book review archive

Here you'll find copies of book reviews originally published in the Mount Vernon News years ago. In some cases, many, many years ago. We'll be adding to the collection a few at a time, so check back often. Hope you like them!

Being Wrong, by Kathryn Schulz 
What does it feel like to be wrong and not know it? It feels exactly like being right! Kathryn Schulz takes us on a fascinating exploration of the history, psychology and philosophy of the whole concept of "rightness" and "wrongness." 

The Whites of Their Eyes, by Jill Lepore
Subtitle: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle Over American History. A Harvard professor of American history compares the Tea Party of the 21st century, the earlier one of the American Revolution Bicentennial (1976) and the original facts surrounding the American colonists' supreme act of treason against the British Crown.

Spenser's Boston, by Kasho Kumagai
A photographer's views of the sights and scenes around the Boston metro area that appear in Robert B. Parker's suspense novels featuring his hardboiled detective-with-no-first-name, Spenser. Stylish and nostalgic.

Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman
The Princeton psychologist who literally wrote the book on messed up thinking takes us on a grand tour of our inner landscape and explains why we are all virtually always "of two minds" about pretty much everything, whether we're aware of it or not. (We're usually not.)

The Godless Constitution, by Isaac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore
Many people are unaware that the word "God" appears nowhere in the U.S. Constitution. In this lively treatment, a political scientist and a historian, both from Cornell University, team up to explore the framing of the Constitution in view of the battle over Article 6 and the "no religious test" clause.

Stumbling on Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert
A Harvard psychologist explains why happiness can be such an elusive object and why everything we think about our own happiness--past, present and future--is wrong.

Why Read Moby Dick, by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Nantucket historian, sailing enthusiast and winner of a National Book Award for his nonfiction work, "In the Heart of the Sea," urges readers to plunge into Herman Melville's epic novel of the great white whale that took down an entire ship and left only one survivor, Ishamael, to tell the tale.

The Mothman Prophecies
Three books on a creepy monster sighting story from Point Pleasant, Ohio, provide insight and illumination for the 2002 movie, The Mothman Prophecies.

Lost Stories, by Ronald L. Stuckey
A biologist explores the history and lore of Put-In-Bay through a collection of 1890's newspaper columns from the Sandusky Register.  This book was a winner of an Ohioana Book Award.