Readers > New Books > Nonfiction, September 2009

Nonfiction, September 2009

Ackerman, Diane: Dawn Light: Dancing with Cranes and Other Ways to Start the Day (September 2009)

In a sequence of personal meditations through the cycle of seasons, Ackerman awakens readers to the world at dawn — drawing on sources as diverse as meteorology, world religion, etymology, art history, poetry, organic farming and beekeeping.
Armstrong, Karen: The Case for God (September 2009)

Focusing especially on Christianity but including other religions, Armstrong examines the diminished impulse toward religion during a time when a significant number of people either want nothing to do with God or question the efficacy of faith.
Bartlett, Allison Hoover: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much (September 2009)

Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. While most thieves steal for profit, John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. Journalist Bartlett plunged herself into this world of book lust and discovered just how dangerous it can be.
Birnes, William J.: The Haunting of America: From the Salem Witch Trials to Harry Houdini (September 2009)

The Haunting of America explores the often unexpected influences of the paranormal on science, medicine, law, government, the military, psychology, theology, death and dying, spirituality and pop culture.
Brandt, Richard: Inside Larry and Sergey's Brain (September 2009)

You've used their products. You've heard about their skyrocketing wealth and "don't be evil" business motto. But how much do you really know about Google's founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin? Inside Larry and Sergey's Brain skips past the general Google story and focuses on what really drives these men and where they will take Google in the future.
Brown, Ethan: Shake the Devil Off: A True Story of the Murder That Rocked New Orleans (September 2009)

A charismatic young soldier meets a tragic end in this moving and mesmerizing account of murder and suicide. Brown discovers that this tragedy — like so many others — could have been avoided.
Bullock-Prado, Gesine: Confections of a Closet Master Baker (September 2009)

The author chronicles her journey from sugar-obsessed child to miserable, awkward Hollywood insider to reluctant master baker. Eccentric characters, funny renditions of Hollywood nonsense and recipes create a hilarious, poignant treat of a memoir.
Burns, Ken: The National Parks: America's Best Idea (September 2009)

This lavishly illustrated narrative — the companion volume to the PBS series — delves into the history of the park idea, from the first sighting by white men in 1851 through to the most recent additions to a system that now encompasses nearly 400 sites and 84 million acres.
Dickstein, Morris: Dancing in the Dark (September 2009)

In this timely cultural history of the 1930s, Dickstein explores the anxiety and hope, the despair and surprising optimism of distressed Americans at a time of dire economic dislocation. Bringing together a staggering range of materials, this work highlights the pivotal role of culture and government intervention in hard times.
Edelman, Hope: The Possibility of Everything (September 2009)

This deeply affecting, beautifully written memoir of a family's emotional journey explores what Edelman and her husband had gone looking for in the Central American jungle and what they ultimately discover.
Eliot, Lise: Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps — And What We Can Do about It (September 2009)

Based on research in the field of neuroplasticity, Eliot zeroes in on the precise differences between boys and girls' brains and explains the harmful nature of gender stereotypes. She offers parents and teachers concrete ways they can help all children reach their fullest potential.
Farmelo, Graham: The Strangest Man (September 2009)

One of Einstein's most admired colleagues, Paul Dirac was in 1933 the youngest theoretician ever to win the Nobel Prize in physics. One of the discoverers of quantum mechanics, his contributions had a unique insight, eloquence, clarity, and mathematical power. Based on previously undiscovered archives, The Strangest Man reveals the many facets of Dirac’s brilliantly original mind.
Fiennes, William: The Music Room: A Memoir (September 2009)

Fiennes presents a bittersweet description of an ancient family house in an enchanted setting, and of growing up with a older brother who suffers from epilepsy.
Franklin, Jon: The Wolf in the Parlor: The Eternal Connection Between Humans and Dogs (September 2009)

A man and a puppy exhumed from a 12,000-year-old grave send a Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer on a journey to the dogs.
Geary, Rick: Trotsky: A Graphic Biography (September 2009)

Trotsky was a hero to some, a ruthless demon to others. To Stalin, he was such a threat that he warranted murder by pickax. This polarizing figure set up a world conflict that lasted through the 20th century, and in Trotsky: A Graphic Biography, the comic artist Rick Geary uses his distinct style to depict the stark reality of the man and his times.
Ginzberg, Lori D.: Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life (September 2009)

Elizabeth Cady Stanton worked tirelessly to extend the nation's promise of radical individualism to women. In this subtly crafted biography, Ginzberg narrates the life of a woman who turned the limitations placed on women like herself into a universal philosophy of equal rights.
Goulston, Mark: Just Listen (September 2009)

The first step in persuading anyone to do any thing is getting them to hear you out. Drawing on his experience as a psychiatrist, business consultant and coach, and backed by the latest scientific research, author Mark Goulston shares simple but powerful techniques readers can use to really get through to people.
Hazleton, Lesley: After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam (September 2009)

Balancing past and present, Hazelton shows how 7th century events are alive in Middle Eastern hearts and minds today as though they had just happened, shaping modern headlines from Iran's Islamic Revolution to the civil war in Iraq.
Jacobsen, Rowan: The Living Shore: Rediscovering a Lost World (September 2009)

Modeled on John Steinbeck's The Sea of Cortez, this slim volume contains a good-news environmental story about how an oyster can help restore the oceans.
Jamison, Kay Redfield: Nothing Was the Same (September 2009)

Jamison looks back at her relationship with her husband, Richard Wyatt, a renowned scientist who battled severe dyslexia to become one of the foremost experts on schizophrenia.
Kristof, Nicholas D.: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (September 2009)

Two Pulitzer Prize winners issue a call to arms against our era's most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women in the developing world.
Maass, Peter: Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil (September 2009)

A stunning and revealing examination of oil's indelible impact on the countries that produce it and the people who possess it, Crude World is a startling and essential account of the consequences of the world's addiction to oil.
Marcus, Greil: A New Literary History of America (September 2009)

In more than 200 original essays, A New Literary History of America brings together the nation's many voices from the first conception of a New World in the 16th century to the latest re-envisioning of that world in cartoons, television, science fiction and hip hop.
Owen, David: Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability (September 2009)

In this remarkable challenge to conventional thinking about the environment, Owen argues that the greenest community in the U.S. is not Portland, Oregon, or Snowmass, Colorado, but New York City.
Rescue, Ink: Rescue Ink: How Ten Guys Saved Countless Dogs and Cats, Twelve Horses, Five Pigs, One Duck, and a Few Turtles (September 2009)

Former Newsday writer Flaim chronicles the true story of 10 tough and tattooed bikers who rescue animals in danger.
Scales, Helen: Poseidon's Steed: The Story of Seahorses, from Myth to Reality (September 2009)

A fascinating journey with the sea creature that has captured human imagination for thousands of years, Poseidon's Steed trails the seahorse through secluded waters across the globe in a kaleidoscopic history that mirrors humankind's centuries-old fascination with the animal.
Scarth, Alwyn: Vesuvius: A Biography (September 2009)

For over two millennia, the dynamic presence of Vesuvius — capricious, vibrant and volatile — has fascinated scientists, artists, writers, and thinkers, and inspired religious fervor, Roman architecture, and Western literature. In Vesuvius, Alwyn Scarth draws from the latest research, classical and eyewitness accounts, and a diverse range of other sources to tell the riveting story of this spectacular natural phenomenon.
Scoggin, Jennifer: It's Not All Flowers and Sausages (September 2009)

Mrs. Mimi is a Harlem schoolteacher who loves kids. She doesn't love all the things that get in the way of the time she spends with her students, though. This work chronicles a myriad of people and situations that anyone can identify with and commiserate over.
Small, David: Stitches: A Memoir (September 2009)

Telling his story in a graphic novel style, the prize-winning children's author depicts a childhood from hell in this searing yet redemptive memoir.
Spector, Robert: The Mom & Pop Store: How the Unsung Heroes of the American Economy Are Surviving and Thriving (September 2009)

Business journalist Spector celebrates the history of small, independent retail stores and how mom and pop businesses across the country still thrive on attentive customer service and community support.
Tannen, Deborah: You Were Always Mom's Favorite!: Sisters in Conversation Throughout Their Lives (September 2009)

What she did for women and men in You Just Don't Understand, and mothers and daughters in You're Wearing THAT?, Tannen now does for sisters in a groundbreaking book that explores this powerful and perplexing relationship.
Thorpe, Helen: Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America (September 2009)

Just Like Us offers a powerful account of four young Mexican women coming of age in Denver — two of whom have legal documentation, two of whom who don't — and the challenges they face as they attempt to pursue the American dream.

top of page