How To

How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems by Randall Munroe

Summary: For any task you might want to do, there's a right way, a wrong way, and a way so monumentally complex, excessive, and inadvisable that no one would ever try it. How To is a guide to the third kind of approach. It's full of highly impractical advice for everything from landing a plane to digging a hole.

Bestselling author and cartoonist Randall Munroe explains how to predict the weather by analyzing the pixels of your Facebook photos. He teaches you how to tell if you're a baby boomer or a 90's kid by measuring the radioactivity of your teeth. He offers tips for taking a selfie with a telescope, crossing a river by boiling it, and powering your house by destroying the fabric of space-time. And if you want to get rid of the book once you're done with it, he walks you through your options for proper disposal, including dissolving it in the ocean, converting it to a vapor, using tectonic plates to subduct it into the Earth's mantle, or launching it into the Sun.

By exploring the most complicated ways to do simple tasks, Munroe doesn't just make things difficult for himself and his readers. As he did so brilliantly in What If?, Munroe invites us to explore the most absurd reaches of the possible. Full of clever infographics and fun illustrations, How To is a delightfully mind-bending way to better understand the science and technology underlying the things we do every day.

Angie’s comments: Definitely a book about the most convoluted solutions. The scenarios are absurd, the solutions are absurd, and the whole thing is just funny. This gets you thinking and teaches you some about science and the world.

Recommended for readers who like science and humor. 

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Start studying! The Official SAT Study Guide Request this item Math and Science Workout for the ACT Request this item Cracking the AP English Literature and Composition Exam Request this item And for online studying, check out the free Test and Resume Preparation database at https://inspire.in.gov/. If you want any more suggestions or ideas, please call or come in the library today!

Buzz, Sting, Bite

Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson

Summary: An enthusiastic, witty, and informative introduction to the world of insects and why we--and the planet we inhabit--could not survive without them.

Insects comprise roughly half of the animal kingdom. They live everywhere -- deep inside caves, 18,000 feet high in the Himalayas, inside computers, in Yellowstone's hot springs, and in the ears and nostrils of much larger creatures. There are insects that have ears on their knees, eyes on their penises, and tongues under their feet. Most of us think life would be better without bugs. In fact, life would be impossible without them.

Most of us know that we would not have honey without honeybees, but without the pinhead-sized chocolate midge, cocoa flowers would not pollinate. No cocoa, no chocolate. The ink that was used to write the Declaration of Independence was derived from galls on oak trees, which are induced by a small wasp. The fruit fly was essential to medical and biological research experiments that resulted in six Nobel prizes. Blowfly larva can clean difficult wounds; flour beetle larva can digest plastic; several species of insects have been essential to the development of antibiotics. Insects turn dead plants and animals into soil. They pollinate flowers, including crops that we depend on. They provide food for other animals, such as birds and bats. They control organisms that are harmful to humans. Life as we know it depends on these small creatures.

With ecologist Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson as our capable, entertaining guide into the insect world, we'll learn that there is more variety among insects than we can even imagine and the more you learn about insects, the more fascinating they become. Buzz, Sting, Bite is an essential introduction to the little creatures that make the world go round.

Angie’s comments: Buzz, Sting, Bite is a quick introduction to insects, filled with information and enthusiasm. The book is more of an overview about insects. The information never gets too technical or difficult to follow. Includes some humor and a pun or two.

Recommended for readers interested in the environment, biology, or insects. 

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The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave

The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave: A Western Mystery by Bill Pronzini

Summary: Bill Pronzini's riveting western mystery,The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave, takes on the modern world with old-fashioned violence--and his Peaceful Valley is anything but...

Nothing much happens in Peaceful Valley, Montana. And that's just how Sheriff Lucas Monk likes it.

Aside from the occasional drunken brawl or minor disturbance out on the reservation, he hasn't had to resort to his fists or sidearm in years.

That is, until mid-October, 1914, when the theft of a wooden cigar store Indian sets off a crime wave like nothing Lucas has ever seen. Teenager Charity Axthelm goes missing, Reba Purvis's housekeeper is poisoned with cyanide Reba is sure was meant for her, and Lucas's gut tells him that this is only the beginning.

It's not long before the first corpse shows up, bringing the peace in the valley to a thundering end.

Angie’s comments: A relatively short read, this is an entertaining historical cozyish Western mystery. Not as cozy as some cozy mysteries, but still in the same line. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Peaceful Valley with its Western flavor.

Recommended for readers of historical cozies or Westerns. 

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Six Ingredients

Six Ingredients with Six Sisters' Stuff by Six Sisters' Stuff

Summary: With only six ingredients or less per recipe, making dinner has never been easier.

Six Sisters' Stuff is one of the most popular blogs for quick and easy cooking and entertaining at home for families. In their eighth cookbook, they tackle how to master meals for any cook with any skill level with more than 100 easy recipes made with incredible flavor combinations from just six ingredients or less.

From beginning cooks learning the basics to busy parents looking to save time in the kitchen, this cookbook is loaded with entrees, side dishes, and desserts. Whether it's a one-pot wings dish or a no-bake peanut butter bar this cookbook is a fool-proof solution to meal planning and features "Kid Favorites" recipes. 

Angie’s comments: Good recipes that are easy to make, this is a good cookbook that I will be using in the future. Every recipe includes a photograph, so you know what you are making. 

Recommended for anyone who wants quick, easy recipes. 

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