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LONGVIEW PUBLIC LIBRARY NEWSLETTER
An Eclipse to Remember

Wednesday August 16 | 6:00 PM
Greg Cermak, our local NASA Ambassador, presents "An Eclipse to Remember" at the Longview Library on August 16. Learn about Eclipse 101 ahead of the solar eclipse on August 21 as well as how to enjoy a partial eclipse, why a total eclipse is a big deal, resources for viewing the eclipse, the sun and space weather, 1859 - the week the Sun touched the Earth, and NASA's STEREO mission and highlights.
At 5:30 PM, before the 6 PM presentation, attendees will be able to join Greg outside to view the sun directly - and safely - through a pair of astronomical binoculars with solar filters mounted on a tripod.
Eclipse glasses, provided by STAR_Net, will be available for free following the presentation.

Summer Reading Picnic 
Wednesday August 2 | 6 - 7:30 PM
Join us for our annual celebration of Summer Reading outside on the library lawn. This year's picnic features trained human Matt Henry!
Free hot dogs and snow cones will be served thanks to support from Foster Farms and the Early Bird Lions.
sewing notions
Quilting Crafts:
English Paper Piecing 

August 23 and 30 | 6 - 8 PM
One class, two nights!
Learn the quilting technique of English Paper Piecing with Susie Meyer from Paisley Duck Quilting & Designs in Kelso. 
Call or visit the library to sign up beginning August 7. Space is limited, and registration is required. Material and supplies are provided. 
Tax forms

Record Keeping and Taxes
Saturday, August 12 | 10 AM - 1PM
This free SCORE seminar clears up questions regarding taxation and the type of business formation you choose.
Register for this class at the library or by calling 360.442.5300. 

Squirrelfest

Saturday August 19 | 10 AM - 4 PM
Stop by our craft station outside of the library during Squirrelfest to make a fun and free squirrel craft project to take home.
All Squirrelfest activites can be
found on the event's website: 
http://lvsquirrelfest.com/ 
Skaugsetting
with Library Director Chris Skaugset
American Eclipse by David Baron
Of course one of the biggest stories of 2017 is the total eclipse which will occur on the morning of Monday, August 21st. While Cowlitz County is outside the 100% band that’s crossing central Oregon, we are still in the 90% band (for more information go to: eclipse2017.nasa.gov).The Library will be hosting the local NASA Ambassador, Greg Cermak on Wednesday, August 16 and will be distributing special eclipse-viewing glasses following his presentation. Come and join this exciting scientific event. Below are a few of the titles that we have, and one we are getting very soon, that talk about eclipses both scientifically and historically.
The book that we should be getting very soon is David Baron’s American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to Catch the Shadow of the Moon and Win the Glory of the World. In this excellent narrative, Baron tells the tale of three pioneering scientists—planet hunter James Craig Watson, astronomer Maria Mitchell, and inventor Thomas Edison—who gathered in the West with an extraordinary cast of supporting characters on a day when the sun hid and far more was revealed. He explores an untold tale of ambition, failure, and eventual triumph, and brings to life the intellectual and technological flowering that occurred in late-nineteenth-century America, a period that showed America’s quest to be a scientific leader and that laid the foundation for the country’s eventual rise to scientific greatness.
Mask of the Sun: The Science, History and Forgotten Lore of Eclipses by John Dvorak is the next book I offer you this month.  Dvorak’s work is a much broader look at eclipses in terms of the science behind them, their role throughout human history and, ultimately, in the human mythos. The author has written a very good introduction to this fascinating subject.
Sun Moon Earth by Tyler Nordgren
Astronomer and Physicist Tyler Nordgren is the author of our next book Sun, Earth, Moon: The History of Solar Eclipses, from Omens of Doom to Einstein and Exoplanets. Nordgren has written another wonderful book about the history of eclipses both as a scientific occurrence and as an omen of doom. Where he separates himself is where he discusses Arthur Eddington's 1919 experiment using an eclipse to prove Einstein's special theory of relativity. Long before Star Trek, Nordgren relates a humorous account of the 19th-century "discovery" of the hypothesized planet Vulcan (which based upon 19th Century science was believed to exist between Mercury and the Sun). That particular eclipse led to profound changes in science, language, and worldview, including proving Einstein’s theory and ultimately causing Vulcan to vanish, at least until 1960’s television.
Finally, I give you Louis Masur’s 1831: A Year of Eclipse.  While Masur’s work is really a history about the United States as it began to realize, due to large unresolved issues such as slavery, states-rights, and changing technology, that it was no longer the uncomplicated republic that it thought it was, but a conflicted and increasingly dynamic state that was inching towards cataclysm. Going back to the belief that an eclipse was an omen or a portent of doom, Masur uses the total eclipse that occurred on February 12, 1831 as a metaphor for this time of turmoil and an unknown future in our young nation’s history. So, while this last book isn’t really about eclipses it is an interesting, and well-researched history and uses the idea of the eclipse as an apt metaphor of the early republic.
You can find all of these, and much more at your local library.  Visit us in person, or online, and see what we can help you discover/learn/do today.
English Conversation Class - Thursdays & Fridays, 12:30 - 2:00 PM
Basic Spanish Conversation Group - Mondays, 11 AM - NOON
Intermediate Spanish Conversation Group - Mondays, NOON - 1 PM
Resume Writing Help - Wednesdays, 5 - 8 PM
Job Search Class - Friday, August 4, 2 - 4 PM
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Thank you... Friends of the Longview Public Library, Longview Public Library Foundation, Library Volunteers, Southwest Washington Fair, Michael King & Advantage Printing, Jeff Wilson & Friends of Shay Locomotive, Mark Counts, Early Bird Lions, Foster Farms, Friends of the Kelso Library, Dr. Recycle, City of Longview Public Works, and all our Summer Readers and their families... for making 2017 Summer Reading so great!
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