Lose Yourself in the World of Books
When Nature Breaks the Law It's another Mary Roach book! I do love her insatiable curiosity and I was delighted when another book club member recommended this book for book club. Synopsis From the publisher marketing:What's to be done about a jaywalking moose? A bear caught breaking and entering? A murderous tree? Three hundred years… Continue reading Fuzz by Mary Roach
The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster As a book club, we are fascinated by science history and radioactivity it seems. Once I watched the HBO show Chernobyl, it rekindled my interest in the disaster. We had two Chernobyl books to choose from, and while I wanted to read Svetlana Alexievich's oral history,… Continue reading Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham
And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements This was one of my selections for Nonfiction Book Club! Continuing on my obsession with radiation and chemistry, it was a most enthralling read. Synopsis From the publisher marketing:From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes… Continue reading The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI When a member of Nonfiction Book Club put this book forth for voting I admittedly did not want it to get voted through to an actual selection. When it was, I dreaded reading it, but was quite pleasantly surprised. Synopsis From the publisher marketing:Berkeley, California, 1933. In… Continue reading American Sherlock by Kate Winkler Dawson
A Guide for Occupants After I didn't love The Road to Little Dribbling, I wanted to give Bill Bryson another shot. My mom had enjoyed A Short History of Nearly Everything, so I thought I might try one of his more science minded books instead of another travel one. Synopsis From the publisher marketing:Bill Bryson… Continue reading The Body by Bill Bryson
Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World I have never been interested in reading about things that currently are a realistic threat to me (i.e. pandemics, cancer and global warming). However, as I do not have sole determination of the books we read for book club and pretty much everyone else… Continue reading The Water Will Come by Jeff Goodell
The Dark Story of America's Shining Women I'm continuing to play catch up - The Radium Girls was the Nonfiction Book Club selection for July and while I say I'm going to be better about posting in a timely manner, daily posts for the bookstore blog eat up a LOT of time. But if it's… Continue reading The Radium Girls by Kate Moore
One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century ‘Tis the last Nonfiction Book Club book of the year, as recommended by a former coworker to the group. Next year, 2020, all book club selections will have been voted on by the group as a whole. Synopsis From the Back… Continue reading The Poison Squad by Deborah Blum
Every year at the bookstore I work at, I have everyone choose a few books from the year to highlight as their top gift choices, as well as a selection of backpack backlist titles for our annual Jolabokaflod display (Jolabokaflod post will be next week). Below are my eight choices for the holidays with their… Continue reading Holiday Gift Picks
Life is What You Make It As a long time Mythbusters fan and maker, I've always enjoyed watching Adam on television. When I found out he was writing his memoir/maker manifesto, I couldn't read it fast enough. Unfortunately I didn't get an advance copy, so I had to wait along with everyone else. Thankfully, it… Continue reading Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage
Celebration of Books 