Science
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Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Michael Pollan
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The (2013, Apr 23rd).
Pages: 480
In Cooked, Michael Pollan explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen. Here, he discovers the enduring power of the four classical elements—fire, water, air, and earth—to transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer. Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan’s effort to master a single classic recipe using one of the four elements. A North Carolina barbecue pit master tutors him in the primal magic of fire; a Chez Panisse–trained cook schools him in the art of braising; a celebrated baker teaches him how air transforms grain and water into a fragrant loaf of bread; and finally, several mad-genius “fermentos” (a tribe that includes brewers, cheese makers, and all kinds of picklers) reveal how fungi and bacteria can perform the most amazing alchemies of all. more
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Why Societies Need Dissent (Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures)
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Cass R. Sunstein
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Harvard University Press (2005, Apr 30th).
Pages: 256
In this timely book, Cass R. Sunstein shows that organizations and nations are far more likely to prosper if they welcome dissent and promote openness. Attacking "political correctness" in all forms, Sunstein demonstrates that corporations, legislatures, even presidents are likely to blunder if they do not cultivate a culture of candor and disclosure. He shows that unjustified extremism, including violence and terrorism, often results from failure to tolerate dissenting views. The tragedy is that blunders and cruelties could be avoided if people spoke out. Sunstein casts new light on freedom of speech, showing that a free society not only forbids censorship but also provides public spaces for dissenters to expose widely held myths and pervasive injustices. more
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National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism (Open Media)
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Melvin A. Goodman
Format: Paperback
Publisher: City Lights Publishers (2013, Mar 5th).
Pages: 464
"Mel Goodman has spent the last few decades telling us what's gone wrong with American intelligence and the American military, and now, in National Insecurity, he tells us what we must do to change the way the system works, and how to fix it. Goodman is not only telling us how to save wasted billions--he is also telling us how to save ourselves." -- Seymour M. Hersh, The New YorkerUpon leaving the White House in 1961, President Eisenhower famously warned Americans about the dangers of a "military industrial complex," and was clearly worried about the destabilizing effects of a national economy based on outsized investments in military spending. As more and more Americans fall into poverty and the global economy spirals downward, the United States is spending more on the military than ever before. more
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The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Adam Lankford
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (2013, Jan 22nd).
Pages: 272
For decades, experts have told us that suicide bombers are the psychological equivalent of America's Navy SEALs--men and women so fully committed to their cause or faith that they cease to fear death. In The Myth of Martyrdom, Adam Lankford corrects this misconception, arguing that terrorists are driven to suicide for the same reasons any civilian might be: depression, anxiety, marital strife, or professional failure. He takes readers on a journey through the minds of suicide bombers, airplane hijackers, 'lone wolf' terrorists, and rampage shooters, via their suicide notes, love letters, diary entries, and martyrdom videos. The result is an astonishing account of rage and shame that will transform the way we think of terrorism forever. Lankford convincingly demonstrates that only by understanding the psychological crises that precipitate these acts can we ever hope to stop them. more
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Obsessed: America's Food Addiction--and My Own
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Mika Brzezinski
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Weinstein Books (2013, May 7th).
Pages: 256
Mika Brzezinski is at war against obesity. On Morning Joe, she is often so adamant about improving America’s eating habits that some people have dubbed her “the food Nazi.” What they don’t know is that Mika wages a personal fight against unhealthy eating habits every day, and in this book she describes her history of food obsession and distorted body image, and her lifelong struggle to be thin. She believes it’s time we all learned to stop blaming ourselves, and each other, and look at the real culprits—the food we eat and our addiction to it. Mika feels the only way to do this is to break through the walls of silence and shame we’ve built around obesity and food obsessions. She believes we need to talk openly about how our country became overweight, and what we can do to turn the corner and step firmly onto the path of health. more
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The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Will Allen
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Gotham (2012, May 10th).
Pages: 272
A pioneering urban farmer and MacArthur “Genius Award” winner points the way to building a new food system that can feed—and heal—broken communities.The son of a sharecropper, Will Allen had no intention of ever becoming a farmer himself. But after years in professional basketball and as an executive for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Procter & Gamble, Allen cashed in his retirement fund for a two-acre plot a half mile away from Milwaukee’s largest public housing project. The area was a food desert with only convenience stores and fast-food restaurants to serve the needs of local residents.In the face of financial challenges and daunting odds, Allen built the country’s preeminent urban farm—a food and educational center that now produces enough vegetables and fish year-round to feed thousands of people. more
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Bleeding Talent: How the US Military Mismanages Great Leaders and Why It's Time for a Revolution
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Tim Kane
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (2012, Dec 11th).
Pages: 288
This book will shape the debate on how to save the military from itself. The first part recognizes, indeed celebrates, what the military has done well in attracting and developing leadership talent. The book then examines the causes and consequences of the modern military's stifling personnel system, with a close look at strategic failures in Iraq and Afghanistan. The book also reports a new survey of active duty officers (done by the author) that reports what is driving the best and brightest to leave the service in frustration. Solutions round out the book, grounded in an economic emphasis on market forces. more
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Harvest: An Adventure into the Heart of America's Family Farms (P.S.)
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Richard Horan
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Original edition (2012, Sep 25th).
Pages: 336
“Richard Horan has brought us a welcome view of America to defy the prevailing political and financial nastiness. This is a timely and important book.”—Ted Morgan, author of Wilderness at Dawn“A lively visit with the dauntless men and women who operate America’s family farms and help provide our miraculous annual bounty. Richard Horan writes with energy and passion.”—Hannah Nordhaus, author of The Beekeeper’s Lament“Horan’s new book evocatively describes the peril and promise of family farms in America. I loved joining him on this journey, and so will you.”—T.A. Barron, author of The Great Tree of AvalonIn Seeds, novelist and nature writer Richard Horan sought out the trees that inspired the work of great American writers like Faulkner, Kerouac, Welty, Wharton, and Harper Lee. more
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Beyond the Bear: How I Learned to Live and Love Again after Being Blinded by a Bear
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Dan Bigley
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Lyons Press (2013, Apr 2nd).
Pages: 224
A 25-year-old backcountry wanderer, a man happiest exploring wild places with his dog, Dan Bigley woke up one midsummer morning to a day full of promise. Before it was over, after a stellar day of salmon fishing along Alaska’s Kenai and Russian rivers, a grizzly came tearing around a corner in the trail. Dan barely had time for “bear charging” to register before it had him on the ground, altering his life forever. “Upper nose, eyes, forehead anatomy unrecognizable,” as the medevac report put it. Until then, one thing after another had fallen into place in Dan’s life. He had a job he loved taking troubled kids on outdoor excursions. He had just bought a cabin high in the Chugach Mountains with a view that went on forever. more
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Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe
Author/Actors/Director/etc.: Lee Smolin
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2013, Apr 23rd).
Pages: 352
From one of our foremost thinkers and public intellectuals, a radical new view of the nature of time and the cosmosWhat is time?This deceptively simple question is the single most important problem facing science as we probe more deeply into the fundamentals of the universe. All of the mysteries physicists and cosmologists face—from the Big Bang to the future of the universe, from the puzzles of quantum physics to the unification of forces and particles—come down to the nature of time.The fact that time is real may seem obvious. You experience it passing every day when you watch clocks tick, bread toast, and children grow. But most physicists, from Newton to Einstein to today’s quantum theorists, have seen things differently. more
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