600,000 people get released from jails and prisons each year. What happens to these people? While 68% return to incarceration within three years, what obstacles did the remaining 32% successfully hurdle to achieve real freedom? Free uses the stories of six former prisoners to show the challenges that reentry toContinue Reading
So, you decided to begin a garden. But you live in a place with no yard or even a balcony? Plus, money is tight right now? No problem with Apartment Kitchen Gardening by your side. This book feels like your best friend is speaking directly to you about how toContinue Reading
Plant Power states that it is not a diet book. It is a lifestyle change book. However, it does include the typical diet books’ four-week eating plan, recipes and food limits. But no photographs or nutritional information is included. Eating more plants and less meat is a laudable goal bothContinue Reading
Is Pinball gambling? New York City thought so from 1942-1976. But in 1976, it was once again legalized and came back with a vengeance both there and across the US. If you remember playing Pinball fondly, this graphic biography is a compelling read. From the game’s history to each innovationContinue Reading
The author of Life’s Messy Live Happy uses her own life experiences to show how reframing our self-talk will make us healthier and happier. The book reads more like a memoir with some common pop psychology thrown in than a true step-by-step self-help guide. The author has gone through someContinue Reading
Now, in addition to rampant inflation, a never-ending pandemic, and an imminent world war, climate change is unleashing its fury on the world. Can anything be done to stop it? If so, will the world’s governments cooperate long enough to affect change? Two possible answers fill Pandora’s Toolbox: carbon dioxideContinue Reading
I love Vivian Leigh, the actress. But now, after reading Truly, Madly, I admire her courage in going all out for her dreams despite serious mental health issues. Vivian and Laurence Olivier had a real love story—not just a Hollywood romance. And, unfortunately, not all real-life stories have a happyContinue Reading
The Journey of Humanity takes on the huge task of explaining how humanity got to this point, which the author calls the Mystery of Growth. The second half explains why this growth has not been universal across nations, which the author calls the Mystery of Inequality. From the Malthusian (hunter-gatherer)Continue Reading
Just because you have diabetes doesn’t mean you are stuck with salads for every meal. The venerable Betty Crocker brand has created 162 easy, delicious and diabetes-friendly recipes to add variety to your diet every day in the Betty Crocker Simply Delicious Diabetes Cookbook. While salads are included in theContinue Reading
If you live in a desert area, Southwest Fruit & Vegetable Gardening will be your gardening bible. Everything you need is here but tailored for a desert climate. While the book says it only covers Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, it also applies here in the California desert too. ThereContinue Reading
Four indoor gardening techniques are explained within How to Garden Indoors & Grow Your Own Food Year Round: container, hydroponic, vertical, and sprouts/microgreens. I like that budget is discussed in this book. Most garden books assume their readers have unlimited funds. If you are willing to do a DIY projectContinue Reading
You may think that gardening is a spring and summer activity. Four-season Food Gardening is out to prove you wrong. From planning your garden to specific tasks for each season, the book includes all you need to know to keep your fruit, vegetable and herb gardens going all year long.Continue Reading
If you think your apartment is too small for an edible garden, think again. Tiny Space Gardening is achievable for all! The book covers all the usual beginning gardening topics such as watering, soil and light but focuses on container gardening. The scale of your garden is only limited byContinue Reading
If you watch Britbox in the United States or BBC2 in the United Kingdom, you might have seen the authors on season 3 of This Farming Life. But they are already established in that show. Here in Our Wild Farming Life, you can read their backstory that also includes whatContinue Reading
When investigating a wife’s murder, police investigators always look at the husband first. Bone Deep tells the true story of what happens when that assumption is incorrect—but the husband is convicted of murder anyway. Yes, the Russ Faria case of injustice really happened. And yes, it is the subject ofContinue Reading
If you’re feeling crafty (in a good way), The Art of Papercraft will give you some relatively inexpensive paper crafting ideas. From an Origami Candy Dish to wall hangings, this book has forty different projects using various techniques. It even teaches how to make the paper itself. The instructions areContinue Reading