New York Times Book Review Best Books of 2008

Greetings Bibliophiles. The NY Times Book Review has released its list of 100 Notable Books and the 10 Best Books.
How many have you read?

What Will Obama Do About Education?

As if he won't have enough on his agenda, the new President will find himself in a struggle between two powerful opposing camps of educational philosophy and practice; "conservatives" represented by teachers' unions and "reformers" who promote changes like merit pay and charter schools. Conservative writer David Brooks offers a good article about the choices he will have to make. Unlike Canada, the U.S. Federal government has considerable influence upon education. However, since during times of national stress many eyes turn toward the education system, Ontario may well find itself facing a similar dichotomy of opinion.

Can Web-Browsing Keep Your Brain Young?

Studies at UCLA show some evidence that Internet searching activates more areas of the brain than ordinary text reading. There may be a link between increased brain activity of this kind and the reduction of brain decline through aging. At least it's a good excuse to keep surfing.

The Threat to Books

Here is a glass-half-full view of the publishing industry. The author believes that although some types of traditional books forms, like encyclopedias and dictionaries, are doomed the book as we know it will survive indefinitely.