The Great American Outpost is a scattershot memoir of the North Dakota fracking oil boom and its impact on local residents. In 2011, the first horizontal fracking oil well was drilled in North Dakota. What followed totally changed the laid back farming vibe of the state. Out-of-state workers flooded theContinue Reading
Eclectic mix of essays in Beyond the Map is sure to have something for everyone. How unique islands are formed and claimed is described in Part I. Part II is about how some small nations and communities were developed. Part III describes utopias of religion, lifestyle, or technology. Part IVContinue Reading
A history of disasters and a prediction of The Big Ones fill Dr. Jones’ book. Containing a wealth of information about the science underlying disasters, The Big Ones is written in an informal and non-technical manner. From Pompeii and Iceland’s volcanos, to California’s 1861 floods, to earthquakes in 1775 Lisbon,Continue Reading
Fourteen years, deaths, illnesses, corruption and kickbacks! Who knew a history of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge could be so interesting? It takes a family (and a lot of immigrants) to build the Brooklyn Bridge in The Bridge: How the Roeblings Connected Brooklyn to New York. The story beginsContinue Reading
Focusing on composition and coloring, Make Manga! is a great next step for pencil artists. While sketching is almost a sixth of the book, it seems too brief for most beginning manga artists. The inking and especially coloring sections are extremely well done. Most pages explain both what to doContinue Reading
Meticulously researched biography about the world’s most famous conjoined twins. Chang and Eng were joined by a small tube of skin and shared a liver. Today they would have been separated soon after birth. In the early 1800s, they were purchased from their Chinese/Siamese mother for $500. They were shippedContinue Reading
80% of the world’s population has had back pain. 25% have had to dial back their life to deal with it. 14% have had back pain that lasted longer than two weeks. Back surgery rarely works completely. Pain drugs often lead to life-altering addictions. So what is the answer toContinue Reading
Meditation produces calm, focus and mindfulness in just 5-10 minutes per day. Unfortunately, only about a third of the book teaches how to meditate. The rest is autobiography and an explanation of why the reader should meditate even though everyone will think you’re weird. All the guided meditations in theContinue Reading
Drawing chibis (big heads and small bodies) that are seen in manga is easy and cheap if you use Chibi!: Official Mark Crilley How-to-Draw Guide. All that is needed is some nice bristol paper, a regular pencil, a pencil sharpener, several pens with a variety of tip sizes, a 15” clearContinue Reading
If you never took or only vaguely remember a college English 100 class, Sleuth: Gail Bowen on Writing Mysteries is a perfect read for aspiring or new writers. It is also extremely useful for book reviewers like myself. Within Sleuth: Gail Bowen on Writing Mysteries, Ms. Bowen extensively covers allContinue Reading
Everything (plus more) that anyone wants or needs to know about burgers. Burger is part of a Bloomsbury Academic series of object lessons. Each brief book takes a noun and writes an interesting essay about it. Each is written by a different author. I really enjoyed Souvenir, which I gaveContinue Reading
Good survey of black comic artists by the creators of Kindred. Black Comix Returns contains a short biography and representative art from over 70 comic artists of color. Both established and emerging talents are showcased. Most of the artists have the plot of one of their comics or graphic novelsContinue Reading
There are not enough synonyms for fantastic to adequately describe this book. I’ll just stick with awesome and awe-inspiring! Written in layman’s terms, the Future of Humanity goes from mankind’s move to Mars to its eventual move to a new universe. It discusses what famous science fiction books, television showsContinue Reading
Millennial new age look at how to clear the clutter from your life. There are some practical clutter removal tips scattered throughout Clutter Intervention: remove the easy stuff first, declutter fast to keep your energy high, and make a prioritized to do list of next steps. However, the majority ofContinue Reading
Good outline of the steps to start a new business. Start a Successful Business was written by the reporters of Inc. magazine and published by the American Management Association. It clearly states the steps needed to start a new business. Beginning with the big idea moving through business strategy andContinue Reading
Everyone has at least one souvenir sitting on a shelf or hanging on a wall. Why do we buy them? What do they represent? How did the practice start? All these questions and more are answered in this cute little information-packed book. There are three types of souvenirs discussed inContinue Reading