WSU Retention List Stories

Emeritus Professor Kevin Possin taught critical thinking in the Philosophy Department at Winona State. One former student said that it was the hardest 100-level course he had ever taken.

Possin, Kevin, and Craig Hansen. Self-Defense: A Student Guide to Writing Position Papers. Winona, MN: Critical Thinking Lab, 2002.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Some philosophers argue that individual humans left to their natural impulses are fundamentally despicable, and that civilization reins in our negative tendencies. Other philosophers argue that humans are fundamentally good, but that civilization has corrupted us.

The shorthand for this debate is “Hobbes or Rousseau?” To paraphrase and simplify Hobbes, without civilization, life would be nasty, brutish, and short. To paraphrase and simplify Rousseau, humans were born free but are everywhere in chains. Rest easy, the Krueger Library retention list has you covered, whether you lean toward Hobbes or Rousseau.

Rogers, G. A., et al. Leviathan: Contemporary Responses to the Political Theory of Thomas Hobbes. Bristol, England: Thoemmes Press, 1995.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, and Pierre Burgelin. Du Contrat social. Paris: Flammarion, 1992.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

This story should fit nicely with the story from September 18, 2024, “They came from outer space … or did they?” However, this author is not critical of the idea of space aliens.

Ernest Norman was born in 1904. As a young man, he became interested in clairvoyance and fortune telling. Later, he started a spiritualist movement called the Unarius Science of Life. This book on the Krueger Library retention list was the first book of his new movement. In it, he meets someone named Nur El, an ambassador from Mars. In his astral body, Norman visits the underground cities of Mars. In his writings, Norman discusses reincarnation and the Archangel Raphael. This book was originally assigned a call number in the astronomy section, but we decided to move it to the shelf that has books on New Age spiritualism.

Norman, Ernest L. The Truth about Mars. 3d ed. Glendale, Calif: Unarius-Science of Life, 1967.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

Originally posted April 11, 2024

Because many colleges in Minnesota have religious affiliations—Lutheran, Catholic, and others—very few books on Christian theology are on our retention list. In fact, there is only one Christian Bible to be found there. While we at the Krueger Library do have a copy of the recent high-quality, multi-volume edition of the Bible produced at St. John’s University in Collegeville, it is widely held in Minnesota and is not on our retention list. Instead, Winona State seems to be the only library in Minnesota that possesses the 1983 edition of the text which was distributed to motels by the Gideons International.

The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments: The Revised Berkeley Version in Modern English.Nashville, Tenn: Gideons International, 1983.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.

The association between university students and beer drinking has a long history; therefore, it is appropriate that one of the titles on Winona State’s retention list explores the hoppier side of the life of the mind.

Hales, Steven D. Beer and Philosophy: The Unexamined Beer Isn’t Worth Drinking. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2007.

Recap: In 2022, twenty-four Minnesota libraries joined together in a commitment to retain over a half-million print books which are scarcely-held in Minnesota. It is called the Minnesota Shared Print Collection. This is one of the stories from the Winona State share of the collection.