Do you feel bored during your holidays? Here are some books for the stay-at-home who are fond of reading to pass time during their holidays.

A License to Heal(By Steven Bentley,www.iuniverse.com, $11. 95 sc, $ 3. 99 eb)

In the world of emergency medicine,there is pain,blood and tragedy(悲剧），but there is also hope and compassion. The book shows readers the stories from an ER doctor that brings this dynamic world to life. In this highly personal narrative,an emergency room physician describes the world of the ER as one filled with pain,fear and grief,but also compassion,hope,and a surprising amount of humor.

Imperfect Family(By Leyland A. King,www.xlibris.com, S 19. 99 sc, $3. 99 eh)

This book is a novel showcasing an ordinary family's union,strength,ambition and determination that made it possible for one generation to climb the slippery and shabby ladder from poverty to the security of American middle-class.

Walking the Stones of Time(By Oswald Brown,www.xtibris.com, $ 18. 99 sc, $3. 99 eb)

It is an extraordinary love story of an awkward young man and an equally awkward young woman who,despite their lack of social skills,developed a love that was stronger than all their inadequacies.

Honeyball (By Pete Liebengood, www.xlibris.com, $19. 99 sc, $3. 99 eb)

A group of women pull together in a dedicated campaign to find success at the box office while their leader finds the love of her life and the persons responsible for the death of her father in a plane Crash.

Batting Rocks over the Barn(By Lawn Griffiths,www.xlibris.com, S 19. 99 sc, $ 3. 99 eb)

The rhythm of rural life during the 1950s and 1960s comes alive through the eyes of a boy who grew up to become a newspaper journalist and film editor. Follow his journey in this book.

As anyone who's tried to befriend a baby knows,the very young are a tough crowd. In response to your solicitous babble(喋喋不休），a baby might lock eyes with you. Just as likely,though,she'll stare insistently into an empty distance,spit up,or simply protest by crying loudly.

New research suggests that babies are highly selective-discriminating even-in whom they will pay attention lo. And even before their first birthdays,this research shows,babies distinguish between "people like me"and all others.

For those of us who like to think that prejudice comes with age,this may be disappointing news.But a new study,published Monday in the journal PNAS,offers a fresh perspective on babies' remarkable ability to distinguish between"in-group"members("people like me")and out-group members("others") at such a young age.

Babies are all about learning new stuff,the new research concludes. And they won't waste a minute paying attention to someone they think unlikely to deliver the goods.

The new research shows that,given the choice of listening to someone speaking in their native language and someone speaking another tongue, 11-month-old babies will consistently ignore the foreign speaker and pay attention to the person speaking the language that's familiar to them. At the moment that those babies made such decisions,researchers detected a distinctive pattern in their brain activity-a pattern consistently seen in babies expecting to learn something new.

Yes,the babies were making"us"versus"them"Judgments which,research has found,become ever more generalized and powerful as we age. But they appeared to be making those selective judgments, the research found,in a bid to maximize the information they lake in,not to exclude the “other”。

One August day this past summer, Richard Phibbs was taking photos of Hollywood's hottest couple, Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. The next day,he was sprawling(趴）on the floor of a 6-by-6-foot animal-examination room at the Humane Society of New York(HSNY),photographing dozens of homeless animals for free.

For the past four years, Phibbs,famous for photographing celebrities,has photographed more than 360 rescued dogs,cats and other animals at the Humane Society in hopes of helping them find loving homes forever. Now 63 of those portraits are featured in a new book Rescue Me,detailing animal's miserable past and their new lives in New York City.

＂I was longing lo take a picture that does something more than sell clothes or sell a career, " Phibbs tells The Post. "In fashion,we're trying to make up fantasy and dreams. When I'm at the Humane Society, I use photography to speak the truth. When people look into the eyes of that animal,the spirit of that being is there. "And his photos work. The animals whose portraits are taken by Phibbs see a much higher adoption rate than others at HSNY,thanks not only to the photographs themselves but also to their high share-rate on social media.

＂Without doubt, "says Sandra Dereo, HSNY's executive director. "When we post one of his photos on Instagram or Adopt-a-Pet,it's like a flood. All of these people suddenly notice the animal. "

The photo shoots last anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes,and Phibbs will see dozens of animals in a single day. Each of his subjects is given time to adjust to his or her surroundings,so that they open up and let their personalities shine.

Whether it's a human or animal, I'm trying to get the subject to feel safe and to feel confident and comfortable with me, "the photographer says. "We're looking for that spirit,what makes them different. "While Phibbs may not spend hours with each animal,many of them still have a strong impact(影响）on him. "It's not uncommon for me to walk home,and weep the whole way. "

Saving the giant panda from extinction isn't just good for the bears-it's good for the bottom line too,a new analysis by an international team of scientist shows.

The results,published in the journal Current Biology,highlight the economic benefits that they say go hand in hand with environmental conservation. In order to protect giant pandas,the government must protect their forests,which provide a host of often-under appreciated services to the communities that live in and around them. For example,forests allow for the growing of crops and the grazing(放牧）of animals,store clean fresh water and supply firewood,lumber(木材）and many useful plants.They manage storm runoff and help prevent erosion(侵蚀）。

The pandas themselves also hold enormous cultural value that has risen rapidly in recent decades among Chinese residents,the study also points out. "From 1980 to 2010,the cultural values of   pandas and their reserves almost doubled,largely driven by tourism use,rising 500-fold from 1980 to 2010, "they said.

Taking all of these factors into account,the scientists calculated a total economic value of Approximately $2. 6 billion in 2010 in China. Keep in mind,the costs of preserving panda habitat at current levels come to about$255 million. The study authors said that including the global cultural Value of the animals would increase the total economic value to $6. 9 billion per year-or about 27 times the cost of habitat preservation.

The researchers also noted that the investment in panda habitat has improved the living conditions   of local residents. They pointed to data from the Chinese Statistical Yearbook showing that the annual income in Sichuan, Shanxi and Gansu provinces,which sit next to panda reserves,rose by an average of 56%from 2000 to 2010. Farmers in counties within these provinces that were next to the panda reserves saw their annual incomes rise by 64%,on average.

The findings provide a promising example of how conservation efforts can pay off,and they could be applied to many other threatened and endangered species,the study authors said.