On NPR last night I heard about a book that I think some of you might be interested in putting on your TBR list.



The Great Decision: Jefferson, Adams, Marshall, and the Battle for the Supreme Court

Amazon
In 1800, when Thomas Jefferson took office as third president of the U.S., it represented the first peaceful transfer of power from one party to another in the new nation, but it also aggravated growing tensions between the outgoing Federalists and the incoming Republicans. The nascent U.S. Supreme Court, led by John Marshall, Jefferson’s distant cousin and sometime antagonist, was caught in the middle when a case pitting the two political parties against each other landed before the court. Marbury v. Madison challenged Jefferson’s authority to rebuff the court-packing efforts of outgoing President Adams. Sloan and McKean begin by detailing the behind-the-scenes machinations attending the transfer of power to Jefferson. They go on to focus on the particulars of the Marbury case and Marshall’s efforts to shape the court’s tradition by wearing black robes, deliberating, and balancing politics against legal equity, to establish gravitas for an institution that had been a laughingstock. An astute politician, Marshall managed to avoid a confrontation with Jefferson but firmly established the Supreme Court as the last word in interpreting the Constitution. In this highly accessible book, the authors skillfully build suspense and tension around an outcome readers may already know.
Hardcover: 288 pages

I caught a small part of an interesting interview on NPR today. It was the author of Brain Rules.


It is tips on how to use your brain to its optimum level.

One study revealed that the best time to tackle a taxing mental task is to do it right after you exercise. Don't do anything first like shower or eat. Just go right to the task. He said people who were memorizing foreign language vocabulary retained 20% more if they did this.

Anyway, it sounded interesting, so I requested it from my library, And I thought I would pass along the title to you, as I know this topic in the past was of interest to some of you.



AMAZON
From Publishers Weekly
Multitasking is the great buzz word in business today, but as developmental molecular biologist Medina tells readers in a chapter on attention, the brain can really only focus on one thing at a time. This alone is the best argument for not talking on your cellphone while driving. Medina (The Genetic Inferno) presents readers with a basket containing an even dozen good principles on how the brain works and how we can use them to our benefit at home and work. The author says our visual sense trumps all other senses, so pump up those PowerPoint presentations with graphics. The author says that we don't sleep to give our brain a rest—studies show our neurons firing furiously away while the rest of the body is catching a few z's. While our brain indeed loses cells as we age, it compensates so that we continue to be able to learn well into our golden years. Many of these findings and minutiae will be familiar to science buffs, but the author employs an appealing style, with suggestions on how to apply his principles, which should engage all readers

I thought I would start a thread/topic for books that you have not read yet, but heard about in reviews, TV, radio or magazines that you wanted to pass along the title to others here.

Alias Reader wrote: "I thought I would start a thread/topic for books that you have not read yet, but heard about in reviews, TV, radio or magazines that you wanted to pass along the title to others here. "

Good idea. I like hearing about books but don't have the patience at present to watch Book TV on c-span. And our paper barely reviews books...or at least nothing i want to read.

The post-exercise info is fascinating! I'm passing that tidbit around to family! Thanks.

deborah

I will have to remember the post-exercising tip when I have a heavy mental task to do. Alias, I so appreciate you posting these tidbits and books that help us expand our brains and give us interesting knowledge.

Alias Reader wrote: " I caught a small part of an interesting interview on NPR today. It was the author of Brain Rules.
"

This sounds fascinating. I will look for it on disk.

Good Idea, Deborah. If you like, I'll post some of the Book TV guests that will be on over the weekend. I get an email from them.

Book TV C-Span April 11-13

Kirstin Downey, The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience
(Saturday 8 AM & 11 PM, Sunday 7 PM ET)

Virginia Festival of the Book
Saturday 12 PM ET
(re-airs Sunday 12 AM ET)
Sunday 1 PM ET
(re-airs Monday 1 AM ET)

Interviews featuring:
John Grisham, The Innocent Man and The Associate

Mildred Wigfall Robinson and Richard Bonnie, Law Touched Our Hearts: A Generation Remembers Brown v. Board of Education

Sunday
Adam Bradley, Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop

For full schedule and times
www.BookTV.org

Book TV: April 18 - 20

www.booktv.org
check link for date & time & other authors


This weekend Book TV has 3 authors on Lincoln.


Paul Escott, What Shall We Do with the Negro? Lincoln, White Racism and Civil War America


- Jean Baker, Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography


- Craig Symonds, Lincoln and His Admirals

Paul Escott, What Shall We Do with the Negro? Lincoln, White Racism and Civil War America

I went to high school with a Paul Escott.....I wonder if it's the same guy. I think he was voted Most Likely to Succeed, but I'm not sure if being on C-SPAN Book TV is the equivalent of succeeding. I'll have to check it out.

Connie

That's cool, Connie. Let us know if it's him.

I don't think I can add any more right now. I have over 3000 now.

Connie wrote:I went to high school with a Paul Escott.....I wonder if it's the same guy. I think he was voted Most Likely to Succeed, but I'm not sure if being on C-SPAN Book TV is the equivalent of succeeding."

I do, particularly since in this case it means he wrote a book worthy enough for C-Span's attention. I'd consider myself quite successful if i wrote and published a book, let alone got any tv time! Please let us know if you learn it is him.

deborah

I went to high school with a Paul Escott.....I wonder if it's the same guy. I think he was voted Most Lik...

I watched Book TV last night and yes, that was the same Paul Escott I went to high school with, although to be honest, it took me a while to be sure. He's a very nice looking man, but I had to adjust my brain to see if the boy with the crew cut I remember from school could have grown up and become the gray-haired guy on TV.

I got out my yearbook to see if I remembered him correctly and he was indeed voted Most Likely to Succeed, along with being class president, delivering a speech at graduation and winning something called the Harvard Book Award. What an underachiever!!

Connie

That's cool, Connie. :)

LOL, Connie. Underachiever from High School on! Thanks for keeping us posted.

deborah

Book TV - C-SPAN 2 April 25-26

Book TV brings you LIVE coverage from the 2009 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the campus of UCLA.

Interview/call-in with Amy Goodman, co-author of Standing Up to the Madness


Panel: The Corridors of Power featuring
- H.W. Brands, author of Traitor to His Class
- Jim Newton, author of Justice for All
- Ronald C. White, Jr., author of A. Lincoln

Interview/call-in with Larry Wilmore, author of I'd Rather We Got Casinos

Panel: At the Gates of the 20th Century featuring
- Paula J. Giddings, author of Ida
- Richard Reeves, author of John Stuart Mill and A Force of Nature
- Robert Roper, author of Now the Drum of War

Interview/call-in with Joshua Cooper Ramo, author of The Age of the Unthinkable

Interview/call-in with Hugh Hewitt, author of GOP 5.0

Panel: Unknown Los Angeles featuring
- Frances Dinkelspiel, author of Towers of Gold
- Chip Jacobs, author of Smogtown
- D.J. Waldie, author of Holy Land

Interview/call-in with Abraham Lowenthal, author of Global California


SUNDAY COVERAGE INCLUDES:

Panel: A discussion about reading featuring
- Laura Miller, senior books writer, Salon.com
- Sara Nelson, former editor-in-chief at Publishers Weekly
- Jane Smiley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
- Lizzie Skurnick, book critic

Panel: The KaBoom Generation featuring
- Mike Farrell, author of Of Mule and Men
- Danny Goldberg, author of How the Left Lost Teen Spirit
- Joe Queenan, author of Closing Time

Panel: L.A. Writes the World featuring
- Chris Abani, author of Song for Night
- Steve Erickson, author of Zeroville
- Rachel Kushner, author of Telex from Cuba

After Words: Saturday & Sunday
Alan Beattie, False Economy: A Surprising Economic History of the World

For exact times go to : WWW.BookTV.org

Thanks, Alias. At one point i'd read all Queenan's books. However, i realized he was too sardonic for me, not to mention full of himself. ;-) Still it might be fun to watch that panel Sunday.

deborah

Sherry, when I was going for my exercise walk today and listening to NPR, I heard a author that I thought you would like, Robert Goolrick. His book is called Reliable Wife. I thought you might like it because it is set in Wisconsin. He also mentioned another book, it was an old book, also set in Wisconsin, that he said inspired him. I forget the title, but you can probably hear it on your computer if you listen to NPR. It was something like Wisconsin Murders

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story... Link to listen to NPR

A Reliable Wife GR link

http://www.amazon.com/Reliable-Wife-Robe... Amazon link.

From Booklist
Goolrick twists a familiar story, refashioning it into something completely original. Many authors have employed the timeworn rural-man-advertises-for-mail-order-bride plot device, but few have permeated their narratives with gothic elements and suspense to such great effect. All is not as straightforward as it seems when Catherine Land steps off the train in rural Wisconsin in 1907. Who is Catherine, and what is her true intent? What shadowy secrets could middle-aged Ralph Truitt be hiding? Both these complex characters have plenty of traumatic baggage that is peeled away layer by layer as the two engage in a darkly dangerous game of check and checkmate. The unforeseen conclusion provides a big payoff for readers of this tension-laden debut from a promising new talent. --Margaret Flanagan

Product Description
Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt — a passionate man with his own dark secrets —has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.

With echoes of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Robert Goolrick's intoxicating debut novel delivers a classic tale of suspenseful seduction, set in a world that seems to have gone temporarily off its axis.

--Sherry, when I was going for my exercise walk today and listening to NPR, I heard a author that I thought you would like, Robert Goolrick. His book is called Reliable Wife. I thought you might like it because it is set in Wisconsin.--

Thanks, Alias. I added it to Mt. TBR.

"--Sherry, when I was going for my exercise walk today and listening to NPR, I heard a author that I thought you would like, Robert Goolrick. His book is called Reliable Wife. I thought you might li..."</i>

Leslie posted about this book last week....not very favorably. But I see it has gotten good reviews.

I saw something else about this book, The Reliable Wife; I've added it to my list of books to order from the Library.

Donna In Southern Maryland

C-SPAN2's Book TV: May 2 - 4
www.BookTV.org - for full TV listing

monthly LIVE author interview,
featuring your calls and emails
Sunday 12-3 PM ET, re-airs Monday at 12 AM ET
.
Christopher Buckley joins Book TV for a LIVE In Depth interview. Mr. Buckley is the author of fourteen books, including the novels Thank You for Smoking, Boomsday, and Supreme Courtship. He is the recipient of the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence and the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Mr. Buckley is currently the editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. He is the son of William F. Buckley, Jr. and his latest book is a memoir entitled, Losing Mum and Pup.


Weekend Highlights
Dave Cullen, Columbine

University of Colorado graduate and award-winning journalist Dave Cullen presents a comprehensive account of the shootings at Columbine on the 10th anniversary of the mass murders. Book TV interviewed Mr. Cullen on April 26, 2009, at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
(Saturday 6 PM, Sunday 3 AM ET)

Insightful author interviews
Saturday 10 PM, Sunday 9 PM, Monday 3 AM ET
Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World

Liaquat Ahamed posits that four of the world's central bankers attempted to rebuild the global economy following World War I but instead contributed to the economic collapse that led to the Great Depression. Mr. Ahamed profiles the central bankers from England, Germany, France, and the United States and examines their collective fear of inflation, their interest in the gold standard, and their failed plans to stabilize the international economy. Liaquat Ahamed discusses his book with Gerald Seib, executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal

Alias Reader wrote: "
C-SPAN2's Book TV: May 2 - 4
www.BookTV.org - for full TV listing

Dave Cullen, Columbine ..."

I would not have gone out of my way to catch this but happened to be watching BookTV when it came on. It was an absolutely fascinating interview, the author was quite good. He talked not only about the day of the horror, but the aftermath, what is known about how the parents of the killers dealt with the fallout, etc. One interesting thing was that the parents were sued by the parents of the victims I think, and one of the negotiated outcomes was a meeting between the two sides where the parents of the killers agreed to answer any and every question posed to them. The process took a week or two. There were transcripts, which were supposed to be destroyed after it was over. Of course they were not, and another lawsuit or some kind of court action was initiated. The outcome of that is that the transcripts are being held by the national archives or somewhere for 20 years, after which they will be released.

I don't know that I will read the book, don't want to relive Columbine, but I would recommend the interview with the author.

I sure wish I had C-SPAN as I would love to see the interview with Dave Cullen. I just started reading Columbine today. I wasn't sure I wanted to read the book either as we lived about 2 hours from there when it happened and we were faced with the aftermath for months on TV. My sister read the book and said she couldn't put it down as it was so interesting and loved how the author wrote it.

Wildcats40 wrote: "I just started reading Columbine today...."

I'll be interested to hear about it as you go along. Another interesting thread the author raised was comparing and contrasting the two killers.. how one was a sociopath who had mass destruction on his mind for years, and the other was a kid who fell under the wrong influence and just wanted attention.

I wonder if the interview with the author is online. He really spoke so eloquently on the characters involved.

Carol/Bonadie wrote: a meeting between the two sides where the parents of the killers agreed to answer any and every question posed to them. The process took a week or two. There were transcripts, which were supposed to be destroyed after it was over. Of course they were not, and another lawsuit or some kind of court action was initiated. The outcome of that is that the transcripts are being held by the national archives or somewhere for 20 years, after which they will be released."

I was unaware of this. My first thought was that it should have been destroyed, as it was probably a catharsis for all involved. But now i'm thinking it might be beneficial later for doctors & such to see what can be determined about the grieving process or leading up to such tragedies, all part of observing the entire arc of school killings over the decades.

deborah

There aren't too many subjects I recoil from, but Columbine is one of them. It's going to take a good long time before I can bring myself to willingly consider it again.

C-SPAN2's Book TV: May 23 - 26

Insightful author interviews
Saturday 10 PM, Sunday 6 & 9 PM and
Monday 12 AM ET

Elaine Showalter,
A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx
In her book, Elaine Showalter, professor emerita of English at Princeton University, presents a history of female writers in America. Ms. Showalter explores the influence women have had on the American literary canon and profiles authors from throughout the history of the nation. Elaine Showalter discusses her book with Sara Nelson, critic for The Daily Beast and former editor in chief of Publishers Weekly.

Peggy Brooks-Bertram and Barbara Nevergold,
Go,Tell Michelle: African-American Women Write to the New First Lady
(Monday 8:30 AM and 8:30 PM ET)

Carol Jose,
You Are Not Forgotten: A Family's Quest for Truth and the Founding of The National League of Families
(Monday 10 AM and 10 PM)

Matthew Algeo,
Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip
(Monday 2:30 PM,
Tuesday 2:30 AM ET)

Jeff Guinn,
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde
Jeff Guinn presents a history of the infamous couple, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Mr. Guinn recounts the Barrow Gang's criminal exploits that entertained the American populace during the Great Depression and contends that Bonnie and Clyde were inept crooks throughout their two-year crime spree. May 23, 2009, marks the 75th anniversary of Bonnie and Clyde's deaths. This event was hosted by the Kansas City Public Library in Kansas City, Missouri.
(Saturday 8 AM and 3:45 PM, Sunday 2:15 AM ET)

W. Keith Campbell and Jean Twenge
The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement
The authors examine the cultural consequences of narcissism, which they say has grown exponentially in recent years. They use real-life anecdotes, like instant stardom through YouTube, to analyze narcissism in the culture at large and the possible means of combatting its effects.
(Saturday 12 PM and 8 PM, Sunday 6 AM ET)


www.BookTV.org For full schedule and times

Here is a website taht will help ya all with what books are coming out and what your favourite authors have coming.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

I know a lot of you are Pat Conroy fans. So I thought you would be interested in this Book TV show.


LIVE - Saturday, May 30, 12 PM - 2 PM ET
Book and Author Luncheon
Author panel with Pat Conroy, Dan Pink and Ken Auletta.
(Re-airs Sunday, May 31, 12 AM and 5:30 PM ET)

Alias Reader wrote: "I know a lot of you are Pat Conroy fans. So I thought you would be interested in this Book TV show.


LIVE - Saturday, May 30, 12 PM - 2 PM ET
Book and Author Luncheon
Author panel with Pat ..."

This looks interesting, I'm going to try to catch it. Thanks, Alias!

Dan Pink was great. I even remember what he said about good speeches. Three points: Brevity, Levity, and Repetition.

And I love Ken Auletta in general. A NYCity person who many of us know forever.

And then -- darn -- Pat Conroy was a no-show.
Oh well, you can't win them all.

Barbara

Oh, no....did Conroy have a good excuse? Boo hiss!

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "C-SPAN2's Book TV. . . Dave Cullen, Columbine ..."

It was an absolutely fascinating interview, the author was quite good. . . . but I would recommend the interview with the author.
..."

Carol, thanks so much for writing that. I just joined goodreads, and was astounded to see all the reviews of my book, and then I came here and saw this. What a relief. I still have not been able to watch the whole interview. It got kind of emotional a few times, and it's also just jarring to see myself on TV. I'm not used to that.

I also did the event near the end of the book tour and was kind of exhausted. I wasn't sure how it would turn out. You were very kind. Thanks.

And yes, it is online:

http://www.booktv.org/watch.aspx?Program...

JoAnn/QuAppelle wrote: "Oh, no....did Conroy have a good excuse? Boo hiss!"

If he did Ken Auletta didn't share it.

Dave Cullen, welcome to Goodreads, I hope you find much here to be pleased with. Thanks for the link to your interview. I came in after it started so I will definitely listen to it from the beginning. Good luck with the book, you're off to a great start.

Dave wrote: "I just joined goodreads, and was astounded to see all the reviews of my book, and then I came here and saw this. What a relief. I still have not been able to watch the whole interview. It got kind of emotional a few times, and it's also just jarring to see myself on TV. I'm not used to that.

I also did the event near the end of the book tour and was kind of exhausted. I wasn't sure how it would turn out. You were very kind. Thanks.

And yes, it is online:

http://www.booktv.org/watch.aspx?Program...
"

Thanks, Carol. I'm enjoying it here immensely. (Though I'm slightly ashamed that I came to a book site and quickly started posting on the TV threads, too. Hahaha. I really enjoy some TV. Of course 98% of it is crap, but so what?--I'm just watching the 2%. Thank God for inventing Tivo. (Is He the one who did it? Seemed like divine intervention.)

I'm enjoying the book threads, too. I was thrilled to find the "first lines" thread.

I have so many books on my TBR list, I don't know where to start. (At least I think I do. Does TBR = To Be Read? I don't quite have all the lingo yet.)

Welcome, Dave. It's a pleasure to have you here !

Yes, TBR = To Be Read.

Thanks Alias--for the info, and the welcome, and the heads up back there about the BookTV interview.

Great site, wish I'd gotten here sooner.

But when will I read all these books? Hahaha.

Right after I started in on my second Faulkner, "Light in August," someone pointed out that he also wrote "Absalom! Absalom!"--the title character of which plays a short but poignant moment in my own book. I REALLY want to read that. I almost dropped "August" to start it, but it's really hard for me to find time to read right now, and I don't want to lose the momentum I have. I'll just have to wait.

But it's on my TBR list.

Welcome Dave, It's always nice to have a new poster with fresh ideas. Many of us have been together as a group for a number of years. I'll warn you though, we can be a little 'wacky.' We enjoy our humor almost as much as books and TV. :o)

Donna in Southern Maryland

Dave wrote: Thank God for inventing Tivo. (Is He the one who did it? Seemed like divine intervention.)

I agree whole heartedly about this. I don't know what I would do without my tivo. When I go to someones house and we are watching something and they can not fastforward through commercials I get antsy. Or the fact that when I have insomnia and go to the living room to watch TV I don't have to watch infomercials. Yes Divine intervention for sure.

Jennifer wrote: " When I go to someones house and we are watching something and they can not fastforward through commercials I get antsy. Or the fact that when I have insomnia and go to the living room to watch TV I don't have to watch infomercials. Yes Divine intervention for sure...."

Not to mention being able to replay a comment or sports action that you missed, or want to hear/watch again. I love my Tivo!!

The worst tivo moments for me are in the car, when I'm not listening closely to NPR and hear something that grabs my ear. My hand will often physically reach for the tivo remote to hit the backup button. Then I realized I just missed it.

Meanwhile, I hope it's OK to mention that I'm starting an author QA on Columbine here at GoodReads for two weeks starting tomorrow :

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1544...

I hope to see some of you there.

Of course it's ok to mention your book Q&A here. :)

I have your book on my long TBR list, so I will drop in to read the Q&A.

Thanks ! And continued success with your book.

Thanks, Alias. I'm not sure I'm getting the word out on the QA properly. Hopefully there will be some activity there.

C-SPAN2's Book TV: June 13 - 15

Insightful author interviews
Saturday 10 PM, Sunday 6 & 9 PM and
Monday 12 AM ET

Tierney Cahill, Ms. Cahill for Congress
The story of how an elementary school teacher told her class that anyone can run for Congress and was challenged by them to prove it. With a $7,000 initial campaign chest and her students as her campaign staff, she won the 2000 Democratic nomination in Nevada's 2nd district, which includes Reno. She is interviewed by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).


Edith Gelles, Abigail & John: Portrait of a Marriage

Edith Gelles, senior scholar at Stanford University's Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research, recounts the fifty-four year marriage of Abigail and John Adams. Ms. Gelles focuses on the correspondence between the couple that gives insight into the inner workings of their relationship and the political and social changes going on around them. This event was hosted by Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera, California. (Saturday 2 PM & 11 PM, Sunday 8 AM ET)


www.BookTV.org