by envisionmg | May 13, 2013 | Non-fiction, Staff Picks
“Like all mothers, Emily Rapp had ambitious plans for her first and only child, Ronan. He would be smart, loyal, physically fearless, and level-headed, but fun. He would be good at crossword puzzles like his father. He would be an avid skier like his mother. ...
by envisionmg | Jan 29, 2013 | Non-fiction
On the eve of World War I a string of pink pearls worth a small fortune disappears somewhere between Paris and London. Molly Caldwell Crosby’s The Great Pearl Heist is the story of those pearls, the men and women who stole them and the Scotland Yard detectives tasked...
by envisionmg | Jan 2, 2013 | Biography, Non-fiction, Staff Review
“I hope we’re as good friends when you finish your book as we are now,” Ben Bradlee, the legendary former executive editor of The Washington Post, told Jeff Himmelman in March 2010. “But I don’t give a [expletive deleted] what you write about me.” No author could make...
by envisionmg | Dec 22, 2012 | Non-fiction, Staff Review
I first took notice of this book when I saw the author, actor Frank Langella interviewed on The Tavis Smiley Show to discuss his memoir of the remarkable people encountered over his fifty year career. He presents them, not as they might have described themselves, but...
by envisionmg | Dec 11, 2012 | Non-fiction, Staff Review
This book appealed to me because I’m part of its target audience – folks in their 30s or 40s who experienced MTV as teenagers – when its programming was all videos, all the time, and kids watched to see their favorite bands, learn about new music, and have...
by Peabody Institute Library | Mar 19, 2012 | Non-fiction, Staff Picks
An exhaustive explanation of the history of consumable energy in the industrialized world, from animal oils to petrochemicals to nuclear power to renewables (solar, wind etc.). Daniel Yergin somehow manages to cram an improbable amount of information into a...
