The library is happy to announce librarian Myles Cooper as our new Library Manager! Myles has been with Mechanics’ Institute for 8 years, first as an on-call Library Assistant and progressing into teaching classes and overseeing various book groups, becoming an essential part of the programming team. Myles has a background in teaching, loves providing adult education services, and is eager to focus more on the library, man...
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Everyone recognizes the name Albert Einstein, but the 20th century was "the century of physics," and we have many other brilliant people who made enormous contributions to our understanding of the universe at the atomic, or quantum, level. Here, we have a play about two of them: Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Although only about 16 years apart in age, many referred to Heisenberg as "Niels Bohr's eldest son." ...
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A few months ago, I read a quote from Carl Sagan's book, The Demon-haunted World, that the writer Paul Ratner claimed predicted, back in 1995, our present-day social, technological and political conditions.
“Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an Am...
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In the 1920s, when he was in his 40s, no less, Bela Bartok and a friend carried a reel to reel tape recorder, and big heavy batteries to power it, into the Carpathian Mountains! Among the first of what we now call ethnomusicologists, Bartok recorded Hungarian peasants playing their traditional instruments and singing songs passed down through generations. Whenever I think of what Bartok accomplished, a line from an old Jan...
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The Mechanics’ Institute Library has implemented an improved online catalog, providing members with a new and better way to find the materials they seek. This new version lets users narrow their searches interactively and intuitively. Our staff will be happy to assist you - you can call the reference desk (415-393-0102), and we can walk you through the various ways you can now search our catalog.
The old "Cla...
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FICTION
Joe Milan The all-American : a novel Fic Milan
Isabella Hammad Enter ghost : a novel Fic Hammad
Don DeLillo The silence : a novel Fic Delillo
Ilʹi͡a Ilʹf The twelve chairs : a novel Fic Ilf
William Saroyan...
PRINT BOOKS
NON-FICTION
Biography & Genealogy
Judy Chicago The flowering : the autobiography of Judy Chicago 750.92 C53f
Paris Hilton Paris : the memoir 305.4821 H656
Paul W. Williams Harvard, Hollywood, hitmen, and holy men : a memoir...
EBOOKS
Jeff Desjardins Signals : the 27 trends defining the future of the global economy
William Saroyan The daring young man on the flying trapeze, and other stories
William Saroyan Fresno stories
Nikki Erlick The measure...
E-AUDIOBOOKS
Kay Dick They
Lauren Willig Band of sisters
Michael Kardos Before he finds her
Kristin Hannah The great alone
Liv Constantine The last time I saw...
After close to 16 years, Taryn Edwards - librarian, writer’s advocate, history nerd, and guardian of Mechanics’ Institute’s past - will be leaving the Institute as of Friday, May 5th. Taryn joined the Institute in 2007 during a lull in activity in the library, and she helped bring in a new vibrancy that included updated programming, member initiatives, networking with like-minded organizations, and many celebrations! Taryn...
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