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Z | Stewart Brand
|  | Whole Earth Discipline (2009)
From the editor of the Whole Earth Catalog, and author of Inside the Media Lab and How Buildings Learn, comes one of the most richly informative and persuasively argued books about global ecological challenges in the years ahead. Brand puts forward several arguments - supported by well-documented research - that belie many of the orthodoxies of mainstream environmentalism. He demonstrates how global urbanization is actually a good thing for both the planet and its city inhabitants, and how biotechnology, genetic engineering and the embrace of nuclear power are essential keys to minimizing the impact of the impending global climate change. This is required reading for anyone interested in global warming, economic globalization and environmental policy. | | WPL Call No: 304.2 BRA
Reviewer: Brian Myers (October 2009)  Leave a comment | View comments (0)
You might also like: From Counterculture to Cyberculture by Fred Turner
Counterculture Green by Andrew G. Kirk |
| Rhoda Janzen
|  | Mennonite in a little black dress : a memoir of going home (2009)
After the collapse of her marriage and a car accident that caused multiple injuries, author Janzen moved back into her parents' Mennonite home to recover.
While back in California she saw her family, religious upbringing, and dysfunctional marriage with new eyes. Her husband had been abusive and ultimately left her for a man he met on the internet. Janzen also had to face her own complicity in that ongoing nightmare. Her recollections of being excluded from the in-crowd in school because of her homemade clothes, home-cooked lunches (with odd odors), and naivete provide a canvas for wonderfully funny sketches. Although she left the church in college, she loves and admires those who stayed in the fold, especially her wise, gentle, goofy mother. There are laugh-out-loud passages as well as poignant explorations of family and faith. Very enjoyable | | WPL Call No: 921 J269j
Reviewer: Liz Ferrari (October 2009) Leave a comment | View comments (0) |
| Chris Gardner
|  | Start Where You Are (2009)
This book is different from many self-help tomes. Many are simplistic while others advocate a program created by a self-serving author. However, Gardner is a thoughtful man and a wonderful writer. He is the author of the popular memoir and movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness" which depicts many of these struggles. He presents 44 life lessons that are possible for anyone to follow. | | WPL Call No: 158.1 GA
Reviewer: Susan Kaplan-Toch (September 2009) Leave a comment | View comments (0) |
| Michael J. Collins, M.D.
|  | Blue Collar, Blue Scrubs: the making of a surgeon (2009)
This volume is the prequel to the author's book "Hot Lights, Cold Steel: life, death, and sleepless nights in a surgeon's first year", which told of his time as a resident at the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis. In "Blue collar, Blue Scrubs", Collins describes his years working as a construction worker on the West Side of Chicago while he attended Loyola University Medical School in Maywood. It is the usual story of a med student who works long hours for little pay, but Collins treats us to a fascinating depiction of his life. We meet the construction gang, his chums from the Irish bar where he hangs out after softball, and his large family. I enjoyed this well written autobiography of a successful orthopedic surgeon. | | WPL Call No: 617.092 CO
Reviewer: Kathleen Farrell (July 2009) Leave a comment | View comments (0) |
| Alexander Waugh
|  | The House of Wittgenstein (2008)
The author of this riveting biography is the grandson of Evelyn Waugh. It is a meticulously researched account of an extraordinarily talented, wealthy and troubled family taking place in the early twentieth century. The book's subtitle, "A Family at War", is apt. They disagree with one another and they are all involved in/or are affected by World War II. Waugh chose to focus on the lives of philosopher, Ludwig and musician, Paul Wittgenstein. Interspersed with descriptions of tragedies, are delightful narratives about soirees and other interactions with Mahler, Brahms, Bertrand Russell and additional luminaries. As entertainment, this book supercedes many novels. | | WPL Call No: 920 WA
Reviewer: Suzanne Arist (July 2009) Leave a comment | View comments (0) |
| Christopher Buckley
|  | Losing Mum and Pup: a memoir (2009)
The writer Christopher Buckley describes the last few years of his famous parents’ lives in Losing Mum and Pup: a memoir. An only child born to America’s archconservative writer/broadcaster William F.Buckley and society fashionista Pat Buckley, satirist Buckley takes us through the ordeal of becoming an “adult-onset orphan.” Anecdotal in nature, this frank depiction of their homelife ranges from the wildly funny to the immensely sad. It is a very interesting glimpse into the evolution of parental loss. | | WPL Call No: 921 B8562b
Reviewer: Kathleen Farrell (June 2009) Leave a comment | View comments (0) |
| Steve Lopez
|  | The Soloist (2008)
The Soloist is an insightful account of a difficult relationship between a Los Angeles Times reporter and a homeless, mentally ill man. It is now a movie. Reporter Steve Lopez first encounters Nathanial Ayers on a street corner where he is playing a violin. As they get to know one another, Lopez writes a series of columns about Ayers. He learns that Ayers was one of few African-Americans to attend the Juilliard School of Music. Lopez's worries that he is exploiting Ayers diminish when his newspaper readers help Ayers in various large ways. Lopez provides immeasurable support to his friend. Also, he does extensive research into his friend's life. He contacts family members and former music instructors. The Soloist provides the reader with an education on homelessness and mental illness. It is inspiring but gives no illusions about Ayers' condition. | | WPL Call No: 780.92 Ay245L
Reviewer: Suzanne Arist (May 2009) Leave a comment | View comments (0) |
| Neil Tyson
|  | The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet (2009)
Are you in the mood for an entertaining science book? Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist with New York's Hayden Planetarium, was at the center of the controversial decision to "demote" Pluto. In The Pluto Files he gives a history of Pluto's discovery, naming, influence on popular culture, as well as the science involved in its classification. His witty prose style is amplified by the inclusion of cartoons, photographs, and heartfelt letters from school children. | | WPL Call No: 523.49 TY
Reviewer: Kathleen O'Meara (April 2009) Leave a comment | View comments (0) |
| Malcolm Gladwell
|  | Outliers: The story of success (2008)
Outliers is about the social phenomenon of success. Wildly successful people like the Beatles and Bill Gates are called "outliers" by statisticians. What makes a person so successful? Is it genius? Is it pluck? Is it hard work?
Gladwell's fascinating thesis is that such success is largely a matter of opportunity. Opportunity is not just dumb luck. It also requires that a person of talent, courage and willingness to work is available to take advantage of the opportunity presented. The problem is that some very able people just don't get that opportunity.
Just one of his many examples make the effects of opportunity very clear. The elite among 9-year-old Canadian hockey players overwhelmingly have January, February or March birthdays. Gladwell points out that the cutoff date for elite age group selection is January 1. The size difference between a nine-year old born in January vs. one born in December of the same year can be great. "The Best" players selected in January, are largly the biggest kids in the group. They then get the opportunity to have the best coaches and more ice time to practice and play than their younger "age mates." They are bound to do very well. The December birthday child might be potentially just as talented as the January baby, but will not have the opportunity to excel because of the accident of the cut-off date for selection.
Gladwell proposes ways to make some opportunities available to more people, thus increasing expontially the chance for success. Gladwell is also the author of the bestselling books "The Tipping Point" and "Blink".
| | WPL Call No: 302 GL
Reviewer: Karen Miller (April 2009) Leave a comment | View comments (0) |
| Mimi Sheraton
|  | Eating my words: an appetite for life (2004)
Mimi Sheraton was the New York Times restaurant critic for many years. Her memoir of her 40+ years as a food writer residing in Greenwich Village is fascinating. One of the perks of her job included extensive travel all over the world. One trip offered to her in the '60s was too good to pass up so she left her husband with their baby and circled the globe for several months! Foodies and armchair travelers will love this story. | | WPL Call No: 070.92 SH
Reviewer: Kathleen Farrell (April 2009) Leave a comment | View comments (0) |
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