Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants

by C. Colston Burrell

Call Number SB439 .B877 2006

The biggest enemy of any garden is not a pest, disease, or poison—it’s any plant with tougher survival skills than the plants it competes with. The best way to weed out the invaders is with this fiendishly clever guide to native plants that can seek and destroy the top 100 most unwelcome perennials, grasses, vines, shrubs, and trees. While replacing the invaders, the beautiful, hardy native plants described here also attract native birds and butterflies, while turning away their own enemy invaders. Word-and-picture guides provide tips on care and maintenance, while helpful “at a glance” boxes depict shapes, sizes, best locations, and most attractive features of each native alternative. (Description by BarnesandNobles.com)

Northwest Green Home Primer

by Kathleen O’Brien and Kathleen Smith

Call Number TH4860 .O27 2008

The essential, real-world, green home manual.

Everyone can make green home decisions on a budget with this inspiring, informationpacked guide. Whether you are building, remodeling, buying, or just curious, here are real-world strategies for getting the greenest results from your budget, with hundreds of ideas for a home that is built to last, comfortable and healthy, money- and time-saving in the long term, and kind to the planet. From your home’s exterior to its operating systems within, from siting to interior design, this is the basic training that has given many the confidence to proceed. Award-winning sustainable design and building consultant and teacher Kathleen O’Brien and architectural designer and sustainability consultant Kathleen Smith offer their “top picks” for each phase. They’ve also each faced their own green home challenges in a single-family house and a duplex, and other case studies show affordable energy-efficient green homes both old and new. Brimming with ideas, clear and logical, with tips, checklists, and resources for green home planning, construction, remodeling, and maintenance, extensively illustrated with photos and diagrams, this is the essential green home manual for novice and professional alike. (Description by BarnesandNobles.com)

New Media Design

By Tricia Austin and Richard Doust
This book explains how graphic designers use computers as a medium to combine word, image, motion, sound, and user interaction for the internet, TV, promos, games, animation, CDs, and exhibitions. Mapping the spectrum of career opportunities created by digital technologies in the industry, it also describes the attitudes, skills, and knowledge needed to enter the profession and captures the flavor and excitement of working in this field. The authors’ broad perspective—taking in everything from photography and illustration to motion, environmental, and wearable graphics—describes the growing importance of new media for graphic designers in developing new experiences for the information and entertainment industries across the globe. Sections on online design and imaginary worlds—including virtual worlds, digital FX, and games—map out recent and future technological developments and their implications for designers of today and tomorrow. (Description from barnesandnoble.com) Call number: NC997 .A775 2007

Sourcebook of Decorative Stone: an Illustrated Identification Guide

By Monica T. Price
This volume is designed as a guide to 300 various kinds of ornamental stone used in public and private buildings as well as in various articles of furniture and the decorative arts. Geologist and science historian Price starts with an introduction about the history of decorative stones, minerals, igneous rocks, and metamorphic rocks, among other classifications. This is followed by chapters on the various stone groups, e.g., alabasters and travertines, various types of marble and limestone, volcanic rocks, quartz, and opal. Each stone description is accompanied by a detailed, beautifully reproduced photograph, a geological description, the major use of each stone type, a few paragraphs about where the stone was used in famous buildings, and the main characteristics of each stone. This extremely well-researched volume displays a wealth of knowledge on every aspect one could hope to know about each type of stone. (Description from barnesandnoble.com) Call number: TN950 .P85 2007