New Nonfiction

May 19 - 25, 2013

Finding your element : how to discover your talents and passions and transform your life: Robinson, Ken; Call Number: 153.9 R6628.1; 2013; This apparently rushed, thin sequel to the author's previous book, The Element, outlines a practical path to finding your passion and turning it into a vocation. Robinson begins by encouraging readers to not only think freely about their aptitudes, but to actively muddle them-to try new activities, not for the activities themselves but for the skills and talents they may reveal or develop. Unfortunately, after introducing a new idea, Robinson often lapses into abstraction. Chapters attempt to guide readers through the "inward" and "outward" journeys of finding their "Element," from understanding their own abilities, insecurities, and blockages to finding an outlet and community for their strengths. Most chapters begin with perfunctory brainstorming exercises bolstered with glosses on pop psychology (like lessons on learning types, meditation, and happiness studies) and inspirational anecdotes from TED-friendly celebrities like Jamie Oliver. None of Robinson's advice is particularly motivating, as the exercises rarely encourage doing much beyond list, ruminate, or (even worse) search the Internet for personality tests. The book is brimming with stories of others finding their passion, but readers would do better looking elsewhere to locate their own. Agent: Peter Miller, PMA Literary and Film Management, Inc. (May 21) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Brotherhood : dharma, destiny, and the American dream: Chopra, Deepak; Call Number: 610.92 C549; 2013; The Chopra brothers, two sons of a British-trained cardiologist in India, grew up to embrace both Eastern and-Western medicine in America. They charmingly recount their experiences in alternate, temperamentally uneven takes in this memoir. Deepak is enormously well-known as the disseminator of the Indian holistic practice of Ayurveda in the West, through his score of books (Perfect Health et al.) and medical practice; his younger brother, Sanjiv, is less known but no less revered as a practicing liver specialist, teacher at Harvard Medical School, and also an author (Leadership by Example). The two affectionately vie in telling their family stories, from growing up in the 1950s and 60s in an educated Hindu family in India, moving (according to the dictates of their father's career as an army doctor) from Pune, to Jabalpur, to Shillong to Delhi, attending the Irish Christian Brothers schools, forming their own cricket teams (Sanjiv was the better athlete, Deepak the scholar), and ultimately both resolving to study medicine-to the delight of their parents. Yet while each immigrated to New Jersey and then moved to Boston to study and pursue his specialty--with Sanjiv focusing on gastroenterology, Deepak on endocrinology-Deepak's immersion in Transcendental Meditation led by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi steered him back to traditional Indian practices, ironically. The bifurcated memoir depicts some fascinating aspects of Indian assimilation in America, and the often hilarious, touching cultural clash. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
The billionaire and the mechanic : how Larry Ellison and a car mechanic teamed up to win sailing's greatest race, the America's Cup: Guthrie, Julian; Call Number: 797.14 G9843; 2013; A rich man's vanity is lionized in this hagiographic yacht-racing saga. Journalist Guthrie (The Grace of Everyday Saints) recounts Oracle founder Larry Ellison's quest to win the America's cup, an effort that climaxed in a 2010 victory with a high-tech, $40 million, rigid-sailed trimaran so fast that it left the competition in the spray. When the author sticks to boats and races her account is absorbing-there's drama in these powerful, fragile vessels and among the even more highly-strung New Zealanders who crew them for other nations' teams. Unfortunately, Guthrie's focus is too often on Ellison and his swanky digs, Zen posturings-"He listened to the wind rustling the bamboo... for a welcome moment, he felt safe"-and vacuous drive to win, which egotistical navel-gazing she mistakes for philosophy. The eponymous "mechanic" is Norbert Bajurin, an auto-repair-shop owner who helmed San Francisco's downscale Golden Gate Yacht Club, which Ellison essentially hired to front his Cup bids; absurdly, Guthrie styles Bajurin, whose only role is to applaud from the sidelines, as the billionaire's working-class soul mate. Guthrie's incessant fawning over a plutocrat's pretensions steal the wind from the narrative's sails. Agent: Joe Veltre, Gersh Agency. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Balance : the economics of great powers from ancient Rome to modern America: Hubbard, R. Glenn; Call Number: 330.9 H8762; 2013; Political paralysis leading to fiscal collapse is the "existential threat" facing America, argues this stimulating, contentious economic history. Economists Hubbard (dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Business) and Kane (chief economist of the Hudson Institute), both one-time advisers to the 2012 Romney-Ryan campaign, conduct a loose, engaging tour through history, pinpointing the economic failings of states from ancient Rome (debased currency, expensive bread and circuses, totalitarian labor controls) and Ming China (squabbling between court mandarins and eunuchs that scotched trade initiatives) to contemporary Europe and the United States (unsustainable government entitlements and debt). They frame the perennial debate over national decline in novel economic terms, ranking countries by a metric of "economic power"-GDP times productivity times the square root of growth-that puts America still uneasily on top. The authors' economics tilt conservative, extolling budget austerity, low taxes, and free trade, while deploring over-mighty public-sector workers-a latter-day Praetorian Guard of California's state government-and excessive welfare spending. They conclude by proposing a constitutional balanced-budget amendment, while acknowledging dysfunctional political institutions that block reform, like the "prisoners dilemma" in Congress that prevents Republicans and Democrats alike from compromising on deficits. Theirs is political economy with a grand historical sweep-and provocative implications for the present. 34 images. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (June 11) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Edmund Burke : the first conservative: Norman, Jesse; Call Number: 921 B9593N; 2013; Edmund Burke (1729-97) is one of those illustrious political figures now hazily remembered by general readers. He was a member of the British Parliament and a successful writer. A reformer and classical liberal-today he'd be a conservative-he worked for free trade and ending the sinecures that drained the public purse, and he strove for better governance of India. He tried to stop the breach between Britain and its colonies, but was ignored. Norman, himself a Conservative member of Parliament, first presents Burke's life, then examines the man's philosophy. The results serve as a solid, workmanlike introduction to the reformer and his time. The philosophical half of the book is clear, free of jargon, and accessible, painting Burke as a realist; man is "imperfectable," he maintained; science and logic cannot rule; the individual is inescapably part of a society. VERDICT A sound introduction to a thinker who remains important two centuries after his death. Very lightly footnoted and with a select bibliography, this will be a starting point for readers new to the study of Burke's life and ideas.-Michael O. Eshleman, Hobbs, NM (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

May 12 - 18, 2013

Permanent present tense : the unforgettable life of the amnesic patient, H.M.: Corkin, Suzanne; Call Number: 616.85232 C7994; 2013; In 1953, 27-year-old Henry Gustave Molaison underwent an experimental psychosurgical" procedure-a targeted lobotomy-in an effort to alleviate his debilitating epilepsy. The outcome was unexpected-when Henry awoke, he could no longer form new memories, and for the rest of his life would be trapped in the moment.But Henry's tragedy would prove a gift to humanity. As renowned neuroscientist Suzanne Corkin explains in 'Permanent Present Tense', she and her colleagues brought to light the sharp contrast between Henry's crippling memory impairment and his preserved intellect. This new insight that the capacity for remembering is housed in a specific brain area revolutionized the science of memory. The case of Henry-known only by his initials H. M. until his death in 2008-stands as one of the most consequential and widely referenced in the spiraling field of neuroscience. Corkin and her collaborators worked closely with Henry for nearly fifty years, and in 'Permanent Present Tense' she tells the incredible story of the life and legacy of this intelligent, quiet, and remarkably good-humored man. Henry never remembered Corkin from one meeting to the next and had only a dim conception of the importance of the work they were doing together, yet he was consistently happy to see her and always willing to participate in her research. His case afforded untold advances in the study of memory, including the discovery that even profound amnesia spares some kinds of learning, and that different memory processes are localized to separate circuits in the human brain. Henry taught us that learning can occur without conscious awareness, that short-term and long-term memory are distinct capacities, and that the effects of aging-related disease are detectable in an already damaged brain.Undergirded by rich details about the functions of the human brain, 'Permanent Present Tense' pulls back the curtain on the man whose misfortune propelled a half-century of exciting research. With great clarity, sensitivity, and grace, Corkin brings readers to the cutting edge of neuroscience in this deeply felt elegy for her patient and friend.
Gettysburg : the last invasion: Guelzo, Allen; Call Number: 973.7349 G925; 2013; A stirring account of the “greatest and most violent collision the North American continent [has] ever seen,” just in time for the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.Though the battle site was not inevitable, the actual battle was: The giant armies of North and South were destined to lumber into one another in a time when, as Guelzo (Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction, 2012, etc.) cites a Confederate officer as observing, they “knew no more about the topography of the country than they did about Central Africa.” What is certain is that Robert E. Lee’s arrival in Pennsylvania sent “Yankeedom,” to quote another Confederate officer, “in a great fright.” The Union had reason to be concerned, but, as Guelzo documents, their foe was scattered and divided, with rivalries and miscommunication—and perhaps even insubordination—keeping James Longstreet from attacking, J.E.B. Stuart from arriving on the battlefield in time, and the much-disliked George Pickett from enjoying a better fate than being cannon fodder. And what fodder: If there is a leitmotif in Guelzo’s book, it is the image of brains being distributed on the grass and the shirts of fellow soldiers, of limbs disappearing and soldiers on both sides disintegrating in a scene of “muskets, swords, haversacks, human flesh and bones flying and dangling in the air or bouncing above the earth.” The author ably, even vividly, captures the hell of the battlefield while constantly keeping the larger scope of Gettysburg in the reader’s mind: It was, he argues, the one central struggle over one plank of the Civil War, namely the preservation of the Union, that nearly wholly excluded the other one, the abolition of slavery.Robust, memorable reading that will appeal to Civil War buffs, professional historians and general readers alike.
Scatter, adapt, and remember : how humans will survive a mass extinction: Newitz, Annalee; Call Number: 576.84 N548; 2013; "Earth has been many different planets with dramatically different climates and ecosystems," says Newitz, journalist and founding editor of io9.com. Finding a common ground between climate change arguments Newitz found a thread of hope while researching mass extinctions: that life has survived at least six such events thus far. Without addressing the cause of the current shift, she cites data that indicates we may already be in the midst of another period of mass extinction. Guiding readers through the science of previous mass extinctions, Newitz summarizes the characteristics that enabled species to survive: variable diet and habitat, and ability to learn from the past. "The urge to survive, not just as individuals but as a society and an ecosystem, is built into us as deeply as greed and cynicism are." She reviews theories of how Homo sapiens survived while Neanderthals did not, discusses how science may one day enable a disaster-proof city, and advocates geoengineering and research for eventual moves to other planets. "We'll strike out into space.... And eventually we'll evolve into beings suited to our new habitats among the stars." Newitz voice is fervent and earnest, and despite her gloomy topic, she leaves readers with hope for a long future. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Robert Oppenheimer : a life inside the center: Monk, Ray; Call Number: 921 O62M; 2013; Revered biographer Monk solves the enigma of Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. He details his life and personality, and brilliantly illuminates his contribution to the revolution in 20th-century physics.
Mickey and Willie : Mantle and Mays, the parallel lives of baseball's golden age: Barra, Allen; Call Number: 796.35764 B2686; 2013; In these elegant and touching fan notes, acclaimed sportswriter Barra carries us back to baseball's golden days, when two giants-Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays-dominated the game through their skill and prodigious talent. Giving a fast-paced, season-by-season account of the lives of these players, whose careers developed along parallel lines and sometimes intersected, Barra recreates the excitement, the adoration, and the adulation that Mantle and Mays inspired in their fans-as well as the occasional disappointments. Barra notes the many similarities in the players' lives: both hailed from the South and both were talented all-around athletes who played football, baseball, and basketball; both had fathers who encouraged them, though Mays's let his son follow his talents to center field naturally, while Mantle's groomed his son for center field from the start. Alike as they were, the differences were stark: Mays came from a broken home and Mantle from a large, close-knit family. Barra pulls no punches as he candidly portrays Mantle's struggles with alcohol and Mays's anxiety attacks off the field. Mantle will go down in the record books for his home run of 563 feet on April 17, 1953-famously the first home run ever officially measured (a "tape measure" home run) for distance; Mays would gain his celebrity for "the catch," a stunning grab 460 feet from home plate in the 1954 World Series. Drawing on his conversations with Mantle and Mays, Barra offers illuminating insights into their views of success and failure as well as into the ways that we often create larger-than-life heroes out of individuals who sometimes cannot carry the burdens of our dreams and hopes. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

May 5 - 11, 2013

It's only slow food until you try to eat it : misadventures of a suburban hunter-gatherer: Heavey, Bill; Call Number: 641.3 H4427; 2013; A longtime contributor to "Field and Stream," Heavey knew more than a little about hunting and fishing when he embarked on an ambitious project a few years ago to see how far he could get "eating wild." Is it any surprise that his tasty triumphs were equaled by his hilarious misadventures?
A curious man : the strange and brilliant life of Robert "Believe it or not" Ripley: Thompson, Neal; Call Number: 921 R592T; 2013; Robert Ripley was as unique and fascinating as the "Believe It or Not" newspaper feature that made him one of the most popular and widely read syndicated cartoonists in the country during the 1930s, and Thompson (Hurricane Season) delivers an equally fascinating biography that captures the influence of Ripley's work life then and now, well into the age of television and the Internet. A slight, bucktoothed, and "socially timid" youth growing up in Santa Rosa, Calif., Ripley's main interests were baseball and drawing caricatures of his classmates and teachers. He moved after high school to San Francisco to draw for the city's main newspapers, first the Bulletin and then the Chronicle. Thompson presents a vivid portrait of the city's hotbed of cartoonists who were "taking the concept of illustrated newspaper entertainment to new levels." Later, he explores in detail how Ripley moved east to draw for the New York Globe, whose overseas assignments to cover odd sporting events eventually led to Ripley developing the "Believe It or Not" concept, turning it into a widely popular comic, a bestselling book, a radio show, and a traveling show-becoming "an unlikely playboy-millionaire" in the process. Thompson superbly shows how Ripley' work is the basis for today's more extreme reality shows by teaching readers "to gape with respect at the weirdness of man and nature." (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Whole : rethinking the science of nutrition: Campbell, T. Colin; Call Number: 613.2 C191; 2013; In 2005, Campbell's "The China Study" revealed what people should eat and provided the powerful empirical support for this answer. "Whole" answers the question of why. Why does a whole-food, plant-based diet provide optimal nutrition?
Mind over medicine : scientific proof you can heal yourself: Rankin, Lissa; Call Number: 615.8528 R2114; 2013; Recent diatribes against the forthcoming DSM-5 have called for medical professionals to put down the book from time to time and look patients in the eye. Rankin takes it one step further and tells folks to look inside to heal themselves, both mentally and physically. After years of working in a traditional medical setting and dealing with her own failing health, Rankin undertook extensive research into the medical literature of the past 50 years and discovered the true power of an optimistic outlook on the body’s ability to heal itself. But it’s difficult work being an optimist—it requires faith in one’s abilities to heal, and it necessitates a serious attitude adjustment. As such—and always with the skeptics in mind—Rankin walks readers through self-assessment techniques, methods of self-diagnosis, and how to plan a “prescription” for going forward. She does not dismiss the benefits of modern medicine; rather, she urges patients and health care providers to seek mind and body solutions in order to secure the best care possible. Rankin’s insightful and compassionate treatise may not convince everyone, but it’s a refreshing alternative to a handful of pills. Agent: Michele Martin, CSG Literary Partners/MDM Management. (May 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
I'm not gonna lie : and other lies you tell when you turn 50: Lopez, George; Call Number: 921 L8642.1; 2013; George Lopez just hit the half-century mark and the reset button on his life. Newly single and ready to embrace life, George was excited to turn fifty. It would be a welcome new phase in his life, a chance to say goodbye to a decade that included a kidney transplant and a divorce. But when he looked around a room full of his childhood friends, all gathered to celebrate his birthday, many now bald or overweight, it suddenly hit him that he was old.What happened? And more importantly, what was he going to do about it? George learns the hard way that when you turn 50, everything changes. You pull a muscle in your sleep. You avoid mirrors at all costs, and always, always wear a robe. You have to schedule an appointment to have sex. You have to dye your hair and buy a bathtub with a door.As George learns to embrace life after fifty, he invites readers into his world, sharing the ups and downs of getting older—from his relationship with a much younger woman to a bizarre session with a pet psychic, to a trip behind-the-scenes at his tumultuous two years at Lopez Tonight, to an intimate look at his sacred ground, the golf course—and, for the first time, he reveals in moving detail, the story of the battle for his life against kidney disease. I’m Not Gonna Lie will make you laugh at yourself, cry about yourself, and look at turning fifty in a way you never would’ve imagined—through the eyes of George Lopez.

April 28 - May 4, 2013

Masters of the word : how media shaped history, from the alphabet to the Internet: Bernstein, William; Call Number: 302.23 B5318; 2013; This sweeping, although selective, historical narrative by award-winning financial historian Bernstein (A Splendid Exchange, 2008) elucidates in highly readable fashion the role of media in which he includes advances from ancient alphabets to movable type to twenty-first-century technology in shaping civilization and determining democratic versus despotic tendencies. Bernstein's thesis that power accrues to the literate should not be taken simplistically; his larger arguments are learned and elegantly made. His occasional invocation of modern phenomena in a nonmodern context (at one point, in discussing events two millennia past, referencing the Second Amendment) lend charm and clarity to what might have otherwise been dauntingly erudite. Instead, Bernstein offers an accessible, quite enjoyable, and highly informative read that will hold surprises even for those familiar with some of the history he covers.--Levine, Mark Copyright 2010 Booklist
The autistic brain : thinking across the spectrum: Grandin, Temple; Call Number: 616.85882 G753.2; 2013; If you want to know why an autistic person acts the way he or she does, "you have to go beyond" behavior and "into his or her brain," according to Grandin (Thinking in Pictures) and science writer Panek (The 4% Universe). Since 1987, when Grandin, a noted Colorado State University animal science professor, became "one of the first autistic subjects to undergo" an MRI, she has taken multiple "journey[s] to the center of [her] mind" in the hope that neuroimaging technologies will lead to a better understanding of autism. "From the start, medical professionals didn't know what to do with autism. Was the source of these behaviors biological, or was it psychological?" Now, 70 years after Johns Hopkins University M.D. Leo Kanner gave the first diagnosis, researchers are making huge strides. The authors urge parents, teachers, and society to focus on the strengths of autistics, and they devise a "three-ways-of-thinking model"-by pictures, patterns, or words/facts-to foster change in schools and the workplace. Grandin's particular skill is her remarkable ability to make sense of autistics' experiences, enabling readers to see "the world through an autistic person's jumble of neuron misfires," and she offers hope that one day, autism will be considered not according to some diagnostic manual, but to the individual. Illus. Agent: Betsy Lerner, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (Apr. 30) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Debtors' prison : the politics of austerity versus possibility: Kuttner, Robert; Call Number: 339.52 K975; 2013; Kuttner (The Squandering of America), cofounder and co-editor of the American Prospect, pulls no punches in his latest full-throated defense of Keynesian economics and repudiation of the modern neoliberal system. Kuttner argues that rather than helping countries live within their means, austerity hampers economic growth and prevents recovery. Alternately rousing and oversaturated with statistics, the author nevertheless makes a convincing case that fiscal policy has been hijacked by the vested interests of international finance and the moneyed classes. Every economic crisis over the past several decades has sparked the same two-pronged response of prodigal bailouts of multinational investment banks and crippling strictures on the public sector. These strategies are enforced by elites with no democratic accountability and dangerously little local knowledge. For example, in their negotiations with Greece, the E.U. and the E.C.B. have demanded that the majority of Greek airports be abruptly sold off, a strategy that may raise several million dollars but would create massive social disturbances. When elected Greek officials agree to absurd conditions like these, they are of course voted out of office, while the jobs of the bureaucrats who came up with them remain secure. Kuttner's deft overview of economic history-most notably his coverage of the Marshall Plan-demonstrates that economic stimulus can be very effective at ending recessions. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Read my lips : stories of a Hollywood life: Kellerman, Sally; Call Number: 921 K2915; 2013; Sally Kellerman's portrayal of Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan in Robert Altman's M*A*S*H remains a landmark performance. Throughout her long career Kellerman has been a real dame - honest, down-to-earth, sultry, funny, and unfiltered. In READ MY LIPS, Kellerman shares colorful tales of her years as an up-and-coming actress in the early 60s, when Hollywood was a small neighborhood full of chance encounters. To pay for acting classes (ten dollars each, alongside the likes of Jack Nicholson) she waited tables at a coffee house on the Sunset Strip that was a hangout for Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, and Warren Beatty. While she watered her lawn one morning in her bathrobe, Ringo Starr stopped in his convertible to say he'djust moved into the neighborhood and she should drop by; during the Vietnam War, she dated Henry Kissinger. Over the years, there were drugs, affairs, diets, and therapy, a music album, a marriage, and motherhood. As the innocence of the 1950s collided with the free spirit of the 1960s, everything felt new and exciting, and Sally Kellerman was right in the middle of it. In READ MY LIPS Sally transports us back to that unique era and shares the challenges and rewards of her marriage, children, and her iconic career.
Strange rebels : 1979 and the birth of the 21st century: Caryl, Christian; Call Number: 909.827 C333; 2013; The end of the 1970s saw the emergence of a dizzying array of ideologies and movements, and Caryl contends that their ripples are still spreading across the surface of the modern world. The Islamic Revolution in Iran, the reorientation of Chinese socialism under Deng Xiaoping, Pope John Paul II's outreach to Eastern Europe, the free-market doctrine of Margaret Thatcher, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan all began in earnest in 1979, and Caryl, an editor at Foreign Policy and Newsweek, examines how these events-each a reversal of course and a push for a new order-would come to shape history. Short and readable (if occasionally repetitive) chapters concentrate in turn on the situation in each highlighted country, and in particular on the ideas and machinations of the individuals responsible. What they shared, despite their widely varying goals, is that each "drew... motivation from values, a firmly held set of moral principles; policy was just a way of putting them into action." Caryl displays an impressive facility with Western, Soviet, Chinese, and Islamic political traditions and circumstances, and he manages to present a relatively coherent and unified view of world affairs. Agent: Andrew Wylie, the Wylie Agency. (May 7) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

April 21 - 27, 2013

Cooked : a natural history of transformation: Pollan, Michael; Call Number: 641.5 P7715; 2013; Spurred by a number of objectives-improving his family's general health, connecting with his teenage son, and learning how people can reduce their dependence on corporations, among others-Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma; In Defense of Food) came to the realization that he'd be able to accomplish all those goals and more if he spent more time in his kitchen. He began cooking. Divided into four chapters based on the four elements, Pollan eloquently explains how grilling with fire, braising (water), baking bread (air), and fermented foods (earth) have impacted our health and culture. In each case, Pollan examines the process as well as the science of barbecue, bread, and beer-making in addition to each particular method's effect on humanity. Cooking over high heat, for example, enabled primates' brains to grow much bigger and digest their food faster, making them more efficient; fermented foods like kimchi can promote and encourage the growth of good bacteria in the gut, a function that highly processed foods are unable to accomplish. These and other revelations (obesity rates are inversely correlated with the amount of time spent on food preparation, "microbiologists believe that onions, garlic and spices protect us from the growth of dangerous bacteria on meat," which could explain why we are drawn to flavorful foods, etc.) make for engaging and enlightening reading. Liz Farrell, ICM. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Frozen in time : an epic story of survival and a modern quest for lost heroes of World War II: Zuckoff, Mitchell; Call Number: 940.545973 Z943; 2013; In this harrowing true-life adventure, journalist Zuckoff (Lost in Shangri-La) follows the crew of an American B-17 bomber that crash-landed in 1942-while searching for another downed plane-on a vast glacier in the Greenland ice cap, one of the most isolated and inhospitable places on earth. With little food or cold-weather gear and an assortment of nasty injuries, the nine airmen found themselves trapped in a field of hidden, ever-shifting crevasses that threatened to swallow up their plane and made hiking even a few yards a mortal danger. Zuckoff juxtaposes their months-long battle against hurricane-blizzards, starvation, frost-bite, gangrene and madness with equally perilous rescue attempts by sled teams and military aviators flying through gales and white-outs. (His tense first-hand account of a 2012 expedition to locate the remains of one of those rescue flights buried in 30-foot-deep ice frames the story.) Zuckoff's gripping narrative unfolds with immediacy and verve as men in fetid snow caves and sputtering aircraft pit their dogged camaraderie and desperate, white-knuckle improvisations against the fury of an Arctic winter. Photos. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Time reborn : from the crisis in physics to the future of the universe: Smolin, Lee; Call Number: 530.12 S6664; 2013; Contrary to Plato and Einstein, theoretical physicist Smolin (The Trouble with Physics) asserts that "not only is time real, but nothing we know or experience gets closer to the heart of nature than the reality of time." Though time has always been a quantity to measure, the author explains that in the 17th century, scientists began wondering whether "the world is in essence mathematical or it lives in time." Newton's laws of motion made time irrelevant, and "Einstein's two theories of relativity are, at their most basic, theories of time-or, better, timelessness." Galileo and Descartes, on the other hand, insisted that time should be regarded as another dimension, and in 1909, mathematician Hermann Minkowski developed the theory of "spacetime," a feature of the universe shaped by gravity. Smolin asserts that current-day cosmology has hit a wall because physicists refuse to understand that physical laws must "evolve in a real time." Changing that perspective, he says, will revolutionize everything from string theory to the stock market. Although the distinctions in point of view aren't always clear, Smolin makes an energetic case for a paradigm shift that could produce mind-boggling changes in the way we experience our world. Agent: John Brockman, Brockman Inc. (Apr. 23) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Surfaces and essences : analogy as the fuel and fire of thinking: Hofstadter, Douglas; Call Number: 169 H7138; 2013; Not cold reason but a profusion of metaphorical similarities let us understand the world, according to this distended, unfocused treatise on conceptual thought. Cognitive scientists Hofstadter (Godel, Escher, Bach) and Sander explore the interesting though not startling idea that people rely on analogies drawn from past experience-in words, conversation, cultural assumptions, and ideologies-to make sense of novel situations and discover hidden, abstract commonalities. The authors apply this idea to everything from a child's generalization from "Mommy" to motherhood to the falling-dominoes analogy drawn during the Vietnam War. They develop some fascinating insights on, for example, the simple analogies underlying Einstein's theories of relativity, but, unfortunately, the authors lack the good analogist's nose for concision. More natural history than rigorous scientific analysis, their argument proceeds by cataloging countless analogical specimens and dissecting their meanings at luxuriant length. Never content with a single pithy example where 20 repetitive ones will do, they bludgeon readers with belabored erudition, tiresome overexplication-five pages on the phrase, "Me, too!"-and ponderous rhetorical japes, including a 27-page Socratic dialogue. ("Good grief,-Anna, are you implying that categorization and analogy-making are exactly the same thing?") The result is an annoyingly high ratio of gratuitous surface detail to essential information. 10 b&w illus. (May 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Touch a butterfly : wildlife gardening with kids: Sayre, April; Call Number: 639.92 S2754; 2013; Sayre (Rah, Rah, Radishes!) has written a guide to how families can build fertile habitats in their own backyards by providing the food, water, and shelter on which wildlife depends. For those who think this consists of filling a few bird feeders and buying a butterfly bush, the author has a bigger vision in mind. She encourages readers to get outside and closely observe the wildlife and ecology in their own yards. Then she provides guidance on how to provide hospitable environments for native flora and fauna. There is enough basic horticultural advice on soil testing, planting, and composting to get the youngest gardeners going. As would be expected, she also provides much information on the importance of conservation and native species. Most helpful are the suggestions for getting the younger members of the family outside and awakening their interest. Although she does not provide much specific advice on plants, she has ultimately created a field guide of field guides that points readers to online resources, books, organizations, and tools that will deepen their appreciation of the world outside their back doors. Color photographs throughout. (Apr. 23) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

April 14 - 20, 2013

Why men fake it : the totally unexpected truth about men and sex: Morgentaler, Abraham; Call Number: 306.7 M851; 2013; Morgentaler, a urologist specializing in men's sexual health and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, wonders why there isn't a male analogue of Our Bodies, Ourselves. Men are complicated too, right? While his book doesn't warrant the instant-classic status Our Bodies achieved in 1971, it is a good start, full of fascinating stories and useful information. Morgentaler's investigation is organized around four themes: orgasm and its impediments (yes-some men do fake it), sex drive, erections, and, of course, penis size. The third section is the widest-ranging and most scientifically grounded (Morgentaler also wrote about a related topic in 2003's The Viagra Myth), and it allows him an opportunity to attack the Masters and Johnson "zeitgeist of several decades ago." Morgentaler's case studies are relatable and often funny (some should be read discreetly in public), and they crystallize his sensitive approach to the subject matter: "sex is weird," and "sex is not just sex." This accessible treatment of the emotional and physical nuances of male sexuality is informative and entertaining, and will appeal to men and women alike. Agent: Bob Levine, Levine Plotkin & Menin. (Apr. 16) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Dirt work : an education in the woods: Byl, Christine; Call Number: 921 B9938; 2013; This chronicle of years spent as a "traildog"-a seasonal worker doing the underappreciated, backbreaking work of maintaining wilderness trails-first in Montana's Glacier National Park, and later in Alaska's Denali National Park-blends beauty and crudeness, grit and grace. Successfully articulating the satisfaction of physical labor and the camaraderie of the people who do it, Byl organizes the book around her beloved tools, starting with whimsical descriptions of each and using her experience to launch stories about how she learned to do the myriad unseen jobs that keep park trails navigable. Byl is just as likely to be sentimental about backhoes and boots as about the gorgeous vistas of Alaska, but her most obvious love is for the people who work the trails with her, whose taciturn behavior, practical jokes, and machismo she must navigate, whose internal culture she learns as she becomes a part of the team, and whose mentorship is invaluable. With language that is lyrical despite the earthiness of its subject, Byl turns the words of work into found poetry ("brake on, choke on, pull, pull, fire"), offering a bridge for readers to those "who would not speak like this themselves"-a beautiful memoir of muscle and metal. Agent: Janet Silver, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
The upcycle: McDonough, William; Call Number: 363.7 M4788; 2013; The Upcycle is the eagerly awaited follow-up to Cradle to Cradle , one of the most consequential ecological manifestoes of our time. Now, drawing on the lessons gained from 10 years of putting the Cradle to Cradle concept into practice with businesses, governments, and ordinary people, William McDonough and Michael Braungart envision the next step in the solution to our ecological crisis: We don't just use or reuse resources with greater effectiveness, we actually improve the world as we live, create, and build. For McDonough and Braungart, the questions of resource scarcity and sustainability are questions of design. They are practical-minded visionaries: They envision beneficial designs of products, buildings, and business practices-and they show us these ideas being put to use around the world as everyday objects like chairs, cars, and factories are being reimagined not just to sustain life on the planet but to grow it . It is an eye-opening, inspiring tour of our future as it unfolds in front of us. The Upcycle is as ambitious as such classics as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring -but its mission is very different. McDonough and Braungart want to turn on its head our very understanding of the human role on earth: Instead of protecting the planet from human impact, why not redesign our activity to improve the planet? We can have a beneficial footprint. Abundance for all. The goal is within our reach.
Light without fire : the making of America's first Muslim college: Korb, Scott; Call Number: 297.071 K841; 2013; Korb (Life in Year One), a writer who teaches at N.Y.U., explores the origins and founding of Zaytuna College, the first Muslim four-year undergraduate liberal arts college in the United States. Zaytuna was founded in 2008, so Korb has access to the founders and the first cohort of students, and details some of the triumphs and struggles of establishing a college, with a writerly eye for local color and character detail. The idea behind Zaytuna is to provide a place for integrating Islam and the West, and to cultivate a generation of truly American Muslim scholars. Korb's account delves deeply into these ideas, also exploring the daily life and religious practices of Muslims, as well as the religious philosophies and backgrounds of Zaytuna's founders, all of them prominent Muslim thinkers, clerics, and writers. Some of Korb's discussions are overly ambitious for a book of this size and detract from the intended main focus on Zaytuna College. Nevertheless, readers interested in Islam in America or the dynamics of Islamic education will find the book fascinating. Agent: Jim Rutman, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Modern art desserts : recipes for cakes, cookies, confections, and frozen treats based on iconic works of art: Freeman, Caitlin; Call Number: 641.86 F8551; 2013; In her first cookbook, Modern Desserts, Freeman looks to blur the lines between food and art. As head pastry chef at the Blue Bottle Cafe in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), she looks to employ the layers of cake and confection as molding blocks for the creation of taste pleasing and aesthetically imposing edible sculptures. Partially inspired as direct representation of artists' works, such as the "Thiebaud cakes" or "Mondrian cake," and partially inspired by the ideas present in an artist's work (see "Ryman cake" and "Tuymans Parfait"), each creation is intrinsically linked to the element in which it was created. Recognizing the importance of the relationship between the art and food, the book is not content with just presenting recipes; it also displays the original artwork in color photos with brief explanations next to each picture. Although there is a possibility of applying techniques and concepts in this book for personal art projects, the scope of dessert construction and baking theory is limited by the very nature of the work. Billed as recipes based on "iconic works of art," the patisserie guide never really strays into creations of one's own mind; rather it stays safely in the box of copying recipes set out on the page (of which there are 27). With a lengthy introduction and only a small section on baking equipment and ingredients (nine total pages), this book is either for those who crave modern art in edible form or those who have a lot of time on their hands to experiment. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

April 7 - 13, 2013

The little way of Ruthie Leming : a southern girl, a small town, and the secret of a good life: Dreher, Rod; Call Number: 920 D7716; 2013; For author and Dallas Morning News columnist Dreher and his baby sister, Ruthie, their tiny Louisiana parish defined them as they grew up, bringing a sense of belonging to her and a need to escape for him. Family and community meant everything to the townspeople, and they routinely gathered at Dreher's parents' home and later his sister's, but he found himself at odds with his father and sister, yearning for experiences beyond the confining borders of the parish. Dreher writes movingly of the struggles within himself and within his family, in particular with his sister. Ruthie became a schoolteacher with a huge impact on her students, beloved by everybody, but with little patience for what she viewed as her brother's snobbish and overly intellectual thinking and lifestyle that grew into lifelong resentments. While Ruthie married her high school sweetheart before graduating from college and was content to never go far from her childhood door, Dreher changed jobs and cities multiple times even after settling down with a wife and kids. It wasn't until his sister is diagnosed at 40 with cancer that he begins to re-evaluate his plans, realizing that after two decades away he is only now able to return, at peace with the decisions he made as he works to get to know his extended family better and tries to forgive and understand them. Through his sister's life and in her death, Dreher, writing in this tender memoir, learns compassion, gratitude, and to focus on the blessings of the moment. Agent: Gary Morris. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Lost cat : a true story of love, desperation, and GPS technology: Paul, Caroline; Call Number: 636.8 P3242; 2013; The self-deprecating author's note sets the stage for this hilarious, and moving, account of Paul's relationship with her two cats. In the note, the 40-ish Paul (East Wind) qualifies the accuracy of her story by noting that she was on painkillers for some of the time (while recovering from a plane crash) and asking the reader to also take into account "normal confusion for people our age." The author's note is followed by a New Yorker-like map of San Francisco, as seen by a cat, divided into areas of Fear, Large Threat, Total Death, Other Cat, Food? and Home. Her experiences with Fibby and Tibby (full names Fibula and Tibia) range from farce, as she attempts to track Tibia's travels out of the home by means of a GPS device, to tragedy. The humor of the opening continues throughout, augmented by diagrams such as one of an animal shelter volunteer, with an arrow pointing to the woman's "kind, crazy eyes." Even non-cat lovers will find this an engaging read, charmingly illustrated by Paul's partner, McNaughton, as Paul easily makes her strong emotions for her pets accessible and universal. Illus. Agent: Charlotte Sheedy, Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Truth's ragged edge : the rise of the American novel: Gura, Philip; Call Number: 813.309 G978; 2013; Those who agree with Hemingway's claim that Huckleberry Finn created all modern American fiction will find this study of our pre-Twain literary tradition illuminating. UNC-Chapel Hill literature professor Gura (American Transcendentalism) shows that this tradition consisted of far more than just Uncle Tom, Captain Ahab, Leatherstocking, and Hester Prynne. The book's main thread is a liberated sense of self that Gura traces back to Jonathan Edwards's passionate sermonizing. A Christian tract-writing tradition found renewed vitality transplanted into something resembling everyday American life, as in the first known American novel, William Hill Brown's The Power of Sympathy, published in 1789. Other authors directed a sense of moral purpose away from individual virtue to wider social issues, as in Sarah Savage's The Factory Girl, or Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. Gura also ventures outside this main vein of sentimental, enlightened concern, finding African-American self-advocates, such as Harriet Jacobs, with Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and those who tested taboos, including John Neal, author of Logan: A Family History, which features interracial relationships, and in 1822. Gura tempers this book's thrill of discovery over forgotten voices and stories with a still-relevant warning that the fearless individualism of American fiction can come dangerously close to solipsism. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Bending toward justice : the Voting Rights Act and the transformation of American democracy: May, Gary; Call Number: 342.73 M4664; 2013; May's lively and cogent history of the Voting Rights Act is indispensable reading for anyone concerned about the erosion of voting rights that has accompanied the election of Barack Obama, America's first black president, especially as the issue is still up for debate in 2013, in a case to be heard by the Supreme Court. Drawing on a wealth of sources, University of Delaware historian May (Informant: the FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo) has constructed a vivid, fast-paced morality tale with clearly recognizable heroes, like Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee organizer Bernard Lafayette, whose commitment to Christian nonviolence transformed a dispirited Alabama town, and villains, like Sherriff Jim Clark, whose propensity for violence inadvertently strengthened Martin Luther King Jr.'s cause. On Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, state troopers and local vigilantes in Selma, Ala., brutally attacked a small group of African-American nonviolent protesters. That event shocked the conscience of the nation and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, perhaps the most lasting achievement of the Civil Rights movement. By focusing on Selma, May pays tribute to the courage of otherwise ordinary people and makes a case for the continued relevance of this legislation. Photos. Agent: John Wright. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
The best of the best American poetry: Pinsky, Robert; Call Number: 811.008 B5615; 2013; In this second "Best of the Best"-the first being Harold Bloom's cantankerous tenth anniversary selection-guest editor former poet laureate Pinsky (The Figured Wheel) chooses his 100 favorites from among the nearly 1,900 poems appearing in the annual sampling of magazine verse since its 1988 debut. No year's work is neglected, and only 15 poems replicate Bloom's selections. As one might expect, the majority of poets included are fixtures in the contemporary canon (e.g., John Ashbery, Rita Dove, Louise Gluck, Robert Hass, W.S. Merwin, Adrienne Rich). Pinsky favors the plain style ("a mannerless speaking," to borrow a phrase from Rodney Jones's poem here), and despite a scattering of both traditional formalists (James Merrill, A.E. Stallings) and poets of more experimental mien (Anne Carson, Harryette Mullen), the ambience is one of a cocktail party where the overlapping conversations of observant, thoughtful people are heard as a collective murmur, their distinctive styles subsumed by a general flatness of tone, diction, and subject. Still, several compelling voices (Stephen Dobyns, A.R. Ammons, J. Allyn Rosser, Richard Wilbur, Kevin Young) cut bracingly through the hubbub. VERDICT For libraries lacking the annuals, this single-volume compilation will suitably represent the flavor of the series as a whole.-Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, NY (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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