“The Soul of an Octopus” surprised me. If I’m honest, I’m not even entirely sure of what brought me to pick this book up in the first place, but in the end, I’m glad I did. “The Soul of an Octopus” follows author Sy Montgomery’s interactions with octopuses both in captivity and in the wild. … Continue reading
Category Archives: Nonfiction Book Club
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
The non-fiction book discussion participants were very interested in reading this. The group was given two and a half months to do so, but only two actually finished it. So first, let’s get the negativity out of the way. Here are those comments: “WAY, WAY, WAY too long.” OK, that is true. “WAY, WAY, WAY … Continue reading
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough
This quarter’s non-fiction book club selection, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, is a whopping 558 page travelogue/history of Paris between the 1830s through the early 1900s. In these pages, McCullough tells the tale of the Americans that were brave enough, fortunate enough, or foolish enough to make the difficult trek from America to France. … Continue reading
The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
Who would ever imagine that a book about the Periodic Table of the Elements could be so enjoyed by anyone other than chemists or physicists? Well, Sam Kean did and the outcome was the VERY interesting Disappearing Spoon. And the attendees of the Non-Fiction Book Discussion could not agree more. First, any ideas where the … Continue reading
Death in the Haymarket by James Green
As is written in the subtitle, Death in the Haymarket is a true story of “Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America”. On May 4, 1886, a bomb was thrown into a group of policemen who had been called to a labor rally that was supposedly becoming riotous. Seven … Continue reading
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
This title was discussed at the Bartlett Library’s non-fiction book discussion on February 22, 2016. Stiff is, simply put, a book about dead bodies and how we, in this country, treat and feel about them. Reading about such taboo subjects as decomposition and dissection made for a lively discussion! Highlights included: Whether or not you would … Continue reading
