“Aaaaaachooooo!” Sneezy the Snowman is catching a cold, and he needs to figure out appropriate ways to keep warm in the midst of winter weather. Since he is made of snow, he learns that he melts when around warm things like hot cocoa, a warm bath, or a fire. However, plenty of clothes can keep him from winter’s worst effects like sickness. This book, appropriate for kids in preschool up to early elementary school, teaches…
Many historians consider America’s Mexican War of the 1840s to be an unjust war, one primarily waged to grab land for the extension of slavery and thus of human greed. Because of this motive and rampant nativism in the US Army, many immigrant soldiers deserted the American army to join the Mexican forces. This story tells of these soldiers’ formation of the Saint Patrick’s Battalion (many immigrants were Irish) and of their historical leader John…
Hiding secrets (i.e., cryptography or the science of encryption) has become an increasingly important topic in the modern Information Age. It’s not just the stuff of the military and diplomacy. We cannot communicate secrets like credit card numbers over the Internet without it. In this book, dated around the turn of the millennium, Singh shares the history of encrypting messages. He begins to forecast its impact in the twenty-first century while noting exciting trends in…
Most English-language readers associate detective stories with the Sherlock Holmes series. However, these books, as famous and well-composed as they are, do not mark the first detective stories in world literature. Instead, that achievement falls to the great American literary giant Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote three short stories in the 1840s and published them in both America and France for literary prizes. Each readable in a short sitting, they continue to enchant readers with…
I wanted to read this book because I frequently saw it cited in contemporary business and management books. It talks at length about how to foster creative collaboration through the use of technology. It presaged a vision of a workplace with abundant computerized interactions. More impressively, it did so without foreseeing most of the impact of the Internet. Of course, the technologies described in this book are dated. Indeed, most of them are now in…
In the 1990s, scientists made significant advances to limit the impact of HIV upon human lives… in the West. However, HIV continued to flourish in sub-Saharan Africa, and it remained for the new millennium to limit its reach there. Bass’s book tells the story of the American effort in this quest that spanned multiple presidencies across both political parties. She concludes with its impact on the COVID pandemic. The effort to defeat HIV/AIDS is so…
Many small businesses, non-profits, individual researchers, and larger institutions depend on grants to fund their activities and livelihoods. Whether from private foundations or governmental entities, these funds are given through a competitive process. Through market forces, this process seeks to align funders’ desires with projects that achieve results. This book seeks to demystify this process and provide readers with a “leg up” to write better grant proposals. Karsh and Fox’s work is primarily geared towards…
It’s hard to describe this memoir. The hardships survived by Klimt are clearly difficult, and I couldn’t help but appreciate the depths of struggle she has endured thus far in her life. I finished this book in about five hours across two days – a testament to the intrigue built by the author’s story. She’s had everything thrown at her – from chronic pain to cancer to repetitive bad romantic relationships to difficult parental situations…
The genre of historical fiction is as well-known for romances as it is for stories set in World War II. This book takes those simple premises but upends them by adding so much more to produce a beautiful product of art. Its setting – Shanghai, China, during the war – is unusual as are its main protagonists, a Chinese businesswoman and a Jewish refugee. Apparently, Shanghai, long-known for its prowess as an international business culture,…
Wine as a topic can intimidate and make even sophisticated people feel like novices. I, for one, fully admit that I more frequently make jokes involving wine than actually imbibe a glass. Nonetheless, I appreciate the significance of the ancient drink. Mirassou, whose family helped bring European wine to California six generations ago, writes about his experiences making wine in the state’s Livermore Valley. This place is more famous for its tech industry (Sandia and…