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10/10/2023 - 12:43pm

Each day you visit our library, you will see displays highlighting books, DVDs, and audio collections on different timely topics or relating to certain events. We have displays for the new books, staff recommendations, themes for the month, or entertaining subjects favored by our members. In this post, we highlight an entire collection - LARGE PRINT (LP)!

We relocated this collection to the first stack of books on the 2nd fl, facing the water dispenser. The first section you...

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10/06/2023 - 4:16pm

The imagery of chess revisited.   794.1 I314

In 1954-55, The Julien Levy Gallery in New York City held an exhibition of chess-themed art by the most notable surrealists and Dada artists of the time, as well as many others who became famous artists lat...

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09/26/2023 - 12:50pm

Michael Kandel started out in his career translating the science fiction books of Stanislaw Lem into English. Having read both authors, Kandel's absurdist sense of humor must have helped him bring Lem's works into English. In Captain Jack Zodiac, Kandel creates a hilarious dystopian future world similar to ours in which an everyman sets out to fi...

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09/20/2023 - 12:58pm

This past June, Jimmy de Guzman joined Mechanics’ Institute as our Communications Manager. He hopes to lend his experience and expertise towards helping redefine the Institute’s role as a locus and focus of knowledge building and skill development in San Francisco, the Bay Area, and beyond. 

We asked Jimmy a few questions to help introduce him to the Mechanics' Institute community:...

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09/13/2023 - 4:08pm

The number of movies I consider perfect I can count on one hand.  I am amazed that 1984 ever reached the theaters. In an age when studios insisted upon "happy endings" and most movies would not show "evil to triumph," to see a film stay so true to such a tragic book came as a bit of a shock to me at the time. The Great British actor, John Hurt, l...

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09/12/2023 - 6:32pm

E-AUDIOBOOKS

Carter W Lewis Golf with Alan Shepard
Patrick Link Headstrong
John Lawton Moscow exile
James Hadley Chase No orchids for Miss Blandish
Christina Calvit...

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09/11/2023 - 5:14pm

FICTION

Richard Ford Be mine Fic Ford
Louise Lewis The eternal return of Clara Hart Fic Finch
Paul Rudnick Farrell Covington and the limits of style : a novel Fic Rudnick
Roslyn Bernstein The girl who counted numbers : a novel...

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09/11/2023 - 5:02pm

PRINT BOOKS
NON-FICTION

Arts, Architecture & Crafts

Making their mark : art by women in the Shah Garg collection 704.042 M235

Biography & Genealogy

Olga Lengyel Five chimneys : a woman survivor's true story of Auschwitz 940.5318 L566
Jane Ferguson...

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09/11/2023 - 2:55pm

Heinrich von Kleist Michael Kohlhaas
Gustave Flaubert Three tales
Domenico Starnone Ties
Olufemi Taiwo Against decolonisation : taking African agency seriously
Alistair MacLean Alist...

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09/08/2023 - 2:21pm

Chess rivals of the 19th century: with 300 annotated games / Tony Cullen.  794.15 C967

Many historical chess books focus on individual 19th-century masters and tournaments, yet little is written covering the full scope of competitive chess through the era. This volume provides a comprehensive overview, with 300 annotated games a...

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