Paul, Nicholas, and Suzanne M. Yeager. Remembering the Crusades: Myth, Image, and Identity. Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012. Print.

Being that I am very interested in the Crusades, I used this as my search term to start my shelfie process. A lot of results came back, many having nothing to do with the religious crusades of the 11^th and 12^th centuries. The book I liked the sound of the most was Remembering the Crusades: Myth, Image, and Identity edited by Nicholas Paul and Suzanne Yeager. Although there were many other books about the Crusades I stuck to my first choice and checked out Remembering the Crusades.

Unlike my last shelfie, Remembering the Crusades is very visually pleasing and draws a potential reader’s eyes to it. Also, throughout the book, artwork from the time of the Crusades is used to help the reader connect to those times. Paul and Yeager use many different vehicles to assist the reader in learning about the Crusades. Just by looking at the Table of Contents, one can see that the authors compare and contrast firsthand accounts, analyze poetry and writings from that time, and evaluate artwork and buildings. This book is not only a retelling of the events in the Crusades, but an analysis of the response of medieval communities to the challenges posed by the Crusades.

There were many other books about the Crusades in the same section as this book. I believe that these books can assist in my writing process and help provide additional information about the Crusades.

Collins, Steven. Nirvana: Concept, Imagery, Narrative. Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print

I started my shelfie process by first searching the Lafayette Library catalog for “Moksha” because I am very interested in the concept of liberation, and leaving this world. After first finding the book Moksha: writings on psychedelics and the visionary experience, I soon came to realize that it had nothing to do with Moksha in the sense of Hinduism, but rather dealt solely with LSD and liberation through drugs. I changed my search term to “Nirvana” and have stuck with the book Nirvana Concept, Imagery, Narrative. One of the chapters was Nirvana as a Concept, and another was Nirvana as an Image showing that the author, Steven Collins, uses various vehicles to describe the idea of Nirvana.

The book is divided into five sections: “Systematic and Narrative thought: eternity and closure in structure and story”, “Nirvana as a Concept”, “Nirvana as an Image”, “Nirvana, time and narrative”, and “Past and future Buddhas”. Not only does Collins try to describe and conceptualize the idea of Nirvana, he displays it through imagery and metaphor. While flipping through I also noticed that he takes translations from a number of source texts which will help greatly in writing my first paper. Finally Collins brings up the concept of an ending and timelessness.

While searching for this book I saw many other books relating to Buddhism as a whole. These could be useful in setting a background for my paper. There were also other books relating to the idea of Nirvana and liberation. I will definitely return to this section to aid in my writing process.