Washoe County Library System

"With The Interpretation of Cultures, the distinguished anthropologist Clifford Geertz developed the concept of thick description, and in so doing, he virtually rewrote the rules of his field. Culture, Geertz argues, does not drive human behavior. Rather, it is a web of symbols that can help us better understand what that behavior means. A thick description explains not only the behavior, but the context in which it occurs, and to describe something...

''A Good Housekeeping Reads pick* A hilarious and incisive exploration of the joys of reading from a "beloved and wonderful writer" (George Saunders), teacher, bibliophile, and Thurber Prize Semifinalist We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe,...

The crowning triumph of a career cut tragically short, Larisa Shepitko's final film won the Golden Bear at the 1977 Berlin Film Festival and went on to be hailed as one of the finest works of late-Soviet cinema. In the darkest days of World War II, two partisans set out for supplies to sustain their beleaguered outfit, braving the blizzard-swept landscape of Nazi-occupied Belarus.

"An astonishing debut from the beloved NPR science correspondent: intimate essays about the intersection of science and everyday life"-- "An astonishing debut from the beloved NPR science correspondent: intimate essays about the intersection of science and everyday life. In her career as a science reporter, Nell Greenfieldboyce has reported from inside a space shuttle, the bottom of a coal mine, and the control room of a particle collider; she’s...