Proust Was a Neuroscientist
By Jonah Lehrer
Reviewed by Steve George
“The modernists got the brain right,” says Jonah Lehrer in this concise, elegantly written, provocative book.

The Works
By Kate Ascher
Reviewed by Gregory Howard
In 1912, as workers tunneled under Broadway for what would become New York City’s BMT subway line, their drills broke through into an open shaft: the silent remnant of Alfred Beach’s Pneumatic Transit line.

The Genetic Strand
By Edward Ball
Reviewed by David Hoekenga, M.D.
The Genetic Strand takes aim at a family history tangled with Indians and slaves in
the Old South, but clearly misses.

Terra
By Michael Novacek
Reviewed by Katherine M. Doherty
Are we a wasteful, unappreciative society heading for ecological disaster?

The Authentic Confucius
By Annping Chin
Reviewed by Yong-yun Lee
A reconstruction of the broken rings of the life of Confucius (551-479 B.C.), this ambitious project by Annping Chin attempts to reassemble the biography compiled by Sima Qian (145-86 B.C.), which has been accepted as the most accurate record of that life.

A New Green History of the World
By Clive Ponting
Reviewed by Marty Carlock
A reader who is paying attention can’t get very far into A New Green History of the World without asking: How can one guy know all this stuff?

Independents Day
By Lou Dobbs
Reviewed by Bob Sanchez
Lou Dobbs has written a passionate and thoughtful critique of our government and
its power over average citizens.

The Brain That Changes Itself
By Norman Doidge
Reviewed by Ruth Douillette
Neuroscientists explore the brain as the Hubble explores outer space: traveling purposefully through uncharted territory.

The Geography of Bliss
By Eric Weiner
Reviewed by Gary Presley
“Most folks are about as happy as they
make up their minds to be,” said
Abraham Lincoln.

The Shock Doctrine
By Naomi Klein
Reviewed by Carter Jefferson
Shock: a dictator takes over, or a devastating tsunami hits.