February is about more than St. Valentine’s Day

Big Heart of Art - 1000 Visual Mashups by Qthomas Bower

By Janelle Yahne
Library Circulation Associate

February 14th has been the traditional date for St. Valentine’s Day. It is a day to express love to your partner through food, trinkets, and personal favors. Information on the history of St. Valentine’s Day can be found on Wikipedia, of course, and on History.com which includes fun videos about different aspects of the day. The library carries books about relationships and chocolate.

• Chocolate chocolate by Lisa Yockelson
• Lean on me : the power of positive dependency in intimate relationships by Marion F. Solomon
• Maintaining relationships through communication : relational, contextual, and cultural variations edited by Daniel J. Canary and Marianne Dainton
• Perfect love, imperfect relationships : healing the wound of the heart by John Welwood

February is also an important month for healthy heart awareness. The Center for Disease Control and American Heart Association are celebrating American Heart Month. To begin the awareness, people wore red to show support against Heart Disease on February 3rd. The Center for Disease Control is co-leading the Million Hearts program to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes. To be there for those who may need it, Valentine’s Day share February 14th with National Organ Donor Day to promote the organ donor registry. Below are items about taking care of your heart:

• The healthy heart cookbook for dummies by by James M. Rippe, with Amy G. Myrdal, Angela Harley Kirkpatrick, and Mary Abbott Waite
• Eat your way to a healthy heart : features chocolate and 99 other foods that help your heart by Liz Applegate

The woman’s heart : an owner’s guide by John A. Elefteriades and Teresa Caulin-Glaser

If St. Valentine’s Day and organ donation are not interesting, today is also Ferris Wheel Day. It might be too cold to ride one, but look here to see the world’s tallest Ferris wheels. If you would like to start a journey around the world instead, look here for information about the first Ferris wheel. We also have two titles in the catalog on George Ferris and the Ferris wheel to check out:

• Circles in the sky : the life and times of George Ferris by Richard G. Weingardt
• Engineering legend : great American civil engineers : 32 profiles of inspiration and achievement [eBook] by Richard G. Weingardt

Enjoy the day!

History of Grand Rapids Streetcars

By Lisa M. Rabey
Systems & Web Librarian

If you’re a budding urban planner or a historian, the following video will be of interest:

Fred Quillin, a sixth generation Grand Rapidian, presents an interesting look at the history of Grand Rapids and its public transportation using photos and films taken in and around the city from the turn of the 20th century.

If Fred’s video whets your appetite to learn more about Grand Rapids history, urban planning or civil engineering, the library has loads of materials on those very topics:

• Grand Rapids History
• Urban planning
• Civil engineering