The Buzz About Bees Onscreen

Bees have always been fascinating to me, with their interesting social colonies, their ability to keep our agricultural systems going through pollination, their cute fuzzy bodies, and—of course—their delicious honey. And as we learn more about them, the more remarkable and complex they become, and the more we discover just how much our ecosystem relies on their hard work.

A free program on this topic, Beekeeping Basics, will be held at the Halifax Central Library on Saturday, April 30. In preparation, here are some documentaries that investigate and celebrate these amazing insects:

Queen of the Sun: what are the bees telling us?

This informative documentary delves into the long relationship humans have had with honeybees: imagery of bees has been drawn on prehistoric cave walls, ancient Egyptian pharaohs were entombed with honey pots, and in many cases bees were seen as religious symbols. While celebrating our symbiotic relationship through interviews with a wide variety of beekeepers, the documentary doesn’t shy away from showing the various ways that humans may have interfered too much with nature, such as using pesticides that hurt bees and other vital pollinators while contaminating their honey, planting just one crop over a wide area (this leads to increased blights and prevents pollinators from getting nutrients), stressing the bees by transporting them thousands of miles on trucks, using too many antibiotics, and limiting genetic diversity by artificially inseminating queen bees.

Vanishing of the Bees

Narrated by Ellen Page, this profoundly disturbing documentary focuses on the alarming phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder—what seems like a worldwide plague that causes entire colonies of bees to suddenly disappear. In just a few years, millions of beehives have been lost in this way, costing the economy billions of dollars in the loss of these crucial pollinators. Speaking with various beekeepers, both those at huge industrialized companies and smaller organic hobby farms, the filmmakers investigate many possible causes of this disorder and suggest ways to help bees overcome it.

Colony: the endangered world of bees

This gorgeously-filmed documentary follows several migratory beekeepers who have brought their boxes of beehives to California for the pollination of almond trees. This type of commercial beekeeper moves thousands of bees around on trucks throughout North America, following the pollination seasons of various crops. As the documentary explains, the bees’ greatest value is not in honey or beeswax but in their pollination abilities, without which we would lose about a third of all fruits and vegetables. They then delve into the tragedy and possible causes of Colony Collapse Disorder, which is responsible for killing huge amounts of bees—over 30% of North American bees in just the past few years. However, even if the bees were healthy, another problem facing the industry is very demanding work for very low prices, so it is difficult to stay in business even under the best conditions. I liked how the filmmakers emphasize that our food doesn’t just come from the store; it has a long history before that, and sometimes we can forget that we are part of the food chain, too.

If you are interested in learning how to keep your own beehive, check out these resources:

Top-Bar Beekeeping

In this instructional DVD, married couple Les Crowder and Heather Harrell provide details about how to organically raise bees. They include practical information about using a smoker (to calm the bees), opening the hive, doing maintenance, preventing swarms, expanding the beehive, and harvesting honey and beeswax without needing to buy fancy equipment. Unlike other beehive designs, top-bar beekeeping does not use a metal frame, so the bees build the honeycombs organically down from a wooden bar. Crowder and Harrell even include a section on the best flowers to plant if you want to attract bees and provide a diversity of nectar and pollen. They stress the importance of listening to bees, allowing them to teach us instead of forcing them into conditions that just maximize honey output, ending with the line, “Honeybees enrich our gardens and our lives.”

Save the Bees with Natural Backyard Hives: the easy and treatment-free way to attract and keep healthy bees by Rob and Chelsea McFarland

With plenty of colour pictures, the authors promote treatment-free apiculture (the technical name for beekeeping) as a set of principles. They explain that our understanding of honeybees is ever-evolving and that the bees need help in order to continue their work. The book focuses on the urgency of small, personal solutions to big problems, recognizing that beekeeping is ultimately not about honey or profit but about survival—both of the bees and of humankind. But I liked that it also highlights the principle that beekeeping should be fun.

The Rooftop Beekeeper: a scrappy guide to keeping urban honeybees by Megan Paska

For those in a more urban environment, this book provides advice, checklists, guides to community resources, and lots of recipes from an urban apiarist. Living in Brooklyn, New York, the author notes that at first she was terrified of bees and didn’t realize their importance to the urban environment: “the concrete jungle is not exactly the backdrop one imagines as a honeybee heaven.” But she quickly overcame her fear and discovered that city bees actually have a great chance of thriving in big cities, and the rooftop beehives mostly go unnoticed by neighbours.

If you want to know more about bees and beekeeping, check out the upcoming library program Beekeeping Basics on April 30!

Crime Time

The true crime section of the library has always been popular (364.1523 if you're browsing!) and from the avalanche of books, TV shows, documentaries, and podcasts it seems our appetite is only increasing. Unless you've been living off the grid you've probably heard of the incredibly popular podcast Serial hosted by Sarah Koenig, and the even more popular (and at least in my case, rage-inducing) Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer directed by Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. These recent productions are even more fascinating because they cast doubt on who really knows the truth, from the lawyers to the suspects themselves. Although Making a Murderer is not yet available on DVD, there are other twisty true crime documentaries worth watching.

The Staircase directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade looks at the death of Kathleen Peterson and the resulting trial of her husband, novelist Michael Peterson. There are a couple of unexpected twists in this eight-episode drama. Lestrade also filmed a two-hour followup on the case several years later. Unfortunately this update isn't included in the DVD so you'll have to track it down online.

 Another fascinating crime case is HBO's six-episode series The Jinx directed by Andrew Jarecki, featuring the strange saga of Robert Durst, an American real estate heir investigated in relation to the disappearance of his wife and the murders of two other individuals. You have to watch it to believe it.

The 'West Memphis Three' also made headlines for years. Three consecutive documentaries by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky followed the lives of three teenagers accused of murdering three eight-year-olds in Arkansas: Paradise Lost: the child murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996) followed by Paradise Lost 2: revelations (2001) and Paradise Lost 3: purgatory (2012). A fourth documentary titled West of Memphis directed by Amy Berg premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, also in 2012.

Why are people so fascinated with true crime? Popular Crime: reflections on the celebration of violence by Bill James attempts to answer this question by taking us through various famous crimes, from the Lindbergh kidnapping to O.J. Simpson. He entertains the reader while considering how infamous crimes - and our reactions to them - affect our culture.

After watching and reading about some of these cases, you may want to up your game on crime scene analysis by reading Forensics: what bugs, burns, prints, DNA, and more tell us about crime by Val McDermid. McDermid usually writes crime fiction, and her background research resulted in a fascinating look at how forensic scientists use everything from entemology to psychology to uncover the truth.

Dolphin and Whale Documentaries

Ever since I was a child watching movies like Free Willy and Flipper (and more recently family-friendly films like (Big Miracle, Dolphin Tale, and Whale Rider), I’ve been captivated by stories of highly intelligent marine mammals: whales and dolphins—or cetaceans, for their scientific name! Since then, there has been more attention paid to these creatures in the wild, including how they play and strategize, how human activities affect them, and what we can learn from them. While I enjoy reading books about dolphins and whales, I also love watching nature documentaries: in these movies, the world under the sea comes to life thanks to the work of many skilled filmmakers and high-definition underwater cameras. They reveal amazing sights previously hidden to us and reinforce how humans can be both a source of danger and of hope to the ocean. Check out these fascinating dolphin and whale documentaries:


Ocean Giants

Narrated by Stephen Fry, this 3-episode documentary series features many different types of whales, including the blue whale, the largest known animal to have ever lived on Earth—bigger even than the dinosaurs! This series is unusual because it explicitly tells the story from the perspective of the cameramen, those who are usually silent behind the camera. Experienced underwater cameramen Doug Allan and Didier Noirot are some incredibly brave people, venturing into Arctic temperatures and getting as close as possible to such huge creatures who could seriously injure or even kill them with a flick of their tail.

Blackfish

Although I loved visiting Sea World as a kid and sitting in the “splash zone” at Shamu Shows, I would feel seriously conflicted about going back after watching this profoundly disturbing documentary. The film covers a killer whale in captivity named Tilikum, who has been responsible for killing several of his trainers. Such attacks happen often in captivity but are rare in the wild. The filmmakers posit that keeping such intelligent wild creatures in small artificial tanks is the height of cruelty. One of the most haunting images in the film is that of the collapsed dorsal fins that many orcas in captivity develop, which are unusual to see in the wild (hypothesized to be because the whales in captivity don’t have enough space to swim around and keep their fins upright).

If you saw Blackfish and want to learn more, check out the book that spawned the influential documentary, Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the dark side of killer whales in captivity.

Disneynature Oceans

Pierce Brosnan narrates this documentary, which was filmed all throughout the globe, touching on creatures in each of the five oceans. While whales and dolphins are heavily featured, the film includes many other oceanic dwellers, such as sharks, birds, crabs, turtles, otters, and the lovely colourful sea slug called the “Spanish dancer.” All films about the ocean tend to be visually stunning, but this one is particularly so. I would have loved to see it in the theaters or even on an IMAX big screen. In addition to presenting scenes of wonder, though, the film meditates on the current state of the oceans due to the effects of pollution, rising sea temperatures, overfishing, and other environmental problems, ending with the line, “Instead of asking, ‘What exactly is the ocean?’ maybe we should be asking, ‘Who exactly are we?’”

The Cove

Awarded the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2010, this documentary works more like a fast-paced thriller with the filmmakers trying to get photographic evidence of a horrifying secret dolphin hunt that goes on in the small cove of Taiji in Japan. The documentary is told from the perspective of activist Ric O’Barry, a former dolphin trainer who helped capture the wild dolphins who shared the lead role in the television series Flipper (based on the movie of the same name). After the movie and TV series helped to popularize dolphin shows, O’Barry became consumed with guilt and remorse when he witnessed how captivity caused the dolphins such suffering. In Taiji, the filmmakers go into detail about how those involved in the hunt attempt to suppress reporting and prevent locals from knowing what goes on, and after seeing the visceral and distressing footage, I understood why. I appreciated how the filmmakers put the hunt into context and went into detail about whaling practices and what happens to the dolphin meat, which is dangerously high in mercury.

The Whale

Produced by Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson, this heartbreaking documentary tells the story of Luna, a two-year-old orca who in 2001 was separated from his family in Nootka Sound, off the coast of Vancouver Island. Because killer whales have strong social ties to each other and Luna was alone, he decided to make friends and play with local fishermen and townspeople, coming up to boats in the Sound and begging for attention. Watching the footage, it was clear that Luna had emotions and was lonely. But whether all that contact with humans was good for him was less clear. Luna eventually found himself in the middle of a political controversy between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, who wanted to take him away into captivity, and the local people, including those of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations, who believed Luna was a reincarnation of their former chief and wanted him to be left alone. Regardless of the politics, though, it was very moving to see the depth of the connections that Luna formed with the people of Nootka Sound.

If you want to learn more about Luna, check out the book, The Lost Whale: the true story of an orca named Luna.

JFK Assassination - fifty years later

There are no shortage of books being published this fall looking at the history of the JFK assassination, which happened 50 years ago this November.  We have a number of interesting sounding titles on order. Place your hold now and avoid the rush.

Dallas 1963 (M)
by Bill Minutaglio

In the months and weeks before the fateful November 22nd, 1963, Dallas was brewing with political passions, a city crammed with larger-than-life characters dead-set against the Kennedy presidency. These included rabid warriors like defrocked military general Edwin A. Walker; the world's richest oil baron, H. L. Hunt; the leader of the largest Baptist congregation in the world, W.A. Criswell; and the media mogul Ted Dealey, who raucously confronted JFK and whose family name adorns the plaza where the president was murdered. On the same stage was a compelling cast of marauding gangsters, swashbuckling politicos, unsung civil rights heroes, and a stylish millionaire anxious to save his doomed city.

Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis ingeniously explore the swirling forces that led many people to warn President Kennedy to avoid Dallas on his fateful trip to Texas. Breathtakingly paced, DALLAS 1963 presents a clear, cinematic, and revelatory look at the shocking tragedy that transformed America. Countless authors have attempted to explain the assassination, but no one has ever bothered to explain Dallas-until now.

Hidden History of the JFK assassination (M)
by Lamar Waldron

November 22, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the tragedy that has haunted America ever since. For the first time, this concise and compelling book pierces the veil of secrecy to fully document the small, tightly-held conspiracy that killed President John F. Kennedy. It explains why he was murdered, and how it was done in a way that forced many records to remain secret for almost fifty years. 'The Hidden History of JFK's Assassination' draws on exclusive interviews with more than two dozen associates of John and Robert Kennedy, in addition to former FBI, Secret Service, military intelligence, and Congressional personnel, who provided critical first-hand information. The book also uses government files—including the detailed FBI confession of notorious Mafia godfather Carlos Marcello—to simply and clearly reveal exactly who killed JFK.

CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys: how and why US agents conspired to assassinate JFK and RFK (M)
by Patrick Nolan

"The US Central Intelligence Agency is no stranger to conspiracy and allegations of corruption. Across the globe, violent coups have been orchestrated, high-profile targets kidnapped, and world leaders dispatched at the hands of CIA agents. During the 1960s, on domestic soil, the methods used to protect their interests and themselves at the expense of the American people were no less ruthless. In CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys, Patrick Nolan fearlessly investigates the CIA’s involvement in the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy—why the brothers needed to die and how rogue intelligence agents orchestrated history’s most infamous conspiracy."

They Killed Our President: 63 reasons to believe there was a conspiracy to assassinate JFK (M) 
by Jesse Ventura

"For the first time ever, New York Times bestselling authors Jesse Ventura and Dick Russell have teamed up with some of the most respected and influential assassination researchers to put together the ultimate compendium that covers every angle—from the plot to the murder—of JFK. They Killed Our President will not only discuss the most famous of theories, but will also bring to light new and recently discovered information, which together shows that the United States government not only was behind this egregious plot, but took every step to make sure that the truth would not come out."

Some of the book's revelations will be dramatized in the upcoming Warner Brothers film 'Legacy of Secrecy', produced by and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which also stars Robert De Niro as Carlos Marcello.

Hit List: an in-depth investigation into the mysterious deaths of witnesses to the JFK assassination (M) 
by Richard Belzer and David Wayne

Richard Belzer and David Wayne are back to set the record straight after Dead Wrong; this time they’re going to uncover the truth about the many witness deaths tied to the JFK assassination. For decades, government pundits have dismissed these “coincidental” deaths, even regarding them as “myths” as “urban legends.” Like most people, Richard and David were initially unsure about what to make of these ‘coincidences’. After all, events don’t “consult the odds” prior to happening; they simply happen. Then someone comes along later and figures out what the odds of it happening were. Some of the deaths seemed purely coincidental; heart attacks, hunting accidents. Others clearly seemed noteworthy; witnesses who did seem to know something and did seem to die mysteriously.

Hit List is a fair examination of the evidence of each case, leading to (necessarily) different conclusions. The findings were absolutely staggering; as some cases were clearly linked to a “clean-up operation” after the murder of President Kennedy, while others were the result of ‘other forces’. The impeccable research and writing of Richard Belzer and David Wayne show that if the government is trying to hide anything, they’re the duo who will uncover it. 

JFK: a new world order (M)
by Mill Creek Entertainment

DVD " Over 6 1/2 hours of the myth and memory of JFK! Fifty years after his death, John F. Kennedy's life, legacy and youthful vigor continues to intrigue and enthrall an entire nation! Relive the compelling story of the unforgettable leader and the inspired dynasty he left behind. Insightful and concise this 8-part documentary series covers JFK's life, from barely surviving birth to the tragic events in Dallas on November 22, 1963."

What is Your Preferred Type?

Just My Type: a book about fonts (M)
by Simon Garfield

"Just My Type is a book of stories about fonts. It examines how Helvetica and Comic Sans took over the world. It explains why we are still influenced by type choices made more than 500 years ago, and why the T in the Beatles logo is longer than the other letters. It profiles the great originators of type, from Baskerville to Zapf, as well as people like Neville Brody who threw out the rulebook. The book is about that pivotal moment when fonts left the world of Letraset and were loaded onto computers, and typefaces became something we realized we all have an opinion about. And beyond all this, the book reveals what may be the very best and worst fonts in the world – and what your choice of font says about you." - Publisher

Type: the secret history of letters (M)
by Simon Loxley

"If you've ever wondered exactly what a Zapf is, or if Baskerville has anything to do with Sherlock Holmes, Type is the answer to these questions and more. This is the story of the passions, and obsessions of the creator of type; of the influences of wars, persecution, and political upheaval, and the effects of business and technological breakthroughs on fonts and typography. From Gutenberg's first moveable type to the Internet, Simon Loxley tells the stories behind the letters, giving readers a cultural history unlike any other. After reading Type, readers will never look at the printed word in the same way again." - Publisher

Helvetica: a documentary film (M)
directed by Gary Hustwit

Helvetica is a documentary film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. An exploration of urban spaces and the type that inhabits them, Helvetica invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day.

Celebrating Record Store Day 2013

"This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April."

So in that spirit, here are a few related reading( and viewing) suggestions:

Telegraph Avenue : a novel (M)
by Michael Chabon

"Longtime band mates Archy and Nat preside over Brokeland Records, a used-record emporium. All's well until a former NFL quarterback, one of the country's richest African Americans, decides to build his latest Dogpile megastore on nearby Telegraph Avenue. Not only could this spell doom for the little shop and its cross-race, cross-class dream, but it opens up past history regarding Archy's untethered dad and a Black Panther-era crime." -Publisher

High Fidelity (M)
by Nick Hornby

"Rob Fleming is the kind of person whose mindset is clearly shown by his top two career choices: journalist for the New Musical Express, 1976-79, and producer for Atlantic Records, circa 1964-71. Owner of a small London record shop and musical snob of a high degree, Rob finds his life thrown into turmoil when live-in girlfriend Laura suddenly leaves. He embarks on a journey through the past, tracking down old lovers while finding solace with Marie, an American folk/country singer living in London, even as he yearns for Laura's return. Told in an engaging first-person voice that blends sarcasm with self-deprecating humor, High Fidelity presents a painfully funny take on love, music, and growing up. Already a best seller in Britain, this stunningly assured first novel should be a hit here as well" -Library Journal


101 Essential Rock Records : the golden age of vinyl : from the Beatles to the Sex Pistols (M)  by Jeff Gold

"Before the advent of the Internet, Gold's (former executive vice president & general manager, Warner Bros. Records) monumental survey of 101 "essential" LPs would have validated the opinions and tastes of so many classic rock snobs, vinyl fetishists, and musical outliers. It also could have been a treasure map for young cultural explorers. In an era of extensive online music criticism and instantaneous access to information (not to mention the music itself), this collection of casual and mildly charismatic ruminations about essential records feels slight and cursory. As a result, this insider gives readers paltry insight into a bygone era. The selections are made up of the usual suspects of rock hierarchy: Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, etc. Even the lesser-known favorites run the same old gamut: Moby Grape, Love, et al. Granted, reading anecdotes from various rockers from David Bowie to Suzanne Vega is fun, but most of these entries are neither too deep nor invested. Verdict Essentially, this is a coffee-table book for rock fans young or old; a striking title designed to launch conversations of a specific, pointed variety. It's cool but not as cool as it would have been 20 years ago" - Library Journal

DVD   I Need that Record!: the death (or possible survival) of the independent record store. (M) Directed by Brendan Toller

" Guerilla filmmaker Brendan Toller unleashes “I NEED THAT RECORD! THE DEATH (OR POSSIBLE SURVIVAL) OF THE INDEPENDENT RECORD STORE,” a documentary feature examining why over 3000 independent record stores have closed across the U.S. in the past decade.

Greedy record labels, media consolidation, homogenized radio, big box stores, Ecommerce, shoddy "stars" pushed by big money, and the digital revolution all pose threats on the very well being of our favorite record stores and the music industry at large. Will these stores die? Will they survive?" - Publisher

War Children

I am ashamed that I have not read what may be the world’s most famous diary, Anne Frank : the diary of a young girl. It is one of those books that always gets delayed by what is "new and shiny" out there. For those who haven’t heard of Anne Frank (though I can’t imagine there are many) she was a young Dutch girl who kept a diary while hiding from the Nazis occupation of the Netherlands. The Frank family was apprehended by the Nazis in 1944. Anne later died of Typhus while being held in a concentration camp. Even though I have seen the movie a number of times, I do hope to read this book.

Another tale is that of a 13 year old Jewish girl in Hana’s Suitcase by Karen Levine. Hana Brady’s story came to the public’s notice when Fumiko Ishioka, the director of the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center, exhibited Hana’s suitcase as a relic of the concentration camp. She wanted to show Japanese children what happened during the Holocaust, especially to children. In viewing this small artifact the children got insight into one of the one and half million children like Hana. In researching the suitcase and its owner Ishioka discovered that Hana’s brother survived the war and was now living in Toronto. This eventually lead to a CBC documentary and the award winning book by Karen Levine. HPL also has the documentary film Inside Hana’s Suitcase".

From Far Away by Robert Munsch is the first picture books I ever saw dealing with the effects of war on a child. I first read it many years ago(1995) and it still impacts on my emotions. Even though it is a Robert Munsch book the little girl whose story it is based on, Saoussan Askar, is listed as co-author and shares the royalties. It is the tale of her immigrating to Canada from Lebanon; not knowing the language, customs and holidays. Most of the book takes place at Hallowe’en. Can you imagine coming from a war zone to see bloody creatures roaming your street and school? It would be frightening to a young children especially one who has lived in a violent land for most of their lives. When I worked at an elementary school I often read this book to the grades Primary to 4 as part of the Remembrance Day ceremonies. It helped them "step into someone else shoes".

Off to War: voices of soldiers’ children by Deborah Ellis. Royalties from this book are donated to the Children in Crisis fund of IBBY (the International Board on Books for Young People). War may effect people in many different ways. We often think of the impact of war on people in the area. This book gives the reader a different view, from the aspect of the children left behind when their parents are sent to war. The stories in this books are tragic and touching. They are the unheard voices, until now. Their lives have been changed forever.

War Child : a child solider’s story by Emmanuel Jal. Though most people will not know this author’s name, he is one of Africa’s top hip-hop artists. This book is literally a rags to riches tale but one that begins in horror. In the mid-1980's Jal was only a seven year old boy when he got conscripted into the army during Sudan’s civil war. As a young child he marched through miles of desert, with dead and mutilated bodies, and carrying a gun he could barely lift. This book tells of how Jal went from a soldier to a rapper. HRL has a documentary film of Jal’s story as well.

Canada is generally been known as a nation of peacekeepers of adult age here is a book to remind us of our history. Gary Browne’s Forget-me-not: fallen boy soldiers - Royal Newfoundland Regiment, World War One. It is hard to believe that at one time boys lied about their ages in order to go fight in distant wars. Browne tells unforgettable stories of young Newfoundlanders, some as young as 15. It is hard to imagine someone my son’s age going to war.

They Fight Like Soldiers : They Die Like Children is by Canadian Senator, humanitarian, author and retired general Roméo Dallaire. Just the title of this makes me weepy. It is one thing to volunteer to fight for your country but to be forced into it, especially as a child, is a sin. Dallaire first encountered child soldiers during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. There he faced the dilemma of being a professional soldier facing ragtag children shooting at you. How would you response ....while they are fighting they are soldiers but when they are killed they are children once again. Dallaire has made it his mission to end the use of child soldiers. Hopefully the world will follow.

Meditate & Destroy: Dharma Punx

I'm a late-comer to the Dharma Punx phenomenon: the socio-cultural-spiritual movement sparked by Noah Levine's memoir by that name. Published in 2003, Dharma Punx recounts his personal transformation from a life of self-destruction - culminating in a suicide attempt and incarceration in a padded cell - to his current incarnation as a spiritual teacher and author.

Although the punk ethic and sub-culture provided a framework for Levine's early disenchantment with the dominant culture in the U.S., the nihilist ideology represented by his favourite punk bands promised no future. It was the simple meditation instructions offered by Levine's father, the prominent Buddhist teacher Stephen Levine, that helped to bring him back from the brink.

The book succeeds as a memoir, with lots of detail about the author's internal and external struggles to turn his life around. We're with Levine as he strives (and stumbles) toward developing the discipline that will support his recovery from addiction and guide him in learning how to live a meaningful life.

Although some reviewers consider the book somewhat repetitive, Levine's accessible writing style, his openness, and his punk credibility have attracted a following in the United States and around the world, (including right here in Halifax). Kids like Levine's younger self, who reject dominant cultural values (e.g., conformity, consumer capitalism) have, through Levine's book, been introduced to an ethic with the same anti-authoritarian, experimental spirit as punk. While both punk and Buddhist Dharma (in Pali, Dhamma) point out the problems with conventional thinking, Levine argues that only the Dharma offers hope for lasting happiness, now and in the future.

The Library has recently ordered Dharma Punx as well as Noah Levine's most recent book, The Heart of the Revolution (2011). Levine's DVD, Meditate and Destroy: A documentary on punk rock, spirituality and inner rebellion (2009) is currently available through the Library's catalogue.