Total Pageviews

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

You CAN Handle the Truth: New Nonfiction Book Picks for September


Posted by the Information Services Department (Gwen B., Lisa E., Joyce D., & Zach H.)
Here's the latest list of our new nonfiction book picks! Listed below, along with their Dewey Decimal classification, are our top picks of the nonfiction books that looked most interesting, ultra-informative, or just plain fun. You can request them now by clicking on the titles and placing a hold.

  174.2 HER Beyond Human: how cutting-edge science is extending our lives by Eve Herold
Never before in the history of medicine has mankind faced such hope and peril as those of us poised to embrace the radical medical technologies of today. TransHuman: Extending the Frontiers of Human Life and Longevity examines the medical technologies taking shape at the nexus of computing, microelectronics, engineering, nanotechnology, cellular and gene therapies, and robotics. These technologies will dramatically transform our lives and allow us to live for hundreds of years. Yet, with these blessings come complicated practical and ethical issues, some of which we can predict, but many we cannot. TransHuman taps the minds of doctors, scientists, and engineers engaged in developing a host of new technologies while telling the stories of some of the patients courageously testing the radical new treatments about to come into the market. TransHuman asks the difficult questions of the scientists and bioethicists who seek to ensure that as our bodies and brains become ever more artificial, we hold onto our humanity. In this new world, will everyone have access to technological miracles, or will we end up living in a world of radical disparities? How will society accommodate life spans that extend into hundreds of years? Will we and our descendants be able to bring about the dream of a future liberated by technology, or will we end up merely serving the machines and devices that keep us healthy, smart, young, and alive?  

234 ALC Grace: a bigger view of God's love by Randy Alcorn

Randy Alcorn, author of the bestselling Heaven, offers daily meditations, Scriptures, and inspirational quotes that will enable you to grasp more fully the grace God has lavished on us and give you a bigger view of God's love for those who are his:
"We've grown too accustomed to grace—we need to be astounded by it."
"God's grace didn't get us going and then leave us to get by on our works."
"There's only one requirement for enjoying God's grace: being broke...and knowing it."Come explore the many facets of God's grace...and fall more in love than ever before with the One who is full of grace and truth.


302.2 PET The First Signs: Unlocking the mysteries of the world's oldest symbols by Genevieve von Petzinger
Join renowned archaeologist Genevieve von Petzinger on an Indiana Jones-worthy adventure from the open-air rock art sites of northern Portugal to the dark depths of a remote cave in Spain that can only be reached by sliding face-first through the mud. Von Petzinger looks past the beautiful horses, powerful bison, graceful ibex, and faceless humans in the ancient paintings. Instead, she’s obsessed with the abstract geometric images that accompany them, the terse symbols that appear more often than any other kinds of figures—signs that have never really been studied or explained until now.

Part travel journal, part popular science, part personal narrative, von Petzinger’s groundbreaking book starts to crack the code on the first form of graphic communication. It’s in her blood, as this talented scientist’s grandmother served as a code-breaker at Bletchley. Discernible patterns emerge that point to abstract thought and expression, and for the first time, we can begin to understand the changes that might have been happening inside the minds of our Ice Age ancestors—offering a glimpse of when they became us.


306.0973 HIL Nobody: casualties of America's war on the vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and beyond by Marc Lamont Hill
In Nobody, scholar and journalist Marc Lamont Hill presents a powerful and thought-provoking analysis of race and class by examining a growing crisis in America: the existence of a group of citizens who are made vulnerable, exploitable and disposable through the machinery of unregulated capitalism, public policy, and social practice. These are the people considered “Nobody” in contemporary America. Through on-the-ground reporting and careful research, Hill shows how this Nobody class has emerged over time and how forces in America have worked to preserve and exploit it in ways that are both humiliating and harmful.



 


338.1762 HAY Cowed: the hidden impact of 93 million cows on America's health, economy, politics, culture, and environment by Denis Hayes and Gail Boyer Hayes
As a source of labor and food, cows were integral to the settlement of the American frontier, and they have placed an indelible stamp on American culture, politics, and economics. In Cowed, Denis and Gail Boyer Hayes offer a nuanced look at our centuries-long relationship with this animal how cows helped us tame the wild American landscape and how their outsized influence on soil and air quality today threatens plant and animal populations and endangers our own well-being.


 
358.400941 HAM Marked for Death: the first war in the air by James Hamilton-Paterson
Little more than ten years after the first powered flight, aircraft were pressed into service in World War I. Nearly forgotten in the war's massive overall death toll, some 50,000 aircrew would die in the combatant nations' fledgling air forces.
The romance of aviation had a remarkable grip on the public imagination, propaganda focusing on gallant air 'aces' who become national heroes. The reality was horribly different. Marked for Death debunks popular myth to explore the brutal truths of wartime aviation: of flimsy planes and unprotected pilots; of burning nineteen-year-olds falling screaming to their deaths; of pilots blinded by the entrails of their observers.



370.114 SCH I Wish My Teacher Knew: How one question can change everything for our kids by Kyle Schwartz
One day, third-grade teacher Kyle Schwartz asked her students to fill–in–the–blank in this sentence: “I wish my teacher knew _____.” The results astounded her. Some answers were humorous, others were heartbreaking–all were profoundly moving and enlightening. The results opened her eyes to the need for educators to understand the unique realities their students face in order to create an open, safe and supportive place in the classroom. When Schwartz shared her experience online, #IWishMyTeacherKnew became an immediate worldwide viral phenomenon. Schwartz’s book tells the story of #IWishMyTeacherKnew, including many students’ emotional and insightful responses, and ultimately provides an invaluable guide for teachers, parents, and communities.

579.17 YON I Contain Multitudes: the microbes within us and a grander view of life by Ed Young
This book lets us peer into the world of microbes -- not as germs to be eradicated, but as invaluable parts of our lives -- allowing us to see how ubiquitous and vital microbes are: they sculpt our organs, defend us from disease, break down our food, educate our immune systems, guide our behavior, bombard our genomes with their genes, and grant us incredible abilities. While much of the prevailing discussion around the microbiome has focused on its implications for human health, Yong broadens this focus to the entire animal kingdom, prompting us to look at ourselves and our fellow animals in a new light: less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we are. I Contain Multitudes is the story of extraordinary partnerships between the familiar creatures of our world and those we never knew existed. It will change both our view of nature and our sense of where we belong in it.

 
591.65 WIL Venomous: how Earth's deadliest creatures mastered biochemistry by Christie Wilcox
Biologist Christie Wilcox investigates and illuminates the animals of our nightmares, arguing that they hold the keys to a deeper understanding of evolution, adaptation, and immunity. She reveals just how venoms function and what they do to the human body. With Wilcox as our guide, we encounter a jellyfish with tentacles covered in stinging cells that can kill humans in minutes; a two-inch caterpillar with toxic bristles that trigger hemorrhaging; and a stunning blue-ringed octopus capable of inducing total paralysis.






636.088 DOD Pets on the Couch: neurotic dogs, compulsive cats, anxious birds, and the new science of animal psychiatry by Nicholas Dodman

A celebrated veterinary behaviorist describes the practice of One Medicine, which hinges on the belief that humans and other animals have minds that work the same way, experience similar emotions and share the same neurochemistry.









641.5 WAN Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends Harvest Cookbook by Wanda Brustetter

Overloaded with garden produce, CSA shares, or farmers' market finds? Now you'll know what the Amish do with these seasonal fruits and vegetables and how they preserve some of them for future use. Bring the wisdom of Amish gardeners and cooks into your own home with dozens of recipes and tips from the heart of Amish country.








 

948.071 BOO The Almost Nearly Perfect People: behind the myth of the Scandanavian utopia by Michael Booth

Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than ten years, and he has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely book he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another 



No comments:

Post a Comment