Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Kentucky

The Mysterious Allure of Extra Dimensions, from Plato to String Theory and Beyond

Draws on the works of scientists, mathematicians, artists, and writers to consider the concept of alternate universes, exploring popular theories about such topics as black holes, life in other dimensions, and string theory.

Hiding in the Mirror

497fa081-7644-4b11-9673-01037d41d98a-1

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Illinois

A veteran CBS reporter offers a list of people making the American culture more selfish and obscene, and less patriotic, including Howard Stern, Rick and Cathy Hilton, and Latrell Sprewell.

100 People Who Are Screwing up America

57daa5e6-57ac-4ba8-bc90-440d18452fb8-1

Thomas L. Friedman

California

Why We Need a Green Revolution - And How It Can Renew America

Examines America's loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11, and the global environmental crisis, and shows how the solutions to these two problems are linked.

Hot, Flat, and Crowded

c87e78a0-466d-4674-bf9f-13c0957ef20b-1

Kyle Schwartz

Unleashing the Power of Kids to Make a Difference

From the author of I Wish My Teacher Knew, how grownups can empower children to stand up for what they believe in

Third-grade teacher Kyle Schwartz often tells her students: "You are not here so you can make money in a decade. You are here so you can make a difference now."

Young people are up for the task. In the face of school shootings, cyber bullying, and other challenges students face at school, there are students who are changing the world right now.

In I Wish for Change, teacher and author Kyle Schwartz equips both teachers and parents to help children stand up for what they believe is right and make value-driven decisions. She shows how children's adaptability, vulnerability, and empathy make them excellent agents for change, as well as how to teach children about the mechanics and structures of power so they can effectively change them.

Filled with inspiring stories from Kyle's students and educators around the nation, as well as practical, replicable strategies for the classroom, I Wish for Change is the guide for every teacher, educator, and parent to show kids that their voice matters.


I Wish for Change

2739bd14-1d16-4637-9752-7ae4d63b1585-1

Pennsylvania

Unsolved Mysteries of Science

Thomas Clerc

Alabama

A comic experiment in sociology and self-absorption, the award-winning author Thomas Clerc's autobiographical Interior is a unique invitation into a professor's preoccupations and possessions within the rooms of a small Parisian apartment. Composed of bite-size vignettes, remembrances, and digressions, and filled with lighthearted transitions from pure description to quirky reminiscence and back, this meticulous tour through the rooms of Clerc's home reveals fascinating insights into the author's obsessions, desires, and frustrations. Each space is described in painstaking detail, sometimes down to the centimeter, and the history of every object and appliance is fully excavated with self-deprecating wit. From the ideal varieties of bathroom reading material to the color of his dish rack to the chaos of his sock drawer, Clerc happily and shamelessly guides us through the most intimate crannies of his home, as well as through all the strata of his existence as a bourgeois city dweller approaching middle age. Playful and irreverent, as well as a sly commentary on materialism, Interior finds drama in the domestic and dark humor in every doomed attempt to express individuality through the things that we own.

Interior

142e2e2d-0d09-4fb6-9800-9bf69cf0099a-1

Bob Woodward

Oregon

Trump in the White House

“Explosive.”—The Washington Post “Devastating.”—The New Yorker “Unprecedented.”—CNN THE INSIDE STORY ON PRESIDENT TRUMP, AS ONLY BOB WOODWARD CAN TELL IT With authoritative reporting honed through eight presidencies from Nixon to Obama, author Bob Woodward reveals in unprecedented detail the harrowing life inside President Donald Trump’s White House and precisely how he makes decisions on major foreign and domestic policies. Woodward draws from hundreds of hours of interviews with firsthand sources, meeting notes, personal diaries, files and documents. The focus is on the explosive debates and the decision-making in the Oval Office, the Situation Room, Air Force One and the White House residence. Fear is the most intimate portrait of a sitting president ever published during the president’s first years in office.

Fear

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The transition from President Donald J. Trump to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stands as one of the most dangerous periods in American history. But as # 1 internationally bestselling author Bob Woodward and acclaimed reporter Robert Costa reveal for the first time, it was far more than just a domestic political crisis. Woodward and Costa interviewed more than 200 people at the center of the turmoil, resulting in more than 6,000 pages of transcripts—and a spellbinding and definitive portrait of a nation on the brink. This classic study of Washington takes readers deep inside the Trump White House, the Biden White House, the 2020 campaign, and the Pentagon and Congress, with vivid, eyewitness accounts of what really happened. Peril is supplemented throughout with never-before-seen material from secret orders, transcripts of confidential calls, diaries, emails, meeting notes and other personal and government records, making for an unparalleled history. It is also the first inside look at Biden’s presidency as he faces the challenges of a lifetime: the continuing deadly pandemic and millions of Americans facing soul-crushing economic pain, all the while navigating a bitter and disabling partisan divide, a world rife with threats, and the hovering, dark shadow of the former president. “We have much to do in this winter of peril,” Biden declared at his inauguration, an event marked by a nerve-wracking security alert and the threat of domestic terrorism. Peril is the extraordinary story of the end of one presidency and the beginning of another, and represents the culmination of Bob Woodward’s news-making trilogy on the Trump presidency, along with Fear and Rage. And it is the beginning of a collaboration with fellow Washington Post reporter Robert Costa that will remind readers of Woodward’s coverage, with Carl Bernstein, of President Richard M. Nixon’s final days.

Peril

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#hardcover #protectivecover #formerlibrarybook #americanpresident #politics #whitehouseveteran #whitehouse 

Inside the West Wing and Beyond

Shrouded in anonymity, protected by executive privilege, but with no legal or constitutional authority of their own, the 5,900 people in 125 offices collectively known as the "White House staff" assist the chief executive by shaping, focusing, and amplifying presidential policy. Why is the staff so large? How is it organized and what do those 125 offices actually do? In this sequel to his critically appraised 1988 book, Ring of Power, Bradley H. Patterson Jr. —a veteran of three presidential administrations —takes us inside the closely guarded turf of the White House. In a straightforward narrative free of partisan or personal agendas, Patterson provides an encyclopedic description of the contemporary White House staff and its operations. He illustrates the gradual shift in power from the cabinet departments to the staff and, for the first time in presidential literature, presents an accounting for the total budget of the modern White House. White House staff members control everything from the monumental to the mundane. They prepare the president for summit conferences, but also specify who sits on Air Force One. They craft the language for the president to use on public occasions —from a State of the Union Address to such "Rose Garden rubbish" as the pre-Thanksgiving pardon for the First Turkey. The author provides an entertaining yet in-depth overview of these responsibilities. Patterson also illuminates the astounding degree to which presidents personally conduct American diplomacy and personally supervise U.S. military actions. The text is punctuated with comments by senior White House aides and by old Washington hands whose careers go back more than half a century. The book provides not only a comprehensive key to the offices and activities that make the White House work, but also the feeling of belonging to that exclusive membership inside the West Wing.

The White House Staff

304a831b-ee0d-43d6-a2c3-ad53d4e2dde0-1

#hardcover #americanhistory #ushistory #sociology #urban #political 

Vermont

The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America

A journalist pulls a random day in history from a hat to see if he can make a worthwhile news story from what happened. The result is One Day, a deeply illuminating and affecting exploration of the quiet dramas and human interaction that make a seemingly insignificant day - December 28th, 1986 - into an important, poignant part of American history.

One Day

60af1d9c-a1b8-4339-ba3d-ae43cf3a7198-1

Jeff Hobbs

Stories of Survival and Hope in the Juvenile Justice System

From the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace comes a timely, insightful, and groundbreaking look at the school-to-prison pipeline and life in the juvenile "justice" system.

There has been very little written about juvenile detention and the path to justice. For many kids, a mistake made at age thirteen or fourteen--often resulting from external factors coupled with a biologically immature brain--can resonate through the rest of their lives, making high school difficult, college nearly impossible, and a middle-class life a mere fantasy. Here, in Children of the State, Jeff Hobbs challenges any preconceived perceptions about how the juvenile justice system works--and demonstrates in brilliant, piercing prose: No one so young should ever be considered irredeemable.

Writing with great heart and sensitivity, Hobbs presents three different true stories that show the day-to-day life and the challenges faced by those living and working in juvenile programs: educators, counselors, and--most importantly--children. While serving a year-long detention in Wilmington, Delaware--one of the violent crime capitols of America--a bright young man considers both the benefits and the immense costs of striving for college acceptance while imprisoned. A career juvenile hall English Language Arts teacher struggles to align the small moments of wonder in her work alongside its statistical futility, all while the San Francisco city government considers a new juvenile system without cinderblocks--and possibly without teachers. A territorial fistfight in Paterson, New Jersey is called a hate crime by the media and the boy held accountable seeks redemption and friendship in a demanding Life & Professional Skills class in lower Manhattan. Through these stories, Hobbs creates intimate portraits of these individuals as they struggle to make good decisions amidst the challenges of overcoming their pasts, and also asks: What should society do with young people who have made terrible mistakes?

Just as he did with The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, Jeff Hobbs has crafted a gorgeous, captivating, and transcendent work of journalism with tremendous emotional power. Intimate and profound, relevant and revelatory, Children of the State masterfully blends personal stories with larger questions about race, class, prison reform, justice, and even about the concept of "fate."

Children of the State

6de0a012-0819-435f-a37e-00d8a94d4f3b-1

#hardcover #science #homeschool #elementary

Michigan

365 Science projects and activities

Maryland

The Suppressed Scientific Discoveries of Stephen Gray and John Flamsteed

One of the great figures in history, Sir Isaac Newton personifies the triumph of scientific reason over ignorance. Yet for all his contributions to the Enlightenment, Newton was a deeply complex man who sometimes aggressively tried to obscure the intellectual achievements of others.

Newton’s Tyranny is the story of two men who felt the full wrath of the great man’s hostility—the Reverend John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, and Stephen Gray, a humble dyer and amateur scientist. United not only by a love of science, but by a bitter and protracted conflict with Newton, the two men made significant contributions to science despite the obstacles that Newton placed in their path. Gray produced the first experiment in electrical communications, and Flamsteed pioneered observational astronomy and navigation.

Drawing upon letters and historical documents,Newton’s Tyranny vividly recreates the British scientific community of the early 18th century. It was an era of great achievement, but the crucible of science was often heated by Machiavellian intrigue, uncontrollable ambition, and larger-than-life personalities. Against this dramatic setting, the saga of Newton, Flamsteed and Gray unfolds, a story of loyalty and commitment against great odds.

A fascinating look at a forgotten piece of science history,Newton’s Tyranny exposes the dark side of a flawed genius while celebrating the ultimate triumph of two unsung heroes.


Newton's Tyranny

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Jimmy Carter

Paul De Angelis

The Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Shimon Peres, and Other Nobel Prize Winners Answer Some of Life's Most Intriguing Questions for Young People

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has honored the world's great geniuses in the most important fields: physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economics, and world peace. What if children could ask these creative thinkers about some of life's most intriguing mysteries, such as ""Why can't I live on french fries?"" and ""What is love?"" the answers from the Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Shimon Peres, Desmond Tutu, and seventeen other Nobel Prize Laureates are rich with surprise, humor, and of course, wisdom. Every single answer will make readers think...and learn something new.

The Nobel Book of Answers

1d8f7cf5-5754-44d6-9fa7-e10040dad32e-1

Florida

Welcome to the World of Plants. Young children can learn why plants have flowers with the age-appropriate text in this book. Concepts are gradually introduced with fact files, location maps and useful phrases so children learn why some flowers are so colorful, and why plants make fruit.

¿Por Qué las Plantas Tienen Flores?

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Amber Tamblyn

Coming of Age in a Time of Rage and Revolution

A passionate and deeply personal exploration of feminism during divisive times from one of the founders of Time's Up: actor, filmmaker, and activist Amber Tamblyn.

"A work of personal upheaval and political reckoning."--Rebecca Traister, New York Times bestselling author of Good and Mad
 
Amber Tamblyn has emerged as an outspoken advocate for women's rights. But she wasn't always so bold and self-possessed. In her late twenties, after a particularly low period fueled by rejection and disillusionment, she grabbed hold of her own destiny and entered into what she calls an Era of Ignition--a time of self-reflection that follows in the wake of personal upheaval and leads us to challenge the status quo. In the process of undergoing this metamorphosis, she realized that our country is going through an Era of Ignition of its own, and she set about agitating for change by initiating a dialogue about gender inequality.
 
In this deeply personal exploration of modern feminism, she addresses misogyny and discrimination, reproductive rights and sexual assault, white feminism and pay parity--all through the lens of her own experiences as well as those of her Sisters in Solidarity. At once an intimate meditation and a public reckoning, Era of Ignition is a galvanizing feminist manifesto that is required reading for anyone who wants to help change the world for the better.

Era of Ignition

5722b4fe-6344-48ca-84ff-e7e37e99343e-1

Texas

The Search for Purpose in the  Universe 

The Privileged Planet (DVD)

Plant Life

Rourke's World Of Science Encyclopedia Volume 3

Star Wars and the Triumph of Geek Culture

"A.D. Jameson takes geeks and non-geeks alike on a surprising and insightful journey through the science fiction, fantasy, and superhero franchises that now dominate pop culture. Walking us through the rise of geekdom from its underground origins to the top of the box office and the bestseller lists, Jameson takes in franchises such as The Lord of the Rings, Guardians of the Galaxy, Harry Potter, Star Trek, and in particular, Star Wars--as well as phenomena like fan fiction, cosplay, and Youtube parodies. Along the way, he blasts through the clichés surrounding geek culture: that its fans are mindless consumers who will embrace all things Spider-Man or Batman, regardless of quality; or that the popularity and financial success of Star Wars led to the death of ambitious filmmaking. A lifelong geek, Jameson shines a new light on beloved classics, explaining the enormous love (and hate) they are capable of inspiring, while exploding misconceptions about how and why they were made. I Find Your lack of Faith Disturbing tells the story of how the geeks have inherited the earth."--Page [2] of cover.

I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing

fe4e8a4d-1b50-4981-b0d2-1e88804cfaa2-1

Tennessee

#hardcover #politics #government #voting #votersrights #america #USA

New York

Insights from Four Years of Listening to American Voters

"For four years, Diane Hessan has been in weekly conversation with voters across the United States. What she has learned will surprise you, enlighten you, give you hope, and change the way you think about your fellow Americans.Our inability to hear each other, our suspicion, and our impatience is stressing us out and tearing us apart. It's a sickness that permeates the American culture, erodes our collective mental health, and makes us hate each other.To gain insight into how we can move forward, Hessan undertook a massive listening project, conducting an ongoing series of weekly interviews with 500 voters from every state, of every age and ethnicity, and along different points of the political spectrum. The topics ranged from race to guns, from character to party politics, from masks to rallies, from the Supreme Court to the pandemic to immigration and climate change. After more than a million individual communications, two things became clear:We have more common ground than we realize.And we are, sadly, failing at understanding each other.On issue after issue, our "divided" nation isn't nearly as polarized as we imagine. An overwhelming majority of voters believe in commonsense gun licensing and regulation. They are pro-immigration. They believe climate change is real and the coronavirus is deadly. They care deeply about their families and are willing to work hard to make ends meet. And, they believe that Washington is slow, bureaucratic, and not working in their best interests.In dozens of columns on these topics published in The Boston Globe, Hessan has upended common political wisdom. Presented together for the first time as part of this book, they reveal a unique perspective on how Americans actually think, what they value, and how we can move forward.The path to healing our divided nation is both simple and profound. We must turn down the heat. We must begin to listen, to stop presuming, to try to understand, to treat each other with dignity, and to know that most Americans are not crazy radicals. We truly share common ground.

Our Common Ground

1241980f-c2c7-4067-9c81-0a8e4c7e9ddb-1

John Bolton

A White House Memoir

John Bolton served as National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump for 519 days. A seasoned public servant who had previously worked for Presidents Reagan, Bush #41, and Bush #43, Bolton brought to the administration thirty years of experience in international issues and a reputation for tough, blunt talk. In his memoir, he offers a substantive and factual account of his time in the room where it happened.

The Room Where It Happened

337cc3c7-b706-4e79-9adb-c1b5fdfc595b-1

Stories Science Photos Tell

Describes how to make photographs that reveal information about the apparent movement of the stars, the nature of the earth's crust, the interaction of roadrunners and rattlesnakes, and other scientific phenomena.

Natural Wonders

649b151d-e852-49e8-9ebb-019d994d1b57-1

Bill Gates

Missouri

The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need

Bill Gates shares what he's learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions. Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about climate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can avoid the most dire effects of the climate crisis. Gates says, "We can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change." His interest in climate change is a natural outgrowth of the efforts by his foundation to reduce poverty and disease. Climate change, according to Gates, will have the biggest impact on the people who have done the least to cause it. As a technologist, he has seen firsthand how innovation can change the world. By investing in research, inventing new technologies, and by deploying them quickly at large scale, Gates believes climate change can be addressed in meaningful ways. According to Gates, "to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we have to get to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. This problem is urgent, and the debate is complex, but I believe we can come together to invent new carbon-zero technologies, deploy the ones we have, and ultimately avoid a climate catastrophe."

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Lawrence M. Krauss

Hiding in the Mirror

Bernard Goldberg

100 People Who Are Screwing up America

Thomas L. Friedman

Hot, Flat, and Crowded

Kyle Schwartz

I Wish for Change

John Malone

Unsolved Mysteries of Science

Thomas Clerc

Interior

Bob Woodward

Fear

Bob Woodward; Robert Costa

Peril

Bradley H. Patterson

The White House Staff

Gene Weingarten

One Day

Jeff Hobbs

Children of the State

Phyllis Perry and Peter Rillero, PhD

365 Science projects and activities

David H. Clark; Stephen P. H. Clark

Newton's Tyranny

Jimmy Carter; Paul De Angelis

The Nobel Book of Answers

Louise Spilsbury; Richard Spilsbury; DoubleO Publishing Services Staff (Translator)

¿Por Qué las Plantas Tienen Flores?

Amber Tamblyn

Era of Ignition

John Rhys-Davies

The Privileged Planet (DVD)

Rourke

Rourke's World Of Science Encyclopedia Volume 3

A. D. Jameson

I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing

Amber Tamblyn

Era of Ignition

Diane Hessan

Our Common Ground

John Bolton

The Room Where It Happened

Vicki Cobb

Natural Wonders

Bill Gates

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster