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Capturing The Light: The Birth Of Photography, A True Story Of Genius And Rivalry
By Helen Rappaport, Roger Watson. 2013
An intimate look at the journeys of two men―a gentleman scientist and a visionary artist―as they struggled to capture the…
world around them, and in the process invented modern photography During the 1830s, in an atmosphere of intense scientific enquiry fostered by the industrial revolution, two quite different men―one in France, one in England―developed their own dramatically different photographic processes in total ignorance of each other's work. These two lone geniuses―Henry Fox Talbot in the seclusion of his English country estate at Lacock Abbey and Louis Daguerre in the heart of post-revolutionary Paris―through diligence, disappointment and sheer hard work overcame extraordinary odds to achieve the one thing man had for centuries been trying to do―to solve the ancient puzzle of how to capture the light and in so doing make nature 'paint its own portrait'. With the creation of their two radically different processes―the Daguerreotype and the Talbotype―these two giants of early photography changed the world and how we see it. Drawing on a wide range of original, contemporary sources and featuring plates in colour, sepia and black and white, many of them rare or previously unseen, Capturing the Light by Roger Watson and Helen Rappaport charts an extraordinary tale of genius, rivalry and human resourcefulness in the quest to produce the world's first photograph.
Benjamin Banneker: Self-Made Man
By Jody Jensen Shaffer. 2017
The Primary Source Readers series will ignite students' interest in history through the use of intriguing primary sources. This nonfiction…
reader features purposefully leveled text to increase comprehension for different learner types. Students will learn about the life of Benjamin Banneker, the self-educated African American man who became an important land surveyor and almanac writer. Text features include captions, a glossary, and an index to help build academic vocabulary and increase reading comprehension and literacy. This book prepares students for college and career readiness and aligns with state standards including NCSS/C3, McREL, and WIDA/TESOL.
The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder
By Charles Graeber. 2013
After his December 2003 arrest, registered nurse Charlie Cullen was quickly dubbed "The Angel of Death" by the media. But…
Cullen was no mercy killer, nor was he a simple monster. He was a favorite son, husband, beloved father, best friend, and celebrated caregiver. Implicated in the deaths of as many as 300 patients, he was also perhaps the most prolific serial killer in American history. Cullen's murderous career in the world's most trusted profession spanned sixteen years and nine hospitals across New Jersey and Pennsylvania. When, in March of 2006, Charles Cullen was marched from his final sentencing in an Allentown, Pennsylvania, courthouse into a waiting police van, it seemed certain that the chilling secrets of his life, career, and capture would disappear with him. <p><p> Now, in a riveting piece of investigative journalism nearly ten years in the making, journalist Charles Graeber presents the whole story for the first time. Based on hundreds of pages of previously unseen police records, interviews, wire-tap recordings and videotapes, as well as exclusive jailhouse conversations with Cullen himself and the confidential informant who helped bring him down, THE GOOD NURSE weaves an urgent, terrifying tale of murder, friendship, and betrayal. Graeber's portrait of Cullen depicts a surprisingly intelligent and complicated young man whose promising career was overwhelmed by his compulsion to kill, and whose shy demeanor masked a twisted interior life hidden even to his family and friends. <p><p> Were it not for the hardboiled, unrelenting work of two former Newark homicide detectives racing to put together the pieces of Cullen's professional past, and a fellow nurse willing to put everything at risk, including her job and the safety of her children, there's no telling how many more lives could have been lost. In the tradition of In Cold Blood, THE GOOD NURSE does more than chronicle Cullen's deadly career and the breathless efforts to stop him; it paints an incredibly vivid portrait of madness and offers a penetrating look inside America's medical system. Harrowing and irresistibly paced, this book will make you look at medicine, hospitals, and the people who work in them, in an entirely different way.
Dismissed: Tackling the Biases That Undermine our Health Care
By Kathy Palokoff, Angela Marshall. 2023
Facts—women in pain are much more likely than men to receive prescriptions for sedatives rather than pain medication; Black women…
are more than three times more likely than white women to die of childbirth-related causes. Whether it&’s age, body size, sexual orientation, or other cultural factors, bias in healthcare is an uncomfortable truth. In this first-ever book on the subject written from the author&’s unique perspective of being a doctor, a woman, and Black, Dr. Angela Marshall, a contributing health expert on CNN, Fox5 News and Let&’s Talk Lives, and repeatedly named a &“Top Doctor&” by Washingtonian magazine, candidly addresses the life-and-death issue, sharing personal and patient stories and fresh, pragmatic solutions. Have you ever felt you were treated differently by a medical professional due to your skin color, age, ethnicity, gender, or for any other reason? If so, you are far from alone. Here&’s the uncomfortable truth: Race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, body size, and other cultural factors have a significant bearing on whether you will be diagnosed and treated correctly. Health-care providers and their patients are human, and all humans have unconscious biases that affect how we listen, observe, and act. Bias impacts patients when they are at their most vulnerable. Health-care bias can mean the difference not just between suffering and relief, but between life and death. For the first time, an author with the unique perspective of being one of America&’s top doctors, a woman, and Black, candidly addresses the issue of bias in health care, sharing personal and patient stories and pragmatic solutions. Dr. Angela Marshall, repeatedly named a &“Top Doctor&” by Washingtonian magazine, draws on extensive research, poignant stories from some of the thousands of patients she has treated, and her own compelling personal experience, to examine the bias from both patients&’ and health‑care providers&’ points of view. She offers a bold blueprint for change, filled with fresh solutions that can help everyone in our health-care system. Dismissed not only explains what so many people feel so profoundly—that the system is working against them. It also reveals what health-care practitioners, patients, and society in general can do to make it right.
Unexpected: Finding Resilience through Functional Medicine, Science, and Faith
By Dr Jill Carnahan. 2023
In Unexpected, Dr. Jill Carnahan shares her story of facing life-altering illness, fighting for her health, and overcoming sickness using…
both science and faith so that others can learn to live their own transformative stories. There are times in each of our lives when change and uncertainty threaten to disrupt everything we thought was true. It may occur after a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness, the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, or another unexpected circumstance that threatens our health, safety or security. Written as our world is changing at an exponential rate, Dr. Jill Carnahan&’s riveting and compassionate exploration of healing through Functional Medicine introduces a new paradigm for readers where darkness and fear are replaced with hope, resilience, profound healing, unconditional love, and unexpected miracles. Each chapter reveals practical advice that can be readily used for conditions like mold toxicity, cancer, autoimmune conditions, Lyme disease, and more. Dr. Jill&’s raw and honest account of her own challenges facing life-threatening illness, living with autoimmunity and mold toxicity, trying to save a failed marriage, and the harsh realities of working in a medical system that has no tolerance for stepping outside the lines, reveals a new path of empowerment for taking control of our own health and wellbeing. For the skeptic or the faithful, Unexpected is a valuable guide for living an extraordinary life of love and resilience.
The Kid Who Changed the World
By Andy Andrews. 2014
The bestselling book now featuring revised content and new illustrations!The Kid Who Changed the World tells the story of Norman Borlaug,…
who would one day grow up and use his knowledge of agriculture to save the lives of two billion people. Two billion! Norman changed the world! Or was it Vice President Henry Wallace who changed the world? Or maybe it was George Washington Carver? But what about Susan Carver?This engaging story reveals the incredible truth that everything we do matters! Based on his book The Butterfly Effect, Andy&’s timeless tale shows children that even the smallest of our actions can make a difference in someone&’s life. In turn, that person makes a difference in someone else&’s life, and the blessing is passed from person to person. Through each character&’s story, readers will see that they, too, can be the kid who changes the world.Now updated with Susan Carver&’s story and brand-new illustrations by Phillip Hurst!Features & Benefits:Based on true storiesHelps children understand that everything they do makes a differenceBased on The Butterfly Effect by New York Times bestselling author Andy AndrewsUpdated illustrations by Phillip Hurst
"A true-crime masterpiece written by a cold-case-cracking master. Barbara Rae-Venter’s investigative DNA work has revolutionized the way law enforcement hunts…
serial killers."—John Douglas, New York Times bestselling co-author of Mindhunter "Barbara Rae-Venter isn't just the genealogy expert who helped capture the Golden State Killer—she’s an unsung hero who has given murdered women and children their faces and names back, the recognizing that their lives mattered."—Maureen Callahan, New York Times bestselling author of American Predator For twelve years the Golden State Killer terrorized California, stalking victims and killing without remorse. Then he simply disappeared, for the next forty-four years, until an amateur DNA sleuth opened her laptop. In I Know Who You Are, Barbara Rae-Venter reveals how she went from researching her family history as a retiree to hunting for a notorious serial killer—and how she became the nation’s leading authority on investigative genetic genealogy, the most dazzling new crime-fighting weapon to appear in decades. Rae-Venter leads readers on a vivid journey through the many cases she tackled, often starting with little more than a DNA sample. From the first criminal case she ever solved—uncovering the long-lost identity of a child abductee—to the heartbreaking story of the Billboard Boy, whose skeletal remains were discovered along a highway, to the search for the Golden State Killer, Rae-Venter shares haunting, often thrilling accounts of how she helped solve some of America’s most chilling cold cases in the span of just three years. For each investigation, Rae-Venter brings readers inside her unique "grasshopper mind" as she analyzes DNA data and pores through obituaries, marriage records, and old newspaper articles. Readers join in on urgent calls with sheriffs, FBI agents, and district attorneys as she details the struggle to obtain usable crime scene DNA samples, until, finally, a critical piece of the puzzle tumbles into place. I Know Who You Are captures both the exhilaration of the moment of discovery and the sheer depth of emotion that lingers around cold cases, informing Rae-Venter’s careful approach to her work. It is a story of relentless curiosity, of constant invention and reinvention, and of human beings striving to answer the most elemental questions about themselves: What defines identity? Where do we belong? And are we truly who we think we are?
Guardians of the Valley: John Muir and the Friendship that Saved Yosemite
By Dean King. 1984
The dramatic and uplifting story of legendary outdoorsman and conservationist John Muir&’s journey to become the man who saved Yosemite—from…
the author of the bestselling Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival.In June of 1889 in San Francisco, John Muir—iconic environmentalist, writer, and philosopher—meets face-to-face for the first time with his longtime editor Robert Underwood Johnson, an elegant and influential figure at The Century magazine. Before long, the pair, opposites in many ways, decide to venture to Yosemite Valley, the magnificent site where twenty years earlier, Muir experienced a personal and spiritual awakening that would set the course of the rest of his life. Upon their arrival the men are confronted with a shocking vision, as predatory mining, tourism, and logging industries have plundered and defaced &“the grandest of all the special temples of Nature.&” While Muir is consumed by grief, Johnson, a champion of society&’s most pressing debates via the pages of the nation&’s most prestigious magazine, decides that he and Muir must fight back. The pact they form marks a watershed moment, leading to the creation of Yosemite National Park, and launching an environmental battle that captivates the nation and ushers in the beginning of the American environmental movement. Beautifully rendered, deeply researched, and inspiring, Guardians of the Valley is a moving story of friendship, the written word, and the transformative power of nature. It is also a timely and powerful &“origin story&” as the toweringly complex environmental challenges we face today become increasingly urgent.
Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State
By Kerry Howley. 2023
A wild, humane, and hilarious meditation on post-privacy America—from the acclaimed author of Thrown"Howley meditates on freedom, privacy, storytelling, and…
the state, carefully following the threads of the War on Terror to the political upheavals of the present day...A beautiful, stylish, nuanced, and empathetic work of art, unlike any I've read before."—Lydia Kiesling, author of The Golden StateWho are you? You are data about data. You are a map of connections—a culmination of everything you have ever posted, searched, emailed, liked, and followed. In this groundbreaking work of narrative nonfiction, Kerry Howley investigates the curious implications of living in the age of the indelible. Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs tells the true story of intelligence specialist Reality Winner, a lone young woman who stuffs a state secret under her skirt and trusts the wrong people to help. After printing five pages of dangerous information she was never supposed to see, Winner finds herself at the mercy of forces more invasive than she could have possibly imagined.Following Winner&’s unlikely journey from rural Texas to a federal courtroom, Howley maps a hidden world, drawing in John Walker Lindh, Lady Gaga, Edward Snowden, a rescue dog named Outlaw Babyface Nelson, and a mother who will do whatever it takes to get her daughter out of jail. Howley&’s subjects face a challenge new to history: they are imprisoned by their past selves, trapped for as long as the Internet endures. A soap opera set in the deep state, Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs is a free fall into a world where everything is recorded and nothing is sacred, from a singular writer unafraid to ask essential questions about the strangeness of modern life.
Satellite Boy: The International Manhunt for a Master Thief That Launched the Modern Communication Age
By Andrew Amelinckx. 2023
Spanning the underworld haunts of Montreal to Havana and Miami in the early days of the Cold War, Satellite Boy…
reveals the unlikely connection between an audacious bank heist and the &“other Space Race&” that gave birth to the modern communication ageOn April 6, 1965, Georges Lemay was relaxing on his yacht in a south Florida marina following one of the largest and most daring bank heists in Canadian history. For four years, the roguishly handsome criminal mastermind hid in plain sight, eluding capture and the combined efforts of the FBI, Interpol, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His future appeared secure.What Lemay didn&’t know was that less than two hundred miles away at Cape Canaveral, a brilliant engineer named Harold Rosen was about to usher in the age of global live television with the launch of the world&’s first twenty-four-hour commercial communications satellite. Rosen&’s extraordinary accomplishment would not only derail Lemay&’s cushy life but change the world forever.Brimming with criminal panache and technological intrigue, and set against a turbulent and iconic period that includes the moon landing and the civil rights movement, Satellite Boy tells the largely forgotten, high-stakes story of the two equally driven men who inadvertently launched the modern era.
Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace
By James T. Costa. 2023
A major new biography of the brilliant naturalist, traveler, humanitarian, and codiscoverer of natural selectionAlfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) was perhaps…
the most famed naturalist of the Victorian age. His expeditions to remote Amazonia and southeast Asia were the stuff of legend. A collector of thousands of species new to science, he shared in the discovery of natural selection and founded the discipline of evolutionary biogeography.Radical by Nature tells the story of Wallace’s epic life and achievements, from his stellar rise from humble origins to his complicated friendship with Charles Darwin and other leading scientific lights of Britain to his devotion to social causes and movements that threatened to alienate him from scientific society.James Costa draws on letters, notebooks, and journals to provide a multifaceted account of a revolutionary life in science as well as Wallace’s family life. He shows how the self-taught Wallace doggedly pursued bold, even radical ideas that caused a seismic shift in the natural sciences, and how he also courted controversy with nonscientific pursuits such as spiritualism and socialism. Costa describes Wallace’s courageous social advocacy of women’s rights, labor reform, and other important issues. He also sheds light on Wallace’s complex relationship with Darwin, describing how Wallace graciously applauded his friend and rival, becoming one of his most ardent defenders.Weaving a revelatory narrative with the latest scholarship, Radical by Nature paints a mesmerizing portrait of a multifaceted thinker driven by a singular passion for science, a commitment to social justice, and a lifelong sense of wonder.
The Unexpected Light of Thomas Alva Edison (Turnabout Tales)
By Raymond Arroyo. 2023
From New York Times bestselling author and news anchor Raymond Arroyo comes the first book in the Turnabout Tales series—a…
picture book biography of one of America&’s most famous inventors, Thomas Alva Edison, and a story about how a small spark can create a big light.No one thought much of young Thomas Alva Edison. He couldn&’t focus at school and caused trouble around the house. But where others saw a distracted and mischievous boy, his mother saw imagination and curiosity. At only seven years old, Al, as he was called as a young child, was educated by his mother, who oversaw his rigorous at-home education while also allowing him great freedom to explore and dream. Those early years of encouragement and loving guidance formed the man who would apply those valuable lessons as well as his rich imagination to inventing the phonograph, the motion picture camera, the light bulb, and more.In The Unexpected Light of Thomas Alva Edison readers will:meet the larger-than-life personality of Thomas Alva Edisonhear an inspiring tale of an underdog overcoming all the oddslearn about the power of curiosity and imaginationtake a carefully researched and actively told romp through history The Unexpected Light of Thomas Alva Edison includes:an annotated list of resources and suggested readingrealistic illustrations by artist Kristina Gehrmannan author&’s note by Raymond Arroyo, the author of the bestselling The Spider Who Saved Christmas The Turnabout Tales series highlights little-known yet fascinating stories of historical figures who went from underdog to hero, and the adults who inspired them to be true to themselves and do big things that changed the world.
The Brain in Search of Itself: Santiago Ramón y Cajal and the Story of the Neuron
By Benjamin Ehrlich. 2022
The first major biography of the Nobel Prize–winning scientist who discovered neurons and transformed our understanding of the human mind—illustrated…
with his extraordinary anatomical drawingsUnless you’re a neuroscientist, Santiago Ramón y Cajal is likely the most important figure in the history of biology you’ve never heard of. Along with Charles Darwin and Louis Pasteur, he ranks among the most brilliant and original biologists of the nineteenth century, and his discoveries have done for our understanding of the human brain what the work of Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton did for our conception of the physical universe. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1906 for his lifelong investigation of the structure of neurons: “The mysterious butterflies of the soul,” Cajal called them, “whose beating of wings may one day reveal to us the secrets of the mind.” And he produced a dazzling oeuvre of anatomical drawings, whose alien beauty grace the pages of medical textbooks and the walls of museums to this day.Benjamin Ehrlich’s The Brain in Search of Itself is the first major biography in English of this singular figure, whose scientific odyssey mirrored the rocky journey of his beloved homeland of Spain into the twentieth century. Born into relative poverty in a mountaintop hamlet, Cajal was an enterprising and unruly child whose ambitions were both nurtured and thwarted by his father, a country doctor with a flinty disposition. A portrait of a nation as well a biography, The Brain in Search of Itself follows Cajal from the hinterlands to Barcelona and Madrid, where he became an illustrious figure—resisting and ultimately transforming the rigid hierarchies and underdeveloped science that surrounded him. To momentous effect, Cajal devised a theory that was as controversial in his own time as it is universal in ours: that the nervous system is comprised of individual cells with distinctive roles, just like any other organ in the body. In one of the greatest scientific rivalries in history, he argued his case against Camillo Golgi and prevailed.In our age of neuro-imaging and investigations into the neural basis of the mind, Cajal is the artistic and scientific forefather we must get to know. The Brain in Search of Itself is at once the story of how the brain as we know it came into being and a finely wrought portrait of an individual as fantastical and complex as the subject to which he devoted his life.
Calling all animal lovers! A heartwarming memoir about one woman's career as a vet and the unique role pets play…
in our lives • &“Filled with compassion and wisdom, Karen Fine is a healer whose own wounds have deepened her gifts for bringing animals and their people comfort and peace.&” —Sy Montgomery, bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus A tribute to our furry, feathery, scaley, and wet family members, All Creatures Great and Small meets Being Mortal in this compelling memoir of one woman's dream to become a veterinarian.Karen Fine always knew that she wanted to be a vet and wasn't going to let anything stop her: not her allergy to cats, and not the fact that in the '80s veterinary medicine was still a mostly male profession. Inspired by her grandfather, a compassionate doctor who paid house calls to all his (human) patients, Dr. Fine persevered, and brought her Oupa's principles into her own practice, which emphasizes the need to understand her patients&’ stories to provide the best possible care. And in The Other Family Doctor, Dr. Fine shares all these touching, joyful, heartbreaking, and life-affirming tales that make up her career as a vet. There's:• The feral cat who becomes a creature out of a fable when he puts his trust in a young vet to heal his injured paw• The pot-bellied pig who grows too big to fit in the car but remains a cherished part of her family • The surprising colony of perfectly behaved ferrets• The beloved aging pet who gives her people the gift of accompanying them on one final family vacation• The dog who saves his owner's life in a most unexpected way Woven into Dr. Fine's story are, of course, also the stories of her own pets: the birds, cats, and dogs who have taught her the most valuable lessons—how caring for the animals in our lives can teach us to better care for ourselves, especially when life seems precarious.
Hidden Figures meets Rosie Revere, Engineer in this STEM/STEAM picture book about Edith Clarke, the innovator who solved an electrical…
mystery and built the first graphing calculator—from paper!Long before calculators were invented, little Edith Clarke devoured numbers, conquered calculations, cracked puzzles, and breezed through brainteasers. Edith wanted to be an engineer—to use the numbers she saw all around her to help build America.When she grew up, no one would hire a woman engineer. But that didn&’t stop Edith from following her passion and putting her lightning-quick mind to the problem of electricity. But the calculations took so long! Always curious, Edith couldn&’t help thinking of better ways to do things. She constructed a &“calculator&” from paper that was ten times faster than doing all that math by hand! Her invention won her a job, making her the first woman electrical engineer in America. And because Edith shared her knowledge with others, her calculator helped electrify America, bringing telephones and light across the nation.
The People's Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine
By M.D. Ricardo Nuila. 2023
Where does one go without health insurance, when turned away by hospitals, clinics, and doctors? In The People&’s Hospital, physician…
Ricardo Nuila&’s stunning debut, we follow the lives of five uninsured Houstonians as their struggle for survival leads them to a hospital where insurance comes second to genuine care. First, we meet Stephen, the restaurant franchise manager who signed up for his company&’s lowest priced plan, only to find himself facing insurmountable costs after a cancer diagnosis. Then Christian—a young college student and retail worker who can&’t seem to get an accurate diagnosis, let alone treatment, for his debilitating knee pain. Geronimo, thirty-six years old, has liver failure, but his meager disability check disqualifies him for Medicaid—and puts a life-saving transplant just out of reach. Roxana, who&’s lived in the community without a visa for more than two decades, suffers from complications related to her cancer treatment. And finally, there&’s Ebonie, a young mother whose high-risk pregnancy endangers her life. Whether due to immigration status, income, or the vagaries of state Medicaid law, all five are denied access to care. For all five, this exclusion could prove life-threatening. Each patient eventually lands at Ben Taub, the county hospital where Dr. Nuila has worked for over a decade. Nuila delves with empathy into the experiences of his patients, braiding their dramas into a singular narrative that contradicts the established idea that the only way to receive good healthcare is with good insurance. As readers follow the movingly rendered twists and turns in each patient&’s story, it&’s impossible to deny that our system is broken—and that Ben Taub&’s innovative model, which emphasizes people over payments, could help light the path forward.
The People's Hospital: The Real Cost of Life in an Uncaring Health System
By Ricardo Nuila. 2023
How do medical staff offer care and hope to patients and families when faced with the mayhem and lottery of…
a broken healthcare system?'A fascinating and beautifully written memoir that reminds us what we have with our NHS - and what we stand to lose' Christie Watson'A tour de force... lyrical and riveting prose' Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone'Nuila details the horrific reality of the American healthcare system from the front lines, and shows us why it doesn't have to be like that' Sally Hayden, author of My Fourth Time, We DrownedThe People's Hospital is the story of how Ben Taub Hospital strives to provide healthcare to Houston's most vulnerable population, against the background of the chaos of American healthcare. By telling the frequently heartbreaking stories of patients who have had to battle their desperate financial circumstances as well as life-threatening illness - from Rogelio, a twenty-something, undocumented immigrant from Mexico recently diagnosed with kidney disease, to Roxana, a Salvadoran woman who appears in ER after a life-saving surgery resulted in her developing potentially fatal complications - and many more. These are extraordinary stories in which doctors are tied up with complex moral questions about money versus healthcare, and patients manipulate their health conditions in dangerous ways in order to be eligible for life-saving treatment that they cannot afford.
Still Life with Bones: 'I defy you not to be moved' - Sue Black
By Dr Alexa Hagerty. 2023
An anthropologist working with forensic teams and victims' families to investigate crimes against humanity in Latin America explores what science…
can tell us about the lives of the dead in this haunting account of grief, the power of ritual, and a quest for justice."Exhumation can divide brothers and restore fathers, open old wounds and open the possibility of regeneration-of building something new with the pile of broken mirrors that is loss and mourning."Over the course of Guatemala's thirty-year armed conflict -the longest ever in Central America-over 200,000 people were killed. During Argentina's military dictatorship in the seventies, over 30,000 people were disappeared. Today, forensic anthropologists in each country are gathering evidence to prove atrocities and seek justice. But these teams do more than just study skeletons-they work to repair families and countries torn apart by violence.In Still Life with Bones, anthropologist Alexa Hagerty learns to see the dead body with a forensic eye. She examines bones for evidence of torture and fatal wounds-hands bound by rope, cuts from machetes-but also for signs of a life lived: to articulate how life shapes us down to the bone. A weaver is recognized from the tiny bones of the toes, molded by years of kneeling before a loom; a girl is identified alongside her pet dog. In the tenderness of understanding these bones, Hagerty discovers how exhumation serves as a ritual in the naming and placement of the dead, and connects ancestors with future generations. She shows us how this work can bring meaning to families dealing with unimaginable loss, and how its symbolic force can also extend to entire societies in the aftermath of state terror and genocide. Encountering the dead has the power to transform us, making us consider each other, our lives, and the world differently.Weaving together powerful stories about investigative breakthroughs, grieving families, histories of violence, and her own forensic coming of age, Hagerty crafts a moving portrait of the living and the dead."Touching, but achingly honest-a most amazing account of training as a forensic anthropologist. When Hagerty talks about "lives being violently made into bones," I defy you not to be moved. The text is unflinching, but then the crimes and the victims deserve nothing less. I guarantee this will make you think long and hard about cruelty and human rights and the dedication and humanity of the forensic scientist." - PROFESSOR DAME SUE BLACK
Climate Champions: 15 Women Fighting for Your Future (Women of Power #10)
By Rachel Sarah. 2023
These 15 contemporary climate champions are on the frontlines of science to create a sustainable future on Earth.They are climate…
scientists, journalists, professors, academics, researchers, and policy makers from around the world who draft policies with real-world impact, run science labs to find new answers to old problems, and lead organizations at the forefront of change. These women do not shy away from showing how racial and social injustices lie at the root of so many climate-related issues. Their stories are accessible and energetic, with spotlights on the triumphs and struggles of women who are working to protect the planet. As young readers learn how these champions are rising up around the world, they will learn how to be part of the solution.
Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand
By John Markoff. 2022
Told by one of our greatest chroniclers of technology and society, the definitive biography of iconic serial visionary Stewart Brand,…
from the Merry Pranksters and the generation-defining Whole Earth Catalog to the marriage of environmental consciousness and hacker capitalism and the rise of a new planetary culture—the story behind so many other storiesStewart Brand has long been famous if you know who he is, but for many people outside the counterculture, early computing, or the environmental movement, he is perhaps best known for his famous mantra &“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.&” Steve Jobs&’s endorsement of these words as his code to live by is fitting; Brand has played many roles, but one of the most important is as a model for how to live. The contradictions are striking: A blond-haired WASP with a modest family inheritance, Brand went to Exeter and Stanford and was an army veteran, but in California in the 1960s he became an artist and a photographer in the thick of the LSD revolution. While tripping on acid on the roof of his building, he envisioned how valuable it would be for humans to see a photograph of the planet they shared from space, an image that in the end landed on the cover of his Whole Earth Catalog, the defining publication of the counterculture. He married a Native American woman and was committed to protecting indigenous culture, which connected to a broader environmentalist mission that has been a through line of his life. At the same time, he has outraged purists because of his pragmatic embrace of useful technologies, including nuclear power, in the fight against climate change. The famous tagline promise of his catalog was &“Access to Tools&”; with rare exceptions he rejected politics for a focus on direct power. It was no wonder, then, that he was early to the promise of the computer revolution and helped define it for the wider world. Brand's life can be hard to fit onto one screen. John Markoff, also a great chronicler of tech culture, has done something extraordinary in unfolding the rich, twisting story of Brand&’s life against its proper landscape. As Markoff makes marvelously clear, the streams of individualism, respect for science, environmentalism, and Eastern and indigenous thought that flow through Brand&’s entire life form a powerful gestalt, a California state of mind that has a hegemonic power to this day. His way of thinking embraces a true planetary consciousness that may be the best hope we humans collectively have.