Monday 29 July 2013

Leisure Reading Corner

Did you know that studies show taking a short break from a task helps to improve your attention (Ariga, & Lleras, 2010) and retain learned information (Tambini, Ketz, & Davinchi, 2010)?

A perfect way to take a break from a task like studying is to curl up with a good book. The Dentistry Library has a collection of leisure reading books you can really sink your teeth into!

In 2012, the hard work Heather Buchansky and generous donations from the members of the Faculty of Dentistry helped to create the Dentistry Library’s Leisure Reading Corner (located in the back corner of the reading room at the Dentistry Library). Currently our leisure reading collection contains more than 180 fiction and non-fiction titles and is constantly growing in size.

Faculty, staff and students of the Faculty of Dentistry with an active T-card are welcome to browse our leisure collection on-site at the Dentistry Library or from our online catalogue on the dentistrylibrary account on LibraryThing. If you see a book that interests you, bring it to the circulation desk at the Dentistry Library to check it out and read it at home. Borrowing leisure books is so easy you do not even have to leave the Faculty!

Have questions about the Leisure Reading Collection? Just ask us!

Spread the gift of leisure reading! Donations of gently used leisure reading books and magazines are always welcome. Please drop off any leisure reading donations at the circulation desk at the Dentistry Library.

Staff Picks!

 
The Hunger Games by Susan Collins

You’ve seen the movie, now read the book!

“In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the other districts in line by forcing them to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight-to-the-death on live TV.

One boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and sixteen are selected by lottery to play. The winner brings riches and favor to his or her district. But that is nothing compared to what the Capitol wins: one more year of fearful compliance with its rule. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her impoverished district in the Games.

But Katniss has been close to dead before — and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.” – book description from Amazon



Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

The first book selected for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0!

“A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.

Strayed faces down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.” - book description from Amazon

Toys by James Patterson

 A stand alone mystery adventure novel by award winning author James Patterson!

“Hays Baker and his wife Lizbeth possess super-human strength, extraordinary intelligence, stunning looks, a sex life to die for, and two beautiful children. Of course they do--they're Elites, endowed at birth with the very best that the world can offer. The only problem in their perfect world: humans and their toys!
The one with the most toys--dies

The top operative for the Agency of Change, Hays has just won the fiercest battle of his career. He has been praised by the President, and is a national hero. But before he can savor his triumph, he receives an unbelievable shock that overturns everything he thought was true. Suddenly Hays is on the other side of the gun, forced to leave his perfect family and fight for his life.

Now a hunted fugitive, Hays is thrown into a life he never dreamed possible--fighting to save humans everywhere from extinction. He enlists all of his training to uncover the truth that will save millions of lives--maybe even his own. James Patterson's Toys is a thriller on a hyper plane--with a hero who rivals both James Bond and Jason Bourne.” – book description from Amazon


Ariga, A., & Lleras, A. (2010). Brief and rare mental “breaks” keep you focused: Deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements. Cognition, 118, 439-443.
Tambini, A., Ketz, N., & Davinchi, L. (2010). Enhanced brain correction during rest are related to memory for recent experiences. Neuron, 65(2), 280-290.

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