My LINKcat AccountWell. As I reported last week, I did go out to Nebraska to see the start of the sandhill crane migration. As anticipated, I did see thousands of sandhill cranes. I also saw tens of thousands of geese – mostly Canadian with a whole lot of Snow geese too. There were meadowlarks and huge migratory flocks of red-winged black birds. There were also many pairs and single eagles and red-tailed hawks all along I-80. Traveling down a rutted gravel road I saw something ahead of me in the ditch and at a distance thought it was a dog. It turned out to be the first of fifteen deer that meandered across the road in front of me to join about fifteen more deer in a field on the other side. There was one big buck that still had his rack of very white antlers. Quite the sight as were all the cranes and all the other birds. Usually the trip to Nebraska is reassuring in that spring is more advanced there. Temperature-wise it was only a few degrees warmer than Wisconsin, but there was no snow cover. Having no snow cover goes a long way towards reassuring a person that spring could possibly show up one of these days. While I was gone a whole lot of new books showed up at the library. Some of the new arrivals are listed below. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
100 essential things you didn't know you didn't know about math and the arts by John Barrow. A mathematician illustrates the intersection between math and the arts in 100 fascinating and amusing examples, including the golden ratios in Mondrian’s rectangles, Jackson Pollock’s fractal-like splatter paintings, ballerinas defying gravity and the calculations needed to determine how many guards should staff an art gallery.
Effortless healing : 9 simple ways to sidestep illness, shed excess weight, and help your body fix itself / by Joseph Mercola. The “New York Times” best-selling author of “The No-Grain Diet” and founder of natural-health-resource web site Mercola.com outlines nine simple keys to maximizing health, preventing disease and protecting the body from the consequences of modern lifestyles.
Lose the clutter, lose the weight : the six-week total-life slim down / by Peter Walsh. A best-selling author and host of Oprah Winfrey's “Extreme Clutter” offers readers a six-week plan for clearing their homes of excess “stuff,” clearing their bodies of excess pounds as they follow a super simple eating and exercise plan and clearing their minds and spirits of the excess weight of too many possessions.
Sapiens : a brief history of humankind / by Yuval Harari. A narrative history of humanity's creation and evolution explores how biology and history have defined understandings of what it means to be human, detailing the role of modern cognition in shaping the ecosystem, civilizations and more.- “To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science” by Steven Weinberg. A Nobel Prize-winning physicist presents a masterful commentary on the history of science that examines historic clashes and collaborations between science and the competing realms of religion, technology, poetry, mathematics and philosophy, from the Ancient Greece to the world of today.
New Fiction
Heartbreak hotel / by Deborah Moggach. A mismatched collection of guests, including a cuckolded husband and a hypochondriac mail carrier, fill a run-down bed and breakfast opened by a retired actor in Wales. By the best-selling author of “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”.
Double fudge brownie murder : a Hannah Swensen mystery with recipes / by Joanne Fluke. Eager to clear her name in the aftermath of a tragic accident, Hannah Swensen is wrongly implicated in the bludgeoning death of her trial judge, who she discovers had more than a few enemies. Includes recipes. By the best-selling author of “Blackberry Pie Murder”.
Dreaming spies : a novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes / by Laurie R. King. Discovering a peculiar stone from the Imperial gardens of Kyoto, Russell and Holmes recall a dangerous job they performed for the emperor before reconnecting with a Japanese tutor who is not who she seems. By the “New York Times” best-selling author of “Garment of Shadows”.
Hush hush / by Laura Lippman. Taking a case that challenges her busy childcare schedule, Tess Monaghan and new partner, Sandy Sanchez, assess the security needs of an imperious Baltimore woman whose family reunion is overshadowed by a violent stalker. By the “New York Times” best-selling author of “After I'm Gone”.
The alphabet house : a novel / by Jussi Adler-Olsen. Conducting a special photo-reconnaissance mission in World War II Dresden, two British pilots are shot down and try to escape on an SS senior soldier train only to land in a mental hospital where patients are subjected to experimental therapies. A #1 international best-seller.
Blood infernal / by James Rollin & Rebecca Cantrell. As an escalating scourge of grisly murders sweeps the globe, archaeologist Erin Granger must decipher the truth behind an immortal prophecy foretold in the Blood Gospel, a tome written by Christ and lost for centuries.
Last days of the condor / by James Grady. In the savage streets and Kafkaesque corridors of Washington, D.C., in a world on the edge of its most startling spy revolution since 9/11, the Condor must elude assassins and protect those he has mentored. By the best-selling author of “Six Days of the Condor”.