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County Library is open from 9 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday, the computer room closes at 5:30 PM. You may reach us at (432) 264-2260 and our fax number is (432) 264-2263. Please visit our website at http://howard-county.ploud.net and our Facebook page at www.facebook. com/howardcolibrary for more information about our services and any updates.
Another amazing session of children's programs and clubs are in the books for the Spring of 2024! We want to thank our community for the overwhelming response, and we hope we can provide more exciting things for our community in the months to come. Keep watching our Facebook as we gear up for some fun and amazing summer reading programs, crafts and Storytimes! We will post the Summer Reading Program information and updates in May.
This week's reviews are nonfiction titles in large print.
In 2012, the Innocence Project began searching for prisoners convicted by junk science, and three men, each convicted of capital murder, became M. Chris Fabricant's clients in Junk Science (LP 364.089 FAB M). Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System chronicles the fights to overturn their wrongful convictions and to end the use of the “science” that destroyed their lives. Weaving together courtroom battles from Mississippi to Texas to New York City and beyond, Fabricant takes the reader on a journey into the heart of a broken, racist system of justice and the role forensic science plays in maintaining the status quo. At turns gripping, enraging, illuminating, and moving, Junk Science is a meticulously researched insider's perspective of the American criminal justice system. Previously untold stories of wrongful executions, corrupt prosecutors, and quackery masquerading as science animate Fabricant's
true crime narrative. "
What makes puzzles like jigsaws, mazes, riddles, sudokus so satisfying? Be it the formation of new cerebral pathways, their close link to insight and humor, or their community-building properties, they're among the fundamental elements that make us human in The Puzzler (LP 793.73 JAC A) by A.J Jacobs. Convinced that puzzles have made him a better person, A.J. Jacob sets out to determine their myriad benefits. And maybe, in the process, solve the puzzle of our very existence. Well, almost. In The Puzzler, Jacobs meets the most zealous devotees, enters (sometimes with his family in tow) any puzzle competition that will have him, unpacks the history of the most popular puzzles, and aims to solve the most impossible head-scratchers, from a mutant Rubik's Cube to the hardest corn maze in America, to the most sadistic jigsaw. Chock-full of unforgettable adventures and original examples from around the world including new work by Greg Pliska, one of America's top puzzlemakers, and a hidden, super-challenging but solvable puzzle that will earn the first reader to crack it a $10,000 prize. The Puzzler will open readers' eyes to the power of flexible thinking and concentration. Whether you're puzzle obsessed or puzzle hesitant, you'll walk away with real problem-solving strategies and pathways toward becoming a better thinker and decision maker for these are certainly puzzling times.
In The Book of Hope (LP 363.7 GOO J) by Jane Goodall & Douglas Abrams, Jane focuses on her "Four Reasons for Hope": The Amazing Human Intellect, The Resilience of Nature, The Power of Young People, and The Indomitable Human Spirit. Drawing on decades of work that has helped expand our understanding of what it means to be human and what we all need to do to help build a better world, The Book of Hope touches on vital questions, how do we stay hopeful when everything seems hopeless? How do we cultivate hope in our children? What is the relationship between hope and action? Filled with moving and inspirational stories and photographs from Jane's remarkable career, The Book of Hope is a deeply personal conversation with one of the most beloved figures in the world today. While discussing the experiences that shaped her discoveries and beliefs, Jane tells the story of how she became a messenger of hope, from living through World War II to her years in Gombe to realizing she had to leave the forest to travel the world in her role as an advocate for environmental justice. And for the first time, she shares her profound revelations about her next, and perhaps final, adventure.
Keanon Lowe was working as an offensive analyst for the San Francisco 49ers when his childhood friend and former high school teammate suddenly died from an opioid overdose in Hometown Victory (LP 796.322 LOW K) by Keanon Lowe. Keanon dropped everything including the plum NFL job he had been working towards since childhood leading him to a position as football coach at a struggling high school back in his hometown. At the time, Parkrose High School was in the middle of a 23-game losing streak and they were the ultimate underdogs. In many ways, the road to Parkrose was paved by Keanon's life-defining experiences from a childhood spent dodging racist bullies and finding the support and mentorship he craved on the football team, to an NFL season where he worked closely with Colin Kaepernick as he evolved his sideline protest. Keanon was drawn to the young men on the Parkrose team, and to the school itself. After two years, he pushed them to become conference champions, mentoring countless players along the way. But still, there was that nagging sense that his calling wasn't meant to stop there. He was at that school for a reason. In May 2019, he got his answer when a 19-year-old student entered a Parkrose classroom with a trench coat and shotgun. Keanon disarmed him and pulled the boy into a hug, telling him he cared. In the boy, Keanon saw himself, and the young men he grew up with or mentored along the way and weren't so many of them just looking for acceptance, for comfort, for love?