Find great eBooks and Audiobooks online:

One of the most popular requests from our patrons concerns whether or not we have eBooks or Audiobooks that they can listen to. Well…

We’re happy to tell you that the Air Force provides its library users with several great tools for downloading both eBooks and Audiobooks from the internet…

One Click Digital.

Contains eAudiobooks from Recorded Books. Library patrons can search for, check out, and download eAudiobooks to a computer and a wide range of portable devices, including your iPod. You can access your library’s eContent 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You will need to contact the Robins AFB Library to get a code to set up your account.

OverDrive.

Providing eBooks as well as eAudiobooks to Air Force Libraries, as well as now offering music and video selections. Offers titles in a wide variety of forms, including Kindle, NOOK, and Sony Reader for eBooks, and all varieties of iPods and Apple products for the audio files.

You need to contact the Robins AFB Library to get a code to set up your account.

And: Both One Click Digital and OverDrive require to you download a media managers app to download, manage, and sync your files through.

We’d also like to remind you that we have many other online resources that we hope will benefit you, including numerous research databases, as well as Transparent Languages for learning a foreign language, and Universal Class, which provides over 500 different online courses in a variety of subjects and at different levels, all instructor-lead but self paced, and Tutor.com, which is a great resource for online tutoring and educational support, as well as many others. There’s also Peterson’s online, which provides test preparation and resources, as well as help with college planning, and a career and resume center, and Military One Source, a 24/7 resource for military members and their spouses and families.

Some of these resources do have certain restrictions or requirements though, such as: You need to physically come into the Library to register for Transparent Languages (and then you can do it anywhere online), and Tutor.com is only for active duty military personnel.

We hope that these can be of use to you and you’ll come and check them out.

New and Featured Audiobooks for 07/05/12:

Come and check out these and some of the other new audiobooks (or at least new to us) added to our library collection, which come in several different formats…

Audiobooks on CD…

FICTION:

Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck, and read by Mark Hammer

Star Wars: Fate Of The Jedi – Conviction by Aaron Allston, and read by Marc Thompson

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, and read by Fisher Stevens

1022 Evergreen Place by Debbie Macomber, and read by Sandra Burr

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly, and read by Peter Giles

Big Sur by Jack Kerouac, and read by Grover Gardner

Behind The Curtain by Peter Abrahams, and read by Colleen Delaney

Best Kept Secrets by Sandra Brown, and read by Dick Hill

Running Blind by Lee Child, and read by Dick Hill

Supreme Power by Jeff Shesol, and read by Mel Foster

Brought In Dead by Jack Higgins, and read by Michael Page

NON-FICTION:

A Country Of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, The Mexican War And The Conquest Of The American Continent by Robert W. Merry, and read by Michael Prichard

Adapt: Why Success Always Stars With Failure by Tim Harford, and read by Jonathan Keeble

Physics Of The Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny And Our Daily Lives By The Year 2100 by Michio Kaku, and read by Feodor Chin

Unbroken: A World War II Story Of Survivial, Resilience, And Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand, and read by Edward Herrmann

Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action by Simon Sinek and read by the author

And we also have Audiobooks in the Playaway format…

FICTION:

The Centurion’s Wife by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke, and read by Aimee Lilly

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen, and read by David LeDoux and John Randolph Jones

Revenge Of The Kudzu Debutantes by Cathy Holton, and read by Marguerite Gavin

Master And Commander by Patrick O’Brian, and read by Simon Vance

The Wife’s Tale by Lori Lansens, and read by Justine Eyre

Flash Forward by Robert J. Sawyer, and read by Mark Deakins

Gerald’s Game by Stephen King, and read by Lindsay Crouse

The 47th Samurai by Stephen Hunter, and read by Buck Schirner

The Cheater by Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, and read by Hillary Huber

NON-FICTION:

Arabic For Dummies by David F. DiMeo

Animal Magnetism: My Life With Creatures Great And Small by Rita Mae Brown

The Face Of Battle by John Keegan, and read by Robert Whitfield

Rapid Italian, vol. 1

As the subtitle promises: “200+ essential words and phrases anchored into your long-term memory with great music.” I guess you can’t go wrong with that, right?

A Country Of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, The Mexican War, And The Conquest Of The American Continent by Robert W. Merry, and read by Michael Prichard

Before You Do: Making Great Decisions That You Won’t Regret by T. D. Jakes and read by the author.

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If you are unsure about the playaway format, check out our previous post on audiobooks selections, which has a little more information.

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Please note that audiobooks mentioned here could be checked out between the time they end up on the blog and when you come to check them out. If you don’t see the items you’re looking for then please come up to the front desk OR send us an email at robinsbaselibrary@gmail.com and we’ll put your name on the reserve list for when the item returns.

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Previous New/Featured books for Adults:

06/27/12.

06/14/12.

06/07/12.

05/31/12.

05/01/12.

RIP Ray Bradbury.

“My stories run up and bite me in the leg — I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.”

-Ray Bradbury

We’re sad to learn that one of our favorite authors, Ray Bradbury, has passed away today. He was 91 years old, a literary classic, and an influence and inspiration to many.

We have several of his books, including his acclaimed classic, Fahrenheit 451, about a future in which they burn the printed word. No books! It’s a dark place indeed.

We hope you’ll come and check it and some of his other works out, and we’ll leave you with one last quote from the master…

“People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it. Better yet, build it. Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the street you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell with more. I want better.”

New and Featured Audiobooks for 04/05/12:

Come and check out these and some of the other new audiobooks (or at least new to us) added to our library collection, which come in several different formats…

Audiobooks on CD…

FICTION:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and read by Hugh Fraser

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, and read by Lisette Lecat

Mistress Of The Art Of Death by Ariana Franklin, and read by Rosalyn Landor

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and read by Lynne Thigpen

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, and read by Joanne Whalley, Martin Jarvis, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jim Ward, Rosalyn Landor, and Robin Atkin Downes

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, and read by Treat Williams, Anne Heche, Sarah Zimmerman, Erin Cottrell, and John Rafter Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and read by Sissy Spacek

Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods, and read by Tony Roberts

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, and read by J. D. Jackson

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk, and read by Paul Michael Garcia

World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Max Brooks, and performed by a full cast featuring the author, Carl Reiner, Henry Rollins, Jurgen Prochnow, Alan Alda, Ron Reiner, John Turturro, Becky Ann Baker, and many others

Velocity by Dean Koontz, and read by Michael Hayden

NON-FICTION:

Sea Of Glory: America’s Voyage Of Discovery – The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838 – 1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick, and read by Dennis Boutsikaris

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and read by the author

Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen, and read by the author

Confessions Of An Alien Hunter: A Scientist’s Search For Extraterristrial Intelligence  by Seth Shostak, and read by Patrick Lawler

Team Of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and read by Richard Thomas

Not only is this a very interesting book, but it’s also the basis for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film about Lincoln, which stars Daniel Day Lewis as our 16th president. Check out a picture below of the actor’s look in the film:

Michelangelo And The Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King, and read by Alan Sklar

Black Boy by Richard Wright, and read by Peter Francis James

The Professor And The Madman: A Tale Of Murder, Insanity, And The Making Of The Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester, and read by the author

City Of The Soul: A Walk In Rome by William Murray, and read by the author

The Black Swan: The Impact Of The Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and read by David Chandler

The War That Made America: A Short History Of The French And Indian War by Fred Anderson, and read by Simon Vance

Game Change: Obama And The Clintons, McCain And Palin, And The Race Of A Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, and read by Dennis Boutsikaris

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And we also have Audiobooks in the Playaway format…

If you don’t know much about the Playaway format, then we’d suggest that you come and check them out.

A Playaway is basically a single book loaded onto an MP3 player. All you have to do is plug in some headphones and press play and you’re off to the races. The Playway is small enough to fit into your pocket, and it’s great for working out or running/jogging, or even just doing something like cleaning the house. But where the CD format is really nice for listening to an audiobook in the car, you’d have to have something to transfer the sound from the Playaway to your car stereo. Perhaps if you do something like that with an iPod or a similar MP3 device then maybe that could work as well.

FICTION:

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and read by Juliet Stevenson

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, and read by Kimberly Schraf

Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman, and read by Mia Barron

Double Cross by James Patterson, and ready by Peter J. Fernandez and Michael Stuhlbarg

The Enemy by Lee Child

The Hard Way by Lee Child

One Shot by Lee Child

All read by Dick Hill

To Die For by Linda Howard, and read by Franette Liebow

The Trial by Franz Kafka, and read by Rupert Degas

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, dramatized for audio by Yuri Rasovsky, and performed by Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh, and Edward Herrman, amongst others

A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, and read by Barrett Whitener

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and read by Christopher Hurt

Atonement by Ian McEwan, and read by Josephine Baily

Deadlock by Iris Johansen, and read by Jennifer Van Dyck

NON-FICTION:

The Art Of War by Sun Tzu, translated by Thomas Cleary, and read by David Warrilow

You Had Me At Woof: How Dogs Taught Me The Secrets Of Happiness by Julie Klam, and read by Karen White

Marley: A Dog Like No Other by John Grogan, and performed by Neil Patrick Harris

When Janey Comes Marching Home by Laura Browder, with photographs by Sascha Pflaeging, and read by Claudia Aleck, Cassandra Campbell, Bernadette Dunne, Tavia Gilbert, Vanessa Hart, Carrington MacDuffie, Lisa Renee Pitts, Kirsten Potter, Robynn Rodriguez, Kimberly Scott, Bahni Turpin, and Pam Ward

Chinese For Dummies by Mengjun Liu and Mike Packevicz

Living Well In A Down Economy For Dummies by Tracy L. Barr, and read by Brett Barry

The War That Killed Achilles: The Story Of Homer’s Iliad And The Trojan War by Caroline Alexander, and read by Michael Page

Most Evil: Avenger, Zodiac, And The Further Serial Murders Of Dr. George Hill Hodel by Steve Hodel and Ralph Pezzullo, and read by Malcolm Hillgartner

When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris

The History Of The Classical Music by Richard Fawkes, and read by Robert Powell

How To Stop Smoking And Stay Stopped For Good – Fully Revised And Updated by Gillian Riley, and read by Jerome Pride

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We’re looking to get into MP3 CDs, so stay tuned for that, but until then…

…can you believe that we still have audiobooks on tape/cassette available for checkout? Perfect for anyone whose car has a tape player in it.

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Please note that audiobooks mentioned here could be checked out between the time they end up on the blog and when you come to check them out. If you don’t see the items you’re looking for then please come up to the front desk OR send us an email at robinsbaselibrary@gmail.com and we’ll put your name on the reserve list for when the item returns.

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Previous New/Featured books for Adults:

04/04/12.

03/29/12.

03/01/12.

02/02/11.

01/27/12.

Reading material for 03/12/12:

Some reading material from around the internet:

Apparently tweets can now be cited as evidence in academic papers.

The massive launch of Mass Effect 3.

RIP Jean Giraud, AKA Moebius.

Wal-Mart debuts their “Great For You” seal.

The “QWERTY Effect” is changing what words mean to us.

How do you ship a horse to the London Olympics?

The picture above is by Jan van der Veken, from here.

NASA would like you to know that the world will not end in 2012.

The youngest female self-made billionaire.

Car breaks down before Consumer Reports can even test it.

A 340 ton boulder turned work of art.

Inside some of the world’s tallest buildings.

Here’s a fascinating radio documentary: “Nuclear Power After Fukushima.”

Penguins fly first class on airplanes.

They’re going to make a movie out of the theft of Nic Cage’s prized Action Comics No.1!

by Yale Stewart, from here.

The 10,000 year plan for Amazon.

Get ready to share even more on Facebook.

Apple has announced the new iPad.

Speaking of which, are Apple’s insanely high profit margins built to last?

The Navy will be testing a new firefighting robot in 2013.

RFID your stuff, then find it with your mobile phone.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes buys The New Republic.

Why are companies ditching Google maps?

10 of the most powerful female characters in literature.

The review of 1984 that Aldous Huxley sent to George Orwell.

The paranoia of Philip K. Dick.

Audiobooks and the celebrities who were born to read them.

There’s still quite a gender bias in book journalism.

10 essential history books written by women.

The only Game Of Thrones/Song Of Ice And Fire map you’ll ever need.

A few things that Jonathan Franzen actually likes.

The trailer for the return of Community.

Also, check out this mash up Community/The Dark Knight Rises trailer.

And speaking of The Dark Knight Rises: Action figures!

Jennifer Lawrence almost said no to The Hunger Games.

A complete guide to 2012’s TV pilots.

Apparently there’s an R-rated version of Galaxy Quest out there somewhere.

A picture of Peter Dinklage as Wolverine.

A chart that helps explain just how much of “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” does Star Wars take place.

Speaking of Star Wars: Topher Grace has edited all the prequels into one concise 85 minute long film that is supposedly fairly good.

Your first look at Johnny Depp as Tonto in Gore Verbinksi’s The Lone Ranger adaptation.

by Scott Ferguson, from here.

The many dimensions of Catherine the Great.

Kids found living in abandoned bus.

Fiona Apple reveals her new album title, and it’s 23 words long (as opposed to 90 words).

Disturbing school lunch menus.

What visions of the future do high speed rail lines provide us?

Is this the nicest Taco Bell on the planet?

A 7 year old makes an awesome Rube Goldberg machine.

This will be an interesting week, since it contains both Pi Day and the Ides of March. Beware!

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Previous online reading material:

03/05/12.

02/27/12.

02/20/12.

02/13/12.

02/06/12.

Donations.

This post is really about two things…

The first is: Several of our patrons have come in recently asking if we’ll take donations. The simple answer is:

Yes. Yes, we will. In fact, donations from patrons like you is a big part of how we function.

So if you have any books that you just would like to find a new home for, especially those in the “gently used” category, then please consider us. And the same goes for DVDs, audiobooks, and things like that. We can always use them.

(If you’re looking for tax credit for your donations, especially during this time of year, just let us know.)

But if for some reason we can’t, we have a giveaway shelf where they can go to somebody who can use them.

And that’s part two: We have a giveaway shelf! Someone came in the other day and said to me that it was too bad that we didn’t have a paperback exchange, and I said, “Well… actually, we do!” We have a giveaway shelf where you’re free to come and find some items, and if you’d like to to exchange or just borrow those items, that’s fine too, of course.

And I gotta say, you’ll find some perpetually interesting choices on the giveaway shelf. They’re mostly in the aforementioned “gently used” paperback form, which is perfect for quick reads or if you’re traveling. You’ll find some pictures from several of the paperbacks currently on the shelf in this post, but no promises on how long they’ll be there, or what will take their place.

So please keep us in mind if you’re ever looking to donate some of your books, DVDs, or audiobooks and stop on by to check out our giveaway shelf when you get a chance.

Reading material.

Here’s some reading material from around the internet…

The world’s first mug shots.

6 ridiculous history myths (that you probably think are true).

15 bizarre green inventions.

Did they really discover the Higgs Boson?

Also: 3 things the Higgs Boson can teach you about physics.

TIME magazine’s person of the year: The protestor.

The 100 most popular baby names of 2011.

Are art and architecture converging?

The New York Times on text messaging.

Should copyright be allowed to override free speech rights?

Some complaints about the Kindle Fire.

from here.

Penguin halts e-book sales to libraries.

Speaking of which, check out this blog which reviews one Penguin book a week.

Gift ideas for the book lover who’s read everything.

Anew short story by the author of 1Q84, Haruki Murakami: “Town Of Cats.”

Stereotyping you by your favorite books of 2011.

The most beautiful literary mystery in Edinburgh.

The overlooked sci-fi of 2011.

Some of the year’s best reading for both Adults and Young Adults.

The best e-book and audiobooks of 2011?

A brief guide to fictional languages in literature.

by Daniel Clowes, from here.

Recent passings:

Christopher Hitchens, author and journalist.

George Whitman, owner of Shakespeare & Co.

Steve Jobs, inventor and businessman and pioneer.

Joe Simon, cook book legend and co-creator of Captain America.

Jerry Robinson, comic book legend and creator of Batman villain The Joker.

Joseph M. Chamberlain, pioneer of planetarium shows.

Kim Jong Il, North Korean leader.

Anne McCaffrey, science fiction author.

Betty Ford, former First Lady.

Joe Frazier, boxer and heavyweight champion.

John Barry, conductor and film composer.

Andy Rooney, journalist and commentator.

Peter Falk, actor and TV’s Columbo!

Russell Hoban, author of Riddley Walker.

Rest in peace all.

from here.

The Guardian reviews the David Fincher version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

The best TV shows of the year and some of the best TV episodes of 2011.

Roger Ebert gives Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol 3 1/2 stars. I’ve seen the movie myself and would agree, it’s definitely worth a viewing. It’s a very fun movie, but if you’re going to see it in the theater then do yourself a favor and see it right: in IMAX. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.

First look at some official images from the new version of The Great Gatsby.

The top 15 “unseen” characters on TV.

The teaser for the upcoming second season of Game Of Thrones. Winter is coming!

The Spielberg Face.

Good news for Agatha Christie fans: The final Hercule Poirot movies starring David Suchet have finally been commissioned.

Speaking of Agatha Christie and mysteries: Did she have Alzheimer’s?

The 26 best movies of 2011?

Watch 1978’s infamous Star Wars Holiday Special in its entirety.

A nice tribute to the movies of this year:

When looking at some of the links listed here, please don’t forget that: We have several of the Hercule Poirot movies on DVD, including the ones starring David Suchet, as well as Murder On The Orient Express which stars Albert Finney and Death On The Nile which stars Peter Ustinov. Also, we have books on knitting and selecting baby names and we have books talking about awesome people. We have Mission: Impossible movies on DVD and we have graphic novels and comic books featuring Batman and his nemesis, the Joker. And of course we have The Dark Knight on DVD, featuring Heath Ledger’s iconic reinvention of the role. We can offer you e-books and audiobooks, we have Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, and we have several of the James Bond movies on DVD, for which John Barry arranged and composed the memorable theme for.

by Mathieu Belanger, one of the pictures of the year, from here.

More amazing pictures from this year.

Beautiful pictures of Saturn.

4,000 pages of Isaac Newton’s personal notebooks are now available to view online.

An x-ray of a two-headed snake.

Clint Eastwood’s family will star in a reality show.

The 25 most beautiful college libraries in the world.

How knitting behind bars transformed Maryland convicts.

Awesome people hanging out together.

Don’t forget that NORAD will help you track Santa!

New and Featured Books: Lisbeth Salander.

The American film version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, based on Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander/Millennium novels, is due to be released this Tuesday, December 20, and it’s easily one of the most anticipated movies of this year, let alone this holiday season. The film, directed by David Fincher, and starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, has a lot of hype and good buzz surrounding it, as well as a lot to live up as far as expectations.

The novels by Larsson have been among our most requested items this past year (and the year before), but I wanted to remind you as well that we also have the novels in audio format and that we also have the two original Swedish film adaptations of the books, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire. To me, the first of the Swedish movies is okay, but just okay, and the second one, The Girl Who Played With Fire, is somewhat less than “just okay,” but for a lot of us, they’ve been decent holdovers while we waited for the new film version of the story.

Normally I wouldn’t hype the remake of a film, but I will happily make an exception here just because I didn’t think the original Swedish movie was a good adaptation at all, let alone a particularly great movie. I’d actually say that just the trailer that you see above for Fincher’s film was more successful on both counts than the original movie version. But maybe I’m biased in that I really like David Fincher’s work, as well as Daniel Craig, wwhom I didn’t use to like, but who won me over with his portrayal of James Bond and some of the other films he’s done in the past few years.

And Rooney Mara (who was in Fincher’s The Social Network as well as the remake of Nightmare On Elm Street) looks extremely promising in the very unique role of hacker heroine Lisbeth Salander.

Interesting side note: The stars of the original Swedish movies, Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace, both have movies out this week as well. Rapace is in Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (and will appear in Ridley Scott’s upcoming Alien pseudo-prequel Prometheus) and Nyqvist is the villain in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.

Larsson’s novels are hardly high art but if you haven’t read them yet, now is a good time to start for a good mystery/thrill ride.

And if you get a chance to see it, let us know what you think of the new movie.

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Please note that books could be checked out between the time they end up on the blog and when you come to check them out. If you don’t see the items you’re looking for then please come up to the front desk and we’ll put your name on the reserve list for when the item returns.