Biography: science, technology and medicine Books

Book SynopsisGeorge Bird Grinnell, the son of a New York merchant, saw a different future for a nation in the thrall of the Industrial Age. With railroads scarring virgin lands and the formerly vast buffalo herds decimated, the country faced a crossroads: Could it pursue Manifest Destiny without destroying its natural bounty and beauty? The alarm that Grinnell sounded would spark America’s conservation movement. Yet today his name has been forgotten—an omission that John Taliaferro’s commanding biography now sets right with historical care and narrative flair. Grinnell was born in Brooklyn in 1849 and grew up on the estate of ornithologist John James Audubon. Upon graduation from Yale, he dug for dinosaurs on the Great Plains with eminent paleontologist Othniel C. Marsh—an expedition that fanned his romantic notion of wilderness and taught him a graphic lesson in evolution and extinction. Soon he joined George A. Custer in the Black Hills, helped to map Yellowstone, and scaled the peaks and glaciers that, through his labors, would become Glacier National Park. Along the way, he became one of America’s most respected ethnologists; seasons spent among the Plains Indians produced numerous articles and books, including his tour de force, The Cheyenne Indians: Their History and Ways of Life. More than a chronicler of natural history and indigenous culture, Grinnell became their tenacious advocate. He turned the sportsmen’s journal Forest and Stream into a bully pulpit for wildlife protection, forest reserves, and national parks. In 1886, his distress over the loss of bird species prompted him to found the first Audubon Society. Next, he and Theodore Roosevelt founded the Boone and Crockett Club to promote “fair chase” of big game. His influence among the rich and the patrician provided leverage for the first federal legislation to protect migratory birds—a precedent that ultimately paved the way for the Endangered Species Act. And in an era when too many white Americans regarded Native Americans as backwards, Grinnell’s cries for reform carried from the reservation, through the halls of Congress, all the way to the White House. Drawing on forty thousand pages of Grinnell’s correspondence and dozens of his diaries, Taliaferro reveals a man whose deeds and high-mindedness earned him a lustrous peerage, from presidents to chiefs, Audubon to Aldo Leopold, John Muir to Gifford Pinchot, Edward S. Curtis to Edward H. Harriman. Throughout his long life, Grinnell was bound by family and sustained by intimate friendships, toggling between the East and the West. As Taliaferro’s enthralling portrait demonstrates, it was this tension that wound Grinnell’s nearly inexhaustible spring and honed his vision—a vision that still guides the imperiled future of our national treasures.Trade Review"Without a doubt, the United States is a better place because of George Bird Grinnell.... [We] finally have an exhaustively detailed biography of an inexhaustible man who deserves his place in the pantheon of environmental founders.... Grinnell’s memory lives on in the wild. And with this book, he is given the fresh look that he deserves." -- Timothy Egan - New York Times Book Review"An impressive, eminently readable biography of the great conservationist George Bird Grinnell.... Anyone who's ever set foot in a national park and wondered how it came to be will find an important part of the answer in this expansive look at an equally expansive life." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review"The best book I read this decade was: Grinnell: America’s Environmental Pioneer by John Taliaferro." -- Jeff Ament, bassist of Pearl Jam"In Grinnell: America’s Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West, the first full-length biography of the man, John Taliaferro seeks to restore [Grinnell] to his rightful place among the giants of the early conservation movement in the United States. . . . Alas, our current environmental crises reach well beyond the problems that Grinnell and his clique aimed to solve. Even so, his life and work offer valuable lessons." -- Andrew Graybill - Wall Street Journal"A fine biography of a significant environmental champion." -- Kirkus Reviews"George Bird Grinnell is one of fascinating characters of the nineteenth century—a participant in events both heroic and tragic—and so it is good news that we have a full biography. Conservation traces many of its roots to Grinnell, so we need to understand him!" -- Bill McKibben, author of Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?"George Bird Grinnell, one of the great visionaries in American environmentalism, has long deserved to have his story told. Among our ablest biographers, John Taliaferro has given us a smartly crafted and richly detailed portrait of a sage life that speaks to our often reckless but sometimes responsible ways, past and present." -- Jack E. Davis, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Gulf"A meticulous, indelible, and exhilarating portrait of George Bird Grinnell, in which John Taliaferro returns the ardent conservationist and ethnographer to full life. And what a life it was. A steadfast friend to North American wildlands and wildlife—and to its native peoples—Grinnell strides across the pages of this fine biography alive with the same passions that impelled him to roam and to write about the vanishing frontier." -- William Souder, author of On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson

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Book SynopsisThe Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans curls around an old sugar plantation that long housed one of America’s most painful secrets. Locals knew it as Carville, the site of the only leprosy colony in the continental United States, where generations of afflicted Americans were isolated—often against their will and until their deaths. Following the trail of an unexpected family connection, acclaimed journalist Pam Fessler has unearthed the lost world of the patients, nurses, doctors, and researchers at Carville who struggled for over a century to eradicate Hansen’s disease, the modern name for leprosy. Amid widespread public anxiety about foreign contamination and contagion, patients were deprived of basic rights—denied the right to vote, restricted from leaving Carville, and often forbidden from contact with their own parents or children. Neighbors fretted over their presence and newspapers warned of their dangerous condition, which was seen as a biblical “curse” rather than a medical diagnosis. Though shunned by their fellow Americans, patients surprisingly made Carville more a refuge than a prison. Many carved out meaningful lives, building a vibrant community and finding solace, brotherhood, and even love behind the barbed-wire fence that surrounded them. Among the memorable figures we meet in Fessler’s masterful narrative are John Early, a pioneering crusader for patients’ rights, and the unlucky Landry siblings—all five of whom eventually called Carville home—as well as a butcher from New York, a 19-year-old debutante from New Orleans, and a pharmacist from Texas who became the voice of Carville around the world. Though Jim Crow reigned in the South and racial animus prevailed elsewhere, Carville took in people of all faiths, colors, and backgrounds. Aided by their heroic caretakers, patients rallied to find a cure for Hansen’s disease and to fight the insidious stigma that surrounded it. Weaving together a wealth of archival material with original interviews as well as firsthand accounts from her own family, Fessler has created an enthralling account of a lost American history. In our new age of infectious disease, Carville’s Cure demonstrates the necessity of combating misinformation and stigma if we hope to control the spread of illness without demonizing victims and needlessly destroying lives.Trade Review"[F]ascinating.... A remarkable and vivid case study for exploring issues of patients’ rights, the ethics of clinical research and the notorious American tradition of intermingling concerns about disease with anxieties about immigration and the proper scope of public-welfare management.... Ms. Fessler’s meticulously researched account illuminates the endless ways, large and small, in which those confined to Carville sought to determine the shape of their own lives." -- Laura Kolbe - Wall Street Journal"Fessler presents inspiring and tragic stories of patients who mostly experienced Carville as a prison, sometimes a sanctuary.... Heartbreaking and infuriating." -- Tony Miksanek - Booklist"NPR correspondent Fessler’s polished and compassionate debut examines the history of Hansen’s disease (the modern name for leprosy) in America through the story of the Louisiana Leper Home in Carville, La. Fessler profiles several patients (most of whom were sent to Carville by mandatory state reporting laws), including her husband’s grandfather, and New Orleans debutante Betty Parker, who fell in love with a fellow patient and ran away with him.... Her well-researched and articulate account humanizes sufferers and caregivers alike, and offers hope in the medical field’s ability to halt the spread of contagious illness. Readers will be enlightened and encouraged." -- Publishers Weekly"Fessler [makes] the residents, and their doctors and the Daughters of Charity nuns who cared for them, come alive in this telling. The treatment of those living with Hansen’s Disease has had a quiet and shameful history, but Fessler allows for people’s voices to be heard in their own words. A heart-wrenching story of little-known social history." -- Marcia G. Welsh, Library Journal"[A] fine history, by turns heartbreaking and infuriating. . . Fessler paints a clear picture of a class of people who were confined at Carville typically for life, isolated, stripped of their identities [and] their civil rights. . . Vignettes of the patients, some tracked over decades, humanize the story. . . A caustic story told with empathy and a sharp eye for society’s intolerance." -- Kirkus Reviews"NPR journalist Pam Fessler has put her considerable professional and personal skills to work, unmasking the history and stigma of this ancient disease. That stigma, which lingers despite scientific evidence, dissipates with this book. Fessler’s skills as a journalist and humanist shine new light on old terrors, with well-told stories of lives and science." -- Susan Stamberg, special correspondent, NPR"Pam Fessler’s powerful book combines fascinating medical history with a deeply moving family story about a disease that has been misunderstood and stigmatized since the Old Testament." -- David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father"Pam Fessler's extraordinary knack for storytelling brings home the shameful history of discrimination and exile of those battling leprosy. At the same time, she lifts up the resilience and humanity of a community largely erased from our history. It's a moving and passionate appeal to our consciences." -- E.J. Dionne, author of Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country"Throughout my professional life, I’ve traveled to many places and at many times tried to explain Carville to people around the world. Compared to Pam’s efforts mine were feeble. This is an excellent story of my hometown." -- James Carville, political strategist"Carville’s Cure is a powerful story of all the ways that infectious diseases bring out the best and the worst in people: hope and fear, science and faith, humanity and cruelty. It is the very best kind of history: one that is alive with the people whose story it tells, and one that teaches us how to face challenges we will face in the future. It will move you." -- Ron Klain, former chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden and White House Ebola response coordinator, 2014–15"By turns heart-wrenching, inspiring, and infuriating, this is a fast-paced and highly readable account of attempts by patients, their families, doctors and American society in general to deal with the worlds’ most misunderstood disease. Written with the eye of an experienced journalist and the voice of a novelist, this book tells the story—stranger than fiction—of the patients, nuns, doctors, movie stars, and politicians who have struggled to come to terms with the stigma and discrimination attached to leprosy. The book is painstakingly researched and documented, and unfolds dramatically through the words of the patients and other participants through their letters and personal papers as well as newspaper accounts and interviews." -- David Scollard, retired director, National Hansen’s Disease Program"Behind barbed wire on a onetime sugar plantation on the Louisiana bayou, generations of Americans who had the bad luck to contract leprosy were forcibly confined by their own government, stripped of their most basic rights, and left to suffer and die. Pam Fessler, by shining a light on their stories—including a surprising family connection of her own—has redeemed them. She has also left us with a sobering reminder of the costs of demonizing disease and provided a must-read for this time of new infectious threats." -- Meredith Wadman, M.D., Science magazine reporter and author of The Vaccine Race: Science, Politics and the Human Costs of Defeating Disease

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Book SynopsisWhen Pliny the Elder perished at Stabiae during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, he left behind an enormous compendium of knowledge, his thirty-seven-volume Natural History, and a teenaged nephew who revered him as a father. Grieving his loss, Pliny the Younger inherited the Elder’s notebooks—filled with pearls of wisdom—and his legacy. At its heart, The Shadow of Vesuvius is a literary biography of the younger man, who would grow up to become a lawyer, senator, poet, collector of villas, and chronicler of the Roman Empire from the dire days of terror under Emperor Domitian to the gentler times of Emperor Trajan. A biography that will appeal to lovers of Mary Beard books, it is also a moving narrative about the profound influence of a father figure on his adopted son. Interweaving the younger Pliny’s Letters with extracts from the Elder’s Natural History, Daisy Dunn paints a vivid, compellingly readable portrait of two of antiquity’s greatest minds.Trade Review"The Shadow of Vesuvius is the definitive guide to Plinydom." -- Franz Lidz - New York Times"If you were writing a biography of Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus—or Pliny the Younger, the author of one of the most famous collections of letters surviving from the early Roman Empire—it would be hard not to start with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, on the Bay of Naples, in 79 A.D., for Pliny was the only writer to leave us an eyewitness account of the catastrophe. The English classicist Daisy Dunn… wisely does not resist the temptation… She succeed[s] in making Pliny [the Younger]…a poignant character, the kind of person who has to do the dirty jobs of an empire and, having done them, gets no compliments…. Neither Pliny knew that his homeland’s great mountain, Vesuvius, was nourishing in her bosom the extermination of so many of her people. This somehow makes the two men’s kinship closer." -- Joan Acocella - The New Yorker"If only Daisy Dunn’s book had been around back when I was an aspiring classicist… Dunn is a good writer, with some of the easy erudition of Mary Beard, that great popularizer of Roman history, and her translations from both Plinys are graceful and precise. Ultimately her enthusiasm, together with her eye for the odd, surprising detail, wins you over." -- Charles McGrath, New York Times Book Review"Only a writer as sure-footed as Ms. Dunn would even attempt such a challenge…. Her exploration of his life and times, and that of his uncle, has much to offer to readers, with its ground-up, kaleidoscopic view of a nine-decade span of Roman history." -- James Romm, Wall Street Journal"A delightful biography, interweaving extracts from [Pliny the] Elder’s Natural History with [Pliny the] Younger’s letters, speeches, and poetry into an insightful portrait of the men, their world, and their influence on people such as Giorgio Vasari, Frances Bacon, and Percy and Mary Shelley.... This is a rich, entertaining dual biography of two fascinating men, a revealing portrait of ancient Rome, and a celebration of nature that will appeal to fans of Mary Beard." -- Merle Jacob, Booklist [starred review]"Rather than provide us with merely a biography of a magistrate, Dunn gives us a portrait of an entire way of life…. Dunn also knows how to work a sentence. Without ever veering into historical fiction, she consistently succeeds in bringing what might otherwise seem dusty and remote to vivid life…. If there is much about Pliny’s world that she makes seem familiar, then there is just as much that she makes seem very strange….The result is a portrait of the Roman Empire that gives the reader something of the shiver down the spine that Herculaneum can inspire: a sense that we are as close to the vanished world of two millennia ago as we are ever likely to get." -- Literary Review (UK)"Enthusiastic and vividly drawn.... An appreciation of both men, with frequent digressions on the Elder's opinions on oysters and metal scripture, the Younger's poetical ambitions and villas along Lake Como, and the effect of their dual legacy on future eras." -- Kathleen McCallister, Library Journal"The Roman Empire comes to life through the biographies of two influential men.... [Dunn] creates a vivid tapestry of the Roman world.... A sensitive, spirited investigation of the ancient world." -- Kirkus Reviews"[Sparks] impresses with her exceptional collection of wry, feminist stories.... Some stories smuggle incredible emotional impact into surprisingly few pages.... Sparks’s sardonic wit never distracts from her polished dismantling of everyday and extraordinary abuses. Readers will love this remarkable, deliciously caustic collection." -- Publishers Weekly

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Book Synopsis One of the most elusive and controversial figures in NASA’s history, George W. S. Abbey was said to be secretive, despotic, a Space Age Machiavelli. Yet Abbey had more influence on human spaceflight than almost anyone in history. His story has never been told—until now. The Astronaut Maker takes readers inside NASA to learn the real story of how Abbey rose to power, from young pilot and wannabe astronaut to engineer, bureaucrat, and finally director of the Johnson Space Center. During a thirty-seven-year career, mostly out of the spotlight, he oversaw the selection of every astronaut class from 1978 to 1987, deciding who got to fly and when. He was with the Apollo 1 astronauts the night before the fatal fire in January 1967. He was in mission control the night of the Apollo 13 accident and organized the recovery effort. Abbey also led NASA’s recruitment of women and minorities as space shuttle astronauts and was responsible for hiring Sally Ride. The Astronaut Maker is the ultimate insider’s account of ambition and power politics at NASA.

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Book Synopsis"Moving, multifaceted, and deeply human...as eye-opening as it is compelling” —Cecile Richards, author of Make Trouble At a time where reproductive rights are at risk, these vital stories of diverse individuals serve as a reminder of the importance of empathy, finding community and motivating advocacy For a long time, when people asked Dr. Meera Shah, Chief medical officer of Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic, what she did, she would tell them she was a doctor and leave it at that. But when she started to be direct about her work as an abortion provider an interesting thing started to happen: one by one, people would confide that they'd had an abortion themselves. The refrain was often the same: You're the only one I've told. This book collects these stories as they've been told to Shah to humanize abortion and to combat myths that persist in the discourse that surrounds it. A wide range of ages, races, socioeconomic factors, and experiences shows that abortion always occurs in a unique context. Today, a healthcare issue that's so precious and foundational to reproductive, social, and economic freedom for millions of people is exploited by politicians who lack understanding or compassion about the context in which abortion occurs. Stories have the power to break down stigmas and help us to empathize with those whose experiences are unlike our own. A portion of proceeds will be donated to promote reproductive health access. Trade Review"You're the Only One I've Told boldly breaks the silence around abortion that has served as a weapon for denying human rights and health care for far too long. Meera Shah places a wide range of engrossing abortion stories in their social, legal, and political contexts and spotlights the unjust toll restrictions on abortion access inflict. Her much-needed reproductive justice lens shows that abortion is not a cure for poverty and other structural inequities but is absolutely essential to ensuring freedom and equality. An illuminating and inspiring call for reproductive freedom for everyone." -- Dorothy Roberts, author of Killing the Black Body"A clear-eyed and shame-free examination from a doctor on the frontlines, You're the Only One I've Told is the book the feminist movement has been waiting for. Everyone should read it." Jessica Valenti, columnist and author of Sex Object: A Memoir"The courage and honesty in the writing of Dr. Meera Shah paints the clearest of pictures: abortion isn't a political tool. It is health care. Personal, moving and necessary - truly a must read" Alyssa Mastromonaco, New York Times bestselling author and cohost of Crooked Media's #Hysteria podcast"These moving stories, taken together, sharply reveal the connections among 'reproductive justice, gender justice, racial justice, and economic justice.' A strong contribution to discussions of reproductive rights." Kirkus Reviews"Through these compelling stories, Dr. Shah reveals the determination and the deliberations of people who seek abortion care. This book shows, as my research has confirmed, that people make the decision to end a pregnancy balancing their own responsibilities and visions for the future. With Dr. Shah as our guide, we see the compassion and thoughtfulness of people who dedicate their careers to providing abortions." Diana Greene Foster, PhD, author of The Turnaway Study" You're the Only One I've Told goes far beyond the headlines and political rhetoric to paint a moving, multi-faceted, and deeply human picture of abortion. Dr. Meera Shah blends medical expertise and facts with personal accounts, resulting in a book that is as eye-opening as it is compelling." Cecile Richards, author of Make Trouble"To declare "I own my body" is revolutionary. To say "I count" is revolutionary. We do that by sharing our stories. And when our stories come together they create a subversive wave that sweeps away shame and silence. In this vital book, Dr. Meera Shah gifts her confidants - the storytellers - and us - the reader - with that power. Read this book." Mona Eltahawy, author of The Seven Necessary Sins For Women and Girls"Readers who have felt isolated or stigmatized in talking about their own abortions will find stories that resonate, while others will have their concept of who seeks an abortion broadened. This is a moving and deeply informed argument for abortion as a human right." Publishers Weekly"Shah places a wide range of engrossing abortion stories in their social, legal, and political contexts and spotlights the unjust toll restrictions on abortion access inflict. Her much-needed reproductive justice lens shows that abortion is . . . absolutely essential to ensuring freedom and equality. " Dorothy Roberts, author of Killing the Black Body"I learned something I didn't know about abortion in every chapter of this book. Deeply thankful for this resource." Alex, Goodreads"I fell in love with the humans and their stories. I feel like this should be required reading in school. It's compassion training 101 and important right now more than ever." Claire, Goodreads

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Book SynopsisThe decades-long love story of a NASA commander and the leader of the Astronaut Wives ClubFar Side of the Moon is the untold, fully authorized story of the lives of Frank and Susan Borman. One was a famous astronaut—an instrumental part of the Apollo space program—but the other was just as much a warrior. This real-life love story is far from a fairy tale. Life as a military wife was beyond demanding, but Susan always rose to the occasion. When Frank joined NASA and was selected to command the first mission to orbit the moon, that meant putting on a brave face for the world as her husband risked his life for the space race. The pressure and anxiety were overwhelming, and eventually Susan’s well-hidden depression and alcoholism finally came to light. Frank had to come to terms with how his “mission above all else” mentality contributed to his wife’s suffering. As Susan healed, she was able to begin helping others who suffered in silence from mental illness and addiction.Discover how Frank and Susan’s love and commitment to each other is still overcoming life’s challenges, even beyond their years as an Apollo commander and the founder of the Astronaut Wives Club.Trade Review"This is a true love story -- it has it all: adventure, sacrifice, fear, perseverance, redemption and heartbreak." -- Dee O'Hara, nurse to the astronauts of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs"This exceptional book presents the true perspective of those intense, high-energy, high-visibility years of Apollo, especially the challenging roles of the families. Susan and Frank Borman were leaders in the community, respected and admired by alland this book will tell you why. As a husband, an astronaut, and a manager, Frank Borman was a true leader, the epitome of 'Stand by Me.' And Susan's story is the most accurate description of the lives of the 'astronaut wives' I have ever read, from the glory of success to the grievance of loss. Enjoy this insightful book, and you will learn more about the human story of Apollo, especially about many of us who were fortunate to have participated." -- David Scott, astronaut on Gemini VIII, Apollo 9, and Apollo 15"Countless books have been published about the Apollo era, but this one stands apart, highlighting the "ride" taken by an Apollo family. The author shares the ride in wonderful detail, bringing the reader along on the very personal voyage of Susan Borman, who gave Frank wings. This is Susan's story, well told and well deserved." -- Michael Collins, astronaut on Gemini X, Apollo 11"Far Side of the Moon is a beautiful true story of how deep love and God's grace carried Sue and Frank Borman through very difficult times. We believe the book expresses an honest account of many of the families working at NASA during the US race for the moon -- the ambition, competition, and pressures on the astronauts, plus the stresses, loneliness, and sacrifices of the wives, was very real. The reader is shown that the same issues in marriages occur in careers other than the space program. We highly recommend this very personal story." -- Dotty and Charlie Duke, astronaut on Apollo 16"Liisa Jorgesen artfully captures the humanity, indeed the love, that was formed, sustained, and continues today between Frank and Susan Borman in the midst of great odds. Far Side of the Moon has two heroes in that sweeping relationship." -- Captain Phil "Rowdy" Yates (USN Ret.), Chief US Navy Test Pilot, Joint Strike Fighter CDP"As astronaut's wives, Susan Borman and I shared the highs and lows during the two missions our husbands flew together. I believe that Far Side of the Moon captures the unseen human side of what it was really like to be an Apollo family." -- Marilyn Lovell, wife of James Lovell, astronaut on Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8, and Apollo 13"For readers of Lily Koppel's The Astronaut Wives Club (2013), this is a more personal and focused story, a tale in which few punches are pulled, and all the collateral damage of being one of America's heroes is laid bare." -- BooklistTable of ContentsPrologue 1: “You Killed Your Father” 2: Duty Calls 3: “It’s That Kind of Date” 4: The Army Wife 5: “Every Man a Tiger” 6: The Death of a Dream 7: “I Need to Teach You How to Shoot a Gun” 8: “You Gave Your Ass to the Air Force” 9: The New Nine 10: “That Is Why You Test on the Ground” 11: “There’s More to Life than Living” 12: 50/50 13: Mission vs. family 14: Loss of Signal 15: Moral Compass 16: “Space Cooperation and Goodwill” 17: Moonman 18: “Never Bother Your Husband with Trivial Matters” 19: “It’s Time for a Reckoning” 20: “I Will Protect Her from Now On” 21: Second Honeymoon 22: The Next Mission Epilogue Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisThis book is grounded in W. Strawn Douglas' personal battle with mental illness and his experiences with it at the mental institution where he's lived for almost three decades. Different portions of it were created in different times, with Douglas in a variety of different mindsets, and it concerns itself mainly with the hoops that the government wants people who are mentally ill to jump through in all too often vain hopes of regaining their freedom. Some of the hoops are admittedly linked to reasonable goals and ideals. Unfortunately, too many others only serve the whims of our captors, serving the traditions of abuse in the oxymoron of "forced care."

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Book SynopsisAnd Along Came Alexis is a book about choices and consequences. The author's youngest daughter, Alexis, was born in 1978 with multiple disabilities, including blindness, an intractable seizure disorder and spastic quadriplegia. The choice to keep her at home despite medical advice resulted in a limiting of career opportunities for her parents and educational and other enrichment opportunities for her siblings. However, it also introduced the family to a whole community of earnest and interesting people dealing with similar challenges that they would never have known otherwise, and it provided rich perspectives on a different way of living. As for Alexis, she thrived far better than had been predicted and developed into a sweet, trusting person with a clear sense of self and an appreciation for the people in her life. The book describes the story of her life to date from her mother's viewpoint: its victories and setbacks, its grim moments and its funny moments. Overall, it is a positive story, demonstrating what is possible, even under very challenging circumstances.

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Book SynopsisFrank Buckland was an extraordinary man – surgeon, natural historian, popular lecturer, bestselling writer, museum curator, and a conservationist before the concept even existed. Eccentric, revolutionary, prolific, he was one of the nineteenth century’s most improbable geniuses. His lifelong passion was to discover new ways to feed the hungry. Rhinoceros, crocodile, puppy-dog, giraffe, kangaroo, bear and panther all had their chance to impress, but what finally - and, eventually, fatally - obsessed him was fish. Forgotten now, he was one of the most original, far-sighted and influential natural scientists of his time, held as high in public esteem as his great philosophical enemy, Charles Darwin.Trade ReviewHugely entertaining. * Jeremy Paxman *[A] tumultuously entertaining biography… [An] irresistibly engaging book. * Sunday Times *A rollicking ride through eccentric Victorian England. Frank Buckland is the most engaging of subjects...Girling's infectious enthusiasm for his subject shines through * The Times *Girling brings to rip-roaring life a fascinating Victorian figure of whom few have ever heard; I so wish I could invite Frank Buckland over for dinner. -- Dave Goulson, author of A Sting in the TaleAn irresistibly engaging account of the life of the David Attenborough of the Victorian era. * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisBy the time of his death in 1878, Joseph Henry was America's most eminent physical scientist. His achievements in the study of electricity, magnetism, and telegraphy during an era of national scientific aspiration had led to a thirty-year tenure as the first secretary of the Smithsonian, assuring his place in history as a key builder of an institutional framework for scientific inquiry.In this first biography of Henry since 1950, Albert E. Moyer reconstructs the crucial early phases of Henry's career, tracing how a boy of modest means in a nation of scant scientific resources attained international prominence in the field of physics. Moyer also offers a revisionist view of Henry's most enduring contribution -- the discovery of mutual induction -- and explains how the parallel work of British researcher Michael Faraday, who traditionally has been credited with the discovery, depended on a powerful electromagnet designed by Henry. Detailing Henry's progress from aspiring engineer leading a ragtag survey party in New York State's back country to adored Princeton professor teaching a generation not only the concepts but also the moral and religious implications of physics, the book concludes with Henry's candidacy in 1846 for the secretaryship of the fledgling Smithsonian Institution.Describing the ways in which Joseph Henry influenced and was influenced by a young nation's scientific and cultural currents, this biography illuminates not only the character of nineteenth-century scientific exploration but also the place of science in American culture.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Living Now Book AwardFinalist for the American Book Fest Best Book AwardsA visionary story of three generations of artists whose search for meaning and connection transcends the limits of lifeHow do we relate to—and hold—our family’s past? Is it through technology? Through spirit? Art, poetry, music? Or is it through the resonances we look for in ourselves?In Artificial, we meet the Kurzweils, a family of creators who are preserving their history through unusual means. At the center is renowned inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who has long been saving the documents of his deceased father, Fredric, an accomplished conductor and pianist from Vienna who fled the Nazis in 1938.Once, Fred’s life was saved by his art: an American benefactor, impressed by Fred’s musical genius, sponsored his emigration to the United States. He escaped just one month before Kristallnacht.Now, Fred has returned. Through AI and salvaged writing, Ray is building a chatbot that writes in Fred’s voice, and he enlists his daughter, cartoonist Amy Kurzweil, to help him ensure the immortality of their family’s fraught inheritance.Amy’s deepening understanding of her family’s traumatic uprooting resonates with the creative life she fights to claim in the present, as Amy and her partner, Jacob, chase jobs, and each other, across the country. Kurzweil evokes an understanding of accomplishment that centers conversation and connection, knowing and being known by others. With Kurzweil’s signature humanity and humor, in boundary-pushing, gorgeous handmade drawings, Artificial guides us through nuanced questions about art, memory, and technology, demonstrating that love, a process of focused attention, is what grounds a meaningful life.

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Book SynopsisA raucous journey through eight animal festivals compels an environmental lawyer to ask what the stories we tell about animals reveal about our own humanity. As the gates open at the racetrack in Virginia City, Nevada, three camels stumble out, ridden by amateur jockeys. A crowd of roaring spectators looks on gleefully, but as the camels approach the first turn, one loses its footing and crashes to the ground. While the camel's handlers rush to the animal, the race's emcee calls out in defense of the jockey, Check on Charlie! Forget the camel!The International Camel and Ostrich Races is just one of hundreds of animal festivals that take place around the world every year, each putting animals on display for humans to gawk at, demonize, or adore. But why? What value do these festivals and their rituals hold, and why when the animals are in distress do we insist that the show still must go on?In Forget the Camel, Elizabeth MeLampy meets the groundhogs, butterflies, rattlesnakes, lobsters, sled dogs, and other creatures we use to build community, instill fear, and transmit meaning. She shows how killing rattlesnakes in Texas represents a triumph over the Wild West; how lobster boils on Maine's Atlantic coast show solidarity with the working class; and how the celebration each February of a single groundhog reminds us of our reliance on nature. In the process, she uncovers the symbolism we attach to animals and the stories we tell to rise above them. Certain to be appreciated by fans of Yuval Noah Harari, Mary Roach, and Sy Montgomery, Forget the Camel is an immersive entry into the sights, smells, tastes, and noise of animal festivals across the country and a beautifully written step toward a compassionate future.

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Book SynopsisThe author, a world-renowned transplant surgeon, scientist, bioethicist and global health expert, is a Tanzanian born into Swahili culture, with ancestral roots in Arabia, the Caucasus Mountains, and Ethiopia. This memoir chronicles the exploration of his multiple identities, taking the reader on an absorbing journey to Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Zanzibar, South Africa, Idi Amin's Uganda, London, Oxford, the Middle East, the US, Canada, and beyond. We meet slaves, royalty, great heroes, Nobel Prize winners, and mass murderers. It is an impassioned call to resist the polarization that is wrenching apart people of different "races," cultures and religions. Inspired by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, The Garment of Destiny is a remarkable journey that explores the many facets of identity, its formation and who controls it. Are we who we are-- or who we are as seen by others? "I believe that there is no clash of civilizations," Daar says, "because we have one human civilization."

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Book SynopsisThe orphan Tobias Mayer (1723-1762) developed sophisticated measuring instruments and a very precise theory of the movement of the moon around the earth. This scientific biography is dedicated to his life and work as an autodidact and professor. Tobias Mayer, an excellent draftsman from an early age, was an important figure in the field of cartography. At the age of 16 he drew the first city map of Esslingen, at the age of 18 he published his first book on mathematics and at the age of 22 his mathematical atlas. From 1746 to 1751 he was employed as a research assistant in the important cartographic institute Homann Erben in Nuremberg; During this time he drew and improved about 40 maps. His cartographic skills made his contemporaries aware of the shortcomings of geographical localization. Later, as a professor of economics, mathematics and astronomy in Göttingen (from 1751), he developed his lunar theory, drew a picture of the lunar surface that was unsurpassed for a hundred years, measured the coordinates of almost 1000 stars of the zodiacal circle and won a part for his method of determining longitude at sea British Parliament Length Award.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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