‘How I Killed Pluto and Why it Had it Coming’ – Quite a title isn’t it? This appealing, highly readable and very entertaining narrative by author Mike Brown explains the reasoning behind Pluto’s recent demotion to ‘dwarf’ planet status. This is the story of one man’s dedication to science and his personal love affair with our universe. This is a terrific book—insightful, humourous and educational!
Eric Rasmussen’s book, ‘The Shakespeare Thefts: In Search of the First Folios,’ reveals remarkable stories and sketches surrounding the still existing copies of William Shakespeare’s original calfskin bound, 36-play anthology. It sold in 1623 for one pound, the equivalent of approximately $2.20 today. This was a lot of money in a time when a skilled worker only earned about four pounds annually. Rasmussen and his cataloguing team explored and travelled the world to examine, authenticate and document existing copies. While on this mission they came across tales of thievery, deceit, forgery, scandal, eccentricity and frantic enthusiasm. This elusive portfolio that contains the works of the famous ‘Bard of Avon’ is appraised alongside the King James Bible as being one of the most significant books in the English language. Bibliophile (book) collectors would do anything to get their hands on a copy.
“For it so falls, that what we have
We prize not to the worth whiles we enjoy it,
But being lack’d and lost,
Why, then we rack the value,
Then we find the virtue that possession would not
Show us whiles it was ours.” – William Shakespeare from ‘Much Ado About Nothing’
Steven Heighton is an award-winning Canadian author. His novel ‘Afterlands’ features an amazing cast of unique people, many of whom were real individuals. The story is closely based around the historical facts of the infamous American Polar Expedition of 1872. The book relates the tale of scientific misadventure through this sweeping chronicle that ranges from the cold Canadian Arctic and the coasts of America’s Eastern Seaboard to the heat and humidity of the Mexican tropics. This is a stellar book that you will find hard to put down and its heroine just may haunt you!
Also by Heigton, ‘The Dead are More Visible.’ This is a collection of short fictional stories. The author is a natural with this writing style. The tales are of diverse situations, contain a fascinating ensemble of characters and weave a multitude of ideas, ideals and images. This book explores without fear some of the most significant issues in our modern world.
Young Adult Pick: ‘Bystander’ by author James Preller
DVD Pick: ‘The Hunger Games’ starring Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth—a well done futurist-fantasy.
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