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Browsing all posts tagged 'non-fiction'
Title: Into the heart of Borneo
By: Redmond O'Hanlon
Possibly the funniest travel memoir ever written, as well as an unexpected gold mine of accurate scientific information. When O'Hanlon invited his Borneo travel companion, the poet James Fenton, on a succeeding journey, the answer was an earbreaking NO! Would most readers want to accompany O'Hanlon? Probably not. But a ... [Read more]
Posted by curious on Jan. 30, 2010
Tags: non-fiction, biography, travel
0 Comments
Title: The Girls from Ames
By: Jeffrey Zaslow
Imagine a group of friends that you have known literally all your life. You grew up in the same small town, knew each others' families, attended the same schools, went to the same parties, went off to different colleges and jobs, moved to different parts of the country, married, had ... [Read more]
Posted by ogradyj on Dec. 17, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, audiobook
0 Comments
Title: A unit of water, a unit of time: Joel White's last boat
By: Douglas Whynott
You’re not likely to stumble upon this gem unless you’re given to browsing technical tomes on boat construction. But oh, how lucky you’d be! This engrossing portrait of a cranky, brilliant craftsman racing against terminal illness is also a family saga: master wooden boat builder Joel White was the son ... [Read more]
Posted by curious on Nov. 30, 2009
Tags: non-fiction
0 Comments
Title: Last Chance In Texas
By: John Hubner
The most violent criminal youth find hope in an unlikely place, "punish-'em-hard" Texas, The Giddings School, where all-day, one-on-one and group therapy sessions led by dedicated professionals teach the juvenile offenders to take responsibility for their crimes and to develop empathy and compassion for others. Instead of coming back into ... [Read more]
Posted by calln on Nov. 11, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, history, young adult
0 Comments
It's A Long Drive Down Interstate 5, or that's a lot of cotton!
Title: The King of California, J.G. Boswell and The Making of A Secret American Empire.
By: Mark Arax
This book dovetails perfectly if you happen to be reading John Steinbeck, or studying the photographs of Dorothea Lange. A biography which examines the life of a very powerful farmer (at one point owning over 200,000 acres of rich farmland) used to driving bargains across bar stools and shaking down ... [Read more]
Posted by pollockl on Oct. 20, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, history, biography
0 Comments
Journeys of a Passionate Traveller
Title: A Year in the World
By: Frances Mayes
Mayes' most well-known work Under the Tuscan Sun and its offshoots never appealed to me so I was surprised and delighted when I discovered her more recent memoir, A Year in the World. In her day job Mayes was a writing instructor, and here she shows her craft in top ... [Read more]
Posted by Mayrose on Oct. 10, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, biography, travel
0 Comments
Ever worked a weird low-level job?
Title: Nickel and Dimed, on (not) getting by in America.
By: Barbara Ehrenreich
Haven't we all worked at some kind of wretched job at some point in our lives? And thought to ourselves "I am so over-educated for this!" In this book, Ms. Ehrenreich conducts an experiment, using herself for the test subject: find work in meaningless jobs and write about the experience ... [Read more]
Posted by pollockl on Oct. 4, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, history, biography
1 Comment
Title: Take Big Bites: adventures around the world and across the table
By: Linda Ellerbee
Longtime reporter, producer, TV host, and author, Linda Ellerbee calls herself "a recovering journalist who's traveled and eaten her way around the planet and lived to tell some tales." In Take Big Bites she has written a witty, sassy book about food that's also a blend of autobiography, travelogue and ... [Read more]
Posted by Mayrose on Sept. 15, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, biography, travel
1 Comment
Pathways to Santa Cruz County & Its People
Title: Pathways to the Past: Adventures in Santa Cruz County History
By: Alverda Orlando and 21 others
Pathways to the Past is not the first book on the history of Santa Cruz County. As a matter of fact, at the time of this writing, our library catalog alone shows 135 titles on its history from early ones like Illustrations of Santa Cruz County, California, with historical sketch ... [Read more]
Posted by Hui-Lan on Aug. 29, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, history, biography
1 Comment
Reflections from the Land of Fire and Ice
Title: The Windows of Brimnes: An American in Iceland
By: Bill Holm
Perhaps because I have never been there, I have always had a strange fascination with Iceland: the medieval sagas, the stark yet beautiful landscape, those small horses.... So when I heard poet and essayist Bill Holm being interviewed on NPR about this book, I immediately added it to my list. ... [Read more]
Posted by fatorangecat on Aug. 17, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, poetry, travel
0 Comments
Title: The Complete Guide to Flight Instruction
By: Gregory Penglis
This Bay area flight instructor has taught flying to hundreds of students for more than fifteen years. He recounts his experiences at age 16 learning to fly. He then writes about his challenges teaching student pilots and the state of flying instruction in the United States. While the book is ... [Read more]
Posted by downingp on Aug. 4, 2009
Tags: non-fiction
1 Comment
Endearing biography of Doris Day
Title: Doris Day: the untold story of the girl next door
By: David Kaufman
Are you a "Dayniac" too? This biography is so much more than just the usual tell-all book about America's sweetheart Doris Day with the superb voice and acting career. This book will give you the real low-down on her smarmy manager/husband, Marty Melcher. Miss Day was one of the biggest ... [Read more]
Posted by pollockl on July 16, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, history, biography
0 Comments
Title: Lime Kiln Legacies
By: Frank A. Perry, and others
Lime Kiln Legacies is the first complete history of the lime industry in Santa Cruz County. The rise and fall of the lime industry in Santa Cruz County coincides with the developing history of California. In the first half of the 1800s, only small amounts of lime began to be ... [Read more]
Posted by Hui-Lan on July 1, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, history
3 Comments
The Happiest Places in the World
Title: The Geography of Bliss: One grump's search for the happiest places in the world
By: Eric Weiner
Part travelogue, part memoir, part twisted self-help guide, this humorous ramble takes the reader around the world in search of the happiest places to live. NPR correspondent Eric Weiner discovers some surprises as he blends travel, psychology, science, and humor to ask not what happiness is, but where it is. ... [Read more]
Posted by Mayrose on June 20, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, travel
0 Comments
Title: Principles of Uncertainty
By: Maira Kalman
Maira Kalman is a wonderful whimsical artist who has drawn many colorful covers for the New Yorker and has written several slightly wacky delightful children's books including Ooh-La-La (Max in Love), Smartypants, and Fireboat, an excellent 9-11 children's book. You don't have to have seen her art or read her ... [Read more]
Posted by Ruby Boggs on May 26, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, biography
0 Comments
Watching The Oscars Will Never Be The Same.
Title: The Big Show : High Times and Dirty Dealings Backstage at the Academy Awards
By: Steve Pond
All the in-fighting and back-stabbing and shocking shenanigans of Hollywood and the behind-the-scenes gossip of the biggest show we all love to watch! Written by an observer extraordinaire who loves juicy gossip as much as we do. Now I know just how quirky the hosts can be, and it's the ... [Read more]
Posted by pollockl on May 12, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, history
0 Comments
Title: Color: A Natural History of the Palette
By: Victoria Finlay
Doesn't this sound like something that would be assigned in a dry history class? If you think so, you'd be wrong! Victoria Finlay, an excellent writer, has given us a history of the development of color in paint that is actually a page-turner. Extensively researched, we learn that each hue ... [Read more]
Posted by Ruby Boggs on May 2, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, history, biography, art
0 Comments
French wine makers in WWII: an inspiring story!
Title: Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure.
By: Don and Petrie Kladstrup
The authors interviewed several members of five prominent wine making families in France. Very interesting stories of how they personally hid Jewish refugees in wine caves and smuggled members of the Resistance in wine barrels! We read of grape harvests ruined because of the shortage of horses, sulfur dust and ... [Read more]
Posted by pollockl on March 19, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, history
1 Comment
Title: M.F.K. Fisher and Me: A memoir of Food and Friendship
By: Jeannette Ferrary
If only it were my kitchen! I would prove to both Jeannette and Mary Frances that when I scramble eggs, or sear a pork chop, it was their advice that helped me make them turn out so "right." What serendipity! Jeannette is a cookbook writer and writes M.F.K. a fan ... [Read more]
Posted by pollockl on Feb. 26, 2009
Tags: non-fiction, history, biography
0 Comments
Title: The Great Bridge
By: David McCullough
Part biography, part engineering study, and part political history, The Great Bridge tells the story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Popular historian David McCullough brings history to life in this book, which has all of the interest, characters and plot of a good novel. Even those (like myself) ... [Read more]
Posted by fatorangecat on Nov. 4, 2008
Tags: non-fiction, history
0 Comments
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