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Biography and Memoir November 2017
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| Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. by Danielle AllenHarvard University professor Danielle Allen had a much-loved younger cousin, Michael, who drifted into petty criminal activities that escalated until he was convicted of a felony at age 15; while rebuilding his life after 11 years of imprisonment, he was murdered. In Cuz, Allen chronicles Michael's life and death while criticizing the American criminal justice system. This heartwrenching memoir starkly contrasts Michael's life with Allen's relatively privileged one and offers details about how society fails young African American men. For additional memoirs that delve into these issues, try Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reaped and Lezley McSpadden's Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil. |
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| A Disappearance in Damascus: Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War by Deborah CampbellCanadian journalist Deborah Campbell began working undercover in Syria in 2007, reporting on Iraqi refugees. She became friends with Ahlam, an Iraqi woman who did humanitarian work and (at risk to her own safety) provided information to foreign reporters. After they had worked together for several years, Ahlam was arrested, and Campbell embarked on a dangerous and frustrating search for her. Vividly describing conditions in Syria, from the refugee camps to the jails, this award-winning, emotionally intense memoir may appeal to those who appreciated David Rhode and Kristen Mulvihill's A Rope and a Prayer or Amanda Lindhout's A House in the Sky. |
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| Ali: A Life by Jonathan EigIn this balanced biography of boxer Muhammad Ali, author Jonathan Eig relates Ali's family background, the complexities of his status as a celebrity, and his later life, in addition to his boxing career. Ali places political and personal controversies in the context of the 1960s and draws on previously unavailable resources to correct the record in some instances. For another well-researched and compelling study of Ali, take a look at David Remnick's King of the World. |
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Lioness : Golda Meir and the nation of Israel
by Francine Klagsbrun
"The definitive biography of Golda Meir: the iron-willed leader, chain-smoking political operative, and tea-and-cake-serving grandmother who became the fourth prime minister of Israel and one of the most notable women of our time"
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| Real American: A Memoir by Julie Lythcott-HaimsIn this absorbing, moving, and candid memoir, bestselling author Julie Lythcott-Haims recounts her upbringing as a biracial child in 1970s America. Pulling no punches, she recounts the effects of racism on her psyche during her childhood and teen years, as well as the issues she faced in bringing up "quadroon" children with her Jewish husband. Her gradual understanding of the world as complex rather than starkly black and white leads to her self-acceptance, as well as making her determined to help Americans address racism more forthrightly. |
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Focus on: Science and Medicine
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| My Brief History by Stephen HawkingIn My Brief History, British physicist Stephen Hawking recounts his personal story with humor (he's often laugh-out-loud funny). He describes his early years, his barely average secondary and undergraduate marks, and his diagnosis at age 21 with a motor neuron disease. Summarizing his subsequent scientific achievements and his failed marriages, Hawking presents a charming account of his life, captivating the reader with humility and frankness rather than emotion. If this short autobiography leaves you wanting more, try Hawking's A Brief History of Time; the 2014 film The Theory of Everything; or episodes of the PBS television series Genius. |
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| Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center by Ray MonkOften called "the father of the atomic bomb," physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer followed his work on the Manhattan project with a postwar position as the chief advisor to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission -- although his political affiliations and reluctance to work on the development of the hydrogen bomb later made him an outcast. Focusing explicitly on Oppenheimer's scientific contributions, author Ray Monk's account also details how anti-Semitism affected his earlier career and McCarthy-era anticommunism muted his later achievements. This book offers a valuable complement to Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin's American Prometheus. |
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| The Birds of Pandemonium: Life Among the Exotic and the Endangered by Michele RaffinA certified aviculturist and founding director of Pandemonium Aviaries in Los Altos, California, author Michele Raffin became involved in bird rescue when she helped a friend who had found an injured dove. Over the course of 15 years, she began to volunteer at a homeless bird shelter, took in birds at her home, and became an expert at caring for exotic birds. Affecting and informative vignettes about the birds she's known add color to her informative memoir, which discusses the plight of endangered species alongside Raffin's adventures in aviculture. |
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| Second Suns: Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives by David Oliver RelinWhile planning a book on Himalayan mountaineers, journalist David Oliver Relin met a mountain-climbing American ophthalmologist who inspired him to write about a project that restores the sight of Nepalese villagers. American Geoff Tabin and Nepali Sanduk Ruit have developed a method for cataract surgery that allows them to treat patients in under four minutes for only $20. Overcoming skepticism at their unconventional technology deployed in challenging conditions, the two doctors have made a huge difference both in Nepal and other parts of the world. Second Suns provides an inspiring chronicle of their achievements. |
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Tesla : inventor of the electrical age
by W. Bernard Carlson
"Nikola Tesla was a major contributor to the electrical revolution that transformed daily life at the turn of the twentieth century. His inventions, patents, and theoretical work formed the basis of modern AC electricity, and contributed to the development of radio and television. Like his competitor Thomas Edison, Tesla was one of America's first celebrity scientists, enjoying the company of New York high society and dazzling the likes of Mark Twain with his electrical demonstrations. An astute self-promoter and gifted showman, he cultivated a public image of the eccentric genius. Even at the end of his life when he was living in poverty, Tesla still attracted reporters to his annual birthday interview, regaling them with claims that he had invented a particle-beam weapon capable of bringing down enemy aircraft. Plenty of biographies glamorize Tesla and his eccentricities, but until now none has carefully examined what, how, and why he invented. In this groundbreaking book, W. Bernard Carlson demystifies the legendary inventor, placing him within the cultural and technological context of his time, and focusing on his inventions themselves as well as the creation and maintenance of his celebrity. Drawing on original documents from Tesla's private and public life, Carlson shows how he was an "idealist" inventor who sought the perfect experimental realization of a great idea or principle, and who skillfully sold his inventions to the public through mythmaking and illusion. This major biography sheds new light on Tesla's visionary approach to invention and the business strategies behind his most important technological breakthroughs"
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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San Mateo Public Library 55 West 3rd Avenue San Mateo, California 94402 (650) 522-7802www.smplibrary.org |
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