Booklist articles from December 2006

Booklist archives from December 2006

O'Rourke, P. J. On "The Wealth of Nations."(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... O'Rourke, P. J. On the Wealth of Nations. Jan. 2007. 320p. Atlantic Monthly, $19.95 (0-87113-949-9). 330. 5. Old and weighty as it is, Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations remains the seminal work on the fundamentals of economics. Political...

Brown, Larry. A Miracle of Catfish.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Brown, Larry. A Miracle of Catfish. May 2007. 464p. Algonquin, $25.95 (1-56512-536-3). General Fiction. Brown died of a heart attack in 2004, leaving behind his sixth novel--short one ending. Unfortunate, as that is about the only thing...

Gardener, Lisa. Hide.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Gardner, Lisa. Hide. Feb. 2007.384p. Bantam, $25 (9780553804324). Crime Fiction. Gardner fans look out: this one will take your breath away. Near the grounds of an abandoned mental hospital, a buried chamber is discovered. Inside are six...

Grippando, James. When Darkness Falls.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Grippando, James. When Darkness Falls. Jan. 2007. 336p. HarperCollins, $24.95 (0-06-083113-8). Crime Fiction. If Miami criminal defense attorney Jack Swyteck thinks his latest case is weird, he ain't seen nothin' yet. His client, a...

Morrell, David. Scavenger.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Morrell, David. Scavenger. Mar. 2007. 368p. Perseus, $24.95 (1-49315-441-0). Crime Fiction. Ex-cop Frank Balenger, introduced in Creepers (2005), returns for an even, well, creepier adventure. While attending a lecture about time...

Raban, Jonathan. Surveillance.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Raban, Jonathan. Surveillance. Jan. 2007. 276p. Pantheon, $24 (0-375-42244-7). General Fiction. In this well-imagined tale of terrorist-obsessed America in the very near future, the government keeps citizens in a perpetual state of...

Scottoline, Lisa. Daddy's Girl.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Scottoline, Lisa. Daddy's Girl. Mar. 2007.352p. HarperCollins, $25.95 (0-06-083314-9). Crime Fiction. Natalie "Nat" Greco's law students just aren't that interested in the history of justice, and she can't seem to find a way to reach them....

White, Stephen. Dry Ice.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... White, Stephen. Dry Ice. Mar. 2007. 352p. Dutton, $25.95 (9780525949978). Crime Fiction. In the opening chapters of this latest outing starring Boulder, Colorado, psychologist Alan Gregory, the good doctor is feeling a bit sorry for...

Drabble, Margaret. The Sea Lady.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Drabble, Margaret. The Sea Lady. May 2007. 352p. Harcourt, $24 9780151012633). General Fiction. There are few pleasures more mentally invigorating than astringently witty and wise satirical fiction. Drabble is a master of the form,...

Hiaasen, Carl. Nature Girl.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Hiaasen, Carl. Nature Girl. 2006. 306p. Knopf, $25.95 (0-30726299-5). Crime Fiction. The trend, noticeable in Hiaasen's last few novels, to move ever so slightly away from the apocalyptic edge is evident again in his latest screwball...

Kitman, Marvin. The Man Who Would Not Shot Up: The Rise of Bill O'Reilly.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Kitman, Marvin. The Man Who Would Not Shut Up: The Rise of Bill O'Reilly. Jan. 2007. 306p. St. Martin's, $25.95 (0-31231435-3). 070.92. Taking a different approach than the spate of recent books about television commentator O'Reilly,...

Filan, Kenaz. The Haitian Vodou Handbook: Protocols for Riding with the LWA.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Filan, Kenaz. The Haitian Vodou Handbook: Protocols for Riding with the Lwa. Jan. 2007. 302p. illus. index. Destiny, paper, $16.95 (1-59477-125-1). 299. Vodou (as Filan prefers spelling voodoo) is more misunderstood than appreciated in...

Muller-Fahrenholz, Geiko. America's Battle for God: A European Christian Looks at Civil Religion.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Muller-Fahrenholz, Geiko. America's Battle for God: A European Christian Looks at Civil Religion. Dec. 2006. 203p. Eerdmans, $20 (9780802844187). 291.1. German theologian Muller-Fahrenholz knows the U.S. well, having come to it for...

Durant, Michael J. and others. The Night Stalkers: Top-Secret Missions of the U.S. Army's Special Operations Aviation Regiment.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Durant, Michael J. and others. The Night Stalkers: Top-Secret Missions of the U.S. Army's Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Jan. 2007. 384p. illus. Putnam, $25.95 (0-399-15392-6). 355.3. Three authors, all army veterans, join forces for...

Igo, Sarah E. The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Igo, Sarah E. The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public. Jan. 2007. 284p. Harvard, $35 (0-674-02321-8). 301.072. In a nation that values privacy and individualism, why do Americans so eagerly answer surveys...

Johnson, Ned and Eskelsen, Emily Warner. Conquering the SAT: How Parents Can Help Teens Overcome the Pressure and Succeed.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Johnson, Ned and Eskelsen, Emily Warner. Conquering the SAT: How Parents Can Help Teens Overcome the Pressure and Succeed. Jan. 2007. 240p. Palgrave, paper, $16.95 (1-4039-7667-8). 378.1. Drawing on their long experience as...

A trilogy of pain.(The Manley Arts)
December 1, 2006... Kay Redfield Jamison's autobiography, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness, is a hauntingly painful and very personal account of her battle with manic-depressive illness. When it was published in 1998, the book broke new ground for...

Kollmann, Dana. Never Suck a Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Kollmann, Dana. Never Suck a Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI. Feb. 2007. 304p. illus. Kensington, $23.95 (0-8065-2822-2). 363.25. Former Baltimore County Police Department CSI Kollmann tells her story in the perky manner of...

Rose, Lisle A. Power at Sea, v.1: The Age of Navalism, 1890-1918.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Rose, Lisle A. Power at Sea, v. 1: The Age of Navalism, 1890-1918. 2006. 376p. Univ. of Missouri, $49.95 (0-8262-1683-8); paper, $19.95 (0-8262-1701-X). 359.009. Rose, Lisle A. Power at Sea, v.2: The Breaking Storm, 1919-1945. Jan. 2007....

Sage, Jesse and Kasten, Liora. Enslaved: True Stories of Modern Day Slavery.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Sage, Jesse and Kasten, Liora. Enslaved: True Stories of Modern Day Slavery. 2006. 256p. illus. Palgrave, $24.95 (1-4039-7324-5). 306.3. Nineteenth-century slave narratives compelled changes in social mores and international law when...

Tanz, Jason. Other People's Property: A Shadow History of Hip-Hop in White America.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Tanz, Jason. Other People's Property: A Shadow History of Hip-Hop in White America. Feb. 2007. 288p. index. Bloomsbury, $24.95 (1-59691-273-1). 305.235089. Hip-hop in the American pop-cultural mainstream is a matter of much more than the...

Holmes, Rachel. African Queen: The Real Life of the Hottentot Venus.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Holmes, Rachel. African Queen: The Real Life of the Hottentot Venus. Jan. 2007. 192p. Random, $22.95 (1-4000-613-9). 305.48. Saartjie Baartman, a young South African woman, was brought to London in 1810 and displayed seminude as she...

Thomas, Gordon. Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Thomas, Gordon. Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad. Rev. ed. Jan. 2007. 512p. St. Martin's/Griffin, paper, $16.95 (0-312-36152-1). 327. The Mossad, founded in 1951, is Israel's secret intelligence agency. To prepare this...

Webb, Maureen. Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Webb, Maureen. Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World. Dec. 2006. 304p. City Lights, paper, $16.95 (0-87286-476-6). 323.44. Observing government surveillance of individual citizens from her perch in...

Xun, Zhou and Tarocco, Francesca. Karaoke: A Global Phenomenon.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Xun, Zhou and Tarocco, Francesca. Karaoke: A Global Phenomenon. Dec. 2006. 224p. illus. Reaktion; dist. by Univ. of Chicago, paper, $19.95 (9781861893000). 306.4842. In their serious but not ponderous study of a worldwide phenomenon, Xun...

Capparell, Stephanie. The Real Pepsi Challenge: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Capparell, Stephanie. The Real Pepsi Challenge: The Inspirational Story of Breaking the Color Barrier in American Business. Jan. 2007. 320p. illus. index. Free Press, $25 (0-7432-6571-8). 338.7. Imagine the state of race relations in...

Power, Sally J. The Mid-Career Success Guide: Planning for the Second Half of Your Working Life.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Power, Sally J. The Mid-Career Success Guide: Planning for the Second Half of Your Working Life. Dec. 2006. 216p. index. Praeger, $39.95 (0-275-98801-5). 650.108. Power, an academic, offers career advice to white-collar workers who commit...

Hurley, Dan. Natural Causes: Death, Lies, and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry.(book)(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Hurley, Dan. Natural Causes: Death, Lies, and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry. Dec. 2006. 288p. Doubleday, $23.95 (0-7679-2042-2). 338.4. Hurley maintains that the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act...

Kriegel, Mark. Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Kriegel, Mark. Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich. Feb. 2007. 320p. illus. index. Free Press, $26 (9780743284974). 796.357. Pistol Pete Maravich was arguably the greatest offensive player to ever play basketball. Few dispute that he was...

Bosser, Jacques and Le Toquin, Alain. Gardens in Time.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Bosser, Jacques and Le Toquin, Alain. Gardens in Time. Dec. 2006. 320p. illus. index. Abrams, $60 (0-8109-3092-7). 712.09. Great gardens are temporal in every way, requiring endless attention and care to survive. Although many ancient...

Dutton, Monte. True to the Roots: Americana Music Revealed.(young adult book)(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Dutton, Monte. True to the Roots: Americana Music Revealed. Dec. 2006. 224p. Univ. of Nebraska, $24.95 (0-8032-6661-8). 781.642. While patrolling the NASCAR circuit, his regular beat, journalist Dutton indulges his passion for what is...

Halberstadt, Alex. Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life and Times of Doc Pomus.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Halberstadt, Alex. Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life and Times of Doc Pomus. Jan. 2007. 288p. illus. Da Capo, $26 (0-306-81300-9). 782.42164. Teenage Jerome Felder had never heard of a blues singer "who was crippled or white or a Jew" when...

Hull, Jeff. Streams of Consciousness: Hip-Deep Dispatches from the River of Life.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Hull, Jeff. Streams of Consciousness: Hip-Deep Dispatches from the River of Life. Jan. 2007. 208p. index. Lyons, $19.95 (1-59228-988-6). 799.12. In these ruminations on fishing and life, Montanan Hull shows that it's hard to fish well--and...

Sheridan, Sam. A Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey through the World of Fighting.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Sheridan, Sam. A Fighter's Heart: One Man's Journey through the World of Fighting. Feb. 2007. 288p. illus. Atlantic Monthly, $25 (0-87113-950-2). 796.8. Sheridan joined the merchant marines after high school, eventually graduated from...

Phillips, Glasgow. The Royal Nonesuch: Or, What Will I Do When I Grow Up?(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Phillips, Glasgow. The Royal Nonesuch; or, What Will I Do When I Grow Up? Mar. 2007. 384p. Grove/Black Cat, paper, $14 (0-8021-7028-5). 810. Phillips grew up in privileged, permissive Marin County, as did, he notes, John Walker Lindh. But...

Wilson, A. N. Betjeman.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Wilson, A. N. Betjeman. Dec. 2006. 368p. illus, index. Farrar, $27 (0-374-11198-7). 821.91. Though two and a half million copies of his Collected Poems have been sold (a new U.S. paperback of it, including the autobiographical Summoned by...

Giovanni, Nikki. Acolytes.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Giovanni, Nikki. Acolytes. Feb. 2007. 128p. Morrow, $16.95 (0-06-123131-2). 811. A living legacy of the female and African-American experience, Giovanni has published countless books, been honored with numerous awards, and been heralded as...

The Stray Dog Cabaret: A Book of Russian Poems.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... The Stray Dog Cabaret: A Book of Russian Poems. Ed. and tr. by Paul Schmidt. Dec. 2006. 127p. index. New York Review, paper, $14.95 (1-59017-191-8). 891.71. On New Year's Day, 1912, a cabaret with the cock a snook name Stray Dog opened in...

Bell, David A. The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Bell, David A. The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It. Jan. 2007. 416p. Houghton, $26 (0-618-34965-0). 940.2. The wars of the French Revolution acquired a pitiless character and an unprecedented scale...

Ferner, Mike. Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran for Peace Reports from Iraq.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Ferner, Mike. Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran for Peace Reports from Iraq. Dec. 2006. 192p. illus, index. Praeger, $39.95 (0-275-99243-8). 956.7044. Ferner traveled to Baghdad as a peace activist just before the U.S. invasion in March 2003...

Lear, Linda. Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Lear, Linda. Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature. Jan. 2007. 554p. illus. Allen Lane/Penguin, $30 (0-312-36934-4). 823. Beatrix Potter had a passion for place that found aesthetic expression in the beautifully realized natural settings of her...

Dear Edgar Lee Masters.(OUTGOING MAIL)(Column)
December 1, 2006... I'm sorry you so often felt sorry for yourself. That was your main weight to bear, it seems. Your main weight to bear was not your quarrel-some, peckish parents, not the frayed and gloomy Illinois towns you lived in with them, not the WASPy...

Koenig, Robert. The Fourth Horseman: One Man's Mission to Wage the Great War in America.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Koenig, Robert. The Fourth Horseman: One Man's Mission to Wage the Great War in America. Jan. 2007. 352p. illus. index. PublicAffairs, $26 (1-58648-372-2). 940.3. Students of both World War I and the War on Terror may profit from this...

Longworth, Philip. Russia's Empires: The Once and Future Empire from Pre-History to Putin.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Longworth, Philip. Russia's Empires: The Once and Future Empire from Pre-History to Putin. Dec. 2006. 416p. index. St. Martin's, $25.95 (0-312-36041-X). 947. Territorial expansion and contraction are a salient theme in Russian history, and...

Roberts, Andrew. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples since 1900.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Roberts, Andrew. A History of the English-Speaking Peoples since 1900. Feb. 2007. 752p. index. HarperCollins, $35 (0-06-087598-4). 909. Roberts has written a lengthy, ambitious, and interesting but flawed work intended as a sequel to...

Silbey, David J. A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Silbey, David J. A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902. Feb. 2007. 242p. Farrar, $25 (0-8090-7187-8). 959.9. After the overwhelming American victory in the Spanish-American War, President McKinley, after...

Stolen Voices: Young People's War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Stolen Voices: Young People's War Diaries, from World War I to Iraq. Ed. by Zlata Filipovic and Melanie Challenger. Dec. 2006. 291p. Penguin, paper, $14 (9780143038719). 949.7. Filipovic's Zlata's Diary (1994), about her teenage years in...

Walsh, George. "Those Damn Horse Soldiers": True Tales of the Civil War Cavalry.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Walsh, George. "Those Damn Horse Soldiers": True Tales of the Civil War Cavalry. Dec. 2006. 480p. index. Forge, $27.95 (0-765-31270-0). 973.7. Seasoned editor and historian Walsh gives us an excellent popular history of Civil War cavalry....

Browne, Janet. Darwin's Origin of Species: A Biography.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Browne, Janet. Darwin's Origin of Species. Mar. 2007. 200p. index. Atlantic Monthly, $19.95 (0-87113-953-7). 576.8. Browne is probably the most knowledgeable living Charles Darwin expert. Author of a two-volume biography detailing his...

Buchet, Christian and Plisson, Philip. The Eternal Sea.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Buchet, Christian and Plisson, Philip. The Eternal Sea. Dec. 2006. 400p. illus. Abrams, $55 (0-8109-3091-9). 551. French marine photographer Plisson has taken hundreds of thousands of photographs of sea and shore, and created 40 previous...

Dyson, Freeman. The Scientist as Rebel.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Dyson, Freeman. The Scientist as Rebel. Dec. 2006. 400p. New York Review, $27.95 (1-59017-216-7). 500. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dyson is a clear and compelling writer, gifts highlighted in this collection of 33 previously published...

Hough, Susan Elizabeth. Richter's Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Hough, Susan Elizabeth. Richter's Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man. Jan. 2007. 336p. Princeton, $27.95 (0-691-12807-3). 551.22092. Written by a seismologist about the most famous seismologist, this biography of Charles...

Kesseler, Rob and Harley, Madeline. Pollen: The Hidden Sexuality of Flowers.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Kesseler, Rob and Harley, Madeline. Pollen: The Hidden Sexuality of Flowers. 2006. 264p. illus. index. Firefly, $60 (1-55407-219-0). 571.8. Kesseler, Rob and Stuppy, Wolfgang. Seeds: Time Capsules of Life. 2006. 264p. illus. index. Firefly,...

Gribbin, John. The Fellowship: The of a Revolution.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Gribbin, John. The Fellowship: Gilbert, Bacon, Harvey, Wren, Newton, and the Story of a Scientific Revolution. Apr. 2007. 352p. illus. Overlook, $27.95 (1-58567-831-7). 509.2241. Famous for tracing the laws of distant stars through the...

Pearce, Fred. With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change.(Young adult review)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Pearce, Fred. With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change. Mar. 2007. 288p. index. Beacon, $24.95 (0-8070-8576-6). 551.6. Romm, Joseph. Hell and High Water: Global Warming--the Solution and the...

Langone, John and others. Theories for Everything: An Illustrated History of Science from Numbers to String Theory.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Langone, John and others. Theories for Everything: An Illustrated History of Science from Numbers to String Theory. 2006. 407p. illus. National Geographic, $40 (0-7922-3912-1). 509. Written by seasoned popular-science authors, this...

London, Mark and Kelly, Brian. The Last Forest: The Amazon in the Age of Globalization.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... London, Mark and Kelly, Brian. The Last Forest: The Amazon in the Age of Globalization. Feb. 2007. 298p. index. Random, $25.95 (0-679-64305-2). 333.75. "Save the rain forests" is a cry heard round the world, and there is no doubt that the...

Todd, Kim. Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Todd, Kim. Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis. Jan. 2007. 336p. illus, index. Harcourt, $27 (0-15-101108-7). 508.092. Few phenomena are as compelling as metamorphosis, and few have dedicated themselves to...

Muirden, James. The Cosmic Verses: A Rhyming History of the Universe.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Muirden, James. The Cosmic Verses: A Rhyming History of the Universe. Jan. 2007. 224p. illus. Walker, paper, $13.95 (0-8027-1569-9). 523.1. From English history (A Rhyming History of Britain, 2003) and literature (Shakespeare Well-Versed,...

Stein, Kathleen. The Genius Engine: Where Memory, Reason, Passion, Violence, and Creativity Intersect in the Human Brain.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Stein, Kathleen. The Genius Engine: Where Memory, Reason, Passion, Violence, and Creativity Intersect in the Human Brain. Feb. 2007. 304p. Wiley, $27.95 (0-471-26239-0). 612.8. Reporting on contemporary activity in experimental...

Tyson, Neil deGrasse. Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Tyson, Neil deGrasse. Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries. Jan. 2007. 320p. Norton, $24.95 (0-393-06224-4). 523.8. Whenever astronomy intrudes on the news, interviewers flock to the telegenic Tyson for an explanation. The...

Weintraub, David A. Is Pluto a Planet? A Historical Journey through the Solar System.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Weintraub, David A. Is Pluto a Planet? A Historical Journey through the Solar System. Jan. 2007. 336p. Princeton, $27.95 (0-69112348-9). 523.2. Its status ambiguous ever since its discovery in 1930, hapless Pluto received an insult to its...

Top 10 sci-tech books.(Sailing with Noah: Stories from the World of Zoos)(Space Race: The Epic Battle between America and the Soviet Union for Dominion of Space)(Songbird Journeys: Four Seasons in the Lives of Migratory Birds)(Noise)(Programming the Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos)(The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood)(My Einstein: Essays by the World's Leading Thinkers on the Man, His Work, and His Legacy)(Lost Mountain: A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness, Radical Strip Mining and the Devastation of Appalachia)(Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth's Last Dinosaur)(The Tree: A Natural History of What Trees Are, How They Live, and Why They Matter)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... The most outstanding science and technology titles of the last 12 months reflect both concern for and fascination with animal and plant species, and recount explorations in both the quantum world and space. Bonner, Jeffrey P. Sailing with...

Core collection: climate change.(Greenhouse: The 200-Year Story of Global Warming)(Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed)(The Future of Ice: A Journey Into Cold)(The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What it Means for Life on Earth)(An Inconvenient Truth)(The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations)(End of the Earth: Voyages to the White Continent)(The End of Nature)(With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change)(Hell and High Water: Global Warming--the Solution and the Politics--and What We Should Do)(Red Sky at Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment)(Safe Trip to Eden: 10 Steps to Save Planet Earth from the Global Warming Meltdown)(Chasing Spring: An American Journey Through a Changing Season)(The Discovery of Global Warming)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Few subjects arouse more resistance and engender more confusion than global warming. Dire warnings about climate change sound like the stuff of science fiction. It's hard to know what to think, or what to do, when we're told there will be an...

Baraka, Amiri. Tales of the Out & the Gone.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Baraka, Amiri. Tales of the Out & the Gone. Dec. 2006. 240p. Akashic, paper, $14.95 (1-933354-12-7). In his signature politically piercing and poetic staccato style, Baraka offers a perspective on social and political changes and a fresh...

Begley, Louis. Matters of Honor.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Begley, Louis. Matters of Honor. Jan. 2007. 307p. Knopf, $24.95 (0-307-26525-0). Begley continues his sojourn among the elite with this absorbing novel about the nature of identity and the costs of assimilation. The novel's narrator is...

Brandeis, Gayle. Self Storage.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Brandeis, Gayle. Self Storage. Jan. 2007. 288p. Ballantine, $23.95 (0-345-49260-9). The Book of Dead Birds (2003), Brandeis' debut, won Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize. In her second brisk, covertly trenchant novel, Brandeis manages...

Dick, Philip K. Voices from the Street.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Dick, Philip K. Voices from the Street. Jan. 2007. 304p. Tor, $24.95 (0-765-31692-7). Almost 25 years after his death, Dick is enjoying a revival of interest in his work that most of his surviving peers in sf might envy. His stories have...

Fleming, James. White Blood.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Fleming, James. White Blood. Jan. 2007. 368p. Atria, $25 (1-7432-9938-8). The nephew of the author of the James Bond novels preserves the family legacy in this suspenseful novel, though he trades in cold-war espionage for the...

Frederick, K. C. Inland.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Frederick, K. C. Inland. Dec. 2006. 268p. Permanent Press, $28 (1-57962-135-X). In 1959, with America on the threshold of a decade that came to be defined by upheaval within and without, Morelli, whom grad student Ted Riley happens (?) to...

Haig, Matt. The Dead Fathers Club.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... * Haig, Matt. The Dead Fathers Club. Feb. 2007. 314p. Penguin, $23.95 (0-670-03833-4). What happens when you die? Well, if you're murdered, you become a ghost, as 11-year-old Philip learns when he sees his dead father for the first time at...

Forgotten treasures.(At Leisure)(promoting older books in libraries)
December 1, 2006... One of the great advantages libraries have over bookstores is that librarians keep the backlist. Sure, you can go into a bookstore and purchase new titles that may have a waiting list at your local library. But bookstores probably won't be able...

Habila, Helon. Measuring Time.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Habila, Helon. Measuring Time. Feb. 2007. 272p. Norton, paper, $13.95 (0-393-05251-6). In a penetrating story of contemporary Nigeria, twin brothers want to escape their village of Keti, and war seems the best way to fame and glory. But...

Howard, Ravi. Like Trees, Walking.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Howard, Ravi. Like Trees, Walking. Mar. 2007. 320p. Amistad, $24.95 (0-06-052959-8). The town of Mobile, Alabama, in the summer of 1981, when headlines were dominated by the Atlanta child killings, awakens to find a black youth hanging...

Ison, Tara. The List.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Ison, Tara. The List. Mar. 2007. 272p. Scribner, $23 (0-7432-9414-9). Angelenos Isabel and Al are far from a perfect match. She's a model medical student with a bright future as a heart surgeon. He's a lumbering video-store clerk who...

Joseph, Sheri. Stray.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Joseph, Sheri. Stray. Feb. 2007. 444p. MacAdam/Cage, $25 (1-59692-201-X). Resurrecting characters from her previous work, Bear Me Safely Over (2002), Joseph tells an intense story about an unconventional love triangle. Kent had his heart...

Kelly, Cathy. Always and Forever.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Kelly, Cathy. Always and Forever. Jan. 2007. 616p. Pocket, paper, $15 (1-4165-3158-0). This charming novel, set in the quaint town of Carrickwell, Ireland, centers on the absorbing stories of three women. There's Mel, a working mother who...

Mandery, Evan. Dreaming of Gwen Stefani.(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Mandery, Evan. Dreaming of Gwen Stefani. Feb. 2007. 187p. Ig, paper, $13.95 (0-9771972-6-3). Mortimer Taylor Coleridge used to study evolutionary biology at Columbia. Now he is a dedicated employee of Papaya Queen hot dogs. Master of the...

Matar, Hisham. In the Country of Men.(young adult book)(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Matar, Hisham. In the Country of Men. Feb. 2007. 246p. Dial, $22 (9780385340427). Matar sets his debut in the cities in which he grew up, Tripoli and Cairo, and focuses on the memories of his narrator, Suleiman, as he relives the summer of...

Mengestu, Dinaw. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Mengestu, Dinaw. The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. Mar. 2007. 240p. Riverhead, $22.95 (1-59448-940-8). In his run-down store in a gentrifying neighborhood of Washington, D.C., Ethiopian immigrant Stepha Stephanos regularly meets with...

Montefiore, Santa. The Gypsy Madonna.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Montefiore, Santa. The Gypsy Madonna. Mar. 2007. 384p. Touchstone, paper, $15 (0-7432-7889-5). Mischa Fontaine was born in a French village in 1941, the son of a German army officer. In the bitter aftermath of World War II, his parentage...

Norman, Howard. Devotion.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Norman, Howard. Devotion. Feb. 2007. 208p. Houghton, $24 (0-618-73541-0). This novel combines themes of Norman's award-winning fiction--birds, photography, literature, and his beloved Nova Scotia--but lacks the melodrama of his Canadian...

Parker, Una-Mary. The Granville Legacy.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Parker, Una-Mary. The Granville Legacy. Jan. 2007. 224p. Severn, $27.95 (0-7278-6412-2). Liza Granville is proud of her four daughters but longs for the pre-World War II years, when parties, big houses, and good marriages were the most...

Sorokin, Vladimir. Ice.(book)(Brief article)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Sorokin, Vladimir. Ice. Tr. by Jamey Gambrell. Jan. 2007. 280p. New York Review, $23.95 (1-59017-195-0). This is the first novel by Sorokin--supposedly considered a major Russian author--translated into English and is considered his finest...