Nonfiction

Wow. There is no other word for this book but wow.

This is an incredibly powerful work of art that combines nude photos of women of all ages, ethnicity and body shape with short essays written by the woman posing, describing who they are and how they feel about their body. Each picture is uniquely crafted to be simple yet exquisitely beautiful by merely depicting women in a raw, honest way. 

While the pictures may be what initially attract readers (it’s hard not to be intrigued by a book with a naked woman on the cover), it is the stories that truly make This Is Who I Am so moving. There is

The Best American Infographics 2014, edited by Gareth Cook, has over 150 great infographics by fabulous information designers and includes diverse topics such as “The Perfect Wine for the Meal". "Drone Attacks" is an infographic that explains who has been injured or killed over the past 10 years by drones. My favorite chapter is "Lost Cat," where Tibby’s owners, wondering what he gets up to when he disappears for weeks at a time, strap a GPS on his collar.

This is a rather mind-blowing documentary about the twisted "love" story of Burt and Linda Pugach. Maybe love is the wrong word. Obsession certainly fits. Darker descriptors may also apply. At the outset, their story seems like the kind of fairy tale love story cheesy romance movies and novels are made of. Burt was a successful young lawyer, and Linda a beautiful young woman. He sees her walking down the street and decides she's the one, and begins wining and dining her, and taking her for rides in his flashy cars and private planes. But something is clearly bound to go wrong, or else why

In Working Stiff, Judy Melinek provides a fascinating look into the work of a New York City medical examiner. Never sensational, Melinek describes some of the more interesting autopsies she’s performed, how she dealt with the families of the deceased, and cases that landed her at crime scenes and in courtrooms—all surprising aspects of this occupation that I had never considered.

The grueling, heartbreaking, and necessary work of her office during and after 9/11 is undeniable. And Melinek shares her role in those events openly and honestly. While a successful medical examiner must hold her

In By the Book, editor Pamela Paul has compiled 65 interviews of a wide range of popular authors and famous readers from her column by the same name in the Sunday New York Times Book Review. If you are not familiar with the column you are certainly familiar with many of these modern-day intellects, ranging from poets to pundits, singers to scientists and actors to authors of modern fiction. Some of the questions asked seemed pretty standard fare and were asked of most of those featured: “What book is on your night stand now?”; “If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be?” 

Stunning! This series offers a sweeping panorama of the African continent. However, the stories presented here are often intimate, following individual animals through both ordinary and special events in their lives. Many of the animal behaviors this series captures are firsts in wildlife filmmaking. Even the series narrator, David Attenborough, who boasts a lifetime of wildlife observation, is surprised by these unexpected dramas.

The cinematography is top-notch, and I really enjoyed following the cameramen and women behind the scenes to see how they labored to catch some of their amazing

What began as an exercise to work through daunting experiences would eventually become this powerful collection of essays about understanding Asperger Syndrome. Finding Kansas captures Aaron Likens' introspective journey from awkward early teens to roller-coaster 20s and onward to an empowering future.

To Aaron, Kansas represents a place where he is safe and confident. (Believe it or not, he's not from Kansas.) He was diagnosed with Aspeger's as a young man, so writing became a way for him to tease out how the disorder had played a role in his early behaviors and interactions. He analyzes

Sarah battles a crazy disease, the kind of mysterious disease with no definitive end. It’s a disease that requires a central line (a catheter placed into a large vein in the neck), the kind of disease that attacks nerves and turns the body into a battleground.

And while all these things are very critical in this memoir, the most important element is how the disease is presented to the reader. This book may be comprised of poems threaded with angst, humor and despair or it could be a teetering castle of prose blocks. Or perhaps it’s one long essay ravaged by the disease itself. The way this

I've been a fan of Amanda Palmer, her music and her personality, for a while now. I admire how open, honest, brash, and brave she is. The Art of Asking is based on a TED talk she gave in 2013, expanded here to talk about her life as an artist and musician along with musings on why it's important to ask for help, why we often find it difficult to ask, and why sometimes asking for help doesn't get us what we asked for. (If you listen to the audiobook, you also get Amanda singing with her ukulele and some bonus songs by her and some of her friends.)

This is one of those books that smacked me

Teeth, claws, horns. These are animal defenses we’re familiar with. What about slime? Toxic explosions? Blood shooting from an eye? Learn about these and other totally cool and utterly gross ways that animals protect themselves in Rebecca Johnson’s When Lunch Fights Back: Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses.

This is a short, intriguing book for older children and anyone interested in fun (and rather disgusting) facts about animals.

Rebecca Johnson has written numerous science books for children that are entertaining as well as informative, such as Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature’s Undead a

Having read all the Little House books many, many times, I was very excited when I heard about Pioneer Girl: the Annotated Autobiography. I would get to read the true story behind the beloved fictional narrative.

The book was full of surprises. First, it was much larger than I was anticipating—it would make a lovely coffee table book. Next, I discovered from the introduction that Laura Ingalls Wilder’s daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, played a huge part in the editing and publishing of the Little House Books, something I had never known. Finally, while it was enjoyable to read how closely the

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Most people know that these words were said by Neil Armstrong, the first human to set foot on the moon. Many books have been written and movies made about the early years of space travel and the first astronauts. Except for old articles in LIFE magazine, much less has been written about the wives of those astronauts.  Lily Koppel has addressed this lack of information in her book The Astronaut Wives Club. The book describes how the wives were expected to be the “perfect American wife.” Their own hopes, dreams and goals were to be

What would happen if you had a mole of moles?  Or if everybody on planet Earth decided to jump up and down at the same time?  How high up would you have to drop a steak for it to be cooked by the time it hit the ground?  Former NASA scientist Randall Munroe has been amusing the internet with his stick figure drawings since 2005, mostly on the popular website xkcd.com, but the popular comics website is also home to a column where he answers hypothetical (and very often insane) questions about physics, space, chemistry and just about everything else.  

A compendium of the answers has now been

I read How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read with my book club and, full disclosure, I was the only one who liked it.  Which made for a rousing discussion!

Author Pierre Bayard is a professor of French literature at a French university.  So, he’s French and his book has been translated into English for our reading pleasure.  Professor Bayard’s prose is academic.  He uses well-cited excerpts from classical literature to defend his points.  He talks about Themes and The Other and the ways readers interact with The Other, internally and externally.  While I generally read for diversion, I

This is the story of Paul Rosenberg, one of pre-World War II France’s most influential and knowledgeable art dealers, as told by his granddaughter, Anne Sinclair. Rosenberg was hailed as a pioneer in the world of modern art, exhibiting artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Braque and Leger at his Paris gallery. With the German occupation of France in 1942, Rosenberg, as a Jew, was forced to flee France, leaving his artwork behind to be confiscated by the Nazis. The story is historically significant, but it is also interesting to see the man and his life discovered and revealed through the eyes of

I have read every book in Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series. Every time I read one, I wonder about the events that led to Gabriel being recruited by the Israeli intelligence service—the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by a PLO faction called Black September at the 1972 Munich Olympics. My curiosity led me to the book One Day in September, the facts behind the fiction.

The book describes not only the events that occurred at the Olympics but also the background of the Black September group, why and how it came into being, and a little of the Arab-Israeli history.  We are also given glimpses

Enchanting language, lush scenery, a romping, completely factual story and a rascally, joyful raccoon are the fixings for this adorable and happy memoir by Sterling North. 

This was my favorite animal story as a child.  And it is still at the top of my list.  I started squealing the moment Rascal was swiped from the woods, and made no efforts to contain my delight for the duration of the book.  My adult squeals echoed the squeals of my 10 year-old self as Rascal snuggled his way into Sterling’s bed, made a sugar lump disappear and trilled all of his desires, questions, indignations and love. 

Whoever thought learning about what gives you gas would be so much fun? Mary Roach's Gulp explores all the things I never thought would be in this book—smuggling objects, sewing parts of rats closed, Elvis, etc. I couldn't stop talking about this book and telling my friends and family what I was learning about.  It's like the Magic School Bus for adults!

In Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil, Deborah Rodriguez offers an account of Afghan life from a unique vantage point as an American beautician serving local and foreign women in Kabul.

Imagine, at the age of 30, discovering you're not typical — or rather, not neurotypical. What could have been a scary diagnosis turned out to be very empowering for David Finch. His personal story of coping with Asperger Syndrome and saving his marriage paints a picture of hard-earned possibility. Finch may be at the milder end of the Asperger/autism spectrum, but for a neurotypical like myself, I learned a lot about the life of someone whose brain works very differently from my own. At the same time, I also saw aspects of myself in his behaviors, a reminder that common ground can still be

Belinda Carlisle seems to have lived the quintessential rocker’s life—starting off poor and dreaming of a magical life, being in love with music at a young age, starting a band almost on a whim, seeing her band rise to fame, drowning in drugs. Belinda’s story, Lips  Unsealed, is one of brutal honesty about how her own shortcomings and insecurities kept her in the grip of addiction even while her life seemed perfect and almost fairy-tale like to those on the outside. Her life reads as an inspiring and cautionary tale. It also made me want to dig up The Go-Go’s albums and listen with a greater

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines vagabond as

1:  moving from place to place without a fixed home :  wandering

2a :  of, relating to, or characteristic of a wanderer

  b :  leading an unsettled, irresponsible, or disreputable life

But to Rolf Potts vagabonding is 1: the act of leaving behind the orderly world to travel independently for an extended period of time; 2: a privately meaningful manner of travel that emphasizes creativity, adventure, awareness, simplicity, discovery, independence, realism, self-reliance, and the growth of the spirit; 3: a deliberate way of living that makes

With 408 skill tips broken into 5 categories (camping, fishing, hunting, survival, and challenge) this complete outdoor manual covers all the basics and then some.  Most of the tips are less than 4 paragraphs long, so the book works very well as a reference manual (though full page and even double page spreads are given to subjects that require it, such as track identification and fire starting techniques)for those who enjoy the great outdoors.  There are some basic tips like seasoning a dutch oven, or identifying drake mallards, that will be redundant to people who have been camping/hunting

Taken from interviews with 33 well-known filmmakers, “Directors” is fascinating to watch for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes of movie making. The directors discuss their journeys to becoming top directors, the complexities of the industry, stories of some of their best-known films, and their legacies. The result is an impressive collection of honest insight into the passion that underpins the business of Hollywood.

Food critic Frank Bruni reveals his personal struggle to overcome a love-hate relationship with food, and how he achieved self-control in the most unlikely circumstances.

Elisabeth Tova Bailey has a mysterious illness that lasts for many years.  At one point during this illness she is confined to her bed.  She can only sit up or hold a book for minutes at a time.  She has been removed from her beloved farmhouse to a condo in the city so that she can be cared for around the clock.  One day a friend brings Elisabeth a snail that is nestled in a pot of violets.  This is the story of how a snail ferries one woman through countless hours of suffering into a place of wonder-induced healing.

I, too, was swept up in the White-Lipped Forest Snail’s trail of reverence

Dr. Wes Crenshaw is very straightforward when talking about the difficulties of living with ADD/ADHD and how to manage the disorder and be successful at work, school, and in relationships.  With the use of thirteen principles to live by Dr. Wes coaches individuals into successful living and helps their parents, teachers, friends and partners to understand why those individuals do the things they do and how best to help them.  The principles include the following: learn to be where you're at right now, make mindful decisions, make the right choice not the easy one, small decisions matter, don't

The beginning of the end of Romanov rule of Russia began with the ascension of Nicholas II. Ill prepared for the crown by his father, Nicholas depended heavily on his new wife Alexandra (married under the shadow of the death of Nicholas’ father their marriage was seen as a curse by the Russian people). Problems for the Romanovs multiplied when Alexandra, after several difficult pregnancies, produced only female heirs leaving the line of succession unsure. A disconnect from the government and the people, and an overdependence on Alexandra and her religious advisors, made Nicholas appear weak

Kitty lovers will appreciate Caroline Paul's humor, devotion and manic-depressive curiosity in Lost Cat.

Thank You For Your Service by David Finkel is a deeply moving look at the wounded bodies and scarred psyches of the men who return home after modern-day combat.  In the author’s previous book, The Good Soldiers, he was embedded with soldiers during the surge of deployments in 2007-08.  Now, he’s following them home to record their struggles with finding and keeping jobs, post-traumatic stress disorder, and rehabilitating their wounds.  Without inserting himself into the story, the author shows us life after war for soldiers, their families, their widows, as well as their counselors/therapists