Consign Retail Manager recommends The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene The 48 Laws of Power explores how power works in everyday life, using real examples from history to explain different strategies people have used to gain and keep control. The book breaks down 48 “laws,” some focused on being careful and strategic, like keeping your plans private, and others more direct, like taking bold action when needed. Through these lessons, Greene shows how power isn’t always about strength, … [Read more...] about Review: The 48 Laws of Power
Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More
Review: Contemporary Art Books
Systems Librarian Susie Bille recommends new contemporary art books. If you love art, come to the Library! Contemporary art books (new to us) are in our New Books room. We’ve been adding some each month, thanks to a generous donation from Ruth Bloom. These books are big and heavy. But once home, they quietly sit on a table, waiting for ten minutes of your day. Think of it as taking a gallery home with you. I’ve been enjoying leafing through these books and find myself … [Read more...] about Review: Contemporary Art Books
Books Review: Twist
Director of Library Operations Pamela Parker recommends Twist: A Novel by Colum McCann. Irish author Colum McCann grapples with human disconnections in his most recent novel, Twist (2025). He does so by taking us on a sea-faring adventure off the coast of Africa aboard a vessel that repairs underwater fiber-optic cables. Periodic damage to these lines threatens global communications and … [Read more...] about Books Review: Twist
Film Review: Sinners
Gold Mine Processing Associate Janis Tedrow recommends the film Sinners produced and directed by Ryan Coogler. In the film Sinners, two brothers during the 1930s Jim Crow set out to purchase a barn on a former slave plantation in order to open a juke joint. On the journey, they invite friends to work there, and it becomes an immediate success. One of the old friends is a piano player. On his way to this new music venue, he meets Sammie, a young man whose father is a preacher. Sammie’s … [Read more...] about Film Review: Sinners
Documentary Review: The Final Days of Julius Caesar
Communications Manager Kyla Merwin Recommends The Final Days of Julius Caesar produced by The Great Courses. “Beware the Ides of March,” warned the seer Spurinna to Rome’s most powerful man, Gaius Julius Caesar. On that day of foreboding, March 15, 44 BCE, one of the most infamous assassinations in world history would take place. To set the stage, narrator Robert Garland takes us first, with passion and aplomb, to another pivotal day in Roman history in January 49 BCE, when Julius … [Read more...] about Documentary Review: The Final Days of Julius Caesar
Book Review: Moonglow
Director of Regional History Mary Tyson recommends Moonglow by Michael Chabon. To make sense of one’s grandparents’ lives is not a straightforward undertaking. The attempt to understand what life was like two generations earlier is what the novel Moonglow is about. The author, Michael Chabon, wrote himself as a narrator character: the grandson, Mike. As the narrator, Mike, an aspiring writer, weaves vivid tales told to him by his dying grandfather and he brings them to life through his … [Read more...] about Book Review: Moonglow
