Reviews

Hello and welcome to the 2023 edition of New Title Tuesday, where we look at a new release that hits the publishing world. While most of us love to read best-sellers, fewer of us like to wait in line for them, so in this particular space we tend to focus on books that might not have the 800+ or so holds on them like, you know, some others. (*cough* Prince Harry *cough*.)

A man is found dead at the base of a mountain peak.  Was it a suicide?  Could it be murder?  With the deceased's wife as the prime potential suspect, the investigator in charge of the case begins to tumble down a rabbit hole of obsession as he investigates her.  

Social contagion. That's what lies at the heart of this book; that's what this book is about. How thoughts, feelings, attitudes, beliefs, and actions spread from one person to another to another and so on. Trust is contagious; when one person behaves trustingly, others respond in kind and the dynamic spreads. Suspicion is contagious; when one person acts from suspicion, others respond in kind and the dynamic spreads. Everything is contagious, spreading socially through networks of people.

Johnson County Library is pleased to announce that Vicki Kohl has won our writing contest on the theme of Ekphrasis with her piece "I Am Become a Name."

We generally think of evolution as a purely physical process, happening only at the level of genetics and DNA. Yet that is not the way Charles Darwin conceived it nor how evolutionary biologist Wilson understands it. In fact, genes and DNA were not yet discovered during Darwin’s time, and he saw heredity happening through many varied mechanisms—particularly in humans. From his Descent of Man, for instance:

Johnson County Library is pleased to announce the winners of our Scary Story Youth Writing Contest. "Counting Candy" by Scarlet He won in the 11 and under age category.

Counting Candy

by Scarlet He

“C’mon, we should be heading back to the house now, Gabby.”

“Alright, Walterson, let’s go then.”

Johnson County Library is pleased to announce the winners of our Scary Story Youth Writing Contest. "The House Next Door" by Krish Nachnani won in the 12-14 age category.

The House Next Door

by Krish Nachnani

Johnson County Library is pleased to announce the winners of our Scary Story Youth Writing Contest. "The Rules" by Lara Blanton won in the 15-19 category.

The Rules

By Lara Blanton

Rule #1: When entering Grandfather’s house, never look the door knocker in the eyes, that will only anger it.

Witch trials are already a thing of the past in this historical novel set in Salem, Massachusetts during the lifetime of Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter. Witch trials are over; but their memory lives on in Hawthorne’s nineteenth century, with tensions lingering amongst the old Salem families and Hawthorne himself bearing ancestral guilt over his own great-great-grandfather's role in sentencing accused women to death more than a century earlier.

It was only this week I finished watching the first season of Ted Lasso. I'm arriving late to the show, but am loving it as much as expected--from both all the praise it's received and the little I knew about its premise. One of the areas it's exceeded my expectations is Ted's approach to coaching. In case you don't know, Ted is a top American football coach who takes a job as a British football (soccer) coach.