Non-Fiction - Biography, Science, Art and Entertainment Book Reviews

To Set A Light In Every Tunnel: The Story of A Life

by Phyllis D. Grilikhes

Regent Press
Paperback
ISBN# 978-1587901454
Suggested Retail Price: $30.00 or as low as $3.98 from Amazon.com!

Phyllis D. Grilikhes lays out her life in a series of poetic snapshots of her thoughts and emotions. From the memories of her childhood to her growth into womanhood, its a touching labrynth of the highs and lows that shaped her life told in a mix of free form poetry and pictures.

The Spy's Bedside Book

by Graham Greene, Hugh Greene

Bantam
Paperback
ISBN# 978-0-553-38590-8
Suggested Retail Price: $12.00 or as low as $4.38 from Amazon.com!

Graham Green is well-known for his spy novels such as "The Third Man" and "Our Man In Havana" among others, teamed with his brother Hugh, who was a remarkable journalist, to compile this collectioon of works about the mysteries of the world of espionage. Written in 1957 and long out of print, this book brings back the haydays of James Bond when spies were in the news. There are essays, memoirs and short stories that tell their tales through the eyes of the men and women who were there during and after World War II. Essays by William Blake, D. H. Lawrence, and Thomas Mann who were all thought to have been spies at one time or another during their careers, and fiction by Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, Eric Ambler, and (of course) Ian Fleming. This is a book that is sure to delight fans of spy novels of all kinds. It's filled with tradecraft and jargon, and lots of distinctly British humor.

Rebel Without Borders

by Marc Vachon, FranCois Bugingo

Ecw Press
Hardcover
ISBN# 978-1-55022-786-4
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $12.00 from Amazon.com!

Author Marc Vachon takes us into the Third World where organizations like Doctors Without Borders do their best to alleviate suffering. This is the story of the missions of aid workers from all over the world to trouble spots in Africa and the Middle East. We see the troubles these destitute people face from poverty to insurrections that leave them homeless, starving, and often plagued with diseases that would be trivial in any developed country. It's a brutal story that lays bare the problems the aid workers face in dealing with governments and warring factions. When all we see on television are places where US troops are stationed, its easy to forget about these people. This book reminds us that most of our own problems originate in places we don't see until its nearly too late to do anything about it.

Bravo Fortissimo Glenn Gould

by Helen Mesaros, M.D.

Heritage
Hardcover
ISBN# 978-1-56167-985-0
Suggested Retail Price: $34.95 or as low as $24.95 from Amazon.com!

Helen Mesaros presents this marvelous biography of Glenn Gould, the famous piano virtuoso to commemorate his 75th birthday. Fans of classical music will no doubt delight in this coffee-table-sized tome that chronicles the career of one of Canada's most famous musicians. Books of this size are normally chock full of pictures, but this epic is almost all text. The author interviewed Gould's friends and family to present a very personal look at the man's noted eccentric personality.

Wings in the Desert

by Amadeo M. Rea

University of Arizona Press
Hardcover
ISBN# 978-0-8165-2459-4
Suggested Retail Price: $70.00 or as low as $61.34 from Amazon.com!

Biologist Amadeo M. Rea produced this fascinating study of the O’odham tribes of Arizona and Northwest Mexico and their scientific knowledge of the many species of birds that populate the American Southwest. The book describes how these people studied the birds with an astute recognition of the important principles of their behaviors regarding migration and breeding. Rea shows how the cultures of these people were intertwined with the birds they found, both for food and ornamentation.

You might expect a coffee table-sized book like this to be filled with color photographs, but the pages are mostly filled with Rea's text and pen-and-ink illustrations. The book brings you to a new level of respect for the intelligence of these people and their incredible knowledge of these beautiful birds.