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Sunday Reviews in Brief

Written on: May 10th, 2010 in Blog Posts

This week’s Sunday Reviews from the New York Times lead off with a number of worthy-looking books on philosophy and philosophers that I did not have the heart to read, for which, my apologies to philosopher-Delawareans in our library community. However, there were a bunch of interesting-looking titles on non-philosophical subjects which can be found at one of your Delaware libraries- see below for details and links:

• Betsy Ross and the Making of America by Marla Miller is a close examination of the myth and reality surrounding the famed flagmaker. Miller’s “careful scholarship” will “warm the hearts of those who love the Betsy Ross legend”, and draws a vivid picture of the Philadelphia craft and handwork community of the time.
• Thomas Mullen’s The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers is an engaging magical-realism infused noir set amongst 1930s gangsters, evoking connections between recessions then and now.
• Life Would be Perfect if I Lived in That House by Meghan Daum is “the story of a love too big to fail”, documenting obsessive real-estate speculation by successful single women.
• The First War of Physics by Jim Baggott tells the story of the earliest years of the nuclear arms race. While this book lacks the scope of some of the more magesterial works on the topic, Baggott has a strong grasp of the science, overall, his book is “an excellent introduction to a vast and complicated topic.”
• Heather Clay’s Losing Charlotte is a “dark take on sisterhood” that documents one woman’s attempt to understand her sister, and “beautifully portrays the awkward dynamic of family gatherings.”