Four Fish; The Future Of The Last Wild Food

By Paul Greenberg
"Journalist Greenberg focuses on bass, salmon, tuna, and cod-though not exactly in a Cod sort of way-to reveal the devastating environmental impact of commercial fishing and fish farming. What if soon there are no fish left in the sea? Read it and weep." (LJ Reviews)
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Hamlet's Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy For Building The Good Life In A Digital Age

                        By William Powers

"Our discombobulated Internet Age could learn important new tricks from some very old thinkers, according to this incisive critique of online life and its discontents. Journalist Powers bemoans the reigning dogma of "digital maximalism" that requires us to divide our attention between ever more e-mails, text messages, cellphone calls, video streams, and blinking banners, resulting, he argues, in lowered productivity and a distracted life devoid of meaning and "depth." In a nifty and refreshing turn, he looks to ideas of the past for remedies to this hyper-modern predicament: to Plato, who analyzed the transition from the ancient technology of talking to the cutting-edge gadgetry of written scrolls; to Shakespeare, who gave Hamlet the latest in Elizabethan information apps, an erasable notebook; to Thoreau, who carved out solitary spaces amid the press of telegraphs and railroads. The author sometimes lapses into mysticism—"In solitude we meet not just ourselves but all other selves"—and his solutions, like the weekend-long "Internet Sabbaths" he and his wife decreed for their family, are small-bore. But Powers deftly blends an appreciation of the advantages of information technology and a shrewd assessment of its pitfalls into a compelling call to disconnect."   ((PW Reviews)
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The Cheapskate Next Door; The Surprising Secrets Of Americans Living Happily Below Their Means

By Jeff Yeager
"Yeager (The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches) is back with another energetic, likably eccentric lesson on living happily well below your means. Interviewing a variety of self-professed cheapskates, he finds—despite a diversity of lifestyles, backgrounds, and beliefs— common practices and philosophies when it came to money; their knowledge of how to live on less has insulated them from the economic crash. He presents their tips on frugal living in grocery shopping, entertainment, and sensible parenting, but the real value is in Yeager's persuasive argument that an onset of "Spending Anxiety Disorder" is good for our wallets, our communities, and the environment. If we change the way we think about "want" vs. "need," we can focus our time and attention on the truly valuable things—family, charity, passions, the early retirement that will make enjoying them longer possible—and if we consume sparingly, thoughtfully, and fully, our possessions will not consume us. Yeager and his "Miser Advisers" are proof that living more frugally isn't about sacrifice—it's about making choices every day to live a better, happier, more thoughtful life with less." (PW Reviews)
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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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