A Refreshing View From the Top of the Heap

I’ve been impatiently awaiting delivery of this book and am delighted to find blurbs on the back cover from Barbara Ehrenreich and Robert Reich, two writers two economic issues I greatly admire. I love Nick Hanauer’s statements in support of the book, too--

Born on Third Base explodes the myth of the self-made man, but it also celebrates true achievement in the classic American sense....

while Peter Buffett calls it a “Declaration of Interdependence.”

The publisher puts it like this:

With the heart of an agitator and the soul of a storyteller, inequality expert Chuck Collins upends our assumptions about America’s deep wealth divide—one that, for the first time in recent history, locks the nation’s youth into a future defined by their class and wealth at birth. [At the same time, lest you fear!] ... Collins calls for an end to class war ... and offers bold new solutions for bridging the economic divide and re-engaging the wealthy in rebuilding communities for a resilient future. 

The publisher, by the way, is Chelsea Green, and engages my trust before I even open the book.

Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the

Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good

by Chuck Collins

Paper, 267pp w/ index

$17.95

What Says Love Better Than Poetry?

I cannot begin to tell you about all the poetry books here at Dog Ears Books. New, used, old and quaint, poetry for all ages and all budgets. The quartet pictured here are all small books with eye-catching covers, but they barely hint at the possibilities waiting on my shelves to be discovered and claimed! Come in today or tomorrow (before 3 p.m.) and find something very special for your special valentine, because the shop will be closed Sunday through Tuesday.

COULD It Happen Here?

“This exploration of obedience was initially motivated by Milgram’s reflections on the ease with which the German people obeyed Nazi authority in discriminating against Jews and, eventually, in allowing Hitler’s Final Solution to be enacted during the Holocaust.”

You are given an order. Do you go along? What do you think you would do in a situation where you felt the order came from someone in authority? Before he conducted his experiments, Milgram expected Americans to be more resistant to authority than Germans. 

Who is the student, and who is the teacher? Who is the subject of the experiment, and what is being studied?

"The experiment must go on." 

If you’ve never read about Milgram’s studies, now would be a good time.

Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View

by Stanley Milgram

Paper, 224pp, $14.99

Light Up Your Heart

I love books that sample a favorite writer’s old poems and also present new ones. Ted Kooser introduces The Woods Are on Fire: New and Selected Poems, by Fleda Brown, and you can’t go wrong with this collection. Open it anywhere. Read the poem on that page. Sink into it, and let it sink into you. Worth the price of admission! Thank you, Fleda!

The Woods Are on Fire: New and Selected Poems

by Fleda Brown

Paper, 275pp

$19.95

Advanced Studies in American History

If you’re an American, no matter your skin color or religion or ethnic background, no matter the size of your house or bank account, this could be the single most important book you read this year. The most well-educated historian will find surprises here, and to most of the rest of us it’s a view of our nation’s past that we’ve never had before. After saying that much, do I really need to add that I recommend it most highly?

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America

by Nancy Isenberg

Hardcover, 459pp with notes and index

$28

Island Getaway, Anyone?

Did you know there are around 35,000 islands in the Great Lakes? How many have you visited? Of the ones you haven’t explored, which would be your #1 pick – or don’t you know? This book may help you decide.

Complete with maps and color photographs and arranged geographically, Great Lakes Island Escapes tells you how to get to each island and how to get around on it once you’re there. What to see, where to stay, websites and addresses are also included, but I especially appreciate the “Parting Thoughts” for each island visit the author made.

I'd like to visit Beaver Island

and revisit Harsen's Island

It’s winter. It’s time to dream. Let your spirit fly away!

Great Lakes Island Escapes: Ferries and

       Bridges to Adventure 

by Maureen Dunphy

Detroit: A Painted Turtle Book

Paper, 427pp w/ index & illus.

$29.99

Are You Scientifically Curious?

If you are, then these two books should pique your interest.

Michael McCarthy’s lyrical book, The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy, puts a new slant on species extinction. He remembers riding in a car at night when he was a boy and how moths appeared in the car’s headlights, “in such numbers there would be a veritable snowstorm....” I remember summer nights as filled with lightning bugs as the sky was filled with stars. Moths and lightning bugs still appear in our evening world, but not anywhere near the numbers Various insect species have declined 70-90% since 1968. Did you notice those populations dwindling? What should we think about their decline?

A different exploration, a “conversatioal essay” (according to the Weekly Standard), is The Wandering Mind: What the Brain Does When You’re Not Looking, by Michael C. Corballis. The author takes up a defense of absent-mindedness! Surely, many of us will feel vindicated and comforted by his evidence and arguments!

The Moth Snowstorm: Nature and Joy

by Michael McCarthy

Hardcover, 262pp w/ index

$24.95

The Wandering Mind: What the Brain Does When You’re Not Looking

by Michael C. Corballis

Paper, 173pp w/ index

$16.00

The new hardcover books in the photo below are now on sale at Dog Ears Books, at 30% or more off the original retail price.