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New Non-Fiction – A Selected List – November 2006
Joy of Cooking, 75th Anniversary Edition: 4500 Recipes for the Way We Cook Now
by Irma S. Rombauer,
Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker
Used by millions to learn how to cook (from scratch--Mrs. Rombauer’s first instruction in the original edition was “Stand facing the stove”), Joy of Cooking, in this revision, includes the essential Know Your Ingredients, Cooking Methods and Techniques, and new 30-minute and slow-cooker recipes.
Favorite Mittens: Best Traditional Mitten Patterns from Fox & Geese & Fences and Flying Geese & Partridge Feet
by Robin Hansen
For those of a “certain age”, these patterns will look familiar and engender nostalgic remembrances of wet wool and leggings from long ago. The instructions are clear and easily read and the illustrations of the mittens and the techniques are helpful, too.
Adirondack High: Images of America’s First Wilderness
Photographs by Hardie Truesdale and Text by Joanne Michaels
Lovely photographs and evocative text describe the natural and man-made aspects of all areas and seasons of the Adirondacks.
The Blog of War: Front-line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan
by Matthew Currier Burden
Military blogs present the thoughts and experiences of soldiers on the front lines as they happen. In this way, says the author, they offer “unfettered access to the
War on Terror” and provide those of us at home with a “better understanding of what it’s like to be in the war zone.”
Journey to a Revolution: A Personal Memoir and History of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
by Michael Korda
Fifty years ago, the people of Hungary bravely rose up against the Hungarian Communist Party and the Soviet forces in Hungary. Korda relates the Hungarian experience under Soviet oppression prior to October 1956 and then gives an eyewitness account of the days in which The Freedom Fighters fought to achieve a free and independent Hungary.
The Wanderer: The Last American Slave Ship and The Conspiracy That Set Its Sails
by Erik Calonius
In 1858, fifty years after the importation of slaves into America had been banned, the Wanderer deposited a cargo of slaves on Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia. This event, brought about by a radical group of Southerners who wanted to reopen the slave trade, not only resulted in the enslavement of the Africans transported but also in a scandal that threatened the stability of the government, duels, and trials that challenged federal law.
The Race Beat: The Press, The Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation
by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff
As late as the post-World War II years, segregation and its attending injustices and brutalities were not covered by the press until a group of black reporters started writing stories, later picked up by liberal southern editors and then the northern press. Eventually, what at first appeared to be coverage of a “regional” story became coverage of a national story of the greatest import.
How To Read a Novel: A User’s Guide
by John Sutherland
10,000 novels may be published in a year and there are more novels on publishers’ backlists. With this “deluge” of novels, how does one choose what one reads—what does it mean to be a “well-read” person? Will the book in print be superseded by the book on a chip? Sutherland, the chair of the 2005 Man Booker Prize Committee, offers a look at the novel and a reader’s engagement with it. His two assumptions are: “novels are things to be enjoyed” and “the better we read them, the more enjoyment we will derive from them.”
Aglow in the Dark: The Revolutionary Science of Biofluorescence
by Vincent Pieribone and David F. Gruber
This beautifully produced book introduces the science of bioluminescence, the history and use of genetically modified fluorescent proteins, and the researchers who are using “glow in the dark” substances to “extend the boundaries of science to understand, manipulate and to interact with the living brain.”
The New York Times Practical Guide to Practically Everything: The Essential Companion for Everyday Life
edited by Amy D. Bernstein and Peter W. Bernstein
834 pages, including a 21 page index, provide information on such topics as Health and Fitness, including Looking Great; Money; Spending & Saving; Careers, Everyday Science (and many more). Could any topic not be covered here? They even address “What to Say If You Get Cold Feet” on your wedding day! The editors learned that although change is constant and fast, some of the “chief delights of living well remain enduring and unchanged”—whether it’s “finding a puppy or writing a handwritten thank you note or planting a scented garden.”
Battlegrounds of Freedom: A Historical Guide to the Battlefields of the War of American Independence
by Norman Desmarais
This listing of battlefields, from Maine to Georgia, provides names of the city, dates of actions that took place there and their historical background and outcomes. Mr. Desmarais provides information on how to be a re-enactor and background readings that will enhance that experience. The several appendices include an Alphabetical List of Battles, Actions, and Skirmishes; a Chronological List of Battles, Actions, and Skirmishes; Battle Sites Grouped and Keyed to Major Cities/Locations; and a Glossary and Index. A wonderful resource for any family or individual planning a trip based on this part of our history.
The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do
by Clotaire Rapaille
The Culture Code is the “unconscious meaning we apply to any given thing” and the code is different from one culture to another—in the U.S., for example, the code for the Jeep Wrangler is “horse”; in Europe, the code for the Jeep Wrangler is “liberator”. Mr. Rapaille describes his discovery of Culture Codes and the implications they have for understanding cultures other than our own, both in business and in life.