Anti-Diet

Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating by Christy Harrison

Summary: Reclaim your time, money, health, and happiness from our toxic diet culture with groundbreaking strategies from a registered dietitian, journalist, and host of the "Food Psych" podcast.

68 percent of Americans have dieted at some point in their lives. But upwards of 90% of people who intentionally lose weight gain it back within five years. And as many as 66% of people who embark on weight-loss efforts end up gaining more weight than they lost. If dieting is so clearly ineffective, why are we so obsessed with it?

The culprit is diet culture, a system of beliefs that equates thinness to health and moral virtue, promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, and demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others. It's sexist, racist, and classist, yet this way of thinking about food and bodies is so embedded in the fabric of our society that it can be hard to recognize. It masquerades as health, wellness, and fitness, and for some, it is all-consuming.

In Anti-Diet, Christy Harrison takes on diet culture and the multi-billion-dollar industries that profit from it, exposing all the ways it robs people of their time, money, health, and happiness. It will turn what you think you know about health and wellness upside down, as Harrison explores the history of diet culture, how it's infiltrated the health and wellness world, how to recognize it in all its sneaky forms, and how letting go of efforts to lose weight or eat "perfectly" actually helps to improve people's health -- no matter their size. Drawing on scientific research, personal experience, and stories from patients and colleagues, Anti-Diet provides a radical alternative to diet culture, and helps readers reclaim their bodies, minds, and lives so they can focus on the things that truly matter.

Angie’s comments: Read this for an interesting view of our society and culture relating to body size, health and food. Although I didn't agree with everything stated in the book, I learned a lot and enjoyed reading Harrison's views. 

Recommended for readers who are interested in diets and food.   

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Murder Cuts the Mustard

Murder Cuts the Mustard by Jessica Ellicott

Summary: n the lean years following World War I, brash American adventuress Beryl Helliwell and prim and proper Brit Edwina Davenport form a private inquiry agency to make ends meet, hoping that crime does indeed pay . . .

The latest occurrence to disturb the peace in the quaint English village of Walmsley Parva hits rather too close to home-in fact, the prime suspect has taken up residence in Edwina's potting shed. Her elderly gardener Simpkins has been secretly sleeping there after a row with his disreputable brother-in-law and housemate, Hector Lomax.

When Hector is found murdered in the local churchyard, Constable Gibbs comes looking for Simpkins, who was last seen arguing with his kin in the pub the night before. Based on the sad state of her garden, Edwina has grave doubts that the shiftless Simpkins could muster the effort to murder anyone. The two sleuths throw themselves into weeding out suspects and rooting out the real killer.

But this is no garden variety murder. The discovery of a valuable ring, a surprise connection to Colonel Kimberly's Condiment Company, and a second homicide all force Beryl and Edwina to play catch-up as they relish the chance to contain the culprit . . . 

Angie’s comments: This is a lovely historical cozy mystery. Although part of a series, you don't have to read the others to enjoy this tale. Beryl and Edwina complement each other, and it is amusing to read how they perceive each other. A look back at England after World War I. 

Recommended for readers who enjoy historical cozy mysteries. 

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Political Thrillers

Enjoy these political thrillers! Deep State Chris Hauty Request this item The Warsaw Protocol Steve Berry Request this item Request this item in large print Request this item in audio The Good Lie Tom Rosenstiel Request this item Request this item in large print If you want any more suggestions or ideas, please call the library today!

Napkin Finance

Napkin Finance: Build Your Wealth in 30 Seconds or Less by Tina Hay

Summary: A handy crash course in personal finance, Napkin Finance is the groundbreaking guide everyone needs to help them manage their money and feel more secure.


Surveys have found that two thirds of Americans can't pass a basic financial literacy test, and nine in ten believe personal finance should become a required high school course. Tina Hay understands the confusion. While attending Harvard Business School, she struggled to keep up with classmates-many of whom came from the banking world-when it came to understanding jargon and numbers-heavy concepts. Tina developed a visual learning strategy using sketches and infographics that helped her succeed in her studies and master even the most complex financial topics.

Since then, Tina founded Napkin Finance, a thriving company built on the concept of taking seemingly overwhelming topics--such as budgeting, investments, and retirement accounts--and turning them into simple, skimmable explanations. Now, she's synthesized the most important content into this personal finance handbook. Napkin Finance includes dozens of individual learning modules, on topics ranging from credit scores to paying off student loans to economics and blockchain.

The first illustrated guide that makes finance fun and accessible, Napkin Finance can help even the most numbers-phobic reader learn about complex financial topics without dying of boredom. 

Angie’s comments: A introduction to many aspects of finances, this is great for those who are beginners. There are many illustrations, and the concepts are explained concisely.

Recommended for readers who want a basic understanding of finance, from credit scores to investing to banks.

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Tiny Habits

Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by BJ Fogg

Summary: The world's leading expert on habit formation shows how you can have a happier, healthier life: by starting small. 

When it comes to change, TINY IS MIGHTY. Start with two pushups a day, not a two-hour workout; or five deep breaths each morning rather than an hour of meditation. In Tiny Habits, B.J. Fogg brings his experience coaching more than 40,000 people to help you lose weight, de-stress, sleep better, or achieve any goal of your choice.  You just need Fogg's behavior formula: make it easy, make it fit your life, and make it rewarding. Whenever you get in your car, take one yoga breath. Smile.  Whenever you get in bed, turn off your phone. Give yourself a high five.  

Change can be easy--once it starts, it grows.  Let B.J. Fogg show you exactly how.

Angie’s comments: For anyone who is looking to add or drop a habit, this is a great book. It breaks habits into small parts that can be added to your life without much thought. Author BJ Fogg includes many activities and exercises for readers.

Recommended for anyone looking to add or drop any habit. 

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Beach Time

Celebrate summer and beaches with these reads! Sunshine Beach Wendy Wax Request this item Cocoa Beach Beatriz Williams Request this item Beach Season Lisa Jackson Request this item If you want any more suggestions or ideas, please call  the library today!

Humble Pi

Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker

Summary: The book-length answer to anyone who ever put their hand up in math class and asked, "When am I ever going to use this in the real world?" 

"Fun, informative, and relentlessly entertaining, Humble Pi is a charming and very readable guide to some of humanity's all-time greatest miscalculations--that also gives you permission to feel a little better about some of your own mistakes." --Ryan North, author of How to Invent Everything 

Our whole world is built on math, from the code running a website to the equations enabling the design of skyscrapers and bridges. Most of the time this math works quietly behind the scenes . . . until it doesn't. All sorts of seemingly innocuous mathematical mistakes can have significant consequences.

Math is easy to ignore until a misplaced decimal point upends the stock market, a unit conversion error causes a plane to crash, or someone divides by zero and stalls a battleship in the middle of the ocean.

Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near misses, and mathematical mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman Empire, and an Olympic team, Matt Parker uncovers the bizarre ways math trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.

Angie’s comments: A fun, and sometimes serious look, at mistakes in math that caused engineering and other issues. The issues veer from trivial to deadly. Most examples are well-explained. 

Recommended for readers who like math or interesting mistakes people have made.

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The Contact Paradox

The Contact Paradox: Challenging Our Assumptions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Keith Cooper

Summary: Inside the difficult questions about humanity's search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

What will happen if humanity makes contact with another civilization on a different planet? In The Contact Paradox, space journalist Keith Cooper tackles some of the myths and assumptions that underlie SETI--the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

In 1974 a message was beamed towards the stars by the giant Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, a brief blast of radio waves designed to alert extraterrestrial civilizations to our existence. Of course, we don't know if such civilizations really exist. But for the past six decades a small cadre of researchers have been on a quest to find out, as part of SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

The silence from the stars is prompting some researchers, inspired by the Arecibo transmission, to transmit more messages into space, in an effort to provoke a response from any civilizations out there that might otherwise be staying quiet. However, the act of transmitting raises troubling questions about the process of contact. We look for qualities such as altruism and intelligence in extraterrestrial life, but what do these mean to humankind? Can we learn something about our own history when we explore what happens when two civilizations come into contact? Finally, do the answers tell us that it is safe to transmit, even though we know nothing about extraterrestrial life, or as Stephen Hawking argued, are we placing humanity in jeopardy by doing so?

In The Contact Paradox, author Keith Cooper looks at how far SETI has come since its modest beginnings, and where it is going, by speaking to the leading names in the field and beyond. SETI forces us to confront our nature in a way that we seldom have before--where did we come from, where are we going, and who are we in the cosmic context of things? This book considers the assumptions that we make in our search for extraterrestrial life, and explores how those assumptions can teach us about ourselves. 

Angie’s comments: An enlightening look inside the quest for finding extraterrestrial life. The assumptions we make really influence what we look for and how we look for it. Cooper takes a look into not only space, but human evolution and culture.

Recommended for readers interested in the search for extraterrestrial life or interested in human evolution and culture. 

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