Every Bone Tells a Story

Every bone tells a story : hominin discoveries, deductions, and debates / Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw. -- Watertown: Charlesbridge, c2010.
185 p. : col. ill., col. maps ; 24 cm.
ISBN: 9781580891646

1. Archaeologists – Biography. 2. Excavations (Archaeology). 3. Fossil hominids. 4. Human remains (Archaeology). 5. Prehistoric peoples.

930.1

The fossilized skeleton of one of our prehistoric ancestors and the actual bones of two others and the mummy of a fourth (Turkana Boy, Lapedo Child, Kennewick Man, and Iceman, respectively) do tell stories, and the authors have made them very lively stories. As their subtitle promises the narratives start with the discovery by archaeologists, a construction crew, or casual passers-by and then the excitement when the find is publicized. Then the deductions start, what can we learn from their teeth and DNA, and what do the remains tell us about life before we began to record it? When and how did we begin to use language? How did agriculture spread? How did humans spread out from Africa across the globe? Then when tentative answers are put forth the fury of the debate begins, with scientists sometimes taking on their opponents as if they were preparing for a professional wrestling match. All and all this is an accurate, thought provoking and colorful account complete with bibliographies, index, web directories, and color photography.

Behemoth

Behemoth / Scott Westerfeld ; read by Alan Cumming.-- [New York] : Simon and Schuster Audio, p2010.
8 sound discs (9 hr., 30 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
Unabridged
Compact discs
ISBN: 9781442334106

1. Alternative histories (Fiction) 2. Genetic engineering – Fiction. 3. Imaginary wars and battles – Fiction. 4. Princes – Fiction. 5. Science fiction. 6. Steampunk fiction. 7. War stories.

813.54

On August 10, 1914 two German warships the Görban and the Breslau slip into the Dardanelles steaming for Istanbul to evade the British Navy and with the hope of bringing the Ottoman Empire into the Great War on their side. In this second volume of Scott Westerfeld alternative steampunk history of the war, the Germans have been pursued and attacked not only by the British Navy, but also by the flagship of its Air Service, the Leviathan, an enormous airship genetically engineered from a whale and several other species by Darwinist scientists. Aboard are: Deryn Sharp, a fierce Scots lass disguised as a boy and her unlikely new friend Prince Alek, the heir to the Austo-Hungarian Empire. Within days both are running loose in the Ottoman capital. While Deryn leads a secret sabotage mission, Alek intrigues with local revolutionaries in this fantastic adventure tale of what might have been. Cumming skillfully switches accents from Scots to English to German adding verisimilitude while keeping up the fast pace of the action.

Manhood for Amateurs

Manhood for amateurs : the pleasures and regrets of a husband, father, and son / Michael Chabon.— New York : Harper Audio, 2009.
7 sound discs (8 hr.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
ISBN: 9780061842375
Contents: The losers’ club – William and I – The cut – D.A.R.E. – The wilderness of childhood – Hypocritical theory – The spleandors of crap – The hand on my shoulder – The story of our story – the ghost of Irene Adler – The heartbreak kid – A gift – Faking it – Art of the cake – On Canseco – I feel good about my murse – Burning women – Verging – Fever – Looking for trouble – A woman of valor – Like, cosmic – Subterranean – XO9 – Sky and telescope – Shurefire lines – Cosmodemonic – Boyland – A textbook father – The omega glory – Getting out – Radio silence – Normal time – Xmas – The amateur family – Daughter of the Commandment.
Unabridged
Read by the author

1. American essays--21st century. 2. Authors, American – Biography. 3. Chabon, Michael -- Family. 4. Chabon, Michael -- Marriage. 5. Fatherhood -- United States. 6. Fathers -- United States – Biography. 7. Husbands -- United States -- Biography. 8. Marriage -- United States. 9. Masculinity -- United States. 10. Men -- United States – Biography. 11. Sons -- United States -- Biography.

814.54

Chabon uses his personal experiences to essay into various topics of masculinity and family. Divorce, his and his parents, feelings of inadequacy, love and relationships, honesty, growing up as a child in the 1970s, the joys of being a geek, being honest with your children about drug use. As in his novels, he manages to tie many seemingly unrelated topics together to produce sparkling literate prose.

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and prejudice / by Jane Austen ; with a preface by George Saintsbury and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. – Mineola : Dover Publications, 2005.
xxvii, 476 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
ISBN: 9780486440910
“This Dover ed. is an unabridged republication of the work originally published in 1894 by George Allen.”

1. Courtship -- Fiction. 2. Domestic fiction. 3. England -- Fiction. 4. Love stories. 5. Sisters -- Fiction. 6. Social classes -- Fiction. 7. Young women -- Fiction.

823.7

When Mr. Bingley, a “young man of large fortune from the north of England,” buys a house in town, Mrs. Bennet is in a frenzy to get her husband to make a social call on their new neighbor. She wants the Bennets to get there before other families with marriageable young daughters, after all, the Bennets have five in need of being married off! So begins this witty description of leisurely paced domestic scheming that serves as the backdrop for the courtship of the clever and self-assured Elizabeth Bennet by Mr. Bingley’s friend, the proud and aristocratic Fitzwilliam Darcy. And while the reader is aware of Mr. Darcy’s infatuation early in the novel, it takes the heroine completely by surprise half-way through the book. This masterpiece of romantic comedy with its precisely portrayed characters is the template and measure for all the Regency Romances of today.