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California Bookwatch
Table of Contents
Reviewer's Choice
Data-ism
Steve Lohr
HarperBusiness
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
9780062226815 $29.99 www.harpercollins.com
Data-ism: The Revolution Transforming Decision Making, Consumer Behavior, and Almost
Everything Else was written with a business audience in mind, but deserves mention as a
recommendation for social issues and computer science readers, as well. The author has covered
technology and big data issues for The New York Times for over a decade: this book explains
how this data is moving to business circles from its social media origins, and explains how
scientists, engineers, and others have worked to grow data technology into the mainstream to
influence such diverse industries as energy and agriculture. The wide-ranging implications of big
data's movements holds many important points that any interested in social issues will find
engrossing.
The Nurture Effect
Anthony Biglan, PhD
New Harbinger Press
5674 Shattuck Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609
9781608829552 $26.95 www.newharbinger.com
The Nurture Effect: How the Science of Human Behavior Can Improve Our Lives & Our World
could have been featured in our science or health sections, but is reviewed here so that nobody
involved in social science studies will miss it. For decades behavioral scientists have investigated
how environment plays a key role in shaping personalities and social circles. The Nurture Effect
outlines over forty years of research and relates these studies to social issues from improving the
cognitive abilities of children and changing educational approaches to more effective teaching
paths to reducing crime and making positive changes at home, at school, in the workplace and in
society. From teaching methods designed to increase the presence of nurturing in schools to
changes in behaviors that move from people to wider populations, this is a social survey that
provides important connections between social systems, science, and human behavior.
Guerilla Furniture Design
Will Holman
Storey Publishing
210 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247
9781612123035 $19.95 www.storey.com
Guerilla Furniture Design: How to Build Lean, Modern Furniture with Salvaged Materials
discusses a furniture-making approach that incorporates the basics of sustainability and handcraft
design with the approach of using salvaged materials to make chairs, tables, lamps and more.
Designer Will Holman packs in over thirty step-by-step projects made from paper, wood, plastic
and metal and also includes directions on how they can be repurposed yet again when their
second or third uses have passed. Color photos are exceptional here because they don't just focus
on completed projects, but include step-by-step woodworking and construction shots, as well.
These join diagrams and information on all the specifics to make for a builder's guide that is a top
pick for any who would work from recycled, repurposed materials.
The Economic Studies Shelf
When to Rob a Bank
Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
William Morrow & Company
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
9780062385321 $25.99 www.harpercollins.com
When to Rob a Bank...and 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants celebrates
the tenth anniversary of the book Freakonomics to provide a collection of lively economics blogs
directed to readers of the Freakonomics culture. It uses humor to explore alternative economic
questions, from how 'green' movements are based on theories that sometimes more emotional
than economic to social atmospheres surrounding sports, hoaxes involving statistics, and more.
The result is a lively mixture of economics, trivia, social and political interactions, and more,
recommended for any general-interest reader.
The Parenting Shelf
The New Father
Armin A. Brott
Abbeville Press
137 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013
9780789211774 $13.95 www.abbeville.com
The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the First Year should be a gift to any new father with a new
child, and provides a month-by-month handbook on all aspects of fatherhood during the first
year. This edition has been expanded and updated to blend in new knowledge from top experts,
the latest scientific research, and fathers' personal experiences, and covers the latest information
on how new technology is changing fatherhood, how fathers are becoming more involved in a
child's life, and how older fathers, at-home dads and others can handle parenting more efficiently.
Add cartoons and you have a lively, honest and direct survey of fatherhood's challenges.
The Culinary Shelf
The Dorito Effect
Mark Schatzker
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, 14th fl., New York, NY 10020
9781476724218 $27.00 www.simonandschuster.com
While The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor is written (and
intended) for health and fitness collections, it's being reviewed here because nobody with any
degree of interest in food should miss its discussions of how the flavor of food is changing. It's a
well-known fact that fresh produce looks better and lasts longer - but at the sacrifice of taste. At
the same time, new technology is allowing replication of even that missing component - but, at
what cost? Discussions uses advances in brain science, food addiction and biology to consider
the latest discoveries of the chemical properties of taste and nutrition and surveys solutions to
common problems in a treatment recommended not just for health readers; but for any involved
in the culinary industry.
Front of the House
Jeff Benjamin with Jeff Jones
Burgess Lea Press
http://www.burgessleapress.com/contact
9781941868027 $23.00 www.burgessleapress.com
Front of the House: Restaurant Manners, Misbehaviors and Secrets provides a lively survey of
what it takes to run a fine restaurant, and comes from author Jeff Benjamin, who began as a teen
waiter in a Long Island country club and evolved to become the managing partner of a family of
restaurants. In his story of his encounters and growth, Benjamin provides a very lively survey of
what happens behind the scenes in a restaurant, detailing stories of challenging guests, those who
overdo, how customers are handled, and why food and its delivery is only part of the key to a
restaurant's ultimate success. This lively survey offers an inspiring read that is involving and
engrossing, detailing the underlying expectations, encounters, and manners demanded of staff
and diner alike, and it's a fun and very different review than most books about restaurants can
offer. Any food fan interested in restaurant snafus and insights will relish this blend of
autobiography and restaurant establishment insights.
Cooking and Eating in Renaissance Italy
Katherine A. McIver
Rowman & Littlefield
c/o Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
9781442227187 $38.00 www.rowman.com
Cooking and Eating in Renaissance Italy From Kitchen to Table is a culinary history
recommended for college-level collections strong in food studies and Renaissance times, and
traces how food was cultivated and moved from garden to table. It isn't so much a recipe
collection (other medieval recipe collections are on the market) as it is a discussion of how food
in this period was prepared and how it evolved, surveying everything from medieval shopping
lists and methods to how servants pictured in the preparation process, how recipes evolved, and
how ingredient availability lent to innovation (or not). From medieval communal eating to food
etiquette, this is a solid survey that uses a range of resources to reconstruct the history and
evolution of not just Italian food, but Italian traditions.
The Wine/Spirits Shelf
Bourbon Empire
Reid Mitenbuler
Viking Books
c/o Penguin Group USA
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9780670016839 $27.95 www.penguin.com
Bourbon Empire: The Past and Future of America's Whiskey provides a fine survey covering the
history of bourbon from old family heritages and frontier development to the names behind
legendary brands, and uses the big-name bourbon brands as a start to profiling the individuals
who founded bourbon's production and made success from its development and marketing. From
merchandising and its changes over the years to the colorful history of whiskey and the growth of
the industry and its regulation, chapters provide a lively survey from primitive beginnings to big
brand names and craft distilling, and offers an excellent discussion of bourbon's evolutionary
process.
The American History Shelf
Out Where the West Begins
Philip F. Anschutz
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
9780990550204 $34.95 www.oupress.com
Out Where the West Begins: Profiles, Visions & Strategies of Early Western Business Leaders
considers how, between 1800 and 1920, a group of innovators and entrepreneurs helped create
the American West, seeing the opportunity in expansion. They envisioned a railroad to improve
communications, invested the Model A and built roads for cars to travel on, figured out how to
make supply sources for goods, power and other basic needs, and even established banks for
immigrants. Many other books have been written about the opening of the American West, but
few have adopted the perspective of how early Western business leaders played key roles in the
expansion process. The result is a take unlike any other, and highly recommended for any
collection seeking a different perspective on how the West was won - or built.
Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861 - 2008
Robin Frank, Editor
Yale University Press
PO Box 209040, New Haven, CT 06520-9040
9780300189902 $50.00 www.yaleuniversitypress.com
Coney Island has long been famous and is a powerful symbol of art, music, and American
culture; so it's surprising to note that despite historical reviews of its attributes, there's been no
previous compilation on Coney Island gathering the works and representations of the many artists
who have been inspired by the island and its culture. This gathering of over 200 images includes
photographs, drawings, art works, film stills, posters and more. The purpose is to provide a visual
presentation of Coney Island's history through its imagery and ephemera. The vintage photos and
art work are exquisite representations of Coney Island's past, and the book coincides with a
traveling exhibit of the same name. The result is recommended for art and history collections
alike; especially those having anything to do with New York culture and history.
Whirlwind
John Ferling
Bloomsbury Press
175 Fifth Avenue, Suite 315, New York, NY 10010
9781620401729 $30.00 www.bloomsbury.com
Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won It provides a different new history
of the American Revolution's events - the first in two generations - and comes from a historian
who considers the years 1763 to 1783 and the politics behind the events that led up to and
embraced the Revolution. From political meetings to the reactions of peoples on both sides of the
water, Whirlwind discusses the Revolution from all British perspectives and considers the forces
that drove Americans to the brink and led them to revolt. His survey is packed with fresh
impressions and re-considerations of historical events, making this a 'must have' definitive
addition to any American history holding.
What Stands in a Storm
Kim Cross
Atria Books
c/o Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
9781476763064 $25.00 www.simonandschuster.com
What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South's Tornado Alley
documents the events that took place in April of 2011, when a superstorm crossed over twenty
states from Texas to New York during a three-day period and flattened communities in its wake.
It comes from a journalist who gathered the firsthand stories of people who lived through the
storm, documenting acts of heroism, survival, and deadly storms that, for some, became their last
hours. Dramatic stories provide a "you are there" feel to events while accounts of heroism and
courage lend to a powerful saga that is true history at its best: gripping, detailed, and hard to put
down.
Miseducating Americans
Richard F. Hamilton
Transaction Publishers
10 Corporate Place South, Piscataway, NJ 08854
9781412855013 $49.95 www.transactionpub.com
Miseducating Americans: Distortions of Historical Understanding examines accounts of
American history appearing in textbooks and popular accounts and compares them with the
reports in scholarly monographs, considering how myths came to be considered as recorded
history and taken as truth. The difference between this coverage and other examinations of
American historical record is its focus on textbook history and how it's presented. Chapters
debunk common explanations of American historical fact and, even more importantly, consider
how these reconstructions of fact arose, and the social and political pressures surrounding them.
The result is a solid college-level examination of how inaccuracies were created and passed on:
key for any discussion about how American historical fact has evolved.
The World History Shelf
Transnational France: The Modern History of a Universal Nation
Tyler Stovall
Westview Press
c/o Perseus Book Group
250 W. 57th St., Suite 1500, New York, NY 10107
9780813348117 $49.00 www.westviewpress.com
Transnational France: The Modern History of a Universal Nation takes a transnational approach
to the history of modern France, considering its political structure, its evolving history from the
French Revolution to modern times, and how the establishment of universal manhood sufferage
and urban growth promoted the creation of a new republican Empire. It concludes with the
history of France during the Fourth and Fifth republics and follows its decolonization and rise,
using these major historical influences to follow its relations with Europe, the U.S. and France's
own extended empire. The result is a recommendation for college-level readers of French history
and culture who will find this narrowed focus and probe of French identity and culture to be
essential for any real understanding of events.
The Golden Leaf
Charlotte Cosner
Vanderbilt University Press
VU Station B 351813, Nashville, TN 37235-1813
9780826520326 $35.00 www.vanderbiltuniversitypress.com
The Golden Leaf: How Tobacco Shaped Cuba and the Atlantic World offers a very different
approach to Cuban commodities in general and the Cuban cigar in particular, arguing that Cuba's
colonial tobacco farmers weren't just a poor lot, but a diverse group of both slaves and free men
and women who were producers and harvesters and whose efforts created an industry that
remains famous and powerful to this day. It provides a lively discussion synthesizing some four
hundreds years of a luxury crop's cultivation: an effort that survived conquests, revolutions,
rebellions, and more. How all this happened is the subject of a history not just of the leaf or
Cuban agriculture, but of the social and political process that led it to become a symbol of Cuban
achievement around the world.
The Environmental Studies Shelf
America's Public Lands
Randall K. Wilson
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
9781442207974 $49.95 www.rowman.com
America's Public Lands: From Yellowstone to Smokey Bear and Beyond considers how it's come
to be that a nation that cherishes the ideal of private property has methodically set aside nearly a
third of its territory as public lands, and provides a history of the making of America's public land
system. Chapters do more than chart the usual evolution of parklands and policies: they consider
the origins of the idea of public domain and access, considering forces towards privatization and
conservation and how they interacted to produce the parklands system we have today. Chapters
cover national parks and forests, wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas and provide discussions
surrounding policy debates and establishment processes for many of country's top wildlife areas,
making this a far more wide-ranging survey than the usual parklands history approach, and a
highly recommended pick for any who would understand the bigger picture involved in parklands
creation, history, and management.
Where Roads Will Never Reach
Frederick H. Swanson
University of Utah Press
295 South 1500 East, Suite 5400, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0860
9781607814047 $24.95 www.UofUPress.com
Where Roads Will Never Reach: Wilderness and its Visionaries in the Northern Rockies is based
on newly available archival sources and interviews with anglers, outfitters, scientists, and others
who have become actively involved in protecting wild lands and ecosystems in the Northern
Rockies, and is a recommendation for any collection strong in environmental history. The work
of these lesser-known enthusiasts has helped solidify and make effective the American
wilderness movement: this book explores a previously-unheralded grassroots campaign and is
key to understanding how the Northern Rocky wilderness areas have evolved.
The Religion/Spirituality Shelf
Becoming a Mountain
Stephen Alter
Arcade Publishing
c/o Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781628725100 $24.99 www.arcadepub.com
Becoming a Mountain: Himalayan Journeys in Search of the Sacred and the Sublime comes from
an author who was raised by missionary parents in the foothills of the Himalayas, where he and
his wife now live. When four armed intruders attacked them and left them for dead, this caused
Alter question his basic premises of life and spirituality - and he felt threatened in his world. His
series of treks up the mountains after his convalescence was part of his healing process, part of
his re-discovery of spiritual connections and his homeland, and part of his journey out of sorrow
and threat. His discoveries of not just self but Himalayan history, culture, myths, and the efforts
of other mountain-climbing pilgrims makes Becoming a Mountain far more than another
climbing odyssey, and especially recommended for spirituality readers.
Divine Audacity
Linda Martella-Whitsett
Hampton Roads Publishing Company
65 Parker St., Ste. 7, Newburyport, MA 01950
www.hrpub.com
9781571747143 $16.95 www.redwheelweiser.com
Divine Audacity: Dare to Be the Light of the World is a recommendation for new age and
spirituality holdings alike, and presents the claim that any single individual can be the 'light of
the world' Jesus instructed his followers to be. How? That's addressed here, which considers
paths for living authentic lives outside of traditional religious structures and how to be spiritual
without being tied into a selected religious group. It advocates considering God as a being not
above us, but as a divine light that can be used to see personal paths of spiritual achievement and,
more particularly, it considers the concept of a 'divine light' and how to claim it. Some twelve
spiritual powers anyone can develop and use on a daily basis are presented as the foundation of a
discussion that teaches not just why to reflect spiritual light and power, but how - and that's what
makes this a winning approach over others.
The Making of a Mystic
Paddy Fievet, PhD
Cloverhurst Publications
P.O. Box 5546, High Point, NC 27262
9780990670612 $14.95 www.warwickassociates.com
The Making of a Mystic: Writing as a Form of Spiritual Emergence provides a combination
memoir and guiding light that describes the author's own spiritual transformation and, though her
experiences, shows readers how to uncover their own spiritual changes through writing. It
presents the idea that there's a modern mystic in all of us - and that pen and paper, combined with
meditation, can give answers to questions that can ultimately change lives. New age and
spirituality readers will find this focus on spiritual centers and how to uncover
The Christian Studies Shelf
The New Monasticism
Rory McEntee & Adam Bucko
Orbis Books
Box 302, Maryknoll NY 10545-0302
9781626981263 $25.00 www.orbisbooks.com
The New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living considers the
phenomena of intimate gatherings with others in the name of the life story of God and a call to
grace, and is a recommendation for monastic thinkers who want a contemporary, modern vision
suitable for contemplative modern living. It provides scholarly theology readers with a powerful
survey that considers how interspirituality can unite the human race, how different perspectives
evolve from the contemplative journey, and how new monastics can find newfound inspiration in
evangelical new communities around the country. The result is a guide for spiritual thinkers that
makes the most of the latest visions of how a contemplative attitude and approach can be applied
to daily life.
Built With Faith
Joseph Sciorra
University of Tennessee Press
110 Conference Center UT, Knoxville, TN 37996
9781621901198 $65.00 www.utpress.org
Built With Faith: Italian American Imagination and Catholic Material Culture in New York City
is comprised of five case studies that show how Italian Americans construct their religious
environments in their homes, streets, yards, and cityscapes, and is a pick for Catholic studies,
New York and Italian culture and social issues collections alike. It is the result of years of
fieldwork and research and closely examines the religious lives of Italian American New
Yorkers, avoiding the usual stereotypes (or examining them) to provide many facets of the New
York Italian-American Catholic heritage not seen elsewhere. Not for light reading, Built With
Faith is a testimony to New York City cultural and spiritual evolution.
The Needlecraft Shelf
Beaded Lace Knitting
Anniken Allis
Stackpole Books
5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055-6921
9780811714570 $24.95 www.stackpolebooks.com
Beaded Lace Knitting: Techniques & 25 Beaded Lace Designs for Shawls, Scarves, & More is
recommended for knitters who want to incorporate the beaded lace knit look into projects, and
packs in over a hundred step-by-step photos along with unique designs - some 25 projects - using
these techniques. It is filled with projects that can appeal to both novices to knitting and those
with years of experience and it also outlines various skills levels, which makes it easy for knitters
to locate the right project. Familiarity with basic knitting directions and abbreviations will lend to
using a knitter's guide that teaches beaded lace techniques by example.
Landscape Quilts
Kathy McNeil
American Quilter's Society
PO Box 3290, Paducah, KY 42002-3290
9781604601794 $22.95 www.americanquilter.com
Landscape Quilts with Kathy McNeil provides a seasonal set of landscapes and four full-size
patterns to include such American classic scenes as a lighthouse, a winter cabin, and a fall mill.
The narrowed focus on these images accompanies step-by-step instructions on how to build a
pictorial quilt, and how to use applique and other techniques to capture seasonal nuances in
fabric. Add full-page color photos to directions and you have a basic, simple and appealing
introduction to the processes and options of creating a landscape quilt.
Best of Circle of Nine
Janet Houts & Jean Ann Wright
Landauer Publishing
3100 NW 101st Street, Suite A, Urbandale, Iowa 50322
9781935726692 $24.95 www.landauercorp.com
Best of Circle of Nine provides projects for fourteen different quilts that can be achieved from
one setting using blocks of any size, and describes the basics of the Circle of Nine and how it
operates. It's a quilt setting scheme based on a grid that offers many variations - and thus, many
appearances. The setting may remain the same, but no two quilts will ever look alike. This offers
the basics through diagrams, step-by-step directions, and many illustrations and packs full-page
color photos of completed results with fun projects designed to help newcomers make the most
of the basic concept. Quilters will find it a fine starting point for success.
Simple Applique
Kim Diehl
Martingale & Company
19021 Avenue NE, Bothell, WA 98011
9781604686272 $22.99 www.shopmartingale.com
Simple Applique: Approachable Techniques, Easy Methods, Beautiful Results clearly illustrates
applique techniques using nearly a hundred step-by-step how-to photos, and offers tools,
supplies, and insights that pair the author's own creative techniques with tips and tricks. Any of
these methods can be used to create a wall hanging whose pattern is included in the book, but the
heart of her work lies in its close-up views of how each applique piece is created. These photos
make this book accessible even to those who have never attempted needlework or applique
before, making this a top pick for newcomers to the art.
She Wears The Pants
Yuko Takada
Tuttle Publishing
364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436
9784805313268 $15.95 www.tuttlepublishing.com
She Wears The Pants: Easy Sew-It-Yourself Fashion with an Edgy Urban Style includes free
pull-out patterns and pant ensemble creations that hold a designer's touch, from tapered trousers
and fleece jackets to gathered blouses and belts, and accompanies an introductory set of designer
photos with clear step-by-step instructions on how to produce each piece. These are all
accompanied by small patterns outlining basting, matching, and sewing directions. Ideally this
will appeal not to bare-bones beginners, but to readers with some prior, basic experience working
with patterns and sewing directions who want a designer's touch in producing urban style
products.
The Computer Shelf
Effective Python
Brett Slatkin
Addison-Wesley
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
9780134034287 $39.99 www.informit.com/aw
Effective Python: 59 Specific Ways to Write Better Python joins others in the 'Effective Software
Development' series and explores the basics of coding with Python and building a better
approach to harnessing its particular powers. It uses years of experience building Python at
Google to provide discussions of the quirks of the program that can affect coding behavior and
choices, and it uses a series of tasks to teach the basics while promoting code that is easier to
understand and incorporates basic best practices. From how to avoid common pitfalls with
metaclasses to manipulating Python's built-in modules to best effect, code writers already
working with Python will find this packed with optimization solutions that will improve the
quality of their efforts and streamline productions by taking the guesswork out of results.
The Software Craftsman
Sandra Mancuso
Prentice Hall
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
9780134052502 $34.99 www.informit.com/ph
The Software Craftsman: Professionalism, Pragmatism, Pride teaches the basics of how to be a
better developer and how to deliver better products, and avoids the usual jargon and
wide-ranging focus on agile processes to focus on the heart of the matter: coding craftsmanship.
From how to provide creative alternatives to the usual coding methods to employing a more
flexible pragmatism in project design and avoiding common pitfalls of hiring developers, this
provides managers and software engineers alike with a solid survey of what differentiates the
software craftsman from the average coder, and shows how new levels of technical applications
and, ultimately, customer satisfaction can be derived from managing clients and code alike. The
author's first-person software and business experiences serve as fine case history examples of this
process, making The Software Craftsman a solid recommendation.
Agile Project Management with Kanban
Eric Brechner
Microsoft Press
c/o O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
1005 Gravenstein, Hwy N., Sebastopol, CA 95472-2811
www.oreilly.com
9780735698956 $29.99 www.microsoft.com/mspress
Agile Project Management with Kanban teaches the basics of how to use Kanban to achieve
greater customer value, and comes from a developer who pioneered Kanban within the Xbox
engineering team at Microsoft. From its quick-start guide to advanced techniques covering
components of the program and delivery system, this is a top recommendation for any who want
to get up to speed and incorporate Kanban into management projects.
The Education Shelf
Forever Changed
Linda Mornell
Triumph Books
814 N. Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610
9781629370224 $24.95 www.triumphbooks.com
Forever Changed: How Summer Programs and Insight Mentoring Challenge Adolescents and
Transform Lives began when the author observed an Afro-American student's difficulty adjusting
to a new private high school, just as her children were. She began a program to send fourteen
low-income students to summer wilderness expeditions across the country, with an initial budget
of $30,000. Today Summer Search is a nationally recognized youth development nonprofit with a
budget of $20 million. This charts the development of summer experiential education programs
as a whole, and the concept of insight mentoring that has helped students grow. It's an
inspirational read packed with examples and encouragement and should be read by educators,
parents, and any interested in low-income opportunities for struggling students that go beyond
educational scholarships and into the realm of personal development.
Teaching Online
Claire Howell Major
Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218-4363
9781421416335 $29.95 www.press.jhu.edu
Online teaching is considered for educators who are both wary of its benefits and those who are
enthusiastic about its possibilities, and provides directions designed to help faculty who teach
online to their best in the internet environment. Most colleges include online courses or
information: this considers how instructors have to change their ways of working in order to
address evolving digital teaching challenges. Chapters blend educational theory and research
with discussions of practices and strategies for managing instructional changes and transitioning
from classroom to online environments. Any involved in transitioning to online teaching,
particularly, will find this a solid synthesis of approaches.
Early Learning Theories Made Visible
Miriam Beloglovsky and Lisa Daly
Redleaf Press
10 Yorkton Court, St. Paul, MN 55117-1065
9781605542362 $39.95 www.redleafpress.org
Early Learning Theories Made Visible is a recommendation for early childhood education
readers interested in theory and discussions that link early learning ideas to activities that support
these ideals. Each viewpoint supports a different aspect of early development and offers a range
of perspectives that involve the whole child, and each theory offers opportunities to link into a
child's interests in new, meaningful ways. From social-emotional to cognitive learning, this
approach allows for not just theory contrasts and discussions, but analysis of the techniques and
methods that make them work.
Mind Maps for Medical Students
Olivia Smith
CRC Press
6000 NW Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487
9781482250312 $19.95 www.crcpress.com
Mind Maps for Medical Students is designed to help medical students memorize clinical facts
and uses a format resting on maps to present a different method of success. The proven content
of mind maps is an established educational tool known to improve student memory: here it is
arranged in such a way as to be used either directly, or as a template for customized maps. Maps
are arranged by body system, packed with examples, and are perfect as a study tool for
newcomers. Many books discuss 'how to study', but few offer a concrete template for action;
much less one that narrows the focus to medical students. This title's approach makes it a
winner.
Making Number Talks Matter
Cathy Humphreys & Ruth Parker
Stenhouse Publishers
480 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101-3451
9781571109989 $23.00 www.stenhouse.com
Making Number Talks Matter: Developing Mathematical Practices and Deepening
Understanding, Grades 4-10 covers the decisions teachers need to make as they incorporate this
simple fifteen-minute daily routine into their math instruction, and offers a range of ideas for
using Number Talks to help students use their newfound math skills. Newcomers to the idea of
Number Talks will appreciate a discussion of using such talks with students of all ages, while
chapters cover questions to ask during Number Talks, teacher strategies for learning and
overcoming common obstacles, and how to link the Number Talks approach to curriculum
objectives. From choosing problems that invite students to use newfound skills to touching on
number talk routines, this is an excellent survey highly recommended for any educator
contemplating incorporating Number Talks into their teaching routines.
Corwin Press
2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320-2218
www.corwin.com
Doug Johnson's Teaching Outside the Lines: Developing Creativity in Every Learner
(9781483370163 $22.00) addresses the special educational challenges of blending creativity with
curriculum and offers strategies to encourage creativity both within and outside the curriculum
standards. Here are critical discussions of black and white thinking and one-right-answer
instruction, surveys of why the latest technology doesn't necessarily encourage creative thinking,
and what educators can do to use projects and prompts to get kids to move beyond rote
memorization and into critical thinking areas. The result is recommended for any educator who
wants to blend in something more than formula approaches to learning. Valerie Brown & Kirsten
Olson's The Mindful School Leader: Practices to Transform Your Leadership and School
(9781483303086 $24.95) provides school leaders with a fine guide to understanding and
streamlining the process of managing a school, and packs in case study examples, practical
guidelines, and insights that applies mindfulness practices to the school setting. Mindful school
leaders are more efficient in their jobs, can respond creatively to challenging situations, and can
more easily create atmospheres that lend to collaboration and cooperation. This workbook offers
the first steps to entering into the position of mindful leadership, pairing insights on the science
of mindfulness with keys to more effective communication. The result is a powerful survey
highly recommended for newcomers to the concept of mindfulness who are seeking more
effective methods of leading schools.
The Science Shelf
The Path of Destruction
Richard Waitt
Washington State University Press
PO Box 645910, Pullman, WA 99164-5910
9780874223231 $22.95 www.wsupress.wsu.edu
The Path of Destruction belongs in any history collection strong in Northwest history, natural
disasters, Washington State history, or volcanoes, and comes from a member of the U.S.
Geological Survey team who was one of the first to arrive after Mount St. Helens threatened to
blow. He gathered eyewitness accounts from the third week after the volcano erupted and
gathered experiences that could add to geologic studies data, and this book is the result of
hundreds of interviews - sometimes several decades later - and multiple visits to the area. Add
Waitt's detailed knowledge of Mount St. Helens and its history and you have a powerful survey
that's a 'must' for any who would understand the wide-ranging impact of its eruption and its
lasting geologic and social effects on the region as a whole.
Geek Physics
Rhett Allain
Turner Publishing Company
200 - 4th Avenue North, Suite 950, Nashville, TN 37219
9781118360156 $17.95 www.turnerpublishing.com
Geek Physics: Surprising Answers to the Planet's Most Interesting Questions comes from a
physics professor and popular blogger who blends pop culture with science to provide
non-scientists with an intriguing format and physics insights that don't rely on difficult concepts.
He shows how physics questions lie in everything from video games and television to movies, he
offers a collection that blends trivia with fun questions relating to light sabers, crazy math (such
as how many dollars bills would it take in a big stack to reach the moon), and how realistic the
physics of Angry Birds can be, and it provides a discussion that's both technical and fun. The
result is a whimsical and fun read recommended for any amateur who loves science and popular
culture.
The Cookbook Shelf
Buttercream Dreams
Jeff Martin
Andrews McMeel Publishing
1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, MO 64106-2109
9781449468095 $14.99 www.andrewsandmcmeel.com
Buttercream Dreams: Small cakes, Big Scoops, and Sweet Treats gathers recipes home cooks can
use from Smallcakes, a cake bakery known for producing original recipes for cupcakes and small
treats. Stories throughout the book tell how the author created the popular Smallcakes franchise,
which holds locations around the U.S. and in the United Arab Emirates, while recipes for iced
cupcakes, ice cream, and more cookies offer such unique creations as Bubble Gum Cupcakes,
Oatmeal Cream Pie Cookies, and Red Velvet Ice Cream. A fun 'must' for any who would learn
more about Smallcakes in the course of duplicating some of their signature dishes!
Sunday Dinner in the South
Tammy Algood
Thomas Nelson Publishers
PO Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214
9781401605391 $26.99 www.thomasnelson.com
Sunday Dinner in the South: All the Food, Family, and Friends You Can Say Grace Over focuses
on the heart of many a family gathering, the traditional Sunday supper, and blends memories and
cultural insights with recipes that are inviting comfort food at its best. From Coconut Milk Rolls
and Lentil and Sweet Corn Salad to Honey Mustard Pork Chops and Frosted Sweet Potato Cake,
Sunday Dinner in the South is a collection of nearly two hundred recipes designed with family
gatherings in mind. Color photos liberally pepper the pages but the basic dishes are easy to put
together and most need visual embellishment in order to prove inviting and simple Sunday
fare.
Winter Grilling
Tom Heinzle
Whitecap Books
314 West Cordova Street, Suite 210, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6B 1E8
9781770502499 $29.95 www.whitecap.ca
Winter Grilling offers recipes for wild game, seasonal dishes and sides, and adds new spices into
the mix to provide a detailed book filled with options that center around winter ingredients and
fare. Such fare includes Smoked Trout Fillets with Smoked Mushrooms and Habaneros, Barbary
Duck Breast with Creamed Cabbage, and Chicken With Hay which is infused with cinnamon,
cumin, chili and curry powder, and more. The result is an appealing blend of unusual spice
combinations and dishes infused with the smoke of the grill and the touch of a cook who goes
beyond the usual grilling cookbook recipe to add gourmet flavors into the mix.
The World's Best Brunches
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet Publishing
150 Linden Street, Oakland CA 94607
9781743607466 $19.99 www.lonelyplanet.com
The World's Best Brunches: Where to Find Them and How to Make Them gathers mid-morning
meals from around the world and provides an international approach to over a hundred recipes
that offer clear instructions for preparing dishes that lend to mid-morning dining. Articles and
recipes come from food writers around the world, include a foreword by Bill Granger, and come
packed with color photos on every page. As for the dishes themselves, there are Scotch Eggs,
Huevos a La Mexicana, Pain Au Chocolate croissants from France, and Breakfast Burritos from
New Mexico, each accompanied by historical notes, cultural insights, and culinary tips. From
food origins to tasting notes and how to locate the dishes in their native countries, this combines
a travel approach with a cook's reference and produces a lively flavor indeed.
The Lebanese Cookbook
Hussien Dekmak
Kyle Books
1st Floor, 192-198 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, England, SW1V 1DX
9781909487239 $19.95 www.kylebooks.com
The Lebanese Cookbook: Delicious and Authentic Recipes from a Top Lebanese Chef is a
recommendation for any interested in Lebanese cuisine interested in an approach that blends
fresh ingredients and spices with traditional Lebanese flavors. Chef Dekmak presents classic
dishes from his native culture, provides appealing close-up color photos of finished recipes, and
introduces each recipe with cultural or personal notes. The recipe titles are printed on the side of
the page which, will artistic, aren't as at-a-glance handy as the usual arrangement of title-at-top,
but appealing photos make up for any small inconvenience and the overall result is both artistic
and appealing. Newcomers to Lebanese cuisine, in particular, will find this a compelling
collection.
Stylish Cakes
Charlotte Neuville with Michael Coffindaffer
HarperDesign
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
www.harpercollins.com
9780062328120 $40.00 www.hc.com
Stylish Cakes: The Extraordinary Confections of the Fashion Chef is a recommendation not for
the casual cake baker but for those who want to combine style and decoration with cake-making
and carry it to a new level. From a multi-filling Ribbon Cake which carries its ribbon outer
decoration theme to its inner layers to cakes decorated with shiny metal embellishments,
Charlotte's Favorite Carrot Cake which is infused with pineapple and spices, and a Tiki Hut
Birthday Cake designed with bamboo sides reminiscent of an island getaway. The result is
something that borders on a designer's food bible, and requires only that the home cook be
interested in some of the fastidious methods of adding art to cake-making. It's a delicious,
eye-catching compliment to any collection strong in baking.
Gourmands & Gluttons
Carlnita P. Greene
Peter Lang
29 Broadway, New York, NY 10006
9781433122248 $89.95 www.peterlang.com
Gourmands & Gluttons: the Rhetoric of Food Excess considers that modern eaters live in a world
driven by excess - especially in American culture, which considers bigger to be better, especially
in the food world. Any who think that the gourmand vanished at the end of the 19th century
should read this book, which contends that the specter of the glutton has moved beyond the past
to become part of popular culture itself. Surprisingly, this image permeates even the Slow Food
Movement as visual fantasies and explorations drive the mechanisms of gluttony. Chapters
define excess and abundance, analyze food trends and ideas, and considers how fat, diet, and
substance become obsessions in a survey highly recommended for any food and wine reader.
A Southern Gentleman's Kitchen
Matt Moore
Oxmoor House
c/o Time Inc. Home Entertainment
PO Box 11016, Des Moines, Iowa 50336-1016
www.time.com
9780848743673 $32.00 www.oxmoorhouse.com
A Southern Gentleman's Kitchen pairs Southern recipes with insights into Southern traditions,
and dishes up a lively combination of stories paired with food. As such, it's a pick above and
beyond the usual culinary cookbook reader, offering vignettes that range from 'Gent's Tips' for
cooking to recipes designed for Southern sentiments including nouveau embellishments on
traditional fare. Game is indeed among the dishes, while presentations of pecan-crusted Chicken
and peppered Goat Cheese and Sweet Cornbread and Fresh Fruit Trifle offer dishes not to be
found in competing Southern collections. The result, which pairs cultural inspection with
delicious fare, is a top pick for any interested in Southern traditions as well as culinary
habits.
The Cafe Spice Cookbook
Hari Nayak
Tuttle Publishing
364 Innovation Drive, North Clarendon, VT 05759-9436
9780804844307 $14.95 www.tuttlepublishing.com
The Cafe Spice Cookbook: 84 Quick and Easy Indian Recipes for Everyday Meals is for any
newcomer to Indian cookery who would receive a cookbook directed to health-conscious Indian
fare that can be made from scratch in 30 minutes, and includes soups, stews, rice based dishes,
and more. It pairs full-color photos (many full-page) with recipes that require access only to basic
spices (cumin, fennel seeds, coriander, and more), and while access to an Asian market for the
occasional specialty item (such as dried curry leaves) is recommended, it's not a requirement to
appreciate the easy dishes. Many are gluten-free and all are filled with appeal so that those with
relatively little background in Indian cookery will find this an excellent entry-level choice.
Rustic European Breads from Your Bread Machine, second edition
Linda West Eckhardt & Diana Collingwood Butts
Echo Point Books & Media
Brattleboro Business Park
22 Browne Court, Unit 100, Brattleboro, Vermont 05301
9781626548541 $24.95 www.EchoPointBooks.com
Rustic European Breads from Your Bread Machine appears in its second updated edition to
prove over twenty new recipes for owners of bread machines, and teaches the basics of focusing
on what a machine does best: kneading and mixing the dough and using one's hands to shape the
final results and bake them in the oven. It offers foolproof, tested step-by-step recipes for almost
a hundred European-style breads from French to wheat-rye combinations, it includes flatbreads,
dark breads, wheats, buns, bagels and rolls, and its instructions are quite easy to follow. The
result is a must' for any who want to use the bread machine's advantages, tailoring it for better
results: the only prerequisite is ownership of such a machine and a willingness to think beyond
its instruction book.
The Fiction Shelf
Delicious Foods
James Hannaham
Little, Brown & Company
c/o Hachette Book Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
www.hachettebookgroup.com
9780316284943 $26.00 www.littlebrown.com
While Delicious Foods may sound like a cookbook, it is, in fact, a novel that is anything but
food-driven, and is in fact a survey of a Southern farm and modern-day slavery and strife. Eddie
is a scared teen on the run, trying to drive away from danger in a stolen car. His reflection on how
this came to be traces the evolution of a world that actually is based on real events in America.
And the Delicious Foods of the title is actually a van used to lure captives to a life of prison and
danger. Three voices are used to narrate this gripping saga in a powerful survey of drugs, danger
and redemption recommended for readers who want a healthy dose of social commentary in their
stories: one that drives home points difficult to forget after the story concludes.
The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory
Stacy Wakefield
Akashic Books
232 Third Street, #A115, Brooklyn, NY 11215
9781617753039 $15.95 www.akashicbooks.com
The Sunshine Crust Baking Factory tells of Sid, who arrives in New York City in 1995 eager to
join the anarchist world. She gets a tattoo and joins in all the countercultural world that squatting
entails, believing herself clever for her choices - but the Lower East Side is losing empty
buildings, the existing squat are full, and only in the very different Brooklyn does Sid get the
chance to occupy a squat under circumstances she never dreamed of. The angst and passion of a
witty, determined young rebel makes for a saga that is compelling and vivid, and a story that will
draw in any young rebel who has dreamed of bucking convention.
The Organ Broker
Stu Strumwasser
Arcade Publishing
c/o Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781628725230 $24.99 www.arcadepub.com
The Organ Broker provides a gripping story of an underground black market organ dealer who is
known as 'New York Jack' and who has been catering to wealthy Americans and Europeans in
need of organ replacement. His role as a middleman enables him to arrange for organs to come
from third world countries from transplant centers; but when a client's death leads to trouble, he
must choose between murder and millions. An international chase, a tension-driven saga of the
international black market sale of organs (which is based on reality), and a tense series of
encounters evolves which will immerse readers in an unrelenting thriller that's hard to put
down.
This is How it Really Sounds
Stuart Archer Cohen
St. Martins Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
9781250048820 $25.99 www.stmartins.com
This is How it Really Sounds is a novel that follows the lives of three men who share the same
name, but lead very different lives. Each share the concern that their best days are behind them,
and each is struggling to hang on to the fame and good times of their past. The elements that will
lead each to recapture youth and find inspiration to jump-start the second stage of their lives
makes for a story that jumps between genres from romance, to thriller, to adventure saga, to a
story of middle age crisis. With its many blossoming stories, This is How it Really Sounds is a
compelling read for any who would contrast the lives of different individuals who share some of
the same life concerns.
The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell
William Klaber
St. Martin's Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
9781250061874 $25.99 www.stmartins.com
The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell is a powerful historical fiction story of Lucy Ann
Lobdell, an 1879 girl who evolved from a backwoods childhood to dance school where she posed
as a man and won a young woman's live. Her years on the Western frontier, her arrest for wearing
men's clothes, her jailbreak orchestrated by her wife Marie all come to life in a story all the more
riveting for its basis in real historical fact. The story itself is unusual enough to provide the basis
for a good read: pair that with an affection for powerful characterization and high drama and you
have a novel that's truly remarkable and different.
The Mystery/Suspense Shelf
False Tongues
Kate Charles
Poisoned Pen Press
6962 E. First Ave., #103, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
9781464204883 $24.95 www.poisonedpenpress.com
False Tongues tells of a reverend who attends a reunion at her theological college in Cambridge;
there to confront a painful past and the presence of an ex who still doesn't get it. The college's
principal is equally challenged by events of the past, while in London two police officers
investigate a teenager's stabbing - and find themselves involved in cyberbullying gone awry.
These disparate pieces of the puzzle slowly come together in a murder mystery fueled not just by
investigations of crime, but investigations of relationships. Much rides on the outcome of
different kinds of investigations making for a riveting, multi-faceted story indeed.
Bittersweet
Susan Wittig Albert
Berkeley Prime Crime
c/o Penguin Group (USA)
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9780425255629 $25.95 www.penguin.com
Bittersweet provides a new China Bayles mystery and takes place at Thanksgiving in Pecan
Springs, when China is making plans to visit her mother, who is turning a former game ranch
into a birder's vacation retreat. She's looking forward to catching up with friends, but when her
mother's husband suffers from a heart attack, everything changes; especially when the family
helper, already in trouble, is suddenly killed. Now China has her hands full with more than one
mystery - and more than one possible murder. Are they connected, and are stolen animals at the
heart of a search that threatens them all? A fine saga of mystery evolves, perfect for any prior fan
of China, newcomers to her world, and murder mystery fans.
The LGBT Studies Shelf
The Making of a Man
Maxim Februari
Reaktion Books Litd
c/o University of Chicago Press
1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
www.press.uchicago.edu/presswide
9781780234441 $22.50 www.reaktionbooks.co.uk
The Making of a Man: Notes on Transsexuality tells of Maxim Februari, born Marjolijn, who in
2012 announced his intention to live as a man. The responses he received made it clear that most
people don't know about transsexuality - and his book considers the nature of the beast in chapter
that cover everything from sexual intimacy and how transsexuality is reflected in the law to
contentions that transsexuality is a mental impairment. From how testosterone can change
physical features to the grief transition causes to others, this is a wide-ranging survey that's a
recommendation for any who would begin to understand transsexuality in all its social,
psychological, legal and physical ramifications.
The Social Issues Shelf
Our Kids
Robert D. Putnam
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, 14th fl., New York, NY 10020
9781476769899 $28.00 www.simonandschuster.com
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis considers the evolution and changes of the American
dream and begins not so much with social analysis as with the author's high school class of 1959
in small-town Ohio, where the majority of classmates went on to lives better than those of their
parents. His generation raised their own children with similar expectations of success - but these
kids and theirs have not lived the dream, seeing their jobs crumble, their communities fade, and
their lives and connections vanish. Rich and poor kids alike have faced these personal changes,
and this collection of narratives from all classes documents inequality in America and the forces
at work in keeping the status quo alive. Any social issues collection and any holding concerned
with kids and advancement needs this wide-ranging, accessible survey.
Galileo's Middle Finger
Alice Dreger
Penguin Press
c/o Penguin Group (USA)
375 Hudson Street, 4th floor, New York, NY 10014
9781594206085 $27.95 www.pengin.com
Galileo's Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science comes from a
medical activist and a science historian who investigates the controversial scientific debates of
modern times from the viewpoints of social justice considerations and scientific freedom
concerns. This describes her research into several modern battles between scientists and political
activists who disagree with 'inconvenient truths' and considers how social justice and scientific
truths may be advanced when their concepts collide. Descriptions of such encounters and their
results make for a survey that not only examines these events, but presents Dreger's own entry
into controversial circles when she found her position suddenly carried her into 'enemy' territory'
and crossed unspoken boundaries.
Bullies and Mean Girls in Popular Culture
Patrice A. Oppliger
McFarland & Company
PO Box 611, Jefferson NC 28640
9780786468652 $45.00 www.mcfarlandpub.com
Bullies and Mean Girls in Popular Culture provides college-level social issues readers with a fine
survey of anti-bullying school programs and why they don't work, considering media role models
in television, film, picture books and online which profiles aggression. It considers how many of
these portraits offer unproductive strategies and why they can even teach ineffective and
dangerous ways of handling aggression, and it surveys the effects of entertainment programming
on adolescent choices by reinforcing stereotypes and misinformation. Any studying the impact of
bullying will find this a powerful analysis.
The Criminology Shelf
Missing, Presumed
Alan Bailey
Liberties Press
140 Terenure Road North, Dublin 6W, Ireland
9781909718852 $20.00 www.libertiespress.com
Missing, Presumed provides six haunting stories that come from the author's own experiences in
his 13-year role as national coordinator of an Irish taskforce challenges with finding six young
women - and others - who disappeared between 1993 and 1998, and documents an investigation
that embraces the Irish justice system and the new technology which enabled the bodies of some
of these missing women to be found. In the sixteen years since TRACE was established, the
families and friends of these women await justice and closure in many cases. This survey offers
criminology collections and true crime readers an absorbing glimpse of what happens during an
investigation and how scenarios of tragedy prompt investigators to try to gain clues to solve
missing persons cases. At times it reads with the high drama of fiction, but always embracing
facts and real-world experiences, making for an absorbing survey indeed.
The Self-Help Shelf
Tame Your Inner Critic
Della Temple
Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
2143 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125
9780738743950 $15.99 www.llewellyn.com
Tame Your Inner Critic: Find Peace & Contentment to Live Your Life on Purpose is a top pick
for any collection strong in personal growth and inspirational reading, and teaches readers how to
move past negative self-criticism to achieve success and a peaceful, purposeful life. Chapters
show how to develop intuition, how to use internal, spiritually-based wisdom to discern better
paths in life, and how to use the provided exercises and meditations to achieve all these goals; the
primary one is for eliminating negativity. The result is an engrossing saga perfect for any who
look for specific avenues for lasting change.
You Can't Ruin My Day
Allen Klein
Viva Editions
2246 Sixth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710-2219
9781632280220 $16.95 www.vivaeditions.com
You Can't Ruin My Day: 52 Wake Up Calls to Turn Any Situation Around is about happiness
and comes from a motivational speaker who has made money speaking about happiness and tools
for changing obstacles into positive paths. Now, many books advocate this approach; but this
takes real-life situations and uses them as concrete examples of how to spin the negative. From
handling big traffic jams to learning how to overcome little irritants that can lead to big
blow-ups, You Can't Ruin My Day is packed with advice that outlines many common scenarios
and shows how these life challenges can be put to better use than frustration.
The Masterpiece Within
Gay Scholz and Claudia Church
Balboa Press
c/o Hay House, Inc.
PO Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100
Bohlsen Group
9781452523422 $19.99 www.balboapress.com
The Masterpiece Within: Five Key Life Skills to Becoming a Living Work of Art blends stories
from pop culture with autobiographical reflections into a self-help motivational guide designed to
present the idea that everyone has inner greatness that should be cultivated. The question is:
how? And the answer is in The Masterpiece Within. Chapters discuss the processes involved in
recognizing and making wise life choices, developing a life of bliss and harmony, and balancing
mind and body needs for maximum energy. From making a difference in the world to enacting
change to turn one's life into a fluid success story, this is a spirited read recommended for any
who would hone self-help skills and apply them for better results.
Echoes in Eternity
Barbara Jennings
Ahava Press
c/o Ahava Enterprises
Box 2632, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-2632
9780984135684 $19.99 www.ahavaenterprises.com
Echoes in Eternity is at once an autobiography and an inspirational piece about finding love after
fifty hard years, and while on the face of it, it documents the author's unexpected romance, it also
incorporates many other facets of life's journeys. From betrayal to learning to love again, this is a
spiritual-based observational piece, especially recommended for Christian readers interested in
the intersection of faith, love, and healing.
The Metaphysical Studies Shelf
American Ghost
Hannah Nordhaus
Harper
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
9780062249210 $25.99 www.harpercollins.com
American Ghost: A Family's Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest chronicles the author's search
for the truth about her great-great-grandmother Julia, whose ghost is said to haunt a fancy Santa
Fe hotel. The sad figure first appeared in the 1970s, standing near a fireplace wearing a long
black gown, and then strange supernatural things began to happen in the hotel. The hotel had
been a home before being converted; the room harboring these events belonged to Julia Schuster
Staab, wife of the home's original owner who died nearly a century before the hauntings began.
So what could be the connection? In the process of uncovering the life of her
great-great-grandmother Julia and her family, author Hannah discovered history that led her
across America and Europe in search of old family records. What she finds is a story more vivid
than any she could have imagined, bringing together disparate forces and making for a powerful
chronicle that more than answers the 'why' of the ghostly happenings.
Mindfulness, Meditation, and Mind Fitness
Joel Levey & Michelle Levey
Conari Press
c/o Red Wheel/Weiser
65 Parker Street, Suite 7, Newburyport, MA 01950-4600
9781573245491 $15.95 www.redwheelweiser.com
Mindfulness, Meditation, and Mind Fitness introduces readers to dozens of mindfulness and
meditation techniques, arranged into five basic categories of practice, and is particularly well
suited to any searching for methods of practice based on both scientific and ancient wisdom
sources. Seeking clarify? Wisdom? A clearer vision of life's purpose? This book is especially
useful for beginners new to mindfulness and meditation practices, and offers essential keys to
hone techniques and achieve success.
Seeing Beyond Illusions
David Ian Cowan
Samuel Weiser
c/o Red Wheel/Weiser
65 Parker Street, Suite 7, Newburyport, MA 01950-4600
9781578635740 $16.95 www.redwheelweiser.com
Seeing Beyond Illusions: Freeing Ourselves from Ego, Guilt, and the Belief in Separation is
based on A Course in Miracles and provides readers with a specific program encouraging change.
It shows how to trust in divine connections and how to create and strengthen these connections,
and it comes from a spiritual coach who collects wisdom about divine paths and discusses how to
let go of the need to control in order to embrace a better spiritual purpose and 'be in the now'.
Familiarity with A Course in Miracles is helpful, but not a requirement to appreciating the tips in
Seeing Beyond Illusions. This self-contained approach considers chaos in personal and public
lives and how to adopt a better perspective in handling spiritual responses to these challenges.
Any interested in a strong blend of spiritual perspective, self-help and psychology will find this a
great starting point for change.
Between Now and When
Richard House, MD
New Page Books
c/o Career Press Inc.
220 West Parkway, Unit 12, Pompton Plains, NJ 07444
9781601633750 $15.99 www.newpagebooks.com
Between Now and When: How My Death Made My Life Worth Living blends spirituality with
new age thinking and tells of an amazing prophecy: at age seven, the author heard a voice that
foretold his death at age 33, a prophecy that came true exactly at that age. His healing,
redemption, and journey around the world expanding mind and healing body is charted in a
satisfying blend of autobiography and new age thought. Chapters consider his journey into higher
realities and his entry into the approaches of meditation and the doors opened by new
experiences and acceptance of new ways of thinking. They provide a satisfying juxtaposition
between physical and metaphysical worlds and offers some intriguing approaches to both: perfect
for new age collections looking for something just a little different.
The Business Shelf
Got Your Attention?
Sam Horn
Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.
1333 Broadway, Suite 1000, Oakland CA, 94612
9781626562509 $17.95 www.bkconnection.com
Got Your Attention? How to Create Intrigue and Connect with Anyone considers the basics of
how to create trust and accompanying interest in product and service connections, and presents a
process for surprising even the most hardened decision makers with the promise that the reader is
just the person for the job, position, project or contract. It's a technique the author has used to
help her clients close deals and raise a fortune, and offers a program key to getting funded, hired,
promoted, or advancing in a company or service. The result is much more than idealistic
thinking: it's a proven path to success that needs to be in any serious business book collection,
and in the hands of those who would 'wow' decision-makers with something concrete.
More Fearless Change
Mary Lynn Manns, PhD and Linda Rising, PhD
Addison-Wesley
c/o Pearson Technology Group
801 East 96th Street, #300, Indianapolis, IN 46240-3759
9780133966442 $39.99 www.aw.com
This gathering of over sixty new, updated patterns for driving business change provides a sequel
to the classic Fearless Change, which interviewed successful leaders of change to identify nearly
fifty patterns for implementing all kinds of change-inducing techniques, and expands on the
information learned over the past decade. Familiarity with the prior book and its basic concepts
will lend a further appreciation for this follow-up, which teaches strategies that appeal to both
logical progressive change and emotional connections. From building flexible plans and
establishing bonds to working with skeptics to address resistance and help them become more
open-minded, More Fearless Change is filled with ideas, possibilities, and concepts that have
been successfully applied to real-life business and social scenarios. Business leaders will find this
a key acquisition.
Under the Bus
Caroline Frederickson
The New Press
126 Wall Street, floor 31, New York, NY 10005-4007
9781620970102 $25.95 www.thenewpress.com
Under the Bus: How Working Women Are Being Run Over considers a variety of issues relating
to work, discrimination, and what happens when women ask for raises or protest discrimination
on the job. It isn't about hard work, it's about knowing how the system work and where it fails -
and this book comes form an author who has helped write laws supporting women's rights on the
workplace, and who understands exclusion and protections. Chapters consider the millions of
female workers who are struggling to survive as they examine law, justice, and inequality in the
labor force. The result is a powerful assessment recommended for business, social issues, and
women's issues holdings alike, examining the history and nature of women in the
workplace.
Persuasive Copywriting
Andy Maslen
Kogan Page USA
1518 Walnut Street, Suite 1100, Philadelphia, PA 19102
9780749473990 $24.95 www.koganpage.com
Persuasive Copywriting: Using Psychology to Influence, Engage and Sell goes a step beyond
most discussions of copywriting to focus on how such writing sells product, and considers how
writing connects to psychological response on the reader's part. It accompanies its points with
quizzes, exercises and examples and tips designed to help copywriters hone methods that make
these connections, from storytelling to emotionally-charged openings, and it provides a powerful
approach any business writer can readily apply to improve the responses to their copywriting
creations. So if it's one book on the topic that's desired, it should be this one: a guide that is
packed with creative ideas based on psychological studies and proven results.
The Inventor's Complete Handbook
James L. Cairns, PhD
Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.
1405 S.W. 6th Avenue, Ocala, FL 34471
9781620230183 $19.95 www.atlantic-pub.com
If The Inventor's Complete Handbook: How to Develop, Patent, and Commercialize Your Ideas
sounds familiar; that's because it was previously published in 2006 under a different title (The
Inventor's Pathfinder) and now has been updated and expanded for modern audiences. It covers
the entire process of inventing from idea to patenting and selling the idea, and it follows the
process of filing a patent, protecting one's creation, understanding the latest patent laws and
international applications, and more. Several lawyers have proofed the contents of this handbook,
which provides all the resources needed to produce a winning approach to the patent
process.
Report Writing
Joyce Kupsh and Rhonda Rhodes
Xlibris Corporation
1663 South Liberty Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403-5161
Bohlsen Group
9781450068925 $19.99 www.amazon.com
Report Writing: A Survival Guide provides the basic foundations for reports and covers not just
student efforts, but strategic plans, business proposals, research reports, and more: virtually any
kind of document involving a report. Where similar-sounding guides focus on school efforts, this
wider-ranging survey will interest any who have to produce a report representing strong written
skills, and incorporates many tips on how to produce case studies, feasibility studies, and more.
The result is directed to any employee who needs to incorporate report writing in a business
environment: a highly recommended approach that usually isn't as clear, easy to access, or
directed to business readers, making this a highly recommended pick.
The Travel Shelf
Road Trip USA, seventh edition
Jamie Jensen
Moon Publications
c/o Avalon Travel
1700 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
9781612389028 $29.99 www.roadtripusa.com
The seventh updated edition of Road Trip USA continues to be a powerful recommendation for
any travel collection and creates a virtual USA road trip guide in a book, connecting routes,
offering color-coded pages of detail, and cross-referencing journeys and information with
mile-by-mile insights, driving maps, and colorful vintage photos and illustrations throughout.
The idea is to pack in details that lend to a single road trip or a series of regional road trips across
the U.S. Two-lane highways, byways, small towns, and history permeate a guide intended for
those who want to leisurely cross the country not on major routes, but smaller, scenic paths less
traveled. The result is a coverage perfect for any who dream of taking a road trip in
America.
Postcards from the Middle East
Chris Naylor
Lion
c/o Trafalgar Square Publishing
388 Howe Hill Road, North Pomfret, VT 05053
9780745956497 $16.95 www.lionhudson.com/lion
If it's a light and personal read about Arab culture that is desired, be advised there's a compelling
reason to choose Postcards from the Middle East: How Our Family Fell in Love with the Arab
World above others; and that is its easygoing and lively introduction that assumes no prior
knowledge of Arab culture or politics. Chris Naylor and his wife moved to the Middle East to set
up a branch of the environmental agency A Rocha in Lebanon - and they arrived with many
preconceived notions of Lebanese and Middle Eastern life. Their years in the country was to
introduce this English family to many unexpected truths about the region, imparted here in a
travel and life story that identifies the positive points of Arab culture and how an English family
interacted with them.
Birding Hot Spots of Santa Fe, Taos, and Northern New Mexico
Judy Liddell and Barbara Hussey
Texas A&M University Press
4354 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4354
9781623492540 $27.00 www.tamupress.com
Birding Hot Spots of Santa Fe, Taos, and Northern New Mexico offers the second guide to
birding in the area and pairs the authors' special knowledge of both birding and the best places to
find birds in and around Santa Fe and the Northern New Mexico area. Over thirty sites are
arranged by geographic region for easy travel between them, and are accompanied by a general
description, lists of birds to be found and when to look for them, driving directions and details on
public transit, parking, and park fees, and more. The result is a 'must' take-along tote for any bird
aficionado heading to New Mexico.
The Biography Shelf
A Man Apart
Peter Forbes and Helen Whybrow
Chelsea Green Publishing Company
85 North Main Street, Suite 120, White River Junction, VT 05001
9781603585477 $35.00 www.chelseagreen.com
A Man Apart: Bill Coperthwaite's Radical Experiment in Living holds many facets: it's a
biographical sketch of a friendship between two men, a review of influences that drove each man
to develop fierce ideals to live by, and it's a reflection of what it means to truly live close to
nature in opposition to modern society. As such, it's a powerful adjunct to any reading of Thoreau
or others who live close to the land and interact with nature, and chronicles an experiment in
sustainable, intention living that ended with Coperthwaite's sudden death. This is a story of
simplicity and ideals, of friends who were brought together through philosophical thinking and
an interest in creating a better community, and the overall motivator of honoring their fierce
beliefs. The result is a compelling saga which belongs in many types of collections; from those
strong in philosophy and sustainable living to those appealing to readers of biography.
The Strange Case of Dr. Doyle
Daniel Friedman, MD and Eugene Friedman, MD
Square One Publishers
115 Herricks Road, Garden City Park, NY 11040
9780757003486 $29.95 www.squareonepublishers.com
The Strange Case of Dr. Doyle: A Journey Into Madness & Mayhem uses Doyle's own words to
provide a powerful account of his opinions on the Jack the Ripper murder spree and new
evidence that offers insights both on the killer and on his influence on young Arthur Conan
Doyle. Social terror, medical mystery, sleuthing and murder follows the life of Doyle in a
powerful saga that blends history, literary insights, and social commentary alike. It's a detective
story, it's a biography, and it's a gripping social history: in short, a multi-faceted, changing saga
that belongs in any collection strong in literature, history, or biography in general and Doyle
works and analysis in particular.
Motorcycles I've Loved: A Memoir
Lily Brooks-Dalton
Riverhead Books
c/o Penguin Group (USA)
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9781594633218 $27.95 www.penguin.com
Motorcycles I've Loved: A Memoir wraps a road trip around a woman's journey and tells of the
author's movement through a traditionally male-dominated motorcycle world. Lily left home at
17 to work her way around the world and find herself; three years later she was back home and
feeling even more lost. Her love for a blue Honda rebel 250 motorcycle would take her on roads
less traveled, introducing her to a culture of bikes, freedom, and road travels and would lead her
to new life experiences and lessons. Motorcycles I've Loved is for any woman who longs to be
free, hit the road, and attempt new things women ordinarily don't do. It's a road trip that will
bring you along for a vivid, moving journey.
Bookmarked
Wendy Fairey
Arcade Publishing
c/o Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781628725377 $25.99 www.arcadepub.com
Bookmarked: Reading My Way from Hollywood to Brooklyn describes the author's move from
California's Hollywood to Brooklyn as much as it documents her lifelong involvement with
books and literature, and is a warm story of the force of literature in her life and choices. As her
favorite readings bring her into adulthood and provide her with new choices, readers follow her
through both her personal and literary life, making important connections between the influence
of reading to life. The result neatly toes the line between autobiography and literary reflection
and will especially appeal to readers already fond of good books who want insights into how
reading changes lives.
Missing Persons
Bruce Piasecki
Square One Publishers
115 Herricks Road, Garden City Park, NY 11040
9780757004124 $17.95 www.squareonepublishers.com
Missing Persons: A Life of Unexpected Influences provides an autobiography that considers the
author's journey from poverty to his success as an internationally acclaimed businessman and a
family man, and considers the people and ideas that influenced him in this path of progress.
Unlike most autobiographical writings, each story here is told in a third-person narrative that
incorporates the drama and feel of fiction, allowing readers to follow Piasecki through his life
with an eye to understanding how the power of memory changes lives. In adopting such a tone as
he digs deeper into his influences, the author succeed in imparting some important concepts in a
readable, engrossing text that should appeal even to readers who normally don't choose memoirs
and autobiographical pieces.
American Wife
Taya Kyle with Jim deFelice
William Morrow & Company
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
9780062398086 $27.99 www.harpercollins.com
American Wife: A Memoir of Love, War, Faith and Renewal tells of Tara Kyle and her husband
Chris, whose ten-year-old marriage survived years of war that took the U.S. Navy SEAL away
form his wife and children for lengthy service in Iraq. His struggle to readjust to civilian life
seemed to finally settle into a new direction as he dedicated his life to supporting veterans and
their families - until Chris and his friend were killed attempting to help a troubled vet. Suddenly
Taya was a single mother, a widow, and facing the impossible fact of her husband's death not
from war, but from civilian life. Their story influenced the creation of the film American Sniper,
but this account is Taya's viewpoint and writes in detail of the time after his sudden death when
grief threatened her world and family. Her story is gripping, wrenching, and a powerful story that
any military or biography collection will find engrossing.
Strictly Inspirational
Camilla Sacre-Dallerup
Watkins Publishing
Angel Business Club
359 Goswell Road, London, England, EC1V 7JL
9781780288666 $19.95 www.watkinspublishing.com
Strictly Inspirational: How I Learnt to Dream, Act, Believe, and Succeed may follow the life and
entertainment career of dancer Camilla Sacre-Dallerup; but no prior familiarity with her name or
achievements is needed to appreciate her autobiography. It reveals how her dancing training
brought accompanying values and approaches to life into her world, how she's used these lessons
to help others discover their own sources of happiness, and it explores British dance
competitions, auditioning and productions. All this is juxtaposed with Sacre-Dallerup's own life
lessons and how they in turn applied to others, making this far more than your usual story of an
entertainer's involvement in an industry. Collections strong in stories of personal evolution and
achievement will find it the perfect pointer to positive paths in life and how to turn the lessons of
a career into the guiding lights of a lifetime.
The Gardening Shelf
Holland Flowering
Andrew Gebhardt
Amsterdam University Press
c/o University of Chicago Press
1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
9789089646170 $19.95 www.press.uchicago.edu
Holland Flowering: How the Dutch Flower Industry Conquered the World is a story of an
industry's rise and is based on the world's largest flower auction, Aalsmeer's, located near
Amsterdam, and documents the evolution of Netherlands flowers and its connections to Dutch
culture over the centuries. From colonial to modern times, this ambitious survey is as much about
Dutch history as it is about flower culture, and provides a delightful synthesis of ht two in an
approach gardeners and horticultural students will love. While the subject is fairly narrow, the
surprising scope of its coverage makes it a strong and different recommendation for horticultural
and world history holdings alike.
The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer
Jeff Carpenter with Melanie Carpenter
Chelsea Green Publishing Company
85 North Main Street, Suite 120, White River Junction, VT 05001
9781603585736 $39.95 www.chelseagreen.com
The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer: The Ultimate Guide to Producing High-Quality Herbs on a
Market Scale presents an unusual focus that pairs both business insights with farming details as it
considers not just how to grow organic medicinal herbs and culinary herbs, but how to market
them, and is based on their successful Zack Woods herb Farm in Vermont. Included in the
discussions are considerations often omitted from other books on herb gardening or farming,
from how to assess size and scale to create a sustainable farm layout to soil and plant
conservation, tool selections, and harvesting and postharvest processing. Color photos, charts,
and detailed information throughout come not from theory but from the author's experience and
new approach to growing local medicine, making for a solid reference that excels in approaches
and content not typically seen in your usual organic farming and gardening handbook.
The Audiobook Shelf
Brain Maker
David Perlmutter, MD with Kristin Loberg
Hachette Audio
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
9781478985556 $30.00 www.hachetteaudio.com
Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain - for Life draws some
unusual connections between brain health and the state of microbiome organisms, and uses the
latest cutting-edge research to explore how these organisms develop, how gut health may be
nurtured, and how mental clarity can add years to one's life. Clinical and lab studies as well as
research and work from doctors around the world blend into the discussion; all of which comes
alive in audio under the voice of stage, film and TV actor and audiobook narrator Peter
Ganim.
The Health/Medicine Shelf
Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Family Medicine, fourth edition
Jeannette E. South-Paul, et.al.
Lange
c/o McGraw Hill Professional
1221 Avenue of the Americas, 45th Floor, New York, NY 10020
www.mhprofessional.com
www.mcgrawhillmedical.com
9780071827454 $79.99 www.langetextbooks.com
The fourth updated edition of Current Diagnosis & Treatment: Family Medicine is for any family
medicine practitioner who wants a basic guide to clinical conditions often encountered in primary
care situations, from tick infections and HIV to inheritance patterns in family genetics and
urinary incontinence. Its format, presentation and approach greatly lends to USMLE Step 3
reviews or board certification efforts, while primary care trainees, nurses, and practicing
physicians alike receive a basic reference that includes discussions of alternative therapies,
conservative therapies, mental and behavioral as well as physical health challenges, and more.
This in-depth survey lends to both study and quick clinical reference, making it an important
handbook for students and practitioners alike.
The Well-Tuned Brain
Peter C. Whybrow, MD
W. W. Norton & Company
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
9780393072921 $27.95 www.wwnorton.com
The Well-Tuned Brain: Neuroscience & The Life Well Lived provides an inspiring look at
human technology's possibilities for the future, but provides a cautionary note in considering that
human behavior, not technological limitations, tends to be the limiting force in improving the
human condition. Chapters consider how the human brain remains focused on short-term
survival patterns, sometimes to its detriment, and it considers how neuroscience and human
behavior interact to provide some alternatives to tired and sometimes self-defeating thought
patterns. Neuroscience can point the way to a better future, but it's attention to psychological
change that will allow technology to truly make a difference, and The Well-Tuned Brain
discusses this process.
The Autism Shelf
Sisterhood of the Spectrum
Jennifer Cook O'Toole
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, Inc.
400 Market Street, Suite 400, Philadelphia, PA 19106
9781849057905 $19.95 www.jkp.com
Sisterhood of the Spectrum: An Asperger Chick's Guide to Life comes from an Aspie author who
creates an inspirational guide for teen girls with Asperger syndrome that can also be used by
parents of such teens, and uses her own experiences to cover everything needed in a way Aspie
teens can relate to. From romance and changing bodies to friendships and social encounters,
Sisterhood of the Spectrum discusses sexuality, relationships, and common pitfalls the author
experienced and wants to help fellow Aspies avoid. The result is a chatty, informative approach
written by a Aspie peer directed to fellow Aspies, and offers far more understandable approaches
than those which come from counselors, adults, and others outside the spectrum.
The Sports Shelf
Strength Training Past 50, third edition
Wayne Wescott and Thomas Baechle
Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 5076, Champaign, IL 61820-5076
9781450497916 $19.95 www.humankinetics.com
The third updated edition of Strength Training Past 50 provides a fine guide to muscle, fitness
and performance training for a range of objectives and appears in its third, updated edition to pair
eighty-three exercises form machines, bands, balls and weights with workouts designed for
particular objectives. Sport-specific programs for cycling, running and more accompany
nutritional guides for athletes and tips for adding lean muscle, and create workouts perfect for
those using strength training for specific purpose.
Bodybuilding Anatomy, second edition
Nick Evans, MD
Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 5076, Champaign, IL 61820-5076
9781450496254 $21.95 www.humankinetics.com
Bodybuilding Anatomy: Your Illustrated Guide to Increasing Mass and Sculpting Physique
appears in its second updated edition to teach the basics of bodybuilding approaches, and
provides some 100 primary exercises and over a hundred variations to target different muscle
zones for different purposes. Illustrations of the activated muscles in popular poses show how
each exercise is linked to competition and results, and provides a powerful, key training routine
designed for any bodybuilder at any level of achievement, from novices to those seeking
additional tips.
The Automotive Shelf
Drag Racing's Quarter-Mile Warriors: Then & Now
Doug Boyce
CarTech
39966 Grand Avenue, North Branch, MN 55056
9781613251331 $34.95 www.cartechbooks.com
Drag Racing's Quarter-Mile Warriors: Then & Now examines the cars from the late 1950s
through the early 1970s, and provides a detailed popular history of the funny cars, stocks, super
stocks, and more, all in a 'ten and now' format that covers the cars from their first competitions to
modern times. There are many books about drag racing and cars on the market; but few take the
heyday of their appearance and blends it with a modern visual contrast and discussion of where
the cars are today. From stripped, redone and repowered vehicles at various stages to their lively
histories, competition specs, and discussions of what's needed to keep them running, Drag
Racing's Quarter-Mile Warriors: Then & Now serves as both a history and as a tribute to drag
racing's heyday and achievements.
The Music Shelf
One Chord Wonders
Dave Laing
PM Press
PO Box 23912, Oakland, CA 94623
9781629630335 $17.95 www.pmpress.org
If One Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock sounds familiar, that's because it was
originally published in 1985 as one of the first books covering British punk rock. Its reissue today
is no less significant, using examples from a wide range of band to argue that one of punk's most
lasting achievements was to expose how power operated in the British entertainment industry. It
considers the radical approaches of punk rock (which differed from prior rock music movements)
and it follows the rise of punk and British political changes in the mid 1970s onward. The result
is just as political as it is about music, and is highly recommended not just for music history
readers, but for any who would understand the evolution of British politics and society.
Psychedelic Bubble Gum
Bobby Hart with Glenn Ballantyne
SelectBooks, Inc.
87 Walker Street, Suite B1, New York City, NY 10013
9781590792902 $26.95 www.selectbooks.com
Psychedelic Bubble Gum: Boyce & Hart, The Monkees, and Turning Mayhem into Miracles
provides more than your usual analysis of the studio rock group that became a bubblegum hit: it
comes from a writer who not only co-created the sound played by The Monkees, but many of the
classic hit songs before the group was even formed. Here Hart comes into his own in an
autobiography that delves into the making of a pop 'miracle' - not an accidental achievement, but
a purposeful creation by half of the successful songwriting team of Boyce & Hart. It shows how
Hart's efforts helped The Monkees outsell The Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined in 1967,
and it charts the rise of bubblegum music of the times. No rock music collection should be
without this history!
The Art Shelf
Landscape Painting Essentials
Johannes Vloothiuis
North Light Books
c/o F+W Media
1140 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10001
9781440336270 $24.99 www.artistsnetwork.com
Landscape Painting Essentials: Lessons in Acrylic Oil, Pastel and Watercolor offers secrets to
painting lovely landscapes and comes from a popular art instructor who teaches the basics of how
to make a painting more dramatic. From specific techniques for painting landscape elements
from mountains to snow to nine step-by-step demonstrations of techniques this pairs artistic
images with keys of what makes a painting stand out from the crowd. Color photos and examples
of eye-popping paintings make for a collection that advocates getting the most from acrylic oil,
pastel and watercolor efforts.
Escape Artist
Fran Forman
Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310
9780764347283 $45.00 www.schifferbooks.com
Escape Artist gathers luminous and vivid photo-paintings from artist Fran Forman, who focuses
on landscapes, daily life, and an almost surrealistic representation of both. It strives to consider
what lies beyond the limits of gravity, time, and social niceties and pairs poems and a story by
writer Michelle Blake with a visual exploration of these metaphorical worlds, which range from
almost steampunk in their representations to dark matters. The result is a collection that is
diverse, dark, and haunting: something any arts holding will find compelling and different.
Art Nouveau
Norbert Wolf
Prestel Publishing
900 Broadway, Suite 603, New York, NY 10003
9783791381558 $49.95 www.prestel.com
The latest new edition of the classic Art Nouveau covers a wide range of the art form, from dance
and architecture to fashion and advertising, and pairs gorgeous illustrations with an in-depth
probe of how the movement emerged to become an international phenomenon that affected not
just the arts, but modern culture as a whole. This provides a wider-ranging discussion than most
books on the topic, pairing a diverse set of styles and forms within the art nouveau movement
with a wider consideration of their emergence and history. Perhaps this is because the author is a
art historian who excels in creating a text that supports its illustrations throughout, where
competitors rely on image and sparse description alone. The result is a top pick for any collection
looking for a definitive text on the subject of art nouveau.
The Crafts Shelf
Easy Jewelry Making
Bead Style Magazine
Kalmbach Books
21027 Crossroads Circle, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612
www.kalmbachbooks.com
9781627002189 $19.99 www.jewelryandbeadingstore.com
Easy Jewelry Making: 50+ Projects is the perfect starting point for beginners new to jewelry
making who want to get started quickly. This collection represents a gathering of work from the
latest year of Bead Style magazine and provide some of the craft publication's best necklaces,
bracelets, and earrings. These projects are accompanied by basic jewelry-making tips and ideas
and offer keys to learning stringing, working with gemstones and chain, and learning how to use
bead spinners, loops, and more. Each lesson is highlighted at the top of the page, while project
descriptions offer important keys to choosing the project that both teaches the right skills and
presents a style acceptable to jewelry-makers.
Chinese Knotting
Cao Haimei
Better Link Press
99 Park Avenue, New York NY 10016
9781602200197 $26.95 www.betterlinkpress.com
Chinese Knotting: An Illustrated Guide of 100+ Projects is somewhat more than a crafts guide,
and gathers the historical records and relics of different eras to also provide a history of the
development and uses of Chinese knitting. It explores various names, design and art trends and
techniques, how basic Chinese knots are made (button knot, good-luck knots, and more), and
how to build upon the basics to create something truly original. This combination of history and
how-to pairs with numerous step-by-step color photos on nearly every page, along with full-page
examples of the many uses of Chinese knotting, making this a fine pick for any who would learn
about Chinese knotting's history and applications.
Folded Paper German Stars
Armin Taubner
Stackpole Books
5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055-6921
9780811714563 $16.95 www.stackpolebooks.com
Folded Paper German Stars: Creative Paper Crafting Ideas Inspired by Friedrich Frobel presents
a crafts guide filled with paper ideas for folding and using German stars, from wreaths and
mobiles to ornaments for trees. Step-by-step illustrated instructions for over 25 variations on a
classic Frobel folded shape teaches how to make them, but a big part of making them is then
using them - and this book takes the folded paper star a step further in offering all kinds of ideas.
The result is a top recommendation for any paper crafter looking for new folded paper projects
and applications.
The Architecture Shelf
The Function of Style
Farshid Moussavi
Actar D
c/o ActarBirkhauser Distribution
151 Grand Street, 5th floor, New York, NY 10013
9781940291307 $44.95 www.actar-d.com
The Function of Style offers college-level arts holdings a discussion on what comprises the
function of style today, in the 1990s to modern times, and considers the various forms that
occupy the very modern art world in all their diversity. Does such a wide-ranging collection of
art approaches indicate a lack of central focus or purpose? Here architect and theorist Moussavi
argues that such diversity in the architectural arts world provides a network of connections that
not only embrace modern life, but offer architects the opportunity to change conventional
perceptions of art and process alike. In such a milieu, the aesthetics regarding buildings are
changed. This third volume in his 'Function' series creates an updated approach to style which
architects can use to understand and synthesize ideas of art, architecture, and evolving modern
styles, and is recommended for college-level collections strong in discussions of modern art and
architectural evolution.
The Writing/Publishing Shelf
The Joy of Writing a Great Cookbook
Kimberly Yorio
Page Street Publishing
27 Congress Street, Suite 103, Salem, MA 01970
9781624140600 $21.99 www.pagestreetpublishing.com
The Joy of Writing a Great Cookbook: How to Share Your Passion for Cooking from Idea to
Published Book to Marketing it Like a Bestseller comes from an author who has some 20 years
in publicity to her name, who has worked on the book campaigns of some of the biggest names in
cooking, from Julia Child to Ina Garten - so her how-to guide isn't just about how to write a
cookbook; it's about how to create a superior, marketable product. Chapters incorporate this
publicist's viewpoint with the mechanics of how to publish a cookbook, offering a step-by-step
focus on what cookbook options are, how to choose between the, how to select and feature
recipes, and how to craft a winning book proposal that will have publishers salivating. Any who
aspire to write a cookbook must have this advice-filled guide.
Readers Writing
Elizabeth Hale
Stenhouse Publishers
480 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101-3451
9781571108432 $21.00 www.stenhouse.com
Students often don't write original works: they summarize - and there's a big difference between a
summary and original thinking. Readers Writing outlines this difference, explores the literary and
writing process involved in using a reader's notebook more effectively, and provides lessons to
teachers and students that discuss the process of questioning, answers, and building upon skills
using the processes and strategies in a reader's notebook scenario. The result is a guide packed
with keys to drawing important connections between readers and writers and unlocking the
process of success.
The Literary Studies Shelf
Bibliotech
John Palfrey
Basic Books
c/o Perseus Books Group
250 W. 57th St., Suite 1500, New York, NY 10107
www.perseusbooksgroup.com
9780465042999 $26.99 www.basicbooks.com
Bibliotech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google comes from a
technology expert who provides a call to action along with an exploration of how libraries can
address such growing issues as unequal access to education and information, and is a 'must' for
any literary or social issues collection. It considers how libraries are struggling in this
information age, what they must do to survive in the face of fading funding from the traditional
government sources, and how to shift their focus and their collections to support communities.
From the increase in ebook readers to the rise of digital culture - which would seem to make
libraries obsolete - Bibliotech makes an important case for freedom of information and the roles
libraries assume in this process, and is a top pick for any literary or social issues collection.
Bookmarked
Wendy H. Fairey
Arcade Publishing
c/o Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781628725377 $25.99 www.arcadepub.com
Bookmarked: Reading My Way from Hollywood to Brooklyn provides a solid survey of how
reading and learning from literature can become a lifelong endeavor, and blends personal memoir
with literary criticism as it tells of the author's life and how her love of literature followed every
turn and change. Her love of reading has provided works that helped guide her and create a better
life, and her memoir captures this process and imparts a solid sense of why it's so much a part of
her life. Any bookworm or fans of literature and the written word will find this a captivating
survey.
The Military Shelf
Unconditional Honor: Wounded Warriors and Their Dogs
Cathy Scott and Clay Myers
The Lyons Press
246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT 06437
9781493003297 $26.95 www.lyonspress.com
Unconditional Honor: Wounded Warriors and Their Dogs comes from an author and a
photographer who show how service and therapy dogs are changing the lives of military
personnel injured in action, and provides a collection pairing stories with color photos
throughout. It may surprise many readers to learn there's nearly a forty-year history of working
dogs helping wounded vets: this history as well as individual encounters are covered in a warm
survey of what these dogs mean to veterans and how adopting a canine has changed their lives.
Military and general-interest collections will find it a moving, engrossing collection.
The Fantasy/SciFi Shelf
The Architect of Aeons
John C. Wright
Tor
c/o Tor/Forge Books
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
9780765329707 $27.99 www.tor-forge.com
The Architect of Aeons tells of how the Hyades Armada has traveled thousands of light-years to
conquer earth and has arrived at last in the 112th century - but the invasion takes a different turn
and causes two enemies to join together in an uneasy alliance to create something bigger than
either of them could have imagined. As they become the architects of Aeons, directing the
intellectual development of descendants of an extinct humanity, they share many trials and
confrontations in the process. Military and political science fiction fans, in particular, will find
The Architect of Aeons filled with satisfying twists and turns of plot that embraces not just the
ambitions of invaders or the differences between two species, but the evolution of worlds.
The International Studies Shelf
Meet Me in Venice
Suzanne Ma
Rowman & Littlefield
c/o Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
9781442239364 $26.95 www.rowman.com
Meet Me in Venice: A Chinese Immigrant's Journey from the Far East to the Faraway West tells
the story of Ye Pei, who dreamed of a magical city in Venice as she imagined her mother there
enjoying her new life and eager for her daughter's involvement in it. But when she arrived in
Italy, she learned her mother was slaving away on a remote farm under a mean Chinese auntie
who also put Pei to work. And this is only one story of Chinese individuals who journeyed from
China to new homes where they faced suspicion, hardship, and isolation. With most news
centering around China's economic growth, it's especially important to understand the paths of
Chinese immigrants and their experiences, and this story uses one young woman's journey to
illustrate a familiar course for many in a key recommendation for any who would understand
more of the immigrant experience in general and Chinese culture around the world, in
particular.
A Political Economy of the Middle East, fourth edition
Melani Cammett, et.al.
Westview Press
c/o Perseus Book Group
250 W. 57th St., Suite 1500, New York, NY 10107
9780813349381 $42.99 www.westviewpress.com
A Political Economy of the Middle East provides an in-depth analysis of the political economy of
development in the modern Middle East over the past few decades, and appears here in a fourth
updated edition with two new authors to substantially revise information, adding tow new
introductory chapters with a new framework for study and further analysis of the demographic,
educational, social, labor and agricultural changes experienced in the region in recent years.
There's a new chapter on the continuing evolution of politics in the Gulf states, there's a new one
on the private sector's growth, and another on changes brought about by regional social
movements. The result is a 'must' for any college-level reader wanting the latest details on the
region's many political and social changes.
Globalization & Culture
Jan Nederveen Pieterse
Rowman & Littlefield
c/o Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4501 Forbes Blvd., Suite 200, Lanham, MD 20706
9781442222557 $26.95 www.rowman.com
College-level collections strong in politics and current events will find this a powerful addition to
the 'Globalization' series which stands alone to consider cultural change involved in civilizations
that clash. Does globalization lead to cultural homogenization? Pieterse argues to the contrary,
stating that a new global melange culture is being created through cultural mixing processes, and
it consider the history, geographic, political and cultural forces at work in this process. The result
is a powerful discussion especially suitable for college-level classroom debate.
The Political Science Shelf
The Jefferson Rule
David Sehat
Simon and Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, 14th fl., New York, NY 10020
9781476779775 $27.00 www.simonandschuster.com
The Jefferson Rule: How the Founding Fathers Became Infallible and Our Politics Inflexible
considers the patterns of American politics that originated with the founding fathers, but which
have moved far from their early guidance. It begins with the debate between Thomas Jefferson
and Alexander Hamilton over the new nation's future and continues to modern times, linking the
basic politics and concepts of these Founding Fathers to the evolution of political actions in this
country, and it provides a key to understanding the views of the founding generation and why
sometimes they don't apply to modern circumstances. The result is a solid, involving political
examination suitable for classroom discussion and any American history reader.
Thinking the Twenty-First Century
Malcolm McIntosh
Greenleaf Publishing
c/o Stylus Publishing, Inc.
22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012
9781783531738 $39.95 www.styluspub.com
Thinking the Twenty-First Century: Ideas for the New Political Economy is a recommendation
for college-level political science students and readers who receive a set of insights of five
changes happening on a global scale which hold important implications for a new political
economic structure. It blends economic and political theory with philosophical and social
reflection by examining these system changes in the context of interconnected systems, arguing
that these changes are already in progress and need to be accelerated. It questions contemporary
capitalism models and calls for a new order in an account that's particularly powerful in its
analysis of the sustainability of political and economic systems in a new global society, and will
offer much food for thought and classroom debate.
The Antiques/Collectibles Shelf
Coins & Collectors
Q. David Bowers
Whitman Publishing
4001 Helton Drive, Florence, Alabama, 35630
978079482727 $29.95 www.whitman.com
The Golden Anniversary edition of the classic Coins & Collectors guide packs some fifty
illustrated chapters into a history of famous coins, tokens, paper money and more, offering a
lively story behind coin design, releases, scholarship, and more. It uses stories, interviews, and
new images not available in other books to capture a sense of mystery and history alike, and it
details the individuals involved in coin evolution and collecting, the collection strategies, and
more. The result is a lively survey designed to appeal to collectors and any with an interest in
how coins evolved.
The California Shelf
Earthquake Storms
John Dvorak
Pegasus Books
80 Broad Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10004
9781605984957 $27.95 www.pegasusbooks.us
Earthquake Storms: The Fascinating History and Volatile Future of the San Andreas Fault tells
the story of eccentric scientists who studied the San Andreas Fault over the years, considering
what it is, how it works, and why it's central to California's future. What is popularly known as
the San Andreas is actually a network of quake faults that grows, connects, and changes through
the years, yet is younger than the Grand Canyon. The study of this system has long been fraught
with uncertainty, controversy, and challenges: Earthquake Storms considers these controversies
and the geologic oddities involved in earthquake science. From how Richter developed the scale
we still use today to measure quake strength to the notion of seafloor sliding, this book is a lively
key to understanding the nature of faults, quakes, the San Andreas in particular, and the scientists
who made stormy careers out of investigating some of the most elusive geologic mysteries in
history.
California's Channel Islands: A History
Frederic Caire Chiles
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
9780806146874 $19.95 www.oupress.com
California's Channel Islands: A History focuses on the human and natural history of a chain of
eight islands off the coast of Southern California, and is a recommendation for any California
collection interested in the area. Here is an intersection of natural and human activities on and
among the Channel Islands which documents the evolution of settlements, patterns of use, the
challenges posed by shifting sands, and more. The result is a solid set of insights on how the
Channel Islands have come to be used by settlers and more: a fine survey that is highly
recommended for any California history holding.
Junipero Serra
Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz
University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
9780806148687 $39.95 www.oupress.com
Junipero Serra: California, Indians, and the Transformation of a Missionary tells of the
Franciscan missionary friar and provides a weighty biography by translators and historians who
bring to life not only Serra's life, but his times. It focuses on his religious identity and his
relationships with Native peoples, telling how he spent thirty-four years as a missionary to
Indians in Mexico and California and not only changed their lives, but affected the politics and
development of the region as a whole. Where most coverages of Serra's life include opinions of
his actions, this strives for a partial consideration of his years and analyzes his choices from the
perspective of his ideals and their times. The result is a well-detailed study recommended not for
light pursuit, but for college-level collections strong in California history.
The Independent Publishers Shelf
Things I Wish I'd Known: Cancer and Kids
Deborah J. Cornwall
Bardolf and Company
5430 Colewood Place, Sarasota, FL 34232
9781938842221, $7.95, www.bardolfandcompany.com
Things I Wish I'd Known: Cancer and Kids is based on interviews with caregivers and provides
anyone facing cancer in the family with the practical resources to help manage its daily impact on
children.
One might anticipate this advice would occupy hundreds of pages; but one delight in Things I
Wish I'd Known: Cancer and Kids is that it appears in a slim, pamphlet-like coverage of under
sixty pages - which makes it much more digestible for those in crisis with short attention
spans.
Case histories pair with caregiver interviews and experiences to share first-hand knowledge
about the process of diagnosis, daily challenges, and resources to help children of different ages
manage the disease in their lives, whether it be their own diagnosis, a sibling's, or another family
member.
Also included are keys to handling children who have lost a sibling or parent to cancer, and
discussions of support during and after treatment. Many adults struggle with issues of how to
communicate with kids about cancer. Things I Wish I'd Known: Cancer and Kids addresses
common communication issues at different ages, tells how to manage the impact of such a
discussion (whether it's the child's own diagnosis or someone else's), and is packed with
resources for further reference - all given in language and approaches that are easy to understand
and apply.
Any caregiver feeling overwhelmed by too much weighty information should look here for
answers that are firmly grounded in real solutions.
Lunar Rampage
Samantha Cross
Solstice Publishing
614 Wal-mart Drive, Suite #209, Farmington, Mo. 63640
www.solsticepublishing.com, $4.99
Website: http://authorsamanthacross.wix.com/samanthacross
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Truth_Unwinding
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSamanthaCross
Kindle edition by Samantha Cross. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks at Amazon.com
Cora is a photographer who loves nature and she's living at and renovating her grandmother's
house; returning to a small town where she has mixed memories of fellow classmates and her
past. Anticipating an environment which will embrace her, she instead discovers that something
uncanny and unfamiliar is happening - something involving more than her grandmother's
uncertain memory.
Death, werewolves, and full moons suddenly stalk her footsteps, and thus Cora moves from a
nature-loving photographer looking to help out her grandmother to an amateur investigator with a
tiger by the tail.
Add a touch of (unwelcome) romance, girlfriend interactions, and the lure and dangers of full
moons and you have a fine blend of mystery and romance, spiced with small-town interactions
and a single girl's ability to raise danger from the dead in an engrossing leisure read
recommended for romance, mystery, and supernatural readers alike.
Culture Shock: A Practical Guide
H.E. Rybol
Privately Published
9789995987725, $3.99, www.cultureshocktoolbox.com
Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Shock-Practical-H-E-Rybol-ebook/dp/B00QCO5QZ2/ref=sr_1
_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417690002&sr=8-1&keywords=Rybol
iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/nl/book/culture-shock-practical-guide/id947347144?l=en&mt=11
Barnes&Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/culture-shock-he-rybol/1120853737?ean=2940046433319
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/496855
The first prerequisite to enjoying Culture Shock is an interest in international travel. This
requirement met, would-be travelers will find it a different take on culture shock than most books
offer, with a focus on finding and appreciating similarities between diverse peoples, rather than
just differences.
Readers can be students embarking on an international studies program, travelers, or those who
are encountering other cultures for the first time: they don't have to be solo adventure travelers
like the author; nor does one need to have a nomadic background. All that's needed is an open
mind and an interest in this particular method of minimizing culture shock, which involves using
"...simple everyday actions in a purposeful way to ease the stress that comes with everything
being new."
Chapters delve into the process of accepting and using new information, providing keys to
self-analysis of typical reactions to understand the shifts in consciousness brought about by
unexpected encounters. From practical tips covering apartment hunting, organizing plans and
movements, and learning to listen to one's inner voice to broadening a sense of self and, thus,
one's horizons, these easy admonitions and messages are accompanied by lovely color photos (in
the ebook edition: the print edition holds black and white images) of other cultures and overseas
scenes.
This focus on understanding is designed for self-help readers who aim to make the most of travel
and the cultural encounters that go with it.
The Sacred Seduction: Forbidden Truths - Love, Sex & Seduction
Rumio
Mindbuilt Design Studio
http://www.thesacredseduction.com
http://thesacredseduction.com/contact
9789692306508, $12.99, www.amazon.com
The reason why most 'relationship books' tend to sound the same is because few take into
account the bigger picture of how to first embrace the love in one's own mind, body and spirit
before moving outward to greater definitions and experiences. The Sacred Seduction: Forbidden
Truths - Love, Sex & Seduction is designed to remedy this lack of information and begins with a
basic examination defining love and how it sparks between two people.
Chapters require much of their readers: a willingness to consider the sacred and sexual paths that
lead to real love, a willingness to embrace psychological and spiritual concepts in the process of
exploring the nature and meaning of such love, and how men and women can unlock and ignite
sparks of attraction by understanding their own psyches and those interactions between the sexes
that lead to deeper connections.
It's obvious, fairly early on, that The Sacred Seduction offers higher-level thinking and is more
than just a book about improving relationships or sexual experience: it's a spiritually-oriented
focus that uses parables, admonitions, and discussions of the basics of attraction to reveal a
deeper process that runs through lives like a river; too often remaining unplumbed in favor of
shallower waters that recede too quickly.
If it's a quick read that is desired, move on. The powerful quotes, the parables and instructions,
the keys to a more meaningful understanding and, ergo, a more meaningful life: all reside in a
powerful survey that requires self-inspection, spiritual reflection, and a real desire to move
beneath the surface to gain greater meaning.
Old Magic: Lives of the Desert Shamans
Nicholas Clapp
Sunbelt Publications Inc.
1256 Fayette St., El Cajon, CA 92020
9781941384053, $22.95, www.sunbeltbooks.com
Old Magic: Lives of the Desert Shamans belongs in social science and Native American
collections alike, examining the lives of the desert shamans of the West and providing important
keys to understanding their daily experiences, perspectives and rituals.
Old Magic is no singular production: it uses the folklore of a dozen tribes as it builds a diverse
picture of the shaman's world, from dreamscape and tribal interactions to desert and mountain
landscapes and their influence upon the overall approach of desert shaman ceremonies.
Color photos of these landscapes, along with photos of relics and early recorded shaman imagery,
pair with discussions that blend history and folklore with an analysis of the spiritual belief
systems of the shaman.
It would have been all too easy to tailor Old Magic to reach new age audiences alone, but Clapp's
focus on documenting the desert shaman's unique approach to nature and human concerns, and
the role his environment played in his perspectives, makes for a lively history that will also reach
general-interest readers with an interest in Native American culture.
Peter O'Toole: Hellraiser, Sexual Outlaw, Irish Rebel
Darwin Porter & Danforth Prince
Blood Moon Productions
75 Saint Marks Place, Staten Island, NY 10301
9781936003457, $26.95, www.bloodmoonproductions.com
One might expect that Peter O'Toole: Hellraiser, Sexual Outlaw, Irish Rebel would hold the usual
biographical survey of the actor's life and times; but in fact it's a story that offers something far
greater: an analysis of O'Toole's life and career that features a new look at the actor's passion,
controversies, and determination to 'raise hell'.
Lest readers think this will be a rehash of prior biographies, it should be mentioned that Peter
O'Toole: Hellraiser, Sexual Outlaw, Irish Rebel represents decades of research by writers who
define their efforts as being steeped in media and celebrity stories - and therefore replete with the
high tension, drama, and eye-popping gossip and grit of Hollywood's most outrageous moments
and characters.
So don't anticipate a casual coverage: it's an account of a hellraising, outrageous personality and
is itself steeped in the culture it investigates, cultivating lively language, newly-revealed
shocking truths, and passionate descriptions to capture the life and times of a film star who,
according to Peter O'Toole, "...became the toast of international society. The decadent part, those
who live just to fornicate on the Costa del Sol. It's the new gathering place for panty sniffers,
child molesters, drunkards, prostitutes, pimps, gigolos, pillheads, and poon stalkers. I adore it. It
seems that all the big names want to go to bed with me. A lucky few actually manage to
accomplish that splendid feat."
Outrageous? You bet. It's not for the morally faint - and that promises that Peter O'Toole:
Hellraiser, Sexual Outlaw, Irish Rebel will be a frequent flyer out of library collections and film
reference holdings alike.
The Road Home
Kathleen Shoop
OakGlen Press
http://kshoop.com
BookSparks PR
9781511801249, $17.18, www.kshoop.com
The Road Home opens in 1905, with Katherine standing over her mother's coffin, having had the
opportunity to forgive her for past trespasses as she lay dying. Forced by her mother's death to
revisit these painful years, Katherine struggles to understand her mother's life; particularly as the
funeral brings with it many strangers and unexpected revelations.
In an interconnected series of stories, twins Katherine and Tommy come to uncover the truths
about their mother's life: both forced to return to painful memories and years in order to
understand their mother's actions and achieve an ultimate sense of peace.
Broken family connections, miracles, hopes, and redefined pasts: all these form the foundation of
a powerful story that's Book Two of The Letter Series in a saga which stands powerfully and
firmly on its own for newcomers, yet creates and cements a powerful account of change for those
who want further details on the evolving story of uncertain family connections and ultimate
healing.
The Imagine Project
Dianne Maroney
Yampa Valley Publishing
Box 4696, Parker, CO 80134
9780988995109, $35.00, www.TheImagineProject.com
The Imagine Project shares the inspiring stories of ordinary people who have achieved success by
overcoming obstacles ranging from mental illness and abuse to addiction and war, and is an
inspirational celebration of extraordinary success stories.
Photos accompany narratives of each life and offer vignettes that feature some of the wellsprings
of courage.
It should be mentioned that there are no famous names here: readers won't be familiar with these
being profiled. What will be recognized is their inspirational achievements, with photographer
Mario Masitti's striking portraits enhancing the invitation to imagine the circumstances life has
dealt these people and how they rose to the occasion to not just overcome and persevere, but to
excel.
America Invades
Christopher Kelly and Stuart Laycock
Book Publishers Network
P.O. Box 2256, Bothell, WA 98041
9781940598420, $29.95, www.AmericaInvades.com
Plenty of books have been written about specific invasions and their history; but few have
undertaken a comprehensive survey of all the countries America has either invaded outright or
been militarily involved in. Enter America Invades: How We've Invaded or been Militarily
Involved with Almost Every Country on Earth: an eye-opening examination that doesn't limit
itself to one nation, one period of time, or one approach.
There are many surprises here, including the fact that the U.S.'s first major invasion in 1741
helped George Washington name his Mount Vernon home; the fact that Norwegian scientists
nearly began World War III after the Cold War's end; and the trivia tidbit that shows how many
wars have been named after food.
Military historian Christopher Kelly provides a world-wide survey that examines these political
and military processes involving Americans in Madagascar, France, Thailand, and even Greece.
An alphabetical listing of nations makes it easy to locate a specific country and its history while
the addition of color photos adds to the shock value and historical insights in a rare focus
compiling information not readily accessible elsewhere.
Elizabeth's Landing
Katy Pye
Pyewacky Press
P.O. Box 265, Mendocino, CA 95469
9780989097314, $13.99, www.katypye.com
Port Winston has a beach, shopping, and a pleasant atmosphere; but to teen Elizabeth, who's
been moved mid-school year to Texas, it contains little of interest and much to avoid - including
her judgmental, fisherman grandfather, who thinks she's nothing but trouble.
At first glance, Elizabeth might seem the last person to take an interest in endangered wildlife,
but when she stumbles on an injured, nesting sea turtle, she finds new purpose and new conflicts
as she fights to save the Landing, the turtles' critical nesting beach. It's one thing to fight against
family, including its secrets: it's another to take on corporations and the results of the Deepwater
Horizon's damaging oil slick.
It's rare to find an environmental story folded into a young adult read about a teen's angst and
coming of age; but by incorporating the two under one cover, Elizabeth's Landing becomes so
much more than the usual story of a moved teen's struggle to adjust. Bigger-picture thinking
lends a social and political aspect to the story that succeeds in examining issues of a teen's power,
awakening to the world around her, and movement from 'troublesome' to 'engaged'.
Add psychological insights and a first-person approach to understanding ("Thanks," I say, thrilled
to hear terrific, perfect, and you in the same sentence.") and you have a moving story that
succeeds on many levels. This award-winning book is recommended for middle school to high
school audiences.
Mommy, Was Grandpa a Nazi?
Elisabeth Falcone
AuthorHouse
Bohlsen Group
9781496929693, $16.95, www.amazon.com
Mommy, Was Grandpa a Nazi? Recipes for Tolerance and Understanding serves up the belief
that food has the ability to bring people together; and considering the popularity of the recent
television show Breaking Borders (about chefs who arrange culinary liaisons and dinners
between traditionally opposing political groups), this book's basic concepts have already been
tested with great success.
Falcone is a German immigrant inspired to write this after conflict turned into a lifelong
friendship centered on a shared love of food. Chapters conclude with 'food for thought' and
recipes for greater understanding as they explore heritage, food, and how culinary contact brings
with it newfound understandings of similarities rather than differences.
This collection illustrates how people of different ethnicities and religious backgrounds can come
together over food and shared experience. Its stories are inspirational and revealing keys to
understanding just how such a process works, and is best absorbed by any who would learn from
its many case history examples.
Buffalo Soldiers South of the Rio Grande
William C. Moton
Trafford Publishing
Bohlsen Group
9781490747293, $12.99, www.amazon.com
Buffalo Soldiers South of the Rio Grande surveys the first African-American regiments in the
U.S. Army and provides a novel set in the early 1900s, when an African-American Army officer
and Buffalo Soldier attempted to rescue captured U.S. Armed Forces during the Mexican
Revolution.
Because so little is generally known about early black soldiers, having the story assume the form
of fiction lends to its accessibility for those who want the high drama and compelling characters
of fiction, with strong roots in real fact. The fictional form also allows for a narrowed focus and
an expanded perspective as the story line follows three different people from different
backgrounds who participate in a force that holds wide-ranging impact on soldiers,
African-Americans, the Mexican Federal Army, and more.
There are a number of nonfiction histories about the Buffalo Soldiers; but this more vivid view in
Buffalo Soldiers South of the Rio Grande will reach a far wider audience (especially those with
little prior background on their history) than any nonfiction account could achieve.
Stealing Dylan from Woodstock
Ray Foulk with Caroline Foulk
Medina Publishing Ltd.
310 Elwell Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT67AL UK
c/o Casemate Publishers (distributor)
908 Darby Road, Havertown, PA19083
www.casematepublishing.com
9781909339507, $32.95, www.medinapublishing.com
Stealing Dylan from Woodstock: When the Word Came to the Isle of Wight provides an account
of how the Isle of Wight Festivals transformed the small English island into massive focal point
for rock and roll celebrations. It all began in 1968 when a small town's attempt to raise funds for
a local swimming pool turned into a massive outdoor gathering and eventually attracted Bob
Dylan, a reclusive musician who rarely appeared in public after a serious motorcycle
accident.
The real question lies in what would compel a recluse who lived right next to one of the biggest
rock music festivals in the world (Woodstock) to fly 3,000 miles away to England to participate
in a little-known, unprecedented music gathering.
Stealing Dylan from Woodstock is about this development and the process of building an event
which took on a life of its own to alter Bob Dylan's life and others who participated in or
attended the event. Any collection strong in rock music history needs this story of how a tiny
island came to be synonymous with one of the largest music festivals in the world.
Talent for Humanity
Patrick Gaffney, Editor
Greenleaf Book Group Press
PO Box 91869, Austin, TX 78709
www.greenleafbookgroup.com
9781626341814, $16.95, www.talentforhumanity.org
Talent for Humanity: Stories of Creativity, Compassion, and Courage to Inspire You on Your
Journey is a motivational book and presents seven men and women who tell their stories of how
they overcame hardships to take stands against poverty, apathy, and prejudice.
One might anticipate that these individuals led special lives; but these are actually ordinary
people who made choices that led to extraordinary changes. Their accounts serve to illustrate that
anyone can make the decision to help transform the lives of others, and their stories tell how they
did so.
Any who believe that their lives are hopeless or are manipulated by political and social forces
beyond their control will find here not just accounts of compassion and involvement, but
important keys to understanding the choices that led to more connected lives.
Ready or Not
Lisa J. Shultz
Lightning Source, Publisher
P.O. Box 1956, Breckenridge, CO 80424
http://lisajshultz.com/contact-lisa
9780615884288, $9.95, www.LisaJShultz.com
Ready or Not: Tips for the New Grad is a slim motivational book perfect for gift-giving for new
grads, and blends the author's own life experiences with messages she received from influential
teachers and courses. It provides anecdotes and words of wisdom arranged by topics such as
setting goals, feeding one's soul, practicing new skills, and more.
Within these snippets of easily-digested words of wisdom are tips on what works and what does
not. Often these words sound familiar or come from other (unidentified) sources (i.e. 'Be the
Change You Want to See in the World'), but expand upon the concept of simple adages by
adding easy explanations of the process involved ("If you want peace, live peacefully and support
peaceful causes. The only person you can change is you.")
The joy of Ready or Not lies in its slim appearance, its simple concepts, and in specifics which
move beyond the usual approach of one-line words of wisdom to examine the course of
progressive thinking. It's these elements that lend to the book's accessibility to new grads and
those who would learn new ways of leading more meaningful lives.
Kung Fu Kitty: Laying Down the Law
Lauri Bortz
Abaton Book Company
100 Gifford Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304
http://www.abatonbookcompany.us/layingdownthelaw.html
9780981633017, $10.00
Kung Fu Kitty retold the story of Exodus and was set in ancient China with animal characters,
and years later comes its sequel, Kung Fu Kitty: Laying Down the Law, which needs no prior
introduction to prove whimsical and fun.
Here a nation of formerly enslaved cats are learning how to live in peace in their newfound
homeland, guided by a master Kung Fu kitty who travels not only the world, but the universe,
serving her kitty companions.
While the book appears short, it's actually packed with much food for thought because the story line is replete in observation and ideas, as in the controversial construction of a dictionary: "To placate King Serious, Pin Zi Feng selected a handful of words with negative characteristics: cataclysm, cataract, catatonia, catarrh, catachresis, catacomb, caterwaul, catalepsy and catastrophe. Nonetheless, he managed to balance it out with a few unsavory dog-starting words; dogma, in all its forms, and doggerel."
Black and white full-page illustrations by Michael Gentile compliment a zany cast of cat
characters who find their new home embraces not just a single land, but the universe. Self-help
readers interested in a blend of cats, philosophy, and reflection will find the format unusual and
the delivery refreshingly different.
Isthmus
Gerard LaSalle
Avasta Press
9781503183339, $14.99, www.AvastaPress.com
Isthmus provides the first sequel in the Widow Walk series and is set in 1860s Panama, where
revolution brings civil war to the United States and Emily has moved back to Boston with all that
remains of her fragmented family. Their journey on the Panama isthmus railroad brings them to a
strange new world where international peoples mingle and revised hopes and dreams bring
together a disparate ragtag of personalities.
Isthmus is based on history and provides a rich setting in the jungles of South and Central
America, but its major attribute lies in a fictional representation that brings to life the
uncertainties of a world where languages and customs differ and where there's no information
readily available to help ease the culture shock between peoples or the confusion over their
intentions: "She sensed there was difference between the aborigines here and Deacy, but she
didn't know if she was correct about that, or whether she was missing something and they really
were alike."
Take human rights issues, family interactions and struggles for survival, encounters between
different peoples, and vivid accounts of this historical period's major issues and mix in the high
drama of fiction and you have a story that's truly hard to put down.
Saving Sight
Andrew Lam, M.D.
Irie Books
12699 Cristi Way, Bokeelia, FL 33922
9781617203794, $12.95, www.AndrewLamMD.com
Saving Sight: An Eye Surgeon's Look at Life Behind the Mask and the Heroes Who Changed the
Way We See blends medical history and insights from an eye surgeon's perspective, and is
recommended for any health or medical collection with a special interest in ocular surgery and
eye treatment processes.
Graphic surgical accounts and case histories of efforts to save sight under often-impossible
conditions accompany chapters that include a healthy dose of history as they expose new research
and changes in the area of eye medicine and intersperse medical case histories with intriguing
discussions of how the field of eye surgery has changed and expanded over the decades.
The result are discussions especially recommended for medical students and readers with an
interest in the field of ocular medical advancements: a survey that successfully combines the
personal approach of a physician's case histories with wider-ranging discussions of the field's
growth, challenges, and changing treatment options.
French Illusions
Linda Kovic-Skow
Dreamland Press
Ascot Media Group
9780988464025, $14.99, www.lindakovicskow.com
French Illusions: My Story as an American Au pair in the Loire Valley blends an
autobiographical coming-of-age story with an account of how the author decided to choose a
French immersion approach to her ultimate goal of becoming a flight attendant: a decision that
led to her job as a nanny for a wealthy French family - and to poor choices when she claimed to
speak basic French, when she barely knew a word.
Once there, she found communications impossible, was treated as a household drudge, and
struggled with French culture and language alike. Even worse, she met and developed a crush on
a handsome student ... 'worse' because at a time when her hands were filled with struggle, a
romance was the last thing she needed.
Plenty of memoirs address traumatic cultural encounters; but this blend of adventure, romance,
and a summer of discovery goes a step further in documenting the poor choices of youth, their
consequences, and how Linda Kovic-Skow ultimately overcame many challenges to achieve her
goals despite these early snafus. The result makes for an especially vivid, engrossing read.
Paddling to Winter
Julie Buckles
Raven Productions Inc.
P.O. Box 188, Ely, MN 55731
9780983518921, $17.95, www.adventurepublications.net
Paddling to Winter relates how author Julie Buckles and Charly Ray built a wood and canvas
canoe, married, and paddled away on a year-long journey into northern Saskatchewan where they
stayed for the winter. It's a story of the honeymoon of a lifetime: an adventure that carried them
and their canoe through gorgeous scenery and many wilderness struggles, and one which will
engross armchair readers not quite brave enough to duplicate the effort.
One doesn't anticipate humor in a travelogue; especially when it involves a rugged sojourn from
Lake Superior to the Canadian North - but its here.
From close encounters with moose to adjusting to the silence of being alone on an island, the
tales in Paddling to Winter come to embrace a warm autobiography, a cold climate, and a series
of encounters that ultimately bring the honeymooners closer together.
It's almost enough to make a reader want to attempt the same - but the hardships are candidly
covered as well as the ecstasies. It's much easier to just sit back and vicariously enjoy the
read!
Time's Chariot
Logan Henry
CreateSpace
http://www.authorloganhenry.com/latest-release
1494974592, $14.99, www.amazon.com
Time's Chariot tells of a man turning 80 who is faced with a killer, a woman's love, and a host of
conflicts from his haunted past as a Marine sniper, including the loss of his wife. In some ways
it's the quintessential account of an elderly man facing death who confronts present and past with
determination and courage; in another way, it's about the increasing fluidity of time as the years
march on.
Because so much alternates between past and present, the casual leisure reader seeking a quick
read might find Time's Chariot a challenge. But though its writing may feel challenging to some
readers, it's a beautiful and poetic example of English at its best, charting movement and growth
even at the end of time itself: no easy topic for the reader seeking action and adventure.
Those who appreciate the classic works of Saul Bellow and others who write of the middle-aged
or elderly experience will find something exceptional in Time's Chariot: a culmination of a
lifetime of influences and experiences all wound up in what could be a final crescendo of either
celebration or surrender... no spoilers here: read Time's Chariot to find out.
Gold-in-Quartz
Ronald von Freymann
AuthorHouse
Bohlsen Group
9781496917935, $19.95, www.authorhouse.com
Gold-in-Quartz: A Jewelry Hunter Thriller weaves a vivid and unpredictable plot packed with
jewelry thieves, a terrorist plot, an international chase, and more, and opens a year after an
Islamic cleric declares a fatwa against Bill and Jenn Watson for averting a terrorist plot in
California.
As if that isn't enough, a jewelry-buying trip in Northern California's Gold Country leads them
into a danger that lands them in the witness protection program: a solution that offers only
temporary remedies as their enemies find them anyway.
It seems the world isn't wide enough to allow them to escape and lead easy lives. As their
journeys direct them into more and more danger, readers become immersed in the bigger picture
of whether any move they can make will lead to their survival and re-entry into a non-conflicted
world.
Plenty of thrillers offer action and international struggles; but few contain the sense of direction,
staccato changes, and intrigue of Gold-in-Quartz, which leads readers on an unrelenting romp
skirting deadly dangers right and left.
The Eduard Josef Gubelin Story
The Gubelin Foundation
Unicorn Press, London
c/o University of Chicago Press (distributor)
1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637
www.press.uchicago.edu/presswide
9781910065402, $60.00, www.unicornpress.org
The Eduard Josef Gubelin Story: The Art and Science of Gems is an in-depth biography of the
father of modern gemology, and belongs in any science collection strong in gem science and
discoveries.
Gubelin's pioneering research did more than make discoveries: it created and defined the science
of gemology, which spread around the world. This book discusses not only Gubelin's life and
influences but the science of gemology as a whole, pairing full-page color gem images and black
and white vintage photos with deliberations ranging from the evolution of a business to the
advancement of gem science.
Also included are histories of his involvement in film and photography, rounding out his
scientific discoveries and presenting the portrait of a true Renaissance man whose research and
achievements changed the world.
Now You See Me
Diane Brischke
Xlibris
Bohlsen Group
9781479751563, $31.99, www.amazon.com
Now You See Me: From Endangered to Extinction examines a variety of endangered animals and
considers what's threatening their existence, pairing analysis with Brischke's own photos
throughout the book to provide inviting color photos of the species.
The simple format uses a full-page photo on a facing page with three paragraphs of discussion
and at-a-glance information to consider exactly what kind of human encroachment (poaching,
pollution, habitat loss or pet trade) poses the most problems.
About 32 pages of detail are presented in a pamphlet-sized booklet that stems from the
photographer author's hours spent photographing zoo animals and gathering information
appropriate for both children and adults interested in an introduction to conservation. While the
information is not new; what is different is an arrangement that lends to quick browsing and
quicker understanding about the particular threats facing each species.
Blossom
Christopher Lentz
Privately Published
www.christopherlentz.org
Novel Public Relations
9780996293600, $12.99, www.blossomtrilogy.com
Blossom is the first book in a trilogy and opens in the spring of 1906 in San Francisco; a world of
light and wonder teetering on the brink of vast changes soon to be wrought by the 1906
earthquake. It's here that socialite Clarissa Donohue stands poised for success - and here that
earthquake and fire will rip apart everything she's dreamed of.
It's important to note that Blossom takes place over a period of only five days, yet packs in
enough detail and transformation to make its timeline feel much longer. As chapters count down
to the earthquake, events assume a vivid immediacy as secrets are revealed, family connections
questioned, romance rears, and the streets of Chinatown come alive.
With such a memorable backdrop and the inevitability of disaster based on historical events,
Blossom could all too easily have become a scenario of survival. The fact that much of its action
takes place in the days before the quake lends to a warm, revealing story that takes its time to
paint the cultural interactions and social world of San Francisco pre-quake, and Blossom Sun and
Brock St. Clair's place in it, before everything changes forever. Between romantic tension and
historical events, it's impossible to not be immersed in this story of passion and tragedy!
Embrace Happiness
Ali Soleymaniha
iUniverse LLC
Bohlsen Group
9781491729571, $16.95, www.iuniverse.com
Embrace Happiness: The Art of Conflict Management is about finding equilibrium and new
strategies for managing stress and gaining happiness, and comes from a consultant who
specializes in helping clients achieving better results in their lives.
His philosophy is simple and clear: sources of conflict emerge from communication snafus,
differences in perception, crossed signals, and shortcomings inherent in the adversary system,
and stem from variations in hearing, listening, and understanding.
The finer art of managing conflict for more effective resolution and understanding thus lies in
semantic, emotional, and interpretative clarification; and the paths to embracing happiness lie
stem from making modifications that lend to better communication. This powerful survey that
offers many clear guidelines that move beyond conflict management to the heart of its ultimate
purpose: peace and happiness.
Time and the Tapestry
John Plotz
Bunker Hill Publishing
285 River Road, Piermont, NH-03779
9781593731458, $18.50, www.bunkerhillpublishing.com
Time and the Tapestry is illustrated by Phyllis Saroff and provides middle school grades and
older with the engrossing story of a 13-year-old girl and her 10-year-old brother, who are
transported back in time to the Pre-Raphaelite period on the back of a giant bird and charged with
restoring the missing pieces of a William Morris tapestry.
From living room to epic quest, this story takes flight and provides a healthy dose of 19th century
English history as it follows the two siblings, who can't return home until they find the missing
pieces that will make a tapestry whole.
With adventures moving from Iceland to Boston to Oxford, lovely illustrations enhance a
timeslip fantasy adventure that represents a compelling integration of historical fact, modern
children, and a quest that must be undertaken if they are ever to see home again.
Wolves of the Revenue
Pete Johnson
Xlibris
Bohlsen Group
9781436369619, $19.99, www.xlibris.com, www.amazon.com
Wolves of the Revenue: A Tale of IRS Abuse is a thriller with a difference: it comes from a
lawyer whose clients have experienced harassment from the IRS, who exacts his revenge not in
the courtroom, but through writing about it.
This is a fictional saga of a taxpayer struggling with two IRS agents' harassing audits,
assessments and seizures. In the course of taking action, the protagonist walks the dangerous road
of vengeance and finds his life forever changed because of his decisions.
The fact that this saga is loosely based on a real-life IRS struggle by a deceased client of author
Pete Johnson, and that it contains details of tax revolt and documents the real-world relentless
practices of the IRS, makes it a particularly convincing, realistic read that will delight and chill
thriller audiences whether one believes taxes are fair or not.
In the Eyes of Madness
Michael Pang
SolaFide Publishing
PO Box 1013, Gotha, FL 34734
$11.99 (Paperback), $2.99 (Kindle), $4.99 (Nook)
ISBN: 9780692437339 (paperback), 9780692423929 (Ebook)
Ordering Website:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0692437339
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/in-the-eyes-of-madness-michael-pang/1121840881?ean=978
0692437339
http://www.InTheEyesOfMadness.com
In the Eyes of Madness reveals a psychotic mother, a damaged child, and what happens years
later when, in an effort to become closer to his mother, Declan takes a job in the institution where
she is housed. But the institution houses more than his mother and fellow sufferers: there's an
evil lurking behind closed doors, and Declan has run right into it by pursuing a relationship with
his mother.
Raised by his aunt and uncle after his mother's breakdown, Declan has many unanswered
questions; the biggest of which is what led to her sudden psychotic break and attack.
What he doesn't fully comprehend is that in order to understand her breakdown, he will have to
follow her not only to the institution that houses her, but into the halls of madness itself - a
journey that leads to answers, newfound revelations, and new dangers that emerge from asking
too many questions and refusing to let the past remain hidden. As Declan becomes involved with
Zoe, Keira, and others, he finds himself on a path that, if it doesn't lead straight into madness,
surely leads into another world of danger, death, and unexplained powers.
It's a murder mystery, it's a supernatural piece, and it's about one son's determination to find
answers to the puzzles in his life; all in one. The journey that results will inject 'rehab' with an
entirely new interpretation that skirts the boundaries of reality and supernatural worlds in a tense
saga that's engrossing and hard to put down.
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575-1129
phone: 1-608-835-7937
e-mail: mbr@execpc.com
e-mail: mwbookrevw@aol.com
http://www.midwestbookreview.com
Diane C. Donovan, Editor & Senior Reviewer
12424 Mill Street, Petaluma, CA 94952
phone: 1-707-795-4629
e-mail: donovan@sonic.net
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