Daubert’s new book is a collection of wonders. Each short chapter details the extraordinarily complex web of connections all forms of life have evolved to sustain themselves and reproduce, each more incredible than the next.
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William E. Wallace’s lifetime of research clearly informs this wonderfully written account of the last two decades of Michelangelo’s life when he designs and directs the construction of the new St. Peter’s in Rome. Wallace convincingly immerses you what is was like to live in sixteenth -century Rome as well as providing great insight into the genius of Michelangelo’s artistry.
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With regards to the coming catastrophic effects of climate change the first sentence of this powerful polemic says it all: “It is worse, much worse, than you think.”
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I’ve been following the work of Olivia Parker ever since David R. Godine published the first book of her work, Signs of Life, in 1978. If you didn’t see her career retrospective at the Peabody Essex Museum this fall, you’re too late. You missed an amazing exhibition, but you can still enjoy this catalog of that show
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Altan, one of contemporary Turkey’s most important writers, currently serving a life sentence on trumped up charges by Erdogan’s brutish authoritarian regime, has written this profoundly moving prison memoir that ultimately is an expression of the triumph of the human spirit and imagination.
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Solid State is a compulsively readable and definitive account of the writing and recording of the Beatles’ landmark final album, Abbey Road. Filled with fascinating details demonstrating the creativity and ingenuity of the group, George Martin, and their recording engineers, and even with all that has been written about them, this book is simply a must read for any fan.
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Power, well-known for her earlier Pulitzer Prize winning book on genocide A Problem from Hell , gives us a compelling memoir chronicling her life becoming a tireless human rights advocate first as a journalist and vocal critic of government policy, then through her service as presidential adviser, and finally her appointment as U.N Ambassador, struggling to make a difference by bringing a moral dimension to American foreign policy.
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Chinen’s book is so very welcome as books about contemporary jazz are few and far between, but also because it’s terrific. Chinen puts into context each of the various directions players are taking improvisational music today with a studied thoughtfulness based upon careful listening and deep historical knowledge. The discographies bookmarking each chapter as well as his list of essential 21st century albums are good guideposts for anyone’s future listening.
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This book is not for everyone though it is my kind of Summer reading. Its length and rich prose requires close and patient attention. In a sense it’s a summation of Lopez’s lifetime of travels to the distant corners of our planet documenting the interactions of myriad human cultures and the natural world. Terry Tempest Williams recently called it “a masterpiece”. Indeed.
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The Farmer’s Son is an unflinching yet tender memoir about small livestock farming way of life in rural Ireland that almost disappeared if not in Ireland than certainly in our own country. While there’s nothing romantic about such a hardscrabble life Connell’s account of his careful and humane husbandry is profoundly moving.
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