Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

Speaking as we do this month of the Indianapolis 500, a new book at the Crawfordsville Library tells exactly what's going on; with a preface by Helio Castroneves and a forward by David Letterman, "Indianapolis 500: A Century of Excitement" by Ralph Kramer "captures the thrill of the race…in unparalleled beauty." With a chapter devoted to each of its decades, from the birth of the brickyard to the fate of the winning cars, this book is a pleasure to pursue.

"The Clockwork Universe" by Edward Dolnick tells about the band of men, including Isaac Newton, who saw a world of perfect order, intricate and regulated, and who actually invented science, revamping our understanding of the world. Philosopher Anthony Appiah's "Honor Code" tells how societies can repudiate immoral customs they have accepted by harnessing the ancient power of honor from within. "The Innovator's Way" gives Peter Denning's 8 essential practices for successful innovation, sensing, envisioning, offering, adopting, sustaining, executing, leading, and embodying. "What Good is God?" is Philip Yancey's search. He shares his thoughts after ten experiences around the world, finding faith makes a difference even when belief is severely tested.

"Network Nation" is Richard John's explanation of the first electrical communications
networks in the decades between the Civil War and the First World War when Western Union and the Bell System emerged as the dominant providers for the telegraph and telephones. The invisible alliance that undermines America's interests in the Middle East is explained in "The Arab Lobby" by Mitchell Bard, authority on U.S. Israel relations. How Brad Stevens and the Butler Bulldogs marched their way to the brink of college basketball's national championship is the subject of David Woods' "Underdawgs"; it's a David versus Goliath tale, though losing to Duke, the Bulldogs proved they belonged in the game and won the respect of people who were not even sports fans.

A book designed to make us all kind of jealous is "The 100 Thing Challenge" because Dave Bruno got rid of almost everything he owned, remade his life, and regained his soul. "365 Ways to Live Cheap!" by Trent Hamm, founder of thesimpledollar.com, shares his ten biggest tips for living cheap, which include taking little steps, not big ones, recording every penny you spend for a month, and calculating how much money you really make.

"A Murder of Crows" by P.F. Chisholm is a Sir Robert Carey story of the year 1592 when the son of Mary Boleyn and Henry VIII desires the solution to the identity of a badly decomposed corpse that's washed up from the Thames River. Next, the world of identity thieves, methamphetamine dealers, and mentally unstable characters in Boston, fill "Moonlight Mile" by Dennis Lehane. "Hypothermia" a Nordic crime fiction by Arnaldur Indridason features an inspector's unsolved case of two young people who went missing years ago under circumstances tied to his past. Dawn Shiller's "The Road through Wonderland" is the true tale of an infamous public figure and a young girl's struggle to survive unthinkable abuse. Annie Proulx' memoir "Bird Cloud" describes building her home on 640 acres of Wyoming wetlands near the North Platte River.