A Disposition to Be Rich: How a Small-town Pastor's Son Ruined an American President, Brought on a Wall Street Crash, and Made Himself the Best-hated Man in the United States by Geoffrey C. Ward

Recently, newspapers and social media splashed the story of actor Ben Affleck trying to hide his descent from a slaveholder from viewers of PBS's Finding Your Roots. Like author Nathaniel Hawthorne who changed the spelling of his name to disassociate himself from his ancestor, Salem Witch Trials judge John Hathorne, Affleck hoped contemporaries would not link his family to historic atrocities. In contrast, historian Geoffrey C. Ward, who has written best selling books and often works with documentary producer Ken Burns, has dealt with a scandalous great grandfather openly, writing A Disposition to Be Rich: How a Small-town Pastor's Son Ruined an American President, Brought on a Wall Street Crash, and Made Himself the Best-hated Man in the United States.

In the 1880s, Ferdinand Ward rose very quickly from being a Wall Street clerk to heading his own brokerage firm, and he was so visibly successful for his clients that he was called the "Young Napoleon of Finance." His secret, however, was not his skill at investing but his ability to charm people to trust him with their money, which he used to pay for an elegant lifestyle. He paid investors generously with money he got from new investors. These pleased investors often gave him all the money back again to make even larger. Ward ran a Ponzi scheme 40 years before Charles Ponzi supposedly invented the practice.

For a time, Ferdinand Ward was one of the most-known men in America. Details of his trial and imprisonment were national news. Yet, today he is almost forgotten. Biographical reference book do not mention him and Wikipedia has a brief entry only because of his great grandson's book. A Disposition to Be Rich is the only ready source of the story for those unable to read newspaper microfilm.

The readers' advisory database Novelist recommends many books on Wall Street history as a follow-up to A Disposition to Be Rich. I think the most appealing part of the book, however, is that it is by author not adverse to writing about wayward family. This joins Ward together with Rick Bragg (The Prince of Frogtown) and Wendy Gimbel (Havana Dreams). These authors are unafraid of the past, unlike Affleck and Hawthorne.

Ward, Geoffrey C. A Disposition to Be Rich: How a Small-town Pastor's Son Ruined an American President, Brought on a Wall Street Crash, and Made Himself the Best-hated Man in the United States. Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. 418p. ISBN 9780679445302.

How About Never - Is Never Good for You?; My Life in Cartoons by Bob Mankoff

I seldom pick up The New Yorker now, but there was a time when once a week I would take the latest copy from the library's magazine room to our lunch room to read the cartoons during lunch. I would also glance at the "Talk of the Town" and the book reviews and scan the table of contents, occasionally coming back to the issue if I wanted to read the short stories, but the cartoons were the draw. I recollected this past with pleasure as I read How About Never - Is Never Good for You?; My Life in Cartoons by Bob Mankoff.

"How about never - is never good for you?" is the memorable part of the caption of Bob Mankoff's most famous cartoon. It has been enshrined in The Yale Book of Quotations and, according to Mankoff, been ripped off by comedians and the makers of T-shirts. He is collecting royalties on sales of the cartoon from the Cartoon Bank, which he founded, so he has profited. He tells stories about several of his cartoons in his multifaceted book.

How About Never - Is Never Good for You? may be called a memoir, but large sections of it deal with topics other than Mankoff. He recounts the history of cartooning and the story of The New Yorker magazine, and he profiles many of his fellow cartoonists. He also gives readers hints on how to win the weekly caption contest at The New Yorker.

Anyone contemplating cartooning as a career will find Mankoff's behind-the-scenes stories very instructive. The rest of us can appreciate the artistry and laugh at the many cartoons included. It is worth several hours of pleasure reading and may lead some readers back to The New Yorker.

Mankoff, Bob. How About Never - Is Never Good for You?; My Life in Cartoons. Henry Holt and Company, 2014. 285p. ISBN 9780805095906.

Real Story Sale with Free Reader's Advisory Training

The Annual Conference of the American Library Association opens today in San Francisco with pre-conference sessions and a scattering of group meetings. On Friday, after the Opening General Session, the exhibit halls will open.

If you are there and you stop at ABC-CLIO's booth (which always seems much bigger than a booth to me), take a look at the Real Story series of nonfiction reference books (including mine). If you purchase any of them, Sarah Statz Cords offers you free, individualized reader's advisory training via email. Here is how she states it on her blog Citizen Reader:

"I'll offer you a free session of RA training (your choice: general readers' advisory or nonfiction-specific) over email. We can discuss ways to widen your RA services, put together compelling nonfiction booklists, find great title awareness websites, anything!"

Sarah provides the details on her post Conferences, reference books, RA training, oh my! She makes the same offer on online sales through June.

Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart by Carol Wall

Carol Wall and her husband Dick never enhanced their yard. There were not any flowers, the grass was patchy, and the shrubs and trees looked weary, in need of pruning and rejuvenation. The couple was too busy to deal with yard issues beyond mowing, and Carol was opposed to flowers. Carol was sure their yard was an eye-sore to their neighbors, who had beautiful yards. Neighbor Sarah Driscoll was even a Master Gardener. Why did Sarah have a new man working in her yard?

This new man became an object of interest to Carol, a teacher who had taught English as a foreign language. She saw also him bagging groceries at the local supermarket and helping people load their plants at the parking lot of the local garden center. Unlike most hourly low-skill workers, he seemed to attract the attention and high regard from the customers. He spoke in an oddly charming way. Was he an immigrant?

In Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart, the author tells about her friendship with Giles Owita and his wife Bienta who immigrated from Kenya with their two sons to attend colleges in the United States. While gardening is a continuing theme in their recounted conversations, it is not really the focus of this book. Instead, self-discovery, overcoming self-imposed limits, and leading a full life prevail. There is also a mystery for the author to solve.

Ironically, most libraries have Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening in their gardening sections. Bonnie, who is also a librarian, told me that she thinks there is not really any better place in Dewey for this hard-to-categorize book. Being about non-famous people, it would be lost in biography. It could be placed with friendship books, but who ever goes to the library for a friendship book? Maybe we need shelves just labelled "Good Reading." It should be there. Check it out.

Wall, Carol. Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart. Amy Einhorn Books, 2014.  294p. ISBN 9780399157981.

Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Hector Tobar

I enjoyed its reviews in newspapers and podcasts, and Bonnie and other readers whose opinions I trust recommended this book. I remember the story from 2010 as amazing and compelling. The probability that I would enjoy Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Hector Tobar was high. The only reason that I have taken so long in starting is my to-read list is long. (I started to say over-populated, but you can not have too many books in your reading queue.)

Luckily for me, Bonnie borrowed the 11 disc audiobook of Deep Down Dark so I could listen while driving, cooking, and gardening. Henry Leyva is a great reader. I like how he moved easily from English to Spanish and back in this book, pacing well, and distinguishing different voices effectively. Of course, with 33 men in the collapsed Chilean mine and numerous important figures on the surface above, the task for the writer and the narrator to make each of them singularly memorable is impossible. Still I felt the voices were right as I heard them.

What I did not expect was the amount of the story that takes place after the miners were discovered to still be alive and after they were rescued. The one part of the story I would have like to be more detailed is the actual day of rescue. I am glad Tobar recounts about his interviews and tells how the miners have fared since the ordeal.

I would happily read Deep Down Dark again if it is chosen for our book group. If you wonder about conditions in mines and want a dramatic tale with suspense, even when you know the outcome, You may also like this disaster rescue story.

Tobar, Hector. Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine and the Miracle That Set Them Free. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014. 309p. ISBN 9780374280604. 

Audiobook: Macmillan Audio, 2014. 11 compact discs. ISBN 9781427244505.

A Practical Illustrated Guide to Attracting and Feeding Backyard Birds: the Complete Book of Bird Feeders, Bird Tables, Bird Baths, Nest Boxes, and Garden Bird-Watching

With the title A Practical Illustrated Guide to Attracting and Feeding Backyard Birds: the Complete Book of Bird Feeders, Bird Tables, Bird Baths, Nest Boxes, and Garden Bird-Watching, there is hardly any need to write a review. The title explains how the book is practical, and the cover hints at how beautifully colorful. Judging books by their covers can lead to disappointment, but not with this book. I renewed it to keep looking at its thematic two-page illustrated articles and its projects. I might use several ideas to enhance our yard's bird-appeal.

The topics in A Practical Illustrated Guide to Attracting and Feeding Backyard Birds are wide ranging. Readers may learn about bird anatomy, physics, and behaviors, as well as how to attract them by offering feeders, fountains, and nesting boxes. Gardeners find recommendations for landscaping, while hobbyists find templates for wood-working projects. There is also an essential guide to birds who frequent yards.

Though the publisher is British, this edition seems to be aimed at the American market. The range maps show North America. A Practical Illustrated Guide to Attracting and Feeding Backyard Birds is a great selection for public or personal libraries. I am now returning it to let others enjoy it.

A Practical Illustrated Guide to Attracting and Feeding Backyard Birds: the Complete Book of Bird Feeders, Bird Tables, Bird Baths, Nest Boxes, and Garden Bird-Watching. Southwater, 2014. 256p. ISBN 9781780192802.

This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon by Nancy Plain

I think the first biography that I ever read was John Audubon, Boy Naturalist by Miriam Evangeline Mason, a 1962 publication in the Childhood of Famous Americans series. I think I read it in a single evening. So I was thrilled when Bonnie brought home This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon by Nancy Plain, a 112 page illustrated biography for tween and teen readers. Ironically, I could not read it in a single evening because I can not stay awake long enough now.

If I could have started in the morning and ignored all my obligations, I would have had a wonderful time reading without stop about the Frenchman born in Haiti who became the most famous of American ornithologists and wildlife artists. His life is a quintessential American hero story. He came to Pennsylvania as a teen, fell in love with the country, and left a lasting legacy. That he struggled financially and at times was discouraged makes the story even better. I enjoyed This Strange Wilderness a little at a time over a couple of days.

Plain's book is more modern and honest than Mason's, which was written when our culture supported faultless accounts of our ancestors. Plain acknowledges what now seems unthinkable - Audubon shot many birds for the sake of studying and drawing them. In the early 19th century, future extinction of abundant wildlife seemed impossible. Audubon saw skies filled with passenger pigeons and the plains covered with bison. He witnessed the beginnings of the slaughter of these species and even warned others that it was unsustainable, but he did not alter his own habits. Readers may wish they had time machines to see what Audubon saw.

Naturally, This Strange Wilderness is filled with Audubon's own paintings of birds and mammals of North America. It is a good choice for aspiring naturalist as well as mature readers reviewing the world they think they know.

Plain, Nancy. This Strange Wilderness: The Life and Art of John James Audubon. University of Nebraska Press, 2015. 112p. ISBN 9780803248847.

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

At a time when memoirs are fashionable, Sonia Sotomayor has published an autobiography. My Beloved World is not her full life story, ending the book with becoming a federal judge in 1992 after being recommended by Democratic New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and nominated by Republican President George H. W. Bush. Her wide-ranging book tells of her childhood, education, and early career as a lawyer. Besides being a how-I-got-to-this point-book, it is a testament to the years of her youth - which were the youthful years of the Baby Boom Generation.

The major outside force in Sotomayor's early life was the Civil Rights Movement. Her personal challenges were diabetes and the death of her Puerto Rican father when she was only nine. She took charge of her daily insulin shots, helped her mother run the home, and graduated as valedictorian at Blessed Sacrament Catholic School and at Cardinal Spellman High School. She received a scholarship to Princeton thanks to affirmative action, for which she is grateful. She is not ashamed of needing help and taking it. She points out that she was academically qualified and won many honors because she applied herself.

Sotomayor's book is a lesson about effort being rewarded. She tells several stories of starting new phases of her life without having role models to prepare her for the cultural challenges. The key she says is to be honest about your needs and ask questions and for help when necessary.

Being of Sotomayor's age, I enjoyed My Beloved World thoroughly and hope she will write another to recount her years as a judge.

Sotomayor, Sonia. My Beloved World. Vintage Books, 2014. 398p. ISBN 9780345804839.

The Atlas of Birds: Diversity, Behavior, and Conservation by Mike Unwin

This book review blog has gone to the birds! As any frequent reader must have noticed, I have written many reviews of bird-related books lately. In front of me now is The Atlas of Birds: Diversity, Behavior, and Conservation by Mike Unwin, an attractive paperback reference book on birds from Princeton University Press. It is not really meant to be read straight through, but I am finding very few pages to skip.

The author points out in his introduction how by being so omnipresent and visible, birds established themselves as an indicator of the health of specific habitats and the earth as a whole. Today numerous factors are contributing to declines in the populations of many birds, habitat destruction being the leading cause.

There are many observations throughout that fascinate me:

Bird diversity concentrates on tropical and subtropical regions, especially in forests.  Russia, which is over 60 times larger than Ecuador, hosts only 645 bird species while the small tropical South American country hosts a whopping 1,515 species.

About 6,900 species are found in the forests of the earth while about 200 are found in its deserts.

Birds migrate at various altitudes. Bar-headed geese fly at 29,000 feet.

William Shakespeare mentioned doves 60 times in his plays, more than any other bird. Geese were second at 44 and eagles third at 40.

Illegal hunting of songbirds in Southeastern Europe threatens the survival of numerous migrating species. Most of the illegally killed birds are smuggled into Italy for the restaurant trade.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds with over a million members is the world's largest bird conservation organization. With Audubon and other regional groups it forms BirdLife International, which is identifying and securing sanctuaries around the world.

A beginning birder wishing to understand the world of birds and veteran bird advocates can both learn much from The Atlas of Birds.

Unwin, Mike. The Atlas of Birds: Diversity, Behavior, and Conservation. Princeton University Press, 2011. 144p. ISBN 9780691149493.

I Was a Child by Bruce Erik Kaplan

Our job as children growing up is to accept and reject. Accept our parents for who they are. Reject some of their ways. Be close if possible in loyalty, but move away, perhaps physically great distances if necessary. Find our own ways better for us. These are my thoughts on reading I Was a Child by Bruce Erik Kaplan, a cartoonist for The New Yorker as well as a television writer and producer.

Kaplan and I are by no means twins, as his ways are not mine, but we definitely shared some experiences. In his cleverly illustrated memoir, he briefly recounts moments that send me back to my own childhood. And I think Kaplan might agree that we never wholly leave childhood, as we are still children as long as we have parents or even remember our parents.

I was particularly struck by all the useless things in his parents' house, all the broken things that remained in place. He tells about a box outside his parents' door for the milk delivery. Decades after milk was no longer delivered, it was still there. He also tells about a console holding a nonfunctioning record player and old never-played records. I am not the only child to have noticed such things! He also tells about closet doors that won't close, and I feel a sudden urgency to get a door fixed.

I can imagine some readers will believe that Kaplan is disloyal for shining a light on his parents' failings. They might also argue against almost any revealing childhood memoir. For this reason and because I Was a Child is very entertaining and quick to read, I think it would be a great choice for some book discussion groups.

Kaplan, Bruce Erik. I Was a Child. Blue Rider Press, 2015. 193p. ISBN 9780399169519.

How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson

Groundbreaking Reads: Ideas That Shook the World is the theme of the adult summer reading program at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library. Our intent is to inspire readers by emphasizing innovations that led to literary, scientific, political, and cultural developments. In some cases, books themselves are groundbreaking. We feature many of these books on our suggested reading lists, but we also highlight books that tell the story of progress. Such a book is How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson.

Johnson's book was bestseller in 2014 and the companion to his highly-entertaining six-part PBS series. In both the book and the televised series, Johnson tells the stories of these concepts:

• Clean
• Time
• Glass
• Light
• Cold
• Sound

My favorite chapter may be Cold. Johnson shows how someone's idea of cutting ice from frozen ponds to store until summer led to shipping it to the tropics. Once that started someone else perfected insulating the hold for the ice and another on making artificial cold by heat removal, both of which led to refrigerators. The idea of chilling food led to cooling spaces with air conditioning (or the other way around). Air conditioning led to people being able to live more comfortably in tropical and desert regions, starting a migration to states like Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California. All because someone cut ice from ponds.

Being about technology, it is appropriate that How We Got to Now is available in many formats. All facilitate optimism and love of innovation.

Johnson, Steven. How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World. Riverhead Books, 2014. 293p. ISBN 9781594632969.

Audiobook: Penguin Audio, 2014. 5 discs. ISBN 9781611763386

DVD: PBS, 2014. 2 discs. ISBN 9781627890366

Fire Birds: Valuing Natural Wildfires and Burned Forests by Sneed B. Collard III

On topics of nature and conservation, adults should sometimes turn their attention to children's books, some of which get to the point quickly and effectively. Bonnie brought home such a book, Fire Birds: Valuing Natural Wildfires and Burned Forests by Sneed B. Collard III. The author takes readers to Montana to follow University of Montana biology professor Dick Hutto through forests burned by wildfire to show that our society's ideas about forest fires have often been mistaken.

How can this be? Smokey the Bear told us to prevent forest fires. It turns out, and many of us discovered this in a big way in the 1980s when fire swept through Yellowstone National Park, suppressing small natural fires for decades contributes to hugely destructive fires in the future. Suppression of wildfire also inhibits growth of some plant and wildlife species that need periodic fires. Hutto shows how beneficial fire has been to Montana's birds.

Fire Birds is an attractive and informative book with many photos that let you feel as if you have been to Montana. I especially liked all the photos of woodpeckers, bluebirds, and other species that I want to see when I go to Glacier National Park later this year. (The black-backed woodpecker, western tanager, and mountain bluebird are on the book jacket.) I hope many children and their parents and grandparents find this book at the library.

Collard, Sneed B., III. Fire Birds: Valuing Natural Wildfires and Burned Forests. Bucking Horse Books, 2015. 48p. ISBN 9780984446070.

The Beautiful Mystery: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny

The tension between sacred chant and vows of silence is just one of many factors in Louise Penny's unusual mystery The Beautiful Mystery: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel. Other struggles are between isolation from and access to the world and between loving tradition and needing to be modern. Some struggles are personality based. How can the monks of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups restore tranquil balance?

In The Beautiful Mystery, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his detective Jean Guy Beauvoir of Sûreté du Québec find themselves away from the village of Three Pines. Instead they are surrounded by monks in a monastery in the deep woods because one of the usually silent men has murdered another. With the police in their midst, however, they have to speak, and some of them can hardly hold back once their vows of silence are suspended. Gamache and Beauvoir hear many strange stories. What should the detectives believe? Could monks lie?

Penny researched her topic well before writing, but like any novelist, she used artistic license for dramatic effect. Lead by our choir director, we learned a slightly different history of chant at our St. Luke book group discussion of The Beautiful Mystery in May. I discovered also that Penny's description of the Gilbertine monks' robes was accurate but the monks were never hounded by the Spanish Inquisition. The continuing story of Inspector Gamache, not history is, of course, Penny's main concern.

We had a great discussion with most but not all of our members liking the book. Several have already begun reading other books in the series to see what came before and after. If your group is interested in discussing any of the novels of Louise Penny, look over the questions she prepared from the bottom of the FAQ page of her website.

Penny, Louise. The Beautiful Mystery: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel. Minotaur, 2012. 373p. ISBN 9780312655464.

Audiobook: Macmillan Audio, 2012. 11 compact discs. ISBN 9781427226099.

The House of Owls by Tony Angell

The owls of North America have not only been important to the career of artist and naturalist Tony Angell, they have been a great pleasure. In The House of Owls, he recounts his encounters with almost all of the species. The exception that I see upon looking back through his very personal reference guide to owls is the ferruginous pygmy owl. In his introduction to this owl that lives in Central America, Mexico and just the smallest sliver of Arizona, he tells how early twentieth century ornithologist George Sutton's saw his first ferruginous pygmy owl.

For all of the owl profiles, Angell describes range and habitat, food preferences, vocalizations, courtship and nesting, threats and conservation, and vital statistics (length, wing span, and weight). Some details seem to repeat. Owls that use cavities in trees depend on either pileated woodpeckers or northern flickers to excavate them. Most eggs hatch between 21 and 24 days after being laid. Owlets fledge at around three to four weeks and remain with their parents for a couple of months or more. Cooper's hawks prey on many of the owlets and some of the small adult owls.

Angell starts his guide to owls with a chapter recounting his raising a western screech owl. In this chapter and throughout the book he includes his own topical drawing that support the text.

The House of Owls is a delightful book that will interest birders and other amateur naturalists. More libraries should add this new book.

Angell, Tony. The House of Owls. Yale University Press, 2015. 203p. ISBN 9780300203448.

A Window on Eternity: A Biologist's Walk Through Gorongosa National Park by Edward O. Wilson

There are few pristine places left on this earth. When noted biologist Edward O. Wilson visited in 2011, Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique was not by any means untouched, but philanthropist Gregory C. Carr had led a determined effort at restoration. There had been much to fix. During a civil war that lasted from 1975 to 1992 and in the impoverished years after the war, poaching of wildlife and the clearing of woods in the park had left it almost empty of large mammals and other signature species. It is the effort to restore the habitat that is examined in A Window on Eternity: A Biologist's Walk Through Gorongosa National Park by Edward O. Wilson.

Luckily for Wilson, there was some unspoiled habitat on the mountains when he arrived. He and his team were able to identify unknown ants and other insects. He tells about them and fossils of human ancestors found in the region.

In the hands of Wilson, who is the author of numerous thick and influential books, such as Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, Sociobiology, and On Human Nature, the story of this remote park has universal implications. His small book on Gorongosa serves as an illustration of what he has written before and is written for a broader readership. Well-illustrated with photographs by Piotr Naskrecki, A Window on Eternity serves as a good lesson on the conservation of species and sustainability of habitats in poor nations.

Wilson, Edward O. A Window on Eternity: A Biologist's Walk Through Gorongosa National Park. Simon and Schuster, 2014. 149p. ISBN 9781476747415.

Losing Our Way: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America by Bob Herbert

Most republicans will not like Losing Our Way: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America. Many democrats won't either, as former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, points out many ways in which the elected leaders of our cities, states, and country (of either party) have failed the public by looking after their own interests and that of special interests. He does this through telling stories about the lives of citizens.

Here are issues that Herbert examines in Losing Our Way:

The infrastructure of highways, bridges, rails, electrical grid, etc. is crumbling as elected officials will not raise taxes to pay for the needed work. The short-sightedness of fearing that taxpayers will vote officials out of office for raising taxes is that the projects would create jobs and leave the country better able to support its industry. Everyone would benefit, but our governments large and small are unwilling to invest in the future.

Most educational testing has weakened education, as schools teach to the tests instead of offering broadly-based lessons that teach children to think and prepare them for the future. Magnet schools have often been ineffective, and they fail to bring together the haves and have-nots. Educational corporations lobby for increased testing and against teachers having a say in curriculum. Rupert Murdoch is the big winner in what is often labelled "school reform."

All the wars we have fought since the Vietnam War (including Vietnam) have been against own interest and have destabilized many nations. Many died for no good purpose - a very dangerous thing to say in our for-us-or-against-us culture. Our economy has been drained for useless foreign action that only benefits arms manufacturers and Wall Street.

Wall Street is also behind the increasing gulf between earnings of workers and stock holders. Jobs are eliminated and wages kept low so the rich may reap more and more of the profits. As a result, more and more full time workers go farther and farther into debt, bringing the economy down.

That is just a taste of what Bob Herbert has to say.

When did the country lose its way? Herbert points to President Lyndon Johnson's increasing the troops sent to Vietnam, and he adds Ronald Reagan's campaign to deregulate many industries, especially weakening banking and finance rules.

Bob Herbert thinks that the trend of the last 50 years can be reversed. He points to the success of grass roots action of the Civil Rights and Women's Rights movements. He urges people to get involved at the bottom to take back the country from special interests.

Herbert, Bob. Losing Our Way: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America. Doubleday, 2014. 283p. ISBN 9780385528238.

Books on Tape, 2014. 8 compact discs. Approx. 10 1/2 hours. ISBN 9780804193573.

Birding by Impression: A Different Approach to Knowing and Identifying Birds by Kevin T. Karlson and Dale Rosselet

When I attended David Sibley's book signing last year, he said that he looks at shape and listens to songs more than spotting marks and plumage in identifying birds. Sibley and many skilled birders do not have to get long close looks at birds to know what they are. With years of experience, they just know because of bird songs, behaviors, habitats, size, and shape. They often do not even have to see the birds.

New birders may have trouble naming species unless the birds sit still in full view, which they rarely do so. Luckily, novices may learn about expert ID methods by reading the new book Birding by Impression: A Different Approach to Knowing and Identifying Birds by Kevin T. Karlson and Dale Rosselet. In this Peterson Reference Guide, the authors group similar birds and then explain size and shape differences, as well as where to find the birds and important plumage. The new birder then needs much book and field study beyond the book, but a foundation can be laid.

The authors include many illustration, some in quizzes that are fun to take. I scored well on heron-like birds, woodpeckers, jays, and even sparrows. I was weak on shorebirds, flycatchers, and warblers.

Birding by Impression is an excellent choice for public library collections. Birders might like having personal copies, too.

Karlson, Kevin T. and Dale Rosselet. Birding by Impression: A Different Approach to Knowing and Identifying Birds. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015. 286p. ISBN 9780547195780.

Biblio Tech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google by John Palfrey

Libraries are often rated as a favorite government service, according to public opinions expressed to pollsters. When queried, people recall the pleasurable and benefit of visiting a library as a child and student. This nostalgia is nice to read but dangerous to rely on for future public support of libraries. According to Digital Public Library chairman John Palfrey, libraries need to stay vital and relevant by transitioning to a digital knowledge base. Why does it matter? The survival of our democracy is at stake.

The way for libraries will not be easy in a society that is increasing ruled by for-profit information services. Google, Amazon, and Apple are dictating how people obtain digital products. Adapting to their protocols and the copyright demands of publishers of digital books has made the library digital makeover difficult to negotiate. Librarians must network and unify to stand with the corporations and their seemingly unlimited reserves of funds and code writers.

Palfrey also calls for libraries to fund their own research and development and spend liberally in staff development. Without such an effort, libraries will be the powerless captive customer of corporate digital vendors. We already see the results of weakness in our schools where librarians and teachers are being fired to let private interests provide information and teaching systems. Democracy begins with good public schools with a tradition for teaching truth and problem solving. Community libraries and those of academia are also on the line.

We are not defeated yet. Palfrey offers a plan for libraries to transition to digital platforms while keeping printed books and public spaces for study and dialogue. I hope his book is widely read soon.

Palfrey, John. Biblio Tech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google. Basic Books, 2015. 280p. ISBN 9780465042999.

A Love Affair with Birds: The Life of Thomas Sadler Roberts by Sue Leaf

When our daughter Laura led us through the Thomas Sadler Roberts Bird Sanctuary just north of Lake Harriet in Minneapolis in the summer of 2013, I had never heard of the nine-year-old boy who moved with his family to Minnesota in 1867 and grew up to be a leading doctor in the city. As a boy, he and his friends wandered the woods and canoed the lakes of the area, noticing the birds, about whom Roberts had learned much from his bird-fancying father. In A Love Affair with Birds: The Life of Thomas Sadler Roberts, Sue Leaf tells how Roberts balanced his dedication to medicine and his patients with his love of birds.

Roberts accomplished much in his life. Before medical school, he worked as a land examiner and civil engineer. Working as a doctor for over half a century, he treated many patients, delivered many babies, helped found the local medical society, and helped build hospitals. As a  ornithologist, he started birding clubs with his friends, led many bird walks, taught ornithology at the University of Minnesota, collected species for the natural history museum on the University campus, served as museum director, and eventually led the effort to build what is now the Bell Museum of Natural History. He may be most remembered for his two-volume The Birds of Minnesota which was published in 1930.

On one level, A Love Affair with Birds can be read as a tribute to an exemplary life. The author, however, offers the reader more than that. Her section on Roberts' medical career serves as a compelling history of health care in Minnesota, spanning the era in which Roberts road a horse to reach his rural patients or sometimes caught a trolley in town to his mature years when he rode with his chauffeur. The growth and development of Minneapolis runs through the story. Readers learn about the planning and building of hospitals and museums. Most of all, Leaf tells the story birds and the birding community of Minnesota.

Having been to Minneapolis over a dozen times now with prospects for many more visits, wanting to see all the Minnesota birds, I enjoyed A Love Affair with Birds immensely.

Leaf, Sue. A Love Affair with Birds: The Life of Thomas Sadler Roberts. University of Minnesota Press, 2013. 271p. ISBN 9780816675647.

H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Falconry tests the endurance and sanity of anyone keen to attempt the sport. Author T. H. White was ill-prepared for his first attempt. Over 70 years later, Helen Macdonald was more experienced and realistic when she acquired a goshawk. Still, her experienced included self-doubt and despair, as well as self-discovery, as she recounts in H is for Hawk.

Just as it helps to read Middlemarch by George Eliot before reading My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead, having read The Goshawk by White will enrich anyone's reading of Macdonald's book. Thankfully for me, reading H is for Hawk also explained much of what puzzled me about The Goshawk.

Of course, you are more likely to have read Middlemarch than The Goshawk, as Eliot is still fashionable and White is mostly forgotten. He was most popular in the mid-twentieth century when children were reading The Sword in the Stone and their parents were reading The Once and Future King. In the 1960s, his Arthurian tales were source materials for a Disney animated film and the broadway musical Camelot.

Luckily for all, you do not have to have read White's book before reading Macdonald's, as she liberally recounts and quotes sections of it as she describes her experiences with Mabel, a young goshawk that she acquired from a breeder in Ireland and brought to her home near Cambridge to train to hunt. Like White, she take's her bird on walks through field and forest and frets over how much it weighs. For the benefit of good reading, Macdonald did not stick to White's narrative as a template for hers, and her prose flows more pleasingly.

Mead's book My Life in Middlemarch is an easier book to compare with Macdonald's title. Both mix these elements:

• Memoir of the author
• Biography of famous author
• Story of a famous book
• Observations about English history and culture

To this formula, Macdonald adds a dose of natural history, letting readers know much about hawks and falconry. The result is a great book that keeps the reader engaged.

Now I should try So We Read On by Maureen Corrigan, another book in which a reader recounts her relationship with a book.

Macdonald, Helen. H is for Hawk. Grove Press, 2014. 300p. ISBN 9780802123411.