Nonfiction

I recently read the book "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed. The book lended itself to a glimpse into a young womans' adventure as she hiked the Pacific Crest Trail by herself. The beginning chapters showed how inexperienced and innocent she was and as I continued reading other chapters, she had become quite the seasoned hiker with physical scars to prove it. Her marriage had ended and her mom had died, so as we hiked along with her, she came to grips with her life journey. Very entertaining and a page turner to boot!

I heard Salman Khan speak about The Khan Academy (khanacademy.org) on a TED Talk a while back, and ever since I did I've been intrigued by his idea of flipping the traditional teaching model. Using inexpensive technology, let's have the students "learn" the lesson at home via online course materials and moving at their own pace. Then use the classroom time for practice and asking questions. The book, obviously, explains this much more eloquently. And while the book may be a bit short on possible cons of such a plan, it's convinced me to be very proactive with my daughter's education.

Max Lucado is one of my favorite authors. "Grace" is a wonderful read because of the examples given, easy reference and the way it is written. You will never go wrong with any of this author's books.

This is in my top five favorite books. One of the main reasons is that Pinker doesn't allow politics to impede his description of competition, to which he devotes about 200 pages. If you want to know how the world works, you want to know how the mind works, and this is your book.

I'm a new weaver, and found this book to be quite inspiring. It has great photos that really give you great ideas about using color in your weaving. This book is a good resource for new and experienced weavers alike.

This book tells about stories from several young people who used to be young homeless. They came across to know Covenant House, which have led and supported young people throughout the North America to become responsible adults. They provide resources, connections and programs. Their mentoring supports have impressive impacts on such youth and longer positive effects on their future lives. These stories help us understand situations, many of which are intense, that young homeless in this diverse society are facing, and give us hope that young adults can gain healthy choices thorough available and friendly resources such as the Covenant House.

Written by neurosurgeon who contracted a very rare form of E Coli that shut down his brain for seven days. During that time, he experienced other worlds that seemed more real to him than this world. He writes about what he saw in very methodical and unemotional terms, subjecting his visions to a very scientific approach. This experience changed his whole worldview from a pragmatic verifiable scientific methodology to a certainty that the human spirit can experience something beyond what can be seen and that even though evil exists, love will eventually triumph. I think even the most skeptical person should read this book.

Peg Kehert told you in her own words what it was like to be a child with polio. She writes how deadly and dangerous polio was in 1949. It was heartfelt and she made friends along her hard journey. I think that kids and adults should read this book.

Even though I loved this book and wanted to eat it up as quickly as possible, I tried to take it slow, absorbing as much as I could. It is packed full of fascinating facts about happiness, and examples of how she improved her life through big and small changes. It inspired me to start my own small happiness project, tracking it daily as she and Benjamin Franklin did.

One of my favorite bits is her four stages of reveling in a moment of
happiness:
+ anticipate with pleasure,
+ savor the moment as I experience it,
+ express my happiness to myself or others, and reflect on a happy memory.

It is amazing how just a few people with the right attitude were able to change a city, a county, and impact the entire country for the better. This is a good, and real life story by a man who was in the battle of good vs bad, and the good won in Stamford, CT in this battle that went into the 1980's.