Published by Twenty-First Century Book
Released October 1, 2011
120 pages
Where I got it: E-galley received from publisher via NetGalley
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Description (from Lerner Books):

At one time or another, just about everyone has talked about the end of the world. But what does this phrase really mean? Does it mean the end of the human race? The end of planet Earth? The end of our Sun and solar system?  And if the world were to actually end, how and when would it happen? People have been asking these questions for thousands of years. Many religious prophets have predicted the end of the world. Science-fiction writers have created lots of end-of-the-world stories. Scientists, too, talk about natural events that could destroy human life or planet Earth.

Some end-of-the-world events are dramatic. Imagine an asteroid slamming into Earth, creating a massive explosion. Other scenarios don’t involve a single, catastrophic event. For example, global warming is changing the planet and threatening people, plants, and animals. It might not bring about the end of the world, but it might change life as we know it. In this book, we’ll look at these scenarios and many more—everything from Mayan prophecy to nuclear disaster to the end of the universe. We’ll find out which scenarios to ignore and which ones to really worry about.

We’re here, everyone. The year 2012. I’ve been hearing for years that the Mayans prophesied the end of the world on December 21, 2012, because that’s when their long-count calendar ended. Nevermind the recent developments about archaeologists discovering Mayan calendars that go past that date. There have also been the recent predictions of the Rapture, a slew of new books about the apocalypse and post-apocalyptic scenarios, and movies about the Earth ending in a variety of ways.  It seems that the closer we get to 12/21/12, the more literature is produced about endtimes. Disasters of an epic scale have never been hotter. Ron Miller’s book takes the cue of recent American culture and goes through many of these different possibilities, testing out their plausibility.

This is exactly the kind of book I would have been all over as a kid. The subject matter is engaging, and the kind of thing that can blow your mind if you think about it too much. The book is stylish, and full of beautiful color photographs to accompany Miller’s text. This is written for younger readers, and has a full glossary and references section to help encourage kids to seek more information. Miller doesn’t cotton to the hype of 2012, and is sure to explain where the idea of the Mayan apocalypse originated in Western culture. I think this is a great choice to give to the inquisitive older kid in your life, who loves strange topics, science, and the idea of the end of the world.

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Released June 28, 2010
312 pages
Where I got it: E-book received from Ever After PR 

Just when you thought you’ve heard everything about Hollywood comes a totally original new book – a special blend of biography, history and lore.

Hollywood Stories is packed with wild, wonderful short tales about famous stars, movies, directors and many others who have been part of the world’s most fascinating, unpredictable industry

Full of funny moments and twist endings, Hollywood Stories features an amazing, icons and will keep you totally entertained. (From Goodreads)

I grew up in Southern California, and my dad often took us to Hollywood to spend the day. He was also a big fan of Hollywood lore, reveling in tales of the big actors from the golden age of cinema. I think my dad is the perfect audience for Schochet’s Hollywood Stories. This is a book for people who are familiar with a wide range of movies and Hollywood figures, dating back to black and white cinema. Schochet has been a tour guide in Hollywood, and you can tell. He knows all sorts of charming anecdotes that would please any sightseer.

What’s nice about this book is that the stories are short, usually only paragraphs long. The book is divided thematically, so you can jump around to your interests, like stories about Disney, or specifically dealing with television. There’s also a lengthy bibliography at the end for further reading. I wish that the stories had references so the reader could see where Schochet found the information, but it seems that these are just stories he picked up here and there, and can’t always source.

Hollywood Stories isn’t the kind of book that you can sit down and read cover to cover. Rather, it’s best read in small bursts. That way, you can mull over the stories and might internalize them to think about later. For the TMZ crowd, this may not be the book for you. There aren’t photographs, and the stories aren’t salacious. They’re good-natured and recalled with real affection for everything that the idea of Hollywood carries with it.

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“This post is brought you by Ever After PR.”

Published by Chicago Review Press
Released April 1, 2012
368 pages
Where I got it: E-galley received from publisher via NetGalley
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Publisher’s description:

Almost before the gunsmoke from the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre cleared, Chicago police had a suspect: Jack McGurn. They just couldn’t find him. McGurn, whose real name was Vincent Gebardi, was Al Capone’s chief assassin, a baby-faced Sicilian immigrant and professional killer of professional killers. But two weeks after the murders, police found McGurn and his paramour, Louise May Rolfe, holed up downtown at the Stevens Hotel. Both claimed they were in bed on the morning of the famous shootings in the Clark Street garage, a titillating alibi that grabbed the public’s attention and never let go.
Deadly Valentines is one of the most outrageous stories of the Capone era, a twin biography of a couple who defined the extremes and excesses of the Prohibition era in America. McGurn and Rolfe influenced popular culture tremendously and drew the interest of the entire country. McGurn was a prizefighter, a professional-level golfer, and the ultimate urban predator and hit man who put the iron in Al Capone’s muscle. Rolfe, a beautiful blonde dancer and libertine, was the epitome of fashion, rebellion, and wild abandon in a decade that shocked and roared. Every newspaper in the country followed their ongoing story; Hollywood copied their hipster speech. They were the most spellbinding subject of the new jazz subculture, an unforgettable duo who grabbed headlines and defined the exciting gangland world of 1920s Chicago.
The story of Jack McGurn and Louise Rolfe, two lovers caught in history’s spotlight, is more fascinating than any fiction. They were the prototypes for eighty years of gangster literature and cinema, representing a time that never loses its allure.

My grandfather grew up in Chicago in the late 1920s and 1930s. He once described how he would play gangsters as a little boy, until the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Then it just got too real, and too scary. The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre went down in history as the epitome of the violence of the bootlegger wars, and had a lasting effect on the country. Al Capone was one of the central figures involved. However, I didn’t know much more than that going into this book. Now I can say that I have a good grasp of not only the Massacre, but the people behind it and the general atmosphere of the day.

Gusfield seems to have a conflicted view of Jack McGurn in Deadly Valentines. On one hand, McGurn was a ruthless killer, a general in Al Capone’s crime outfit who would not hesitate to kill. Gusfield doesn’t shy away from that fact. But he also seems to admire McGurn. He often focuses on McGurn’s athletic prowess, first as a boxer and later as a golfer. He also is sympathetic to McGurn’s desire to kill the men who gunned down his step-father. Through Gusfield’s narration, we are presented with a well-rounded hero/villain. Gusfield isn’t nearly as kind to Louise Rolfe, who is presented as a manipulative, selfish jazz baby. It’s a little funny that the man who killed countless people during the Prohibition bootlegger wars comes across as so much more likable than his “blond alibi.”

Overall, Deadly Valentines is very readable. There are photographs throughout the book of the characters who are in play. Squeamish readers should be warned that there are crime photographs of people who have been shot to death. The names can get confusing at times, but that’s because criminals presented used so many alibis and nicknames. Gusfield did a pretty good job keeping things together from that point of view. Sometimes he made some assumptions and guesses in the narration, rather than sticking straight to the facts. He addresses this and his reasons and method for doing it, but I think strict history buffs still might take issue with it.

If you’re at all interested in the history of Prohibition, Al Capone, the Great Depression, the Roaring Twenties, or the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, this is a book you’ll want to read.

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Published by Pegasus Books
Released November 8, 2011
240 pages
Where I got it: Review copy received from publisher via NetGalley
Rating: 3 stars

Why Can’t Elephants Jump contains questions and answers submitted by readers of New Scientist magazine. Each submission is signed with the name and location of the person who wrote in, although there are times when the submission is anonymous. While this doesn’t always give us an idea of the expertise of the author (some of the writers sign with their job title, and are indeed experts), it does give the reader the advantage of having many different answers from different angles.

Some of the questions submitted are things that we might all have wondered at one time or another, like whether a martini really does taste different if shaken rather than stirred, and why. Some of the answers are very scientific and may not be easily parsed by the layperson. I would have appreciated it if the publisher would have given USA units in parentheses after metric measurements. I know that metric is what nearly the entire world uses, and is the more scientific and accepted system, but the fact remains that most Americans have trouble with the metric system and would have an easier time reading and understanding this book with both measurements given.

Why Can’t Elephants Jump? isn’t the kind of book you can sit and read for long periods of time–I tried. Instead, I think it is much better as a coffee table, or even a bathroom book. The articles are short enough that you can flip through and pick one to take a few minutes to read, then walk away a little wiser and somewhat entertained. If you have an interest in learning some of the scientific reasons for basic questions, you may want to check out this book.

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Have you ever called somebody a psychopath? Did you only think that psychopaths are deranged murderers? Do you enjoy taking a look at the darker side of the psychiatric industry, all the while with a laugh in your heart and a smile on your face? Then Ronson’s latest zany journalistic adventure The Psychopath Test may be for you.

The title comes from something called the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, a simple list that can help you determine if a person is a psychopath or not. As Ronson finds out, massive (and expensive) training sessions are given to train psychiatric professionals to use this test and to spot the psychopaths in their midst. After taking this training, Ronson starts to see psychopaths everywhere. He constantly finds himself seeing how people he meets measure up to the test, and thinking of psychopaths less as people and more as predators and monsters.

Just like in his earlier books, Them: Adventures with Extremists and The Men Who Stare at Goats, Ronson is able to involve himself with people on the fringes of society, and to describe the absurdities around us with both humor and cutting insight. Sure it’s hilarious that we give people these seemingly overly simple tests; that is, until they are locked up for the rest of their lives because psychopathy isn’t believed to be curable.

Along the way, Ronson interviews members of the Church of Scientology, a retired CEO who loved to fire people, an inmate of a high security psychiatric ward, and a former leader of a Haitian death squad. Ronson’s stylistic narration and internal thoughts are what makes this book utterly engrossing. I raced through it, and craved more. If any of this review piques your interest at all, go get this book.

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