2005 Staff Recommended Non-Fiction

A Walk in the Woods  by Bill Bryson (Donna – Zebulon)
Known for his humorous travelogues, in this go-around, Bryson chronicles his experiences walking the Appalachian Trail with his friend Katz.

The Wisdom of Forgiveness  by Dalai Lama (Dan – North Regional)
Chan's conversations with the Dalai Lama reveal His Holiness's personal fears; under which circumstances he believes he could be capable of violence; how the experience of profound spiritual insight feels in the body and mind; and more.

The Art of Happiness at Work  by Dalai Lama (Dan – North Regional)
The Dalai Lama's responses to questions posed about finding happiness in the workplace, the focus being on our motivations for working and how that determines our level of satisfaction.

Father Joe: the Man Who Saved My Soul  by Tony Hendra (Kathryn – Cameron Village)
In this intimate memoir, Tony Hendra tells of meeting his friend and mentor Father Joe in a monastery after getting into trouble as a teen. Toward the end of Father Joe's life, the relationship strengthens once again, ending simultaneously in the deepest kind of loss and the most heartening redemption imaginable.

A Short History of World War I  by James Stokesbury (Wendy – East Regional)
An analysis of the Great War, including the politics of the era that shaped it and the technological innovations that occurred throughout the war.

A Short History of World War II  by James Stokesbury (Wendy – East Regional)
A one-volume survey of the second World War, reaching from the peace settlements of World War I to the drastically altered postwar world of the late 1940s.

Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded  by Simon Winchester (Bob – East Regional)
An examination of the enduring and world-changing effects of the catastrophic eruption off the coast of Java of the world's most dangerous volcano – Krakatoa.

The Professor and the Madman  by Simon Winchester (Bob – East Regional)
The story of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, with the surprising revelation that thousands of the dictionary's entries were submitted by an American physician locked in an insane asylum for murder.