nonfiction

Almost seven score and ten years ago on November 19th, the National Cemetery in Gettysburg, PA was dedicated to those Union soldiers who fought and died during the three day battle there. It was at this event that President Abraham Lincoln gave perhaps his most well-known speech of his political career: the Gettysburg Address. At less than 280 words long, it is a speech that many Americans have had to memorize at one time or another in the years since. 

Like many, I grew up knowing the Gettysburg Address was important, but I never really knew the history behind it, that there was more to the

David Rothenberg's Bug Music is a highly readable  and eccentric investigation into an aspect of nature too easily taken for granted. Bugs produce very mathematical sounds based on natural cycles. What human ears are able to delineate is really only the tip of a very large iceberg connected to other icebergs. Delving deeply into the sounds of cicadas, crickets and katydids, Rothenberg is not afraid to suddenly go big-picture on his readers. He aims for nothing less than a direct connection between  a cricket’s chirp and jazz band’s rhythm section. There is a philosophical nature to Rothenberg

I need to confess that I gave up reading this book.  I thought it was because my science knowledge was so abysmal and this theory was bolstered by numerous reviewers praising Kean for his accessible writing.  But I kept having these niggling thoughts that it wasn't all my fault.  And in my defense I do like science writing.  Each year I devour The Best American Science Writing.  This series gets me excited about science which is what science books for the lay person should do.  Kean was just too disjointed for me. Maybe the periodic table of the elements is too much for me but I would have

What would you do if you found out that your father, grandfather, or great-uncle was responsible for the murder and torture of thousands of men, women, and children? Would you change your name? Live in isolation? Deny what your family members had done? This dilemma has been faced by the descendants and relatives of Hitler’s top officials.

In Hitler’s Children, Hermann Goring's and Heinrich Himmler's great-nieces, Hans Frank's son, Rudolf Hoess’ grandson, and others discuss how their lives have been impacted by having such infamous relatives.

This powerful documentary faces head-on the guilt

These days, I read a lot of mom-oirs – enough to feel justified making up a word to describe the sub-genre clash of parenting book meets memoir.  My twins are fifteen months old.  They toddle and they’re fickle, irrational, urgent, tiny, and I love them.  Just like the subtitle says.

I enjoyed a lot about this book.  More daddies wrote for this compilation than I’ve yet seen.  This is representative of modern parenting: my own husband is a stay-at-home daddy while I work as a librarian.  The stories in this collection are short, so I was able to read several in a sitting or read something

Don’t be fooled, you’ll learn nothing about diabetes or owls here, but the random suggestion makes it all the more entertaining.  Shortly before this book was released, I had the privilege of attending “An Evening with David Sedaris” in Kansas City, where I got a preview of some of the hilarious treasures to come in Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls.  Sedaris likes to test his pieces with various live audiences, tweaking them along the way until they are primed for publishing, and I was excited to hear some of my favorites again in their polished state. 

This collection is packed with a

Lawrence Wright’s journalistic writing is the perfect voice for the subject of Scientology. In the hands of most other writers, Scientology would float into the ether, a dark and unfathomable history left unread by sensible readers.  That said, though Wright offers Scientology an even-handed approach, his book is full of strange stories, made stranger when compared to the seemingly (sometimes) sane and healthy lives of people who are associated with Scientology. 

Wright’s aim, he tells us, is to “learn something about what might be called the process of belief.”  He describes in detail the

Overbooked is about the power of travel, as the world’s business travel and tourism has a great impact, both good and bad, on tourists and their destinations. Becker, an investigative journalist by profession, puts together great stories and statistics. For example, in the city of Venice tourism has pushed out locals and hollowed out society. Venice’s remaining 60,000 natives welcome over 20 million tourists each year. In Cambodia, to make space for beach resorts and casinos, farmers were expulsed from land their families had occupied for centuries. And then there is Dubai:  the surreal city

Mary Roach is the author of several books of science journalism that cover the spectrum of sex, space travel, and cadavers. In Gulp we follow our food from mastication to, well here is an excerpt from the book, “Yes, men and women eat meals. But they also ingest nutrients. They grind and sculpt them into a moistened bolus that is delivered into a self-kneading sack of hydrochloric acid and then dumped into a tubular leach field, where it is converted into the most powerful taboo in history.”

On the way through the digestive system Roach takes detours like how dog food is "tested" and how the

Chris Gardner and his toddler son spent a year living on the streets of San Francisco, in and out of shelters and run down hotels. All while working in the financial district to get a job that would provide them with enough to live on.

Ultimately, Chris becomes the Chief Executive of Gardner Rich & Company, a multimillion-dollar brokerage. Today, Chris is an avid philanthropist and motivational speaker.

Born in the south to a father he never knew, and a loving mother who was jailed twice by an abusive partner, Gardner not only survives, but succeeds, where so many with similar backgrounds

Take your running to heart – Heart Zone Training (HZT), that is!  Long-time ultra-marathoner and triathlete Sally Edwards collaborated with Dr. Carl Foster to compile decades of experience and research into Be a Better Runner.  Their resulting HZT program allows each runner to tailor training programs to his or her own fitness level by targeting specific heart rates based on a threshold heart rate, which will be unique to each person.    I’ve recently begun dabbling in distance races, and while I’ll always be a mid-pack runner, I want to make the most of my experience in training.  This

I confess a bias. Brian, the author, is my nephew. This is his third publication following two novels, a baseball story entitled The Cuban Prospect and the introspective Aftermath. This latest offering is a book about grammar, but it doesn't read like a textbook. His theme is that a thorough grasp of grammar frees the writer to concentrate on the creative aspects of storytelling and improves the quality of writing. Brian uses multiple examples of grammar from passages of the great writers, and not surprisingly, throws in plenty of humor along the way. The index helps in finding pages about

Equal parts science and history, Sam Kean’s The Disappearing Spoon takes the reader on a journey through the periodic table of elements and the people who discovered them.  This quick and candid read is full of fun facts and asides—did you know that nineteenth century mercury laxatives have allowed historians to accurately trace Lewis and Clark’s path west? And that the myth of Midas might have sprung from the zinc deposits that made his kingdom flush with lustrous brass?  But it’s also full of tales from the darker side of chemistry, such as Fritz Haber’s drive to invent chemical warfare and

I was sitting on the patio of my favorite bakery on a drizzly Saturday morning, eating a croissant, when the woman doing a crossword next to me noticed the title of the book I was reading: Methland. "Excuse me," she said, "but can you tell me a little about that book?"

It's a title that's bound to pique interest. She told me that she grew up in the sixties and doesn't really know a lot about meth. Indeed, methamphetamine first showed up on the national radar in a big way in the 2000s, and has since captured the public imagination as a drug that's weirdly predominant in rural working-class

From the masculine equestrian outfits that made her Louis XV's favorite, to the regal counterrevolutionary gowns in green and violet that exposed her as an enemy of the state, Marie Antoinette's fashion statements were always unfailingly both fabulous and controversial. In Queen of Fashion, Caroline Weber paints a comprehensive portrait of the fashion icon, from Dauphine until death. Weber is not only a brainy Barnard scholar, but also a fashion connoisseur herself, and her fastidiously researched political fashion memoir satisfied both my inner Vogue subscriber and my inner history nerd.

Anyon

I like to think of myself as a modern woman -- cool, level-headed, doesn’t cry easily, likes Duran Duran, but not too much. 

Leave it to Rolling Stone editor Rob Sheffield and his ruminations on Pat Benatar, Whitney Houston, Sleater-Kinney and Pavement to make me cry like a baby. It also wreaked havoc on my bank account as I went on an iTunes downloading spree. Hanson's "MMMBop," anyone?

In Love is a Mix Tape, written half a decade ago, Rob Sheffield chronicles his marriage to a punk rock, hell-raising Appalachian girl; a love affair that ended tragically when she suffered a pulmonary embolism

“And now go, and make interesting amazing glorious fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art.” How can you not feel a little inspired and empowered after hearing that? These are the compelling closing lines of Neil Gaiman’s May 2012 commencement speech delivered to the graduates of Philadelphia’s University of the Arts. In Make Good Art, his words are creatively set to page by graphic designer Chip Kidd. Gaiman’s message is applicable to anyone, not just artists or graduates. I may have even tacked one or two of his lines to my wall

In the introduction, Kaling says of herself, “I’m only marginally qualified to be giving advice at all. My body mass index is certainly not ideal, I frequently use my debit card to buy things that cost less than three dollars, because I never have cash on me, and my bedroom is so untidy it looks like vandals ransacked the Anthropologie Sale section. I’m kind of a mess.” And yet, she’s written a compelling, humorous memoir, with occasional advice. The advice she does offer is based on her own, real-life experiences and all the more valuable for its lack of childhood trauma.

As a writer

At first glance, One Shot at Forever, is obviously a book about baseball. Don’t let the title fool you, however, because it’s really about so much more. Set against the backdrop of the 1970 and 1971 baseball seasons, Ballard tells to stories of Lynn Sweet, the Macon High School baseball players, their families, and their town. As a new English teacher, Sweet was already causing a stir in Macon, despite his popularity among his students. What with his long hair, bar patronage, and “dangerous reading assignments”, many parents were concerned. When he reluctantly agreed to coach the baseball

Catch me reading one of these books and most likely I will be cringing and wincing. The best books inspire curiosity, these books will give you more information that you would ever want to know about a topic. But, like a car crash, you can't look away. You will be hooked!

Parasite Rex: inside the bizarre world of nature's most dangerous creatures by Carl Zimmer

This book will teach you more about the world of parasites than you ever wanted to know. Like reality TV, we can't live with them, and can't live without them! I became interested in parasites when I read Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

I have begun to notice a disturbing trend in my media habits of late...serial killers are on my mind. And I thought, why should I have to suffer through this dark mire alone? So I'll bring you down the rabbit hole with me!

My Friend Dahmer by Derf

Derf was just a goofy artist in high school and lived a typical teenage life: hanging out with friends, messing around in the yearbook office after school, etc. Years later, working for a Milwaukee newspaper as a cartoonist, Derf was shocked to hear that a high school classmate (and sometimes friend) Jeffrey Dahlmer had become an infamous serial

I do not own a pit bull, although I’ve known one or two. I do not know anyone who has ever been bitten by a pit bull, but I do know a lot of people who have been bitten by other breeds of dogs (myself included). Thus, as an opponent of Breed Specific Banning, I knew going in that I would appreciate this film. I did not, however, understand the extent of BSB legislation across the country. Beyond the Myth looks closely at several cities that have implemented Breed Specific Bans (on Pit Bulls specifically) and how city administrators, as well as Pit Bull owners dealt with the repercussions of

I’ve recently been obsessed with reading about ultra-runners, so I wasn’t surprised to find that running does not hold a monopoly on extremists. Bicycle Dreams documents the 2005 transcontinental Race Across America (World’s Toughest Bicycle Race). Each year, cyclists from around the world gather in California and race to Maryland in less than twelve days. I wasn’t kidding when I said extremists. The race is about 3000 miles and in 27 years there have been less than 200 finishers. Director Stephen Auerbach follows several of the racers, interspersing race footage with interviews of racers and

Even if you have no desire to ever own backyard chickens, Chick Days is wonderful fun. After making a case for keeping chickens, Woginrich describes her top ten breeds, and then illustrates the day-to-day development of three varieties of chickens. Professionally photographed, the pictures and layout are easy to follow, fun to look at, and complement the accompanying text perfectly.

Woginrich’s background in web design lends itself well to book design, and the book couldn’t be more informative. Not owning chickens, I have to trust Woginrich knows her stuff. If you are interested in her

No one loves anthropomorphisization more than me. So Unlikely Friendships is just the kind of book I like to savor over a warm mug of cocoa. Holland describes “friendships” between species, sometimes even predators with prey. Everyone knows about the gorilla Koko and her kittens, which are included here. But my favorites include the hippopotamus and the pygmy goat (seriously, what’s funnier than a goat standing on a hippo?), the macaque and the kitten, the elephant and the stray dog, the salty dog and the dolphins…oh, never mind, they’re all my favorites! 

With only three to four pages

For me, the novelty of year-long project books wore off long before A.J. Jacobs dulled my enthusiasm with The Year of Living Biblically and Gretchen Rubin killed my tolerance completely with The Happiness Project. Happily, I didn’t notice from the sub-title that The Quarter-acre Farm is one of these very projects.

In 2008, amidst mad-cow disease, sky-rocketing fuel costs, salmonella outbreaks and news reports of genetically altered food and pesticide risks, Spring Warren announced to her family that she would transform their suburban lawn into a garden from which they would eat. And thus, a

After an adult Halpern moves in with his parents, he starts tweeting things his Dad says. In short order so many people are following his tweets that the media contacts him for interviews and appearances. Those tweets are compiled and found in Sh*t My Dad Says.  While I found most of the things his father says hilarious, I appreciate that some people are disturbed, not only by the foul language he uses, but the manner in which he addresses his children. For me, what saves the book from condemnation is that when told in context, it is obvious that Halpern Sr. loves his children. This is not

Being a public librarian with access to an unending supply of books, it takes something really special to make me want to part with $27.00 just so I can call it my own. Ruhlman has found the secret in Ratio and my copy should be in my mailbox by tomorrow. It's a weird format for a cookbook in that Ruhlman buries his recipes in parts or chapters that explain the basic ratios for, for instance, doughs and batters. By explaining the how and why of the most basic dough, Ruhlman opens up doors for experimentation and adventure, over the execution of a perfect recipe. After reading part one, I made

Catfish is a new documentary taking the world (and internet) by storm and I highly recommend that everyone see it. The story begins when Nev Schulman (a photographer in NYC) has a picture of two dancers featured in the New York Sun. A few months later, Nev receives a package from a small town in Michagan containing an oil painting from 9-year-old Abby, an aspiring artist who used Nev's picture as inspiration.

Nev and Abby strike up an unlikely friendship on Facebook, Nev sharing his pictures, Abby sharing her artwork. Nev's brother Ariel is a documentary filmmaker along with his friend Henry

As a fan of the show Mystery Science Theater 3000, I have a great appreciation for Michael J. Nelson. Sure, some people prefer Joel, the first host, but I started with Mike and have always had a soft spot for his dorky delivery and hapless enthusiasm. And as the head writer, his wit was a major force behind the overall flavor of the show’s ten seasons. So I'm happy to say that his skill in crafting funny material transfers well to his books, which include the comedic essay collections Mike Nelson's Movie Megacheese and Mike Nelson's Mind over Matters. While Movie Megacheese focuses