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Emerson is considered to be a man of mythic proportions. His influence on his era was incalculable and extends forward into our own. What made a man who was unremarkable and uninspired into a legend who started a philosophy (Transcendentalism) and spurred others into action on large causes (women’s suffrage, anti-slavery, etc…)? Gougeon explores these tantalizing questions.
Tagged: Biography, Non-fiction
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A practical and funny memoir of an ex-suburbanite’s adventures creating a sustainable lifestyle in New Mexico, living “off the grid” with dairy goats, monsoons, and biofuels.
Tagged: Memoir, Non-fiction
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In an alternate history where the US created a ‘Pale of Settlement’ for Jews after World War II in a desolate corner of Alaska, Yiddish is spoken, ultra-Orthodox gangsters control the islands and a lonely detective tries to solve the murder of a neighbor he barely knew. No ordinary crime novel, Chabon’s language is extraordinarily rich and the setting imaginative and evocative.
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A brief but hilarious introduction to Western philosophy as told through jokes. Learn while you laugh.
Tagged: Humor, Non-fiction, Philosophy
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A close look into the intriguing Amish practice of “turning loose” their youth at 16, and its results. Included is the author’s perspective on this society within a society and what that could mean to us.
Tagged: Non-fiction, Sociology
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The author traces the Big Bang through the rise of civilization, documenting his work with a host of the world’s most advanced scientists and mathematicians to explain why things are the way they are. The author provides witty, interesting and, most importantly, understandable commentary on the many subjects the book addresses.
Tagged: History, Non-fiction, Science
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Armstrong is a well-known biographer and author on religious and cultural subjects. This memoir is her most personal to date and helps us to understand her interest in the subjects she so skillfully covers, as a person with one foot in the world of the secular and the other in the sacred. She does not skirt around the difficult questions but shows rare candor.
Tagged: Memoir, Non-fiction
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A humorous look at our thoughts and perceptions around happiness. Psychologist Daniel Gilbert explains why our predictions of what will make us happy are often wrong. He also examines how our memories of happy times may be distorted. This is not a self-help book, but Gilbert does help us become more realistic in our search for happiness.
Tagged: Non-fiction, Psychology
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The first book in Scott McCloud’s influential trilogy of comics about comics, “Understanding Comics” is both entertaining and informative. Anyone interested in art and storytelling would enjoy reading this fascinating book.
Tagged: Comics, Non-fiction
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Oates brings to life both Lincoln’s deep humanity and personal struggles, and his genius in guiding the nation through the Civil War despite political pressures on all sides (not least from his own cabinet). If you don’t have a profound respect for Abraham Lincoln as our greatest president, you will after reading this book.
Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, Biography, Non-fiction, U.S. presidents
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This wonderful novel by award-winning South African Andre Brink, banned by the apartheid regime, tells the story of an historical slave rebellion. The chain of voices consists of multiple narratives by different people: slaves, slave owners, family members, magistrates.
Tagged: Africa, Fiction, Historical fiction
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Set in Kenya, this book tells the story of a foreign librarian who goes to work at a bookmobile service. Traveling by camel to reach remote villages, she becomes emotionally involved in one community where a couple of books have not been returned. This threatens bookmobile services for the entire village. Beautiful writing and moving story – highly recommended.