challenges of pursuing agricultural and food systems sustainability. The authors draw lessons from these cases that have broad relevance for the larger movement to renew higher education's civic mission and work.

On Tuesday, April 10, 2007 Ithaca poet Fred Muratori leda celebration of muse and poetry in a special reading at Mann Library on the Cornell University campus. Muratori's poems and poetry criticism have appeared widely in journals such as New American Writing, Poetry, Verse, Denver Quarterly, Boston Review, and The Georgia Review, as well as in The Best American Poetry 1994 and the 2006 anthology, Like a Fragile Index of the World, produced in honor of President Skorton's inauguration at Cornell University. His published poetry collections are The Possible(1988) and Despite Repeated Warnings (1994). A reception will follow the reading. The Ithaca area public is warmly invited for a gathering that will contemplate the place of life in art and celebrate the spirit of National Poetry Month.

Explorers, academics, physicians, zookeepers and amateur naturalists have studied reptiles and amphibians for centuries and together have developed the modern field of herpetology. From the Italian physician and Greek scholar Nicolò Leoniceno (1428-1524), who wrote the first book on the subject, to the workers of today, herpetologists have pursued intriguing careers that offer inspiration to today's scholars and nature enthusiasts from all walks of life. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library, Dr. Adler will present some highlights from his recent book, describing the lives of 285 herpetologists, the historical contexts of their work, and the central role played in herpetology's history by faculty and students who have taught and studied at Cornell.

Architectural historian Mary Anne Beecher explores the historic development and design implications of storage elements in the 19th and 20th century American home, reflecting on the influence that American home economics education had on the evolution of modern American storage design.

Communication professor Tarleton Gillespie takes a closer look behind the battle smoke of current disputes over copyright to suggest some sobering trends. The shift to "technical copy protection" being promoted by commercial interests and lawmakers coincides with a growing commercialization of culture and points to a profound loss in the democratic potential of a network society.

In celebration of National Poetry Month Mann Library is hosting a reading by Frank Robinson. Dr. Robinson was born in Providence, R.I. in 1939, studied in Boston and the Netherlands, and has been an art historian, teacher, and museum director at Wellesley, Dartmouth, Williams, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He has been director of the Johnson Museum at Cornell since 1992. He has published three books of poetry: Family Poems, 1972; First Impressions, 1973; and Window Boxes Full of Snow, 2006.

How do humans learn languages? Why do we learn them at all? Human development scholar Barbara Lust presents highlights from her new book exploring human language development, noting recent discoveries about child language acquisition from the fields of linguistics, developmental psychology and cognitive science.

Harnessing powerful communication tools of the iPod and YouTube era, the Cornell eClips collection offers a large collection of video clips and podcasts documenting interviews with leaders in business, government and nonprofits. Professor of applied economics and management Deborah Streeter discusses the success of this program in bringing the authentic voices of entrepreneurship into the classroom.

Stephen Kress of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology presents tips and how-to guidance for nurturing native plant communities to create thriving, beautiful natural landscapes filled with color and bird song the whole year through.

For Earth Day 2008, Professor of Development Sociology Max Pfeffer presented a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library, highlighting insights on the complex interrelationships between forests and people--and the sometimes contradictory effects of forest conservation policy.

In telling the story of a group project that transformed a green expanse of Cornell's farm research fields into a living work of art, artist and horticulture extension associate Marcia Eames-Sheavly and recent Cornell graduates Sven Kalim and Flisa Stevenson share thoughts on drawing from a diversity of strengths and perspectives for a large scale, collaborative project.

Karen Dunn-Haley, 2007 recipient of the College of Human Ecology's History of Home Economics Fellowship, examines the history of post-War Cornell extension demonstration trains and their impact in bringing principles of modern home design into the everyday life of American households.

Plant biologist Randy Wayne brings together mathematics, physics, and the history of science to reflect on the foundations of microscopy, the development of modern imaging systems and their practical application in cell biology.

While most people entering retirement are residentially stable, those who do migrate are most likely to move to rural communities. Development sociologists David Brown and Nina Glasgow highlight the challenges and opportunities presented by migration at older ages both for successful aging and for rural community development.

In 1969, after 5 years of deliberation and planning, Cornell's College of Home Economics became the College of Human Ecology. Gwen Kay, Associate Professor of History at SUNY Oswego and 2008 recipient of the Cornell CHE Fellowship in the History of Home Economics, examines how and why the new name came into being, and what the hopes were for the new college.

Now in its 7th edition, Wescott's Plant Disease Handbook is known as a must-have resource for academic plant science programs and an indispensable guide for practicing landscape professionals and master gardeners. Dr. Ken Horst highlights the intriguing history of this classic work.

Poets Frank Robinson of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art and Tom Clausen of Mann celebrate National Poetry Month with a reading of haiku, senryu and tanka at Mann Library and commentary touching on the characteristics of each form

In conjunction with a Cornell University Library celebration of Darwin's impact on the life sciences, Cornell geologist Warren Allmon highlights the record of life's evolving complexity—and the argument for Darwinian evolutionary theory—that is found in the earth's rocks.

The cell is the basic unit of life­--but what constitutes life and what makes it possible? Cornell professor of plant biology Dr. Randy Wayne presents a discussion of an approach to plant cell biology that crosses a rich variety of disciplines in the study of life, presents great moments of discovery in biology, and encourages students to build on this work to embark on their own explorations that will further our understanding of the cellular basis of life.

Great potential exists for ubiquitous mobile computing to inform and develop the social experiences and relations that play out in community spaces. Yet, the transformative benefits of this technology are often lost because of underlying design that doesn't account for complex human-technology interactions occurring in context. Professor of communication Dr. Geri Gay highlights results of recent research to reflect on the promise of context-aware mobile technologies for realizing an active rather than passive role for the people who use them.

Health reform remains a work in progress. In a talk co-sponsored by Cornell University's College of Human Ecology and Mann Library on November 30, 2009, faculty members from the Department of Policy Analysis and Management discuss the current debate on health care reform in the U.S.. The discussion provides a comparison of legislative bills passed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in 2009, identifies key issues to watch as reform action proceeds in coming months, and offers preliminary predictions of the likely impact the current reform initiatives will have on problems of spiraling health care costs and growing numbers of uninsured Americans.

As part of Ithaca's 2010 Light in Winter festival Chad Miller (PhD candidate, Dept. of Horticulture) presents a lecture on the detailed history of the tulip, from its origin in Asia, to modern cultivation, to its place as a favored bouquet on a festive dinner table.

Bioelectrochemical Systems puts a spotlight on promising technologies currently taking shape on the clean energy and waste management frontiers. In this Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library, contributing editor and professor of biological and environmental engineering Lars Angenent explains what a bioelectrochemical system is, gives examples of its useful application, and highlights current research on wastewater-to-product conversion and biosensors being pursued in the Angenent lab.

In a talk co-sponsored by Mann Library and the College of Human Ecology, recipient of the 2009 CHE Fellowship in the History of Home Economics Anna Flaming describes how home economists proposed a positive and diverse definition of the American homemaker. Through secondary and collegiate education and organized outreach to homemakers, home economists became important arbiters of American understandings of housewifery. Simultaneously, many home economists worked to defy stereotypes that equated home economics with housewifery and attempted to update the image of the discipline by eliminating its association with such domestic tasks as "cooking and sewing."

In their newest book, Herbert Gottfried (Dept. of Landscape Architecture) and Jan Jennings (Dept. of Design and Environmental Analysis) trace the contributions of folk vernacular architecture to America's built environment. While the specific influences shaping American architecture are many, America's 19th and 20th century industrial development and the emergence of a dominant aesthetic favoring the picturesque cottage form and colonial style have been the key factors transforming American vernacular architecture from regional ethnic product to a national system of technology-driven buildings.

Historian and physician Dr. Dan Weinstock discusses the correspondence and friendship between pioneering American botanist Asa Gray and his friend, physician and amateur botanical collector Nathan Wright Folwell of Ovid, New York. Presented are highlights from Asa Gray's training and career and the contributions made to his botanical research through the collecting expeditions undertaken by Dr. Folwell.

Over 40 varieties of grapes are grown in the 10,000 acres under production in the Finger Lakes. Weaving together biological facts about our grape varieties with the history of the Finger Lakes wine industry, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station horticultural research Tim Martinson, contributing author to Wine Grape Production in Eastern North America (NRAES, 2008), presents a talk that explains why perhaps the world's most diverse collection of wine grapes exists right here in the Finger Lakes.

Andrew Dickson White believed that the built environment of a university should reflect high standards of beauty and good aesthetics. In this Reunion 2010 lecture at Mann Library, historian Carol Kammen, who has written a number of books on Cornell's history, presents a lecture that highlights the vision held by founder White in planning the Cornell University campus.

Cornell University is one of a handful of academic institutions in the world with an extensive collection of glass invertebrates created by renowned 19th century glass artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka (of Harvard Glass Flowers fame). Drew Harvell, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and marine biologist, leads the curation and restoration of this extraordinary collection. In this reunion lecture at Mann Library in June 2010, Dr. Harvell describes the importance of the Blaschkas' work to the 19th and early 20th century study of ocean biology through a slide show of the Blaschka's glass pieces and rarely seen watercolors, highlighting current efforts to restore the exquisite Blaschka sea life sculptures for permanent display at Mann Library and Corson Mudd Hall on the Cornell campus.

At a presentation ceremony on August 6, Cornell professor of molecular biology and former Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Susan Henry presented to the Rare and Manuscript Collection of Cornell University Library an ear of corn and accompanying notes from the research lab of famed geneticist and Nobel Laureate Barbara McClintock '23, M.A. '25, Ph.D. '27. Together with Dr. Murphy, a panel of scientists including biology and history of science professor Dr. Will Provine, emeritus professor of plant breeding Dr. Royse Murphy, and visiting professor of plant biology Dr. Lee Kass PhD '75 contributed to the occasion with reflections of their own on encounters with Dr. McClintock and the contributions she made to the world.

Frustrated that their university students arrive unable to think, Dr. Laura Colosi of the College of Human Ecology's Family Life & Development Center at Cornell University and Dr. Derek Cabrera of the Research Institute for Thinking in Education set out on a journey to change schools by bringing the results of their research into the real world classroom environment. The book "Thinking at Every Desk" is a snapshot of their continued work with educators and schools across America. At a 'Chats in the Stacks' book talk at Mann Library, Drs. Colosi and Cabrera discussed some of the major themes of their book to highlight guidelines for the Patterns of Thinking method—four simple thinking skills that will have a ripple effect on everything educators do and provide students from PreK to PhD essential tools needed for success in the 21st century.

Employer-based health insurance practiced in the United States today creates insecurity for American workers and saddles American companies with high costs that undermine their competitiveness against international firms. Few would argue the system needs serious reform, yet opinions on appropriate solutions differ widely. In his new book, Health Care Turning Point, health policy expert Roger Battistella of the Dept. of Policy Analysis and Management at the Cornell College of Human Ecology warns that shortcomings inherent in a government-run insurance model would more than likely encourage overconsumption, drive up costs, and ultimately fail. Dr. Battistella argues the time has come for a pragmatic approach to health care reform based on sound market principles and greater transparency to encourage wise consumer choices that seek out good value.

"Losing Paradise" presents case studies from across the Mediterranean region to provide an interdisciplinary framework for understanding problems of diminished and polluted water supplies. Stressing the importance of culture and history in addressing the Mediterranean water crisis, the authors demonstrate the need for an integrated legal, social and scientific management system appropriate to each country's stage of development and cultural heritage. In a book talk at Mann Library in November 2010, contributing authors and co-editors Gail Holst-Warhaft and Tammo Steenhuis presented insights offered by this framework for identifying more promising approaches to critical issues of water management. The suggested solutions also serve as a paradigm for the rest of the world as it faces similar issues of water shortage.

In his newest book, professor of neurobiology and behavior Thomas Seeley presents insights offered by years of close observation of how honeybees find new homes. For the honeybee, finding and moving into a new home is a challenge that takes place each year and bears life-or-death consequences for the entire swarm. In language accessible to scientist and layperson alike, Seeley explains the experiments undertaken to understand how bees identify and investigate potential sites for a new home, communicate information gleaned from their explorations, and come to a successful group decision on which site will work best. Hailed equally as brilliant piece of science at work, a book with practical implications for beekeepers, and a revealing exploration of a remarkable model for collective wisdom and effective decision-making, Honeybee Democracy provides another dimension to our understanding of the honeybee as humanity's greatest friend among the insects.

Human nutrition expert and author of the critically acclaimed "What to Eat," Marion Nestle, Ph.D., M.P.H., has joined forces with Cornell animal nutrition expert Malden C. Nesheim to write "Feed Your Pet Right," the first complete, research-based guide to selecting the best, most healthful foods for your cat or dog. In a book talk at Mann Library in February 2011, the authors presented highlights from their comprehensive look at the science behind pet food and the current trends in the booming pet food industry and its marketing practices. As a road map to the most nutritious diets for cats and dogs, "Feed Your Pet Right" is sure to be a reference classic for pet owners for years to come.

Not long after the turn of the century, home economists, physicians, and public health workers made the height-weight chart into a household term. Historian Rachel Moran examines the spread of tables in schools, agricultural extension programs, and home economics curriculum. By the early 1920s, experts were debating the balance between the benefits and dangers of height-weight charts, and questioning the charts that many of them had helped popularize. Moran argues that the charts ultimately survived intense expert criticism only because lay-women had become such firm advocates of their use. The talk considers the relationship between female lay-citizens and experts, as well as the political power of statistics in early 20th century U.S. government. It also raises questions about the use and critique of contemporary physical measurements, especially Body Mass Index. Rachel Louise Moran was the 2010 recipient of the College of Human Ecology Fellowship in the History of Home Economics. She is currently the Crawford Fellow in Ethical Inquiry at the Pennsylvania State University, where she is finishing her dual PhD in History and Women's Studies.

Of all the issues in need of attention at this moment in the history of American higher education, few are as important as the status and future of its public mission, purposes and work. Scott Peters takes this issue up in his newest book, "Democracy and Higher Education," discussed in a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library in March 2011. Through the presentation and analysis of oral history profiles of the public engagement work of a dozen Cornell faculty members, he illuminates and defends an under-appreciated tradition of civic professionalism in higher education that includes and interweaves expert, social critic, responsive service, and proactive leadership roles.

Led by a set of large and dynamic countries—including Brazil, China, India, and Russia—emerging market economies have achieved a dominant economic presence in the world. However, the financial crisis of 2007-09 and the worldwide recession that followed cast a pall over the notion that EMEs had become self-reliant and decoupled from demand conditions in and financial flows from advanced countries. In a book talk at Mann Library in April 2011 professor of trade policy Eswar Prasad presented highlights from his newest book, co-authored with M. Ayhan Kose, to assess the resilience of EME's, identify factors for why some of these economies have fared better than others, and offer lessons for the general question of durable and sustainable growth in the 21st century global economy.

Mexican migration is a highly contentious issue in the eyes of many North Americans, and every generation seems to construct the northward flow of labor as a brand new social problem. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library, Cornell professor of Latino studies Ronald Mize and Ithaca College professor of sociology Alicia Swords highlight research presented in their new book to explore the social relations that define how corporations, consumers, and states involve Mexican immigrant laborers in the politics of production and consumption. The result is a comprehensive and contemporary look at the important role that immigrants play in our economy.

In a presentation given at Mann Library in May 2011, FAO's Dr. Johannes Keizer reviews some of the work of the Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) initiative to make agricultural research information publicly available and accessible to all. This includes collaborating with numerous international organizations to make distributed data and information repositories interoperable.

In a reunion talk at Mann Library in June 2011, angling master Michael Lenetsky of the Leon Chandler Chapter of Trout Unlimited in Ithaca, N.Y. introduces the year-round fishing opportunities in the Finger Lakes region for fly fishing enthusiasts of all levels. His presentation highlights the varied settings for excellent fishing in the Finger Lakes area as well as which species to target during different seasons of the year. This talk was held in conjunction with Mann Library's spring 2011 exhibit "Rainbows and Plunge Pools: Fly-fishing and the Lore of the Streams," a display about our age-old fascination with fish and fishing as revealed in illustrated treasures from the library's collections.

Public gardens are in the forefront of organizations committed to promoting the conservation of plants and their habitats, developing sustainable environmental management practices, and providing green spaces where urban residents can reconnect with the natural world. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk presented at Mann Library on September 15, 2011, Donald Rakow, the Elizabeth Newman Wilds Director of Cornell Plantations and Director of the Cornell Graduate Program in Public Garden Leadership, talks about his latest book, Public Garden Management, co-authored with Sharon Lee, editor of the journal Public Garden and former deputy director of the American Public Gardens Association. Rakow describes the diversity of public gardens that can be found in North America, their essential qualities and the ways that public gardens are, now more than ever, playing a vital role in improving the quality of our lives and preserving biodiversity on our planet.

Whether as food, beverage ingredient, or even a component of biodegradable cutlery, potatoes are leading food crop in world agriculture and have had profound impact on many societies throughout human history. In a Chats in the Stacks talk at Mann Library on October 13, 2011, Walter De Jong of Cornell's Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics provides an overview of topics covered in his newest book, "The Complete Book of Potatoes," co-authored with Hielke de Jong, potato breeder and fellow of the Agricultural Institute of Canada, and Joseph Sieczka, emeritus professor in Cornell's Department of Horticulture. Beginning with the potato's importance to human civilization, Dr. De Jong's talk touches on this crop's versatility in food and nonfood uses, its disease-resistant varieties, conventional and organic production techniques, pest management, storage practices, and the sometimes surprising culinary qualities associated with different varieties.

Despite record levels of government spending, America's transportation system is plagued by traffic congestion, decaying infrastructure, and politicization of transportation funding—leading to calamities such as the 2007 collapse an interstate highway bridge over the Mississippi River and political fiascos such as Alaska's infamous "Bridge to Nowhere." In his new book, Cornell professor of policy analysis and management Rick Geddes surveys the current state of U.S. ground transportation and finds that, like the roads themselves, transportation policy is in desperate need of repair. In a "Chats in the Stacks" book talk held at Mann Library on October 20, 2011, Prof. Geddes discusses key highlights from the book to suggest promising new approaches toward road financing in America.

The need to better understand the causes and consequences of obesity, and how to prevent and treat it, has become urgent worldwide. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library, John Cawley discusses his new book, "The Social Science of Obesity," highlighting insights from the specific approaches that each social science discipline uses to model human behavior, including diet and physical activity. Each of the chapters in the volume synthesizes the research findings on specific causes of obesity—including advertising, food prices, and peer effects—and consequences of obesity, such as lower wages, job absenteeism, and discrimination. The book also reviews the literature on obesity treatment and prevention, and provides researchers with important practical information on data and methods. Presenting a comprehensive survey of obesity-related research across the full range of social sciences, from anthropology to economics and psychology to government, Dr. Cawley's book is a critical reference for public health officials, policymakers, nutritionists, and medical practitioners.

Pica—the urge to eat clay, starch, ice and chalk—has been a phenomenon among humans, particularly women, for a very long time. In her new book, nutritionist and medical anthropologist Sera Young seeks to answer why some people engage in this curious behavior , also shedding light on the properties that the non-food substances associated with pica possess. Touching on the history of medicine and drawing from a global body of literature, she constructs a bio-cultural framework for understanding pica, identifies its most avid partakers (pregnant women and young children), tests scientific hypotheses, and describes the potentially healthful and harmful effects. Merging history with detailed case studies, Dr. Young's book offers a rich source of information—helpful to a broad variety of researchers and health practitioners—about a nutritional issue that is still only poorly understood.

In a November 2011 talk at Mann Library, Amrys Williams, the 2011 Recipient of the History of Home Economics Fellowship Award at the Cornell College of Human Ecology, provides a look at the history of 4-H clubs and their relationship to the developing ideas about rural culture, community and modernity in 20th century U.S. 4-H clubs—the youth phase of agricultural and home economics extension work—were central to the USDA's program for rural modernization in the early decades of the 20th century. Cultivating "the country's best crop," as these young people were often described, was a matter of culture as well as agriculture, and 4-H club work sought to revitalize rural society alongside rural livelihoods. The biological metaphor of development—of crops, children, communities, and civilization—was central to these efforts, and 4-H's work with rural youth in rural places illuminates a strand of thinking about development that relied on growth, guidance, and nurture to cultivate modernity on rural terms.

In the second decade of life, young adults have endless choices, but the decisions they make depend on developing the power of the human brain to learn and reason. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library, Cornell professor of human development and psychology Dr. Valerie Reyna introduces her new book, "The Adolescent Brain: Learning, Reasoning, and Decision Making" published by the American Psychological Association in 2012. Bringing together an interdisciplinary group of leading scientists, the volume examines how the adolescent brain develops and how this development impacts various aspects of reasoning and decision-making, from the use and function of memory and representation, to judgment, mathematical problem-solving, and the construction of meaning.

Nearly a billion people around the world still suffer from hunger and poor nutrition while a billion are overweight or obese. This imbalance highlights the need not only to focus on food production but also to implement successful food policies. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library in March 2012, Cornell University economist Per Pinstrup-Andersen discusses his new book, coauthored with economist Derrill Watson II of the American University of Nigeria. As a comprehensive road map for understanding how governments and markets shape food policies and production, "Food Policy for Developing Countries" addresses the complex challenges—from issues of poverty and climate change to demographic and dietary transitions—for reducing hunger and achieving better human nutrition.

Security is often sought through armaments and containment, which can lead to the impoverishment rather than the nourishment of laboring bodies. Under increasingly precarious conditions, governments oversee the movements of people, rather than scrutinize and regulate the movements of capital. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library in April 2012, professors of development sociology Shelley Feldman and Charles Geisler discuss their new book "Accumulating Insecurity." Highlighting the different themes presented by contributing authors, the speakers raise questions about the implications that emerge from two contemporary phenomena: a fixation on security that justifies the militarization of civilian life, and the dramatic increase in insecurity associated with crises in health care, housing, incarceration, personal debt, and unemployment.

Three main types of biotic interactions between individuals of different species exist in nature: competition, predation, and mutualism. All three exert powerful selection pressures, and all three shape communities. However, the true importance of interspecific competition in nature remains a controversial and unresolved question. For a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library on April 26, 2012, Dr. André Dhondt, the Edwin H. Morgens Professor of Ornithology at Cornell, discusses his new book "Interspecific Competition in Birds," providing a critical review of the topic and highlighting the impact of both past and on-going interspecific competition on the coexistence of species. The lessons learned from such study are timely. As ecologists work to better understand the many factors that influence global biodiversity—and to better model the effects of climate change on populations—they may learn a great deal about species interactions from our feathered competitors.

Calories are the source of health problems affecting billions of people in today's globalized world and these units of energy are a mystery to many of us. In a September 2012 talk at Mann Library Marion Nestle (Paulette Goddard Professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University and visiting professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University) and Malden Nesheim (Cornell University Provost Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of nutritional sciences) draw from their recent book, "Why Calories Count" to explain what calories are and how they work, both biologically and politically. While highlighting the ways that federal and corporate policies have together worked to create an "eat more" environment in the United States, "Why Calories Count" reviews the fundamental issues of dieting, weight gain, loss, and obesity, and arms readers with the necessary information to interpret food labels, evaluate diet claims, and understand evidence as presented in popular media.

In "Earth: A Tenant's Manual," distinguished geologist Frank H. T. Rhodes, President Emeritus of Cornell University, provides a sweeping, accessible, and informed guide to the home we all share, showing us how we might best preserve the Earth's livability for ourselves and future generations. Having published widely on subjects of geology and education, in his newest book, Dr. Rhodes offers a comprehensive look at the structure of the planet, an analysis of how it is being depleted, and a road map for sustainability. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library in September 2012, Dr. Rhodes highlights the main points raised, and discusses how new resources, new priorities and policies, and new knowledge can lead us to a sustainable future. 

In a September 2012 book talk at Mann Library, Cornell College of Human Ecology professors Elaine Wethington (Dept. of Human Development) and Rachel Dunifon (Dept. of Policy Analysis and Management) discuss their new publication, "Research for the Public Good: Applying Methods of Translational Research to Improve Human Health and Well-Being." Helping to bridge the gaps among research, policy, and practice, the book demonstrates how emerging methods of translational research can help develop programs and policies that improve human health and well-being. This broader, more inclusive approach to translational research has gained popularity and is now being promoted by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, medical centers, and university programs across the United States.

Over 90 percent of all visible living matter is plant life. Plants clean the air, provide food, fuel, and fiber, and yield vital pharmaceuticals. In a book talk at Mann Library in October 2012, Karl J. Niklas, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Plant Biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, discusses his new book "Plant Physics."  Emerging from long-term collaboration between plant evolutionary biologist Niklas and physicist Hanns-Christof Spatz,  the book explains how plants cannot be fully understood without grasping how physical forces and processes influence growth, development, reproduction, evolution, and the environment.  As a unique contribution in the field of biomechanics, the book provides a valuable reference for researchers interested in how plants work from a physical perspective.

"The sesquicentennial celebration of the Morrill Land-Grant Act in 2012 prompts a re-examination of the phrase ""the land-grant mission"", a common phrase in the discourse about land-grant institutions, including Cornell. What was this mission and what is it today? And why did and does it matter? Scott J. Peters, Associate Professor of Education at Cornell University and Professor of the Cultural Foundations of Education at Syracuse University, presents a lecture about the Morrill Act, drawing from a study of Justin Smith Morrill's and Jonathan Baldwin Turner's speeches and writings, and the views and experiences of contemporary faculty and staff from Cornell and other land-grant institutions."

Now in its 4thedition, "Miller's Anatomy of the Dog," co-authored by professor emeritus of veterinary and comparative anatomy Dr. Howard Evans and professor emeritus of veterinary sciences Dr. Alexander de Lahunta, is a reference resource on canine morphology that is unparalleled in its coverage of the subject. Elaborate full-color illustrations in the 4th edition and detailed description make the intricate structures that are handled in the text easy to see and understand. In a book talk at Mann Library in November 2012, Cornell professor emeritus of veterinary and comparative anatomy highlights the features distinctive to the new edition and reflects on the steps involved in updating this classic work.

The world of scholarship is changing rapidly, and increasing demands on scholars require new approaches. In a February 2013 Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library, Cornell University Library information technology professionalsJon Corson-Rikert, Brian Lowe, and Dean Krafft discuss the new book "VIVO: A Semantic Approach to Scholarly Networking and Discovery" (Morgan and Claypool, 2012). The book provides an introduction to VIVO (vivoweb.org), which is a tool for enabling the efficient discovery of information about research and researchers—their scholarly works, research interests, and organizational relationships. Begun as a project at Cornell and further developed by anNIH-funded consortium, VIVO is now being established as an open-source project with community participation from around the world.

In 2010, an estimated 41 million Americans were 65 years of age or older. By current estimates, that number willreach over 72 millionby 2030, representing 19% of the total population. Population aging is more rapid in rural areas of the United States. Yet, rural places can face particular challenges in securing elements of their local infrastructure that are of important significance to older citizens. Understanding the characteristics of rural elders, including their family status and living conditions, is becoming ever more important to a thriving future for both aging populations and the communities in which they live. In a "Chats in the Stacks" book talk given at Cornell's Mann Library in March 2013, contributing authors Nina Glasgow, David L. Brown,and Douglas T. Gurak (Department of Development Sociology) discuss their new book "Rural Aging In 21st Century America" to highlightsome of the sociological, demographic and geographic aspects of aging in rural places.

In a March 2013 Chats in the Stacks book talk at Cornell University's Mann Library, landscape architecture professorand director of Rust2Green (rust2green.org) Paula Horriganprovides highlights from her new book,Service-Learning in Design and Planning. Linking professional work and social change, the book radically revises the standard protocol for university-initiated design/build projects in the community. As acollection of case studies by design educators, the book critically explores the current practice of community-engaged learning in architecture, landscape design, and urban planning.

Mushrooms are mum and mysterious things, and won't tell their own tales. In this exhibit lecture, presented at Mann Library for Cornell Reunion 2013, Director of the Cornell' Plant Pathology Herbarium, Dr. Kathie Hodge does the talking for them as she introduces an array of fascinating fungal specimens and the remarkable Cornellians who have shaped our understanding of fungi in all their wondrous forms. Among our cast of characters: A mushroom discovered on the Cornell campus in 1902, then never seen again; lost fungi collected during the Cornell Peary expedition to Greenland in 1896; an odd little fungus that subverts the sex drive of a moss; the world's most poisonous mushroom, named right here at Cornell; and even some exotic-seeming fungi that you may not have befriended yet, but grow in your own house and yard. Join us for a story hour that will lead you on a captivating journey through the mushroom kingdom both near and far.

In a book talk presented at Cornell University's Mann Library in September 2013, professor of human development Dr. Qi Wang examines the developmental, social, cultural, and historical origins of the autobiographical self—the self that is made of memories of our past. By analyzing everyday family storytelling, autobiographical writings in Western and Chinese literature, memory data from controlled experiments in the laboratory, and personal narratives on blogs and Facebook, Wang illustrates that our memories and sense of ourselves are conditioned by time and culture. She examines some of the most controversial issues in current psychological research of memory and analyzes the influences of the larger social, political, and economic forces on the autobiographical self.

Challenged by recent economic changes, is higher education turning into a private rather than public good? President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Land Grant Act during dark days of the Civil War. Three years later, with the founding of Cornell University on April 27, 1865, obligations to the people were implicit in the university's designation as New York State's land grant college. Cornell continues its land-grant mission today, meeting ever-changing needs of communities with the Extension Service. Written more than 60 years ago and re-released by Fall Creek Books in 2013 to celebrate Cornell's sesquicentennial, Ruby Green Smith's book The People's Collegesis essential reading for anyone working in higher education with a commitment to strengthening public engagement. Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension Helene Dillard, professor of education Scott Peters, and professor of horticulture Jane Mt.Pleasant review Smith's writings, highlighting the impact and significance of the extension's mission, critically assessing historic tensions between extension service and New York's Native American communities, and suggesting lessons for Cooperative Extension's future in New York State.

How did home economics intersect with international missionary work? What did this mean for American women? In a special lecture hosted by the College of Human Ecology and Mann Library, Anna Schatz, 2012 Dean's Fellowship recipient in the History of Home Economics, examines the history ofthe School for Missionaries at Cornell University. From 1930 through the 1950s, this program sought to unite the insights and methods of academia with the Protestant missionary movement. Focusing on the participation of female missionaries and home economists, Ms. Schatz's talk explores the history of this unique and experimental program run by the Colleges of Agriculture and Home Economics and its significance as a point of intersection for the history of American women and the US in the world.

Insects are the most successful multi-cellular organism on our planet, and new discoveries about them help us understand the natural world.Reginald Chapman's "The Insects" has been the standard textbook in the field since the first edition was published more than forty years ago. Building on the strengths of the original text, the richly illustrated 5thedition brings this classic work up-to-date for the molecular era. In a Chats in the Stacks book talkpresentedat Cornell University's Mann Library in October 2014,editor Angela E. Douglas touches on Dr. Chapman's original work and the process of producing the 5thedition with an internationalteam of eminent insect physiologists. Her talk provides examples of the volume's focus on form and function, bringing together basic anatomy and physiology,highlighting how these relate to behavior, and illustrating the importance of this comprehensivenew edition as anessential reference tool for students, researchers, and entomologists.Dr. Angela Douglas is the Daljit S. and Elaine Sarkaria Professor of Insect Physiology and Toxicology at Cornell University. She is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society and the Entomological Society of America.

With recent political unrest in low and middle-income countries, global food prices spiked. Consumers took to the streets in protest, rioting and pressuring governments to make major changes. Such developments suggest that the rising demand for food is no longer being met with a rising supply, and the specter of widespread food insecurity fostering sociopolitical instability weighs on policymakers worldwide. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk given at Mann Library in November 2013, Dr. Chris Barrett, Dr. Wendy Wolford, Joanna Upton, and Samuel Crowell discuss this complex relationship. As highlighted in their new book, "Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability," actions taken by governments, firms and civil society to address food security stressors may have consequences that ultimately matter far more than the direct impacts of climate, scarcity in land or water or other biophysical drivers. The means by which governments, firms, and private philanthropies tackle the food security challenge of the coming decade will fundamentally shape the relationship between food security and sociopolitical stability.Dr. Barrett is the Stephen B. & Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management in Cornell University's Dyson School and Professor in the Department of Economics. Dr. Wolford is the Polson Professor of Development Sociology and associate director for economic development at Cornell's David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future. Joanna Upton and Samuel Crowell are PhD candidates in the Department of Applied Economics & Management and the Department of Plant Biology, respectively.

Whether or not to have unprotected sex, save money or spend it, consent to surgery, take that extra dessert—risky decisions permeate our lives, sometimes with disastrous consequences. How and why risk taking occurs has important implications, yet we have many unanswered questions about what influences risky behavior. At a Chats in the Stacks book talk Mann Libraryin February 2014, Dr. Valerie Reyna discusses her new book, The Neuroscience of Risky Decision Making, which aims to help us understand the neural roots of bad decisions and paves the way for translation of science into practice and policy. Dr. Reyna is professor of human development, director of the Human Neuroscience Institute in the College of Human Ecology and co-director of the Cornell MRI Facility. She is a developer of fuzzy trace theory, a model of memory, decision making, and development that is widely applied in law, medicine, and public health.Co-edited by Reyna and Cornell associate professor of psychology Vivian Zayas, The Neuroscience of Risky Decision Makingwill transform the next phase of research in the field and inform policy and practice innovations that can save lives and improve health.

Curiosity becomes science, and what we understand becomes what we value. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk in March 2014 at Mann Library, Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Harry W. Greene presents thoughts on the making of his new bookTracks and Shadows: Field Biology as Art. Both an absorbing autobiography and a celebration of the beauty in nature, the book explores multiple themes including the nuts and bolts of field research and teaching, the destruction of habitat and loss of biodiversity, the "sheer poetry" of field biology, and the role of natural historians in saving species from extinction. Professor Greene is a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow and one of the world's leading snake experts, with more than 40 years of fieldwork on six different continents. Other publications include the award winning book Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature. His books promote biological diversity, ecology, behavior and conservation—the core components of scientific literacy.

For her distinction of being the first woman of color to earn a Ph.D. in Home Economics, Cornell University alumna Flemmie P. Kittrell is often regarded as an exceptional figure in histories of the discipline and in higher education for minorities. After completing her Cornell degree, Dr. Kittrell went on to become the dean of women and head of the department of home economics at Hampton Institute and then head of the home economics department at the prestigious Howard University in Washington, D. C. Through her work Dr. Kittrell also gained wide prominence as an international nutrition expert. At a March 2014 talk at Mann Library, Allison Horrocks, 2013 Dean's Fellowship recipient in the History of Home Economics in the College of Human Ecology, traces Kittrell's rise to prominence as an educator and nutrition expert, connecting her story to a diverse range of activists and academics working within the field. By looking closely at her work "at home" and abroad, she suggests new ways of thinking about the possibilities for women within the field of home economics.

With ancient roots in Mesopotamia and Central Asia, falconry also finds impassioned practitioners in North America. At an exhibit lectureat Mann Library, writer, wildlife photographer, and falconer Timothy Gallagher presents a history of this art, touching in particular on its current practice in the U.S. Currently, editor-in-chief of "Living Bird," the flagship publication of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Gallagher has had a lifelong interest in wilderness exploration and falcons. ThisApril 2014 talk was presented in conjunction with Mann's exhibit "An Extreme Stirrer-Up of Passions: Falconry at Cornell and Beyond," which put a spotlight on ancient, yet still vibrant world of falconry with gorgeous photography, fascinating artifacts, and items from Cornell University Library's extensive falconry collection.

`How have ideas on development changed since the Second World War? The certainties of the postwar period are no longer with us anymore, and we find gaps between the goals of public policy and what is achieved by practice. In an April 2014 talk at Mann Library economist Ravi Kanbur presents his new book "International Development: Ideas, Experience, and Prospects." This work examines how the real-life experiences of different countries and organizations have been inspired by and have in turn contributed to the ideas behind development. As Dr. Kanbur argues, by bridging the worlds of academic analysis and practical policy making in developing economies, people and organizations can achieve more successful outcomes. Ravi Kanbur is the T. H. Lee Professor of World Affairs, International Professor of Applied Economics and Management, and Professor of Economics at Cornell.

Today'suniversities are challenged to become more actively engagedwith society, government, and the private sector. By partnering with people to reduce inequities and provide greater access to knowledge gained from anthropological research, universities can play a larger role in democratizing society. This engaged stance moves the application of theory, methods, and practice toward action and activism, and reduces the growth of disparities in underserved communities. In a talk presented at Mann Library in April 2014, Sam Beck, senior lecturer in the College of Human Ecology and director of Cornell's Urban Semester Program, presents his new book "Toward Engaged Anthropology." Co-edited by Carl A. Maida, the book offers a collection of essays by seven experts on a new form of engaged, public anthropology that is taking hold in the field.

New York is fermenting a renaissance. Once the leading producer of hops and beer in the United States, the Empire State is beginning to see a vibrant revival in hops cultivation and the growth of microbreweries. At a Cornell Reunion 2014 lecture at Mann Library, Steve Miller, hops specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County, and Randy Lacey '77, MEng. '99, owner of Hopshire Farm and Brewery in Freeville, N.Y., present a look at the history and current developments in the production of hops and the emergence of farm breweries in the state. This program was presented in conjunction with Mann Library's summer exhibit, "For a Quart of Ale Is a Dish Fit for a King: The Craft Beer Tradition and Its Revival in New York State."

Environmental crises,economic challenges, and a variety of major disruptions of recent yearshave led toawareness for the need tounderstandboth the theory and practice of crisis management, especially from the human perspective. How can our deep connection with nature be transformativeand help us recover from these disasters?In a September 2014 Chats in the Stackstalk presentedat Mann Library, Keith Tidball discusses his new book, coedited with Cornell professor of natural resources Marianne Krasny, to review a variety of research and policy frameworks that explore how green spaces help us recover from disastrous events and become more resilient communities. Dr. Tidball is senior extension associatein the Department of Natural Resources in the Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, program leader for the Nature and Human Security Program,and associate director of Cornell's Civic Ecology Lab (CEL). He is also currently a visiting scholar forUSDA NIFA, the New York State coordinator for the Extension Disaster Education Network, and facultyfellow for the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future.

The creation of the euro in the late 20th century challenged the U.S. dollar's position as the world's leading reserve currency, and the Chinese renminbi has also emerged as a rising competitor. With the recent global financial crisis and ineffective policy making brought on by political dysfunction in the United States, many have continued to speculate that the dollar's pedestal position in the global economy will likely be displaced. Yet, as Eswar Prasad points out in his new book "The Dollar Trap"the crisis has paradoxicallystrengthened the dollar's prominence in global finance and made it the most sought-after currency. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library in September 2014, Dr. Prasad explains his surprising argument, touching on contemporary issues in international finance—including the influence of emerging markets, the currency wars, the complexities of the China-U.S. relationship, and the role of institutions such as domestic judiciaries and international lending agencies. Eswar S. Prasad is Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy at Cornell's Dyson School of Applied Economics and the Cornell Department of Economics, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

For the last three decades, the neoliberal regime has shaped production and consumption in the agriculture and food business. Policies of the new global economy emphasize economic growth through deregulation, market integration, expansion of the private sector, and contraction of the welfare state. Neoliberalism proposes that our well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms with the support of institutional frameworks. Have we now reached some institutional and materiallimits? Is the neoliberal regime exhausted? What are the opportunities and risks linked to the alternatives to the neoliberal model? Steven Wolf addresses these questions in a book talk presented at Mann Library in October 2014. The Neoliberal Regime inthe Agri-Food Sector, co-edited with Alessandro Bonanno, presents an informed, constructive dialogue about the limits of neoliberal policies and grapples with the concepts of regimes, systemic crisis and transitions. Dr. Wolf is associate professor in the Department of Natural Resources in Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,and senior lecturer in the Center for Environmental Policy at Imperial College, University of London, UK.

The American Dream has captured the imagination of all of us, but what is the price we pay for our individual pursuit of this ideal? The United States currently leads the developed world in the extent of its income inequality, with some 80 percent of the US population at risk of economic vulnerability at some point in their lifetimes. Combining personal interviews and a longitudinal study covering 40 years of income data, Cornell professor of development sociology Tom Hirschl's new book "Chasing the American Dream," which isco-authored with sociologists Mark Rank and Kirk Foster, describes the ups and downs of a riskier and more unequal economy and suggests that personal success and economic well-being are becoming harder to reach. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk presented at Mann Library in November 2014, Hirschl discusses this workto recast our understanding of the American dream in terms that encompass not only wealth, but economic security and the pursuit of one's passions.

Recent technological advances have presented a new view of the world to biologists, one in which obligate alliances between animals and microbes are the rule rather than the exception. The microbial partners, while sometimes occurring at such densities as to be visible to the naked eye, are often best studied with the use of powerful microscopes.The combination of the subject matter and the microscopic methods render the images startlingly beautiful. In a November 2014 lecture at Mann Library, Margaret McFall Ngai reflects on new research that has dramatically changed our understanding of the ways in which microbes are crucial to the well-being of plants and animals, and explores the new ways that both scientists and artists are finding to express the beauty of this symbiotic relationship. This lecture was presented in conjunction with the exhibit: "Shifting the Paradigm: Microbes as Animal Helpmates," on display in the Mann Gallery, November 2014 –January 2015. Dr. McFall Ngai is Professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and affiliate professor at the University of Hawaii. Oneof the foremost life scientists inthe fields of immunology, symbiosis, and marine biology, she is also serving as Andrew Dickson WhiteProfessor-at-Large at Cornell University through 2017.

Outlined in the Morrill Land Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890, the land-grant mission was not only about agricultural development, butabout changing the world in positive, meaningful ways and creating greater opportunity for all. Today, the essence of the land-grant is in its mission of service and service-minded leadership, providing a liberal and relevant education, whether that be crafting the undergraduate academic experience, stimulating research, or engaging with the community through extension activities. In a 2015 book talk at Mann Library presented as part of Cornell's Sesquicentennial anniversary celebration, Cornell professor of human development Robert Sternberg draws from his new book, "The Modern Land-Grant University," to reflect on the land-grant mission in 21stcentury context and highlight the challenges that today's land-grant universities face in an increasingly competitive higher education environment.

Talk was not filmed per speaker's request

Communities around the world are coming together to rebuild and restore local environments that have been affected by crisis or disaster. In New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, in New York after Hurricane Sandy, in Soweto after apartheid, and in many morecities, people work together to restore nature, renew communities, and heal themselves. In a Mann LibraryChats in the Stacks book talk with Marianne Krasny, professor of natural resources and director of Cornell's Civic Ecology Labdiscusses hernew book,"Civic Ecology: Adaptation and Transformation from the Ground Up"(MIT Press, January 2015) TO highlight stories about this emerging grassroots environmental stewardship and offera framework for understanding this growing international phenomenon."Civic Ecology"is coauthored by Keith Tidball (Dept. of Natural Resources) and used for the MOOC class "Civic Ecology: Reclaiming Broken Places" offered through EdX. Their research investigates how people, practices, and communities interact to produce successful outcomes.

In architecture and design, the postwar period in America saw the rise of a new phenomenon: ergonomics research. The primary aim of ergonomics was to improve human environments by studying a wide range of factors that influenced use. These broad-ranging and ambitious studies, which covered everything from anatomical to psychological factors, could only be realized by bringing together large multidisciplinary research teams, including engineers, architects, planners, medics, engineers, home economists, and psychologists.

Forests can have both high environmental and financially remunerative value, yielding marketable products such as American ginseng, shiitake mushrooms, ramps (wild leeks), maple syrup, fruit and nut trees, ornamentals, and more. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library commemorating this year's Earth Day celebration, Steve Gabriel, author of Farming the Woods: An Integrated Permaculture Approach to Growing Food and Medicinals in Temperate Forests (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2014), highligts proven ways that forest owners and stewards can successfully cultivate, harvest, and market high-value non-timber forest crops. Providing an in-depth guide on productive ways to manage an established woodland, Farming the Woods is a must-read for farmers and gardeners interested in incorporating aspects of agroforestry, permaculture, forest gardening, and sustainable woodlot management into the concept of a whole-farm organism. The book is co-authored by Ken Mudge (Emeritus Professor of Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences). Gabriel is agroforestry specialist for the Cornell Small Farms Program and farms mushrooms, maple syrup, and other forest products locally.

The historic horticultural catalog collection of the L. H. Bailey Hortorium presents a treasure trove of information for historians of agriculture, art and popular culture. It also offers valuable clues for plant scientists focused on germplasm diversity for healthy crop production. The 2015 Cornell reunion talk at Mann Library takes up the question of preservation for both history and sustainability. Dr. James Giovannoni (Boyce Thompson Institute / USDA) spotlights the case of the tomato, the history of its domestication, the preservation of heirloom varieties and current efforts to reclaim lost diversity for continued crop improvement. Co-speaker Marty Schlabach (Mann Library) tells the story of the Bailey catalog collection and the Library's collaboration with the online Biodiversity Heritage Library to preserve and make this renowned resource accessible to the world.Cosponsored by Mann Library and the Cornell School of Integrative Plant Science, this event waspresented in conjunction with Mann Library's summer 2015 exhibit, "In Vibrant Color: Historic Seed & Nursery Catalogs fromthe Ethel Z. Bailey Collection."

The historic horticultural catalog collection of the L. H. Bailey Hortorium presents a treasure trove of information for historians of agriculture, art and popular culture. It also offers valuable clues for plant scientists focused on securing germplasm diversity for healthy crop production. A reunion talk given at Mann Library in June 2015 takes up the question of preservation for both history and sustainability. Dr. James Giovannoni (Boyce Thompson Institute / USDA) spotlights the case of the tomato, the history of its domestication, the preservation of heirloom varieties and current efforts to reclaim lost diversity for continued crop improvement. Co-speaker Marty Schlabach (Mann Library) tells the story of the Bailey catalog collection and the Library's collaboration with the online Biodiversity Heritage Library to preserve and make this renowned resource accessible to the world. Cosponsored by Mann Library and the Cornell School of Integrative Plant Science, this event was presented in conjunction with Mann Library's exhibit, "In Vibrant Color: Historic Seed & Nursery Catalogs from the Ethel Z. Bailey Collection," on display at Mann Library June - August 2015.

Recording was of low quality so no video was produced.

The last decade has seen some dramatic food price fluctuations, especially for commodities such as rice, wheat, and maize, with huge impacts on poverty and malnutrition worldwide. Despite the importance of agriculture in many developing countries' economies, few understand the processes that led to the policy responses during this time. Nor was the relative power and behavior of stakeholders well recognized. Understanding the reasons behind these past responses to food price fluctuations is important for shaping new strategies to confront future price volatility in the market.Food Price Policyin an Era of Market Instability, edited by Dr. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, aims to illuminate these factors by presenting political economy studies of food price policy in 14 developing countries as well as the United States and the European Union. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk given at Mann Library in September 2015, Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen summarizes some of thepublication'skey points to identify policies that governments should be shapingnow to avoid the disastrous consequences of future food price spikes for the world's most vulnerable populations. Until his retirement in 2013, professor emeritus and World Food Prize laureate Per Pinstrup-Andersen served as the H. E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, the J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship, and Professor of Applied Economics at Cornell University. He is currently adjunct professor at Copenhagen University, chairman of the High Panel of Experts on Food Security (HLPE) and vice chairman of the World Economic Forum's Council on food Security.

How do low incomefamilies make ends meet in the twenty-first century? Now that welfare has radically changed, more "working poor" parents are trading welfare checks for low-wage jobs. Their earnings qualify them for hefty checks when filing income tax returns with the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and other refunds. Such tax credits reach some 26 million working families—far more households than welfare ever supported—and help many to catch up on debt and make large purchases. Yet, even though these annual cash windfallsmay be worth several months' wages, families tend to fall short when trying to build up savings on meager wages. "It's Not Like I'm Poor, "co-authored by Laura Tach (Dept. of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell College of Human Ecology) with Sarah Halpern-Meekin, Kathryn Edin, and Jennifer Sykes, draws on a study of 115 working family households to reflect on these issues. Presenting some of the book's highlights in a Chats in the Stacks book talk given at Mann Library in October 2015, Professor Tachdiscusses the costs and benefits of the new work-based safety net, suggesting ways to augment its strengths in order to better alleviate poverty and help more of the working poor realize their goals for a middle-class life.

Talk was not filmed per speaker's request

In 2007-2008, grain and oilseed prices tripled and increased even more in 2010-2011 and again in 2012-2013, reversing the long run decline in the real prices of food commodities and increasing price volatility. Unlike previous price booms that were followed by a bust, these increases have been a boom and a boom and a boom, but no bust. Why?The Economics of Biofuel Policies,addresses this question, highlighting the unprecedented link that national biofuel policies created between crop and biofuel prices.The study proposes a new theory of crop price determination and presents empirical evidence demonstrating how biofuel policies caused on average 80% of the grain crop price increasesince 2007. In a November 2015 book talk given at Mann Library, Dr. Harry de Gorterof the Cornell Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management illuminates the way that these policies have changedthe way we analyze commodity prices and food security in developing countries, generatinga $1 billion per day subsidy to crop farmers, whileaffecting food prices for the nearly 1 billion people who went to bed hungry every night BEFORE the price boomas well as foranother 2 billion people who spend at least 50% of their income on basic foodstuffs.The Economics of Biofuel Policieswas co-authored by Dr. de Gorter, Dr. Dusan Drabik of Wageningen University and the University of Leuven, and Dr. David Just, also of the Cornell Dyson School.

Around the turn of the 20th century, Cornell professor Ralph Stockman Tarrand his students and collaborators organized several expeditions to glaciated areas in Greenland and Alaska. Hundreds of photographs taken during the expeditions captured both the stunning beauty of these areas as well as datathat is provingvaluable to the field of glaciology today. Drawing from this imageryas well as very recent data gathered onsite andby satellite, Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric sciences Matt Pritchard highlights changes that have occurred in the glacial landscapes of Alaska and Greenland over the past hundred years. The emerging picture is more complicated than many might think, but the evidence shows an importanteffectthat glacier melt will likely have on global sea levels. Prof. Pritchard's lecture formally openedtheexhibit "Historic Ice: Alaska and Greenland's Glaciers Through the Lens of the Cornell Expeditions 1896-1911" on display in the Mann Gallery November 2015 through January 2016. Both exhibit and lecture were presentedas part of special programmingat Mann Library, showcasingfaculty work and further encourage cross-disciplinary thinking about climate change.

In 2009, award-winning economist Kaushik Basu took temporary leave from the world of academia at Cornell University to become economic adviser to the Government of India and then assume the position of Chief Economist of the World Bank and Senior Vice President of the World Bank Group. In his book An Economist in the Real World (MIT Press, October 2015), Basu describes the art of economic policymaking and offers a unique perspective on India's economic development that is both rigorous and personal. In this Chats in the Stacks book talk Basu describes his years as chief economic adviser and reveals the complex challenges facing India, a subcontinent with more than a billion people. Bringing his background as economic theorist, scientist, and anthropologist to his role as practicing economic advisor, he discovers how difficult it is to apply economic models to the real world of deal-making and corruption. He soon learned that effective policymaking integrates technical knowledge with political awareness.

In "The Half Has Never Been Told," historian Edward Baptist argues that slavery was at the heart of the development of early 19th-century capitalism. By 1850, American slaves were worth 1.3 billion, one-fifth of the nation's wealth. And slavery not only enriched the South but also drove the industrial boom in the North, eventually leading to the modernization of the United States. Baptist's extensive research and insights recognize the full legacy of the millions who suffered in bondage. Edward Baptist is associate professor of history at Cornell University. His book was awarded the 2015 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism and the 2015 Avery O. Craven OAH Award. This event was hosted by Olin Library, part of the Chats in the Stacks series.

The safety and health benefits of GMO foods has been a contentious issue in the media lately, and the development of recombinant DNA methods signifies major changes in the food industry. Crops which have been genetically modified are being cultivated in more and more countries, and the process is likely to accelerate as desirable traits are identified. Many critics claim that the modification of the genome of plants or animals poses an unacceptable risk to the consumer. But does it, really? At a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library in February 2016, Dr. Joe Regenstein, Cornell Professor Emeritus of Food Science, draws from his new book to spotlight the documented effectsofgenetic modification production methods on the quality of feed for animals and ultimately the safety of food for human consumption. As Dr. Regenstein argues, genetically modified crops do not pose significant food safety risks, but for those who remain concerned, the growing organic food industry will secure a viable option for consumer food choices.

What does it mean to dream over a book? In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Elisha Cohn explores the 19th century aesthetics of agency through the Victorian novel's fascination with states of reverie, trance, and sleep. Drawing upon the writings of novelists Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, George Meredith, and Thomas Hardy, she discusses the new styles they created for experiences of still life— a sensuous lyricism that suspends narratives of self-cultivation. Her book "Still Life: Suspended Development in the Victorian Novel" was published by Oxford University Press in December 2015. Elisha Cohn is assistant professor in the Department of English at Cornell Univeristy. For more information, visit https://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/booktalks.

Focusing on the homemaker as the primary user of domestic interior, the Home Economics movement formulated a spatial model that differed from the dominant spatial ideal of architectural modernism in the first half of the twentieth century. Whereas the home economists' model was intended to protect the user from overexertion, assuming the engagement of the user's whole body, the dominant modernist model's intention was mainly to reward the spirit via the aesthetic experience transmitted by optic data. In a lecture presented at Mann Library in March 2016, Anna S. Myjak-Pycia,recipient of the 2015 Dean's Fellowship in the History of Home Economicsat the CornellCollege of Human Ecology, draws on evidence gathered from archival research on both the movement's theory and practice to highlightthe tactile aspect of the home economists' conception of domestic interior.

Many people are captivated by the amazing variety of birds they see and hear, and observing birds can be a life-enriching pursuit. To explore avian diversity requires a mental map that helps us organize our experiences and observations, and fortunately, the scientific classification of birds provides exactly what we need. "Bird Families of the World"presents thisframework in a richly illustrated reference guide and learning tool—useful to ornithologists and amateur birding enthusiasts alike—for understanding the diversity of the world's birds. In a March 2016 book talk at Mann Library, Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology David Winkler introduces this important work, co-authored with Shawn Billerman (Dept. of Zoology & Physiology, University of Wyoming) and Irby J. Lovette (Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology).

Giovanni Boccaccio's masterpiece "The Decameron" challenges the reader to look beyond the surface and offers us an opportunity to talk about the ethical choices we make. The dialogue is born of stories: the one hundred stories told by the ten Florentines who escape the Black Death of 1348, the stories the Author tells about the Florentines, the stories the Author tells about himself, and many more. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk hosted by Olin Library, Marilyn Migiel discusses her new book "The Ethical Dimension of the 'Decameron',"University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division September, 2015. According to Migiel, the Decameron catches us as we move through it, obligating us to reveal ourselves, inviting us to reflect on how we form our assessments, and calling upon us to be mindful of our responsibility to judge patiently and carefully. By examining this dialogue, we gain insights into our own values and biases. Marilyn Migiel is professor and chair of the Department of Romance Studies at Cornell University.

At the turn of the last century, when farming first began to face the most rapid series of changes that industrialization would bring, Liberty Hyde Bailey, a public intellectual known as the "Father of Modern Horticulture," offered one of the most compelling voices representing the agrarian tradition. Botanist, farmer, naturalist, philosopher, university professor and Dean of the College of Agriculture at Cornell University from 1903 to 1913, he was moved by an enthusiasm and love for everything to do with life in the countryside, including gardening, forestry, and the economy, politics and culture of rural communities. In 1915, Bailey's environmental manifesto, "The Holy Earth," addressed the industrialization of society with a message of responsible land stewardship that as relevant now as it was one hundred years ago. Bailey called for "a new hold" that society must take to develop a "morals of land management." In a panel discussion held at Mann Library in April 2016, speakers Scott Peters (Dept. of Development Sociology); Jim Tantillo (Dept. of Natural Resources) and John Linstrom (Dept. of Engish, New York University and the former curator and director of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Museum in South Haven, Michigan), share their own distinct view points on Bailey's life, work, and philosophy of environmental stewardship. Held during Earth Day week in 2016, the presentation also celebrates the release of the 100th anniversary edition of Liberty Hyde Bailey's classic work, published in May 2015 with a new introduction by 21st century environmental activist and writer Wendell Berry.

Little more than flavored sugar-water, soda drinks have given their makers--principally Coca-Cola and PepsiCo--global recognition, distribution, and political power. In a book talk at Mann Library, renowned food policy expert and public health advocate Dr. Marion Nestle discusses her newest book, Soda Politics: Taking On Big Soda (And Winning), highlighting a contradiction within the soda industry. Industry leaders have recently shown some concern about the public health impact of over-consumption of soda and have applied some greater transparency in their research funding process. Yet their marketing strategies, both in the U.S. and overseas, continue to aim at making drinking soda as common as drinking water. While the implications of soda's marketing success for problems of obesity, diabetes and other health issues are now serious the world over, Dr. Nestle also points out that some public health strategies—including new taxes on soda sales—are proving useful to counteract this effect. Marion Nestle is visiting professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University and Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and professor of sociology at NYU. Her research examines scientific and socioeconomic influences on food choice, obesity, and food safety, emphasizing the role of food marketing. She is the author of several prize-winning books. In May 2015, Soda Politics received the James Beard Award for Writing and Literature.

Following years of unprecedented scarcity in snow and rain fall, California had a nice, wet winter this year...but when it comes to dry weather, the American West is not out of the woods. In this Reunion lecture at Mann Library, Assistant Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Dr. Toby Ault avails himself of both hard data and old-fashioned teaching props to explain how global warming is happening and what the long-term trends are likely to be. Having captured the recent attention of U.S. scientists and policy makers, Dr. Ault's own work with climate model projections and paleoclimate suggest a significant risk of megadrought—drought conditions lasting more than 10, 25, even 50 years—in certain areas of the United States. Research insights such as these hold some major implications for food production across the country, and can be used to shape effective regional agricultural adaptation and mitigation strategies to cope with the varying impacts of climate change in the coming decades. Prof. Ault's talk is presented in conjunction with the exhibit "Climate Smart Farming: New York State Farmers in Their Own Words," showcasing recent collaborations between the Cornell Institute for Climate Change and Agriculture (CICCA) and New York State farmers, to encourage climate-smart farming strategies in the region. This lecture and exhibit were presented as capstone events in Mann Library's year of special programming on climate change. For more information about the event series, please visit http://mannlib.cornell.edu/news/year-thinking-creatively-about-climate-change.

In his new book, Following the Wild Bees(Princeton University Press), biologist Thomas Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, vividly describes the history and science behind a lost pastime: bee hunting. Once practiced widely but little known today, the tradition involves capturing and feeding honey bees, then releasing and following them back to their secret residences in hollow trees, old buildings or abandoned hives. Providing both practical tips and new insights into the remarkable behavior of bees living in the wild, Dr. Seeley's book also offers a unique meditation on the pleasures of the natural world. As more people become aware of the essential role that honeybees play in our global agroecosystem, in Following the Wild Beesreaders will find an excellent guide for learning an old craft and experiencing the rich insights gleaned fromclose observation ofthe teeming activity found in our everydayenvironmentoutdoors.Thomas Seeley is the Horace White Professor in Biology in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornelland theauthor of three previous books: Honeybee Ecology (1985, Princeton), The Wisdom of the Hive (1995, Harvard), and Honeybee Democracy (2010, Princeton).

There is a growing anxiety about investing in higher education today, with rising tuition and increasing student debt, but overall, college graduates still earn more than those who do not have a degree and have more career opportunities. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Daniel Schwarz, Frederic J. Whiton Professor of English Literature and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell University, shares an insightful guide to the undergraduate experience. His book "How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning" (Wiley-Blackwell, February 2016), helps students balance the joy of learning with the necessity of career preparation. Reflecting on his forty-eight years as a faculty member, Schwarz shares feedback and suggestions from previous students, colleagues, and university administrators. Not only is his book a guide for applying to college, but it provides advice to parents, includes information about searching for financial aid, and lays out the options available to students during each year of study and after graduation. Schwarz highlights the importance of studying the humanities, no matter what your major. Benefits include learning how to write effectively, speak articulately, and think critically. This event was sponsored by Olin Library in Fall 2016.

The rise of mass incarceration in the United States is one of the most critical outcomes of the last half-century. Peter Enns, associate professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University and executive director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, offers a very compelling explanation of this issue and helps us understand the forces that led the United States to becoming the world's leader in incarceration. In a Fall 2016 Chats in the Stacks book talk sponsored by Olin Library, he presented his new book "Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World" (Cambridge University Press; March 2016). Enns combines in-depth analysis of Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon's presidential campaigns with sixty years of data analysis, and he reveals how politicians responded to an increasingly punitive public by pushing policy in a more punitive direction. He argues that media coverage of rising crime rates helped fuel the public's "tough on crime" outlook that led to a rapid rise in incarceration. Today's less punitive views have resulted in bipartisan calls for criminal justice reform, and his research provides important new insights that will help shape future policies.

Until very recently, health experts thought that humans were better off without the microorganisms that live in our bodies and on our skins, and sought to eliminate these microbes that cohabitate with us. New insights however have shown us that these microorganisms have been with us for centuries,supporting our ancestors, and comprisinga majority of the cells in and on our bodies. In a Chats in the Stacks book talkpresented in September 2016at Mann Library, award-winning researcher and Cornell professor of immunotoxicology Rodney Dietert draws from the current understanding of microbes to put a spotlight on the lives that dwell within us and the protective effect they may be able to exert for us against non-communicable diseases.His new book, "The Human Superorganism" (Dutton, 2016), presents a new paradigm in human biology, offering an empowering self-care guide and the blueprint for a revolution in public health.

The Prophet Muhammad's reported traditions have evolved significantly to affect the social, cultural, and political lives of all Muslims. Though centuries of scholarship were spent on the authentication and trustworthiness of the narrators, there has been less study focused on the contents of these narratives, known as Hadith or Sunnah, and their corroboration by the Qur`an. Nimat Hafez Barazangi, research fellow in the Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies Program at Cornell University, discusses her new book Women's Identity and Rethinking the Hadith (Routledge; November 2015), a passionate plea for Muslim women to reclaim the egalitarian message of their faith and their identity to Islam. The book is a first step in a comprehensive attempt to contrast Hadith with the Qur`an in order to uncover some of the unjust practices by Muslims concerning women and gender issues. This event was sponsored by Olin Library, part of the Chats in the Stacks book talk series.

Cornell University is one of a handful of academic institutions with a collection of breathtakingly beautiful glass invertebrate models created by the 19thcentury father-son glass-sculpting team, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. In her new book, Sea of Glass(University of California Press, 2016), Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Drew Harvell documents an amazing journey guided by the Blaschka's brilliant artistry.Working from drawings made in the course of ocean-faring expeditions of the day,over their lifetimethe Blaschkas created over 10,000 intricate, life-size sculptures of marine life as it was found in oceans not yet touched by climate change and other large-scale human activity.Over 150 years later, Sea ofGlasstakes readers on the voyage of a lifetime, recounting discoveries made in rarely seen underwater environments populated by of some of the most surprising and ancient animals on earth. Harvell's quest: Learning how the astonishingly beautiful creatures rendered so brilliantly in glass by the Blaschkas over a century ago are faring in the beleaguered oceans of our 21st century world. In a book talk givenat Mann Library in conjunction with Mann's special fall 2016 exhibit program, "Exploring a Sea of Glass: A Celebration of Art, Biology and History Through the Works of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka," Harvell presents some of the wondrous sights and sobering lessons of her exploration.

How does poetic reference in largely abstract works affect their interpretation? Mary Jacobus talks about her new book Reading Cy Twombly (Princeton University Press; August 30, 2016), an illuminating study that focuses on the artist's use of poetry in his paintings and drawings, many of which include handwritten words and phrases—naming or quoting poets ranging from Sappho, Homer, and Virgil to Mallarmé, Rilke, and Cavafy. The careful examination of Twombly's scrawled quotations and verbal scribbles allows us to have a captivating conversation with the artist's imagination. In the artist's own words, he "never really separated painting and literature." Mary Jacobus is professor emerita of English at the University of Cambridge, Anderson Professor of English and Women's Studies at Cornell from 1980-2000, and Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall at the University of Oxford. In 2011-12, she returned to Cornell as M. H. Abrams Distinguished Visiting Professor. She has written widely on visual art, Romanticism, feminism, and psychoanalysis. Her recent books include The Poetics of Psychoanalysis: In the Wake of Klein and Romantic Things: A Tree, a Rock, a Cloud. This event is hosted by Olin Library and part of the Chats in the Stacks book talk series.

What promotes health and happiness in old age?Major advances in research have led us to a better understanding of the physical and psychological changes in old age. Although older adults often face significant health problems and personallosses, they are able to maintain high levels of well-being because their emotion regulation skills are more effective than those of younger adults. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library in November 2016, Associate Professor of Human Development Corinna Loeckenhoff in the College of Human Ecology highlights recent scientific advances demonstrating the profound effects of emotion on well-being and physical health. Co-edited withDr.Anthony Ong, also of the Dept. of Human Development in the Cornell College of Human Ecology, Emotion, Aging and Healthpresents studies written by leading researchers in the field that explore the reciprocal relations between aging and emotion and provide applications that will promote mental and physical health across the lifespan. The presented research also highlights the role of culture and motivation in shaping emotional experience, and state-of-the-art methods and approaches for intervention.

Rural societies around the world are changing in fundamental ways, both at their own initiative and in response to external forces. Is the field of rural studies keeping up with these changes? David L. Brown, International Professor of Development Sociology and co-director of the Community & Regional Development Institute at Cornell University, and Mark Shucksmith of the Newcastle University Institute for Social Renewal have co-edited a new book that addresses the challenge of studying rural societies in the 21st century from a variety of social science perspectives. The Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studiestakes a problem-focused approach to examine the organization and transformation of rural society in more developed regions of the world. Joining Dr. Brown in a panel discussion at Mann Library in February2017 were chapter authors David Kay (Development Sociology and Community and Regional Development Institute, Cornell University), Kai Schafft (Penn State Department of Educational Policy), Ann Tickamyer and Leland Glenna (both of Penn State's Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology). Panelists discussed emerging challenges facing rural communities, including demographic changes and economic transformations, food systems and land use, environmental issues, rising inequality, and new social dynamics impacted by institutional capacities and governance. Also considered was the role of land grant social science in ameliorating rural problems in today's globalized economy—and what lessons might be drawn from the outcome of the U.S. 2016 presidential election for the study of American rural communities this century.

Patrizia McBride examines the paradoxical narrative features of the photo montage aesthetics of artists associated with Dada, Constructivism, and the New Objectivity, in her new book, The Chatter of the Visible: Montage and Narrative in Weimar Germany. These montages have commonly been associated with the purposeful interruption of a narrative, but she offers new refreshing perspectives on the Weimar montage. Providing a compelling argument that these narrative textures actually exceed constraints imposed by "flat" print media, her masterful analyses is path-breaking for Literary and Media Studies. McBride is professor of 20th-century German literature, culture and aesthetic theory in the Department of German Studies at Cornell. This event was sponsored by Olin Library, part of the Cornell University Library Spring 2017 Chats in the Stack book talk series.

China's growing global prominence is taking the world by storm and reshaping global finance. With the recent rise in the renminbi, China's currency since 1949, China's international influence has expanded, and its currency could someday even rival the euro and the Japanese yen. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk given at Mann Library in February 2017, Eswar Prasad, one of the world's leading experts on international finance and the Chinese economy, presents his new book examining the rise of the renminbi and its implications for global finance today. Starting with a brief look at the deep history of currency development in China, Dr. Prasad examines the important role that China's expanding prosperity and targeted government policy have secured for the renminbi in the world's global economy. However, as Dr. Prasad convincingly argues, the lagging alignment between China's economic reforms of the past decades and the country's political and legal institutions signifies an important truth: While the renminbi's position in the world economy is likely to continue growing in coming years, it does not pose a serious challenge to the U.S. dollar's dominance. Eswar Prasad is Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. Prasad holds the New Century Chair in International Economics at the Brookings Institution and is research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Gay youth today describe themselves as proud, happy, and grateful – something many of us would have found surprising a generation ago. Yet many adults seem skeptical about this change in perceptions and attitudes. What does it mean to be gay today? Professor Ritch Savin-Williams, professor emeritus of developmental psychology in the Cornell College of Human Ecology, observes that huge gaps still remain in our knowledge about gay youth's basic developmental needs, their sexual and romantic life, and overall well-being. With his new book, Becoming Who I Am: Young Men on Being Gay, Savin-Williams aims to begin filling this void, exploring identity and sexuality as told by today's generation of gay young men. Through a series of in-depth interviews with teenagers and men in their early 20s, he offers a contemporary perspective on gay lives in present day America. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library in March 2017, Dr. Savin-Williams shared highlights from this work and some thoughts about what his findings suggest for the future of gay youth in an age of growing tolerance.

New edible fats with names like "Hogless Lard" and "Cottolene" entered the American diet in the late 19th century, and Americans sought help from the first generation of home economists to understand these novel foodstuffs. For the next century, experts in home economics and allied disciplines grappled with questions about the taste, affordability, and healthiness of fats. Cornell home economists deftly navigated early controversies, and then as national food policy shifted during World Wars and the Depression, helped shape new outreach campaigns explaining practical uses of the new fats and the science behind them. In the post-war era, debates over fat, cholesterol, and heart disease demonstrated the continuing importance of home economists as communicators who translated technical--and often contradictory--research findings for public audiences. In a public seminar at Mann Library, historian Jonathan Robins, examines the changing debates over new fats in the 20th century American diet, highlighting the role of home economists in this history and the ways in which researchers in other disciplines appropriated nutrition as their own domain, divorcing food from its social context. Robins is assistant professor of global history at Michigan Technical University, where he researches and teaches the history of commodities. He is the recipient of the 2016 Dean's Fellowship recipient in the History of Home Economics in the Cornell College of Human Ecology.

The role of the visual arts in negotiating a sense of place and identity is an important one, and mural paintings reveal the complex ways that artists and viewers conceptualize the space they inhabit. In a Chats in the Stacks talk, assistant professor of history of art Ananda Cohen-Aponte will talk about her new book, Heaven, Hell, and Everything in Between (University of Texas Press, May 2016), about the vivid, often apocalyptic church murals of Peru from the early colonial period through the nineteenth century. By exploring the sociopolitical situation represented by the artists, she discovers that the murals are embedded in complex networks of trade, commerce, and the exchange of ideas between the Andes and Europe. She also sheds light on the unique ways that artists and viewers worked through difficult questions of representing sacredness. These murals provide a visual archive of the complex negotiations among empire, communities, and individuals.

Known for their bright colors and epic annual migration from the United States and Canada to Mexico, monarch butterflies are beautiful but complicated creatures of nature. In his new book, Cornell professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Anurag Agrawal presents a detailed investigation into the complex co-evolution occurring between the monarch and the incredibly toxic milkweed. The inextricable and intimate relationship between the monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant has been like an arms race over the millennia. Each spring, the monarch life cycle begins when it deposits eggs on the leaves. Even though the plants do all they can to poison the predators, the larvae appear to feed exclusively on them. The milky sap poisons contained in leaves and stems have not only shaped monarch-milkweed interactions but have been culturally important for centuries. In an April 2017 Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library, Agrawal discussed his recent scientific discoveries that reveal a battle of exploitation and defense between these two fascinating species. He also reviewed some of the current thinking as regarding the recent decline in monarch populations, the influence of habitat destruction, and his own theories as to why their numbers are plummeting.

Over the last ten years, the Arctic has gained international attention as a barometer for climate change and global warming. However, history has also shown that this region comes into sharpest focus in moments of global conflict and crisis; in this way, the Arctic can also be seen a gauge for geopolitical change. In a Chats in the Stacks talk sponsored by Olin Library, Dr. Dawn Alexandrea Berry discusses her new book Governing the North American Arctic: Sovereignty, Security, and Institutions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). Her book brings together contributions from distinguished international academics including the former Canadian National Defence Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, prominent Arctic leaders, and it includes official statements from diplomatic representatives of Canada, the United States, and Greenland. In addition, Dr. Berry highlights Cornell's historic role in early Arctic exploration and the security of the region, and she discusses the present-day challenges of governance in the Arctic. Dr. Berry is a visiting scholar in the Department of History at Cornell University, and former postdoctoral fellow in foreign policy, security studies, and diplomatic history at the Einaudi Center for International Studies.

Nicknamed "the firecracker poet" for his incendiary poems, such as "The Cry of the Renegade," Gómez Rojas was a member of the University of Chile's student federation which had come under repeated attack for its critiques of Chile's political system and ruling parties. Government officials accused the federation of destroying social order. Arrested for allegedly inciting a rebellion against the ruling party, as part of a "prosecution of subversives," Rojas joined other students and workers in Santiago's prison system in 1920, but after two months in custody he died in Santiago's asylum. Rojas became a powerful political martyr, influencing future Chilean politics and politicians including Pablo Neruda and Salvador Allende. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk sponsored by Olin Library, Raymond B. Craib, author of the new book The Cry of the Renegade: Politics and Poetry in Interwar Chile (Oxford University Press, August 2016), presents a compelling narrative history that reveals what drew people to anarchist ideas and forms of activism in interwar Chile. He describes a time when both radicalized university students, workers and worker-intellectuals gathered together to talk, read, and find common cause. Raymond Craib is professor of history and director of the Latin American Studies Program (LASP) at Cornell University.

English naturalist Mark Catesby (1683–1749) crossed the Atlantic to Virginia and, after a seven-year stay, returned to England with paintings of plants and animals he had studied. Impressed by his collection, several Fellows of the Royal Society sponsored his return to North America where he cataloged the flora and fauna of the Carolinas and the Bahamas by gathering seeds, specimens, compiling notes, and making watercolor sketches. Catesby devoted much of the rest of his life to producing his breathtakingly beautiful illustrated treatise The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, which documents the plants and animals he encountered in his exploration. Over 250 years later, this work continues to be a work that is deeply admired by scientists, artists, historians, and lovers of natural history alike. In a talk presented at Mann Library in April 2017, Leslie Overstreet, contributing author of the book The Curious Mister Catesby: A "Truly Ingenious" Naturalist Explores New Worlds (University of Georgia Press, March 2015), explores the story behind Catesby's masterpiece, providing insight into the printing history of this monumental work, the contributions it made to scientific knowledge of the day, and the role that books have played as valued artifacts in Western culture. Ms. Overstreet is the director of the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History and the Curator of Natural-History Rare Books at the Smithsonian Libraries in Washington D.C. Her book talk at Mann Library was part of the special spring 2017 exhibition program, "Mark Catesby: Naturalist in North America," co-sponsored by Mann Library and the Section of Horticulture in the Cornell School of Integrative Plant Sciences.

For centuries ornithological research has relied on the study of specimens to reveal the ecology, life histories and evolution of birds. Today we can also collect a new type of specimen, the "media specimen": an audio or video recording of a bird in nature. These recordings capture key aspects of wild bird behavior in ways that traditional physical specimens simply cannot. Drawing from his own work in Australia and North America as well as that of other Cornell scientists and students, Dr. Mike Webster (Dept. of Neurobiology & Behavior / The Macaulay Library, Cornell Lab of Ornithology) will show how media specimens are advancing modern-day research aimed at understanding and conserving birds and how inexpensive new technologies are allowing everyday "citizen scientists" to collect and use media specimens. Efforts such as these are allowing for broader participation in ornithological science, leading to a better understanding of birds at continental and even global scales, and fostering a deeper appreciation of the natural world. Dr. Webster's reunion talk at Mann Library was held in conjunction with the exhibit, "Around the World and Back: Building Cornell Nature Collections Through Exploration," on display in the Mann Gallery, April – September 2017.

Roads are the essential building blocks of economic development. Without roads, there can be no hydro projects, no electricity or telephone towers, and limited access to health care institutions and quality education. But what are the environmental, socioeconomic, and sociocultural impacts of expanding rural road networks?  In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library on September 7, 2017, Robert E. Beazley and James P. Lassoie present the findings of fieldwork in remote mountain areas of the Nepalese Himalaya to highlight the impact of recent road development on the environment, the economy, and local cultural practices in the region. While road construction can have important economic value for mountain communities, factors of geology, environment and political economy specific to the country pose particular challenges and obstacles to realizing these benefits. 

Now that we can "listen" to the cosmos, Professor Andrew Hicks argues that sound--and the harmonious coordination of sounds, sources, and listeners--has always been an integral part of the history of studying the cosmos.  According to Hicks, you might not expect to find music theory in the study of psychology, natural philosophy, geometry or astronomy, but in cosmology, all these realms come together. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk hosted by Olin Library, he offers a new intellectual history of the role of harmony in his book, "Composing the World: Harmony in the Medieval Platonic Cosmos" (Oxford University Press, 2017). His new book is about the "music of the spheres," its impact on our view of the universe, and how the models of musical cosmology popular in late antiquity and the twelfth century are still relevant today.

In a September 2017 Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library finance economist Maureen O'Hara presents her newest book to offer insights into some of the business practices that form murky gray areas in modern finance—practices that may be formally legal yet are of highly questionable ethical standard. Something for Nothing takes a humanistic approach to ethics in the financial industry to examine key cases such as the Goldman Greek transaction, Lehman Brothers' attempt to cover up its debt, JPMorgan Chase's maneuvers in California's energy markets, Bernie Madoff's trading strategies in the 1980s, and toxic loans in France. Highlighting areas where closer consideration of ethics is needed to ensure the wider public good in our modern economy, Something for Nothing is essential reading for people seeking an introduction to finance.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk hosted by Olin Library, Timothy Campbell, professor of Italian in the Department of Romance Studies and member of the graduate fields of Comparative Literature and Film and Video Studies, will discuss contemporary giving and its social forms.  His new book, "The Techne of Giving" (Fordham University Press, January 2017), investigates how we hold the objects of daily life in relation to neoliberal forms of gift-giving. Moving between visual studies, Winnicottian psychoanalysis, Foucauldian biopower, and apparatus theory, Campbell discusses the alternative ways to conceive of generosity. In his analysis of political philosophy and classic Italian films by Visconti, Rossellini, and Antonioni, he highlights new forms of gratitude that contemporary biopower cannot ignore.

The new digital economy has brought many creative and enterprising women to social media platforms in hopes of channeling their talents into fulfilling careers. But in a search for more meaningful professions or "dream jobs," many find only unpaid work. In her new book (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love: Gender, Social Media, and Aspirational Work Brooke Erin Duffy draws attention to the gap between the handful who find lucrative careers and those whose "passion projects" amount to free work for corporate brands. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library on September 28, 2017, Duffy draws from her book to reflect on the work and lives of fashion bloggers, beauty vloggers, and designers, and what their story suggests for women's career success in the new digital economy. 

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library in October 2017, Sharon Sassler, professor of policy analysis and management in the College of Human Ecology, explored insights from her new book, co-authored with Amanda Miller (Dept. of  Sociology, University of Indianapolis) to address these questions and highlight  impacts of social class and education on romantic relationships in an era of economic uncertainty, and what it means to live together in the 21st century.

Hirokazu Miyazaki and Richard Swedberg, editors of the new book "The Economy of Hope" (University of Pennsylvania Press, Dec. 2016), investigate hope in a broad range of socioeconomic situations and phenomena across time and space.  In their collection of essays, contributing authors from a variety of disciplinary vantage points, describe the resilience of hope and the methodological implications of studying it. From farm collectivization in Romania in the 1950s to Barack Obama's 2008 political campaign of hope in the financial global crisis, hope becomes an essential framework for an analysis of economic phenomena.

Using thrones, tables, mantles, frescoes, and manuscripts, Benjamin Anderson, assistant professor in the Department of History of Art and Visual Studies, discusses how cosmological motifs informed relationships between individuals, especially the ruling elite, and communities. His new book "Cosmos and Community in Early Medieval Art" (Yale University Press, Feb. 2017) is the first to consider such imagery across the dramatically diverse cultures of Western Europe, Byzantium, and the Islamic Middle East.  Anderson highlights the distinctions between the cosmological art of these three cultures and the importance of astronomical imagery to the study of art history.

Rapid structural transformation and urbanization are transforming agriculture and food production in rural areas across the world. Agriculture and Rural Development in a Globalizing Worldpresents contributions by eminent  scholars actively engaged in contemporary debates about current and future trends in the world's rural economies. In Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library in November 2017, co-editor Prabhu Pingali draws from these discussions to highlight the multi-faceted nature of agriculture and rural development and the greatest challenges facing the developing world. Dr. Pingali is a professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,with a joint appointment in the Division of Nutritional Sciences in the College of Human Ecology. He is the founding director of theTata-Cornell Institute of Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI). Prior to joining Cornell, he was the deputy director of the Agricultural Development Division of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, from 2008 to May 2013.

The women, peace, and security agenda has been at the forefront of international politics over the past decade. The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations has been integrating women into peacekeeping missions for nearly two decades. To what extent have peacekeeping operations achieved gender equality both within the organization and in host countries? While there have been major improvements related to women's participation and protection, there is still much left to be desired. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Sabrina Karim will discuss her new book, Equal Opportunity Peacekeeping (Oxford University Press, 2017), about gender power imbalances in United Nations peacekeeping missions. Discrimination, a relegation of women to safe spaces, sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment, and violence (SEAHV) continue to threaten progress on gender equality.

As technology catapults us into the future, the way we manage work and life is changing rapidly. As we move away from the traditional paradigm of work-life balance and enter the era of the fused work environment, there can often be misunderstandings between managers and direct-reports, as well as among coworkers. As work and life spheres become fused, especially for Millennials, and three generations make up the majority of the workforce, relationships with colleagues of different ages can often be challenging. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk Haeger discusses the differences in perspectives that different generations have on the work-life relationship, suggesting that a better understanding of these differences can inform successful policies related to technology used in the workplace, improve workplace interactions, and increase job satisfaction for all.

How can environmental education contribute to urban sustainability? Urban Environmental Education Review (Cornell University Press, 2017) presents perspectives from environmental educators around the world which debunk common assumptions that cities are ecologically barren, and that people who live in cities don't care about nature or a healthy environment. It presents novel educational approaches that can help practicing environmental educators, urban planners, and other environmental leaders achieve their goals to educate youth, build sustainable communities, and improve the natural environments in cities. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk co-editors Alex Kudryavtsev and Marianne Krasny lead a discussion that touches on these insights to highlight how learning opportunities in environmental stewardship foster individual and community well-being in cities in ways that both protect the environment and improve the quality of everyday life.

Juliana Rowen Barton, the 2017 Dean's Fellowship recipient in the History of Home Economics in the College of Human Ecology, examines the kitchen as the site of domestic debates about modernism, technology, taste, and identity in the mid-twentieth century. Ms. Barton is a Ph.D. candidate in the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in modern architecture and design. Her work has received support from the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. As the Andrew W. Mellon Graduate Fellow in Modern and Contemporary Design at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Ms. Barton co-curated "Design in Revolution: A 1960s Odyssey" (2018) with Kathryn Bloom Hiesinger.

Public schools are among America's greatest achievements in modern history, yet from the earliest days of tax-supported education, there have been intractable tensions tied to race and poverty. Noliwe Rooks, the author of Cutting School (The New Press, September 2017) will provide an analysis of our separate and unequal schools. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, she will explain why profiting from our nation's failure to provide a high-quality education to all children has become a very big business. Rooks will discuss controversial topics such as school choice, teacher quality, the school-to-prison pipeline, and more.

Cotton has been part of the human experience since ancient times, as fiber, yarn, textile, garment, and much more. Join us for a book talk about the world of cotton and how it became the "fabric of our lives." Tasha Lewis, editor of Cotton (Intellect Ltd.), will discuss the importance of this major resource for fashion businesses, the integrity of the industry, and the evolution of fashion design in the United States. Her book is based on an investigative research project that deployed undergraduate and graduate students, faculty researchers and businesses that rely on cotton to make their garments. The project gave them a better understanding of how this key resource is sourced, priced, transported, manipulated, and then sold to the consumer. Lewis will discuss the role of brands in the marketing of goods, and the importance of the "Made in the USA" campaign, with its appeal to consumers concerned about local employment and social responsibility.

There are many challenges and opportunities for driving innovation and entrepreneurship in the developing world today. Financing Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Markets explains how micro and macro foundations of productivity, and hence economic growth and development, are inextricably intertwined. Using case studies to portray the entrepreneurial firm and its role in accelerating the speed of innovation of new technologies, their research identifies common flaws undermining public venture programs. Casanova and Cornelius will discuss how domestic companies compete and what drives innovation using relevant examples of successful ventures from India and China, two of the largest emerging economies in the developing world.

By the end of World War One, most of West Africa found themselves colonized by either France, Britain, Germany or Portugal. One aspect of colonial rule was the abolition of slavery. The institution of indigenous slavery continues to influence social relations in West Africa today. Professor Sandra Greene will present her new book Slave Owners of West Africa (Indiana University Press, May, 2017). Exploring the lives of three prominent West African slave owners during the age of abolition, Greene discovers the reasons why these individuals reacted to the demise of slavery as they did. Her book emphasizes the notion that the decisions made by these individuals were deeply influenced by their personalities and desires to protect their economic and social status. Their insecurities and sympathies for wives, friends, and other associates had a significant impact on their actions.

A ten-fold increase in hard cider production over the past decade has created a tremendous need for research into the entire supply chain, from growing specialized cider apples to fermentation to marketing. Assistant professor of horticulture Dr. Gregory Peck ('09, PhD) will give an overview of the U.S. cider industry, how his cider research program and teaching are addressing industry needs, and how he is connecting historical texts from the collections at Cornell University Library to genetic fingerprinting in a single research project. This talk was presented as part of Mann Library's program for Cornell Reunion 2018 in conjunction with the exhibit "Apples to Cider: An Old Industry Takes New Root," on display in the Mann Library lobby through October 2018. Both the exhibit and Dr. Peck's talk also mark a new online collection of legacy literature books on apples and cider available to the public at the Biodiversity Heritage Library at biodiversitylibrary.org/collection/apples.

Current refugee policies and the politics of protection have become increasingly complex and contentious over the last couple of years. For over forty years, concerns about the threat of communism had a large role in determining US refugee and asylum policies, and the majority of those admitted as refugees came from communist countries. In the post-Cold War period, a wider range of geopolitical and domestic interests influence decisions about who will be admitted, and more recently, sympathy toward refugees and immigrants has dissipated greatly. How have domestic politics and national security concerns shaped policies in the United States since the Cold War? In a Chats in the Stacks book talk by Maria Cristina Garcia, the Howard A. Newman Professor of American Studies in the Department of History at Cornell discusses her new book The Refugee Challenge in Post-Cold War America (Oxford University Press, 2017) which examines the actors and interests that have shaped refugee and asylum policy since 1989. Policymakers are now considering a wider range of populations as potentially eligible for protection, but a growing number of asylum seekers who have petitioned for protection are backlogging the immigration courts. Concerns over national security have also resulted in deterrence policies that have raised important questions about the rights of refugees and the duties of nations. Professor Garcia holds a joint appointment in the Cornell Latina/o Studies Program and has served as President of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk at Mann Library, Stephen Hilgartner presents his book, "Reordering Life: Knowledge and Control in the Genomics Revolution" (MIT Press, 2017). Hilgartner's research focuses on situations in which scientific knowledge is implicated in establishing, contesting, and maintaining social order. In his book, he explores the "genomics revolution" and the institutions governing biological research. Touching on issues of secrecy in science, data access and ownership, and the politics of research communities, Dr. Hilgartner argues that in order to understand science's real impact on society, we need to recognize the changing knowledge-control regimes that frame research and the evolving informal practices through which knowledge and control take shape.

Sharing our mundane details of daily life did not start with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. For centuries, people have used pocket diaries, photo albums, and baby books to catalog and share their lives with family and friends. Has social media made us more narcissistic, or have these new media technologies allowed us to pursue more meaningful ways to express ourselves? In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Lee Humphreys, associate professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University, presents her new book, The Qualified Self: Social Media and the Accounting of Everyday Life (MIT Press, April 2018). Humphreys' research explores the social uses and perceived effects of communication technology, mobile phone use in public spaces, and emerging norms on mobile social networks.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk by Julilly Kohler-Hausmann, associate professor in the Department of History at Cornell, presents her book, Getting Tough: Welfare and Imprisonment in 1970s America (Princeton University Press, 2017) and discuss how politics and policies during the 1970s led to the unprecedented expansion of the U.S. penal system and reductions in welfare programs throughout the late twentieth century. Getting Tough was named one of CHOICE's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2017, and received Honorable Mention for the 2018 Frederick Jackson Turner Award by the Organization of American Historians.

What does it mean to be American and an atheist? Does the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protect religious liberty to all nonbelievers? In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Isaac Kramnick, professor emeritus of government at Cornell, and R. Laurence Moore, professor emeritus of history at Cornell, present their new book, Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic: Atheists in American Public Life (W. W. Norton & Company, 1st edition; Aug. 21, 2018) and discuss the fascinating history and the legal cases that have questioned religious supremacy.

For a Chats in the Stacks book talk Ann E. Hajek, professor in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University, presents her new book, Natural Enemies: An Introduction to Biological Control (Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition; Sept. 2018) co-authored with Jørgen Eilenberg of the University of Copanhagen, Denmark. Professor Hajek discusses the wide diversity of organisms used in the control of pests, weeds and plant pathogens, and the strategies referred to as 'biological control.' These controls include the use of exotic natural enemies, the application of predators, parasitoids, and microorganisms as biopesticides, and the manipulation of the environment to enhance natural enemy populations. She also reviews recent changes that help make biological control safer for the environment, and how these methods can aid sustainability efforts.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Jill Frank, professor in the Department of Government at Cornell presents her new book, Poetic Justice: Rereading Plato's Republic (University of Chicago Press,1 edition; January 2018) and discusses the unique insights to be gained from appreciating Plato's dialogs as written texts, challenging the conventional interpretation that the Republic endorses a top-down dissemination of knowledge, and positing instead that it prompts citizen-readers to challenge all claims to authority, even by philosophers. Professor Frank is also the author of A Democracy of Distinction. No video.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk Madelon L. Finkel presents her new book, Pipeline Politics: Assessing the Benefits and Harms of Energy Policy (Praeger, Sept. 2018). She discusses the benefits, limitations, and dangers of transporting crude oil and natural gas by pipeline, and the dangers to human health and the environment posed by spills, leaks, and explosions.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk Anne K. Armstrong, Doctoral Student in the Cornell Department of Natural Resources presents her new book, Communicating Climate Change: A Guide for Educators (Cornell University Press). Armstrong proposes effective tools for educators in understanding the complexity of the science of climate change and the socio-political contexts in which climate change is taking place. Also discussed are climate change educational programs that foster both dialogue and subsequent action in classrooms of all levels. Communicating Climate Change is co-authored with Marianne E. Krasny, Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Jonathon P. Schuldt, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University.

Schools in the United States and around the world have largely succeeded in one respect: IQs rose 30 points during the 20th century. Yet, in many respects, the world is in a more perilous state now than it was in 1900; autocrats are on the rise, economic inequality is soaring, and pollution, climate change, and antibiotic resistance threaten our lives and health. Why? A major reason is that our schools are failing our children and our society in key respects because they are teaching the wrong things says Robert Sternberg, Professor in the Department of Human Development. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Sternberg presents his new edited volumes The Nature of Human Creativity (Cambridge University Press, May 2018) with James C. Kaufman, and The Nature of Human Intelligence (Cambridge University Press, January 2018) to discuss how children need to learn to be creative, to develop common sense, to think critically, and to act with wisdom in search of a common good. He also delves into how these attributes are crucial in a college education, and how they can be more effectively measured, investigated, and developed.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk Rachel E. Dunifon, Professor of Policy Analysis and Management and Interim Dean in the College of Human Ecology, presents her new book You've Always Been There for Me: Understanding the Lives of Children Raised by Grandparents (Rutgers University Press, August 17, 2018) in which she examines this understudied family type in which almost two million American children are being raised. Dunifon uses data gathered from grandfamilies in New York to analyze both their unique strengths and distinct challenges, from financial and health issues to a lack of recognition from social services, and offers researchers, service providers, policy makers and the general public insight on how to best promote their well-being.

This lecture was not recorded.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk Saida Hodžić, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Cornell, presents her book, The Twilight of Cutting: African Activism and Life after NGOs (The University of California Press, November 2016). Despite lower rates of female genital cutting in the last 30 years, there has been an increase in NGOs, both local and international, campaigning in Africa against the practice. Hodžić examines more than 30 years of reproductive health campaigns problematizing and criminalizing female cutting in Ghana, and the significance of their transnational ties and regional roles, resultant changes in laws and institutions, political projects, opposition movements, and the bringing about of social transformations.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Andrew Moisey, Assistant Professor of Art History and Visual Studies at Cornell and an award-winning photographer, will present his new photo book, The American Fraternity: An Illustrated Ritual Manual (Daylight Books, November 6, 2018). Moisey will explore the often dark rituals, ceremonies, and secret oaths that shape college Greek life. Captured in photographs taken over seven years inside a fraternity, and including scanned pages from their decades-old ritual manual, The American Fraternity gives an intimate and provocative look at the secretive world that has helped shape the majority of our modern leaders, from U.S. presidents and senators, to justices, and executives.

Urban communities around the world are developing new ethics and cultures around their relationship with nature. In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Marianne E. Krasny, Professor in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University, presents her new edited volume Grassroots to Global: Broader Impacts of Civic Ecology (Cornell University Press, 2018 ) and discusses this collection of case studies in which contributing scholars and stewards from different countries and diverse disciplines have partnered to paint a current picture of civic ecology, and explores the impact and import of civic ecological practices around the world.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Daniel R. Schwarz, Frederic J Whiton Professor of English and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, presents his new book, Reading the Modern European Novel Since 1900: A Critical Study of Major Fiction from Proust's Swann's Way to Ferrante's Neapolitan Tetralogy (John Wiley & Sons, March 25, 2018). A sequel to his Reading the European Novel to 1900, the work adheres to Professor Schwarz's mantra "Always the Text; Always Historicize" to discuss recurring themes and techniques in modern European fiction within the contexts of significant historical events such as the two World Wars and the Holocaust. Professor Schwarz, author of eighteen books and a teacher at Cornell for fifty-one years, will also discuss the relationship between modern European fiction and other art forms.

In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Sidney Tarrow, Emeritus Maxwell Upson Professor of Government and adjunct professor at Cornell Law School, presents The Resistance: The Dawn of the Anti-Trump Opposition Movement, co-edited with David S. Meyer. Featuring both younger and senior scholars, The Resistance unearths the origins and dynamics of different sectors of the anti-Trump movement. Glenn Altschuler, Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies, also joins the discussion to give an overview of this emerging movement and to provide sharp analyses on how it might exercise lasting political influence and fight off the danger to democracy posed by the Trump era.

Across the sciences, primary historical materials can be essential to pioneering work. Yet rapidly spiraling fees charged by private companies to access information are raising ever-higher barriers to the advancement of knowledge. Highlighting the importance ofcurrent open access efforts to facilitate discovery and learning now and in the future, three Cornell life scientists--neurobiologist Tom Seeley, mycologist Kathie Hodge, and science historian Karen Penders St. Clair—reflect onthe role that the historical scientific record has played in their own research. This program took place at Mann Library in conjunction with the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Biodiversity Heritage Library held at Cornell April 30 –May 2, 2019.

Recent research showing declining pollinator populations throughout the world is lending urgency to the topic of pollinator health. As part of a multi-media program for Reunion 2019, Dr. Scott McArt (Cornell Dept. of Entomology) presents a lecture highlighting what scientists currently know about the global state of pollinator health, how they've teamed up with artists to broaden awareness, and what everyone can do to support thriving pollinator populations in our backyards and neighborhoods.

Presented in connection with the Mann Gallery exhibit "PolliNation: Artists Crossing Borders with Scientists to Explore the Value of Pollinator Health," which displayed work by artists from the University of Wales, Trinidad St. David, April - September 2019.

What can leaders from the Roman Empire teach us? And in what ways is the Roman Empire still alive and well today? In a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Barry Strauss discusses his new book Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine (Simon & Schuster, 2019). The Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies in the Departments of History and Classics, Strauss also profiles influential women—including Augustus's wife Livia and Constantine's mother Helena—while tracking dramatic shifts in geographical boundary, religion, ethnicity, and culture of the Roman Empire during its 350-year lifespan.

The federal government sets the contours of Medicaid, but individual states implement the program in different ways—from open-handed and generous to tight-fisted and punitive. How does this disparity in benefits to Medicaid affect Americans' experience of democratic citizenship? In a Chats in the Stacks talk, Jamila Michener will discuss her new book Fragmented Democracy: Medicaid, Federalism, and Unequal Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2018). An assistant professor of government, Michener examines how federalism intersects with the largest public health insurer in the United States. She also exposes the political and social consequences for impoverished and marginalized Americans most in need of vital resources from the federal government, clarifying the stakes of policy choices at the local, state, and national levels. Fragmented Democracy was selected as a finalist for the 2019 PROSE Awards.

While we often associate bees with hives, the vast majority of bee species actually live solitary lives, explains Bryan Danforth, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology. In a Chats in the Stacks talk, Danforth will discuss The Solitary Bees: Biology, Evolution, Conservation (Princeton University Press, 2019), a book he wrote with Robert L. Minckley and John L. Neff. While giving an overview of the astounding diversity of the solitary bee species, the book weaves together scientific discoveries with descriptions of complex and fascinating bee behaviors. The Solitary Bees also highlights the plight of these crop pollinators threatened by habitat loss, pesticides, pathogens, parasites, invasive species, and climate change.

Calculus, the mathematical study of continuous change, underpins some of the most fundamental and miraculous achievements of humankind, from determining the area of a circle to enabling innovations in modern medicine, computing, and space travel. It can also illuminate the patterns of the universe, according to Steven Strogatz. In a Chats in the Stacks talk presented at Mann Library in October 2019, Strogatz discusses his new book, "Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), which was listed as a New York Times Best Seller this year. The Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, Strogatz charts the thrilling multi-millennial history of calculus that's filled with brutal competitions and glorious discoveries.

How can we stop the spread of infectious diseases in our oceans, threatening life both in water and on land? In a Chats in the Stacks talk presented at Mann Library in October 2019, Drew Harvell discusses her new book "Ocean Outbreak: Confronting the Rising Tide of Marine Disease" (University of California Press) to explain how we can protect aquatic ecosystems from dangerous diseases. A professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, Harvell has devoted more than two decades to study the devastating impact of diseases on four marine species—corals, abalone, salmon, and starfish—and the destructive effects of human practices such as sewage dumping and unregulated aquaculture. Her research has also yielded insights about how we can boost nature's own pathogen-fighting systems to help heal our fragile ocean environments.

The evolution of medicine in the 18th-century British empire was deeply intertwined with constructions of race, according to Suman Seth, a professor of History and Science and Technology Studies. In a Chats in the Stacks talk, Seth discusses his new book Difference and Disease: Medicine, Race, and the Eighteenth-Century British Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2018), where he explores the complex histories of tropical medicine and colonial politics. Apart from unveiling how medicine influenced ideas of race in early British colonialism, Seth's book also shows how racial categories and binaries grew out of a view of the world as divided into tropical and temperate zones.

Poetry goes beyond the limits of language and thought, according to Laurent Dubreuil, a professor of comparative literature and Romance studies, and a member of the Cognitive Science Program. In a Chats in the Stacks talk, he will discuss his book Poetry and Mind: Tractatus Poetico-Philosophicus (Fordham University Press, 2018) which draws from literary theory, philosophy, and cognitive science to argue that poetry transcends syntactic structures, cognitive binding, and mental regulations. The broad literary scope of Poetry and Mind encompasses oral and written traditions from all continents—from ancient times to the contemporary era—and includes close analyses of poems in 20 different languages.

Deep lakes, waterfalls, shale, salt deposits, drumlins, and gorges—the unique landscapes of the Finger Lakes captivate locals and tourists alike. In a Chats in the Stacks talk given at Mann Library Matthew Pritchard, professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) discusses the book "Gorges History: Landscapes and Geology of the Finger Lakes Region" (Paleontological Research Institution) by the late Art Bloom, also a professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS), who introduced generations of Cornellians and other inquisitive minds to our beautiful landscapes and the powerful forces that formed them. Pritchard shares some of the fascinating geological stories of the area and discuss the collaborative effort he led to complete the book after Bloom's passing in 2017.

In the spring and summer of 1923, Cornell professors Flora Rose (1874-1959) and Martha Van Rensselaer (1864-1932) traveled to Belgium to assist in the reconstruction efforts after the First World War. The home economics pioneers were asked by the Commission for Relief in Belgium Educational Foundation (CRBEF) to advice on children's nutrition and female education. For their work, Van Rensselaer and Rose received praise and medals from the Belgian National Work for Childhood and King Albert I. In this presentation, Dr. Nel de Mûelenaer shares the story of Rose and Van Rensselaer's Belgian adventure from the perspectives of both the professors and the CRBEF and Belgian partners. What was the exact nature of the relief work? How was it received by the Belgians? And what was the impact of the international mission on Rose and Van Rensselaer's further work and life? Dr. de Mûelenaer's discussion covers these and other questions about important work undertaken by two pioneering Cornell scholars in war-ravaged Europe of the 1920's. Dr. de Mûelenaere is the Cabeaux-Jacobs BAEF postdoctoral fellow at Cornell University, where she received the 2019 Fellowship in the History of Home Economics at the College of Human Ecology and conducts research on the Belgian relief work of American home economists in the 1920s. She is assistant professor in Cultural and Social Food Studies (FOST) at the History Department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussels. Her research interests include humanitarianism, nutrition, social welfare policies and gender in the era of the First World War.

Horace Kephart, a Cornell graduate student in the 1880s and later a Yale librarian, evolved into an enigmatic woodsman, author, and activist instrumental in establishing the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Trail that runs through it. In a Chats in the Stacks talk given at Mann Library in December 2019, Janet McCue discusses "Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography" (Great Smoky Mountains Association), which she co-authored with George Ellison and which garnered the 2019 Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award. The biography is a culmination of decades of scholarship and painstaking research using collections at Cornell and beyond. The book chronicles Kephart's conservation advocacy and its enduring impact on the land he loved, while also telling the multifaceted, personal story of Kephart, a man full of contradictions.

It's been said that there's nothing more certain than death and taxes. But what factors shape the evolution of taxes and tax policies, and what gives rise to disparities in taxation policy, compliance, and enforcement? To answer these and other questions, Gustavo Flores-Macías, the associate vice provost for international affairs and an associate professor in the Department of Government, will discuss his new edited volume The Political Economy of Taxation in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2019). In this Chats in the Stacks talk, he will explain how tax policies and tax enforcement in Latin America have been influenced by state capacity, public opinion, natural resources, interest groups, ideology, and other factors.

In the last decade, Chinese multinational corporations have been giving formerly dominant western companies a run for their money—a trend that has affected investment flows, business models, and the process of global innovation. How can businesses compete and even collaborate with powerful Chinese firms? In this Chats in the Stacks talk, Lourdes Casanova, a senior lecturer and the academic director of the Emerging Markets Institute in the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, will discuss The Era of Chinese Multinationals: Competing for Global Dominance (Academic Press, 2019), which she wrote with Anne Miroux, a faculty fellow at the Emerging Markets Institute. In their book, Casanova and Miroux explore both the history and the characteristics of surging Chinese firms in terms of revenue, profit, branding, and business strategies. They also use data, interviews, and case studies to provide insights on the Chinese government's expansionist policies, global acquisitions, and efforts to make China an innovation hub.

To grasp the achievements of writer Roberto Bolaño, whose work encompasses both Europe and the Americas, one must understand not only poetry and fiction but also literary history and politics, argues Jonathan Monroe, a professor of comparative literature and a member of the graduate fields of comparative literature, English, and Romance studies at Cornell. In this Chats in the Stacks talk, Monroe will discuss his new book, Framing Roberto Bolaño: Poetry, Fiction, Literary History, Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2019), which contributes to an expanded understanding of the entirety of Bolaño's work and his importance within both hemispheric studies and world literature.

Why do colonies of honey bees living in the wild thrive while those of beekeepers often suffer high mortality? What new insights have scientists gained about the behavior, social life, and survival strategies of honey bees, by looking at how they live in nature? In a Chats in the Stacks talk, Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, will answer these questions as he presents The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild (Princeton University Press, 2019). He will also discuss a new approach to beekeeping—"Darwinian Beekeeping"— whereby beekeepers can revise their practices to make the lives of their six-legged partners less stressful and therefore more healthful.

Many private gardens in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii were decorated with statues, paintings, and mosaics evoking far-away Egypt, which was part of the Roman empire at the time. These foreign images and objects transformed household space into a microcosm of empire, according to Caitlín Eilís Barrett, an associate professor in the Department of Classics at Cornell.

In a Chats in the Stacks talk, Barrett will discuss case studies from Pompeii featured in her illustrated book, Domesticating Empire: Egyptian Landscapes in Pompeian Gardens (Oxford University Press, 2019), the first contextually oriented monograph on Egyptian imagery in Roman homes.

Stressed out by these uncertain times? Get a healthy dose of outdoor time in nature, says Don Rakow, an associate professor in the Horticulture Section of the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell. In a book coauthored with Gregory T. Eells, Nature Rx: Improving College-Student Mental Health (Cornell University Press, 2019), Rakow argues that campus programs encouraging students to spend more time outdoors can reduce the stress and anxiety of academic, social, and relationship pressures, particularly for those also dealing with mental health issues, trauma, or substance abuse. In this live Chats in the Stacks webinar, Rakow will discuss the value of Nature Rx programs and present a step-by-step formula for constructing and sustaining them on college campuses. A live, moderated question and answer session will follow the talk. The audience is encouraged to submit questions via the Chat window in the webinar.

Decades after her death, nature study movement leader Anna Botsford Comstock is finding her true voice. The original 1953 publication of her autobiography, The Comstocks of Cornell, has long been considered the definitive account of her life and that of her husband, entomologist John Henry Comstock, but it was, in fact, heavily edited—with important parts omitted and with several discrepancies from the original memoirs. Karen Penders St. Clair has restored Comstock's voice in her edited The Comstocks of Cornell: The Definitive Autobiography (Cornell University Press, 2020), which includes previously missing sections of Comstock's descriptions of Cornell's early days and her and her husband's life and work. In this live Chats in the Stacks webinar, St. Clair—who received her doctoral degree from the School of Integrative Plant Science at Cornell—will discuss the process of editing the book and her painstaking research into Comstock's papers in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.

Citizenship, nineteenth-century Black activists argued, is not who one is, but rather what one does. Between the Revolutionary era of the 1770s and the onset of the U.S. Civil War in 1861, Black intellectuals defied ongoing enslavement, disenfranchisement, and anti-Black violence to develop an expansive theory of citizenship based in everyday practices of community making, according to Derrick R. Spires, associate professor in the Department of English. In a live Chats in the Stacks webinar, Spires discusses ideas of citizenship defined by political participation, mutual aid, critique, and revolution, from his book, The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), which was dubbed as "essential reading" by Reviews in American History. A discussion session moderated by Eric Acree, director of the John Henrik Clarke Africana Library and curator of Africana Collections in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections follows the talk.

What's the definition of "free enterprise"? It depends on the era. Lawrence B. Glickman, the Stephen and Evalyn Milman Professor of American Studies in the Department of History, traces the evolution of the phrase, from the 19th century through its conservative reformulation against Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s, and on to today his book Free Enterprise: An American History (Yale University Press, 2019). In a live Chats in the Stacks webinar Glickman provides a glimpse into how the concept of free enterprise has been used to shape contemporary American politics in opposition to taxation, government programs, and regulation.

What could and should fair labor standards and social programs for "noncitizen" migrant farm workers in the United States look like? Verónica Martínez-Matsuda, associate professor at the ILR School, addresses this question in her new book, Migrant Citizenship: Race, Rights, and Reform in the U.S. Farm Labor Camp Program (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020) by showing how between 1935 and 1946 the Farm Security Administration (FSA) worked with migrant families to provide sanitary housing, on-site medical care, nursery and primary schools, healthy food, recreational programing, and democratic self-governing councils. In a live, virtual Chats in the Stacks talk, Martínez-Matsuda will discuss how these Farm Labor Camps became visionary experiments in democracy, and provide insights into how the public policy, federal interventions, and cross-racial movements for social justice of this era can offer a precedent for improving farm labor conditions today.

For their growth and development, young people need freedom to enjoy public spaces and develop a sense of belonging—but they are often driven out by restrictive bylaws and hostile designs, says Janet Loebach, assistant professor in the Department of Design and Environment Analysis.In a virtual Chats in the Stacks talk about the book she co-edited, The Routledge Handbook of Designing Public Spaces for Young People: Processes, Practices, and Policies for Youth Inclusion (Routledge, 2020), Loebach demonstrates the value of youth-inclusive environments and shares ideas about how researchers, design and planning professionals, and community leaders can directly involve the youth in the process of creating public spaces.

What makes family estrangement so painful? Why do these rifts arise in the first place, and how can we overcome them? In a Chats in the Stacks talk at Mann Library in January 2021, Dr. Karl Pillemer discusses his new book, "Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them" (Avery, 2020). Based largely on Pillemer's groundbreaking, ten-year Cornell Reconciliation Project—the first national survey on estrangement—"Fault Lines" combines science-based repair tools with the personal experiences of hundreds of people who have mended family rifts. The result is a unique guide to healing fractured families, essential during this time of distance and isolation.

Karl Pillemer is the Hazel E. Reed Professor in Department of Human Development at Cornell University's College of Human Ecology. He also serves as professor of gerontology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and senior associate dean for research and outreach in the College of Human Ecology.

Asia is central to global Islam's development as a religious, social, and political reality, according to Chiara Formichi, associate professor in the Department of Asian Studies.

In a live, virtual Chats in the Stacks talk, Formichi discusses Islam and Asia: A History (Cambridge University Press, 2020), her recent book that explores how intertwined histories and cultures have shaped both Islam and the Asian region from the seventh century to today, influencing different spheres from politics to the arts. Rich in illustrations, maps, insets, and primary sources, the book serves both as an in-depth exploration and as a primer for those curious about Islamic history.

The portrayal of Black athletes in sports films and television has an important influence on ideas of racial identity in America, and vice versa, argues Samantha N. Sheppard, the Mary Armstrong Meduski '80 Assistant Professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University. In a live, virtual Chats in the Stacks book talk, Sheppard will discuss the implications and meanings of race and representation in sports media as explored in her new book, Sporting Blackness: Race, Embodiment, and Critical Muscle Memory on Screen (University of California Press, 2020). Examining depictions of Black athletes in documentaries, feature-length and short films, television and music videos, as well as in images from real-life athletics, Sheppard explores the meanings of embodying, performing and contesting Black representation.

"Always open with a joke" is common advice for public speaking. But instead of getting ideas from contemporary stand-up comedians, you can turn to Cicero, one of ancient Rome's finest and funniest orators.

In a live, virtual Chats in the Stacks book talk, Michael Fontaine, professor of classics, will discuss How to Tell a Joke: An Ancient Guide to the Art of Humor (Princeton University Press, 2021). This lively new translation of Cicero—as well as the later Roman orator and educator Quintilian—examines the risks and rewards of humor, provides practical insight into how to write your own jokes, and appeals to anyone interested in the art of humor and public speaking.

In his poetry, chemist Roald Hoffmann, the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters Emeritus at Cornell University, explores philosophy and science, weaving worlds of sound and meaning from the simple building blocks of words. In this April 2021 Chats in the Stacks talk about his latest book of poetry, "Constants of the Motion" (Dos Madres Press, 2020), Hoffmann, delves into personal experiences, including a desperate childhood shaped by the Holocaust and a search for consilience in the tranquil beauty of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Climate change is a recipe for disaster. As the new book, "Our Changing Menu" (Cornell University Press 2021) tells us, whether you're a home cook or a master chef, backyard gardener or professional grower, global warming is already impacting the yields, flavors, nutritional content, and cost of what you eat. In a Chats in the Stacks talk in April 2021, authors Michael Hoffmann, Carrie Koplinka-Loehr, and Danielle Eiseman and illustrator Lindsey Potoff celebrate the power of food and tackle what is arguably the greatest challenge of our time. Unpacking the increasingly complex relationships between food and our changing climate, their discussion gives us insight into both the roots of the problem and how to plant the seeds of solutions. Dr. Michael Hoffman is Cornell professor emeritus of entomology; Carrie Koplinka-Loehr is a freelance writer with a master's in science education; Dr. Danielle Eiseman is a visiting lecturer in the Cornell Department of Communication; and Lindsey Potoff is a Cornell student of fine arts, class of 2022.

In the early eighteenth century, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II of Jaipur constructed five astronomical observatories in northern India. The observatories, or "Jantar Mantars" as they are commonly known, incorporate multiple buildings of unique form, each with a specialized function for astronomical measurement. The four sites that remain represent an extraordinary fusion of architecture and science, combining elements of astronomy, astrology, and geometry into forms of remarkable beauty that have captivated the attention of architects, artists, scientists, and historians around the world. In a live, virtual Chats in the Stacks talk, Barry Perlus, associate professor emeritus of art in the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, discusses his photographic exploration of the Jantar Mantars in his book Celestial Mirror: The Astronomical Observatories of Jai Singh II (Yale University Press, 2020). Perlus's images show breathtaking, 360-degree panoramas, while his explanatory text and diagrams describe the observatories and their workings, providing historical context and insights about the scientific and architectural innovations involved—all to provide a delightful immersive experience that brings the observatories to life.