Pandora's Seed; The Unforseen Cost Of Civilization

By Spencer Wells
"A population geneticist examines how human endeavors have shaped the world and finds that not all the changes have been beneficial.When prehistoric man first sowed seeds some 10,000 years ago, they had no idea they were starting humans down the path to agriculture, settlements and civilization, a state now faced with grave challenges. Wells (Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project, 2006, etc.), director of National Geographic's Genographic Project, takes the reader back in time to reveal the alterations that have taken place since the Neolithic period within the human body, in society and in the environment. The author shows that farming and the subsequent growth and spread of populations led to enormous changes in human lifestyles that altered our DNA. More disturbing are the external changes. Shaping the landscape to grow plants and animals for food, Wells argues, has created a mismatch between human biology and the environment, which has promoted the spread of major diseases, such as malaria and AIDS. Further, he argues that our present densely populated, socially stimulating, noisy world is likely the reason for the rise in mental illness in most societies. Wells does not overlook the more familiar issues of environmental pollution and climate change, calling global warming the biggest social challenge of the 21st century. Most of the world's problems, he writes, stem from greed, and technology cannot provide the solution. What is required, according to Wells, is a new way of viewing the world. As we move further away from our origins as a species, he says, perhaps we should downsize our lifestyles and learn to want less.At times demands close reading of fairly technical material, but the narrative is lightened by the author's informed firsthand accounts of encounters with people around the world." (Kirkus Reviews)
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The World According To Monsanto; Pollution, Corruption And The Control Of The World's Food Supply

By Marie Monique Robin
"In a book that won the 2009 Rachel Carson Prize, French journalist and documentary filmmaker Robin rakes agribusiness behemoth Monsanto across the coals.It's a wonder, if not a mystery, how the company has managed to sustain business, given its lengthy list of products that have been proven to be deleterious to life on earth: DDT, PCBs, dioxin, Agent Orange, bovine-growth hormones and more. Appalled that Monsanto still reports billions in profits, the author charts its self-serving product testing, its collusion with governmental agencies("they are prepared to finance a study to improve the straws used for in vitro fertilization of pigs, but not one on the toxic effects of the most widely sold herbicide in the world") its bullying of whistle-blowers, its veiled threats to advertisers and its thuggish patent-law litigation. As the world's leading producer of genetically modified organisms, the company has now positioned itself as the savior from world hunger. Of course, their seeds produce only sterile offspring, and the herbicide of choice,( actually, no choice is of their own making). Robin's outrage is well supported by wide-ranging scientific evidence, though a snarky tone undermines objectivity. A familiarity with endocrinology or molecular biology would be helpful to sift through the claims of Monsanto and its adversaries. Regardless, even lay readers are prodded to wise up and increase their awareness of what has become a serious threat. "After tracking the company for four years," writes the author, "I am in a position to state that we can no longer say we didn't know, and that it would be irresponsible to allow the food of humanity to fall into Monsanto's hands."Unblinkingly partisan, which by no means dilutes its highly disconcerting message. "  (Kirkus Reviews)

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The Politics Of Medicaid

By Laura Katz Olson
"Olsen... brings her expertise in social welfare policy to bear in this careful but trenchant critique of Medicaid, America's program to provide medical services to Americans who are severely economically disadvantaged. Olson traces Medicaid's history, showing how the program's scope, funding, and aims change with the political winds blowing in Washington and clearly reflecting how various political camps attempt to put their ideological stamp on this medical safety net. The book also shows the ways that the medical lobbies have shaped benefit programs over time to their interests. Olson is clear that she believes the only way to grant equality is to have a single-payer system, a conclusion carefully grounded in her historical analysis. Verdict Revealing the long history of current debates over the government's role in health care, this book will be essential reading for serious students of political science and health politics."-(LJ Reviews)
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Captive; My Time As A Prisoner Of The Taliban

By Jere Van Dyk
"An American journalist exploring the war zone on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border reports unwanted lessons in its perils in this harrowing memoir. Having traveled with the "freedom fighters" in the '80s, Van Dyk thought he had the connections and knowledge to navigate the tribal lands between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but he was captured by a fractious band of Taliban fighters in 2008. Van Dyk (In Afghanistan: An American Odyssey) and his Afghan guides spent 44 days in a dark cell. Well-fed but terrified, he felt a nightmare of helplessness and disorientation. Dependent on a jailer who mixed solicitude with jocular death threats and a ruthless Taliban commander who could free or kill him on a whim, the author performed Muslim prayers in an attempt to appease his captors; wary of murky conspiracies involving his cellmates, he "was afraid of everybody, including the children." Van Dyk's claustrophobic narrative jettisons journalistic detachment and views his ordeal through the distorting emotions of fear, shame, and self-pity. But in telling his story this way, he brings us viscerally into the mental universe of the Taliban, where paranoia and fanaticism reign, and survival requires currying favor with powerful men. The result is a gripping tale of endurance and a vivid evocation of Afghanistan's grim realities." 
(PW Reviews)
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The Shallows; What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains

By Nicholas Carr
"Carr, author of The Big Switch (2007) and the much-discussed Atlantic Monthly story "Is Google Making Us Stupid?", is an astute critic of the information technology revolution. Here he looks to neurological science to gauge the organic impact of computers, citing fascinating experiments that contrast the neural pathways built by reading books versus those forged by surfing the hypnotic Internet, where portals lead us on from one text, image, or video to another while we're being bombarded by messages, alerts, and feeds. This glimmering realm of interruption and distraction impedes the sort of comprehension and retention "deep reading" engenders, Carr explains. And not only are we reconfiguring our brains, we are also forging a "new intellectual ethic," an arresting observation Carr expands on while discussing Google's gargantuan book digitization project. What are the consequences of new habits of mind that abandon sustained immersion and concentration for darting about, snagging bits of information? What is gained and what is lost? Carr's fresh, lucid, and engaging assessment of our infatuation with the Web is provocative and revelatory. "Booklist Reviews"
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The Facebook Effect; The Inside Story Of The Company That Is Connecting The World

By David Kirkpatrick
"This business history and biography of Facebook's founders, especially visionary Mark Zuckerberg, chronicles Facebook's surprising Ivy League beginnings in a Harvard University dormitory and how it spread to other college campuses and high school audiences before opening up to the general public. Despite Facebook's phenomenal growth, Zuckerberg claimed the goals were to increase networking and the sharing of information among individuals. Zuckerberg's vision, however, has made him and his fellow founding innovators multibillionaires, yielded Facebook competitive advantage and economies of scale, and made Zuckerberg one of the youngest CEOs of a company with such a large market capitalization."(LJ Reviews)


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More Guns, Less Crime; Understanding Crime and Gun-Control Laws

By John R. Lott, Jr.

"On its initial publication in 1998, John R. Lott’s More Guns, Less Crime drew both lavish praise and heated criticism. More than a decade later, it continues to play a key role in ongoing arguments over gun-control laws: despite all the attacks by gun-control advocates, no one has ever been able to refute Lott’s simple, startling conclusion that more guns mean less crime. Relying on the most rigorously comprehensive data analysis ever conducted on crime statistics and right-to-carry laws, the book directly challenges common perceptions about the relationship of guns, crime, and violence. For this third edition, Lott draws on an additional ten years of data—including provocative analysis of the effects of gun bans in Chicago and Washington, D.C—that brings the book fully up to date and further bolsters its central contention."   (Publisher Description) Check Our Catalog

Killer Politics; How Big Money And Bad Politics Are Destroying The Great American Middle Class

"The host of MSNBC's The Ed Schultz Show outlines his philosophies on the endangered middle class, covering topics from health care and education to international economic policies and global energy independence."  (Publisher Description)
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To Save America; Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine

By Newt Gingrich

"Argues that the Obama administration is committed to a secular-socialist ideology that threatens traditional American values, citing examples of big-government corruption and offering strategies for replacing failed policies."   (Publisher Description) Check Our Catalog

The Butterfly Mosque; A Young Woman's Journey To Love And Islam

By Willow Wilson
"Wilson's illuminating memoir offers keen insights into Islamic culture, distinguishing carefully between the radical fundamentalists who hate the West and the majority of peaceful Muslims. An eye-opening look at a misunderstood and often polarizing faith, Wilson's memoir is bound to spark discussion." ( Booklist Reviews)
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Somewhere Inside; One Sister's Captivity In North Korea and The Other's Fight To Bring Her Home

By Laura and Lisa Ling
"In 2009, Laura Ling, a reporter with Current TV, traveled with a film crew to the region of China that bordered on North Korea to report on defections, particularly of women who were later forced into arranged marriages or sex slavery. The crew momentarily crossed into North Korea, and Ling and Euna Lee, her editor and translator, were captured. Given the hostilities between North Korea and China and a recent critical documentary on North Korea by Laura's sister, journalist Lisa Ling, the women knew they were in for an ordeal. Laura was beaten during the capture, and the women were held in isolation and faced meager meals, cold, and little medical treatment. In the U.S., Lisa and her family prayed and called on powerful contacts, including Al Gore and Bill Richardson, to win the women's release. During the time of their captivity, North Korea conducted a nuclear test and fired off missiles, increasing tensions with the U.S. and UN. The women were eventually tried for attempting to overthrow the government and sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp, but through behind-the-scenes maneuvering and negotiations with prickly North Korea, they were finally released after five months in captivity. This memoir alternates between the sisters, with Laura recalling the escalating peril of her capture and imprisonment and Lisa recalling heightened worries as weeks dragged into months. A riveting story of captivity and the enduring faith, determination, and love of two sisters." (Booklist Reviews)
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