Aurelius Prochazka ’91 and Michael Hartl
Joseph Henry Press, 2007

RailsSpace: Building a Social Networking Website with Ruby on Rails teaches how to build large-scale projects with the Rails Web application framework by developing a real-world application—a social networking Web site like MySpace or Facebook. The authors walk readers step by step from the creation of the site’s virtually static front page, through user registration and authentication, and into a highly dynamic site, complete with user profiles, image upload, e-mail, blogs, full-text and geographical search, and a friendship request system.

Aurelius Prochazka ’91 is a pioneer of interactive, user-driven Web sites and has founded several companies, including Creative Internet Design Inc. and ArsDigita Corp.

Leon Marasco ’58 and Kate Harper
Spruce Mountain Press, 2006

At the core of If Only I Could Tell You: Where Past Loves and Current Intimacy Meet are interviews with 28 women and men who disclose how memories of former loves continue to echo in their hearts and current relationships. The authors, drawing from their own experience and from these stories, encourage the reader to consider what might be lost if the whole subject of past loves is relegated to a place marked “off limits.”

Leon Marasco ’58 left engineering in 1970, but says he still thinks like an engineer.

Doris Hamill ’75
Earlynn Books, 2007

The Challenge of Why: A Secular Search for Human Purpose fuses secular knowledge from science, history, philosophy, and psychology to probe the greatest questions in philosophy, such as the nature of truth, whether we have free will, how we should behave and why, the fundamental nature of goodness and love, why we suffer, and the existence of God. It surveys history to understand the individual’s moral duty to society and society’s moral duty to the individual.

Doris Hamill ’75 earned degrees in physics and biophysics and went on to a career managing science and technology development in a broad spectrum of disciplines for the defense department and space program.

James Ragonnet, Ph.D. ’81
New World Library, 2007

Golf’s Three Noble Truths: The Fine Art of Playing Awake is a book of brief essays, in which the author focuses on total growth. Few golfers ever achieve their full potential, or ultimately attain peace of mind, he says, despite expending enormous amounts of energy, time, and money. Ragonnet has applied the classic teachings of the Buddha to the game and presents three core truths to explore and master: awareness, balance, and unity. Each chapter guides the reader to become not only the best golfer but also the best person possible.

James Ragonnet, Ph.D. ’81, is a professor of English and former assistant coach for men’s varsity golf at Springfield College.