Mather, an earth sciences professor at Oxford University, debuts with a prosaic deep dive into the science of volcanoes. Expounding on the molecular chemistry of molten rock, Mather explains that silicon and oxygen atoms in magma form larger structures than the “tidy molecular units of water,” giving “lava flows a strength and stickiness far greater” than water’s. She highlights the fearsome power of major historical eruptions, observing that the 1883 explosion of Krakatau “shattered eardrums on the British ship RMS Norham Castle just 60 kilometres from the volcano” and that the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius created pumice plumes that “turned day to night as if the gods were at work.” Personal anecdotes from Mather’s impressive career offer insight into how volcanologists conduct fieldwork, as when she recounts determining that the Pu‘u ‘О‘ō vent in Kīlauea, Hawaii, was at low risk of exploding in 2008 after sampling the chemical composition of its “volcanic smog.” Unfortunately, Mather alternates between matter-of-fact scientific discussions and labored descriptions of locales where she’s conducted fieldwork (she writes of the Aluto volcano in Ethiopia, “Over the volcano’s rim, the topography still feels rough-hewn, with the lobes of multiple previous eruptions building the rugged ramparts in a blocky geological pattern”), struggling to capture the excitement of her subject. Readers would be better off with Clive Oppenheimer’s Mountains of Fire. (June)

Reviewed on 04/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

Alaimo (Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street), a professor of public relations at Hofstra University, offers an uneven overview of the state of online misogyny. Arguing that social media (a catchall she uses to mean people interacting online) has had seismic negative effects on female users, she surveys multiple well-trod examples, including the promotion of unrealistic body expectations by altered images and “sextortion”—the sexual blackmailing of girls by boys threatening to release nude photos. She also intriguingly ventures into less familiar ground, noting that women report having less satisfaction with online dating than men (“The majority of American women say dating is harder than it was ten years ago.... The majority of men disagree”), and that women are more susceptible to misinformation about health and wellness (“The vast, overwhelming majority of rank-and-file members [of anti-vaccine social media groups] are women”). But Alaimo’s argument gets shaky as she attempts to encompass too many phenomena, such as in her defense of Karenesque meltdowns. “People have discovered they can make bank by secretly recording women’s worst moments in public and selling the rights... so the whole world can come together to shame us,” Alaimo writes, seeming to misunderstand that many such clips are likely staged. The result is an impassioned denunciation of the damage being done online to women and girls that lacks firm analytical footing. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 04/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

“If we want to understand” the origins of the Hebrew bible, then “we need to think about... where scribes really worked,” according to this insightful and enjoyable study. Biblical historian Schniedewind (Finger of the Scribe) argues that notions of individual authorship (e.g., Solomon wrote the Proverbs) are wrongheaded, and that even recent scholarly theories about collective authorship by scribal communities have been overly aggrandizing. Instead, he presents a more down-to-earth vision of scribal community authorship that emphasizes a universal truth: “Scribes were not venerable wise men hanging out with their books. Everyone needs to ‘pay the rent’ and scribes were no exception.” In the eighth century BCE, when the Hebrew Bible was written, all scribes labored under an apprenticeship system in which one master would have multiple apprentices. Schniedewind demonstrates how these relationships—half professional, half familial—are woven into the Bible’s stories (the prophets Elija and Elisa, for example, have something like a master-apprentice relationship). He also evocatively portrays the doting brotherly relationship between scribes (in one government missive, a scribe tacked on “I am always, utterly yours!” as a personal message to the scribe on the receiving end). Schniedewind’s erudite but still conversational prose brings admirable clarity to ancient breadcrumb trails of evidence. It’s an enlightening deep dive into the social world in which the Bible was written. (June)

Reviewed on 04/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this substantial business manual, De Cremer (Leadership by Algorithm), the dean of Northeastern University’s business school, urges executives and managers to augment, rather than replace, human workers with AI. Outlining nine principles for integrating the technology into one’s workflow, De Cremer argues, for instance, that AI should primarily be used to automate simple tasks so employees can spend more time on creative aspects of their job. He encourages managers to “develop a human-centered approach” and warns that an unnamed company’s decision to use AI to monitor workers’ progress on various projects resulted in more mistakes and higher turnover, which the author attributes to employees feeling “as if they were being treated like robots.” The suggestions manage the difficult task of giving meaningful guidance while staying broad enough to apply across a variety of contexts, such as when De Cremer entreats readers to rank “repetitive and manual” tasks by effort or cost and then research “AI-based solutions to those problems.” De Cremer’s insistence that AI is no substitute for human workers gives the lie to unrealistic techno-utopian promises, and he demonstrates a refreshing willingness to topple corporate shibboleths, as when he warns that “efficiency isn’t everything” because the moments of human inspiration that AI can’t yet replicate rarely happen on a predictable timeline. This will make executives think twice before replacing their employees with software. (June)

Reviewed on 04/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

“Humanity has come to depend on a disorganized and rickety global supply chain for access to the products of our age,” according to this informative if overly detailed report. New York Times journalist Goodman (Davos Man) frames his study around the efforts of Hagan Walker, the owner of a company that makes small novelty light-up cubes, to transport his products from the Chinese factory where they’re made to his Mississippi warehouse. While tracing the knickknacks’ journey, Goodman explores how American companies moved factories to China to take advantage of lower labor costs and how corporate consultants encouraged a fragile “just in time” business model that realized short-term savings by eliminating warehouse inventory that had previously insulated businesses from supply shortages. Deregulation is also to blame, Goodman posits, arguing that a 1980 law making it “easier for new competitors to enter trucking” depleted the strength of the Teamsters, allowing nonunion companies to set abysmal employment conditions that resulted in a decades-long shortage of drivers. Goodman succeeds in showing how complex factors intertwine to enable, or hobble, global commerce, but the granular background on longshoremen, shipping container transport, and trade policies can sometimes be a slog. Still, this has plenty to offer anyone wondering how products end up on store shelves. Agent: Gail Ross, WME. (June)

Reviewed on 04/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

MIT researcher Kay debuts with a rigorous investigation of whether quantum mechanics constitutes the most fundamental means of understanding physics or if there’s “more detail hiding at a deeper level.” The implications are huge, Kay contends, explaining that if the former is true, then the “moon is not there when nobody looks at it” and “an entirely new universe is created each time something happens.” Kay describes Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein’s debates on the subject, with the latter playing skeptic to the former’s arguments in favor of the physics community’s consensus that quantum mechanics is fundamental and objects don’t exist “separately of any observation.” This dogma is incorrect, Kay argues, suggesting that because quantum mechanics is statistical by nature, it cannot be complete because there has to be a deeper explanation underlying the statistical patterns that the theory describes. The author also traces how scientific resistance to the theory of plate tectonics and the idea that heat is “an emergent property” rather than a discrete “thing” gave way to mounting contrary evidence, suggesting Bohr’s adherents will face a similar reckoning in light of future discoveries. The focus on theory ensures this doesn’t get bogged down in abstruse equations, and the generous historical context offers a point of entry for those with only passing knowledge of quantum theory. Readers will be enlightened. (June)

Reviewed on 04/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

After Hours actor Griffin recounts in his bittersweet debut how movies, madness, and murder have touched his celebrated American family. Dunne presents his recollections as a colorful ensemble piece starring his accomplished relatives, including his father, Dominick, who torpedoed his career as a Hollywood producer by insulting a powerful agent, then became a famous novelist; his mother, Ellen, who carried on several affairs; his brother, Alex, a brilliant writer; his sister, Dominique, an actor who costarred in Poltergeist; and his uncle and aunt by marriage, authors John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion. The narrative is a swirl of parties, crude jokes, and sharply etched celebrity cameos, including a pre-fame, pot-smoking Harrison Ford, still working as a carpenter (“His stuff was so strong that after one toke I couldn’t tell the difference between a saw and a tape measure”), and a magnificently bratty Carrie Fisher. But there are darker currents, too: Dominick’s closeted homosexuality; Ellen’s diagnosis of multiple sclerosis; Alex’s intermittent psychosis. Anchoring the book is an account of 22-year-old Dominique’s death by strangulation, and her ex-boyfriend John Sweeney’s subsequent conviction on a relatively minor manslaughter charge. Dunne’s writing is vivid, openhearted, and full of a rich irony that inflects even the most emotional scenes, as when he recalls an extra on the set of the gangster spoof Johnny Dangerously offering to have his mob associates kill Sweeney. The result is a raucously entertaining homage to an unforgettable dynasty. Agents: David Kuhn and Nate Muscato, Aevitas Creative Management. (June)

Reviewed on 04/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

“I am a twenty-first century sociopath,” former therapist Gagne asserts in the introduction to her bracing debut, “and I’ve written this book because I know I’m not alone.” She begins by recounting her childhood affinity for thievery and other early signs, including the excessive time she spent alone, that “something about me was off.” As Gagne grew older, stealing trinkets gave way to stealing cars and credit cards, and in college, her first therapist diagnosed her as a sociopath. Reading all the material she could get her hands on, Gagne learned that the condition (characterized by “a disinclination to empathize with others”) is widely misunderstood—and often misdiagnosed—and resolved to pursue a PhD in the subject to help others like herself. Meanwhile, she managed a bumpy relationship with her boyfriend (and eventual husband), David, one of the few people for whom she felt deep love. Gagne’s stated goal is demystification (“representation matters”), and she succeeds, legibly outlining the workings of her mind and the hopelessness she felt upon diagnosis. Courageously candid and sometimes shocking, this no-holds-barred self-portrait offers an illuminating glimpse at a mental health disorder long shrouded by shame. Agent: Melissa Flashman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 04/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

Jakob debuts with a poignant biography of her friend Elida Friedman, a Holocaust survivor who was “born in fire and died by fire.” Elida’s birth in 1943 was illegal, Jakob explains; the Nazis had strictly forbidden childbirth in the Jewish ghetto of Kovno, Lithuania, but her parents—Jonah, a doctor, and his wife Tzila, a nurse—delivered their baby in secret. They gave her a Hebrew name meaning “nonbirth” and smuggled her to a Christian Lithuanian family who owed Jonah a debt of gratitude for having saved one of their lives during an operation. The ghetto was liquidated shortly afterward, and Jonah and Tzila were murdered. Following the war, Elida was adopted by a Jewish couple, the Ruhins; when she learned the true story of her birth, she struggled emotionally in her new home, becoming an angry, difficult child. Elida and the Ruhins eventually relocated to Israel, where Elida reconnected with her father’s relatives; as a teenager, she was adopted by her father’s cousin. She later married and started her own family, before dying tragically young, at the age of 31, when the flight she and her husband were taking from Israel to the U.S. was bombed by Libyan-backed terrorists. In her novelistic and psychologically probing portrayal, Jakob captures how the aftereffects of trauma made Elida a tempestuous figure in the lives of those around her. It’s a captivating character study of survival and resilience. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 04/05/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this charming love letter to a historic New York neighborhood, reporter Minichiello collects over a decade of his “West Village Originals” columns from the WestView News. In these 90 short interviews, he asks West Village residents for their thoughts on the neighborhood’s roots, its sense of identity, and recent changes wrought by big money and big business. As Minichiello points out, “since 1916, when it first became known as ‘Little Bohemia,’ the West Village has nurtured generations of artists and activists.”; through the turn of the 21st century, the neighborhood was still known for its low rent, gay diaspora, and struggling artists. Many of the long-term Village residents interviewed by Minichiello mourn the loss of this uniqueness, and identify gentrification as the culprit. “Businesses... can no longer afford to be here,” explains naturalist Keith Michael. “The very thing that attracts people... is disappearing because of the influx of money.” Filled with nostalgia, each interview also brings a unique take on what continues to make the Village special. For jazz guitarist Peter Leitch, it’s the surprisingly small-town feel of a still star-studded community: “You never know who you’re going to meet, particularly among the older residents.... There are still some very interesting people here.” It’s an alluring mosaic of voices paying tribute to one of America’s famous neighborhoods. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 04/05/2024 | Details & Permalink