“Triangles are everything,” Parker writes in the introduction, “and everything is triangles.” The following 10 chapters bear titles like “Going the Distance,” “Getting Triggy With It,” and “Making Waves.” Within his exploratory and everyday applications of triangles, the author describes rounding corners on a racetrack (“the bike did lean just over 45° from vertical. Which […]
Happy families are truly not all alike: “every family is unique, particularly in the United States,” due to “varying family compositions and the ethnic mixture” of the population. Currie-McGhee uses this broad diversity to explain that “statistical averages” are not the same as being “typical.” She provides relevant quotations from and brief portraits of members […]
In his careful delineation of the causes of the most recent flare-up of antisemitism, Lappin, a professor of natural language processing, first looks at the big-picture forces that are feeding much of global society’s grievances, including widespread anti-immigration sentiment and ethno-nationalism. As the author demonstrates, extremist movements—such as those whose members chant, “Jews will not […]
In the wake of a terrible storm, young Maya and her father, Tatay , find a large piece of corrugated metal with the words “If found, please return to.” But who does it belong to? Maya and Tatay pick it up and go in search of its owner. A farmer, his cart pulled by a […]
Pizza-making begins promisingly (“Mix. Roll. Pull”), but tossing the dough brings disaster: “SPLAT.” The pair are determined (“Again,” “pull”), but alas, the final step is always followed by “STICK,” “SPLAT,” and “PLOP,” whether it’s Penguin or Owl throwing the pie to the sky. Draped in dough, they finally have a joint light bulb moment—time for […]
In 2019, twenty-something Eleanor “Ellie” Stone is staying in her childhood home in suburban New Jersey for the weekend with her younger brother, Josh. She’s there to keep him safe, since he’s a drug addict. They have an argument, and she leaves the house for about an hour; while she’s away, the family home suddenly […]
Yellowstone, writes Gettysburg College environmental studies professor Wilson, “is remarkably distant from just about everywhere and everyone else in the continental United States.” For all that, it draws 4 million visitors a year. It was always remote, little settled by Indigenous people until relatively recently. Early on, an American explorer with a background in geology, […]
From author and comedian Raskin comes a sincere examination of the laws, history, and social norms surrounding Western society’s expectations for a successful relationship and marriage. Drawing on personal experience as well as interviews and first-person stories from American couples, she explores the cultural effects of marriage and how modern-day relationships continually change and evolve. […]
Since his death in 1977, there has been no shortage of books about Elvis Presley, and each generally attempts to provide new insights into the legendary performer. Gibson is no different, in that she makes the claim that Presley’s sense of style matched his sometimes introverted, sometimes confident personality, both on- and offstage, whether he […]
After Inez Olivera was nearly murdered while assisting with her uncle’s archaeological expedition in Egypt, Tío Ricardo is eager to ship her home to safety in Argentina. But Inez burns with the need to stay and make sure that those who committed crimes against her family are held responsible. Unfortunately, the law precludes Inez, as […]