Eating animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (available in Book on CD or Book-641.303 Foer)

This is a must read for anyone interested in a healthy environment and healthy eating. The author discusses factory farming and the toxic practices that are affecting the animals and the environment. Desensitized workers and unregulated or ignored regulations have lead to inhumane treatment of the animals and toxic land sites. Unnatural life spans and indoor living in cruel conditions are creating unhealthy animals affected by parasites and diseases. The suffering of the animals and the health risks involved through improper handling of the animals raises a serious red flag that something is very wrong.-Submitted by Terri Wichman

What in the Wolrd is Going On?: 10 Prophetic Clues You Cannot Afford to Ignore

In What in the World Is Going On?: 10 Prophetic Clues You Cannot Afford to Ignore, Dr. David Jeremiah compares current events to Biblical prophecy. A good deal of it will be familiar to those who have looked into this subject, but I did run into several new ideas. I admit that it made my hair prickle when the day after I read one of those ideas, that same issue was on the news.

The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet by Margaret Huber

The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet by Margaret Huber is basically a crochet stitch encyclopedia, although it does contain a few interesting patterns that use some of the stitches.

There were a few techniques that were new to me (or I did them so long ago that I had forgotten) including one called intermeshing crochet. It looks complicated, but is simply two mesh designs worked over each other. (Mesh is double crochet, chain, double crochet, chain...).
Another cool pattern was a spiral shape worked in four colors.

If you like to work with yarn, this is a book you won't want to miss.

Kathi

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

This author describes a tragedy that most of us do not think about.
-posted for Jim Wichman

Crisis Economics by Nouriel Roubini & Stephen Mihm

The authors have written a book that provides an easy to understand description of the finance world. The authors explain the recent financial crisis and its consequences. An excellent book. -posted for Jim Wichman

Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need for Easy Get-Togethers by Pam Anderson

I checked through the recipes in Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need for Easy Get-Togethers by Pam Anderson. I bet the dishes are very tasty, but they have lots of butter. If I made the dishes in this book, I would have to change out some of the ingredients for others a little less fat.

Kathi Linz

How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave Fake Trails, and Vanish Without a Trace by Frank M. Ahearn and Eileen C. Horan.

If you've ever considered dropping out of sight or want to make yourself safer from someone who might want your personal information, you should pick up How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave Fake Trails, and Vanish Without a Trace by Frank Ahearn and Eileen Horan.

The first thing this book recommends is that you get out of Facebook, Myspace, and any other social website. Then the author tells you how to delete your name from some of the primary places a skip tracer will look for your information. He tells you how to alter some of the information you have in other places, so that you become technically invisible.

This book made me a little paranoid about how many or what type of people might be looking for my information. You will also discover a way to find out who is doing an online search for your name.

Kathi Linz

Second Nature by Jonathan Balcombe

If more people understood what this author is trying to communicate, the world would be a healthier and happier place. Posted for Jim Wichman.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Having read several of the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan, I found that he was not only well-versed in Greek mythology, but he had an entertaining way of bringing the old gods into modern times.

As I know less about Egyptian mythology than Greco-Roman lore, I was curious about The Red Pyramid. I got a lot of information out of the book without being bored even once.

Carter and Sadie Kane battle Set and other evil creatures during the Demon Days. A few of the good gods - Maat, Horus, Isis - a baboon named Khufu and an albino crocodile called Philip of Macedonia help them. There's also a bunch of magicians who have their own agenda and, for the most part, you don't know whose side they are on through most of the book, but they do make for some interesting complications.

I won't try to cover the same ground as Mr. Riordan except for this: In Egypt, black is a good color because the black soil grows food, while red is the color of death because nothing will grow in the red desert sand. That will give you a hint about the title of the book.

Kathi

The Crocheted Prayer Shawl Companion: 37 Patterns to Embrace, Inspire & Celebrate Life

There are several good books with patterns for knititng comfort/prayer shawls. Now there is one for us crocheters. The Crocheted Prayer Shawl Companion: 37 Patterns to Embrace, Inspire & Celebrate Life by Janet Bristow & Victoria A. Cole-Galo has both rectangular and triangular shawl patterns. Most are listed as easy; a few are intermediate.