Nonfiction
The telling room : a tale of love, betrayal, revenge, and the world's greatest piece of cheese
Michael Paterniti
641.373 /Paterniti
Nonfiction, Travel
In the picturesque village of Guzmán, Spain, in a cave on the edge of town, there is a cramped limestone chamber known as "the telling room." This is where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets--usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine. It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a Spanish cheesemaker as he spun an odd and compelling tale about a piece of cheese. Made from an old family recipe, Ambrosio's cheese was reputed to be among the finest in the world, and was said to hold mystical qualities. But then, Ambrosio said, things had gone horribly wrong. Paterniti was hooked. Soon he was fully embroiled, relocating his young family to Guzmán in order to chase the truth about this fairy tale-like place. What he ultimately discovers is nothing like the idyllic fable he first imagined. Instead, he's sucked into the heart of an unfolding mystery, a blood feud that includes accusations of betrayal and theft, death threats, and a murder plot.--From publisher description.
The millionaire and the bard : Henry Folger's obsessive hunt for Shakespeare's first folio
Andrea E. Mays
822.33 /Z/Mays
Nonfiction, History
"Today it is the most valuable book in the world. Recently one sold for over five million dollars. It is the book that rescued the name of William Shakespeare and half of his plays from oblivion. The Millionaire and the Bard tells the miraculous and romantic story of the making of the First Folio, and of the American industrialist whose thrilling pursuit of the book became a lifelong obsession." --
Added by Jason
Musicophilia : tales of music and the brain
Oliver W Sacks
781.11 /Sacks
Nonfiction, Health
Oliver Sacks explores the place music occupies in the brain and how it affects the human condition. In Musicophilia, he shows us a variety of what he calls "musical misalignments." Among them: a man struck by lightning who suddenly desires to become a pianist at the age of forty-two; an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; people with "amusia," to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans; and a man whose memory spans only seven seconds - for everything but music. Dr. Sacks describes how music can animate people with Parkinson's disease who cannot otherwise move, give words to stroke patients who cannot otherwise speak, and calm and organize people who are deeply disoriented by Alzheimer's or schizophrenia.
Added by Jason
The psychopath test : a journey through the madness industry
Jon Ronson
616.8582 /Ronson
Nonfiction
"In this madcap journey, a bestselling journalist investigates psychopaths and the industry of doctors, scientists, and journalists who study them"--Provided by publisher.
Added by Jason
Can't we talk about something more pleasant?
Roz Chast
BIOGRAPHY Chast, Roz
Graphic Novels, Nonfiction
A graphic memoir by a long-time New Yorker cartoonist celebrates the final years of her aging parents' lives through four-color cartoons, family photos and documents that reflect the artist's struggles with caregiver challenges.
Added by Jason
The Oxford dictionary of proverbs
REF 398.9 Oxford 2003
Nonfiction
A thematic index allows readers to easily find proverbs on subjects ranging from boasting to weddings. Presented in a thoroughly reader-friendly style yet maintaining the scholarly standards that have characterized earlier editions, this fourth edition is a valuable updating of a well-loved classic reference.
Added by Melody
The Penguin book of the undead : fifteen hundred years of supernatural encounters
133.1 /Penguin
Nonfiction
The Penguin Book of the Undead teems with roving hordes of dead warriors, corpses trailed by packs of barking dogs, moaning phantoms haunting deserted ruins, evil spirits emerging from burning carcasses in the form of crows, and zombies with pestilential breath. Spanning from the Hebrew scriptures to the Roman Empire, the Scandinavian sagas to medieval Europe, the Protestant Reformation to the Renaissance, this beguiling array of accounts charts our relationship with spirits and apparitions, wraiths and demons over fifteen hundred years, showing the evolution in our thinking about the ability of dead souls to return to the realm of the living--and to warn us about what awaits us in the afterlife.
Added by Melody
The illustrated world encyclopedia of knives, swords, spears & daggers : through history in over 1500 photographs
Harvey J. S Withers
623.441 /Withers
Nonfiction
This comprehensive encyclopedia of edged weapons is both an authoritative reference work & a visual directory, explaining the development of these weapons through the centuries, describing their capabilities & individual specifications.
Because you'll need to know the difference between a katana and a short sword. -Melody
National geographic guide to the world's supernatural places : more than 250 spine-chilling destinations around the globe
Sarah Bartlett
133 /Bartlett
Nonfiction
"Witches and demons, ghosts and vampires, aliens and voodoo spirit...from spooky to chilling to downright weird, signs of the supernatural have terrified -- and fascinated -- people for centuries. Dare to discover some of the world's most puzzling enigmas in this remarkable book, which reveals a dazzling array of haunted castles, forbidden hideaways and otherwise eerie landmarks."--Description from Amazon.com.
Added by Melody
Mysterious Celtic mythology in American folklore
Bob Curran
398.0973 /Curran
Nonfiction
The darkest fears and wildest dreams of people throughout history survive in legends, fairy tales, and bedtime stories. A respected Celtic expert, Bob Curran explores nineteen regional tales from all over the United States and traces their origins to the ancient mythology of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Celtic Europeans brought their folktales with them to America. Once they reached American soil, they adapted their stories, replacing details popular in the old country with those more relevant to the new world. Divided into chapters, these regionally distinct stories trace the beginnings of vampires, headless horsemen, witches, banshees, and other mythical creatures.
Added by Melody
Added by Jason