Nonfiction
Hope : the autobiography
Pope Francis
282.092 /Francis
Nonfiction, Memoir
"Hope is the first autobiography in history ever to be published by a Pope. Written over six years, this complete autobiography starts in the early years of the twentieth century, with Pope Francis's Italian roots and his ancestors' courageous migration to Latin America, continuing through his childhood, the enthusiasms and preoccupations of his youth, his vocation, adult life, and the whole of his papacy up to the present day"--
Salvavidas para madres autónomas : un manual con respuestas para maternar en solitario
Vázquez, Diana Luz, author.
SPANISH Vazquez
Nonfiction
"Esta obra trae respuestas y claridad a las madres autónomas. La activista Diana Luz Vásquez -- promotora de los Tenedores de Deudores y de la Ley Sabina -- responde las dudas que de golpe asaltan a las mujeres que maternan en solitario. Buscar ser un refugio y un consejero riguroso y asertivo, que reivindica y desmitifica la realidad de las mamás autónomas, al mismo tiempo que evidencia uno de los peores problemas que azotan a México y Latinoamérica: los padres abandónicos."--
Diana Luz Vázquez offers a guidebook to single mothers in "Salvavidas Para Madras Autónomas". Operating as a source of comfort and guidance alike, Vázquez’s nonfiction work offers clarity to those struggling with independent parenthood while simultaneously inspiring courage and hope for the future. -Charlotte
Una trenza de hierba sagrada : sabiduría indígena, conocimiento científico y las enseñanzas de las plantas
Kimmerer, Robin Wall, author.
SPANISH Kimmerer
Nonfiction
As an indigenous woman, Robin Wall Kimmerer is the heir to a rich legacy that sees animals and plants as our greatest teachers. As a botanist, she has used scientific rigor to better study nature. And as a mother, teacher, and writer, she has dedicated her life to bringing these two perspectives together to advocate for an awakening of ecological consciousness that recognizes and celebrates our deep connection with other forms of life. In A Braid of Sacred Grass, the author weaves experiences and knowledge into a series of illuminating and moving stories that inspire us to strengthen our sacred relationship with Mother Earth. Each chapter is a magnificent lesson in gratitude and reciprocity, reminding us that if we offer our gifts to the world and help it heal, it will return to us with the harmony and well-being we so desire.--
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s bestselling book combines her knowledge of the natural sciences with her experiences as a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation to showcase humanity’s relationship with the rest of the living world. Her writing showcases the role of plants in educating the world around them, and the role of society in learning from those teachings. -Charlotte
Nuestras almas migrantes : una reflexión sobre la raza y los significados y mitos de lo latino
Tobar, Héctor, 1963- author.
SPANISH Tobar
Nonfiction
Originally published in English, "Our migrant souls" broke new ground with its examination of the social and political forces that shape Latino identity. Now in its first complete translation, Spanish-speaking readers can access Tobar's analysis of the meaning of Latino, promising to build bridges between generations and across borders through national conversation. Inspired by James Baldwin's writings addressing the role of race in America, Tobar's conversations with his Latino students, and his own and his family's life experiences, "Our migrant souls" investigates what it means to be Latino in the United States today.
Pulitzer Prize-winning Héctor Tobar’s 2023 nonfiction work drew attention upon its release for its compelling exploration of what it means to be Latino in the United States. Discussing colonialism, politics, immigration, pop culture, and more, "Nuestras Almas Migrantes" uses Tobar’s personal experiences to depict a complicated narrative of the Latino identity in the modern US. -Charlotte
The anxious generation : how the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness
Jonathan Haidt
305.23 /Haidt
Nonfiction, Health, Science
"From New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Coddling of the American Mind, an essential investigation into the collapse of youth mental health--and a plan for a healthier, freer childhood. After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on most measures. Why? In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the "play-based childhood" began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the "phone-based childhood" in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this "great rewiring of childhood" has interfered with children's social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies. Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the "collective action problems" that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood. Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes--communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children--and ourselves--from the psychological damage of a phone-based life"--
This book was illuminating to say the least. As someone who is just beginning my journey into parenthood, as well as someone who part of the generation who had a mostly low-tech childhood, this book was an interesting and alarming deep dive into the the long-term effects of a "phone-based childhood." I work with children every day, and I easily see the differences as the years go by and we rely more and more on social connections and experiences via online versus in person, and the way it affects children is astounding. I think all parents should consider the concerns and calls to action suggested in this book, and rethink how they want to help frame the childhoods their children experience. I particularly hope that even as we lean more and more heavily on smart phones as a society, that we don't totally lose the emphasis on a play-based childhood to support healthy child development. Obviously I use my phone and connect online all day, but I really want to be conscious of the factors that come into play when parenting a child. -Mari
The triumphant rhinoceros
Jane Kurtz
j599.668 Kurtz
Kids, Nonfiction, Animals, Science, Travel
Captain Van der Meer turns an orphaned rhinocerous named Clara into a sensation, traveling all over Europe and changing how people think about her species. Based on a true story. Includes author's note.
Fascinating story with really cool illustrations about one Dutch sea captain's efforts to bring an exotic, exciting, never-before-seen rhino around to the people of Europe! -Anne W
The body alone : a lyrical articulation of chronic pain
Nina Lohman
616.0472 /Lohman
Nonfiction, Health, Memoir
"The Body Alone is a lyrical nonfiction inquiry into the experience, meaning, and articulation of pain. It is a hybrid account incorporating research, scholarship, and memoir to examine pain through the lenses of medicine, theology, and philosophy. Broken bodies tell broken stories. This is why the pain experience is portrayed through an engaging but tangled, cyclical narrative of primers, vocabulary lessons, prescription records, and hypothesized internal monologues. The Body Alone is fractured not for the sake of experimentation but because the story itself demands it. A personal account of a societal problem, The Body Alone will appeal to readers who experience or are impacted by chronic illness. Like the author, the majority of the 51 million Americans who suffer chronic pain identify as women and are young or middle-aged. Research reveals the uncomfortable truth that medicine continues to be a gendered institution where 70% of chronic pain patients are women but 80% of pain studies are conducted on men or male mice. This is one of the many disparities that leave women systemically underdiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and even gaslighted on account of inequitable access to research funding, clinical trials, and effective medications. Pain is more than personal; it is a political issue prime for reformation. In both form and content, The Body Alone represents boundary-pressing work that subverts the traditional narrative by putting pressure on the medical, cultural, and political systems that impact women's access to fair and equal healthcare. The Body Alone is more than an illness narrative. It is a battle cry demanding change"--
Poetic, cutting, and accurate. This book is part memoir, part poetry, and part explanatory nonfiction. Lohman details the ways that chronic pain derailed her life and reshaped her identity. If you have chronic pain, this could be a very therapeutic read. I was recently diagnosed with fibromyalgia, and I appreciated untangling the snarled threads of pain alongside the author as she explored different techniques for thinking about and living with her pain. If you don't have chronic pain, this book is an excellent window into the experience of people that do. It especially elucidates the difference between acute and chronic pain, and asks the question: How much pain can you handle? -Chelsea
The secret lives of numbers : a hidden history of math's unsung trailblazers
Kate Kitagawa
510.9 /Kitagawa
Nonfiction, History, Science
Mathematics shapes almost everything we do. But despite its reputation as the study of fundamental truths, the stories we have been told about it are wrong--warped like the sixteenth-century map that enlarged Europe at the expense of Africa, Asia and the Americas. In The Secret Lives of Numbers, renowned math historian Kate Kitagawa and journalist Timothy Revell make the case that the history of math is infinitely deeper, broader, and richer than the narrative we think we know.
I'm not even going to pretend that I understood everything in this book (and it's literally a book that just explains numbers and mathematics, you don't even have to do any!), but I found it full of interesting facts and tidbits nonetheless. The book is written in a very friendly fashion (math jokes, anyone?), and does a great service in highlighting brilliant people who made strides in the field of math, some of whom have been more or less lost to history because they didn't make it into the formal books. Eyeopening to the nth degree! -Candice
Smithsonian handbook of interesting bird nests and eggs
Douglas G. D. Russell
598.1564 /Russell
Nonfiction, Animals, Nature
This book reveals how a simple bird's nest or egg can tell extraordinary stories about the birds behind them, help reconstruct a habitat’s flora and fauna, and offer potential answers to important evolutionary and ecological questions. From the Cape Penduline Tit nest that includes a false chamber to trick predators to the unique patterning of a Great Auk egg allowing parents to always recognize and care for their own egg, this insightful handbook peers into the brilliance and architectural skills of birds. Smithsonian Handbook of Interesting Bird Nests and Eggs is an essential read for birdwatchers and nature lovers.
Natural history is so fascinating! The extent of my bird-nest knowledge ends at my backyard, where we sometimes find house finch nests in our hanging ferns. This book has hundreds of historic nests collected from all over the world. The back cover reads, "Birds are some of nature's most innovative architects." I never knew I needed to know about birds' nests until eyeing this book on the shelf. What a fun discovery! The only drawback is that this book doesn't include illustrations of the bird species that build these nests. But have a web browser handy and that drawback is easily remedied. Two talons up. -Melody
The other ancient civilisations : decoding archaeology's less celebrated cultures
Raven Todd DaSilva
930 /DaSilva
Nonfiction, History
"The world has always been filled with vibrant cultures and civilisations and mainstream history is dominated by only a select few. In this book, Raven Todd DaSilva invites you on an archaeological expedition across millennia and continents to discover the rich diversity of peoples that are often overlooked but have made monumental impacts that have shaped our modern world. From the world's first peace treaty to daring expeditions across the Pacific, twenty ancient and historic cultures from around the world are highlighted, offering an alternative view of history. Each chapter investigates the archaeological evidence we have for each culture, delving beyond their rise and fall and highlighting the magic in the mundance of everyday life in the past. Relive key historical events, explore ancient sites, and marvel at astounding artefacts that changed the way we understand history." -- From back cover.
This is a great little book. It reminds of the nonfiction works I'd read as a child, super quick, high-interest pieces about history, mysterious places, and events (dinosaurs! outer space! Egyptian pyramids! the Bermuda Triangle!), presented in bite-sized portions but full of all the pertinent facts. This is like that, but for an adult. DaSilva covers 20 ancient cultures in 300 pages, so there's a quick pace; he's covering lots of important details and interesting facts, but doesn't get bogged down in minutiae. Certainly not a comprehensive look at any culture, but just enough to get you on the right track and interested in finding out more. -Candice
Pope Francis was a passionate advocate for the climate and was a papal pioneer in many other ways; LGBTQ+ rights, migration, and the atrocities of war to name a few. While this book did meander at times and is not as not as concise as it could have been, there were so many glimmers of hope and humility that would resonate with your humanity; regardless of your faith. Pair this with Conclave, in our DVD collection for a gripping thriller on the selection process for the next Pope. -Victoria