Book Talk

Politics, politics…

Anyone who has watched financial programs has seen Nouriel Roubini. A Professor of Economics at New York University, he was the first to predict our current economic problems.  His research makes clear that economic upheaval is probable and predictable. In Crisis Economics: a Crash Course in the Future of Finance, he explains that there are signs of impending instability and suggests ways the instability can be avoided.

When we think about the effects of global warming, we usually think about the possible physical changes. In Climate Wars: the Fight for Survival as the World Overheats, Gwynne Dyer takes a broader geopolitical view. A rise of two degrees Celsius could trigger battles over diminished food and water supplies, refugees would pour in to still functioning countries, borders would have to be made impermeable. Food may not be available at any price. Dyer puts the final scene at about 2175, with the global temperature increased by 9 degrees Celsius.

Sports columnist Rick Reilly has traveled the world to bring you stupid sports competitions in Sports from Hell: My search for the World’s Dumbest Competition. Putting your body and intelligence on the line to see who can stay in a sauna the longest or who will prevail in chess-boxing is the easy stuff. Meet the criminal underclass who plays the now outlawed Jarts. Become the projectile in a giant slingshot, or my personal favorite, ferret legging. Two live ferrets are put down your pants (no underwear). The pants have to have tight ankle and waist bands. The world record is five hours and twenty-six minutes.

The prisoners on Robben Island requested the right to play soccer. They requested weekly for three years until they finally received permission. They named the team Makana, a name that the white guards wouldn’t understand, but the prisoners knew that it was the name of a famous warrior-prophet who spent his life fighting British Colonialism. The pride that the mastery of the game gave the men made fellow inmate Nelson Mandela realize the effectiveness of the sports boycott on South Africa. Read More than a Game: Soccer vs. Apartheid: the Most Important Story ever Told, by Chuck Korr and Marvin Close.

Fiction

Thor’s Hammer is a missile-launching satellite whose deployment gives the United States global dominance. It can strike anywhere on the planet in seconds. As the remaining super powers scramble to control the seas, and terrorists use Pakistani missiles to fire on India, US President Joseph Gardner has no choice but to fire on Pakistan’s weapons but the untested system misfires and causes thousands of civilian deaths. In Executive Intent, by Dale Brown, the president must face threats from within and without to prevent a global war.

Reporter Aiden Cole is thriving in the current climate of caustic politics and terrorist fears, until a bomb rips through a Manhattan building. Middle Eastern terrorists are suspected, but after four days an anonymous email arrives for Aiden. Attached is the picture of a beautiful, young white woman with the message,”This is Paige Roderick. She’s the one responsible.” American Subversive by David Goodwillie takes Aiden from boardrooms, getaways of the elite and hip urban lofts to discover the rotting heart of America.

A rogue element in the American Intelligence community? That’s what Dana Cutler discovers when she investigates a connection among a murder in Oregon, the resignation of a Supreme Court justice and the attack on another, in Supreme Justice by Phillip Margolin.

Instead of the news of her missing father that Dilara Kenner is expecting, she is told of the artifact her father had been searching for, Noah’s Ark, and its link with the potential death of billions. In The Ark, by Boyd Harrison, Dana and combat engineer, Tyler Locke, learn that they have only seven days to find the Ark before it is used, once again, to wipe out civilization.

Virginia Cooper
Adult Services Librarian