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Nonfiction

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

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The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel A. van der Kolk, M.D.
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Trauma has the power to change a person’s worldview and relationships, and even their brain. Yet, there are strategies that we can take to heal from trauma and use it to grow.

In the book The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by psychiatrist Bessel A. van der Kolk, readers will gain knowledge on psychological trauma—including its symptoms, how it affects the mind, and how a person can recover from it. This book will be of particular interest to individuals who are passionate about health and well-being, especially those who are curious about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or mental health in general. Drawing from the genres of scientific nonfiction and self-help, The Body Keeps the Score is a unique and thought-provoking read.

Find The Body Keeps the Score in the catalog.

Hamilton: The Revolution

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Hamilton: the Revolution: Being the Complete Libretto of the Broadway Musical, with a True Account of its Creation, and Concise Remarks on Hip-Hop, the Power of Stories, and the New America by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Stories have the power to move us, whether we read them in a book or see them on a screen or a stage. The smash-hit musical Hamilton, composed and written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is no exception. The show illustrates the real-life story of Alexander Hamilton, a Founding Father who was the United States’ first Secretary of the Treasury.

What fans of the musical may not know, though, is the inside scoop on the work that went into the show, from casting to writing lyrics. For instance, did you know that Leslie Odom Jr., who originated the role of Aaron Burr, made the choice to perform in Hamilton over playing a lead role in the NBC show State of Affairs? If you’re intrigued and want to learn more facts such as this, you may want to read Hamilton: The Revolution, which provides a behind-the-scenes look at the show. Written by the show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as author Jeremy McCarter, this book includes comments on the show’s lyrics, creation, and actors, as well as photographs from its original Broadway run.

Through illustrating the creation of a musical, this book may be of particular interest to readers who are artists of any kind—writers, painters, musicians, actors, etc.—because it shows the creative process of a composer and lyricist, which may inform the creative process of others.

Happy reading!

Find Hamilton: The Revolution in the catalog.

Entangled Life

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Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

It turns out that fungi are fun!  This book takes the reader on an unexpected journey and turns conventional thinking somewhat on its head. Although fungi have their own kingdom and are often lumped in with plants, they are actually more closely related to animals. They even take the prize for the largest and perhaps the oldest organism on the planet. There is a patch of honey fungi that covers 10 square kilometers in Oregon.  It is believed to be somewhere between two thousand and eight thousand years old. Some species of fungi launch their spores so explosively that they accelerate ten thousand times faster than a space shuttle directly after launch. Other species are responsible for “zombie” carpenter ants and provide nature with its very own internet, the wood wide web.

This book was a delight. Each page was full of new and interesting details that led me to search for more information, pictures, or videos of the events described. While the book itself is short, it may take you a bit longer to finish because you’ve fallen down a mycological rabbit hole.

Find Entangled Life in the catalog here!

In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond

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In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond: In Search of the Sasquatch by John Zada
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Investigative journalist John Zada confesses to a lifelong fascination with the legend of Bigfoot.

To satisfy his curiosity, and his appetite for adventure, he visits the remote Great Bear Rainforest region of Canada’s Pacific coast, where indigenous people have been telling stories about the Sasquatch for centuries.

While recording the stories of these First Nations, and other, communities, he also records the plight of the forest itself. Activists are fighting to conserve the vast wilderness, and animals that make their homes there, from oil companies, and hunters.

Zada’s thoughtful descriptions of the forest and its inhabitants will make you want to get lost in the woods, and his search for the Sasquatch leads him to a philosophical and psychological exploration of why we believe, or want to believe, in anything.

If you like books about travel, the environment, folklore, or belief systems, I suggest you give this a try. I found it to be a truly interesting read I continue to think about long after turning the last page.

Find In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond in the catalog

The Righteous Mind

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The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
Format: Book, audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

‘Can we all get along?’ The book begins with this often cliché question but then examines the psychological and cultural roots of why we often can’t achieve this goal. What are we basing our ideas of right and wrong on in the first place and is there any middle ground between opposing sides?

Dr. Jonathan Haidt writes through the lens of moral psychology which pulls together a broad range of aspects of a society such as anthropology, history, religion, and politics. He examines what moral intuition is, how it reacts with reason, and how we all interact with each other based on it. Dr. Haidt offers constructive ideas about drawing ideas from liberals, conservatives, and libertarians alike to find that middle ground that could benefit the whole society.

Audiobook is often a good format for non-fiction books such as this and you can find this title in our Libby app as an eAudiobook. Print versions of the book are also available for check out through the link below. If you have questions about using electronic resources please call or visit us at the library.

Find the digital book in Libby

Find the print book in our catalog

In Cold Blood

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In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Format: Digital Audio and CD
Who’s it for: Adults

In Cold Blood is a non-fiction novel detailing the four 1959 murders of the Clutter family in their home. The tragic event took place in Holcomb, Kansas in the early morning hours of November 15, 1959.

It took authorities six weeks find and arrest the felons.

Capote and his good friend and writer Harper Lee traveled to Holcomb to interview the town, residents and investigators of the case.

It took Capote six years of detailed, extensive research to write the book describing the lives of the murderers and the victim’s.

The murderers were two ex-convicts who had been recently paroled from the Kansas State Penitentiary. Richard Eugene “Dick” Hickock and Perry Edward Smith. They robbed and murdered Herb, his wife Bonnie, his son Keyon and daughter Nancy.

The novel chronicles the lives of the murderers, family and surrounding community members, providing an in depth look at what they were thinking and feeling.

Hickcock and Smith spent five years on death row and were finally executed by hanging on April 14, 1965. The jury only deliberated for 45 minutes before finding them both guilty.

Find In Cold Blood in the catalog.