Adult Book Discussion
Thursday October 18 at 10:00am
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE GREAT LAKES by Dan Egan. Milwaukee Sentinel Journal's Egan, "beat reporter" on the Great Lakes since 2003, examines the ecological and economic havoc caused by invasive species and also considers problems such as fluctuating lake levels and future threats including water diversion schemes. He shows how big engineering, canal building in particular, opened the lakes to shipping but also swung open the "front" (e.g., the Saint Lawrence Seaway) and "back" (e.g., Chicago Canal system) doors to nonindigenous aquatic species. Some critters hitchhiked in the ballast tanks of ships; others were carried in by the currents or swam. Swamp draining and river dredging have played their own pernicious parts in "unstitching a delicate ecological web more than 10,000 years in the making." Egan offers some bold solutions to slow the damage (e.g., develop better ballast disinfection systems, close the Saint Lawrence Seaway to ocean freighters, shut the Chicago Canal) but admits that obstacles such as the shipping lobby and foot-dragging politicians are formidable (Library Journal).
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Adult Book Discussion
Thursday November 29 at 10:00am
THE WOMAN WHO SMASHED CODES by Jason Fagone. Two forces set Elizebeth Friedman on the path to success: her love of literature and her fear of being ordinary. The first led her to the Newberry Library in Chicago to see a rare copy of William Shakespeare's First Folio. There, a librarian introduced her to a rich, eccentric stranger named George Fabayan. Against her sound judgment, Friedman accepted an unusual assignment at Fabayan's laboratory of decrypting Shakespeare's works. Friedman met her husband, William, at the laboratory and they eventually became two of the world's top cryptologists. William and Elizebeth solved some of the toughest crimes and military intelligence challenges of the 20th century (Library Journal).
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Let's Talk About Texts - The Power
Thursday November 29 at 7:00pm
Join us at The Free House Pub (1902 Parmenter St.) to discuss Naomi Alderman's novel, "The Power." Copies of the book are available at the library's reference desk. All adult are welcome! What would happen if women suddenly possessed a fierce new power? In THE POWER, the world is a recognizable place: there's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power--they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets. From award-winning author Naomi Alderman, THE POWER is speculative fiction at its most ambitious and provocative, at once taking us on a thrilling journey to an alternate reality, and exposing our own world in bold and surprising ways. (Amazon.com)
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