The next Reader’s Advisory Roundtable meeting will be at 9am
on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at the Springville Road Library and the topic
up for discussion will be consumer health titles. Also, make plans to attend the Adult Services Roundtable on January 16, 2016
at 10am at the Hoover Library to discuss reference resources!
This week, RART met to discuss the very broad topics of
history, biography, and social issues.
(powells) It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a
minister's daughter began to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year
later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man
crushed to death.
The panic spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbors accused neighbors, parents and children each other. Aside from suffrage, the Salem Witch Trials represent the only moment when women played the central role in American history. In curious ways, the trials would shape the future republic.
As psychologically thrilling as it is historically seminal, The Witches is Stacy Schiff's account of this fantastical story — the first great American mystery unveiled fully for the first time by one of our most acclaimed historians.
The panic spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbors accused neighbors, parents and children each other. Aside from suffrage, the Salem Witch Trials represent the only moment when women played the central role in American history. In curious ways, the trials would shape the future republic.
As psychologically thrilling as it is historically seminal, The Witches is Stacy Schiff's account of this fantastical story — the first great American mystery unveiled fully for the first time by one of our most acclaimed historians.
Michelle, Irondale Library
(powells) From a manual for witch hunters written by King
James himself in 1597, to court documents from the Salem witch trials of 1692,
to newspaper coverage of a woman stoned to death on the streets of Philadelphia
while the Continental Congress met, The Penguin Book of Witches is a treasury
of historical accounts of accused witches that sheds light on the reality
behind the legends. Bringing to life stories like that of Eunice Cole, tried
for attacking a teenage girl with a rock and buried with a stake through her
heart; Jane Jacobs, a Bostonian so often accused of witchcraft that she took
her tormentors to court on charges of slander; and Increase Mather, an
exorcism-performing minister famed for his knowledge of witches, this volume
provides a unique tour through the darkest history of English and North
American witchcraft.
Michelle, Irondale Library
(powells) Joe and Rose Kennedy's strikingly beautiful
daughter Rosemary attended exclusive schools, was presented as a debutante to
the Queen of England, and traveled the world with her high-spirited sisters.
And yet, Rosemary was intellectually disabled - a secret fiercely
guarded by her powerful and glamorous family. Major new sources, Rose Kennedy's diaries and correspondence, school and
doctors' letters, and exclusive family interviews bring
Rosemary alive as a girl adored but left far behind by her competitive
siblings. Kate Larson reveals both the sensitive care Rose and Joe gave to
Rosemary and then, as the family's standing reached an apex, the often desperate and duplicitous arrangements the Kennedys made to
keep her away from home as she became increasingly intractable in her early
twenties. Finally, Larson illuminates Joe’s decision to have Rosemary
lobotomized at age twenty-three, and the family's complicity in keeping
the secret. JFK
visited Rosemary for the first time while campaigning in the Midwest; she had
been living isolated in a Wisconsin institution for nearly twenty years. Only
then did the siblings understand what had happened to Rosemary and bring her
home for loving family visits. It was a reckoning that inspired them to direct
attention to the plight of the disabled, transforming the lives of millions.
Michelle, Irondale Library
(powells) On August 9, 1945, three days after the atomic
bombing of Hiroshima, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on
Nagasaki, a small port city on Japan's southernmost island. An estimated 74,000
people died within the first five months, and another 75,000 were injured.
Published on the seventieth anniversary of the
bombing, Nagasaki takes readers from the morning of the bombing to
the city today, telling the first-hand experiences of five survivors, all of
whom were teenagers at the time of the devastation. Susan Southard has spent years
interviewing hibakusha (bomb-affected people”) and researching the
physical, emotional, and social challenges of post-atomic life. She weaves
together dramatic eyewitness accounts with searing analysis of the policies of
censorship and denial that colored much of what was reported about the bombing
both in the United States and Japan. A gripping narrative of human
resilience, Nagasaki will help shape public discussion and debate
over one of the most controversial wartime acts in history.
Deni, Hoover Library
I can’t say enough great things about this book. The Jonestown massacre has always fascinated
me. I read books about Jim Jones and
seen countless documentaries, but Fondakowski’s book focuses on the people of
The People’s Temple. How did they get
from a small, works-oriented religious group to the mass murder-suicide cult in
the Guyanese jungle with which most of us are familiar? These people, from all walks of life, banded
together for a good cause that gradually turned very, very bad. Fondakowski does an excellent job of putting
a human face on something you only thought you understood.
Holley, Emmet O’Neal Library
Holley, Emmet O’Neal Library
(powells) Following an impulse to read more internationally,
journalist Ann Morgan undertook first to define "the world" and then
to find a story from each of 196 nations. Tireless in her quest and assisted by
generous, far-flung strangers, Morgan discovered not only a treasury of world
literature but also the keys to unlock it. Whether considering the difficulties
faced by writers in developing nations, movingly illustrated by Burundian
Marie-Thérese Toyi's ; tracing the use of local myths in the fantastically
successful Samoan YA series ; delving into questions of censorship and
propaganda while sourcing a title from North Korea; or simply getting hold of ,
the first Qatari novel to be translated into English, Morgan illuminates with
wit, warmth, and insight how stories are written the world over and how
place--geographical, historical, virtual--shapes the books we read and write.
Ann Morgan’s blog may be found at http://ayearofreadingtheworld.com/
Shannon, Hoover Library
Anything at all by Eric Larson (He's headlining Southern Voices next year!!!)
The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public
Commodities
Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun
Isaac’s Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in
History
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at
the Fair that Changed America
Thunderstruck (how the lives of the inventor of the wireless
and of Britain’s second most-famous murderer--after Jack the Ripper--intersected during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time)
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American
Family in Hitler’s Berlin
(powells) Called a “special child,” Southern social code for
mentally—and physically—challenged children, Richard was crippled by deformed
hips and was told he would spend his adult life in a wheelchair. During his
early years in charity hospitals, Richard observed the drama of other broken
boys’ lives, children from impoverished Appalachia, tobacco country lowlands,
and Richmond’s poorest neighborhoods. The son of a solitary alcoholic father
whose hair-trigger temper terrorized his family, and of a mother who
sought inner peace through fasting, prayer, and scripture, Richard spent his
bedridden childhood withdrawn into the company of
books.
As a young man, Richard, defying both his
doctors and parents, set out to experience as much of the world as he could—as
a disc jockey, fishing trawler deckhand, house painter, naval correspondent,
aerial photographer, private investigator, foreign journalist, bartender
and unsuccessful seminarian—before his hips failed him. While
digging irrigation ditches in east Texas, he discovered that a teacher had sent
a story of his to the Atlantic, where it was named a winner in the
magazine’s national fiction contest launching a career much in the mold of Jack
London and Mark Twain.
A superbly written and irresistible blend
of history, travelogue, and personal reflection, House of Prayer No. 2 is
a remarkable portrait of a writer’s struggle with his faith, the evolution of
his art, and of recognizing one’s singularity in the face of painful
disability. Written with humor and a poetic force, this memoir is
destined to become a modern classic.
Maura, Trussville
(powells) Janisse Ray grew up in a junkyard along U.S.
Highway 1, hidden from Florida-bound vacationers by the hedge at the edge of
the road and by hulks of old cars and stacks of blown-out tires. Ecology of a
Cracker Childhood tells how a childhood spent in rural isolation and steeped in
religious fundamentalism grew into a passion to save the almost vanished
longleaf pine ecosystem that once covered the South. In language at once
colloquial, elegiac, and informative, Ray redeems two Souths.
Maura, Trussville
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life andImmortal Photographs of Edward Curtis by Timothy Egan
(powells) Edward Curtis was charismatic, handsome, a
passionate mountaineer, and a famous photographer, the Annie Leibovitz of his
time. He moved in rarefied circles, a friend to presidents, vaudeville stars,
leading thinkers. And he was thirty-two years old in 1900 when he gave it all
up to pursue his Great Idea: to capture on film the continents original
inhabitants before the old ways disappeared.
An Indiana Jones with a camera, Curtis spent the next three
decades traveling from the Havasupai at the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the
Acoma on a high mesa in New Mexico to the Salish in the rugged Northwest rain
forest, documenting the stories and rituals of more than eighty tribes. It took
tremendous perseverance — ten years alone to persuade the Hopi to allow him into
their Snake Dance ceremony. And the undertaking changed him profoundly, from
detached observer to outraged advocate. Eventually Curtis took more than 40,000
photographs, preserved 10,000 audio recordings, and is credited with making the
first narrative documentary film. In the process, the charming rogue with the
grade school education created the most definitive archive of the American
Indian.
His most powerful backer was Theodore Roosevelt, and his
patron was J. P. Morgan. Despite the friends in high places, he was always
broke and often disparaged as an upstart in pursuit of an impossible dream. He
completed his masterwork in 1930, when he published the last of the twenty
volumes. A nation in the grips of the Depression ignored it. But today rare Curtis
photogravures bring high prices at auction, and he is hailed as a visionary. In
the end he fulfilled his promise: He made the Indians live forever.
Maura, Trussville
(amazon) They work in the shadow of America’s greatest
leaders; without them, the White House could not function. They are the ushers
and butlers of the White House.
This short book traces the history of White House staff from the very beginning. It includes profiles of some of the most influential members, including Alonzo Fields and Eugene Allen.
This short book traces the history of White House staff from the very beginning. It includes profiles of some of the most influential members, including Alonzo Fields and Eugene Allen.
Mondretta, Leeds
(amazon) This book should be required reading for every
serious student of American history. The authors were eye witnesses to some of
the great events of history and offer different perspectives from that found
elsewhere. For example, we learn that when Calvin Coolidge announced in 1927
that he did not intend to run for re-election, he was playing hard-to-get. He
believed that the people would insist that he accept a third term of office. He
expected to be drafted. He actually wanted a third term in office. Coolidge was
disappointed when Herbert Hoover was nominated as he disagreed with Hoover's
ideas and policies. We learn that in the last year and a half of the presidency
of President Woodrow Wilson, he had to be wheeled around the White House in a
wheel chair and was often engaged in "sickbed rambling". The unique
prospective offered by this book arises from the fact that the authors are two
White House domestic servants, each of whom worked for 30 years in the White
House. As there was an overlap of ten years that both of them worked there
together, that means that they were in the White House for a 51-year span from
the end of 1909 until 1960, when Lillian Rogers Parks retired at age 64 in the
concluding days of the Eisenhower Administration.
(general discussion)
(general discussion)
Road to Character by David Brooks
(powells) With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous bestsellers, David Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original ways. In The Social Animal, he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now, in The Road to Character, he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives. Responding to what he calls the culture of the Big Me, which emphasizes external success, Brooks challenges us, and himself, to rebalance the scales between our "résumé virtues" — achieving wealth, fame, and status — and our "eulogy virtues," those that exist at the core of our being: kindness, bravery, honesty, or faithfulness, focusing on what kind of relationships we have formed.
Looking to some of the world's greatest thinkers and
inspiring leaders, Brooks explores how, through internal struggle and a sense
of their own limitations, they have built a strong inner character. Labor
activist Frances Perkins understood the need to suppress parts of herself so
that she could be an instrument in a larger cause. Dwight Eisenhower organized
his life not around impulsive self-expression but considered self-restraint.
Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic convert and champion of the poor, learned as a
young woman the vocabulary of simplicity and surrender. Civil rights pioneers
A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin learned reticence and the logic of
self-discipline, the need to distrust oneself even while waging a noble crusade.
Blending psychology, politics, spirituality, and
confessional, The Road to Character provides an opportunity for us to
rethink our priorities, and strive to build rich inner lives marked by humility
and moral depth.
Mondretta, Leeds
(powells) Paige Rawl was an ordinary girl. Cheerleader,
soccer player, honor roll student. One of the good kids at her middle school. Then,
on an unremarkable day, Paige disclosed the one thing that made her
"different": her HIV-positive status. It didn't matter that she was
born with the disease or that her illness posed no danger to her classmates. Within
hours, the bullying began. They called her PAIDS. Left cruel notes on her
locker. Talked in whispers about her and mocked her openly. She turned to
school administrators for help. Instead of assisting her, they ignored her
urgent pleas . . . and told her to stop the drama. She had never felt more
alone. One night, desperate for escape, Paige found herself in front of the
medicine cabinet, staring at a bottle of sleeping pills.
That could have been the end of her story. Instead, it was
only the beginning. Finding comfort in steadfast friends and a community of
other kids touched by HIV, Paige discovered the strength inside of her, and she
embarked on a mission to change things for the bullied kids who would follow in
her footsteps. In this astonishing memoir, Paige immerses the reader in
her experience and tells a story that is both deeply personal and completely
universal: a story of one girl overcoming relentless bullying by choosing to be
Positive.
Judith, Homewood
Crucible of Command: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee: TheWar They Fought, the Peace They Forged by William C. David
(powells) They met in person only four times, yet these two
men--Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee--determined the outcome
of America's most divisive war and cast larger-than-life shadows over their
reunited nation. They came from vastly different backgrounds: Lee from a
distinguished family of waning fortunes; Grant, a young man on the make in a
new America. Differing circumstances colored their outlooks on life: Lee, the
melancholy realist; Grant, the incurable optimist.
Then came the Civil War that made them both commanders of
armies, leaders of men, and heroes to the multitudes of Americans then and
since who rightfully place them in the pantheon of our greatest soldiers.
Forged in battle as generals, these two otherwise very different men became
almost indistinguishable in their instincts, attributes, attitudes, and skills
in command.
Each the subject of innumerable biographies, Generals
Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee have never before been paired as they are
here. Exploring their personalities, their characters, their ethical and moral
compasses, and their political and military worlds, William C. Davis, one of
America's preeminent historians, uses substantial, newly discovered evidence on
both men to find surprising similarities between them, as well as new insights
and unique interpretations on how their lives prepared them for the war they
fought and influenced how they fought it. Crucible of Command is both a gripping narrative of the
final year of the war and a fresh, revealing portrait of these two great
commanders as they took each other's measure across the battlefield with the
aid of millions of men.
Judith, Homewood
(powells) A hilarious, thoughtful, and in-depth exploration
of the pleasures and perils of modern romance from one of this
generations most popular and sharpest comedic voices. At some point, every one of us embarks on a journey to
find love. We meet people, date, get into and out of relationships, all
with the hope of finding someone with whom we share a
deep connection. This seems standard now, but its wildly different
from what people did even just decades ago. Single people today have
more romantic options than at any point in human history. With
technology, our abilities to connect with and sort through these options
are staggering. So why are so many people frustrated?
Some of our problems are unique to our time. “Why did this guy just text me an emoji of a pizza?” “Should I go out with this girl even though she listed Combos as one of her favorite snack foods? Combos?!” “My girlfriend just got a message from some dude named Nathan. Who's Nathan? Did he just send her a photo of his penis? Should I check just to be sure?”
But the transformation of our romantic lives can't be explained by technology alone. In a short period of time, the whole culture of finding love has changed dramatically. A few decades ago, people would find a decent person who lived in their neighborhood. Their families would meet and, after deciding neither party seemed like a murderer, they would get married and soon have a kid, all by the time they were twenty-four. Today, people marry later than ever and spend years of their lives on a quest to find the perfect person, a soul mate.
For years, Aziz Ansari has been aiming his
insight at modern romance, but for Modern Romance, the book, he
decided he needed to take things to another level. He teamed up with
NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg and designed a massive research
project, including hundreds of interviews and focus groups conducted
everywhere from Tokyo to Buenos Aires to Wichita. They
analyzed behavioral data and surveys and created their own online
research forum on Reddit, which drew thousands of messages. They enlisted
the worlds leading social scientists, including Eli Finkel,
Helen Fisher, Sheena Iyengar, Barry Schwartz, Sherry Turkle, and Robb
Willer. The result is unlike any social science or humor book we've seen
before. In Modern Romance, Ansari combines his irreverent
humor with cutting-edge social science to give us an unforgettable tour of
our new romantic world.
Judith, Homewood
The Marriage Act: The Risk I Took to Keep My Best Friend in America and What it Taught Us About Love by Liza Monroy
College student Liza has recently fallen out of an
engagement to her high school sweetheart when she learns she’s about to lose
her best friend Emir as well. Emir is
desperate to stay in the US, where he is attending college, but his visa is
expiring. The unnamed Middle Eastern
country he is from is harsh for gay men and he is afraid he will be killed if
he goes back. Liza’s solution? They’ll get married and she’ll get him a
green card. Many obstacles present
themselves, but the most daunting one is that Liza’s mother is a high ranking
official working for the State Department preventing immigration fraud. There are many humorous moments here, but
just as many nerve-wracking ones. These
two kids jumped into a very adult situation without much planning or
preparation and learned that marriage is about SO much more than sex. A great coming-of-age tale of friendship.
Holley, Emmet O’Neal
Gentlemen Bootleggers: The True Story of Templeton Rye,Prohibition, and a Small Town in Cahoots by Bryce T. Bauer
Whiskey stills, bootleggers, and prohibition agents, oh
my! Travel back to the Prohibition era,
when Al Capone was rising to worldwide prominence as Public Enemy Number One
and in the tiny town of Templeton, Iowa, immigrants and first-generation
Americans were embracing the ideals of self-reliance, dynamism, and democratic
justice by producing, illegally of course, the very best whiskey money could
buy. Personally, I discovered Templeton
Rye in the delicious Ultimate Old Fashioned cocktail crafted by the bartenders
at the 41st Pub in Avondale! Go check it
out for yourselves! Also, you can join
the Templeton Rye Bootleggers Society at www.templetonrye.com.
Holley, Emmet O’Neal
Stonewall by Martin Duberman
(powells) Since 1969, the word Stonewall has been synonymous
with gay resistance to oppression. Yet remarkably, the full story of the
Stonewall riots has never been told. Now historian Duberman profiles six early
activists, whose lives intersected during the turbulent event that was to
become the defining moment of the burgeoning liberation movement. Photos.
Samuel, Springville Road
Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights by Ann
Bausum
(powells) In 1969 being gay in the United States was a
criminal offense. It meant living a closeted life or surviving on the fringes
of society. People went to jail, lost jobs, and were disowned by their families
for being gay. Most doctors considered homosexuality a mental illness. There
were few safe havens. The Stonewall Inn, a Mafia-run, filthy, overpriced bar in
New York City's Greenwich Village, was one of them.
Police raids on gay bars happened regularly in this era. But
one hot June night, when cops pounded on the door of the Stonewall, almost
nothing went as planned. Tensions were high. The crowd refused to go away.
Anger and frustration boiled over. The raid became a riot. The riot became a catalyst. The catalyst triggered an explosive demand for gay rights. Ann Bausumand's riveting exploration of the Stonewall
Riots and the national Gay Rights movement that followed is eye-opening,
unflinching, and inspiring.
Samuel, Springville Road
Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
(powells) Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of
American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of
humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no
other — a journey to the pit stops of American
political murder and through the myriad ways they have been used for fun and
profit, for political and cultural advantage.
From Buffalo to Alaska, Washington to the Dry Tortugas,
Vowell visits locations immortalized and influenced by the spilling of
politically important blood, reporting as she goes with her trademark blend of
wisecracking humor, remarkable honesty, and thought-provoking criticism. We
learn about the jinx that was Robert Todd Lincoln (present at the
assassinations of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley) and witness the
politicking that went into the making of the Lincoln Memorial. The resulting
narrative is much more than an entertaining and informative travelogue — it is the disturbing and fascinating story of how American
death has been manipulated by popular culture, including literature,
architecture, sculpture, and — the
author's favorite — historical tourism. Though the
themes of loss and violence are explored and we make detours to see how the
Republican Party became the Republican Party, there are all kinds of lighter
diversions along the way into the lives of the three presidents and their
assassins, including mummies, show tunes, mean-spirited totem poles, and a
nineteenth-century biblical sex cult.
Samuel, Springville Road
Is My Husband Gay, Straight, or Bi?: A Guide for Women Concerned About Their Men by Joe Kort and Alexander P. Morgan
(amazon) Here Joe Kort and Alexander P. Morgan make the
distinction between gay men and “straight men with gay interests” clearer to
women who want to know how they can overcome these revelations. The authors
explain the many reasons why straight men may be drawn to gay sex; how to tell
whether a man is gay, straight, or bisexual; and what the various options are
for these couples, who can often go on to have very fulfilling marriages.
Is My Husband Gay, Straight or Bi? is intended to help couples understand how male sexuality can express itself in ways that may be difficult to understand. Many marriages have been hurriedly terminated when couples (and their therapists) have lacked the information they needed to understand their current situations. This book provides the clarity, describes the choices, and (in many cases) offers hope for relationships and marriages that have been brushed off as doomed.
Is My Husband Gay, Straight or Bi? is intended to help couples understand how male sexuality can express itself in ways that may be difficult to understand. Many marriages have been hurriedly terminated when couples (and their therapists) have lacked the information they needed to understand their current situations. This book provides the clarity, describes the choices, and (in many cases) offers hope for relationships and marriages that have been brushed off as doomed.
Samuel, Springville Road
Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell
(powells) From the bestselling author of Assassination
Vacation and Unfamiliar Fishes, a humorous account of the Revolutionary War
hero Marquis de Lafayette—the one Frenchman we could all agree on—and an
insightful portrait of a nation's idealism and its reality. On August 16, 1824,
an elderly French gentlemen sailed into New York Harbor and giddy Americans
were there to welcome him. Or, rather, to welcome him back. It had been thirty
years since the Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette had last set
foot in the United States, and he was so beloved that 80,000 people showed up
to cheer for him. The entire population of New York at the time was 120,000.
Lafayette's arrival in 1824 coincided with one of the most contentious
presidential elections in American history, Congress had just fought its first
epic battle over slavery, and the threat of a Civil War loomed. But Lafayette,
belonging to neither North nor South, to no political party or faction, was a
walking, talking reminder of the sacrifices and bravery of the revolutionary
generation and what they wanted this country to be. His return was not just a
reunion with his beloved Americans, it was a reunion for Americans with their
own astonishing singular past. Lafayette in the Somewhat United States is a
humorous and insightful portrait of the famed Frenchman, the impact he had on
our young country, and his ongoing relationship with some of the instrumental
Americans of the time, including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas
Jefferson, and many more.
Jon, Avondale
Christmas in Birmingham by Tim Hollis
(amazon) For decades, the Christmas season in Birmingham was
not complete without the sights and sounds of the retail district. During the
season, the Magic City made magic with elaborate light displays and the Living
Christmas Tree in Woodrow Wilson Park. Many remember the battling Santas of
Loveman's and Pizitz, each vying for the hearts of the community. The elaborate
Enchanted Forest dazzled shoppers on the sixth floor at Pizitz. In the 1940s,
more than 200,000 people lined the streets each year to make merry for the
Christmas Carnival parade. Author and local historian Tim Hollis celebrates the
happy history of Birmingham’s holiday season, reviving the traditions and
festivities, the food and shopping of days gone by.
Jon, Avondale
Best American Travel Writing 2015 by Jason Wilson and Andrew
McCarthy
(powells) In his introduction, guest editor Andrew McCarthy
says that the best travel writing is “the anonymous and solitary traveler
capturing a moment in time and place, giving meaning to his or her travels.”
The stories in The Best American Travel Writing 2015 demonstrate just
that spirit, whether it is the story of a marine returning to Iraq a decade
after his deployment, a writer retracing the footsteps of humanity as it spread
from Africa throughout the world, or looking for love on a physics-themed
cruise down the Rhone River. No matter what the subject, the writers featured
in this volume boldly call out, “Yes, this matters. Follow me!” The Best
American Travel Writing 2015 includes Iris Smyles, Paul Theroux, Christopher
Solomon, Patricia Marx, Kevin Baker, Benjamin Busch, Maud Newton, Gary
Shteyngart, Paul Salopek, and others.
Jon, Avondale
Best American Science & Nature Writing 2015 by Rebecca
Skloot and Tim Folger
(powells) The next edition in a series praised as
“undeniably exquisite” (Maria Popova), The Best American Science and
Nature Writing 2015 includes work from both award-winning writers and
up-and-coming voices in the field. From Brooke Jarvis on deep-ocean mining to
Elizabeth Kolbert on New Zealand’s unconventional conservation strategies, this
is a group that celebrates the growing diversity in science and nature writing
alike. Altogether, the writers honored in this year’s volume challenge us to
consider the strains facing our planet and its many species, while never losing
sight of the wonders we’re working to preserve for generations to come. The
Best American Science and Nature Writing 2015 includes Sheri Fink, Atul
Gawande, Leslie Jamison, Sam Kean, Seth Mnookin, Matthew Power, Michael
Specter, and others.
Jon, Avondale
Nerdy Nummies Cookbook: Sweet Treats for the Geek in All ofUs by Rosanna Pansino
(powells) The long-awaited first cookbook from the creator
and host of the Internets most popular baking show, Nerdy Nummies: a collection
of Rosanna Pansino's all-time favorite geeky recipes as well as sensational new
recipes exclusive to this book.
The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook is quirky, charming, and
fun, featuring the recipes behind Rosanna Pansino's celebrated, one-of-a-kind
creations, as well as beautiful, mouthwatering photographs throughout. It is
the perfect companion that you'll turn to whenever you want to whip up a
delicious treat and be entertained all at once. And best of all, these treats are
as simple as they are fun to make! No need for costly tools or baking classes
to create these marvelous delights yourself.
The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook combines two things Rosanna
loves: geek culture and baking. Her fondness for video games, science fiction,
math, comics, and lots of other things considered “nerdy” have inspired every
recipe in this book. You'll find the recipes for many beloved fan favorites
from the show, such as Apple Pi Pie, the Chocolate Chip Smart Cookie, and
Volcano Cake; as well as many new geeky recipes, such as Dinosaur Fossil Cake,
Moon Phase Macarons, and the Periodic Table of Cupcakes. The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook showcases
Rosanna's most original and popular creations, and each recipe includes
easy-to-follow photo instructions and a stunning shot of the finished treat in
all its geeky glory: a delicious confection sure to please the geek in all of
us!
Jon, Avondale
How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction by Beth
Shapiro
Everyone
who loved the Jurassic Park movies
would get a thrill at the idea of bringing back an extinct species. In How to Clone a Mammoth, evolutionary
biologist Beth Shapiro explains that while the resurrection of dinosaurs is
impossible for now, the “de-extinction” of some species that have disappeared more
recently could be possible, with some cellular sampling and genetic
engineering. “Recently” is a flexible term, including passenger pigeons—which
were still around in my grandparents’ childhood—and mammoths, which have been
gone a lot longer but at least still shared a timeline with humans. Shapiro
makes a thought-provoking case for why and how the mammoth could be brought
back to life, though it wouldn’t be a mammoth exactly like the prehistoric
version: this would be more like “Mammoth 2.0,” a shaggy elephant that could
live in Siberia. But if it looks like
a mammoth, and acts like a mammoth .
. .
Mary Anne, BPL Southern History
The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro
In
the year 1606, William Shakespeare wrote King
Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra—any one of which
would constitute a miraculous year for most writers, but for Shakespeare to
have written all of these in one year makes me wonder if someone had dumped an
extra barrel of genius into the local water. Shapiro, a professor of English at
Columbia and a governor of the Folger Shakespeare Library, tells a compelling
story of the political and social ills that beset England during this period
and how they find their way into Shakespeare’s work of this single tempestuous
year.
If the attempt had succeeded it would have effectively overthrown the English government at the cost of who knows how many lives. Some who may have been relieved at the smooth transfer of power from the late Elizabeth I to King James might have experienced a shudder of their former dread of civil war if they were in the audience to see the foolish King Lear proposing to divide his kingdom, Macbeth plotting the assassination of his king (and a king of Scotland at that), or Antony the Roman warrior, the “triple pillar of the world,” absorbed in his pursuit of Cleopatra.
Take the sociological shock, add some re-awakened suspicion and persecution of Catholic subjects, throw in a reoccurrence of the plague and you have a year that would have been a nightmare for the average citizen, however inspirational it may have been for Shakespeare the playwright. As Shapiro puts it, “The year 1606 would turn out to be a good one for Shakespeare and an awful one for England.” There is so much we simply don’t know about the life, actions, and motives of Shakespeare, but I salute Shapiro’s ability to take what we do know and give us a new way of seeing it.
Mary Anne, BPL Southern History
Bad Blood: A Memoir by Lorna Sage
Growing up in a “rural slum” in Wales in the 40s
and 50s wouldn’t have been easy for anyone, and Lorna Sage couldn’t begin to
fit in. She was socially inept, her family was more than usually dysfunctional,
and her grandfather, a priest, had shamed the community with an extramarital
affair in the Thirties, and the shame lived on. Honestly, just being female was
a strike against you in Hanmer, North Wales, a Victorian place (with medieval
traces) that had long outlasted the Victorian era. Having a child out of
wedlock wasn’t a great career move, either. How did she cope with all the
bloody narrow-mindedness? By reading, mostly. Sage nurtured a strong
intellectual life that sustained her and reminded her that there was a bigger
world out there. She didn’t triumph over adversity, she just kept plugging
away, getting brainier (if not always more practical) until she pleaded with
the world to let her have a college education and a way out. The memoir is
written by a much older Sage who often bears out her name. It’s literary but
always accessible, often hilarious and rightly unsentimental. Lorna Sage doesn’t settle scores. Instead she
presents her story with understatement and sly wit, trusting that the oddness
will come through better that way, and it does.
Richard, BPL Central
(powells) In a world of self-driving cars and big data,
smart algorithms and Siri, we know that artificial intelligence is getting
smarter every day. Though all these nifty devices and programs might make our
lives easier, theyre also well on their way to making “good” jobs obsolete. A computer winning Jeopardy might seem like a
trivial, if impressive, feat, but the same technology is making paralegals
redundant as it undertakes electronic discovery, and is soon to do the same for
radiologists. And that, no doubt, will only be the beginning.
In Silicon Valley the phrase “disruptive
technology” is tossed around on a casual
basis. No one doubts that technology has the power to devastate entire
industries and upend various sectors of the job market. But Rise of the
Robots asks a bigger question: Can accelerating technology disrupt our
entire economic system to the point where a fundamental restructuring is
required? Companies like Facebook and YouTube may only need a handful of
employees to achieve enormous valuations, but what will be the fate of those of
us not lucky or smart enough to have gotten into the great shift from human
labor to computation?
The more Pollyannaish, or just simply uninformed, might
imagine that this industrial revolution will unfold like the last: even as some
jobs are eliminated, more will be created to deal with the new devices of a new
era. In Rise of the Robots, Martin Ford argues that is absolutely not the
case. Increasingly, machines will be able to take care of themselves, and fewer
jobs will be necessary. The effects of this transition could be shattering.
Unless we begin to radically reassess the fundamentals of how our economy
works, we could have both an enormous population of the unemployed—the truck drivers, warehouse workers, cooks, lawyers, doctors,
teachers, programmers, and many, many more, whose labors have been rendered
superfluous by automated and intelligent machines—and
a general economy that, bereft of consumers, implodes under the weight of its
own contradictions. We are at an inflection point—do
we continue to listen to those who argue that nothing fundamental has changed,
and take a bad bet on a miserable future, or do we begin to discuss what we
must do to ensure all of us, and not just the few, benefit from the awesome
power of artificial intelligence? The time to choose is now.
Rise of the Robots is a both an exploration of this new
technology and a call to arms to address its implications. Written by a
successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur, this is a book that cannot be dismissed
as the ranting of a Luddite or an outsider. Ford has seen the future, and he
knows that for some of us, the rise of the robots will be very frightening
indeed.
David, Central BST
Last Chance for Justice: How Relentless InvestigatorsUncovered New Evidence Convicting the Birmingham Church Bombers by T.K. Thorne
(amazon) On the morning of September 15, 1963, a bomb
exploded outside the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama,
killing four young girls. Thirty-two years later, stymied by a code of
silence and an imperfect and often racist legal system, only one person, Robert
“Dynamite Bob” Chambliss, had been convicted in the murders, though a wider
conspiracy was suspected. With many key witnesses and two suspects already
dead, there seemed little hope of bringing anyone else to justice.
But in 1995 the FBI and local law enforcement reopened the
investigation in secret, led by detective Ben Herren of the Birmingham Police
Department and special agent Bill Fleming of the FBI. For over a year, Herren
and Fleming analyzed the original FBI files on the bombing and activities of
the Ku Klux Klan, then began a search for new evidence. Their first
interview—with Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry—broke open the case, but not in the
way they expected.
Told by a longtime officer of the Birmingham Police
Department, Last Chance for Justice is the inside story of one of the
most infamous crimes of the civil rights era. T. K. Thorne follows the ups and
downs of the investigation, detailing how Herren and Fleming identified new
witnesses and unearthed lost evidence. With tenacity, humor, dedication, and
some luck, the pair encountered the worst and best in human nature on their
journey to find justice, and perhaps closure, for the citizens of Birmingham.
Laura, Trussville
Behind Nazi Lines: My Father’s Heroic Quest to Save 149World War II POWs by Andrew Gerow Hodges, Jr and Denise George
(amazon) An elite British S.A.S. operative on an
assassination mission gone wrong. A Jewish New Yorker injured in a Nazi ambush.
An eighteen-year-old Gary Cooper lookalike from Mobile, Alabama. These men and
hundreds of other soldiers found themselves in the prisoner-of-war camps off
the Atlantic coast of occupied France, fighting brutal conditions and
unsympathetic captors. But, miraculously, local villagers were able to smuggle
out a message from the camp, one that reached the Allies and sparked a
remarkable quest by an unlikely—and truly inspiring—hero.
Andy Hodges had been excluded from military service due to a lingering shoulder injury from his college-football days. Devastated but determined, Andy refused to sit at home while his fellow Americans risked their lives, so he joined the Red Cross, volunteering for the toughest assignments on the most dangerous battlefields. In the fall of 1944, Andy was tapped for what sounded like a suicide mission: a desperate attempt to aid the Allied POWs in occupied France—alone and unarmed, matching his wits against the Nazi war machine.
Despite the likelihood of failure, Andy did far more than deliver much-needed supplies. By the end of the year, he had negotiated the release of an unprecedented 149 prisoners—leaving no one behind. This is the true story of one man’s selflessness, ingenuity, and victory in the face of impossible adversity.
Andy Hodges had been excluded from military service due to a lingering shoulder injury from his college-football days. Devastated but determined, Andy refused to sit at home while his fellow Americans risked their lives, so he joined the Red Cross, volunteering for the toughest assignments on the most dangerous battlefields. In the fall of 1944, Andy was tapped for what sounded like a suicide mission: a desperate attempt to aid the Allied POWs in occupied France—alone and unarmed, matching his wits against the Nazi war machine.
Despite the likelihood of failure, Andy did far more than deliver much-needed supplies. By the end of the year, he had negotiated the release of an unprecedented 149 prisoners—leaving no one behind. This is the true story of one man’s selflessness, ingenuity, and victory in the face of impossible adversity.
Laura, Trussville
A Recovering Racist (documentary film)
In 1984, the Rev. R. Lawton Higgs, Sr. had a religious
epiphany standing in the turn lane of 8th Avenue N., in Birmingham, Alabama. “I discovered that my beliefs were incompatible with God’s
call to love one another,” he says. In that moment, Lawton became a “recovering
racist,” and in the years to follow, he founded a multicultural, multiracial
church in the heart of downtown Birmingham, Alabama, ministered to the
homeless, and became an advocate for the poor. This hour-long documentary tells his story and challenges
viewers to reconsider their thoughts on race, justice, and grace. More information is available on Higgs' website at www.recoveringracistdocumentary.com.
