ShelfLife@Texas

How do some people have the ability to master a multitude of languages? What makes them tick? Are their brains wired differently from ours?

These are just a few of the questions alumnus Michael Erard (M.A. Linguistics, ‘96; Ph.D. English, ‘00) tackles in “Babel No More: The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners” (Free Press, 2012).

While gathering research for his book, Erard traveled to far and distant lands – from Mexico to South India to California to Belgium – in
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“Urban  Ecological  Design: A Process for Regenerative  Places” by Danilo Palazzo and Frederick Steiner, presents an interdisciplinary method of transforming urban spaces that considers issues of ecology and sustainability alongside urban form.  The goal of “Urban Ecological Design” is not to explain how to design a specific city precinct or public space, but to describe useful steps to approach the transformation of urban spaces.

This new work illustrates the different stages in which the process is organized, using theories, techniques, images and case studies.  It combines the authors’ urban design knowledge and sensibilities with their experience in human ecology to present a comprehensive
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Americans are a nation-building people, and in “Liberty’s Surest Guardian” (Free Press, Sept. 2011) Jeremi Suri, professor in the Department of History and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, looks to America’s history to see both what it has to offer failed states around the world and what it should avoid. He will present his new book at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at BookPeople.

In “Liberty’s Surest Guardian,” Suri examines more than 200 years of U.S. policy to
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Inspired by her teaching experience at Chávez High School in Houston, English alumna Ashley Hope Pérez writes about disadvantaged teens struggling to meet their obligations at home and follow their dreams. However her newest book “The Knife and the Butterfly” (Carolrhoda, Feb. 2011) is about the students she didn’t get to teach, the ones who slipped through the cracks in the system or dropped out of school.

The protagonist, Salvadoran Martín “Azael” Arevalo is one of those fallen students. The story
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Allan Gurganus, author of “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All,” “Plays Well with Others,” and other works of fiction, will teach on campus as Michener Residency Author this February for three weeks.  He is slated to meet with MFA students in weekly craft seminars and to hold manuscript conferences to discuss their work individually.

He will also read at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 9, 2012 in the Avaya Auditorium, ACE 2.302, on the southeast corner of Speedway and 24^th Street on campus.  The event
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