Hannon, Valerie. Learning a Living: Radical Innovation in Education for Work. Doha, Qatar: Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, 2013. 160pp. $41.54. ISBN 9781780937540.

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Learning  a Living was published under the auspices of WISE, The World Innovation Summit for Education, an annual forum sponsored by the Qatar Foundation to address the challenges for education in the 21st century. This book specifically discusses the "apartheid of separate academic and vocational tracks" in today's educational systems, identifying a mismatch between the skills needed by employers and those of job applicants. Among needed skills described in the book are independent and critical thinking, problem solving, and problem identification. Workers of the future will "spend less time doing and more time deciding." Using as examples 15 different programs spread across the globe, the book describes successful methods for integrating training for workplace needs currently in use in the educational systems of several nations. These examples demonstrate how education programs can prepare students with the "soft skills" they will need, help them to identify and apply their creativity, and teach them to successfully integrate their learning into "big picture" and real world situations. These programs are designed to provide intrinsic motivation for their participants and to teach them the importance of not relying on extrinsic rewards. Some of the programs described also help their participants become entrepreneurs, changing the work paradigm from being employee‑oriented to being entrepreneur‑oriented. Several of the examples show how students develop as leaders by challenging assumptions and cultural norms. Although the underlying concepts discussed in the book will not be new to most educators, its readable and well‑illustrated presentation of real‑world examples should be helpful to lay people who want to understand why and how educational delivery needs to change.‑‑Jonathan  Goldman, Director, Computing Resources, Volgenau School of Engineering,  George Mason University

Barrow, John D. Mathletics: A Scientist Explains 100 Amazing Things About the World of Sports. (Illus.)  NY:  Norton,  2012. xiv+298pp. 2012009794. ISBN 9780393063417. C.I.P.

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This work consists of 100 essentially independent essays primarily using applied mechanics to model some aspects athletic performances in a variety of sports in order to identify the salient issues needing to be addressed to improve the opportunity for success. The author's writing style is engaging and historical data and interesting asides are interspersed throughout the work which includes some statistical modeling. The work can be read in its entirety simply to enjoy the author's analyses. It can also be selectively used as a reference to add to the reader's repertoire of analytical tools with which to analyze one's favorite sports. While some of the articles do look at team sports such as soccer, Barrow is primarily concerned with individual performances and modeling the individual's activity to identify opportunities for improvement. The reader need not be mathematically proficient to appreciate the author's modeling. While the engineer or scientist might reconfirm or disagree with some of the assumptions and simplifications, most will appreciate the author's models and see them as the intended identification of the major issues to be addressed by participants in a sport. As such, the reader who is not mathematically inclined can simply accept the consequences of the model and proceed from that point to enjoy the author's discussion.‑‑ M. Jerry Kenig, emeritus, University of New Haven,  West Haven, CT

 This is an excellent, up-to-date documentary film about the continent of Antarctica. The video quality is very high; the scenery is breath-taking and all of the commentary is clear and understandable. In addition, the film is very interesting. It would be very appealing to high school and college students because it portrays the real-life adventure of visiting Antarctica - the conditions are high-risk but the explorers are exceptionally well-prepared. They sail from Argentina to Antarctica, then use sea kayaks to explore the coastline for six weeks, returning to the ship every few days but sometimes camping on the mainland. They visit several of the scientific research stations to talk with scientists, such as a team doing penguin research, and capture superb footage of the penguins. Current issues facing Antarctica, particularly the impact of global warming, are discussed and illustrated. For example, they explain that when it is warm enough to rain instead of snow, which it does for about a week, the ice melts much faster and the penguins (who are adapted for snow) have trouble maintaining body temperature. They also catch a spectacular collapse of an "ice arch" in a floating iceberg. One of the strengths of this documentary is that it doesn't lecture the audience with scientific facts - it simply shows you what is happening in Antarctica and what scientists think the consequences will be, which makes the point much better.--Denise A. Brush, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ