San Antonio College Library

Easter Island--known to its inhabitants as Rapa Nui--is unimaginably remote, a mysterious volcanic island battered by the Pacific Ocean. Yet somehow this isolated speck produced one of the world's most fascinating and least understood prehistoric cultures. Its awe-inspiring giant stone statues, set in a bare landscape of rolling hills, abandoned quarries and huge craters, have become icons of the ancient world. Who were the people who produced these...

In this third and final installment, Professor Richard Fortey travels to Madeira to examine what happens to a volcanic island as it nears the end of its life-cycle and starts sinking back into the sea. Here, in the island's laurisilva forest, he examines the remains of an ancient forest that once carpeted all of Europe; island lizards that live to be four times older than their mainland counterparts, and the largest wolf spider in Europe. With the...

U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels' routine investigation at the hospital for the criminally insane on Shutter Island takes a sinister turn as the investigation unfolds.

"Humans began to settle the area we know as Polynesia between 3,000 and 800 years ago, bringing with them material culture, including plants and animals, and ideas about societal organization, and then adapting to the specific biophysical features of the islands they discovered. The authors of this book analyze the formation of their human-environment systems using oral histories, biophysical evidence, and historical records, arguing that the Polynesian...

Siquijor is a small island located in the heart of the Visayan Islands. For a long time Siquijor was feared on account of its witches, but today, the island is famous for its healers. The power in Siquijor is intrinsically linked to its earth. The island's limestone, non-volcanic soil is unlike others in the archipelago. Bernard Fontanille meets Noel Terremocha, a well-known healer and follows him on a quest for ingredients.

The majority of these stories first appeared in the New Yorker. Helprin creates strange, magical worlds in these wonderful stories, richly plotted, inventive, moving without being sentimental, humorous without being cute.

"The Day of the Dead, an ancient cultural tradition, still flourishes in modern-day Mexico. This beautiful documentary presents the annual commemoration of the Day of the Dead as it is celebrated on the island of La Picanda. On this day when the dead are believed to revisit the temporal realm, the program allows viewers a glimpse into Mexican life as they follow the preparations--including bountiful food offerings and wax statues--and observance of...