Book Newsletters & Bestseller Lists: Read books in your email: DPL New Non-Fiction Easy Ways to Lower Your Taxes: Simple Strategies Every Taxpayer Should Know by Stephen Fishman Published 2008 by NOLO Paperback, English. ISBN: 9781413309133 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Veteran "USA Today" financial columnist Block and Nolo tax writer Fishman explain, in plain-English, how to boost tax-free income, get a lower tax rate, defer paying taxes, and more. Racing Odysseus: A College President Becomes a Freshman Again by Roger H. Martin Published 2008 by University of California Press Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780520255418 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: "I think this is a very good book indeed: extremely readable with a very human story to tell (about the author's journey to rediscover himself and education after facing imminent death) and a message to send (about the role of the liberal arts in our lives as well as our education). Martin employs compelling references to and quotations from the classical texts he read in the St. John's freshman seminar: this is not heavy-handed 'you should read Aeschylus if you want to call yourself educated' stuff, but rather the humble confession of a humanist who knows one is never too old, educated, or experienced to learn something new or again. And that is a message that will always be valuable."--Loren J. Samons II, author of "What's Wrong with Democracy: From Athenian Practice to American Worship" "Roger Martin has created a riveting narrative of his confrontation with mortality, and, in that encounter, a testimonial to the enduring value of liberal education."--Douglas W. Foard, Executive Secretary (ret.) of Phi Beta Kappa We Bought a Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Young Family, a Broken Down Zoo, and the 200 Wild Animals That Changed Their Lives Forever by Benjamin Mee Published 2008 by Weinstein Books Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781602860483 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: In the tradition of "Marley & Me" comes an unforgettable memoir about the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of hope over tragedy in this chronicle of the Mee family's purchase of the Dartmoor Wildlife Park, a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside.Weinstein Books REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 07/14/2008 Between his wife Katherine's diagnosis of glioblastoma and her quiet death less than three years later, Mee (The Call of DIY), his siblings and his mother bought a bedraggled zoo, complete with decaying buildings, a ragtag group of animals, an eclectic staff and a reputation that had been quickly going to the wolves. In this occasionally charming (to his children: "Quiet. Daddy's trying to buy a zoo") but overly wordy book, Mee writes about caring for his dying wife and their two young children, dealing with Code Red emergencies (when a dangerous animal escapes its confines), hiring staff, learning about his new two- and four-footed charges and setting his sights on refurbishing his zoo into a sanctuary for breeding and raising endangered animals. Mee tends to meander with too-long explanations for one-sentence points, and the awe he feels about each individual animal is repetitive. Coupled with Britishisms that are never explained and a curious lack of varied wild animal stories, this book that was obviously meant to make animal lovers roar with pleasure will only make them whine with frustration. (Sept.) Dolphin Mysteries: Unlocking the Secrets of Communication by Kathleen M. Dudzinski Published 2008 by Yale University Press Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780300121124 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Unveiling an intimate and scientifically accurate portrait of dolphins, this book is sure to appeal to everyone who has wanted a closer glimpse into the hearts and minds of these amazing creatures. Reality Gap: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex: What Parents Don't Know and Teens Aren't Telling by Stephen Wallace Published 2008 by Union Square Press Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781402753046 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Growing up isn't what it used to be--it's more difficult and more dangerous. Even in "safe" places like school, teens face complicated decisions about personal behavior, involving everything from drinking, to drugs, to sex. Unfortunately, many adults don't fully grasp the true scope of the perilous world our teens inhabit. Stephen Wallace points out the "reality gap" separating parents and adults from young people at the time they need them most--adolescence--and offers concrete solutions to bridge this gulf. Grounded in hard facts with practical, common-sense advice, "Reality Gap" combines Wallace's 25-plus years of experience working with young people as a school psychologist, adolescent counselor, camp director, and college professor with groundbreaking research on adolescent attitudes and behaviors from SADD. Wallace includes concrete suggestions for improving teen-adult communication as well as age-specific "decision-points" at which parents should address various issues with their teen and pre-teen children. With Wallace's strong media contacts, professional affiliations, and extensive speaking platform "Reality Gap" promises to be the go-to book on a vital topic. Wallace highlights the myths and rationalizations of teens and adults that help fuel the reality gap: - The myth of improbability: "It's not going to happen to my kid." - The myth of inevitability: "She's a teenager, of course, she's going to drink." - The myth of irrelevancy: "I'm the parent, he's not going to listen to me." - The myth of invincibility: "I'm young, I'm healthy, I'm not going to get hurt." - The myth of immunity: "Even if I get caught, I'll get out of it." REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 07/21/2008 Former head of SADD (renamed Students Against Destructive Decisions), now a professional speaker, Wallace regularly visits schools to spread the alarm about risky behavior by teenagers-drinking and drug abuse, sex, bullying, and indulging in violence and self-destruction-and how to generate more effective communication between them and their parents. In this vigorous wakeup call for adults, he culls results from rather fuzzy, nonscientific SADD polls taken by the research project Teens Today that show how far apart teenagers and parents really are on these issues-the reality gap of the title. Moving from the statistics-heavy "Epidemic" chapter, which chronicles a staggering litany of perils like STDs and suicide, Wallace examines the turbulent changes wrought by adolescence in terms of physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. He devotes the latter part of his work to proactive strategies for dispelling myths that keep parents in "blissful ignorance"-about the availability of drugs and alcohol, for one thing. Though the presentation can be scattershot and repetitive, Wallace's hands-on research and in-depth interviews are tremendously useful, as are his discussions of the role of the media and the mixed signals gleaned from parents. (Sept.) Cheater BBQ by Mindy Merrell Published 2008 by Broadway Books Paperback, English. ISBN: 9780767927680 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Bring the outdoor grilling pit into the weeknight kitchen using little more than a slow cooker or an oven, a roll of foil, a few everyday ingredients, and some all-natural liquid smoke. Anyone can make great cheater barbecue with this book's 125 recipes. Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip--Confessions of a Cynical Waiter by Waiter Published 2008 by Ecco Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780061256684 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Based on the award-winning blog, "Waiter Rant" tells the story from the server's point of view, replete with tales of customer stupidity, arrogance, and misbehavior. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 04/28/2008 The anonymous restaurant professional behind the Bloggie Award-winning WaiterRant.net expands on his postings in his first book. The result is an enjoyable if utterly unromantic personal exposé on the inner workings of the New York City-area restaurants that have employed him since 1999. To his first job, the Waiter brought abandoned dreams and ambitions for a religious vocation, an eventual psychology degree and employment experiences in a drug-rehabilitation center. That history proved useful in professional service, particularly a restaurant that, with its corrupt manager and dictatorial boss and despite its upmarket setting, clientele and business volume, was an example of the very worst in the industry. The narrative hangs on the author's professional development from restaurant newbie to jaded industry-spokesperson; he makes ample room for extended riffs on manners, money, morals and even meals. He catalogues the grime-and-gross-out factors (some obscene), so comparisons to Kitchen Confidential are inevitable. (Aug.) The Complete Guide to Working for Yourself: Everything the Self-Employed Need to Know about Taxes, Recordkeeping, and Other Laws with CDROM by Beth Williams Published 2008 by Atlantic Publishing Company (FL) Paperback, English. ISBN: 9781601380487 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Entering the small business field as an independent contractor, freelancer, sole proprietor, or consultant is not a single decision but a series of steps, each one bringing you closer to the day your enterprise is up and running. This new book includes the most current tax rates and changes in IRS regulations. You will learn all about business operations: selecting a business structure, licensing and permits, employer identification number, business taxes, recordkeeping, self-employment taxes, paying estimated taxes, dealing with independent contractors and 1099-miscellaneous forms, insurance, rights and intellectual property law, accounting, business plan, choosing a name, financing, and much more. New entrepreneurs will appreciate the ready-to-use forms, Web sites, cost cutting ideas, and mathematical formulas to apply to their operations. The companion CD-ROM contains all the forms in the book as well as an editable sample business plan. Chagall: A Biography by Jackie Wullschlager Published 2008 by Alfred A. Knopf Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780375414558 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: A pioneer of modernism and one of the great figurative artists of the 20th century, Marc Chagall is also beloved for the distinctively joyous and imaginative quality of his paintings. Wullschlager brilliantly describes both the art itself and the life of the artist as he was creating it. A Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York by Liz Robbins Published 2008 by Harper Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780061373138 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: In a mile-by-mile account of the most popular marathon in the world, "New York Times" sportswriter Robbins captures the enormity of the New York City event by interweaving the stories of a handful of participants both professional and amateur. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 09/01/2008 New York Times sportswriter Robbins captures the world's "ultimate marathon," the New York City race. Set during the 2007 marathon, the narrative follows several runners: male and female professional runners with more at stake than prize money (a recovering alcoholic trying to mend her family; a cancer survivor running his first marathon; a 67-year-old grandmother on her 12th New York marathon) as they make their way through the city's five boroughs. Robbins's journalist's eye is thorough as she intersperses stories of wheelchair athletes, volunteers, spectators and even the city workers who paint the course markers. Those who've read Fred Lebow's Inside the World of Big-Time Marathoning or Ron Rubin's book on the New York City marathon, Anything for a T-shirt, will appreciate the varied voices here. Using each mile to structure the 26.2 chapters, Robbins allows readers to experience the event without ever putting on a pair of running shoes. (Oct. 7) Titanic: The Last Great Images by Robert Ballard Published 2008 by Running Press Book Publishers Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780762435043 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Seventy years after the great ocean liner sank, marine geologist Ballard discovered the wreck of the "Titanic" 12,500 feet beneath the surface of the icy North Atlantic. He presents the story of the famous ship through these last great images. Don't Mind If I Do Don't Mind If I Do by George Hamilton Published 2008 by Touchstone Books Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9781416545026 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: An intimate look at behind-the-scenes Hollywood, "Don't Mind If I Do" shares 50 years of wild tales from a quintessential insider, and follows Hamilton's journey from the glamorous big-studio era to "Dancing With the Stars" and beyond. 16-pages of b&w photos. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 09/01/2008 Hamilton's acting image-a "rich, preppy, Eastern WASP" with a year-round suntan-is a far cry from his "just folks" childhood in the Arkansas town where he was born in 1939. Hamilton gives credit for this transformation, in this gossipy tell-all, to his charismatic divorced mother, Teeny, and inventive half-brother Bill, who taught him how to create the illusion of glamour on a budget. Hamilton also attended military and boarding schools, where a flair for comedy helped him adjust to his new surroundings. Once in Hollywood in 1959 and with a contract to star in Vincente Minnelli's Home from the Hill, Harrison acclimated to a life of jet-setting, detailing his risqué dating exploits and romances with Lynda Bird Johnson and Elizabeth Taylor. Hamilton is a witty raconteur and has a gift for capturing the flair of his mother, while exhibiting a genuine sense of humor about himself. (Oct.) The Forever War by Dexter Filkins Published 2008 by Knopf Publishing Group Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780307266392 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: A prizewinning "New York Times" correspondent chronicles a remarkable chain of events that begins with the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, continues with the attacks of 9/11, and moves on to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 06/30/2008 Filkins, a New York Times prize-winning reporter, is widely regarded as among the finest war correspondents of this generation. His richly textured book is based on his work in Afghanistan and Iraq since 1998. It begins with a Taliban-staged execution in Kabul. It ends with Filkins musing on the names in a WWI British cemetery in Baghdad. In between, the work is a vivid kaleidoscope of vig-nettes. Individually, the strength of each story is its immediacy; together they portray a theater of the absurd, in which Filkins, an extraordinarily brave man, moves as both participant and observer. Filkins does not editorialize-a welcome change from the punditry that shapes most writing from these war zones. This book also differs essentially from traditional war correspondence because of its universal empathy, feelings enhanced by Filkins's spare prose. Saudi women in Kabul airport, clad in burqas and stylish shoes, bemoan their husbands' devotion to jihad. An Iraqi casually says to his friend, "Let's go kill some Americans." A marine is shot dead escorting Filkins on a photo opportunity. Iraqi soldiers are disconcerted when he appears in running shorts ("They looked at [my legs] in horror, as if I were naked"). Carl von Clausewitz said "war is a chameleon." In vividly illustrating the varied ways people in Afghanistan and iraq have been affected by ongoing war, Filkins demonstrates that truth in prose. 5 photos. (Sept. 17) Harry S. Truman by Robert Dallek Published 2008 by Times Books Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780805069389 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: Dallek, the bestselling biographer of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, shows how the unassuming yet supremely confident Harry Truman rose to become one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 06/30/2008 Noted presidential biographer Dallek (An Unfinished Life) turns his skilled pen to the man from Independence. In brisk prose and with the confidence of his vast knowledge of the era, Dallek interprets the life of the simple man who, having unexpectedly and with little experience assumed the presidency when FDR died, surprised everyone by so skillfully shouldering huge burdens. In his day, that meant ending the war with Japan (by authorizing the bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki), ordering American troops to repel the invasion of Korea, firing Douglas MacArthur and facing down the Soviets. It also meant protecting the New Deal from erosion, dealing with striking labor and taking unprecedented steps to desegregate the government and armed forces. Just listing these achievements makes clear why Dallek, like other historians, places Truman high on the list of American presidents. Like so many other biographies in the splendid American Presidents series, Dallek's little book is now the best starting point for knowledge of Truman's life and for an astute assessment of his career. (Sept. 2) The H. L. Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy by Tom Chaffin Published 2008 by Hill & Wang Hardcover, English. ISBN: 9780809095124 Find this book in our catalog. Jacket Notes: In 1864, the Confederacy's "H.L. Hunley" battled the USS "Housatonic" and became the first submarine in history to sink an enemy ship. But also perishing under the waves that moonlit night was the "Hunley" and her entire crew of eight. REVIEW: Publisher's Weekly 08/11/2008 This lively account of the first submarine to sink an opposing ship is an excellent niche history. Chaffin (Sea of Gray) relates that H.L. Hunley was neither soldier nor engineer, but an adventurous New Orleans attorney turned exporter who wanted to make his fortune selling the submarine he developed with several partners to the Confederate Navy. After two unsuccessful tests, in 1863 a third submarine performed decently, but the unenthusiastic local commander extolled its virtues to General Beauregard, who agreed to commission a submarine. It was shipped to Charleston, S.C., where it sank twice during testing, drowning both crews- including Hunley himself. In February 1864, the submarine, named the H.L. Hunley, finally sank a Union blockader with its torpedo but never returned. The event assumed mythic status, culminating in great excitement when divers exhumed the wreck in 2000. Chaffin finishes with a lucid description of the impressive details of this splendid artifact of engineering. Sampling from letters, articles and memoirs, the author succeeds in separating facts from legend in this engrossing examination of a pioneering weapon of war. Maps. (Oct.) Defiance Public Library · 320 Fort Street · Defiance, OH 43512 Phone: (419)782-1456 · Fax: (419)782-6235 1 Email Questions or Comments to the Webmaster This page is best viewed at 800 by 600 with Internet Explorer 6.0