FREE/BARGAIN - Non-Fiction - 2014

[ATDrake]

Some science-oriented non-fiction bargains cribbed from the Kobo holiday sales, couponable @ Kobo (amazingly the contest codes still seem to be working after the usual 1-week period for them, though I don't expect that to last much longer)

@ $1.99 each from Algonquin Books, and likely the same price in the other regular Canada & US stores if you have a preference.:

• The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks by Amy Stewart is a part-introductory reference, part-recipe guide to Stuff That People Have Turned Into Beverages (Alcoholic, Hallucinogenic, or Otherwise) over the centuries and is actually quite nifty. To quote part of the blurb: "This fascinating concoction of biology, chemistry, history, etymology, and mixology—with more than fifty drink recipes and growing tips for gardeners—will make you the most popular guest at any cocktail party."
• Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities, also by Amy Stewart (apparently she has an entire series of these), which I also picked up, is a similar science/history/cultural-usage oriented guide to Exactly What It Says In The Title (no recipes this time).
• Lives of the Trees: An Uncommon History by Diana Wells is a similar, but shorter and more culture/history/literary-oriented than science-y, sort of guide to various species.
• The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating: A Memoir by Elizabeth Tova Bailey is a contrasting of points in her own life with the corresponding habits and life cycle of a snail, with some scientific grounding to this flight of fancy. The cover for this says that it won the 2012 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing (Wikipedia), and noted biologist Edward O. Wilson (Wikipedia) calls it "Beautiful" on the front blurb.
• Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv, whom the front cover notes is the recipient of the 2008 Audubon Medal, is a parenting manifesto.
• If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska by Heather Lende is not a science-derived book, but a humorous memoir/anecdote collection about living in the Arctic North, which includes a few bits about the wildlife.

@ $4.99 each from ECW, Wilfred Laurier University Press, Dundurn, Coach House and other Canadian publishers, only seem to be discounted at Kobo for the most part (a few highlights of ones I found particularly interesting from the selection linked below):

• Is That a Fact?: Frauds, Quacks, and the Real Science of Everyday Life by Dr. Joe Schwarcz (Wikipedia), a McGill University professor who's one of our top people for popularizing and explaining science to the masses. I've read some of his other books before and found them informative and entertaining, so of course I bought this one (his latest, just out this year) when it dropped on sale.
• Kinds of Winter: Four Solo Journeys by Dogteam in Canada's Northwest Territories by Dave Olesen, a memoir about Exactly What It Says In The Title
• Moving Environments: Affect, Emotion, Ecology, and Film scholarly essays edited by Alexa Weik von Mossner, in Wilfred Laurier University Press' Environmental Humanities series, on the intersection of film, ecology/environmental presentation, and the effect of the former on contributing to people's willingness to support the latter, and another one I picked up
• The Art of Medicine: Healing and the Limits of Technology by Dr. Herbert Ho Ping Kong of Toronto Western Hospital seems to be a part practical guide, part meditation on what it means to work in health care services as well as the tools available.
• The Inspection House: An Impertinent Field Guide to Modern Surveillance by Emily Horne & Tim Maly, a slightly tongue-in-cheek history/sociology-oriented commentary & travelogue to Exactly What It Says In The Title (this also has a PDF version floating around at the same price, so be careful which one you get, should you decide to splurge)

There's actually a fairly good selection of non-fiction (a decent chunk of science/health/environment stuff to go with the usual history, biography, and self-help offerings) this time around in the Kobo sale, and here's the linkage for the lot (Canada, US, and UK all have nice books, some of which are also available at discount pricing in other countries) if you want to just browse what's available.

[koland]

New thread for 2015: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=3016030

[pdurrant]

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