Deweying it by the numbers: 600s

The 600s are Technology or Applied Sciences, depending on where you look. All this means is the 600s aren't raw science, but science put to use. For instance, 608 is inventions (a sort of general technology), and 620 is machines. And if you dig down deeper into machines, you'll see trains at 625. But by far the most extensive collection of books in the 600s are those in the 610s--medical sciences. This is where are books on diet and excercise are kept, as well as books on specific diseases and illnesses. Today a brand new book from this section caught my eye and I thought I would share it and others like it.

I never knew anyone with any kind of cancer until recently, and I am just amazed at the temerity and tenacity of those individuals that have this life altering condition. So it is with delight that while checking in our new books I found Crazy sexy cancer survivor : more rebellion and fire for your healing journey. Kris Carr also wrote Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips a couple of years back and one reviewer wrote about that book that "If Deepak Chopra, What To Expect When You're Expecting, and Sex and the City had a love child, it would look just like Kris' Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips." And her cancer survivor book is no different. It has mini articles such as "Beat Cancer With Your Fork" and "Create a Cancer Posse." There are a couple of parts that I thought were for more specific lifestyles, such as becoming a vegetarian to beat cancer or a meditation "boot camp" but for the most part this is a book that I would recommend to anyone, cancer or not, that is looking to live life to its fullest.

For more traditional books on being a cancer survivor, one of our own staff members who is a survivor recommends The Cancer Survival Guide: practical help, spiritual hope by Kay Marshall Strom on coping from a Christian perspective, or The Complete Cancer Survival Guide, which focuses on advice from medical professionals.

Deweying it by the Numbers: 100s

Job Stress (158.7) and dreams (135.3), along with philosophy (180s) and Self Help (158)--The 100s are all about you and your life.

Job Stress has been in the news a lot lately. One Microsoft executive blamed job stress as one of the reasons she embezzled $1 million from the company, while the Center for Disease Control and Prevention says that job stress is really bad for your health.

Books to read on job stress:

The Inner Game of Work by W. Timothy Gallwey
The Truth about Burnout : how organizations cause personal stress and what to do about it by Christina Maslach
Stress for Success: the proven program for transforming stress into positive energy at work by James E. Loehr

Exercising at the library

At work, I am participating in a Health and Wellness program that encourages city employees to eat right and exercise. Being at the library, I have a head start on all of the information I need about exercise and diet. Three fat chicks on a diet: because we're all in it together is an excellent book in trying to decide what diet is right for you. You get the pros and cons of each diet, guilt-free ways to snack and still stay with the program, and straight talk for making the diets work for every meal of the day from not only the authors but opinions culled from their online forum.

Once I decided what diet I wanted to try, keeping on it has been hard. One gigantic help has been the website DietFacts.com. They find the nutritional information on various store brands as well as tons of restaurant information. The best part is that they don't promote one diet over another so you can find not only carb information, but also calories. Its like having your own nutritional labels that you can read before you buy. And I couldn't get by without finding some good recipes when I have time to cook at home. I love Alton Brown's [of Food Network fame] I'm just here for the food: food + heat = cooking, because it explains why you cook certain foods in certain ways, but unfortunately, he doesn't do calorie counts. For that I can read a book such as The Good Morning America cut the calories cookbook : 120 delicious low-fat, low-calorie recipes from our viewers. Or I can also go to my favorite cooking website, Recipezaar.com, which converts all of their recipes with the calories and fat per serving.

As for exercise, the library has tons of DVDs from cardio to pilates to bellydancing! Kathy Smith is the queen of aerobics, and The rules of fat burning doesn't dissapoint with five separate workouts. Since there is such a variety of DVDs I won't get bored. Keeping to a schedule will be the hardest part.