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- Hazaras: Afghanistan's OutsidersAt the heart of Afghanistan is an empty space, a striking absence, where the larger of the colossal Bamian Buddhas once stood. In March 2001 the Taliban fired rockets at the statues for days on end, then planted and detonated explosives inside them. The Buddhas had looked out over Bamian for some 1,500 years. Silk Road traders and missionaries of several faiths came and went. Emissaries of empires passed through—Mongols, Safavids, Moguls, British, Soviets—often leaving bloody footprints. A country called Afghanistan took shape. Regimes rose and collapsed or were overthrown. The statues stood through it all. But the Taliban saw the Buddhas simply as non-Islamic idols, heresies carved in stone. They did not mind being thought brutish. They did not fear further isolation. Destroying the statues was a pious assertion of their brand of faith over history and culture.
- Ecological Impacts of Mountaintop RemovalThe Appalachian region is home to one of the oldest and most biologically diverse mountain systems on the continent. Tragically, mountaintop removal mining has already destroyed more than 500 mountains encompassing more than 1 million acres of central and southern Appalachia. After the coal companies blast apart the mountaintops, they dump the rubble into neighboring valleys, where lie the headwaters of streams and rivers, like the Kanawha, Clinch, and Big Sandy. The exposed rock leaches heavy metals and other toxics that pose enormous health threats to the region’s plants and animals — and people.
- Why Is Mont Blanc One of the World's Deadliest Mountains?Over-eager guides and casual tourists crowd France's Mont Blanc, which has highest fatality rate in Europe.
- Mountain Railways of IndiaIndia’s scenic mountain railways are marvelous triumphs of engineering that have provided essential infrastructure for socio-economic advancement in isolated rural areas.
Non-Fiction Books
- The Rocky Mountains byCall Number: 974 ALOISBN: 9780778775706Publication Date: 2011The Rocky Mountain range has been witness to the decimation of Native peoples, the westward expansion of European settlers, several gold rushes, and the blazing of transcontinental railways. This fascinating book describes the geological makeup and history of the Rocky Mountains, as well as the cultures and ways of life of the people in the United States and Canada who live in its shadows.
- The Alps byCall Number: 949. 4 ALOISBN: 9780778775669Publication Date: 2011Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, the Eiger--these famous peaks are featured in this fascinating look at the Alps mountain range in Europe. The geological makeup and history of the Alps are explored, as well as their deep connection to the cultures and ways of life of the people in Europe who live in the Alps' shadow.
- The Urals byCall Number: 947 JOHISBN: 9780778775713Publication Date: 2011The Ural Mountains form a natural boundary called the Stone Belt between Europe and Asia. This fascinating book describes the geological makeup and history of the Ural mountain range, as well as the cultures and ways of life of the people in Russia and Kazakhstan who live in its shadow.
- The Appalachians byCall Number: 974 ALOISBN: 9780778775683Publication Date: 2011The Great Appalachian Valley, a major landform of the Appalachian mountains, played an important role in the early history of the United States. This fascinating book describes the geological makeup and history of the mountain ranges that form the Appalachians, and the people in the United States and Canada who live in their shadows.
- The Snowy byCall Number: 621.31 MCHISBN: 0207188017Publication Date: 1995-05-03The Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme still ranks as one of the world's great engineering feats. Two-thirds of the 100,000 workers were immigrants, newly arrived from over 40 countries in war-weary Europe. This is their story, and the story of a new, post-war, multi-cultural Australia.
- Great Australian Stories: Building the Snowy Scheme byCall Number: 621.31 HILISBN: 1740707575Publication Date: 2002Each book in this information series presents the story of an important event, or series of events in Australia's history. Within the discussion we look at the circumstances that led to the event, how people thought about the event at the time, the people involved, what happened and why, and its significance then and now.
- 127 Hours byCall Number: B 920 RALISBN: 9781451617702Publication Date: 2010Aron Ralston, an experienced twenty-seven-year-old outdoorsman, was on a day's solitary hike through a remote and narrow Utah canyon when he dislodged an eight-hundred- pound boulder that crushed his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall. Emerging from the searing pain, Aron found himself completely stuck. No one knew where he was; no one was coming to rescue him. With scant water and food, and a cheap pocketknife his only tool, he eliminated his options one by one. On the fifth night, wracked by delirium and uncontrollable shivers, Aron scratched his epitaph into the rock wall, certain he would not see daylight. Y
Fiction Books
- Volcano byCall Number: F COL ADVENTUREISBN: 9780734408525Publication Date: 2207When four Columbian teenagers become endangered because of an imminent volcanic eruption, a crew of Australian experts in Disaster Casualty Minimisation, sent there to investigate the volcano, attempt a daring rescue, in order to win the respect of the locals.
- Monkey Mountain byCall Number: F DATISBN: 9780143304418Publication Date: 2010There isn't really a word to describe the noise a volcano makes when it erupts. You don't just hear it, you feel it.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A class trip to Borneo starts off with a bang – a visit to a real-life volcano! But when Mount Bako erupts, Sam Fox is left stranded with his teacher, Mr Griffin, who's suffering from a heart attack. They make it down the mountain to the cool blue sea – only to be hemmed in by blood-thirsty sharks . . . - Dread Mountain byCall Number: F RODISBN: 9781741697827Publication Date: 2010Lief, Barda and Jasmine are on a perilous quest to find the seven lost gems of the magic Belt of Deltora. Only when all gems have been restored to the Belt can Deltora be freed from the tyranny of the evil Shadow Lord. Four gems have been found. Now, though grave news reaches Lief from home and he longs to return, the quest must continue. To find the fifth stone the heroes must venture almost to the border of the Shadowlands, and plunge into the darkness and terror of the realm of the monstrous toad Gellick - Dread Mountain.