Preview Shelf: Notable New Books by CDPL Volunteer Janice Clauser

           This week, we note a variety of new nonfiction ready to borrow. The first to mention is Gary Fuller’s The Trivia Lover’s Guide to the World: Geography for the Lost and Found.  It’s entertaining and informative at the same time; it challenges today’s generation to get to know our planet. Hidden America is Jeanne Laskas' exploration of the unseen people, like coal miners and cowboys, who make this country work. In The Rocks Don’t Lie, geologist David Montgomery investigates the location of Noah’s flood. Umberto Eco’s essay Inventing the Enemy covers a wide range of topics like lost islands, mythical realms, and the medieval world. Steve Forbes’ Freedom Manifesto discusses why free markets are moral and big government isn’t.

            In Reinventing Bach Paul Elie shows the composer as a pioneer on the technological frontier; working in Germany, he restored and road-tested organs, devised new instruments, and carried out experiments in tuning, the effects of which are notable in audio recording today.

            Currently, while American psychiatry identifies disordered anxiety as irrational and disproportionate to a real threat, All We Have to Fear by Allan Horwitz finds it to be a perfectly normal part of our nature to fear things.

            On Dupont Circle is James Srodes’ analysis of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and the progressives who shaped our world.  In Washington D.C. on the eve of World War I a group would gather often to discuss how to remake society. When they gathered again just before World War II, they conceived of the United Nations. Who’s Counting? by John Fund and Hans Von Spakovsky tells how fraudsters and bureaucrats put our votes at risk. David Lampo’s A Fundamental Freedom says that Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians should support gay rights. Ike’s Bluff by Evan Thomas presents President Dwight Eisenhower’s secret battle to save the world.  

            Running for Women is a complete guide for a lifetime of running written by Jason Karp. Sport Psychology for Youth Coaches by Ronald Smith and Parenting Young Athletes by Frank Smoll share the subtitle "Developing Champions in Sports and Life." Concussions and Our Kids comes from Robert Cantu, “America’s leading expert on how to protect young athletes and keep sports safe.” Encouraging Your Child’s Imagination by Carol Bouzoukis is a guide with stories for play acting.  Growing Up Brave by Donna Pincus offers expert strategies for helping your child overcome fear, stress, and anxiety.  Have a new Teenager by Friday is Kevin Leman’s method for change from mouthy and moody to respectful and responsible in five days. Bullied is Carrie Goldman’s treatise on what every parent, teacher, and kid needs to know about ending the cycle of fear. 

          Spy the Lie by Houston, Floyd, and Carnicero, former CIA officers, teaches how to detect deception.  My Stripes were Earned in Hell is French resistance fighter Jean-Pierre Renouard’s memoir of survival in a Nazi prison camp.