The Bonus Staff Rec Post!

 

We've had a few staff recommendations slip through the cracks that I want to highlight today in this super bonus extra staff recommendations post. 

I also want to highlight these recommendations because we've got virtual events coming up with each of these authors, and it would be no good at all if you were to skip an event because you didn't know how great the book is. So here's to letting you know - these books are great!

On Tuesday Oliver Milman's new book about bugs was released, and it tells us about insects place in our world and where we'd be without them. The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World. Here's Tim's review: "Milman gives us a vision of Earth devastated by insect loss, and perhaps we're already on the verge. Many recent studies show dramatic declines in insect species and in the populations of those remaining. Land development, pesticides, and climate change seem to be the key culprits. It may be tempting to say, "Great! Less ants and flies in the kitchen. Less mosquito bites and bee stings. Maybe less disease." Tempting, but insects aren't 75% of all animal life for nothing. They're essential to everything. They pollinate much of our food, they decompose dead plants and animals into soil and soil nutrients for new life, and they feed birds, frogs and endless other creatures we love. Life as we know it collapses without insect biodiversity. It's not a pretty picture, but this is an exceptional book, Milman kept me fascinated with mind boggling numbers and descriptions of extraordinary habitats and insect attributes. He's a compelling, bold writer with a vital wake-up call to change our behavior and adjust our attitudes about what makes life beautiful. Right now."

The event is cohosted by our pals over at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center and takes place on Wednesday, March 16, 2 pm. Click here for more info & registration.

Next we've got a book that we've mentioned before, but since then Madi Hill has read and loved it, so let's mention it again: Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything by Kelly Weill. Here's Madi's take: "We are living in an unprecedented time of conspiracy theories. For the average American, those knee-deep in these fringe theories like flat earth are unstable people to be avoided. However, Off the Edge brings back humanity to the conspiratorially minded. Weill starts at the beginning, with the first instance of flat earth theory in the nineteenth century and how it was handled by both believers and the scientific community of the time, then goes through today's flat earthers and how they intersect with other alternate beliefs. Weill's hands-on journalism, from going to flat earth conventions to maintaining friendships with some of the less extreme believers, makes the book not a condescending work, but a more realistic approach to those with different opinions. From the casual flat earther to those involved in more dangerous, violence-prone conspiracies, Weill offers a glimpse into a world most people would have to see to believe."

Weill will be with us virtually on Tuesday, March 15, 7 pm, and that event is cohosted by our friends of Wisconsin Public Radio. For more info & registration, please click this sentence now.

Finally, Jen Steele wants you to try a most delicious book: Love & Saffron by Kim Fay. Jen says: "Love & Saffron is a delicious novel that warms the heart and feeds your soul. Told in epistolary form, we see how the bonds of friendship grow over time and recipes. Settle in and read this in one sitting; be warned - you should have your favorite snacks on hand!"

And Kim Fay joins us virtually on Wednesday, April 6, 7 pm for our Readings from Oconomwaukee series, cohosted by Books & Company of Oconomowoc. Click right here to get more info & to register for this event.