Carlen Zhang

Professor Richard Muller emphasizes that he is, above all, a scientist, and he comes at the subject of energy—which is often suffocated by emotion and misinformation—armed with scientific knowledge and experiments that lead to surprising conclusions. His policy suggestions might not be implemented, but they are certainly worth considering. I think this book is for people who want to understand: (1) how to realistically address global warming; (2) how economically-viable alternative sources of energy can be utilized; and (3) how energy security can be bolstered. --Carlen (pithysummary)

The data Dr. Tatum presents, along with her observations and conclusions, are alarming and discomfiting but necessary. Race is an uncomfortable topic, and it may make some readers defensive, but I believe all should persevere and reap the benefits. Things are still pretty bad, Dr. Tatum notes in her 20th anniversary edition, but even doing small things can help dissipate the smog of racism. I think this book is for people who want to understand: (1) More about race generally (including its effect on job applications); (2) how people can better explore their own racial identities and guide children through their explorations; and (3) how to do effective ally work. --Carlen (pithysummary)

Based on the real story of a reform school that operated for over 100 years and wrecked thousands of children, The Nickel Boys follows Elwood Curtis in the 1960s when he is young and unjustly sentenced to a juvenile center called the Nickel Academy, where adults subject children to ironboxes, lashings, and every cruel thought. Elwood believes fiercely in Martin Luther King Jr.’s words—that he is worthy and, surely, he is somebody—and his viewpoint is battered not only by plot twists but also by his cynical friend Turner. People think of “inmates” and “delinquents” as rightfully suffering en masse in society’s background, but Whitehead brings us close to Elwood and forces us to see him for what he really is: A hopeful, innocent, and vulnerable child who is every bit as deserving of love as the rest of us. Whitehead’s tight, restrained prose inversely conveys an abundance of emotion in a book that is part thriller, part remembrance, and part homage to all of America’s children who are like sweet Elwood. - pithysummary

Edin and Shaefer’s extensive and thorough research demonstrates that most people living under $2/day/person have had strokes of bad luck that unravel everything and, despite good work habits and unrelenting motivation, they are unable to work, to the extreme detriment of their children. Edin and Shaefer hope for better through innovative methods that reward working families, unattached to the stigma of traditional welfare. This book is for people who seek to understand: (1) Why the number of virtually cashless families has increased this millenia; (2) how these families scrape by and how they don’t; and (3) the dangers and indignities of low-wage work. - Carlen (pithysummary)

Lucia Berlin moved constantly with her four boys and the jobs she wrote about in her collection of short stories, A Manual for Cleaning Women, traced her nomadic lives: Cleaning woman, ER nurse, hospital ward clerk, hospital switchboard operator, teacher, and others. Her beautiful stories about people who are not oft written, and the moments that flash bright and dull, illuminate the richness and complexities of their lives. Things are gritty, things are unpolished, and things are startling—all presented in spare writing that is nonetheless lush with description. --Carlen (pithysummary)

Dr. Robert White engaged in bold and, for many, disturbing and controversial medical experiments on animals. He developed remarkable lifesaving neurosurgical techniques that are still used in hospitals today–Brandy Schillace’s retelling of his career in Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher reveals his journey through the animal rights movement, transplanting monkey heads, and complicated debates among faith, law, and medicine. Medical experimentation on living creatures has been happening for ages, and this book examines questions that have cropped up the last few decades, especially in light of PETA: How far can we go to save ourselves? What do we owe animals? What is a life worth? --pithysummary

If sunlight is the best disinfectant, then Craig Whitlock, a journalist for the Washington Post who specializes in covering national security, holds the U.S.-led War in Afghanistan up to the burning star for an honest examination of what we were told we were doing there and what we were actually doing there. The majority of the book relies on interviews from a project titled “Lessons Learned,” conducted by the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR). It includes hundreds of interviews from participants in the war–many of them, believing that these interviews would be confidential, spoke openly about how the war was a disaster. I think this book is for people who seek to understand: (1) what went wrong in the U.S.-led War in Afghanistan; (2) why the U.S. could likely never prevail in such a war; and (3) how three consecutive presidents misled the public about the war. --pithysummary

Noah is in love with Sam. Not just in love—swimming in love, flying in love, drowning in love, basking in love—but can’t bring himself to tell her. His best friend, Walt (you can call him “Swing”), is bombastic, enthusiastic, energetic, and every day pushes Noah to declare his love. (Swing also gushes about jazz, baseball, a podcast called WOOHOO WOMEN, his crush, and his “HUG LIFE” tattoo.) Swing, by Kwame Alexander, is written in beautiful verse, with each of Noah’s raw, vulnerable emotions pulsing through each brief line, and Swing’s “HUG LIFE” attitude roaring through each page like a flame chasing kerosene. Things are copacetic until they’re not. With Swing, Alexander gently, kindly reminds everyone that black boys and girls are vivacious, complicated, full of dreams, and deeply loved.

Historian Thomas Sugrue, who studies 20th century US history, examines the precipitous downfall of Detroit from one of the nation’s fastest growing boomtowns to a city plagued by joblessness, poverty, physical decay, and racial isolation. Since 1950, Detroit has lost over a million people and hundreds of thousands of jobs. Sugrue believes that Detroit’s urban crisis emerged as the consequence of two unresolved problems: that capitalism generates economic inequality and that African Americans have disproportionately borne the impact of that inequality. I think this book is for people who seek to understand: (1) what a busy, flourishing Detroit was like in the first half of the 20th century; (2) the many ways in which it deteriorated, from housing to employment, and why; and (3) the tense, complicated race relations underlying the postwar decades. --Pithy Summary

Jack Hartnell, a professor of art history, pulls us back into the Middle Ages and uncovers the fascinating, and sometimes ingenious, ways in which people thought about, examined, and treated their physical bodies. He traverses through Cairo, Constantinople, and Canterbury, and explains what these populations thought of their brains, stomachs, feet, and more. I think this book is for people who seek to understand: (1) a richer history of an oft-glossed over period, full of intellectual surprises and inventiveness; (2) how people believed their bodies worked, and what types of medicine and treatments they employed to cure themselves; and (3) how people believed their bodies functioned in conjunction with the spiritual and moral realms. --Pithy Summary