Book Club

Women in aviation - the who, the struggles, and the adventures. O'Brien explores the history of aviation through the experiences of the founding women of flight.

This book could have gone into a number of other categories including history or biography - but it seemed to fit in this category because it does a number of things: it is a combined biography, it is a history of the space program, it is a story of both racial and sex discrimination, and shows the evolution of the word "computer". In a nutshell, this wonderful book tells the story of a group of female, African-
American mathematicians ("computers") vital to the success of manned missions to space.

Are you a National Parks user and fan? To celebrate the Centennial of the National Park Service, Terry Tempest Williams wrote this book of essays celebrating a dozen of the parks. The summary from the publisher says it all "Part memoir, part natural history, and part social critique."

Why do certain people succeed at certain things? What is the best way to achieve a goal? Epstein offers a new way to think about learning and thinking. Intriguing and thought provoking.

Okay, who doesn’t love dinosaurs? Brusatte is an excellent writer and this book is a great read to get a general overview (or review if don’t remember much about the study of dinosaurs at different points in your education) of when dinosaurs are roamed our earth. Technical enough that you get the important information and not so technical that you can’t enjoy the book.

Sometimes, living in the Midwest, it’s easy to forget the variety of ways farming is big business. Driving by fields of corn, thoughts of seed “breeding” and the proprietary nature of those crops is the furthest thing in most people’s minds. This book may change the view of those fields. It is the true story of how one Chinese company tried to steal samples of corn to try to create similar high yield seeds in China. Seriously, you can’t make this type of story up.

Okay, this book is just a fun, quick read that may change how you use the semicolon.

So - WOW - this was such an interesting book. A well known Harvard Divinity School Professor is approached by someone with a fragment of papyrus purporting to refer to Mary Magdalene as the wife of Jesus. The fragment sets off an astonishing chain of events and results in an amazing story tracing the history of the fragment, an insight into the Biblical studies community, and the contributions of an intriguing group of individuals involved in determining if the fragment is real.

I want to be better at math and science - to understand more in more than just the basic story problems that rule my life (how many more miles in this tank of gas and how much will it take to fill my tank; 30% off all styles and don’t forget to add 7.25% tax; double this recipe, etc.) so I try to read books that challenge me to think. This book is one of those books and it is both challenging and delightful (seriously). A series of essays written by Jim Holt - math, science, and philosophy writer for a number of publications including The New Yorker and the Wall Street Journal - it includes pieces on everything from quantum mechanics to the nature of truth.

Curious about the effects of reading online vs. print? This fascinating book explores the implications - and effects - of reading online.

Do you ever walk away from a conversation and fill like you’ve missed something? Wonder if you’re not communicating well or how you can be a better listener? This may be the book for you. Even if you aren’t questioning your listening skills too deeply, it’s an excellent book for a check - to help you review how you could improve your listening skills and why you might want to.