I'm a Stranger Here Myself

I’M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF: Bill Bryson: Broadway Books: Nonfiction

After living in England for 20 years, Bill Bryson returned home to America with his family. I’m a Stranger Here Myself is a collection of pieces about modern American life that he wrote for a British newspaper after returning to the States. While I always find Bill Bryson amusing, the articles in this book were written in the late 1990s, so they felt a little dated. Pieces on the difficulty of programming a VCR or the looming Y2K problem are hard to really find interesting when VCRs are becoming obsolete and Y2K has come and gone without incident. Chapters on more universal issues were a good read, though.

MBC

Among Wild Horses

AMONG WILD HORSES: A PORTRAIT OF THE PRYOR MOUNTAIN MUSTANGS: Rhonda Massingham: Storey Publishing: 2006: Nonfiction: 134 pages

"They are living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West," so says Congress when discussing one of this nation's symbols of freedom, the wild mustangs. Lynne Pomeranz spent two years photographing the incredibly beautiful wild mustangs of the Pryor Mountains located between Wyoming and Montana. This 134 page extremely easy read is absolutely worth a look, EVEN by those who are non-horse lovers. Pomeranz's ability to capture these mustangs and extraordinary diversity of the land they call home, is remarkable. If you only look at the photos you will close the book thinking, 'those are some great pictures'. If you look at the photos AND read the book, you will feel as if you had the opportunity to get to know up close and personal, some of America's proudest symbols of freedom. In any case, no one will be able to get through the entire book without at least one smile or ahhhh.

MPB

Piano: the Making of a Steinway Concert Grand

PIANO: THE MAKING OF A STEINWAY CONCERT GRAND: James Barron: Times Books (2006): nonfiction: 265 pages

This book is the biography of one piano – K0862, the 565,700th Steinway manufactured piano – made in New York City at the Steinway and Sons factory during 11 months of 2003 and 2004. Following the creation of this beautiful instrument gives the author a chance to review the painstaking handwork required to make a piano as well as the history of the Steinway Company.

This is a very interesting book if you love pianos and piano music. The manufacture of a piano is a complex process requiring painstaking precision. It’s fascinating to follow the life of a piano from raw wood to the concert hall. This handcrafted, $100,000 instrument now spends each concert season in the concert hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

If you’ve never looked inside a piano and have no idea how they work (it takes 4,752 moving parts for all the notes on a Steinway concert grand piano) it’s possible you will find the book too detailed. But the history of the piano and of the Steinway Company is a fascinating story, too, that is skillfully woven through the chapters of the book.

SH

The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for a Perfect Garden

THE $64 TOMATO: HOW ONE MAN NEARLY LOST HIS SANITY, SPENT A FORTUNE, AND ENDURED AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS IN THE QUEST FOR THE PERFECT GARDEN: William Alexander: Algonquin Books (2006): nonfiction: 265 pages

It’s the time of year when we imagine the wonderful garden we could have if we just…. well, had enough time, money, energy, and know how. William Alexander had sufficient of all of those to plant and maintain an immense vegetable garden and a number of fruit trees on his property in the Hudson Valley in New York. Alexander is an avid, perhaps obsessed, gardener who stakes himself against deer, purslane, moles, and his own larger than life gardening propensities. This humorous book is full of interesting trivia about gardening. The book is quick and fun to read but also gives a realistic view of the effort required in a day to day struggle to impose our own will on nature. I highly recommend this book but if you're seriously dreaming about this year's garden you might want to save the book until the end of the growing season!

SH

The Bastard of Istanbul

THE BASTARD OF ISTANBUL; Elif Shafak; Viking; 2007; Fiction; 368pp.
Elif Shafak's The Bastard of Istanbul is as rich a piece of fiction as I have encountered in recent memory. Asya Kazanci, who has narrowly avoided being aborted in order to live to a cynical young adulthood, lives in Istanbul in a household of "aunties," one of whom is her mother, Zeliha. Having no notion who her father is, she abandons herself to creating a personal code of nihilism, since her life can have no meaning without knowing where she came from. Zeliha's only brother Mustafa has moved to America to avoid the Kazanci curse--no man lives past the age of forty-one. When Mustafa's Armenian stepdaughter goes to Istanbul to confront the Turkish oppressors of her forebears, the two families are reunited in unexpected ways.
Shafak's narrative is redolent of Turkish and Armenian culture, including mouthwatering recipes. Her characters are delightfully rendered: Petite-Ma, the birdlike grandmother whose Alzheimer's occasionally gives way to a startling musicality; the Dipsomaniac Cartoonist whose irreverent drawings of government officials land him in jail; and Auntie Banu, a late-life clairvoyant who is aided in her decision-making by bitter and sweet djinni on either shoulder.
Such a blackly humorous and altogether lovely book!

LW

Peeps

PEEPS: Scott Westerfeld: Penguin Group: Young Adult: 312 pages

Nineteen-year-old Cal, a Texas transplant, lost his virginity–and a lot more–when he first arrived in New York City. He became a parasite-positive, or peep–he prefers not to use the v-word. Now he works for the Night Watch, a secret branch of city government dedicated to tracking others of his kind. Unlike the rare natural carriers like Cal, who has acquired night vision, superhuman strength, and a craving for lots of protein, most peeps are insane cannibals lurking in darkness. But now the teen has found the young woman who infected him–and learns that something worse than peeps is threatening the city, and he is on the front lines.

One of my friends recommended that I read this book. I had read other books by this author and had just finished Twilight, so I was ready for another vampire book. I liked how Scott Westerfeld addressed vampires in this book and that it was a little more scientific. I would recommend this book to boys because it is a fast read and it is a little bit disgusting since it discusses parasites and worms.

AMM

Sold

SOLD: Patricia McCormick: Hyperion: 2006: Young Adult: 272 pages

Not for the faint of heart, Patricia McCormic's "Sold" takes us into the heart of India's Sex Trade through the eyes of 13 year old Lakshmi. The book is told in first person, journal entry type, free verse poems. Lakshmi's story begins in her small country village of Nepal and ends up in a dirty Indian brothel when her father sells her to pay for his extravagant gambling habits. The story is fairly graphic in a couple parts and there is no denying the heaviness of the topic and tone. However, there are points of light as we see Lakshmi seek out friendships that make her world bearable. It is on the one hand a testament to the resiliency of children and on the other a dire warning of the ubiquitous sex trade in India and its surrounding countries. No question this book was mostly a downer and could easily be too intense for many teens. I found it thought provoking and powerful, but to be recommended with caution.

BES

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING: Bill Bryson: Broadway: 2004: Nonfiction: 560 pages

As the title suggests this book by noted humorist and travel writer Bill Bryson covers a little bit of everything. From evolution to physics to the beginning of the universe; you name it, he covers it. I was daunted by the prospect of reading this large book. Fortunately I was delighted to find that like with all of his other books, this one was indeed interesting and enjoyable. Not an easy task for a science book! I actually came away wanting to know a bit more about some of the subjects. Bryson did an admirable job of introducing the many scientists that we have heard of as well as the theories, laws, and discoveries that we all learned about in school. I found this to be a very readable book that will leave you feeling a little smarter than when you started.

DEF

The March

THE MARCH: E.L. Doctorow: Random House: Fiction: 363 pgs.

The March is a novelization of General Sherman’s march across the South at the end of the Civil War. Doctorow has mixed fact and fiction skillfully to create a realistic and heartbreaking portrait of this historical event. As Sherman’s troops marched through the crumbling Confederacy they left behind them destroyed hopes and took with them an ever-growing entourage of freed slaves, displaced southerners, journalists, criminals and a host of others.

To me, The March can be easily compared to Shaara’s Killer Angels. It bring the Civil War to life in a way that no text book could.

CZ

Babylon's Ark

BABYLON'S ARK: THE INCREDIBLE WARTIME RESCUE OF THE BAGHDAD ZOO: Lawrence Anthony: St. Martin's: 2007: Nonfiction: 248 pages

Lawrence Anthony's story of his and other's efforts to save the animals of the Baghdad Zoo after coalition forces toppled the Ba'athist regime in 2003 is fascinating and heartbreaking.
No one had much time to think about what might be happening to the zoo animals during the days of "shock and awe" and immediately following, but when word got out that they were in deep distress, Anthony came from his South African game preserve, and with the help of various surviving zoo employees, sympathetic coalition soldiers, the Provisional Government, and some international wildlife rescue organizations, he saved many animals and brought the zoo back to tenuous life. Anthony's stories of the looting of the zoo, when rare and exotic species were stolen to be sold or eaten, and where clean water and food were non-existent (workers had to buy donkeys off the streets of Baghdad to feed to the lions), are extraordinary. The dangers inherent in any activity in Iraq during that time are also tellingly portrayed--what amounted to a commando operation was required to "liberate" Saddam Hussein's purebred Arabian horses from racetrack stables, and one zoo employee was severely beaten and stabbed because he was working for the "enemy." Babylon's Ark is fascinating reading for anyone interested in animals, the war in Iraq, and what might be accomplished by fearful but determined workers in a good cause.

LW

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm: Polly Schulman: Putnum: 2006: Young Adult: 198 pages

Julie and Ashleigh live next door to each other and have been best friends since they were small. Though as Julie explains, “there is little more likely to exasperate a person of sense than finding herself tied by affection and habit to an Enthusiast.” Julie never knows what craze Ashleigh will fancy next or how long she will remain obsessed. Julie is much more sensible and is really only enthusiastic about one thing, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. That is until Ashleigh picks up Julie’s copy and becomes very enthusiastic herself. Julie is worried that Ashleigh’s enthusiasm might overshadowed her own, and her fears are well-founded when Ashleigh starts to wear full-length skirts to cover her lower limbs and speak in the dialect of the 18th century. Things definitely turn from bad to worse when Ashleigh schemes to crash the local private boys school’s annual cotillion in search of suitable Mr. Darcys for the two of them.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. There were many references to Jane Austen’s novels as well as Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This book contains many of the things I love about Pride and Prejudice such as the commentary on social customs and the fun storyline of seeing the good-hearted underdog win her true love. I enjoyed seeing what Austen’s stories might have been like if she were writing in our current day.

AJ

Crunch Time

CRUNCH TIME: Mariah Fredericks: Atheneum: Young Adult: 317 pages

Four students from very different backgrounds form an SAT study group and become unlikely friends, but their friendship is threatened when they all become suspects in a cheating scandal.

This is a pretty good read told in the alternating voices of the four main characters. I liked the author's earlier book, Head Games, better than this one. Readers who enjoy this book might also like Cheating Lessons by Nan Willard Cappo.

MBC

Bad

BAD: Jean Ferris: Farrar, Straus, Giroux: Young Adult: 181

After being caught in the middle of an armed robbery, 16-year-old Dallas is living in a juvenile detention center for girls, where she mixes with a variety of teens--some desperately trying to turn their lives around and others simply waiting to return to their former homes and crimes.

This book is based on the author's interviews with girls in a juvenile detention center in California, and the research is evident in the realism of the different characters. A lot of interesting issues about nature versus nurture and free will are examined as Dallas and the other juvie residents consider how they got where they are and if they can change. This is another book that gives a very good snapshot of a moment in several lives without necessarily coming up with any happy endings or resolutions.

MBC

Among the Hidden

AMONG THE HIDDEN: Margaret Peterson Haddix: 1996: YA: 160

The first installment in Haddix's 7 part series introduces us to Luke, a hidden third child and The Shadow Children series' main protagonist. After a terrible famine and totalitarian political shift the Country Luke lives in enacts a law that no family can have more than two children. Luke is a hidden third child forced to stay indoors at all times and hide his existence. He is not even allowed to eat dinner at the table with his family out of fear that someone might see him. When Luke discovers another "hidden child" in the house next door his perception of hidden children changes drastically. Unlike Luke, Jen feels very strongly about the injustices hidden children endure and wants to change their invisible status at any cost.

While this book is primarily for young readers (very short and easy to read) the ideas are pretty complex and make for a very interesting read. I think this would be a great pick for reluctant readers, and boy especially. Among the Hidden is just the beginning of Luke's story and the cliffhanger at the end will make you want to read them all.

BES

Don't Think Twice

DON'T THINK TWICE: Ruth Pennebaker: H. Holt: Young Adult: 262 pages

In the summer of 1967, seventeen-year-old Anne Harper enters a home for unwed pregnant teens. She resists thinking about her pregnancy and current situation, but eventually she's drawn into the lives of the other residents and develops a new self-awareness.

Pennebaker does a great job of giving a snapshot of an unusual grouping of teens without commenting on the scene she's created. The lives of the characters are revealed through their interactions and conversations with one another, as narrated by sarcastic and humorous Anne. There are no pat answers or real conclusions, just a picture of several months in the lives of very different girls, so the ending is a little unsettling. Because of the subject matter and some language, the book is best suited for older teens.

MBC

A Mormon in the White House?

A MORMON IN THE WHITE HOUSE? 10 THINGS EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MITT ROMNEY:
Hugh Hewitt: 2007: NonFiction: 311pgs.

Many of you will remember Hugh Hewitt’s PBS series on “Searching for God in America,” which included an interview with Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now Hewitt has written a hagiography in support of Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. “A Mormon in the White House? 10 Things Every American Should Know About Mitt Romney” is a book-length tract designed to convince Evangelicals that Romney is their best bet to represent their values in the White House. In a well-written text, Hewitt takes readers through Romney’s political heritage, his business achievements, the 2002 Olympics, his family life, and beliefs. His presumption of an already deeply conservative audience is clear from the fact that the book is published by Regnery, and by his derisive tone towards other presidential players such as John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Rudolph Giuliani (which seems unhappily hypocritical when one is writing from a Christian perspective). Although Hewitt does an excellent job of painting the attractive possibilities of a Romney presidency, his occasionally contemptuous tone will likely limit the book’s appeal to moderates or independents.

LW

Detox Your Finances

DETOX YOUR FINANCES: EARN MORE, SPEND LESS, AND MAKE YOUR MONEY WORK AS HARD AS YOU DO:John Middleton: 2004: NonFiction: 245

Though Middleton could be a little obnoxious at times (the dis on Lord of the Rings was almost too much for me to continue reading) this book was practical and helpful. The book is organized into "52 brilliant ideas" about getting control of and managing your finances. Some were a little bit obvious (don't spend money you don't have...) but most of the ideas were real "I never would have thought of that , but that makes so much sense!" kinds of tips. Fast, practical read.

BES

Love is a Mix Tape

LOVE IS A MIX TAPE: LIFE AND LOSS, ONE SONG AT A TIME: Rob Sheffield: 2007: Biography: 219

This delightful book is as much a biography of 90's music culture as it is of one young widow's attempt to deal with loss. Rob Sheffield is a music critic for Rolling Stone Magazine and this biography of his marriage and the untimely death of his eccentric wife reads like the quirky vignettes you'd find in the pop culture magazine. Each chapter is prefaced with a mix tape play list that sets the tone for the particular sound byte to follow - and it truly feels like you can hear this book. (In fact, I downloaded a couple of songs from the play lists and that made it that much more enjoyable) There is an entire chapter dedicated to the death of Kurt Cobain and another to Sheffield's ultimate fantasy of being in a synth pop duo with the woman he loves. This book was at once heartbreaking and hilarious. It was endearingly sentimental without evoking any kind of pity. A very satisfying read. I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves pop culture and music especially.

BES

The Book of Names

The Book of Names
By Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori
St. Martin’s Press, 2007. 304 pgs. Mystery

This is a fast-paced thriller involving a Kabalistic interpretation of the Book of Names. This ancient document, ostensibly written by Adam, contains an encoded text listing the names of 36 individuals of each generation whose righteousness preserves the earth and its inhabitants.

David Shepherd, a poli-sci professor at Georgetown U, has been prompted with names out of the blue since he was about 15 years old and he has been recording them in a notebook. He has no idea that the names he’s recorded are identical to those being deciphered from this Book of Names. There is an ancient, evil, organization, known as Gnoseos, working to identify and kill each of the 36 “hidden ones” in this generation. They have now nearly achieved their goal. When David Shepherd realizes that the names he has recorded over the years are all of dead people he begins to investigate—and not a moment too soon.

SML

Candyfreak

CANDYFREAK: Steve Almond: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill: Nonfiction: 266 pages

The appropriately named Almond goes beyond candy obsession to enter the realm of "freakdom." Right up front, he divulges that he has eaten a piece of candy "every single day of his entire life," "thinks about candy at least once an hour" and "has between three and seven pounds of candy in his house at all times." Indeed, Almond's fascination is no mere hobby—it's taken over his life. And what's a Boston College creative writing teacher to do when he can't get M&Ms, Clark Bars and Bottle Caps off his mind? Write a book on candy, of course. Almond isn't interested in "The Big Three" (Nestle, Hershey's and Mars). Instead, he checks out "the little guys."

This was a fascinating book about the candy industry. I craved chocolate the entire time I was reading it! I really enjoyed reading about the vintage candy bars, some of which are no longer being made and many of these candy bars were only made in certain regions of the country. Some of Almond’s anecdotes are not squeaky clean because of language and content, but overall I enjoyed this book!

AMM

London Calling

LONDON CALLING: Edward Bloor: Alfred A. Knopf: 2006: Young Adult: 289 pages.

Edward Bloor's London Calling is a young adult time travel adventure that emphasizes, without being heavy-handed, how important it is for all of us to have a good knowledge of history, and to use our time wisely because according to Bloor the big question we will be asked come Judgment Day is "What did you do to help?" Martin Conway is a teenage boy who is bummed out by having to attend a snooty academy where he is treated like the hired help because his mother is the hired help, which is the only reason he is there. After an "incident" on campus where one of his friends is expelled, he retreats to his bedroom where he spends all his time sleeping, playing videos games, or text messaging his friends. When he meets a young man from World War II London by means of an old radio set bequeathed to him by his grandmother, he has to study hard to discover what he is supposed to do to help Jimmy. He also enters the frightening and fascinating world of London during the blitz. Rich reading on every level. A tad bit of swearing.

LW

The Collaborator of Bethlehem

THE COLLABORATOR OF BETHLEHEM: Matt Rees: Soho Crime: 2007: Mystery: 264 pages.

Matt Rees, former Time bureau chief in Jerusalem, has written a remarkable murder mystery and social commentary redolent of the tensions and graces of life in Israel. Omar Yussef is a Palestinian who teaches for the United Nations school in Bethlehem. While Yussef is trying to teach his students critical thinking in a world filled with rumor, propaganda, and hatred, he meets his friend George, a Christian and former student whose rooftop is being used by Palestinian militants to launch rockets at the Israelis, so that when the Israelis return fire they won't destroy Palestinian targets. Omar commiserates but does not know how to help; George drives the militants from his rooftop, only to be framed and arrested as a collaborator and a murderer. Omar determines to help George, though his family is against it and he himself wavers, knowing his aid will not really help George and will bring trouble on himself and his loved ones. The power of this story lies not in the mystery itself, but in the richness of its characters, the fear generated by thugs who use a fake political agenda to advance their personal aims, and the undifferentiating response of the Israelis. First in a series of Omar Yussef mysteries, The Collaborator of Bethlehem, is a treasure.

LW

Little Lady, Big Apple

LITTLE LADY, BIG APPLE: by Hester Browne: Pocket Books: 2007: Fiction: 360 pages.

In this sequel to The Little Lady Agency by Hester Browne, Melissa Romney-Jones travels from London to New York to spend time with her new American boyfriend, Jonathan Riley, who has moved back temporarily for work. Jonathan wants Melissa to relax and treat the time as a vacation, but Melissa is reluctant to leave her up-and-coming Little Lady Agency in the hands of her tactless friend and sister. The Little Lady Agency, which offers helpless bachelors “every girlfriend service a man could need, except sex and laundry,” requires a woman who can be polite but firm.

Melissa secretly keeps working from New York, but she soon finds herself at odds with Jonathan over whether she should continue to run the agency at all.

This book doesn’t offer anything more than typical Chick-lit faire, but it is definitely one I would recommend over many of the books like it out there. Melissa is a very likable character. She’s sweet, innocent and nice to everyone. A fun, light read.

AJ

Sammy's Hill

SAMMY’S HILL: Kristin Gore: Miramax Books: Romance: 387 pages

Chick lit goes to Washington in this fun read from Al Gore’s daughter. Sammy Joyce is a health care advisor for Senator Robert Gary. She becomes involved with the speechwriter for another (somewhat evil) senator and hijinks ensue.

Sammy Joyce is a fun character. She worries about suddenly losing the use of her limbs, she can’t keep her pet fish alive, and, as is required of all chick lit heroines, she is always finding herself in embarrassing situations—falling off stages, arriving at work on rollerblades, and sending out unfortunate mass emails. Because of the setting, this book has more depth than similar stories. There’s a lot of time spent discussing health care and government, but the story is always engaging and amusing.

MBC

Does Anything Eat Wasps?

DOES ANYTHING EAT WASPS? AND 101 OTHER UNSETTLING, WITTY ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO ASK: New Scientist: Free Press: Nonfiction: 224 pgs.

Anyone who likes trivia would really enjoy this book. It's filled with science related questions that are then answered by several different people in 1-2 page essays culled from a column in the New Scientist magazine. Anything from "Why do people have eyebrows?" to "How quickly could I turn into a fossil?" are addressed here. The answers are humorous in many cases and also informative. The great thing was that even if one particular questions was not interesting to you you could skip to the next question. I found it to be a very entertaining and quick read.

DEF

Artemis Fowl

ARTEMIS FOWL: Eoin Colfer: Hyperion: Fantasy: 277pgs.

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history. With two trusty sidekicks in tow, he hatches a cunning plot to divest the fairies of their pot of gold.

Artemis Fowl is an immensely popular series here at the Provo Library, and I’ve been meaning to read at least one from the series for a long time. I finally ended up listening to the first book in the series. I liked the reader, Nathaniel Parker, quite a lot. He did the different voices and accents well without being annoying.

For those who like a fast-paced story, the action moves along at a fast clip. Because of its fast pace and non-stop action, I would recommend this series to fans of the Stormbreaker series by Anthony Horowitz.

RP

Nineteen Minutes

NINETEEN MINUTES: Jodi Picoult: Atria Books: Fiction: 455 pages

Seventeen-year-old Peter Houghton walks into Sterling High one March morning and, in 19 minutes, kills 10 people and wounds many more. Alex Cormier, the judge on the case, struggles to remain objective, although her daughter, Josie, was injured in the incident when she passed out next to her murdered boyfriend. Chapters alternate between the present and the past, where Josie and Peter were childhood friends, to examine the crime and its causes from the perspectives of the shooter and the victims.

This is a remarkable book. Jodi Picoult has a wonderful writing style and always creates very well-constructed, thought-provoking plots. Nineteen Minutes powerfully considers both the brutality of a shooting spree and the brutality inflicted on Peter his entire school career from the privileged popular crowd. Chris Bohjalian’s Before You Know Kindness and Walter Dean Myers’s ya novel Shooter would be great companion books to this one.

MBC

Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture

BORN TO BUY: THE COMMERCIALIZED CHILD AND THE NEW CONSUMER CULTURE: Juliet B. Schor: Scribner: 2005: Non-Fiction: 304

Juliet Schor explores how today's increasingly consumer crazed culture affects young children and teens, and in short - it isn't pretty. Schor takes a good, if cynical, look at the increase in ads marketed to young children and what this reflects about our culture. Even worse, Schor claims, is how this "getting people to buy stuff" is turning young children into over sexualized, over stimulated, unhealthy consumers often with a distorted sense of self esteem.

This book was truly fascinating. For anyone concerned about the disturbing trend of turning children into excessive consumers, this book is a must. I was especially insenced at the chapter about the commercializion of public education. Though I learned a TON from this book, it wasn't meant to be purely informational; there is no doubt where Schor's feelings on this issue lie. She spends the last chapter suggesting ways that parents can and have negated this trend in their own homes with their families. Truly and eye opening read.

BES

This Year I Will...

THIS YEAR I WILL…HOW TO FINALLY CHANGE A HABIT, KEEP A RESOLUTION, OR MAKE A DREAM COME TRUE: M.J. Ryan: Broadway Books: Nonfiction: 226 pages

In any given new year, fast forward a few months (or a few weeks) and most peoples' resolutions have been either forgotten or abandoned. Author and life coach M.J. Ryan outlines a concrete and practical strategy for following through on a resolution while dealing with life's other ups and downs. The encouraging, easy-to-read chapters tackle the obstacles that keep readers from their goals and provide helpful tools and language to stop negative, self-defeating thoughts. This Year I will… proves welcome for anyone seeking gentle but solid help in achieving personal change.

I picked up this book shortly after the New Year. I had ordered the book for the library a few months previous and the concept sounded interesting. Ryan’s approach is straight forward and her suggestions make a lot of sense. I don’t think that she had any earth shattering ideas that have not been presented in other similar books, but this was a good read. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for an outline of how to make some changes in their life.

AMM

The One True Platonic Heaven: A Scientific Fiction on the Limits of Knowledge

The One True Platonic Heaven: A Scientific Fiction on the Limits of Knowledge

By John L. Casti

Joseph Henry Press, 2003. 160 pgs. Nonfiction

The “One True Platonic Heaven” referred to here is the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey. The Institute was founded in 1930, some 16 years prior to the setting of this story. The “story” consists of the debate surrounding the proposed building of a computer at the Institute. Why the debate? Some Institute faculty consider thought to be their undertaking—not the building or designing of anything—that would be “engineering”; and engineering's place was elsewhere: in academia, industry, or in government.

There are a number of scientific and mathematical developments of the early 20^th century touched upon in this sequence of speculative conversations. Time travel, quantum physics, and the computer are all topics of conversation with an underlying theme of the nature of scientific knowledge. The conversations depicted are simply a vehicle to explore the ideas of these men and the dynamics between them. Sprinkled with insights into the character (and a few idiosyncrasies) of these intellectual giants, this slim volume is a pleasurable read for anyone with a little interest in quantum theory, relativity, or pure mathematics.

SML