Octuplet Births Renew Debate on Infertility Treatment

The octuplet controversy in California focused a spotlight on the unregulated world of infertility treatments that was featured in a February 9, 2009 San Francisco Chronicle article (Octuplet Mom Was Treated at Beverly Hills Clinic). In an interview with NBC, Nadya Suleman revealed the name of the clinic who treated her, West Coast IVF Clinic in Beverly Hills. Further investigation showed that Suleman was filmed at that clinic for a 2006 Los Angeles television station story with her doctor, Michael Kamrava. That doctor is now being scrutinized by the Medical Board of California for a possible "violation of the standard of care" because six embryos were reportedly transferred to Suleman, twice the standard number of embryos for someone her age. Two of Suleman's embryos actually split, forming twins.

Review selected library titles related to the ethics of infertility treatment and human reproductive technologies at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3219 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words and phrases to find more in the library catalog:

• infertility
• human in vitro fertilization
• human reproductive technology

Reproductive Technologies edited by Clay Farris Naff - Greenhaven Press, 2007
call number: 176 Rep
"Every technology has its pros and cons but reproductive technologies seem to present especially agonizing choices. For people suffering from infertility, the technologies offer . . . a chance to have a child. For critics of the technologies, they variously present a threat to the well-being of children, to motherhood, to God's will, and to the future of humanity itself . . . The authors contribute various opinions and predictions regarding this fascinating debate." - book introduction excerpt

Embryo Culture: Making Babies in the Twenty-First Century by Beth Kohl - Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
call number: 618.178 Koh
"Freelance writer Kohl here offers a part memoir, part essaylike account of her experience with IVF and its effects on culture, legal issues, and more . . . From her paranoia over her IVF-conceived daughter to her reflections on what constitutes life, Kohl eloquently shares her innermost reflections while raising important issues in a thought-provoking way. Readers in her position may find hope in her story." - Library Journal review excerpt

Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction Is Changing Men, Women, and the World by Liza Mundy - Alfred A. Knopf, 2007
call number: 362.196 Mun
"Mundy, a feature writer for the Washington Post, combines a science reporter's objectivity with a mother's understanding, and she delivers her emotionally charged and often scientifically complex material in clear, bright and eminently readable prose . . . she interviews mothers, fathers, infertility doctors, surrogate mothers, egg donors, sperm donors and adult children conceived through surrogacy and in vitro fertilization. The picture that emerges is one of a social experiment so new and untested-legally, medically, ethically and socially-that it behooves us all to be as informed as possible. - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

Test Tube Babies [videorecording] produced and directed by Chana Gazit & Hilary Klotz Steinman - PBS Home Video, 2006
call number: DVD Nonfiction 618.178 Tes
"This tells the story of doctors, researchers, and hopeful couples who pushed the limits of science and triggered a technological revolution in human reproduction. In so doing, they landed at the center of a controversy whose reverberations continue to this day." - Publisher summary

Electric and Hybrid Cars Popular at Auto Show

The post-bailout North American International Auto Show in Detroit displayed an affinity for alternative energy vehicles such as Toyota's all-electric concept car, FT-EV and Volkswagen AG's clean diesel, BlueSport based on a story in the January 11, 2009 Detroit News ("It's a Small -- Green -- World after All"). Ford even touted its "new electrification strategy" in response to customer demand. Automakers think small cars will be their salvation, but for those buyers still wanting larger vehicles, they might need to settle for hybrid V-8 engines.

Review selected library titles related to alternative energy vehicles at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3219 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words and phrases to find more in the library catalog:

• electric automobiles
• alternative fuel vehicles
• hybrid electric cars
• hydrogen cars
• renewable energy sources
  

Energy for Sustainability: Technology, Planning, Policy by John Randolph and Gilbert M. Masters - Island Press, 2008
call number: 333.79 Ran (NOTE: see chapters 13 & 14 for transportation issues)
"Randolph (environmental planning, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State U.) and Masters (environmental engineering emeritus, Stanford U.) offer an interdisciplinary and encyclopedic approach seeking to inform policy makers and technologists. . . . They describe energy patterns and trends, including . . . sustainable transportation and land use." - Book News summary excerpt

Future Cars: Bio Fuel, Hybrid, Electric, Hydrogen, Fuel Economy in All Sizes and Shapes by Ulrich Bethscheider-Kieser - AvEdition, 2008
call number: 629.229 Bet
"Introduces a unique selection of about 50 unusual and forward-looking car designs that will change the world: Hybrid cars that are already in mass production, automobiles soon to be produced, powered with natural gas, bio fuel or electricity, and concepts of fuel-cell vehicles." - Publisher summary excerpt

Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future by Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran - Twelve, 2007
call number: 338.476 Car
"It includes excellent descriptions of fuel cells, hydrogen, plug-in technology, energy storage devices, etc., their domestic developers, and how US energy politics is changing from the bottom up, rather than the top down." - Choice review excerpt

Who Killed the Electric Car? [videorecording] produced by Jessie Deeter, written and directed by Chris Paine - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2006
call number: DVD Nonfiction 629.229 Who
"Investigates the birth and death of the electric car, as well as the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in the future." - summary from the library catalog

United Nations Condemns Actions in Gaza

The Voice of America (VOA) News reports January 9, 2009 that an official of the United Nations (UN) condemns the violence inflicted upon civilians by Hamas and Israeli forces and is pushing for a war crimes investigation ("UN Emergency Session Deals With Gaza Crisis"). The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay mentioned that attacks on relief workers in Gaza forced the shutdown of U.N. aid in Gaza. Israel defended its air strikes as necessary to protect Israeli civilians, but Hamas criticized the intensity of Israel's fire power that has caused civilian deaths.

Review selected library titles related to the Arab-Israeli conflict at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a book, select the "Request" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to reserve for pick up at the library. Call the library at 281-290-3219 to check your PIN if you do not remember it. Use these subject words and phrases to find more in the library catalog:

• Israel politics 1993
  
• West Bank
• Arab-Israeli conflict
• Palestinian Arabs

Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine by Jonathan Schanzer - Palgrave Macmillan, 2008
call number: 956.953 Sch
"Neophytes to the tangled world of Palestine's internal conflict will be treated to a serious, no-frills account; those readers more familiar with the issues will enjoy how Schanzer weaves a web of connectivity between the Palestinian conflict with Israel" - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

The Arab-Israeli Conflict by Kirsten E. Schulze - Pearson Longman, 2008
call number: 956.04 Sch
"General audiences and students of international history will appreciate the straightforward style of this book, which describes why this historic conflict has become the focus of Muslim politics throughout the world." - Book News, Inc. summary excerpt

The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace by Aaron David Miller - Bantam Books, 2008
call number: 956.05 Mil
"Career diplomat Miller provides an impressively candid appraisal of Middle East peace efforts. Drawing from his extensive experience and 160 interviews with presidents, advisers and negotiators, he apportions censure and praise with an even hand, sparing not even his failures or those of his colleagues." - Publishers Weekly review excerpt

Victory for Us Is To See You Suffer: In the West Bank with the Palestinians and the Israelis by Philip C. Winslow - Beacon Press, 2007
call number: 956.953 Win
"Winslow balances the Palestinian struggle to maneuver through an ever-growing web of walls, checkpoints and Israeli military operations in the West Bank, with close attention to Israel's legitimate defense needs and the fear created by Palestinian terrorism." - Publishers Weekly review excerpt