Staff Picks: Book Collection: Non-Fiction

Recommended by Amy Watts, Research & Instruction Department

Funny from start to finish, as well as thought-provoking, it'll make you wish you were sitting next to Alford at your next dinner party.

Recommended by R.E., Access Services

The subtitle is apropos - it's the very detailed life story of Osama bin Laden (and also an inadvertent history of al-Qaeda) that uses no western media sources. Bergen directly quotes people who personally knew bin Laden, whether professionally or intimately, and pulls excerpts from Middle Eastern newspapers, magazines, and al-Qaeda's own publications to show you how bin Laden went from being a trust funder to the trash human of the century. It's not a sympathetic character study by any stretch, but it's much more detailed and informed than anything I've read from the American or British press.

Recommended by Jasmine Rizer

If you are not an information science nerd, it's possible you might find this book a bit dry. If you are not a social justice nerd, you may find it a bit biased, although I think it's fair to say that Eubanks lets the reader know where she stands from the get-go, and she also provides 26 pages of notes on her sources and methods at the end of the book, in the interest of transparency. While acknowledging that intentions may be fine, and some good to individuals may result, Eubanks takes a skeptical look at the increasing automation of social services. Heartbreaking, well-researched, compelling, and disquieting stuff.

Recommended by Walter Biggins, UGA Press

WHY ART? creates its own genre, somewhere between comics, illustrated novel, and philosophy. It doesn't exactly answer the question but it'll lead you to think about what it is for you. Really funny, really sad, and truly mesmerizing and hopeful, somehow.

Recommended by Emily McGinn, Digital Humanities Coordinator

A meticulously researched book on the history of thoughts on race in the US.

Recommended by Laura D. Shedenhelm, Collection Development Department

The Nutcracker is the most popular ballet in the world, adopted and adapted by hundreds of communities across the United States and Canada every Christmas season. In this volume, Jennifer Fisher offers insights into the Nutcracker phenomenon, examining it as a dance scholar and critic, a former participant, an observer of popular culture and an interviewer of those who dance, present and watch the beloved ballet. 1892 through its emigration to North America in the mid-20th century to the many later productions. She notes that after it was choreographed by another Russian immigrant to the New World, George Balanchine, the ballet began to thrive and variegate: Hawaiians added hula, Canadians added hockey, Mark Morris set it in the swinging sixties, and Donald Byrd placed it in Harlem. The dance world underestimates The Nutcracker at its peril, Fisher suggests, because the ballet is one of its most powerfully resonant traditions. After starting life as a Russian ballet based on a German tale about a little girl's imagination, The Nutcracker has become a way for Americans to tell a story about their communal values and themselves.

Recommended by Jasmine Rizer, Cataloging Department

Three reasons you should read this book.

1. Whatever you're afraid this book is going to be, it's not. Rick Bragg explicitly states that he tries very hard not to write in stereotypes about the South. I might go so far as to say that this book would be an excellent curative if you have run into one too many such stereotypes and you want to read some eloquent writing about real people who happen to live in a distinctive cultural and geographical area.

2. I read this book during some intense personal-life stuff and it may be both a cliche and rather melodramatic to say it was a life raft for me, but it was. These essays about dogs and houses and food and family made me laugh and snivel and feel that everything would probably be okay. That is some powerful writing, right there.

3. If you need another point in this book's favor, I found it to be one of those books that threaten to make whatever you read next seem pretty shabby by comparison.

Recommended by Kaelin Broaddus, UGA Press

This is a poignant story of a woman wrestling with grief and recovery who adopts a dog, almost on a whim, and it changes her life profoundly for the better.

Recommended by Jimmy A. Brown, Cataloging Department

Glen Weldon takes a journey through the twists and turns of Superman's history in an attempt to understand the essence of the character and why he still matters today. In turn, our response to the core of the character reflects who we are.

Recommended by John Prechtel, Research & Instruction Department

The Swerve is about the recovery of Lucretius' classical poem, 'On the Nature of Things', by a fifteenth century scholar and papal cleric who scoured monastery libraries and other repositories around Europe for lost works of ancient Latin and Greek authors. In addition to offering engaging details about the social and political context in which that quest took place, the book shows how the recovered Epicurean poem foreshadowed a startlingly modern worldview.

Recommended by Jason Bennett, UGA Press

Robert Caro isn't short of recognition for his work, so I sort of hesitate to recommend this one. Still, to read this in the light of our current political era in which nothing seems to get done and to compare that with how much one person in government achieved not so long ago—agree or disagree with the results, Robert Moses "got things done"—is mind-boggling. But aside from all of the achievement that is detailed, this book is one of the most masterful works of biography and history that I have ever read. It is a pleasure to read, and it is gripping.

I always hesitate to put too much stock in the claims a biographer makes about the importance of their subject's contribution to history, but when you read about Robert Moses's mastery of the law and municipal and state bureaucracy, it becomes clear how one of the most powerful and consequential civil servants of the twentieth century ascended so high without a single vote ever being cast for him. He was a brutal visionary who seldom let anyone get in his way (with a few notable exceptions—see Jane Jacobs), and he knew how to use government to fulfill his vision. It is also worth noting that what Moses built in New York in terms of roads and highways—and the suburban communities enabled by them—became a model of development for the rest of the nation for at least 50 years. For better or worse, it's a legacy we're all still coming to terms with.

Recommended by J. A. Brown, Music Cataloging

This book is written in an accessible style with earthy examples, as one might expect from the owner of a motorcycle repair shop. As the writer is also a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, it is an insightful critique of contemporary ontology and epistemology. Beginning with criticism of Rousseau and those who followed him, Crawford rejects the idea that we only experience reality uncertainly through mental models. He also takes a careful look at experience through digital mediation. Using current understanding of neurology, philosophy, and sensory perception, he argues that we can and must exist in and experience the world directly, rather than through mental and virtual representations.

Recommended by J. A. Brown, Music Cataloging

The Chronicles of Narnia, while widely beloved, are often criticized for being loosely structured, to the point of seeming like a grab-bag of ideas at times. Why are unrelated episodes prominently inserted in the story? Why does Aslan seem to have a different personality in each book? Ward proposes that each volume is influenced by the character of one of the 7 celestial bodies of medieval cosmology (the sun, the moon, and Mercury through Saturn minus Earth), as system with which C.S. Lewis had a lifelong fascination. Using private writings and examples from Lewis's other published works (including of course his trilogy of space romances), Ward makes a convincing case for better understanding these sometimes puzzling books.

Recommended by J. A. Brown, Music Cataloging

Lincoln lived before a melancholic temperament became pathologized as depression. This book begins before his first episode of what we would call "acute depression," discusses the reactions of those around him to his melancholy, chronicles his struggle with "chronic depression," and details how that struggle prepared him for the challenges of leading the country through the Civil War.

Not only does it help one understand a little-discussed aspect of one of America's greatest figures, it can help those who struggle with melancholy understand their experience in a world that insists on happiness. Maybe there is value in meeting life's challenges while being who we are.

Recommended by Elizabeth Durusau, Music Library

A frank and honest look at the damage caused by the war on drugs and the steps that have been taken to handle it. Also, gives new ideas about how to treat addicts.

Recommended by J. Prechtel, Research & Instruction

Why did the assassination of John F. Kennedy occur precisely in Dallas? This compulsive read answers that question. Instead of focusing on analysis of the assassination itself, it recreates through a month by month account of the preceding three years the churning social atmosphere and evolving political influence of a city in which the strange alchemy of people and history engendered the unfortunate event. Seen through this lens, even the outlines of the official account of the assassination generally adhered to in this book take on the freshness and menace of a newly told story.

Recommended by Kaelin Broaddus, UGA Press

Curious as to how funeral customs came to be? Curious as to how they are morphing? This is the book for you. Historical context is contrasted with personal stories of folks who work in the realm of death: obituary writers, online sellers of urns, memorial tattoo artists. Well written and engaging.

Recommended by Michael Law, InterLibrary Loan

It's a little dated now, maybe, but this is a very unique look at the increasing dominance of consumer culture and its effects on society (i.e. toward individual goals, and away from communal goals)

Recommended by Michael Law, InterLibrary Loan

This work highlights the changes in American society between the very communally oriented 1940s and 50s, and the far more individualized life of the 1990s and 2000s. It makes you want to join a bowling league.

Recommended by Michael Law, InterLibrary Loan

This is an excellent overview of the American/Mexican cultural exchange in the counterculture era of the 1960s and 70s. The title is not the only entertaining part; it's very illuminating and entertaining.

Recommended by Ben Lawrence, Circulation and Reserves Department

Do you want to better understand the nature of reality? Are you bad at math? If so, you should read this incredible work of non-fiction. After studying with several quantum-physicists and mathematicians, Gary Zukav wrote "Masters" to introduce the wonders of quantum mechanics without the complex mathematics that make it possible. Using simple examples and intriguing thought-experiments, this book takes the reader to the psychedelic foundations of everything from the biggest galaxies to the smallest particles.

Guaranteed to make you say, "Whoa, dude...," this book will BLOW YOUR MIND.

Recommended by MacKenzie Smith, Cataloging Department

I honestly believe every woman should read this book. It's all about learning to trust your intuition and identifying warning signals that are always present before an act of violence occurs. This book is not meant to scare you but instead help you hone your instincts and learn to trust your gut.

Recommended by Walter Biggins, UGA Press

I love books that are conversations, and this is a marvelous conversation between a noted iconoclast psychiatrist and writer (Hillman) and the best nonfiction writer you've never heard of (Ventura). It started its life as an interview Ventura conducted with Hillman about how Hillman thinks modern therapy & counseling are hurting us because they're narcotizing us to a world that is actively dangerous. But then Hillman started talking back, interviewing the interviewer, and that's when the talk takes off. They range widely over every aspect of American life under the sun, in face-to-face conversations and letters and phone calls and more face-to-faces, trying to make sense of the world. If that sounds like dorm-room navel-gazing, that's just because you haven't read it. Funny, invigorating, challenging, and maybe even dangerous, this is the book I turn to when I feel like I'm going crazy and wondering if it's just me. I feel less alone after reading it. You will, too.

Recommended by Skip Hulett, Hargrett Library

Contested Will is an enjoyably written critical history of the “Who wrote Shakespeare?” mania by Shapiro, a widely acclaimed scholar and professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

Shapiro devotes sections to histories of the dominant “Baconian” and “Oxfordian” schools of doubt, and covers some well-known doubters you might not be aware of — Mark Twain, Helen Keller, Henry James, and Sigmund Freud all suspected Shakespeare was not the author of the plays and sonnets. Shapiro also examines gains that “anti-Stratfordian” skepticism has accomplished in the past quarter-century, and how that could have happened “without the discovery of a single new document” to either support such claims or undermine that of William Shakespeare.

Finally, Shapiro argues on behalf of Will Shakespeare of Stratford. He contends that printing and publishing records, stylistic evidence in the plays, and known historical facts about how the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre worked — all support the authorship of Shakespeare; as well as the fact that no contemporaries who knew the man ever breathed a word of doubt or hint of rumor, in any extant public or private accounts, that he was anything other than the author of the plays.

Pick up Contested Will and debate with Shapiro and yourself which is better: A Shakespeare we can imagine or the one who so wonderfully imagined us.

Recommended by MacKenzie Smith, Cataloging Department

If you are even a tiny bit interested in Scientology (and let's be real--aren't we all a little curious?), this book is worth reading! It is exhaustively researched and very readable. It gives a complete background of L. Ron Hubbard's early life leading into his founding of Scientology. This book also includes some dirt on celebrities (looking at you, Tom Cruise and John Travolta!) as well as other notable Scientology scandals like Operation Snow White and the death of Lisa McPherson. This book is a great example of how sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction!

Recommended by Amy Watts, Research & Instruction Department

What if picky eating isn't something you grew out of? What makes picky eaters picky? Lucianovic, a writer, former cheesemonger, and culinary institute graduate, meets with psychologists, scientists, and picky eater themselves to understand the whys and hows of adult picky eating.

P.S. I don't just recommend this because I'm in it. It's really good!

Recommended by Walter Biggins, UGA Press

Given the world we live in, and given that we all are perpetual screwups within it, how do we keep going? And why? These are the central questions of life, and Studs Terkel talks to over 60 activists, politicians, and world changers about the potential answers. Hope means different things to different people, and the quasi-oral history doesn't offer a definitive answer. (If the Bible can't even do it, why would we expect it of Terkel's tome?) But the wrestling with the questions is the main thing, and that wrestling is lucid, tear-jerking, insightful, and deeply, deeply moving.

Recommended by Walter Biggins, UGA Press

A mind-blowing tornado of feminism & modern life that will piss off everyone, including you. Read it, argue with it, argue about it, read it again.

Recommended by S. Riggs, Research & Instruction Department

This is the memoir of a successful writer who won two Lambda literary awards and was made an officer of Order of the British Empire (OBE). It is also the memoir of a young girl who was adopted into a very abusive, conservative home, and who had to leave when she came out as a lesbian at 16. Jeanette Winterson brings humor to her memories of a dangerous and painful situation, and I found myself unexpectedly laughing quite a bit.There are many threads to follow. There's her search for her birth mother. There's the story of her first novel. There are regrets about her political choices. There are stories about how she came to love books, and how she got into college. There are stories about her girlfriends. There are stories about dealing with panic attacks. It's an amazing journey if you are comfortable following.

Recommended by Amy Watts, Research & Instruction Department

I loved, loved, loved this book.

If the timeline of your life is pegged to songs and albums rather than dates and years, this book will ring so true for you. It also doesn't hurt that the author appreciates loud Southern women.

Recommended by Walter Biggins, UGA Press

Rebecca Solnit is unclassifiable. This book starts as she deals with her mother's decline from Alzheimer's, a terrible breakup, and a cancer scare. Three big things all at once. Dealing with any one of them would be enough ambition for a book, right? No, no--Solnit's just getting warmed up. Folktales, legends, Buddhist philosophy, conceptual art, a trip to Iceland, and apricot brandy all enter the mix, in a way that's puzzling because it seems so heady and yet so right and all of a piece. What did Solnit learn from all this? What will you? Only one way to know--dig into Solnit's gorgeous, passionate, fiercely intelligent prose. Trust her, even when she's baffling. You're in good hands--really, the best hands of any nonfiction writer now working.

Recommended by Rachel Cabaniss, Cataloging Department

This is one of the best memoirs I have ever read (and I've read a lot of memoirs!). iO is an extremely gifted writer. The vivid descriptions of life on the fringes in NYC during the 1980s and 1990s were what initially hooked me on the first page. But this story is so much more than that--it is a powerful tale of a fierce yet loving mother/daughter relationship, of gender identity, of friendship and loss, and of finding oneself and creating a fulfilling, authentic life from chaotic beginnings.

Recommended by Kelly Holt, Cataloging Department

This book describes the strange and fabulous life of NYC Club Kids. As strange as some of the things in this book sound -- they were real.

I actually hung around clubs in NYC during this time. I remember being at a party with James St. James (the author). Going to a club when Michael Alig was throwing the party was quite an experience. Something I will never forget.

Recommended by Elizabeth White, MLC

Hysterical and painfully accurate comics about childhood, depression, pet ownership, and adult responsibilities. Highest recommendation.

Recommended by John Cropp, Circulation Desk

Make no mistake: Patton Oswalt was an addict of film. His descent into a life of double-features and buttered popcorn is documented here in gory detail. Seriously. Every film that he saw while in the throes of his habit is listed in the back of the book along with where and when he saw it.

As we journey with Patton through the first, second, and last run cinemas of Los Angeles in the 1990's, he names some names while recalling some pretty interesting stories of his early days in Hollywood. There isn't much in the way of celebrity dirt per se, but there are many laugh-out-loud moments that generally come at the expense of the author.

If you're a fan of Oswalt, a fan of film, or if you have ever experienced a bout of obsession, you will probably enjoy this book.

Recommended by Walter Biggins, UGA Press

Babitz saunters through 1970s Los Angeles like she owns it--the casual glamour, the sun-drenched beautiful bodies, the elaborate cocktails, the even-more-elaborate romantic entanglements. She's sharp enough to cut diamonds but soft enough to feel her luscious touch in every sentence. It's unclear how much of this memoir-of-sorts is true and how much is self-mythologizing, which I think Babitz intends. It all feels true and, in Babitz's case, that's what counts.

Recommended by J. R., Cataloging Department

Whoa. There is some rough stuff in here but it is amazing. I especially feel like she is really insightful and matter-of-fact about her mother's drinking, her mother's craziness, and her own inability to tell which one caused the other.

Recommended by Kaelin Broaddus, UGA Press

Prepare to laugh out loud.

Recommended by Amy Watts, Research & Instruction Department

I'm fascinated by female friendships and what makes them tick. This collection of stories about friendships that ended was engrossing and illuminating.

Recommended by Kaelin Broaddus, UGA Press

I could not put this book down once I started it. The story is riveting.