On My Radar:

Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House
by Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz
Crown Publishing
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Is it possible for a sitting vice president to direct a vast criminal enterprise within the halls of the White House? To have one of the most brazen corruption scandals in American history play out while nobody’s paying attention? And for that scandal to be all but forgotten decades later?

The year was 1973, and Spiro T. Agnew, the former governor of Maryland, was Richard Nixon’s second-in-command. Long on firebrand rhetoric and short on political experience, Agnew had carried out a bribery and extortion ring in office for years, when—at the height of Watergate—three young federal prosecutors discovered his crimes and launched a mission to take him down before it was too late, before Nixon’s impending downfall elevated Agnew to the presidency. The self-described “counterpuncher” vice president did everything he could to bury their investigation: dismissing it as a “witch hunt,” riling up his partisan base, making the press the enemy, and, with a crumbling circle of loyalists, scheming to obstruct justice in order to survive.

In this blockbuster account, Rachel Maddow and Michael Yarvitz detail the investigation that exposed Agnew’s crimes, the attempts at a cover-up—which involved future president George H. W. Bush—and the backroom bargain that forced Agnew’s resignation but also spared him years in federal prison. Based on the award-winning hit podcast, Bag Man expands and deepens the story of Spiro Agnew’s scandal and its lasting influence on our politics, our media, and our understanding of what it takes to confront a criminal in the White House.

On My Radar:

The Last Days of John Lennon
by James Patterson with Casey Sherman and Dave Wedge
Little Brown & Company
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

With the Beatles, John Lennon surpasses his youthful dreams, achieving a level of superstardom that defies classification. “We were the best bloody band there was,” he says. “There was nobody to touch us.” Nobody except the original nowhere man, Mark David Chapman. Chapman once worshipped his idols from afar—but now harbors grudges against those, like Lennon, whom he feels betrayed him. He’s convinced Lennon has misled fans with his message of hope and peace. And Chapman’s not staying away any longer. 
 
By the summer of 1980, Lennon is recording new music for the first time in years, energized and ready for it to be “(Just Like) Starting Over.” He can’t wait to show the world what he will do. 
 
Neither can Chapman, who quits his security job and boards a flight to New York, a handgun and bullets stowed in his luggage. 
 
The greatest true-crime story in music history, as only James Patterson can tell it. Enriched by exclusive interviews with Lennon’s friends and associates, including Paul McCartney, The Last Days of John Lennon is the thrilling true story of two men who changed history: One whose indelible songs enliven our world to this day—and the other who ended the beautiful music with five pulls of a trigger.

On My Radar:

Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year
by Michaelangelo Matos
Hachette Books
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Everybody knows the hits of 1984 – pop music’s greatest year. From “Thriller” to “Purple Rain,” “Hello” to “Against All Odds,” “What’s Love Got to Do with It” to “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” these iconic songs continue to dominate advertising, karaoke nights, and the soundtracks for film classics (Boogie Nights) and TV hits (Stranger Things). But the story of that thrilling, turbulent time, an era when Top 40 radio was both the leading edge of popular culture and a moral battleground, has never been told with the full detail it deserves – until now. Can’t Slow Down is the definitive portrait of the exploding world of mid-eighties pop and the time it defined, from Cold War anxiety to the home-computer revolution. Big acts like Michael Jackson (Thriller), Prince (Purple Rain), Madonna (Like a Virgin), Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A.), and George Michael (Wham!’s Make It Big) rubbed shoulders with the stars of the fermenting scenes of hip-hop, indie rock, and club music. 

Rigorously researched, mapping the entire terrain of American pop, with crucial side trips to the UK and Jamaica, from the biz to the stars to the upstarts and beyond, Can’t Slow Down is a vivid journey to the very moment when pop was remaking itself, and the culture at large – one hit at a time.

In My TBR Stack:

A New Way to Know: Using Artificial Intelligence to Augment Learning in Students with Cognitive Disabilities
by Al Jones, Jr., Ed.D.
Leverage in Learning
Trade Paperback


From the book publicity:

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO "KNOW" SOMETHING"

​

While the answer to this question has been traditionally defined by the content of an individual's mind, artificial intelligence technology, or AI, has the potential to completely redefine the notion.

​

In no context are discussion of what it means to know more relevant than in those surrounding individuals with cognitive disabilities, unique individuals who struggle with knowing daily.  However, the emerging age of AI has opened up new opportunities - new ways for them to know what they've never had access to knowing before.  This new way of knowing presents new opportunities and new potentials for them to live normal independent lives. 

In A New Way to Know, Dr. Al Jones, Jr. explores the intersection between AI and cognitive disabilities, making an equity-based case for how the strategic integration of AI into special education classrooms can revolutionize the learning outcomes of students. Filled with refreshing ideas, the book promises to spark lively discussions among stakeholders in education, technology, the corporate world, and the community.

On My Radar:

Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who
by Dave Marsh
Plexus Books
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

Before I Get Old stands as one of the best books ever written about rock’n’roll. After best-selling Rolling Stone writer Dave Marsh was invited by Pete Townshend to write a history of legendary band the Who, he spent three years investigating and researching their story. The result is the first in-depth biography of the band, discarding the myth and nonsense which has become so much a part of the usual Who coverage. Before I Get Old tells the story of not one but six personalities – guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle, drummer Keith Moon and singer Roger Daltrey plus their original managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. It describes the group’s origins in the steamy nightlife of London, charts their meteoric rise to fame, and describes the creation of the rock opera Tommy which turned them into superstars. Here is the pathos, the laughter, the crazy world they worked in, the drugs, the destruction, the vandalism, the debts, the multi-million-dollar tours, and of course the music. In short, this story contains every inch of the fascinating, shocking, hilarious, and provocatively relevant material that makes up the Who and their wild lives and careers. Before I Get Old is essential reading, an exhaustive study of an exhausting band, who have always lived up to their legend.

On My Radar:

Honky Tonk Hero
by Billy Joe Shaver
University of Texas Press
Trade Paperback

From the publisher's website:

As full of life, heartbreak, and drama as any of Billy Joe Shaver's songs, Honky Tonk Hero is the story of a man who not only walked on the wild side and lived to tell about it, but also got it all down in some of the finest country music ever written.

On My Radar:

Last Stands: Why Men Fight When All Is Lost
by Michael Walsh
St. Martin's Press
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

In our contemporary era, men are increasingly denied their heritage as warriors. A survival instinct that’s part of the human condition, the drive to wage war is natural. Without war, the United States would not exist. The technology that has eased manual labor, extended lifespans, and become an integral part of our lives and culture has often evolved from wartime scientific advancements. War is necessary to defend the social and political principles that define the virtues and freedoms of America and other Western nations. We should not be ashamed of the heroes who sacrificed their lives to build a better world. We should be honoring them.

The son of a Korean War veteran of the Inchon landing and the battle of the Chosin Reservoir with the U.S. Marine Corps, Michael Walsh knows all about heroism, valor, and the call of duty that requires men to fight for something greater than themselves to protect their families, fellow countrymen, and most of all their fellow soldiers. In Last Stands, Walsh reveals the causes and outcomes of more than a dozen battles in which a small fighting force refused to surrender to a far larger force, often dying to the last man.

From the Spartans’ defiance at Thermopylae and Roland’s epic defense of Charlemagne’s rear guard at Ronceveaux Pass, through Santa Anna’s siege of the Alamo defended by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie to the skirmish at Little Big Horn between Crazy Horse’s Sioux nation and George Armstrong Custer’s Seventh Calvary, to the Soviets’ titanic struggle against the German Wehrmacht at Stalingrad, and more, Walsh reminds us all of the debt we owe to heroes willing to risk their lives against overwhelming odds—and how these sacrifices and battles are not only a part of military history but our common civilizational heritage.

On My Radar:

Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut
by Samantha Cristoforetti
Penguin Random House UK
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

'Today I woke up on Earth. And I will fall asleep in space'

In space the sun rises and sets 16 times a day. You fly over every sea, every mountain and desert, every city and every port. The most ordinary things -- eating, sleeping, brushing your teeth or cutting your hair -- have to be relearned, until they become familiar again. This is the story of Samantha Cristoforetti's incredible journey to becoming an astronaut, and her journey beyond Earth.

Her voyage as an apprentice astronaut began when she was in her early thirties: five years of intense training around the world, from Houston to Japan to the legendary Star City in Russia. Countless hours spent in centrifuges, spaceship simulators and under water for spacewalk practice. Then, one day, a rocket was waiting for her on the launch pad. And after eight minutes of wild ascent, she was on orbit, crunched up with her two crewmates in a tiny spaceship that took them to the International Space Station.

With honesty and warmth, Cristoforetti chronicles the two hundred days she spent on the ISS, the joys and challenges of being in an extraordinary place, from the sublime sight of seeing Earth for the first time to more unusual concerns, such as mastering the art of floating. How do you find your bearings when there is no up and down? What is it like to run in weightlessness? And how do you cook in space?

This is an enthralling, inspiring and surprisingly down-to-earth story about what it really takes to pursue your dreams. 

On My Radar:

They Just Seem a Little Weird: How KISS, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, and Starz Remade Rock and Roll
by Doug Brod
Hachette Books
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

It was the age when heavy-footed, humorless dinosaurs roamed the hard-rock landscape. But that all changed when into these dazed and confused mid-'70s strut-ted four flamboyant bands that reveled in revved-up anthems and flaunted a novel theatricality. In They Just Seem a Little Weird, veteran entertainment journalist Doug Brod offers an eye- and ear-opening look at a crucial moment in music history, when rock became fun again and a gig became a show. This is the story of friends and frenemies who rose, fell, and soared once more, often sharing stages, studios, producers, engineers, managers, agents, roadies, and fans-and who are still collaborating more than forty years on.

In the tradition of David Browne's Fire and Rain and Sheila Weller's Girls Like Us, They Just Seem a Little Weird seamlessly interweaves the narratives of KISS, Cheap Trick, and Aerosmith with that of Starz, a criminally neglected band whose fate may have been sealed by a shocking act of violence. This is also the story of how these distinctly American groups-three of them now enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-laid the foundation for two seemingly opposed rock genres: the hair metal of Poison, Skid Row, and Mötley Crüe and the grunge of Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and the Melvins. Deeply researched, and featuring more than 130 new interviews, this book is nothing less than a secret history of classic rock.

In My TBR Stack:

5,203 Things to Do Instead of Looking at Your Phone
by Barbara Ann Kipfer
Workman Publishing
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

Put down your phone, close the lid on your laptop, and get back in touch with the wonders of the world around you. With thousands of ideas for simple, beautiful things to do instead of scrolling down the rabbit hole of cyberspace, this healing little book offers the opportunity, 5,203 times, to slow down, look up, and rediscover what makes you feel nourished and grounded as a human being. With illustrations throughout by Scot Ritchie.

In My (Mom's) TBR Stack:

The 50/50 Friendship Flow: Life Lessons From and For My Girlfriends
by Shari Leid
Capucia Publishing
Trade Paperback

From the book publicity:

We all have friendships that we have maintained over the years. But now more than ever it’s easy to lose connection with those who you care about—and the uncomfortable feeling of being disconnected from our friends is all too common.

The 50/50 Friendship Flow offers a conscious path to not simply maintain friendships, but to deepen those relationships to support connection and bring joy and a sense of purpose to both of you.

As you read The 50/50 Friendship Flow you will discover

• That everyone you meet is both your teacher and your student
• A feeling of wellbeing and happiness as you deepen your friendships
• The power of the one-on-one meeting
• The purpose and impact that each person brings into your life

The 50/50 Friendship Flow encourages each of us to give one another the gift of time. It reveals the power of sitting down one-on-one with a friend for the sole purpose of letting her know the positive impact that she has made in your life.

Now in Paperback:

Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge
by Sheila Weller
Picador Books
Trade Paperback


From the publisher's website:

In her 2008 bestseller, Girls Like Us, Sheila Weller—with heart and a profound feeling for the times—gave us a surprisingly intimate portrait of three icons: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon. Now she turns her focus to one of the most loved, brilliant, and iconoclastic women of our time: the actress, writer, daughter, and mother Carrie Fisher.

Weller traces Fisher’s life from her Hollywood royalty roots to her untimely and shattering death after Christmas 2016. Her mother was the spunky and adorable Debbie Reynolds; her father, the heartthrob crooner Eddie Fisher. When Eddie ran off with Elizabeth Taylor, the scandal thrust little Carrie Frances into a bizarre spotlight, gifting her with an irony and an aplomb that would resonate throughout her life. 

We follow Fisher’s acting career, from her debut in Shampoo, the hit movie that defined mid-1970s Hollywood, to her seizing of the plum female role in Star Wars, which catapulted her to instant fame. We explore her long, complex relationship with Paul Simon and her relatively peaceful years with the talent agent Bryan Lourd. We witness her startling leap—on the heels of a near-fatal overdose—from actress to highly praised, bestselling author, the Dorothy Parker of her place and time.

Weller sympathetically reveals the conditions that Fisher lived with: serious bipolar disorder and an inherited drug addiction. Still, despite crises and overdoses, her life’s work—as an actor, a novelist and memoirist, a script doctor, a hostess, and a friend—was prodigious and unique. As one of her best friends said, “I almost wish the expression ‘one of a kind’ didn’t exist, because it applies to Carrie in a deeper way than it applies to others.”

Sourced by friends, colleagues, and witnesses to all stages of Fisher’s life, Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge is an empathic and even-handed portrayal of a woman who—as Princess Leia, but mostly as herself—was a feminist heroine, one who died at a time when we need her blazing, healing honesty more than ever.

On My Radar:

How Did I Get Here? A Memoir
by Bruce McCall
Blue Rider Press
Hardcover


From the publisher's website:

Beloved for his strikingly original and wickedly perceptive New Yorker covers, as well as his many Shouts and Murmurs, Bruce is a rare double threat as an artist and writer. Self-taught in both disciplines, his artistic world has captured the imagination of a loyal fan base that includes no less than David Letterman (whom he coauthored a book with) and other satire aficionados. Pulling no punches, How Did I Get Here? chronicles the evolution of his artistic genius as well as his journey from gifted childhood scribbler to passionate automobile enthusiast, a hobby that took him to the heights of the Detroit and Manhattan advertising worlds. His long-held passion for drawing and writing, which mostly lay dormant during his Mad Men days, reemerged later in life as he left the realm of advertising for the world of arts and letters, most notably at the National Lampoon, as a writer for Saturday Night Live in its first incarnation, and then of course at The New Yorker, as well as other Conde Nast magazines, such as Vanity Fair. His is an unorthodox life and career path, traversing through worlds that have now become iconic, giving us rich first-hand insight into Bruce’s unique creative development and process, and providing a rare window into both the highs and the lows that define an artist’s career and life. 

 
With wit, candor, and cover illustrations showcasing Bruce’s storied career, Bruce McCall’s memoir will charm his many fans and anyone who knows and loves the places and eras he describes so well.