On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Mechanics’ Institute and with much gratitude for his excellent service, I announce the departure of Ralph Lewin as Executive Director effective January 14, 2019. During his four years at MI, Ralph has enhanced the relevance, visibility, and community engagement of the Institute, described by the San Francisco Chronicle as a “beacon of what a cultural institution can be for all citizens.” With a recent grant from the Nationa...
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BOOKS
FICTION
Oyinkan Braithwaite My sister, the serial killer
Alice Hatcher The wonder that was ours
Karl Ove Knausgaard My struggle. Book six
Jason Reynolds All American boys
Histo...
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The past is behind us, the future is ahead. Let us all strive to make the future better and brighter than the past ever was - Gerrit A. Beneker 1918
Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting in World War I between the Allies and Germany. Like most organizations, the Mechanics’ Institute felt duty bound to aid in the war effort. Writing in his annual report of March 17, 1918, MI president Livingston Jenks o...
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BOOKS
FICTION
Eugenia Kim The kinship of secrets
Kim Sagwa Mina
Paulo Coelho Hippie
Leif Enger Virgil Wander
Meredith Russo If I was your...
Want to learn about jazz when it was “cool”? Cool is a term coined by music journalists to describe a jazz genre after bebop with slower tempos, softer phrasing, contrapuntal improvisation from melody instruments, and an incorporation of classical instruments like French horn and vibraphone. Cool has a California connection. Some well-publicized musicians of the period resided in California, and the term “West Coast jazz” now refers to a subgenre of cool that includes work from Dave Brub...
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Brave the elements from the comfort of the couch with selections from our latest DVD and Blu-ray display “Human vs. Nature.” Below are staff recommendations from the 2nd Floor display.
Myles recommends:
Based on a memoir by Cheryl Strayed Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, Wild chronicles Strayed’s ambitious hike after a bou...
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BOOKS
FICTION
Esther Kinsky River
Amelie Nothomb Strike your heart
Sarah Perry Melmoth
Eduardo Sánchez Rugeles Blue label
Tammy Lynne Stoner...
Save the date! #GivingTuesday is just one month away!
#GivingTuesday is a global giving movement that takes place every Tuesday after Thanksgiving, right on the heels of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It’s a new way for the community to come together to kick off the giving season and support those organizations we know and love, like the Mechanics’ Institute.
If you haven’t already made your year-end gift to Mechanics’ Institute, consider doing...
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BOOKS
FICTION
Kirstin Allio Buddhism for western children
Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen Secret passages in a hillside town
Alex Leslie We all need to eat
Guadalupe Nettel After the winter
James B...
BOOKS
FICTION
Dale Bailey In the night wood
Sandra Cisneros Puro amor
Evan Fallenberg The parting gift
Claire Fuller Bitter orange
Alyson Hagy...
