Killer Flu: Get a Shot to Save Your Life and Others

After a devastating flu season in 2017-18 where 80,000 people died, government health officials are urging the public to get vaccinated ("Return of U.S. Flu Season Brings Worries About a Virulent Replay," Bloomberg/Quint, September 27, 2018). Of the children who died from the flu, around 80 percent did not get the shot. Learn about the historic epidemic of 1918 and how public health officials are trying to prevent deaths one hundred years later.

Review selected hard copy/online library books related to the flu at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Place Hold" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to request for pick up at the library.

Use these subject words and phrases to find more information in the library catalog:

• communicable diseases
• epidemics
• influenza

Pandemics, Pills, and Politics: Governing Global Health Security by Stefan Elbe
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018
call number: 362.1 Elb

"Taken by millions of people around the planet in the fight against pandemic flu, Tamiflu has provoked suspicions about undue commercial influence in government decision-making about stockpiles. It even found itself at the center of a prolonged political battle over who should have access to the data about the safety and effectiveness of medicines." - publisher's summary excerpt

More Deadly Than War: The Hidden History of the Spanish Flu and the First World War by Kenneth C. Davis
Henry Holt, 2018
call number: 614.518 Dav

"This book explores how this vast, global epidemic was intertwined with the horrors of World War I and how it could happen again. Complete with photographs, period documents, modern research, and firsthand reports by medical professionals and survivors, this book provides captivating insight into a catastrophe that transformed America in the early twentieth century." - publisher's summary excerpt

Pandemic 1918: Eyewitness Accounts from the Greatest Medical Holocaust in Modern History by Catharine Arnold
St. Martin's Press, 2018
call number: 614.518 Arn

"In January 1918, as World War I raged on, a new and terrifying virus began to spread across the globe. In three successive waves, from 1918 to 1919, influenza killed more than 50 million people...Nowhere on earth escaped: the United States recorded 550,000 deaths (five times its total military fatalities in the war) while European deaths totaled over two million...Through primary and archival sources, historian Catharine Arnold gives readers the first truly global account of the terrible epidemic." - publisher's summary excerpt

Solving the World Water Crisis with Icebergs?

An idea to tow icebergs to parts of world that need clean drinking water has surfaced some forty years ago after it was originally conceived ("How Hauling Icebergs Could Help Sustain the World's Thirstiest Regions," NBC News, August 7, 2018). An United Arab Emirates-based company will attempt a test of this technique employing "satellite imagery to scour the Southern Ocean for a suitable iceberg, lasso it with nets and chains, and then use a small flotilla of boats to tow it" later this year.

Review selected hard copy/online library books related to the world's fresh water supply at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Place Hold" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to request for pick up at the library.

Use these subject words and phrases to find more information in the library catalog:

• droughts
• groundwater
• water conservation
• water use
• water supply
• water consumption
• water resources development

A Thirsty Land: The Making of an American Water Crisis by Seamus McGraw
University of Texas Press, 2018
call number: 333.91 MacG

"As a changing climate threatens the whole country with deeper droughts and more furious floods that put ever more people and property at risk, Texas has become a bellwether state for water debates. Will there be enough water for everyone? Is there the will to take the steps necessary to defend ourselves against the sea? Is it in the nature of Americans to adapt to nature in flux? The most comprehensive--and comprehensible--book on contemporary water issues, A Thirsty Land delves deep into the challenges faced not just by Texas but by the nation as a whole, as we struggle to find a way to balance the changing forces of nature with our own ever-expanding needs." - publisher's summary excerpt

Replenish: The Virtuous Cycle of Water and Prosperity by Sandra Postel
Island Press, 2017
call number: 551.48 Pos

"We have disrupted the natural water cycle for centuries in an effort to control water for our own prosperity. Yet every year, recovery from droughts and floods costs billions of dollars, and we spend billions more on dams, diversions, levees, and other feats of engineering. These massive projects not only are risky financially and environmentally, they often threaten social and political stability. What if the answer was not further control of the water cycle, but repair and replenishment? Sandra Postel takes readers around the world to explore water projects that work with, rather than against, nature's rhythms. In New Mexico, forest rehabilitation is safeguarding drinking water; along the Mississippi River, farmers are planting cover crops to reduce polluted runoff; and in China, "sponge cities" are capturing rainwater to curb urban flooding." - publisher's summary excerpt

High and Dry: Meeting the Challenges of the World’s Growing Dependence on Groundwater by William M. Alley and Rosemarie Alley
Yale University Press, 2017
call number: 628.1 All

"Groundwater is essential for drinking water and food security. . .But a growing global population, widespread use of industrial chemicals, and climate change threaten this vital resource. Groundwater depletion and contamination has spread from isolated areas to many countries throughout the world. . .Drawing on examples from around the world, including case studies in the United States, Canada, Australia, India, and Sub-Saharan Africa, the authors examine groundwater from key scientific and socioeconomic perspectives. While addressing the serious nature of groundwater problems, the book includes stories of people who are making a difference in protecting this critical resource." - publisher's summary excerpt

Study Suggests More Stalled Hurricanes and Massive Flooding Coming

After examining the traveling (or translation) speed of tropical cyclones from 1949 and 2016, a climate science concluded that storms slowed ten percent during that time suggesting more hurricanes similar to 2017's Harvey are inevitable ("Hurricanes Are Lingering Longer. That Makes Them More Dangerous." The New York Times, June 6, 2018). The complete study published in the journal Nature and the news article mention that global warming may have some part to play in storm stagnation.

Review selected hard copy/online library books related to hurricanes at LSC-CyFair Branch Library. Click the title of a listed item, select the "Place Hold" button in the listing, and enter your library card number and PIN for each title you want to request for pick up at the library.

Use these subject words and phrases to find more information in the library catalog:

• hurricane damage
• Hurricane Harvey
• hurricanes
• severe storms

Extreme Weather Events edited by Marcia Amidon Lüsted
Greenhaven, 2017
call number: 363.34 Ext

"In the wake of every killer hurricane, devastating wild fire, severe drought, or once-in-a-century flooding event, it has become commonplace for scientists, politicians, and ordinary citizens to debate whether or not these severe weather events can be tied directly to climate change and global warming. The scientific consensus generally indicates that we are beginning to see upticks in extreme weather due to warming and the resulting shift in weather patterns. . .This anthology collects the strongest viewpoints from across the ideological spectrum and the globe and allows readers to evaluate the arguments and evidence for themselves before forming an educated opinion." - publisher's summary excerpt

Killer Hurricanes
WGBH/PBS, 2017
call number: DVD Nonfiction 551.552 Kil

"The program compares the 2017 hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria to the Great Hurricane of 1780. That typhoon devastated the island of Barbados and other locations throughout the Atlantic, causing close to 22,000 fatalities. Using historic documents and sediment core samples taken from the ocean, scientists attempt to find patterns to help them predict the severity of hurricanes." - School Library Journal review excerpt

Hurricane Harvey by the Houston Chronicle
Pediment Publishing, 2017
call number: 976.414 Hur

"Hurricane Harvey, from the staff of the Houston Chronicle, tells the story of this unprecedented storm. In 200 pages of breathtaking photos and compelling narratives, we document everything from severe flooding to rescues and evacuations, damage, and volunteer and recovery efforts." - publisher's summary