Showing Up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetimeby Bill Gates Sr.
Wisdom from the man who raised a genius named Bill Gates.
Bill Gates Sr. is now the co-chairman of his famous son's $30 billion philanthropic organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Until now, little has been known about the man. Gates, Sr. will change all this with his new book, which details his life. Gates explores some of his chief tenets such as hard work, generosity, curiosity, and speaking up, in a readable, conversational tone. The book includes a number of small, personal moments such as the infamous water incidentâaround age 12, the future founder of Microsoft was having a particularly vociferous argument with his mother, and in order to separate them and in a rare outburst, Gates Sr. tossed a glass of water in his face. "Thanks for the shower," snapped the youngster.
How Sex Works: Why We Look, Smell, Feel, and Act the Way We Doby Sharon Moalem
What sex really feels, tastes, and smells like.
Sharon Moalem's new book goes far beyond the typical "birds and bees" sex talk. The neurogeneticist delves deep into human sexuality, and comes to some surprising conclusions. For example, the "tall, dark, and handsome" cliche exists for a reasonâdarker men have higher levels of sunlight-sensitive folate, which produces healthier sperm. And women with a low waist-to-hip ratio (read: with an hourglass figure) are more fertile and may produce smarter babies, because hip fat contains fatty acids that are essential to brain development in fetuses. Who knew that Viagra produces arousal of the nose in men?
The Last Thing I Rememberby Andrew Klavan
A thriller that reads like a teenage version of 24.
Bestselling thriller-author Andrew Klavan has tried his hand at young-adult fiction for the first time, and the result is an adrenaline-pumping adventure. The book features teen karate enthusiast Charlie West. Charlie's hobby and his unshakable morals come in handy after he wakes up, bruised, bloody, and strapped to a chair next to a tray of torture instruments. He has no idea where he's held or whyâthe last thing he remembers is a regular day of high school. After using his martial-arts skills to escape, West sets out to unravel what's happened to him, and maybe uncover an attempted assassination of a government official along the way.
The Road to Jerusalemby Jan Guillou
An epic novel about love and war during the Crusades.
Wildly popular in Sweden and other parts of Europe, American publishers are hoping for similar commercial success with the release of the first of three books in this adventure series. The trilogy starts with the rugged hero, Arn Magnusson, in his homeland, Sweden, in 1150. He starts to make his way to the Holy Land, where Christians and Muslims are battling it out. Of course, there is a thwarted love affair, war, and family problems along the way. Europeans loved this trilogy so much (2.5 million copies were sold in Sweden) there is a movie in the works with a very svelte Arn and a leading lady with flaxen hair.
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Storyby Richard Preston
Will swine flu be as horrifying as Ebola?
Much as the swine flu story has the world in a lather, this âterrifying true storyâ about the Ebola virus had critics both excited and horrified. Richard Prestonâs book about an outbreak in a Washington, D.C. suburb made a huge splash when it was released in 1994. Michiko Kakutani of the The New York Times wrote: âThe scenes in The Hot Zone⌠will remind you of things you've seen in the movies: faces and bodies liquefying into bloody pulps, like the Nazis who were zapped by the Ark's magical powers in Raiders of the Lost Ark⌠The scary part is that these scenes aren't the invention of an imaginative screenwriter or novelist.â They were in fact the result of months of reporting for The New Yorker. Even Stephen King said this book was one of the most horrifying things he had ever read. Is Mexico City the next Hot Zone?
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