Bird Songs from Around the World (Raincoast/Chronicle, 368 pages) is so much more than just a book, I almost don’t know where to begin. In the first place, it’s quite heavy for its size. This is only in part due the 368 color pages featuring glorious botanical paintings of birds. It’s also due the mechanical apparatus that is part of the binding of the book and that makes the sound possible. And what sound! The […]
Today, in January Magazine’s non-fiction section, contributing editor Pedro Blas Gonzalez reviews An Incomplete History of World War II by Edwin Kiester Jr. Says Gonzalez: An Incomplete History of World War II does not pretend to be an exhaustive tract on the history of this devastating world conflict. Yet this may be the most enticing aspect of this work and what makes it so readable. The book is not a jargon-filled, hair-splitting, jaw-snapping academic text. […]
Today, in January Magazine’s non-fiction section, contributing editor Caroline Cummins reviews Grave Matters by Mark Harris. Says Cummins: Don’t dig the conventional funeral industry? As Mark Harris describes in his new book, Grave Matters, you don’t have to wind up six feet under. Harris, an environmental reporter, has assembled a collection of short profiles documenting the experiences of families who have chosen different paths to the grave. Like Carlson’s book, Grave Matters is a handbook […]
Today, in January Magazine’s non-fiction section, contributing editor Mary Ward Menke reviews Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time by Lynne Eldridge and David Borgeson. Says Menke: If Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time simply repeated facts based on research, readers would be overwhelmed and quickly lose interest. Fortunately, that’s not the case; the book includes charts, graphs, recipes (most of them sound surprisingly tasty) and “practical points” (suggestions) to enhance learning and show […]
Contributing editor Pedro Blas Gonzales reviews the non-fiction work Loyal Comrades, Ruthless Killers by Slava Katamidze. Says Gonzales: Gathering and utilizing the intelligence delivered to the west by the many Soviet defectors through the years, the author is able to paint a picture that few myopic or disingenuous intellectuals can continue to evade or “deconstruct.” Simply stated, the Soviet Union’s mechanism of state terror was the premier manifestation of state-organized murder and terror of the […]
Today, in January Magazine’s non-fiction section, Cherie Thiessen reviews Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment by Tal Ben-Shahar. Says Thiessen: Tal Ben-Shahar is one of the most popular teachers at Harvard. He also teaches the most popular course there. It must make him feel, well — happy. “Grounded in the revolutionary ‘positive psychology’ movement,” boasts the promo on the attractively simple book cover, “Ben-Shahar ingeniously combines scientific studies, scholarly research, self-help […]
Today, in January Magazine’s non-fiction section, contributing editor David Abrams reviews The Pentagon: A History by Steve Vogel. Abrams’ review incorporates a surprisingly personal point of view: At this point, I should confess full disclosure: for the past four months, I have been one of the approximately 25,000 workers who report to the Pentagon every morning, shuffling through the brightly-polished corridors like automatons. I have a desk in an E-Ring office — in fact, the […]
Today, in January Magazine’s non-fiction section, Cherie Thiessen reviews Above the Falls by John Harris. Contributing editor Thiessen advises us to read the book for: … historical perspective. What the back cover does accurately tell us about the book is that it paints a vivid picture of a now-vanished lifestyle. It portrays trappers living off the land, shooting and drying their meat when they need a fresh supply, catching their fish, sleeping rough, living in […]
Today, in January Magazine’s non-fiction section, contributing editor Cherie Thiessen looks at The Strange Case of Hellish Nell by Nina Shandler. Says Thiessen: The last person in Britain to be tried as a witch was a Scottish medium. The year, surprisingly, was 1944. Nell ran afoul of authorities when she started to channel spirits who knew way too much about Britain’s military secrets during World War II. When Nina Shandler heard this story on the […]
Today, in January Magazine’s non-fiction section, contributing editor Stephen Miller looks at Land of Lincoln by Andrew Ferguson. Miller says: Abraham Lincoln has been dead and buried for over 140 years, but that hasn’t stopped a lot of folks from thinking about him — a lot. That’s the central theme of Andrew Ferguson’s Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe’s America, an exploration of Lincoln’s presence in modern American culture. It’s a marvelous addition to anyone’s […]
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