FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH

A TIME TO BREAK THE SILENCE
excerpted from a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.
New York City—April 4, 1967

A time comes when silence is betrayal. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war…. We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation, for those it calls “enemy”, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers…. I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

AS’AD ABUKHALIL
Monday, February 3, 7:30 p.m.

Lebanese scholar AS’AD ABUKHALIL examines the roots of the September 11 crisis, the causes for antipathy toward the United States, and the historical relations between the U.S. and the Islamic world in his compelling Bin Laden, Islam, and America’s New “War on Terrorism” (Seven Stories, $8.95). Opening with an introduction on the legacy of Western misconceptions about Islam, AbuKhalil focuses on Islamic fundamentalism and U.S. foreign policy, and the ways in which both polarize the world into a “with us or against us” view.

Bin Laden, Islam, and America’s New “War on Terrorism”

WARREN ROVETCH
Wednesday, February 5, 7:30 p.m.

Warmly received by the Daily Camera and one of National Public Radio’s “Best Books to Give for the Holiday Season”, The Creaky Traveler in the North West Highlands of Scotland (Sentient, $15.95) is part travelogue, part guidebook, and all charm and wit. On a journey of discovery, local author WARREN ROVETCH and his wife Gerda explore Great Britain’s last wilderness, the rugged northwest coast of Scotland; “mobile but not agile”, the couple brings fresh perspectives to the environmental, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of their journey.

The Creaky Traveler in the North West Highlands of Scotland

GRETCHEN MATTOX
Thursday, February 6, 7:30 p.m.

In this delicately gorgeous collection of poems, University of Colorado alumna and Green Rose Prize winner GRETCHEN MATTOX peels back layers of human armor to reveal the sorrows beneath. Goodnight Architecture (New Issues, $14.00) travels from youth to maturity, shattering day-to-day social convention as well as the myths of family and of the past along the way to the hard-won present. Candid, agile, and yet demonstrative of the poet’s grit and perseverance, this debut collection speaks to both the mind and the heart.

WILLIAM GIBSON
Tuesday, February 11, 7:30 p.m.

WILLIAM GIBSON has been hailed as one of the most culturally and technologically attuned writers of our time. Now, in Pattern Recognition (Putnam, $24.95), Gibson probes the here and now in his first novel set entirely in the present. Moving from London to Tokyo to Moscow, a brilliant, emotionally vulnerable young woman must risk her career and her life as she negotiates a gauntlet of criminals, spies, and corporate sharks in search of the creator of a mesmerizing series of Internet video clips that have become known simply as “the footage”.

Pattern Recognition

WALTER BORNEMAN
Wednesday, February 12, 7:30 p.m.

Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land (HarperCollins, $34.95) is the first comprehensive history of Alaska in fifty years; a sweeping narrative, this history tells the entire Alaskan saga, from earliest inhabitants to contemporary challenges. Alaska’s history is filled with stories of new land, new people, new riches—and ever-present conflict over how its resources are used, and by whom. WALTER BORNEMAN’s engrossing history demonstrates that there are no easy answers, and that America’s forty-ninth state will always be crossing the next frontier.

Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land

HOWARD GELLER
Thursday, February 13, 7:30 p.m.

While scientists and researchers have made significant advances in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in recent years, most consumers have not yet adopted them—due in large part to policies and programs that favor the use of fossil fuels. In his new book Energy Revolution: Policies for a Sustainable Future (Island, $22.50), local author HOWARD GELLER examines why a transformation from a fossil-fuel based world economy to one based on high efficiency and renewables is necessary if human society is to achieve sustainability.

Energy Revolution: Policies for a Sustainable Future

GERRY MEEHL
Tuesday, February 18, 7:30 p.m.

On World War II’s Pacific battlefields, rusting American landing craft and tanks still can be found on the reefs and beaches where they were stopped by enemy fire so long ago, and battle-scarred Japanese pillboxes and artillery emplacements still stand sentinel. Interweaving poignant first-person memories with archival images and the evocative work of local photographer GERALD MEEHL, Pacific Legacy (Abbeville, $65.00) is a fascinating, richly illustrated survey of the Pacific war, from Pearl Harbor to Japan’s surrender in Tokyo Bay.

Pacific Legacy

RABBI TIRZAH FIRESTONE
Wednesday, February 19, 7:30 p.m.

In an act of what might be called spiritual archaeology, local rabbi and Jungian therapist TIRZAH FIRESTONE’s new book searches for the traces of the divine feminine in the Jewish tradition, asking the question: what is a woman’s way to God? Rabbi Firestone’s search leads her to various strands of Jewish spirituality, including the Kabbalah and seven forgotten women sages. The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women’s Wisdom (HarperSanFrancisco, $24.95) recreates marginalized women who found ways to embrace the sacred in their lives.

The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women’s Wisdom

PAULA HUNTLEY
Thursday, February 20, 7:30 p.m.

In 1999, one year after the NATO bombings in Kosovo, PAULA HUNTLEY took a job in Prishtina, teaching English as a Second Language to a group of Kosovo Albanians. When she and her students decided to form a book club that would meet outside class, Huntley located a stray copy of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and proposed it as the club’s first selection. In The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo (J.P. Tarcher, $22.95), the diary of her experiences in Kosovo, Huntley describes how Hemingway’s tale touched all of their lives.

The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo

JOHN HORGAN
Friday, February 21, 7:30 p.m.

Award-winning science writer JOHN HORGAN broke new ground when in The End of Science he made efforts to pinpoint the things science could never elucidate. Now, his Rational Mysticism (Houghton Mifflin, $25.00) investigates the burgeoning convergence between mystical experience and fields such as neurology, anthropology, and physics; he profiles the leading researchers of the intersections of science and the spiritual, and uncovers the strikingly similar effects of “mystical technologies” like fasting, trance, prayer, and drug trips.

Rational Mysticism

LEWIS ROBINSON & NICK ARVIN
Monday, February 24, 7:30 p.m.

Former engineer NICK ARVIN layers his knowledge of technology and human character into the stories comprising In the Electric Eden (Penguin, $14.00); deeply conscious of how technology shapes our interactions with each other and views of the world, Arvin weaves disparate settings and characters into an engrossing whole. LEWIS ROBINSON, a graduate with Arvin of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, examines extraordinary moments in ordinary lives. Humorous and eerie, Officer Friendly & Other Stories (HarperCollins, $23.95) is his compelling debut collection of unique, thematically interlaced stories.

In the Electric Eden

Officer Friendly & Other Stories

CAI EMMONS
Tuesday, February 25, 7:30 p.m.

CAI EMMONS’ stunning debut novel follows Jana, a trusted emergency-room doctor who becomes nearly hysterical when her young son begins to exhibit odd behavior; unbeknownst to those around her, Evan’s outbursts bring to mind Jana’s late brother, and the life she desperately fled and buried deep within herself sixteen years before. Deftly alternating between past and present, His Mother’s Son (Harcourt, $25.00) depicts both the cause and current manifestation of one woman’s disintegration—and how she is ultimately restored to wholeness.

His Mother’s Son

JOHN FIROR & JUDITH JACOBSEN
Wednesday, February 26, 7:30 p.m.

Rapid population growth and climate change induced by human activity are global problems deserving decisive response by governments, economies, societies, and individuals. In the solution-oriented The Crowded Greenhouse (Yale University Press, $24.95), local authors JOHN FIROR and JUDITH JACOBSEN argue that two revolutions are necessary to correct these problems: a social revolution that improves equity, particularly the status of women, and a technical revolution that yields vastly greater efficiency in energy and material use than today.

The Crowded Greenhouse

LYNN GINSBURG & MARY TAYLOR
Thursday, February 27, 7:30 p.m.

Local authors LYNN GINSBURG and MARY TAYLOR say that it’s time for women to declare a new manifesto and a new definition of beauty and liberation. Describing how women feel trapped by the belief that life is worthwhile only if they’re slim and beautiful, they offer a new outlook on women, food, and spirituality: Until women are free to be themselves, they’ll never feel truly liberated or truly beautiful. What are You Hungry For? (Griffin, $13.95) inspires women to start a meaningful dialogue, and pursue the new manifesto for themselves.

What are You Hungry For?

Dr. SHANKARANARAYANA JOIS:
YOGA AND MEMORY
Friday, February 28, 7:30 p.m.

We have many capabilities that aid us in living a happy life and avoiding misery. Among these, our memory is the most important one. When we achieve Yogic states, the ability to memorize and recall those states is crucial for making those states an integral part of our lives. Having once experienced a Yogic state, the easiest way to experience it again is to fully recollect that state. A good memory is founded on a calm and quiet mind. Yoga maximizes calmness and quietness, so memory and Yogic achievement go hand in hand.

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