Mason Bookshelf

Tyler Cowen, BS Economics ’83, Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist, Dutton Adult, 2007

In Discover Your Inner Economist, Cowen shows how economic notions, such as incentives, signals, and markets, apply more widely than merely to the decisions of social planners, governments, and big business. Showing that the science of economics is built on notions everyone already has, Cowen reveals the hidden economic patterns behind everyday situations so individuals can get more of what they want.

Cowen is a professor of economics at Mason and the Center for Study of Public Choice. He is also the director of the James Buchanan Center and the Mercatus Center. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia, with his wife and stepdaughter.

Sharon Creech, MA English ’79, The Castle Corona, Joanna Cotler, 2007

Illustrated by David Diaz, The Castle Corona is a children’s book in which the lives of a royal family and two nearby two peasants become intertwined.

Creech, who grew up South Euclid, Ohio, won the Newbery Medal for her Walk Two Moons and the Newbery Honor for her The Wanderer. Her other works include Heartbeat, Ruby Holler, Love That Dog, Bloomability, and Absolutely Normal Chaos. She and her husband live in upstate New York.

Dallas J. Hudgens, MFA ’92, Season of Gene: A Novel, Scribner, 2007

A Book Sense Notable for October 2007, Season of Gene tells the story of Joe Rice, the owner of a car-detailing business. When his shady business partner Gene dies, Rice receives visits from an ex-mobster, his entrepreneurial son, and a gun-toting minister, who are looking for a $3 million Babe Ruth baseball bat that Rice knows nothing about.

Georgia native Hudgens also wrote Drive Like Hell and has contributed to the Washington Post and the online FANZINE. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two sons.

Linda Mycko, MEd ’95 and Certificate in Educational Instructional Technology ’99 (with Kim Hayden), Using Excel to Create Interactive Games, Brewer Publishing, 2006

This book enables teachers to control the content of spreadsheets to achieve specific learning objectives, while students gain familiarity, not only with using computers, but also in using spreadsheets.

Mycko teaches for the Manassas City Public Schools. She has taught first, third, and fourth grade, and adults. Mycko has served as a technology lead teacher, an instructional technology coordinator, and a technology trainer. She is a member of the International Society for Technology in Education, the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE), the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and Phi Delta Kappa. Mycko was named VSTE Technology Educator of the Year in 1997 and Manassas Technology Educator in 1998.

Anne Snape Parsons, BA English ’96, MA English Literature ’99 (with Alexandra Greeley), Kitchen Memories: A Legacy of Recipes from Around the World, Capital Books, 2007

Kitchen Memories is a compilation of 120 family recipes from 25 countries. Each recipe includes cooking tips and sidebars with personal stories of family and food. Pages provided at the end of the book allow cooks to preserve their own favorite recipes, thoughts, tips, photos, and memories.

Parsons, who grew up in Bothwellpark, Scotland, is currently writing two cookbooks and researching material for a civil war journal. Parsons is a leader of the Slow Food Convivium of East North Carolina, is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the Culinary Historians of Washington, and writes travel articles and a monthly food column for Tidewater Women magazine and food and people articles for the online North Beach Sun. She now lives in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.