Nonfiction

Cribsheet : a data-driven guide to better, more relaxed parenting, from birth to preschool book cover

Cribsheet : a data-driven guide to better, more relaxed parenting, from birth to preschool

Emily Oster

649.122 /Oster
Nonfiction

"From the author of EXPECTING BETTER, an economist's guide to the early years of parenting With Expecting Better, award-winning economist Emily Oster spotted a need in the pregnancy market for advice that gave women the information they needed to make the best decision for their own pregnancies. By digging into the data, Oster found that much of the conventional pregnancy wisdom was wrong. In Cribsheet, she now tackles an even great challenge: decision making in the early years of parenting. As any new parent knows, there is an abundance of often-conflicting advice hurled at you from doctors, family, friends, and the internet. From the earliest days, parents get the message that they must make certain choices around feeding, sleep, and schedule or all will be lost. There's a rule--or three--for everything. But the benefits of these choices can be overstated, and the tradeoffs can be profound. How do you make your own best decision? Armed with the data, Oster finds that the conventional wisdom doesn't always hold up. She debunks myths around breastfeeding (not a panacea), sleep training (not so bad!), potty training (wait until they're ready or possibly bribe with M&Ms), language acquisition (early talkers aren't necessarily geniuses), and many other topics. She also shows parents how to think through freighted questions like if and how to go back to work, how to think about toddler discipline, and how to have a relationship and parent at the same time. Economics is the science of decision-making, and CRIBSHEET is a thinking parent's guide to the chaos and frequent misinformation of the early years. Emily Oster is a trained expert--and mom of two--who can empower us to make better, less fraught decisions--and stay sane in the years before preschool"--

Anne M's picture

Being a parent is incredibly rewarding. But with most rewarding things, it also means it is hard. There are also a lot (A LOT) of opinions on how to be a good parent; it is hard to know what to do and easy to second-guess yourself. Emily Oster's Cribsheet addresses this by going through what has been studied and what the data means. From potty training to child care, this book is a tool to help you make decisions. More or less, you have to find what works for you, your child, and your family--which isn't bad advice. -Anne M

Chasing American monsters : 251 creatures, cryptids, and hairy beasts book cover

Chasing American monsters : 251 creatures, cryptids, and hairy beasts

Jason Offutt

001.944 /Offutt
Nonfiction, Paranormal

"The Black Dog of Hanging Hills, the Tommyknockers of Pennsylvania, the Banshee of the Badlands--these beasts and hundreds more will hold you spellbound, unable to look away from their frightful features and their extraordinary stories. Come face to face with modern-day dinosaurs, extraterrestrials, dragons, lizard men, giants, and flying humanoids. This illustrated collection includes more than 250 monsters and cryptids that will make your hair stand on end when you hear something go bump in the night."

Candice's picture

An amazingly thorough guide to all the various monsters and half-human beasties you've heard about in spooky campfire tales or stories about weird, small towns. Thoughtfully organized by state, so it would make an interesting sort of travel guide as well! -Candice

Shrill : notes from a loud woman book cover

Shrill : notes from a loud woman

Lindy West

BIOGRAPHY West, Lindy
Nonfiction, Memoir

"Presents a series of essays by the American writer and comedian, dealing with issues of body image, popular culture, feminism, and social justice,"--NoveList.

Jason's picture

A six-episode series is coming to Hulu based on Lindy West's feminist memoir of the same name. -Jason

The boy who harnessed the wind : creating currents of electricity and hope book cover

The boy who harnessed the wind : creating currents of electricity and hope

William Kamkwamba

BIOGRAPHY Kamkwamba, William
Nonfiction

An enterprising teenager in Malawi builds a windmill from scraps he finds around his village and brings electricity, and a future, to his family.

Jason's picture

A new Netflix movie directed, adapted by, and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) based on the true story and book by William Kamkwamba. The story of a boy in Malawi helping his village by building a wind turbine after reading about them in a library book. -Jason

War of two : Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the duel that stunned the nation book cover

War of two : Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the duel that stunned the nation

John Sedgwick

973.4 /Sedgwick
Nonfiction, History

Examines the rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, whose infamous duel left the Founding Father dead and turned a sitting vice-president into a fugitive.

Anne M's picture

In exploring his family's history, author John Sedgwick was shown the last letter Alexander Hamilton ever wrote--to Theodore Sedgwick--his great, great, great (plus more) grandfather, former Speaker of the House and Massachusetts senator. It was written on the eve of the famous duel. The author wanted to explore his ancestor's relationships with both Burr and with Hamilton and why Hamilton would write Sedgwick at that particular time. What the book ended up being is an exploration of two people--Burr and Hamilton--their ambitions, the way those ambitions manifested themselves, and how the feud between the two started. It is a good, accessible read. If you want to know more about these two figures without picking up the Chernow tome, this is your book. -Anne M

Roadmap to hell : sex, drugs and guns on the Mafia coast book cover

Roadmap to hell : sex, drugs and guns on the Mafia coast

Barbie Latza Nadeau

364.106 /Nadeau
Nonfiction, True Crime

From sex slaves to drug mules, The Daily Beast's Rome Bureau Chief uncovers a terrifying and intricate web of criminal activity right on Europe's doorstep. Caught between Camorra gunrunners selling to ISIS and Nigerian drug gangs along Italy's picturesque coast, each year thousands of refugees and migrants are lured into their criminal underworld, forced to become sex slaves, drug mules or weapon smugglers. In this powerful exposé, investigative journalist Barbie Latza Nadeau follows the weapons trail, meets the Nigerian hair braiders trafficked and trapped by black magic, the brave nuns who try to save them and the Italian police who turn a blind eye as the most urgent issues facing Europe play out in broad daylight.

Melody's picture

Holy moly! Imagine trying to migrate out of your gang lord-run country just to be picked up by a mafia and sex-trafficked in your new land. Harrowing and tragic, this is an under-the-radar humanitarian crisis that more people need to know is happening! -Melody

The only street in Paris : life on the Rue des Martyrs book cover

The only street in Paris : life on the Rue des Martyrs

Elaine Sciolino

944.361 /Sciolino
Nonfiction, Memoir

Rue des Martyrs is more than just a street, it's an enchanting and bustling community in Paris. At just over half a mile long, spanning between the Ninth and 18th arrondissements, this street is filled with four- and five-story buildings of varying architectural designs, with picturesque wrought-iron balconies and shuttered windows and small businesses at street level. As the author (La Seduction), a former Paris bureau chief for the New York Times, explores her neighborhood, she describes its fascinating history, from ancient churches and the saints and martyrs the street may be named after to the 19th-century Cirque Medrano. The quaint cafés and shops remain locally owned, per Paris law, and their merchants and artisans are the leading characters of the book--and of the street. There's Roger Henri, who pushes a cart with a bell offering his knife-sharpening services; Michou, the owner and creator of the transvestite cabaret at No. 80; and Laurence Gillery, the woman who restores antique barometers, the last of her kind. The atmosphere on rue des Martyrs is refreshing and enticing in our modern world.

Candice's picture

Elaine Sciolino's book is a lovely paean to the Rue des Martrys, a street that runs north-south through the 9th arrondisement of Paris, and into the village of Montmartre. She chronicles the lives and activities of the storefronts and shopkeepers who live and work there, as well as the life and changing nature of the street itself. The assortment of shops--many of them providing fresh foods and personal services--help to create a sense of community among the residents that seems uniquely Parisian, and possibly of a bygone era. -Candice

Bored and brilliant : how spacing out can unlock your most productive & creative self book cover

Bored and brilliant : how spacing out can unlock your most productive & creative self

Manoush Zomorodi

eAUDIO
Nonfiction

"Explains the connection between boredom and original thinking, exploring how we can harness boredom's hidden benefits to become our most productive and creative selves without totally abandoning our gadgets in the process. Grounding the book in the neuroscience and cognitive psychology of 'mind wandering' - what our brains do when we're doing nothing at all - Manoush includes practical steps you can take to ease the nonstop busyness and enhance your ability to dream wonder, and gain clarity in your work and life."--Dust jacket flap.

Melody's picture

Added by Melody

The checklist manifesto : how to get things right book cover

The checklist manifesto : how to get things right

Atul Gawande

eAUDIO
Nonfiction, Business

We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies—neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. First introduced decades ago by the U.S. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mindboggling sophistication. Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third. In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds. An intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference, The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right.

Melody's picture

Stories about the most universal of productivity tools: The Checklist. Listen for some inspiration! -Melody

Drive : the surprising truth about what motivates us book cover

Drive : the surprising truth about what motivates us

Daniel H Pink

eAUDIO
Nonfiction, Business

Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does. He argues that the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today's world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

Melody's picture

Added by Melody