New Nonfiction

March 15 - 21, 2010

The Reluctant Spy: my secret life in the CIA's war on terror: Kiriakou, John; Call Number: 921 K589; 2010; Retired CIA agent Kiriakou tells an engrossing story and delivers some strong opinions. Kiriakou earned a degree in Middle Eastern studies, but jobs in this field were scarce in 1988, so he listened when a favorite professor suggested applying to the CIA. As an analyst at the Iraqi-Kuwaiti desk, he oversaw intelligence during Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. By the late '90s, yearning for action, Kiriakou transferred from analysis to operations. There followed a stormy tour in terrorist-ridden Greece and the peak of his career after 9/11 as chief of counterterrorism in Pakistan, where he led a raid that captured an al-Qaeda chief. Except for a hair-raising account of the Bush administration's enthusiasm for torture, the account winds down in its final third when the author returns to the U.S., resigning in 2004. While readers may skim details of his unhappy first marriage, they will enjoy a mostly admiring portrait of the CIA but with telling critiques of its bureaucracy and of Congress's meddling in CIA affairs. 8 pages of b&w photos.
Roger Maris: baseball's reluctant hero: Clavin, Thomas; Call Number: 921 M34158C; 2010; The definitive biography of the baseball legend who broke Babe Ruth s single-season home-run record the natural way and withstood a firestorm of media criticism to become one of his era s preeminent players.ROGER MARIS may be the greatest ballplayer no one really knows. In 1961, the soft-spoken man from the frozen plains of North Dakota enjoyed one of the most amazing seasons in baseball history, when he outslugged his teammate Mickey Mantle to become the game s natural home-run king. It was Mantle himself who said, "Roger was as good a man and as good a ballplayer as there ever was." Yet Maris was vilified by fans and the press and has never received his due from biographers until now.Tom Clavin and Danny Peary trace the drama-tic arc of Maris s life, from his boyhood in Fargo through his early pro career in the Cleveland Indians farm program, to his World Series championship years in New York and beyond. At the center is the exciting story of the 1961 season and the ordeal Maris endured as an outsider in Yankee pinstripes, unloved by fans who compared him unfavorably to their heroes Ruth and Mantle, relentlessly attacked by an aggressive press corps who found him cold and inaccessible, and treated miserably by the organization. After the tremendous challenge of breaking Ruth s record was behind him, Maris ultimately regained his love of baseball as a member of the world champion St. Louis Cardinals. And over time, he gained redemption in the eyes of the Yankee faithful.With research drawn from more than 130 interviews with Maris s teammates, opponents, family, and friends, as well as 16 pages of photos, some of which have never before been seen, this timely and poignant biography sheds light on an iconic figure from baseball s golden era and establishes the importance of his role in the game s history.
Dining with Al-Qaeda: three decades exploring the many worlds of the Middle East: Pope, Hugh; Call Number: 956 P8257; 2010; Following in the footsteps of Sir Richard Burton and Lawrence of Arabia, Hugh Pope presents his modern-day explorations, mined from more than three decades, of the politics, religion, and aspirations of Muslim peoples to show how the Middle East is much more than a monolithic "Islamic World." nbsp; An Oxford-educated scholar of the Middle East and acclaimed former foreign correspondent forThe Wall Street Journal, Pope has lived and worked in two dozen countries throughout the region. In eighteen revealing chapters, he delves into the amazingly varied cultures ranging from the southnbsp;of Sudan to Afghanistan and from Islamabad to Istanbul. His probing and often perilous journeys--at one point during a meeting with an al-Qaeda missionary, Pope is forced to quote Koranic verse to argue against his own murder--provide an eye-opening look at diverse societies often misportrayed by superficial reporting and "why they hate us" politics. With intimate and personal anecdotes arising out of experiences from war fronts to bazaars to the palaces of kings, Pope weaves a rich narrative that embraces art, food, poetry, customs, and the competing histories of the Middle East. nbsp; Mergingnbsp;the traditions of the classicsBalkan GhostsandFrom Beirut to Jerusalem,Dining with al-Qaedailluminates an infintely complex part of the world. With U.S. foreign policy aiming to engage more construvtively with Muslim nations, this lyrical book of adventures collects some of the truly important untold stories of our times.
Winging It: a memoir of caring for a vengeful parrot who's determined to kill me: Gardiner, Jenny; Call Number: 636.6865 G222; 2010; Initially delighted when she and her husband unexpectedly received an African gray, Gardiner finds that her fantasies of a docile, loving bird are quickly dashed with the wild-born and tenacious Graycie. Gardiner chronicles how two frazzled but committed parents raised this obstinate bird over the span of 20 years along with three children and a menagerie of dogs and cats. VERDICT Often comical and sometimes tragic but never dull, Gardiner's memoir proves that the hope of having a model pet (or child) is usually not realistic. It will speak to animal lovers and offer fair warning to anyone considering the 40-year-plus commitment of owning a parrot.
Great Powers: America and the world after Bush: Barnett, Thomas; Call Number: 973.93 B2619; 2010; Barnett (The Pentagon's New Map) offers a comprehensive catalogue of the failings of the Bush administration and a strategic roadmap for American foreign policy in this sweeping text. The author takes a broad approach to the contemporary political landscape, surveying U.S. history from the Revolution through the end of the Cold War and applying lessons from that history to the present. Drawing on a variety of secondary sources and his personal and professional experiences as a national security specialist and consultant, Barnett argues in favor of cooperation with rising powers such as China and India and continued movement in the direction of globalization; he distills his central thesis down to the contention that "America must dramatically realign its own post-9/11 trajectory with that of the world at large." Barnett writes in a conversational style. Despite the text's vast scope, it has a clear, straightforward structure, even featuring a glossary of key terms, and it provides an accessible and engaging foray into global grand strategy.

March 8 - 14, 2010

Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon: a guide to the best time to buy this, do that and go there: Di Vincenzo, Mark; Call Number: 640 D6181; 2010; Have you ever wanted to know the best day of the week to buy groceries or go out to dinner? Have you ever wondered about the best time of day to ask someone out on a date- or for a raise? Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon tells you the best time-of the day, of the week, of the month or of the year-to do almost anything. Do you know: The best time of day to be operated on? The best month to buy an iPod? The best day of the week to avoid lines at the Louvre? The best day of the month to make an offer on a house? Get more for your money, maximize your time, take better care of your health and be savvier about your career- all by doing certain things at the right time. Remember: Timing is everything!
Simple, Not Easy: reflections on community, social responsibility and tolerance: Roberts, Terrence; Call Number: 323.1196 R647; 2010; Roberts was one of the Little Rock Nine, the group of African American teenagers who were the first to integrate Central High School in the Arkansas capital in 1957. Kept from entering the school by the Arkansas National Guard, the students were finally escorted into the building by U.S. Army soldiers deployed by President Eisenhower. Since that traumatic experience, Roberts went on to successful careers in education, as a professor of psychology, and business, as the CEO of a management-consulting firm. This volume brings together his collected speeches, many of which were given as commencement addresses or as part of Martin Luther King Day celebrations. The commencement-address style is typically fraught with high seriousness and a stentorian tone; fortunately, Roberts avoids both, discoursing on predictable topics—education, ethics, racism, community, and family—but doing so with humor and grace. Along the way, too, there is plenty of autobiography, not only about Little Rock but also about his life both before and after those history-changing days in 1957. The volume concludes, appropriately, with reflections on the election of President Obama. Thought-provoking and inspiring commentary.
After Lives: a guide to heaven, hell, and purgatory: Casey, John; Call Number: 202.3 C3385; 2010; As Virgil to Dante, Cambridge University scholar and author Casey (Pagan Virtue) is a reader's guide to views of the afterlife across centuries, cultures and religions. Happily for the scope of his inquiry, the author is immensely well-read and readily shows how powerfully and frequently notions of heaven and hell have inspired and haunted Western writers; the book opens and closes with James Joyce's artist character Stephen Daedalus, who exemplifies the potent influence of the Catholic Christian view of hell. The book's most valuable contribution is its attention to the overarching context of non-Christian Western and Middle Eastern cultures. Egyptian, Mesopotamian, ancient Judaic, Greek and Roman conceptions anchor and shape the evolving Christian view. Muslim views of the afterlife are included, though scantily, a commendable attempt at redressing ignorance of a tradition in which the afterlife plays a significant theological role. This is a smart and comprehensive survey, though a general educated reader will need patience with citations in the original languages (which are translated immediately after).
Not Without Hope: Schuyler, Nick; Call Number: 921 S3945; 2010; On February 28, 2009, Nick Schuyler, a twenty-four-year-old personal trainer, left for a deep-sea fishing trip with three friends: NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, and Will Bleakley, his best friend, who once played football for the University of South Florida.It was supposed to be a day of fun and relaxation aboard Cooper's twenty-one-foot boat, which anchored seventy miles west of Tampa, Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico. The friends were out to catch some amberjack and grouper and maybe a few sharks. They planned to drink a few beers, have some laughs, and get home before an approaching cold front hit.As the seas began to swell and the winds picked up in the late afternoon, they packed their gear and decided to head to shore. One problem. The anchor was stuck.Inexperienced boaters, they made what would become a fatal mistake, tying the anchor rope to the stern of the boat and hitting the throttle. The anchor did not yank free. Instead, the stern sank and filled with water, and the boat capsized.And so the nightmare began. The men had to forage for life jackets beneath the boat. They had no emergency beacon to alert authorities, and their cell phones didn't work so far out in the Gulf. With no food or water, the men clung to the overturned hull through the night as the seas roughened and the cloudy sky became inky black. They were continuously tossed from the boat by brutal waves, and sometimes found each other only by swimming toward their friends' voices.During the rare lull, they would pray and talk about the ones they loved, what they would've done differently with their lives, and what they would do once they returned home. As the hours passed, the four friends, who had grown up as athletes, worked as a team in their desperate bid to survive. They battled hypothermia, hallucinations, hunger, dehydration, and huge waves.A witness to incredible heroism and unspeakable tragedy, Nick remained at sea for more than forty hours, holding on, hoping against hope and clinging to the thought that he couldn't bear to have his mother attend his funeral.Not Without Hope is much more than a story of survival. It is an inspiring story of friendship, resolve, and courage.
This Book is Overdue!: how librarians and cybrarians can save us all: Johnson, Marilyn; Call Number: 020.92 J681; 2010; Buried in info? Cross-eyed over technology? From the bottom of a pile of paper and discs, books, e-books, and scattered thumb drives comes a cry of hope: Make way for the librarians! They want to help. They're not selling a thing. And librarians know best how to beat a path through the googolplex sources of information available to us, writes Marilyn Johnson, whose previous book, The Dead Beat, breathed merry life into the obituary-writing profession. This Book Is Overdue! is a romp through the ranks of information professionals and a revelation for readers burned out on the clichés and stereotyping of librarians. Blunt and obscenely funny bloggers spill their stories in these pages, as do a tattooed, hard-partying children's librarian; a fresh-scrubbed Catholic couple who teach missionaries to use computers; a blue-haired radical who uses her smartphone to help guide street protestors; a plethora of voluptuous avatars and cybrarians; the quiet, law-abiding librarians gagged by the FBI; and a boxing archivist. These are just a few of the visionaries Johnson captures here, pragmatic idealists who fuse the tools of the digital age with their love for the written word and the enduring values of free speech, open access, and scout-badge-quality assistance to anyone in need. Those who predicted the death of libraries forgot to consider that in the automated maze of contemporary life, none of us--neither the experts nor the hopelessly baffled--can get along without human help. And not just any help--we need librarians, who won't charge us by the question or roll their eyes, no matter what we ask. Who are they? What do they know? And how quickly can they save us from being buried by the digital age?

March 1 - 7, 2010

Strange Days Indeed: the 1970s: the golden age of paranoia: Wheen, Francis; Call Number: 909.827 W566; 2010; The 1970s were a theme park of mass paranoia.Strange Days Indeedtells the story of the decade when a distinctive paranoid style emerged and seemed to infect all areas of both private and public life, from high politics to pop culture. The sense of paranoia that had long fuelled the conspiracy theories of fringe political groups then somehow became the norm for millions of ordinary people. And to make it even trickier, a certain amount of that paranoia was justified. Watergate showed that the governments really were doing illegal things and then trying to cover them up.Though Nixon may have been foremost among deluded world leaders he wasn t the only one swept up in the tide of late night terrors. UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson was convinced that the security services were plotting his overthrow, while many of them were convinced he was a Soviet agent. Idi Amin and his alleged cannibalism, the CIA s role in the Chilean coup, the Jonestown cult, the Indian state of emergency from 75 to 77 and more are here turned into a delicious carnival of the deranged and an eye-opening take on an oft-derided decade by a brilliant writer with an acute sense of the absurd.
Silk Parachute: McPhee, John; Call Number: 814 M48; 2010; The world's complex mechanisms beguile us in this scintillating collection of essays, many from the New Yorker. McPhee is fascinated by all manner of intricate and subtle processes. His topic might be the slow geological forces that produced the chalk formations underlying the landscape of northwestern Europe or the stolid wine-making procedures of the French vineyards atop them. It might be the lightning-fast maneuvers in the sport of lacrosse or the evangelizing social networks that are spreading it across the continent. It might be the splashy tricks he and his friends performed with their canoes at summer camp, or the finicky machinery of his daughter's box camera, its long exposures rendering all moving objects invisible. It might be the New Yorker's mighty fact-checking juggernaut churning out answers to the most obscure questions, or the oddly shaped mental gears that processed editor William Shawn's legendary food phobias, or the wondrous workings of a toy silk parachute. However arcane the subject, McPhee wraps it in nicely wrought narrative and piquant characters, as when a random outing with his granddaughter sparks a discourse on theories of mass extinction. The result is a narrative that is wryly humorous, raptly observant, luxuriating in idle curiosity.
Freefall: America, free markets, and the sinking of the world economy: Stiglitz, Joseph; Call Number: 330.973 S855.1; 2010; The Great Recession, as it has come to be called, has impacted more people worldwide than any crisis since the Great Depression. Flawed government policy and unscrupulous personal and corporate behavior in the United States created the current financial meltdown, which was exported across the globe with devastating consequences. The crisis has sparked an essential debate about Americaâ€™s economic missteps, the soundness of this countryâ€™s economy, and even the appropriate shape of a capitalist system. Few are more qualified to comment during this turbulent time than Joseph E. Stiglitz. Winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics, Stiglitz is â€œan insanely great economist, in ways you canâ€™t really appreciate unless youâ€™re deep into the fieldâ€ (Paul Krugman, New York Times ). In Freefall , Stiglitz traces the origins of the Great Recession, eschewing easy answers and demolishing the contention that America needs more billion-dollar bailouts and free passes to those â€œtoo big to fail,â€ while also outlining the alternatives and revealing that even now there are choices ahead that can make a difference. The system is broken, and we can only fix it by examining the underlying theories that have led us into this new â€œbubble capitalism.â€ Ranging across a host of topics that bear on the crisis, Stiglitz argues convincingly for a restoration of the balance between government and markets. America as a nation faces huge challengesâ€”in health care, energy, the environment, education, and manufacturingâ€”and Stiglitz penetratingly addresses each in light of the newly emerging global economic order. An ongoing war of ideas over the most effective type of capitalist system, as well as a rebalancing of global economic power, is shaping that order. The battle may finally give the lie to theories of a â€œrationalâ€ market or to the view that Americaâ€™s global economic dominance is inevitable and unassailable. For anyone watching with indignation while a reckless Wall Street destroyed homes, educations, and jobs; while the government took half-steps hoping for a â€œjust-enoughâ€ recovery; and while bankers fell all over themselves claiming not to have seen what was coming, then sought government bailouts while resisting regulation that would make future crises less likely, Freefall offers a clear accounting of why so many Americans feel disillusioned today and how we can realize a prosperous economy and a moral society for the future.
What's Wrong with My Plant (and how do I fixt it?): a visual guide to easy diagnosis and organic remedies: Deardorff, David; Call Number: 632 D2853; 2010; Plant pathologist Deardorff and naturalist Wadsworth have created a book to diagnose and organically treat plant problems, whether related to cultivation, pests, or disease. The first section of the book is divided by plant part, from whole plant to leaves to flowers to fruits to stems to seeds. Gardeners use the symptoms present in their plant-or specific part of the plant-to answer a series of questions, arranged in flow charts and illustrated with color drawings, which lead them to a diagnosis of the problem. The entry then refers the gardener to the pages for solutions and, if available, a photograph of a plant with that problem. The authors stress providing the proper growing conditions for plants as well as preventative measures to avoid issues. However, if an insect/disease problem does occur, they offer solutions in Part 2-first changes in growing conditions, then biological/chemical products, all approved for organic gardening. Part 3 includes photographs of common troubles. VERDICT This attractive, comprehensive, authoritative, and easy-to-use guide, allowing gardeners to diagnose and organically treat a wide range of plant problems, is a worthy purchase.
American Sketches: great leaders, creative thinkers, and heroes of a hurricane: Isaacson, Walter; Call Number: 973.099 I738; 2010; What are the roots of creativity? What makes for great leadership? How do influential people end up rippling the surface of history?In this collection of essays, Walter Isaacson reflects on the lessons to be learned from Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, and various other interesting characters he has chronicled as a biographer and journalist. The people he writes about have an awesome intelligence, in most cases, but that is not the secret of their success. They had qualities that were even more rare, such as imagination and true curiosity.Isaacson reflects on how he became a writer, the lessons he learned from various people he met, and the challenges he sees for journalism in the digital age.He also offers loving tributes to his hometown of New Orleans, which both before and after Hurricane Katrina offered many of the ingredients for a creative culture, and to the Louisiana novelist Walker Percy, who was an early mentor. In an anecdotal and personal way, Isaacson describes the joys of the "so-called writing life" and the way that tales about the lives of fascinating people can enlighten our own lives.

February 22 - 28, 2010

Law of the Jungle: the hunt for Colombian guerrillas, American hostages, and buried treasure: Otis, John; Call Number: 986.10635 O882; 2010; In the tradition of Mark Bowden's bestsellers "Killing Pablo" and "Blackhawk Down" comes a wild and riveting true story of kidnapping, drug trafficking, and communist revolutionary guerrillas in the jungles of Central America. bw photo insert.
Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home: Chicago's forgotten Renaissance man: Cahan, Richard; Call Number: 720.92 M6478C; 2010; *Starred Review* Edgar Miller (1899-1993) was an innovative master of dozens of disciplines and multiple styles. Believing that humankind should respect and learn from nature, he created supple animal and plant motifs, as well as human figures, for his intricate bas-reliefs, wood carvings, ceramics, stained-glass windows, murals, and tiles. He decried waste and so used recycled materials and transformed old buildings into exuberantly decorated architectural marvels. Phenomenally gifted and prolific, Miller was renowned, even legendary, and then he was forgotten, except by those who dwell in his wildly original homes. Cahan and Williams, the team who resurrected the life and work of architectural photographer Richard Nickel, vividly recount Miller's story of genius and audacity, from his Idaho youth to his meteoric rise in Chicago. Architectural photographer AlexanderVertikoff's sharp and lustrous images elegantly capture the extraordinary details, rich colors, and profound connectivity of Miller's spectacular creations. Miller's fecund imagination, virtuosity, and epic energy produced vibrant architecture in which every element from ceiling to floor is alive with arabesque imagery, entwined patterns, and an aura of aspiration. Miller intended for each space to be a total work of art, the perfect description for this unique book.
Staying True: Sanford, Jenny; Call Number: 921 S2243; 2010; In this memoir, the first lady of South Carolina reveals the private ordeal behind her very public betrayal--and offers inspiration for anyone struggling to keep faith during life's most trying times.
March of the Microbes: sighting the unseen: Ingraham, John; Call Number: 579 I541; 2010; Ingraham is an expert on cellular organisms; his name even graces one, a cold-dwelling bacterium called Psychromonas ingrahamii. In this engaging treatment, the microbiologist shows readers the invisible world through observations about its macroscopic manifestations in a range of environments, from the kitchen to the abyss of the sea. Prefacing the tour with the several classifications of microbes and their basic metabolism, Ingraham writes first about where we can see (or, more accurately, smell) microbes at work: in food and in digestion. Having interested gastronomes, Ingraham adds nature lovers to his audience by describing varieties of beautiful scenery created by microbes, such as Spanish moss or colorful hot springs. Hardheaded geophysicists might also queue for this book: atmospheric oxygen, nitrogen in soil, and certain iron deposits among other useful resources exist because of microbial activity. But lest we grow unwarrantably fond of our single-celled friends, Ingraham describes some of their malicious cousins who blight crops, kill trees, and sicken humans. Ingraham's clarity, plus touches of humor, augments the appeal of this fine contribution to popularizing science.
The Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories: McConnachie, James; Call Number: 001.9 M1295; 2010; Everything you think you know is a lie. Or is it? The Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories is the definitive guide to the world's most controversial theories. With updated information on all the most infamous conspiracies, from phony crucifixions to who really did kill JFK, this fully up-dated guide also covers the murders of Alexander Litvinenko and Benasir Bhutto, the London bombings and the Iraq War, as well as the inquest into Princess Diana's death. The guide is a thoroughly researched exploration into this compulsive and, at times, amusing phenomenon, with fascinating discourse and a keen sense of the satirical. For both the believers and the cynics, The Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories sorts the myths from the realities.

February 15 - 21, 2010

The Decision Tree: taking control of your health in the new era of personalized medicine: Goetz, Thomas; Call Number: 613 G611; 2010; In this thoughtful, groundbreaking work, Goetz proposes a new strategy for thinking about health, one that applies cutting-edge technology and sound science to put people at the center of the equation.
The Denzel Principle: why black women can't find good black men: Call Number: 306.73 I99; 2010; The Denzel Principle is the belief that the perfect man--in the form of a Denzel Washington--actually exists offscreen, and that all black women can snag a Denzel of their very own. This straight talk from a regular guy champions regular guys everywhere.
The Bag Lady Papers: the priceless experience of losing it all: Penney, Alexandra; Call Number: 921 P4137; 2010; This inspiring, true tale follows the author's journey from financial security to economic ruin. After investing--and losing--her life savings with Bernie Madoff, Penney is forced to confront her deepest fears.
He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back: the true story of the year the King, Jaws, Earnhardt, and the rest of NASCAR's feudin', fightin', good ol' boys put stock car racing on the map: Bechtel, Mark; Call Number: 796.72 B392; 2010; On a cold February day in 1979, when most of the Northeast was snowed in by a izzard, NASCAR entered the American consciousness with a dramatic telecast of the Daytona 500. It was the first 500-mile race to be broadcast live on national television and featured the heroes and legends of the sport racing on a hallowed track. With one of the wildest finishes in sports history - a finish that was just the start of the drama - everything changed for what is now America's second most popular sport. HE CRASHED ME SO I CRASHED HIM BACK is the story of an emerging sport trying to find its feet. It's the story of how Bobby Allison, Donnie Allison, Cale Yarborough, Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, A.J. Foyt, and Kyle Petty came together in an unforgettable season that featured the first nationally televised NASCAR races. There were rivalries -even the sibling kind - and plenty of fistfights, feuds, and frenzied finishes. Rollicking and full of larger-than-life characters, HE CRASHED ME SO I CRASHED HIM BACK is the remarkable tale of the birth of modern stock-car racing.
Louder Than Words: take your career from average to exceptional with the hidden power of nonverbal intelligence: Navarro, Joe; Call Number: 650.13 N322; 2010

February 8 - 14, 2010

Incomparable Japanese Gardens: Vilhar, Gorazd; Call Number: 712.60952 V711; 2010; Over 150 full-color photographs introduce Japanrsquo;s most beautiful garden masterworks. Designed for viewing, meditation, strolling, and tea practice, the seventy-five gardens here include some of Japanrsquo;s best known, like Ryoan-ji, Ginkaku-ji, Meiji Jingu, and Koraku-en. Thoughtful image editing connects design ideas and themes, while a helpful introduction covers the history of garden art and design in Japan. At the back are addresses in English and Japanese.Gorazd Vilhar and Charlotte Anderson have lived in Japan since 1985; their photographs and essays frequently appear in culture, travel, and lifestyle magazines.
Raw Food for Real People: living vegan food made simple by the chef and founder of Leaf Organics: Totondi, Rod; Call Number: 613.265 R848; 2010; World traveler and culinary eclectic Rotondi melds social activism and award-winning cuisine to "change the world one bite at a time." He offers food-as-medicine approaches, simple instructions for sprouting and juicing, and fast, expert techniques for eating well and eating green.
Divine Soul Mind Body Healing and Transimission System: the divine way to heal you, humanity, mother earth, and all universes: Sha, Zhi Gang; Call Number: 204.4 S5241; 2010; Divine Soul Mind Body Healing and Transmission System offers step-by-step exercises and easy tips for healing and rejuvenation.
Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us: Pink, Daniel; Call Number: 153.1534 P6552; 2010; From Daniel H. Pink, the author of the groundbreaking bestseller A Whole New Mind, comes his next big idea book: a paradigm-changing examination of what truly motivates us and how to harness that knowledge to find greater satisfaction in our lives and our work. We've been conditioned to think that the best way to motivate ourselves and others is through external rewards like money- the carrot-and-the-stick approach. That's a mistake, Daniel H. Pink says in his transformative new book. The key to high performance and satisfaction is intrinsic, internal motivation: the desire to follow your own interests and understand the benefits in them for you. And Pink has discovered thirty years of scientific data that confirm these ideas and show an exciting way forward. As he did in his groundbreaking bestseller A Whole New Mind, Pink lays out the hard science for these surprising insights, describes how people and corporations can embrace such ideas (some of them are already doing it), offers details about how we can master them, and provides concrete examples on how intrinsic motivation works on the job, at home, and in ourselves. This is a book of big ideas that explains how each of us can find the surest pathway to high performance, creativity, and even health and well-being.
Lit: a memoir: Karr, Mary; Call Number: 921 K175.2; 2009; The Liars' Club brought to vivid, indelible life Mary Karr's hardscrabble Texas childhood. Cherry, her account of her adolescence, "continued to set the literary standard for making the personal universal" (Entertainment Weekly). Now Lit follows the self-professed blackbelt sinner's descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness- and to her astonishing resurrection. Karr's longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, Shakespeare-quoting blueblood poet produces a son they adore. But she can't outrun her apocalyptic past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in "The Mental Marriott," with an oddball tribe of gurus and saviors, awakens her to the possibility of joy and leads her to an unlikely faith. Not since Saint Augustine cried, "Give me chastity, Lord- but not yet!" has a conversion story rung with such dark hilarity. Lit is about getting drunk and getting sober; becoming a mother by letting go of a mother; learning to write by learning to live. Written with Karr's relentless honesty, unflinching self-scrutiny, and irreverent, lacerating humor, it is a truly electrifying story of how to grow up- as only Mary Karr can tell it.

February 1 - 7, 2010

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Skloot, Rebecca; Call Number: 921 L141; 2010; Science journalist Skloot makes a remarkable debut with this multilayered story about "faith, science, journalism, and grace." It is also a tale of medical wonders and medical arrogance, racism, poverty and the bond that grows, sometimes painfully, between two very different women-Skloot and Deborah Lacks-sharing an obsession to learn about Deborah's mother, Henrietta, and her magical, immortal cells. Henrietta Lacks was a 31-year-old black mother of five in Baltimore when she died of cervical cancer in 1951. Without her knowledge, doctors treating her at Johns Hopkins took tissue samples from her cervix for research. They spawned the first viable, indeed miraculously productive, cell line-known as HeLa. These cells have aided in medical discoveries from the polio vaccine to AIDS treatments. What Skloot so poignantly portrays is the devastating impact Henrietta's death and the eventual importance of her cells had on her husband and children. Skloot's portraits of Deborah, her father and brothers are so vibrant and immediate they recall Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's Random Family. Writing in plain, clear prose, Skloot avoids melodrama and makes no judgments. Letting people and events speak for themselves, Skloot tells a rich, resonant tale of modern science, the wonders it can perform and how easily it can exploit society's most vulnerable people.
The Black-White Achievement Gap: why closing it is the greatest civil rights issue of our time: Paige, Rod; Call Number: 379.26 P1429; 2010; In this clarion call, Paige, a former secretary of education (2001 2005) and his sister, a noted educator, pursue two threads of thought: the quest for authentic African-American leadership and the black-white achievement gap. Their argument: while racism and discrimination are still barriers to African American progress, they are no longer the primary barriers; and the black-white achievement gap is the primary civil rights issue of our time. The main obstacle to closing that gap is black leadership culture, which they criticize... for its role in the existence, magnitude, and intractability of the black-white achievement gap. Authenticity is defined as activity by individuals or groups, regardless of ethnicity, which, with moral purpose, [that] affects the attitude and behavior of African Americans, through identifying and confronting major barriers to African American achievement. In making their argument, the authors report quantities of confirming data; assess various explanations for the gap; review the place of education in the black experience; find the NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus, and Urban League to have overlooked the issue; and predictably argue for the success of No Child Left Behind, the voucher system, and charter schools. Their last chapter, The Way Forward: A Call to Service, concludes with a useful, thought-provoking list of suggestions.
Sesame Street: a celebration: 40 years of life on the street: Gikow, Louise; Call Number: 791.4572 S4931G; 2010; The most beloved children's show of all time is turning 40! This celebration of four decades of groundbreaking educational programming invites fans young and old behind the scenes at 123 Sesame Street. In a book as lively, energetic, and appealing as the television show it chronicles, readers are treated to an inside look at every aspect of Sesame Street. Beginning with the initial idea for the show and the creation of the pilot episode and moving through its evolution over four decades, Sesame Street provides an insider's view of all of the delightful Muppet and human characters, as well as the writers, directors, producers, and all the other creative people who continue to make learning fun for generations of kids. Step behind the scenes and learn how the Muppets are built, how they move, how they speak, and what they think and feel. Did you ever wonder what Big Bird looked like in the first season of the show? Would you like to see the puppeteers behind (and under!) the set performing their roles? How about a picture of Bert being built? All of that and more, including facsimiles of the show's pioneering scripts and some of Jim Henson's original sketches, are included in this revelatory and adoring celebration. The 1,500 photographs—both in front of and behind the camera—come directly from the archives of the Sesame Workshop, and many of them have never before been published. For everyone who fondly remembers learning the alphabet and numbers from Sesame Street, for parents and grandparents of today's Sesame Street kids, and for avid fans and collectors of everything Sesame, this gorgeous book makes a gift to be treasured.
My Times in Black and White: race and power at the New York times: Boyd, Gerald; Call Number: 921 B7871; 2010; Boyd's appointment to the role of managing editor of the New York Times in 2001 made him the first African-American to hold one of the paper's top two editing positions, and his leadership helped the Times garner numerous Pulitzers. But colleagues found him gruff and imposing-a perception he attributed to racial bias-and he was forced to resign after a young reporter named Jayson Blair was caught plagiarizing and fabricating stories in 2003. In this memoir, Boyd, who died in 2006, comes across as a relentlessly ambitious man who overcame poverty, racism, and a rocky personal life to become one of the most powerful newsmen of his day. Unfortunately, Boyd proves to be a merely competent narrator: the prose is smooth but lacks flair, and the vignettes themselves are disappointingly dry. The notable exception is the treatment of the Blair scandal: Boyd's blow-by-blow is animated by indignation and gives a rare glimpse into the rancorous world of newsroom politics. Although as a source of objective truth the memoir is more suspect than a news story, Boyd's perspective is crucial to understanding the crisis that unfolded at the Times in 2003.
Save the Males: why men matter why women should care: Parker, Kathleen; Call Number: 305.31 P2417; 2010; According to columnist Parker, men are an endangered species struggling against everything from mere hostility to literal emasculation. Starting in elementary school, where a teacher "most likely a feminist" will demand that boys sit still and listen and continuing through college, where freshmen must endure rape awareness workshops, men are besieged by disrespect. Belittled by bumbling portrayals in sitcoms, their importance as fathers is so devalued that they are perceived as little more than "sperm and a wallet." Parker trots out the usual suspects--"mass culture," unspecified "feminists," The Vagina Monologues, Murphy Brown, metrosexuals and "girlymen"--to propose that a "feminist" campaign is afoot and eager to effeminize, denigrate and destroy American men. Although Parker's deliberate provocations make for lively reading, the majority of her claims are too fanciful and unsubstantiated to be genuinely thought provoking or even interesting (erectile dysfunction is caused by "young, sexually aggressive women"; women serving in the army put the nation at risk). Parker makes a poor conspiracy theorist, and her statistics and unverifiable theories are unable to make her case, however vehement or entertaining their presentation.

January 25 - 31, 2010

What Men Call Treasure: the search for gold at Victorio Peak: Schweidel, David; Call Number: 978.966 S4131; 2010; In 1937, Doc Noss—part-adventurer, part-conman—and his wife Babe discovered fabulous treasure inside the caverns of New Mexico’s Victorio Peak. They dynamited the tunnel to hide the treasure from other treasure hunters. At least that’s what they said happened. Babe’s grandson Terry Delonas grew up listening to his grandmother’s magical stories about her dead husband and Victorio Peak. Her stories were his legacy. In the 1980s, Terry, a gay man, tested positive for HIV. He decided that searching for Victorio’s lost treasure was the only dream that would give his life meaning. With his grandmother’s grit and her gift for talking her way through tough places, he found money and support to follow his dream and overcome many obstacles—bad weather, broken equipment, the army, Congress, and other fortune hunters. But Victorio Peak, that inscrutable and mysterious mountain, would not give up its treasure."This book’s truth is…not about gold, but a tale (history, fiction, philosophy, and authorial intervention). That is why the book’s incomplete title (“What men call treasure…the gods call dross”) is so poignant: It is the story, in all its complications, winding paths, claustrophobia, and sometimes frustrating dead ends, that is the true wealth."
The Book of Codes: understanding the world of hidden messages: an illustrated guide to signs, symbols, ciphers, and secret languages: Lunde, Paul; Call Number: 652.8 B7242; 2010; Starred Review. Copiously illustrated and laid out clearly and accessibly, this book reveals just how much we have partaken of code making in our history, even when we may not have called it that. In fact, the 13 thematic chapters will leave most readers amazed at the extent of coding in our lives, much of which we are so used to that we no longer even think of it as coding. Editor Lunde (Islam: Faith, Culture, History) shows us the full array of our hidden messages though a code is not entirely "hidden" but expresses itself in different language. Lunde covers both created codes such as the coding we use on watches to indicate time of day, the pulsed electricity of telegraph messages, the folk art language in quilts, the acronyms used in personal ads and other kinds of indicators that humans read as codes, such as desert vegetation indicating a water source or clouds that warn of rain. The final chapter addresses codes in the digital age, but earlier Lunde has included a spread on "The Book in Your Hands," decoding this book's copyright page, and all of the language attendant to print publication and book binding. VERDICT This is a marvelously enlightening book, impressively organized and highly recommended for all curious readers.
Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking: Lo, Eileen; Call Number: 641.5951 L7952.1; 2010; This new masterwork of Chinese cuisine showcases acclaimed chef Eileen Yin-Fei Lo's decades of culinary virtuosity. A series of lessons build skill, knowledge, and confidence as Lo guides the home cook step by step through the techniques, ingredients, and equipment that define Chinese cuisine. With more than 100 classic recipes and technique illustrations throughout, Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking makes the glories of this ancient cuisine utterly accessible. Stunning color photography reveals the treasures of old and new China, from the zigzagging alleys of historical Guangzhou to the bustle of city centers and faraway Chinatowns, as well as wonderful ingredients and gorgeous finished dishes. Step-by-step brush drawings illustrate Chinese cooking techniques. This lavish volume takes its place as the Chinese cookbook of choice in the cook's library.
Cooking Dirty: a story of life, sex, love and death in the kitchen: Sheehan, Jason; Call Number: 921 S5419; 2010; Starred Review. Sheehan, a James Beard award winning food writer at Westword, Denver's alternative weekly newspaper, knows the tradition he's working in: he walked up to the editor at one of his first writing gigs and introduced himself as your Anthony Bourdain motherfucker. Before that, he'd spent years bouncing around from one restaurant kitchen to the next first in upstate New York, then in a disastrous move to Florida, and back to New York before heading out west to reunite with the woman he met during his failed one year of college. Sheehan's memoir is emphatically not about the glam end of cooking or celebrity chefs, but about a straight blue-collar gig, where the kitchens are staffed by the kind of guys who get off on the fact that the work is insanely grueling. As Sheehan puts it, I was being paid to play with knives and fire. The war stories are as profane and outrageous as you'd expect, and Sheehan finds just the right balance between bravado and humility. There's a subtle shift in emphasis once his personal life (and, eventually, writing career) gains traction, but the kitchens where the best stories take place are never far from sight.
In Due Season: a Catholic life: Wilkes, Paul; Call Number: 921 W682; 2010; Starred Review. In an exquisite memoir that often reads like a novel, writer Wilkes (In Mysterious Ways: The Death and Life of a Parish Priest) recounts and reflects upon his life as a Catholic. Although his journey includes a decade as a Protestant and ongoing discomfort with certain aspects of Catholicism, Wilkes deftly mines its imagery and its figures, particularly the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, a major and recurring influence. As Wilkes meanders through a life that begins in a working-class Cleveland neighborhood, he candidly relates his passages of sin and saintliness, including a conversion-in-reverse when he gains fame as a writer and an interlude following the end of his first marriage in which he lives among the poor, caring for society's castoffs. Readers will experience his confusion, the âÇ£decaying smell of [his] dying soulâÇ and his triumphs as they wonder if the âÇ£itâÇ he seeks will find him and whether he will marry again or become a monk. This is fine, engrossing reading for all who appreciate the struggle inherent in the spiritual quest.

January 18 - 24, 2010

The Ramains of Company D: a story of the Great War: Nelson, James; Call Number: 940.41273 N4272; 2010; Nelson's grandfather fought in WWI. Wounded in 1917, he survived until 1993 but said little about his experience. Inheriting only his grandfather's dog tag, a Purple Heart and a few postcards, Nelson, a former staff writer for the Miami Herald, resolved to tell his story and that of his 250-man company. Using these scraps, old newspaper accounts, government archives, secondary sources and a good deal of imagination, Nelson delivers biographies of dozens of young men, poor and middle-class, swept into the American Expeditionary Force and shipped to France, where General Pershing, anxious to prove the superiority of American fighting men (and convinced that trench warfare was for sissies), flung them at German lines, where they performed magnificently but suffered terrible casualties. Despite a dearth of primary material (no diaries turned up), Nelson delivers a creditable performance, bringing to life an America of 90 years ago in which many eagerly answered their president's call, but others (Nelson's grandfather among them) went about their business until drafted and then dutifully joined the carnage.
The Complete Outdoor Builder: from arbors to walkways: 150 DIY projects: Call Number: 690.89 C73768; 2010; Adding beautiful, functional patios and walkways to the yard has never been easier thanks to this book. Over 150 projects and hundreds of instructional photographs combine with informative tips, tricks, and inspiration for the most comprehensive patio and walkway book on the market. From low-cost, curb-appeal walkways to expansive, estate-quality decorative concrete patios complete with outdoor kitchens, this book presents each project with step-by-step instructions and full-color photographs as well as informative tips, tricks, and inspiration. Each project uses the most current materials, tools, common practices, codes, and construction techniques to help readers add value to their homes and allow them to enjoy their outdoor spaces to full potential. Whether an existing patio needs to be freshened up or an unused space in the yard is just waiting to be put to use, this book is a crucial resource for do-it-yourself homeowners.
Why Good Kids Act Cruel: the hidden truth about the pre-teen years: Pickhardt, Carl; Call Number: 155.4248 P5975; 2010; Why do so many preteens treat each other so badly? Why is intentional meanness so prevalent in the middle school years? Early adolescence, a time of major physical and psychological change, is also when preteens suffer harassment, stalking, intimidation, humiliation, and fear and haven't a clue how to handle or stop this deliberate treatment. Psychologist Pickhardt identifies and examines the causes and behaviors that make up what he calls social cruelty among kids, clearly explaining that it appears in ages nine to 13 because that is when kids feel vulnerable about separating from childhood and desire more social independence. At the same time, they seek to protect their own diminishing self-worth by either derogating others' worth or going on the attack (to pre-empt getting hurt first) in order to assertively claim a place in school society. There are five major ways kids act out (teasing; exclusion; bullying; spreading rumors; and ganging up), and Pickhardt devotes one chapter to each of these, offering examples of different kinds of situations including fights and cyberbullying, dialogue for countering attacks, and encouragement for making good choices. Most importantly, there are instructions for parents, teachers, school administrators and counselors so they can effectively and consistently keep episodes of social cruelty under control. Pickhardt accurately and compassionately captures the voice and concerns of children and parents alike. This should find shelf space with Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabes and Giannetti and Sagarese's Cliques.
City of Gold: Dubai and the dream of capitalism: Krane, Jim; Call Number: 953.57 K896; 2010; Starred Review. The modern city-state of Dubai exists largely because two men willed it so. Through a combination of prescient investment of resources, grandiose vision and the freedoms of absolute rule, the late Sheikh Rashid and his son (and current ruler) Sheikh Mohammed transformed the backwater village into a global powerhouse erupting onto the earth. Mohammed's ideas are so stamped on the landscape that two of his poems are being written on the sea as a group of [artificial] islands. Dubai-based journalist Krane does a superb job of conveying the near-manic atmosphere swirling around the creation of the world's tallest building (half a mile high), first indoor ski slope (in a mall) and incidentally the world's largest carbon footprint, revealing the creativity and tolerance that characterize a city where 95% of its residents are foreigners, as well as the inevitable costs of such lavish ambition. Environmental needs have been ignored (another island was built atop a coral reserve, and migrant laborers and sex workers face routine abuse and exploitation. A fascinating study of a small nation that has taken the ideas of modernization and capitalism to their outer limits.
The Modernist House: Call Number: 724.6 M6899; 2010; "The Modernist House" is a comprehensive, worldwide survey of 100 iconic houses from this important movement. This illustrated, broad reference book features examples from the early twentieth century to the present day, ranging from early Bauhaus architecture to the latest interpretations of Modernism. Accessible and easy-to-use like Phaidon's bestselling "The House Book", "The Modernist House" presents a balanced selection of the best and most important houses of this revolutionary movement from around the world. Each house has been selected for its architectural merit, innovative design and contribution to the movement. The selection illustrates Modernism's rejection of traditional forms and analyses its concern for new materials, technology, non-ornamental abstraction and its predilection for white rendering and open plans. All key styles are featured, including functionalist forms, the minimalism of the 'International Style' and the eco designs of contemporary architects. Examples include the early promoters of Modernism, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Adolf Loos and Walter Gropius as well as more recent followers of the device that function defines form, that 'less is more', such as Future Systems, lvaro Siza and Toyo Ito. Each entry consists of a full-page image with an accompanying text, detailing its historical and architectural significance. Organised chronologically, readers can trace the development of the Modernist House from Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, Marcel Breuer's Breuer House II and Oscar Niemeyer's Farnsworth House to Adalberto Libera's Casa Malaparte, Richard Meier's Douglas House and Tadao Ando's Koshino House. The chronological sequence allows for interesting juxtapositions, demonstrating the comparatively different interpretations of the Modernist movement. The book also features a glossary of terms and movements, a directory of houses open to the public and an index. "The Modernist House" is a practical resource and easy-to-use guide, unique in its appeal to both the general public and the practicing architect.

January 11 - 17, 2010

The British Invasion: the music, the times, the era: Miles, Barry; Call Number: 781.6609 M6431; 2009; In 1964, North America had a second revolution—but this time we welcomed the British! That year, four mop-tops known as The Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, ushering in a new era of British music, film, fashion, and art. This richly illustrated and informative volume celebrates the pivotal cultural moment when the United States took on a British accent. The huge influx of talent from across the pond included not only the The Beatles, but also The Dave Clark Five, The Kinks, The Moody Blues, Them (and Van Morrison), The Yardbirds, The Who, and, of course, The Rolling Stones. But the invasion wasn’t only musical: Peter O’Toole, Julie Andrews, Sean Connery, and Michael Caine made a splash in Hollywood, while films like Goldfinger, Alfie, and What’s New, Pussycat? topped box-office charts. The Avengers became cult TV, and Carnaby Street defined hip style, turning Mary Quant, Twiggy, and Jean Shrimpton into fashion icons.
Storms of my Grandchildren: the truth about the coming climate catastrophe and our last chance to save humanity: Hansen, James; Call Number: 363.73874 H2496; 2009; In Storms of My Grandchildren, Dr. James Hansen—the nation’s leading scientist on climate issues—speaks out for the first time with the full truth about global warming: The planet is hurtling even more rapidly than previously acknowledged to a climatic point of no return. Although the threat of human-caused climate change is now widely recognized, politicians have failed to connect policy with the science, responding instead with ineffectual remedies dictated by special interests. Hansen shows why President Obama’s solution, cap-and-trade, which Al Gore has signed on to, won’t work; why we must phase out all coal, and why 350 ppm of carbon dioxide is a goal we must achieve if our children and grandchildren are to avoid global meltdown and the storms of the book’s title. This urgent manifesto bucks conventional wisdom (including the Kyoto Protocol) and is sure to stir controversy, but Hansen—whose climate predictions have come to pass again and again, beginning in the 1980s when he first warned Congress about global warming—is the single most credible voice on the subject worldwide. Hansen paints a devastating but all-too-realistic picture of what will happen in the near future, mere years and decades from now, if we follow the course we’re on. But he is also an optimist, showing that there is still time to do what we need to save the planet. Urgent, strong action is needed, and this book, released to coincide with the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009, will be key in setting the agenda going forward to create a groundswell, a tipping point, to save humanity—and our grandchildren—from a dire fate more imminent than we had supposed.
Children of Dust: a memoir of Pakistan: Eteraz, Ali; Call Number: 921 E839; 2010; Follows Ali Eteraz's schooling in a madrassa in Pakistan to his teenage years as a Muslim American in the Bible Belt, and back to Pakistan to find a pious Muslim wife.
Undress me in the Temple of Heaven: Gilman, Susan; Call Number: 915.1 G487; 2009; Youthfully upbeat, Gilman (Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress) delivers an entertaining memoir of her ill-starred attempt to circumnavigate the globe after college graduation in 1986. Eager to embark on life but unsure exactly how to do it, the author, a New Yorker, and her fair-haired Connecticut trust-fund friend, Claire, both graduates from Brown, resolved to backpack around the world for a year and become heroines in their own epic stories. Starting in Hong Kong, the two naïve 21-year-olds, armed with Linda Goodman's Love Signs, volumes of Nietzsche and a year's supply of tampons, ran into shoals fairly immediately, freaked out by fleabag hotels, vermin, importunate fellow travelers and the debilitating effects of illness, homesickness and the sole company of each other. As they roughed it through Communist China, Claire grew increasingly paranoid and delusional, eventually bolting on a bizarre bus trip that got her picked up by the police. Gilman's amusing journey focuses tightly on these first shaky seven weeks, offering the full wallop of disorienting, in-the-moment, transformative travel adventures.
Prime-time Health: a scientifically proven plan for feeling young and living longer: Sears, William; Call Number: 613.0434 S4397; 2010; Starred Review. Baby- and child-care experts, the Searses present a healthy aging book for their patients' parents and grandparents, featuring an eight-week self-care nutrition and exercise plan to achieve and maintain optimum health. Now a 12-year survivor of colon cancer, Bill Sears restored himself after surgery and treatment by researching, developing and implementing the LEAN (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitude, and Nutrition) regimen around which this book is centered. Part I helps readers understand how the body changes with age; part II addresses how to have healthy heart, brain, gut, senses, breathing, bones and joints, and skin. Part III covers the importance of weight loss and better nutrition via sixteen âÇ£superfoodsâÇ rich in anti-oxidants and Omega 3s; part IV offers the science behind and guidance for quelling inflammation that leads to heart disease and cancer. and part V discusses fitness. Finally, part VI puts it all together in the personal Prime-Time Plan with self-tests and list-making exercises. Amusing, encouraging, and easy-to-remember prescriptive mnemonics and slogans appear in text, boxes, sidebars, and illustrations to enliven a lucid, personal and professional narrative. Sears provides what similar books often lack an honest and trusted voice plus the latest medical science in a comprehensive, accessible program that is hard to resist.

January 4 - 10, 2010

The Harvard Psychedelic Club: how Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil killed the fifties and ushered in a new age for America: Lattin, Don; Call Number: 973.922 L3648; 2010; A terrific social history of a fascinating historical period . . . laugh-aloud passages make this an entertaining read. In this beautifully constructed study, Lattin brings together four of the most memorable figures from that period.this is a fast-moving, dispassionate recounting of a seminal period in our history, and all in all, a wonderful book. (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )The Harvard Psychedelic Club is not only a great read, it's also an unforgettable head trip. Lattin weaves a masterful tale of 1960s-style spirituality, professional jealousy, and out-of-body experiences. Lattin has done his homework and it shows. Read this book and expand your mind. No hallucinogenics required. (Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss )With care and considerable humor, Don Lattin shows us how the interwoven relationships of four charismatic visionaries contributed to the expansion of mind that changed American culture forever. The way we eat, pray, and love have all been conditioned by their lives and teachings. (Mirabai Bush, co-founder and Senior Fellow of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, co-author (with Ram Dass) of Compassion in Action )I suspect I'm not the only person who thought the psychedelics-at-Harvard story had been pretty well settled, but Lattin's work has widened my perspective considerably. By focusing on Huston Smith and Andrew Weil as well as Leary and Alpert, he's created a stimulating and thoroughly engrossing read. (Dennis McNally, author of A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead, and Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation, and America )A revealing account of four iconic personalities who helped define an era, sowed seeds of consciousness, and left indelible marks in the lives of spiritual explorers to this day. The Conclusion is alone worth the price of the book.
The Language of Life: DNA and the revolution in personalized medicine: Collins, Francis; Call Number: 616.042 C7124; 2010; From New York Times bestselling author and world-renowned doctor and geneticist Francis Collins, a book that will forever change how you think about your body, your health, and the future of medicine. A scientific and medical revolution has crept up on us, based on study after study, from hundreds of laboratories around the world. It is no longer just a theoretical shift: every one of us will be touched by it, and many of us already have been. The meaning of disease, our understanding of the human body, and crucial decisions about what we all need to know and what choices we make about our health are at stake. Welcome to the new world of personalized medicine. Twenty-one million Americans are affected by 6,000 so-called rare and orphan diseases, many of which are primarily attributable to misspelled genes. And virtually all diseases have a significant hereditary component. There have been many stories in the media about women who are testing to see if they have a mutation that leads to breast cancer, or family members who are strongly at risk for heart disease or Huntington's disease. Yet the revolution is much more fundamental than this: diabetes, heart disease, the common cancers, mental illness, asthma, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, and more—all of these diseases are having their secrets unlocked. Now, with a simple home test, costing a few hundred dollars, you can learn the secrets of your own DNA. Francis Collins has been at the forefront of this revolution. He was, for fifteen years, the head of the international Human Genome Project, and he now serves as the Director of the National Institutes of Health. He knows, better than anyone, how widespread are the misperceptions about human genetics. Just in the past decade, most of what you think you know about DNA has been overturned. Much of the advice given routinely by health care providers is ill informed, so you need to educate yourself about this rapidly moving area of medicine. You are guaranteed to face some surprises, and some difficult choices about personal knowledge, treatment, and family risk. Yet this book is overwhelmingly hopeful and inspiring, offering helpful advice in every chapter. Nearly every day, diseases that were barely understood, or completely misunderstood, are being redefined. Families that faced common problems, without hope, are now discovering a new world of understanding, treatment, and prevention. You owe it to yourself to learn about your DNA: how it works, what it reveals, and the benefits and limits of this new knowledge.
Committed: a skeptic makes peace with marriage: Gilbert, Elizabeth; Call Number: 921 G4646; 2010; Picking up where her bestselling memoir "Eat, Pray, Love" left off, Gilbert details the extraordinary circumstances that surround her love with Felipe, the man she swore never to marry.
Living Oprah: my one-year experiment to walk the walk of the queen of talk: Okrant, Robyn; Call Number: 921 O422; 2010; In this addition to the stunt-blog memoir genre, 35-year-old yoga instructor and performer Okrant spent 2008 living by Oprah's advice as dispensed via her show, magazine and Web site. The author was fascinated with the way Oprah evokes equal parts admiration and disdain, and curious about whether it's even possible to follow someone else's advice to discover one's authentic self. Despite skepticism about the validity or possibility of finding happiness through Oprah, she embarked on 12 months of Oprah-prescribed activities and expenditures, plus blog updates. Monthly tallies detail activities, expenditures and the author's thoughtful observations. For example, she writes: I believe Oprah's ultimate goal is to empower women and girls, but I think Oprah devalues women by focusing so much on our bodies. The author is honest about her own experiment-inspired conflicts: as a result of her endeavors, she has a book and has lost weight, but is almost always a stressed-out, insecure, exhausted mess. Okrant posits that, in many ways, pursuing a best life detracts from real life. In the end, while there are few real revelations, Okrant has written a thoughtful, honest examination of her journey.
Strange Maps: an atlas of cartographic curiosities: Jacobs, Frank; Call Number: 912 J172; 2010; Spanning many centuries, all continents, and the realms of outer space and the imagination, this collection of 138 unique graphics combines beautiful full-color illustrations with quirky statistics and smart social commentary. The result is a distinctive illustrated guide to the world.

December 28 - January 3, 2010

Food Rules: an eater's manual: Pollan, Michael; Call Number: 613.2 P7715.1; 2009; Michael Pollan, our nation's most trusted resource for food-related issues, offers this indispensible guide for anyone concerned about health and food. Simple, sensible, and easy to use, Food Rules is a set of memorable rules for eating wisely, many drawn from a variety of ethnic or cultural traditions. Whether at the supermarket or an all-you-can-eat-buffet, this handy, pocket-size resource is the perfect guide for anyone who would like to become more mindful of the food we eat.
The 2012 Story: the myths, fallacies, and truth behind the most intriguing date in history: Call Number: 133.3 J525; 2009; On December 21, 2012, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, a 5,125- year cycle calendar system pioneered by the Maya, will come to an end. At the same time, the earth, the sun, and the center of the galaxy will come together in an extremely rare cosmic alignment. More and more people believe that the world as we know it will experience a transformation in 2012, but few are aware of the complete history or significance of the date. John Major Jenkins, among the most authoritative voices of the 2012 movement, has written a definitive explanation of one of the most thought-provoking phenomena of our time. Drawing from his own groundbreaking research (including his involvement in the modern reconstruction of Mayan 2012 cosmology) and more than two decades of extensive study of Mayan culture, Jenkins has created the crucial guide to understanding the story of 2012-an essential overview of the history, theory, cultures, and personalities that have brought this extraordinary idea into modern awareness. Jenkins provides illuminating answers to some of the most-asked questions about 2012, including: - How did the early Maya devise the calendar that gives us the cycle ending in 2012, and how does it work? - How did the calendar come to be rediscovered and reconstructed in our era? - What controversies and intrigues surround the topic, and what do scholars and researchers have to say about them? - How can we cut through all the noise about 2012 and gain true wisdom from the Mayan teachings about this moment?
Galapagos: preserving Darwin's legacy: De Roy, Tui; Call Number: 508.8665 G1466; 2009; Travel agents everywhere are preparing for "the Darwin Effect," a boom in travel to Ecuador in 2009 for the 50th anniversary of the creation of Galapagos National Park and the International Charles Darwin Foundation. This lavishly illustrated book is the official publication for these historic events.This year also marks two other important milestones: the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species and the 200th anniversary of his birth.In 2007, growing pressure on the natural habitat prompted UNESCO to put Galapagos on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Galapagos includes insightful essays and fascinating stories by 30 of the world's leading Galapagos researchers, who describe the challenges and successes of conservation efforts, past and present. Tui de Roy's images vividly show the seemingly alien beauty of the Galapagos landscape and wildlife.This handsome book is an important resource for naturalists, botanists, photographers, researchers, students and all who want a permanent record of Darwin's spectacular discovery.
Who Shot Rock & Roll: a photographic history, 1995 to the present: Buckland, Gail; Call Number: 781.66 B9241; 2009; More than two hundred spectacular photographs, sensual, luminous, frenzied, true, from 1955 to the present, that catch and define the energy, intoxication, rebellion, and magic of rock and roll; the first book to explore the photographs and the photographers who captured rock’s message of freedom and personal reinvention—and to examine the effect of their pictures on the musicians, the fans, and the culture itself.The only music photographers whose names are well known are those who themselves have become celebrities. But many of the images that have shaped our consciousness and desire were made by photographers whose names are unfamiliar. Here are Elvis in 1956—not yet mythic but beautiful, tender, vulnerable, sexy, photographed by Alfred Wertheimer . . . Bob Dylan and his girlfriend on a snowy Greenwich Village street, by Don Hunstein . . . John Lennon in a sleeveless New York City T-shirt, by Bob Gruen . . . Jimi Hendrix, by Gered Mankowitz, a photograph that became a poster and was hung on the walls of millions of bedrooms and college dorms . . .For the first time, the work of these talented men and women is brought into the pantheon; we see the musicians they photographed and how the images gave rock and roll its visual identity.To bring together these images, Gail Buckland, acclaimed photographic editor, curator, and scholar, looked through the archives of one hundred photographers, selecting pictures not on the basis of the usual suspects, but on the power of the images themselves, often picking an image a photographer didn’t even remember he or she had taken.Buckland writes about the photographers, their influences, their relationships with their subjects, how they took the images, how they saw what they saw and captured what they captured: the spirit and essence of rock.A revelation of an art form whose iconic images changed the world as we knew it.
The Good Soldiers: Finkel, David; Call Number: 956.7044342 F4996; 2009; In the tradition of "Black Hawk Down," The Good Soldiers takes an unforgettable look at the heroes and the ruined soldiers fighting in the Iraq War.

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