This week, the library is highlighting two new nonfiction books currently available. Nonfiction is literature that, regardless of the subject matter, has a simple goal: to provide information. It should be based on facts and conclusions of the author’s research or expertise, as opposed to the creativity of the author’s imagination. Storytelling skills are required when writing a great work of nonfiction, but the content is still expected to be accurate. The authors below have written works of nonfiction. One author’s work is humorous and the other has written about a real life mystery and courtroom drama.
Edison’s Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History’s Greatest Geniuses by Katie Spalding. In this raucous and hilarious book, Spalding overturns everything you knew about history’s greatest minds. She reveals that there is a finer line between genius and and not so smart than we’ve previously known. She begins the book by writing “as Albert Einstein almost certainly never said, everyone is a genius but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” She helps readers understand that genius may not be as irrefutably great as we commonly understand. Most of us may never become Einstein, but it may surprise us to learn that there’s probably a bunch of stuff we can do that Einstein could not. She also shows that famous prodigies were quite odd by any definition. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, for example, but he also believed that he could communicate with the undead and built the very first hotline to heaven called the Spirit Phone. Isaac Newton discovered the laws of gravity and motion. but he also looked up at the sun without eye protection resulting in three days of blindness. The book is filled with examples of the so-called best of humanity doing some really dumb things. The reader will discover stories that deserve to be told but never are, stories of the hilarious, regrettable, and downright baffling achievements that never made it into our history books.
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann. On January 28, 1742, thirty emaciated men clinging to life inside a ramshackle vessel made of wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. They told their rescuers that they were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had set off from England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. The Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled ship when it wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. Marooned for months and facing starvation, the men built their flimsy boat and set sail for more than a hundred days and traversed nearly 3,000 miles of stormy seas. The men’s rescuers regarded them as heroes. Six months later, however, an even more dilapidated vessel beached on the coast of Chile. This boat had three castaways and they told a very different story from that told by the 30 survivors of the Wager. The castaways reported that the Wager’s sailors were not heroes, they were mutineers. The Wager’s crew responded with countercharges of their own—a tale of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island, the Wager’s crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the island’s barren wilderness. As the accusations of treachery and murder flew, the British Admiralty convened a court martial to determine the truth. The stakes were high because the faction found guilty could hang. The Wager is a tale of extreme human behavior and the incredible twists of the narrative will hold the reader spellbound.
Upcoming events:
Support Group for Parents of Challenging Kids, Wednesdays at 9:00 AM. If you are feeling overwhelmed, join others to gain valuable support, coping strategies, and information about community resources.
June Crafternoons: Wednesdays, drop in from noon-2 PM to make crafty creations! All ages are encouraged to attend. A different project will be featured each Wednesday!
Game Night AND Movies & Popcorn, the last Wednesday of each month at 6:00 PM. If you’ve been struggling to fit movie matinees and game night into your family’s schedule, we will have fresh popcorn and a movie during game night!
They All Grow Up, Tuesday, June 13 at 6 PM. Local author, Cindy Semark, will discuss her recently published book on parenting adult children with special needs and will share her experience navigating life when special education ends, but adult challenges continue.
Checked Out: Russell Wood Ride, Thursday, June 15. Join us at 6:15 PM for a celebratory tree planting in honor of Chris Nofsinger. Come in the library at 6:30 PM to hear her share details of her 2,611 mile bike ride from St. Augustine, FL, to San Diego, CA while fundraising for the Marcellus Township Library
Potawatomi Zoo Days 2023, every Friday in July 2023 at 12N. The Potawatomi Zoo will bring different varieties of live ambassador animals each week.
Nutrition and Medical Classes, third Wednesday of each month. Next class June 21. 2023, 6:00pm: Hypertension: How High is High?
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