Library Journal's Reader's Shelf

Future Shock: Reading in the New Year

Books recommended by editors at Library Journal

The Dream of Perpetual Motion By Palmer, Dexter 2010-03 - St. Martin's Press 9780312558154 Check Our Catalog In this wonderfully imagined debut novel, a greeting card writer must come to terms with the madness of a genius inventor and his quest to create the perpetual motion machine. …More

The Time Machine, the Invisible Man, the War of the Worlds By Wells, H. G. Introduction by Drabble, Margaret 2010-08 - Everyman's Library 9780307593849 Check Our Catalog Gathered together for the first time in one volume: three timeless novels from the founding father of science fiction. Here are three classic tales that, more than a century after their original publication, show no sign of losing their grip on readers' imaginations. …More

In the Garden of Iden By Baker, Kage 2005-12 - Tor Books 9780765314574 Check Our Catalog In the 24th century, the Company preserves works of arts and extinct forms of life. It recruits orphans from the past, renders them all but immortal, and trains them to serve the Company. Mendoza is sent to Elizabethan England to collect samples from the garden of Sir Walter Iden. Her quest is jeopardized by Nicholas Harpole, who stirs unfamiliar emotions within her about her future--with a man she will long outlive. …More

Naked in Death By Robb, J. D. 1996-06 - Berkley Publishing Group 9780425148297 Check Our Catalog As NYPD Lt. Eve Dallas races to find a serial killer, she becomes very involved with one of the suspects. Her overpowering feelings for a man she barely knows could jeopardize her investigation, her faith in herself--and her life. J.D. Robb is the pseudonym for bestselling author Nora Roberts. …More

The World Without Us By Weisman, Alan 2008-08 - Picador USA 9780312427900 Check Our Catalog BookPage Notable Title "A penetrating, page-turning tour of a post-human Earth" In" The World Without Us, "Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity's impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us.In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; which everyday items may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe."The World Without Us "reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York's subways would start eroding the city's foundations, and how, as the world's cities crumble, asphalt jungles would give way to real ones. It describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, atmospheric scientists, art conservators, zoologists, oil refiners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, religious leaders from rabbis to the Dali Lama, and paleontologists---who describe a prehuman world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths---Weisman illustrates what the planet might be like today, if not for us.From places already devoid of humans (a last fragment of primeval European forest; the Korean DMZ; Chernobyl), Weisman reveals Earth's tremendous capacity for self-healing. As he shows which humandevastations are indelible, and which examples of our highest art and culture would endure longest, Weisman's narrative ultimately drives toward a radical but persuasive solution that needn't depend on our demise. It is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and in posing an irresistible concept with both gravity and a highly readable touch, it looks deeply at our effects on the planet in a way that no other book has. "This is one of the grandest thought experiments of our time, a tremendous feat of imaginative reporting!"--Bill McKibben, author of "The End of Nature" and Deep" Economy: The Wealth of Communities and The Durable Future" "The imaginative power of "The World Without Us" is compulsive and nearly hypnotic--make sure you have time to be kidnapped into Alan Weisman's alternative world before you sit down with the book, because you won't soon return. This is a text that has a chance to change people, and so make a real difference for the planet."--Charles Wohlforth, author of "L.A. Times" Book Prize-winning "The Whale and the Supercomputer" "Alan Weisman offers us a sketch of where we stand as a species that is both illuminating and terrifying. His tone is conversational and his affection for both Earth and humanity transparent."--Barry Lopez, author of "Arctic Dreams" "An exacting account of the processes by which things fall apart. The scope is breathtaking...the clarity and lyricism of the writing itself left me with repeated gasps of recognition about the human condition. I believe it will be a classic."--Dennis Covington, author of National Book Award finalist "Salvation on Sand Mountain" "Fascinating, mordant, deeply intelligent, and beautifully written, "TheWorld Without Us" depicts the spectacle of humanity's impact on the planet Earth in tragically poignant terms that go far beyond the dry dictates of science. This is a very important book for a species playing games with its own destiny."--James Howard Kunstler, author of "The Long Emergency" …More

What Technology Wants By Kelly, Kevin 2010-10 - Viking Books 9780670022151 Check Our Catalog Kelly's provocative work introduces a brand-new view of technology and suggests that technology as a whole is not a jumble of wires and metal but a living, evolving organism that has its own unconscious needs and tendencies. …More