Yolo County Library
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Biography and MemoirJune 2016
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"In our village and environs, we had no private doctors who made house calls, nor were there clinics close by." ~ from Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa's Becoming Dr. Q
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| Jungle of Stone: The True Story of Two Men, Their Extraordinary Journey, and... by William CarlsenIn 1839, John L. Stephens, U.S. ambassador to Central America, went exploring in the jungles of the Yucatan. Accompanied by British architect Frederick Catherwood, Stephens wanted to verify rumors about stupendous stone ruins. Unlike the legendary El Dorado, however, the 2,000-year-old Mayan structures were real. In Jungle of Stone, author William Carlsen brings Stephens' and Catherwood's personalities to life while recounting their adventures (and his own modern-day quest to retrace their footsteps). Stephens and Catherwood published their accounts in the two-volume Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan, which is still in print. |
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The bridge ladies : a memoir
by Betsy Lerner
A 50-year-old bridge game, and the secrets it held, provides an unexpected way to cross the generational divide between the author and her mother.
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Becoming grandma : the joys and science of the new grandparenting
by Lesley Stahl
An award-winning journalist describes how becoming a grandparent has been one of the most transformative experiences of her life, sharing personal anecdotes while drawing on interviews with scientists, doctors and celebrity friends to explore the evolutionary and anthropological influences of grandparenting.
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The battle for Room 314 : my year of hope and despair in a New York City high school
by Ed Boland
Leaving behind a 20-year career as a nonprofit executive to teach in a tough New York City public high school, the author shares the disturbing reality of his students’ lives and a broken education system unable to help them, in a searing indictment of reform-minded schools that claim to be progressive but still fail their students. 30,000 first printing.
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Bare Bones : I'm not lonely if you're reading this book
by Bobby Bones
One of the biggest names in radio--the host of The Bobby Bones Show, one of the most listened-to drive time morning radio shows in the nation--offers a funny, heart-wrenching memoir about growing up a poor boy in Arkansas with an addicted mom, his early love of country music, the good values he learned and his road to radio stardom. 150,000 first printing.
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Alligator candy : a memoir
by David Kushner
An NPR culture commentator and Rolling Stone contributing editor documents the story of his brother's murder at the hands of two drifters and his family's efforts to survive and seek justice against a backdrop of 1970s parenting dynamics and media hype.
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The song poet : a memoir of my father
by Kao Kalia Yang
The author of The Latehomecomer delivers a powerful memoir of her father, a Hmong song poet who sacrificed his gift for his children's future in America.
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Ruthless : scientology, my son David Miscavige, and me
by Ron Miscavige
The father of Scientology's current leader describes how he first introduced his family to the church and looks at how his son's actions have transformed the organization into one that wields toxic power over its members
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John Quincy Adams : militant spirit
by James Traub
Drawing on Adams' diary, letters and writings, a scholar and journalist chronicles the diplomat and president's numerous achievements—and equally numerous failures—that both stand as testaments to his unwavering moral convictions, revealing a brilliant, flinty and unyielding man whose life exemplified political courage.
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The cosmic web : mysterious architecture of the universe
by J. Richard Gott
An astrophysicist explains how the structure of our universe is like a sponge made up of clusters of connected galaxies and describes how the historical theories of extragalactic astronomy from Edwin Hubble and Fritz Zwicky helped inform modern cosmologists’ models.
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| The Vanishing Velázquez: A 19th-Century Bookseller's Obsession with a Lost... by Laura CummingIn The Vanishing Velázquez, art historian Laura Cumming vividly recounts how 19th-century British bookseller John Snare obtained a long-missing portrait of a young Charles I (as Britain's Prince of Wales) and became convinced that the portraitist was the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. For years, without success, Snare poured his passion, his efforts, and his fortune into proving that Velázquez was the artist. The painting vanished again after Snare's death, leaving a long-unsolved mystery. This absorbing biography encompasses the bookseller's life, fascinating information about Velázquez and 17th-century Spain, and the lingering mystery of the portrait's whereabouts. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly praises Cumming's "spirited and clever narration." |
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Secondhand time : the last of the Soviets
by Svetlana Aleksievich
From the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature comes an oral history of Russia—from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the rise of Putin—in an English translation for the first time.
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| Where the Light Gets In: Losing My Mother Only to Find Her Again by Kimberly Williams-PaisleyActor Kimberly Williams-Paisley (who is married to country singer Brad Paisley) is known for her roles in Father of the Bride and Nashville. Her memoir Where the Light Gets In details her mother's diagnosis with a rare form of dementia, the progress of her illness, and its effects on their family and relationships. This candid and revealing account demonstrates how challenging it can be, both to the patient and to the family, to live with dementia. Though this chronicle can be heartbreaking, it concludes with an encouraging resolution as the family learns to deal with the changes. There's also a helpful appendix of resources for families of dementia patients. |
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Medical Biographies and Memoirs
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| He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird... by Mimi Baird with Eve ClaxtonAuthor Mimi Baird lost contact with her father Dr. Perry Baird when she was six, in 1944. She knew only that he was "ill" and wasn't coming home. Dr. Baird suffered from manic-depression; though he was frequently institutionalized and subjected to primitive treatments for years, he cogently recorded observations of his own illness. In He Wanted the Moon, Mimi weaves together excerpts from her father's manuscript with her own recollections, providing a fascinating, if sobering, portrait of psychiatric treatment in a time before the symptoms of mental disorders were better understood. |
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| Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American Physician by Sandeep JauharIn Doctored, Sandeep Jauhar, a cardiologist at Long Island Jewish Hospital in New York, recounts his frustrations as a doctor and his observations on the practice of medicine. In this book, "part memoir and part denunciation of America's current health-care system" (Library Journal), Jauhar raises issues such as the fear of medical malpractice litigation, insurance bureaucracy, and the economics of for-profit medicine. Illustrating his concerns with anecdotes from his experience, he expresses disappointment in his loss of idealism since he entered medical school. Jauhar's memoir offers a thought-provoking analysis of the state of health care in the U.S. |
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| Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon by Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa with Mimi Eichler RivasAfter migrating with his family from Mexico to California for a summer's work, author Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa decided that his future lay in the U.S. In a risky move, he climbed the fence between Mexico and California to work at low-paying jobs, learn English, and send money back to his family. Eventually, he earned an associate's degree, then found out that he could go much farther. In this richly detailed memoir, he vividly portrays the poverty of his childhood and the challenges of working his way up the American educational and economic ladder. Booklist, in a starred review, calls Becoming Dr. Q "gripping, inspiring, and just plain awesome." |
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| My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte TaylorJill Bolte Taylor, a Boston neuroanatomist, woke up with a severe headache one morning in 1996. Her physical coordination deteriorated, then her vision began to fail. She managed to telephone her office, where her colleagues realized that she was in deep trouble and sent an ambulance. In My Stroke of Insight, Taylor details her treatment for this life-threatening hemorrhagic stroke, her physical and neurological recovery, and her new awareness of her own brain function. This accessible, compelling memoir offers insight into Taylor's rehabilitation from a unique point of view -- that of a patient who is also an expert in her own medical condition. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Yolo County Library
226 Buckeye St. Woodland, California 95695 530-666-8005
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