Blake Charlton

Friday, March 19, 7:30 p.m.

Spellwright  BUY NOW

Nicodemus is a young, gifted wizard with a problem. Magic in his world requires the caster to create spells by writing out the text . . . but he has always been dyslexic, and thus has trouble casting even the simplest of spells. And his misspells could prove dangerous, even deadly, should he make a mistake in an important incantation.

When a powerful, ancient evil begins a campaign of murder and disruption, Nicodemus starts to have disturbing dreams that lead him to believe that his misspelling could be the result of a curse. But before he can discover the truth about himself, he is attacked by an evil which has already claimed the lives of fellow wizards and has cast suspicion on his mentor. He must flee for his own life if he’s to find the true villain.

But more is at stake than his abilities. For the evil that has awakened is a power so dread and vast that if unleashed it will destroy Nicodemus... and the world.

BLAKE CHARLTON has had short stories published in several fantasy anthologies. Spellwright is his first novel. A medical student at Stanford University, he lives near San Francisco, where he’s working on a sequel.

Anthony Brandt

Saturday, March 20, 2:00 p.m.

The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage  BUY NOW

The enthralling and often harrowing history of the adventurers who searched for the Northwest Passage, the holy grail of nineteenth-century British exploration.

In The Man Who Ate His Boots, Anthony Brandt tells the whole story of the search for the Northwest Passage, from its beginnings early in the age of exploration through its development into a British national obsession to the final sordid, terrible descent into scurvy, starvation, and cannibalism. Sir John Franklin is the focus of the book but it covers all the major expeditions and a number of fascinating characters, including Franklin’s extraordinary wife, Lady Jane, in vivid detail. The Man Who Ate His Boots is a rich and engaging work of narrative history that captures the glory and the folly of this ultimately tragic enterprise.

Brandt is the editor of the Adventure Classics series published by National Geographic Society Press, and the books editor at National Geographic Adventure magazine. Formerly the book critic at Men’s Journal, Brandt has written for The Atlantic, GQ, Esquire, and many other magazines, and is the author of two previous books.  

Youth Event: Carrie Ryan

Monday, March 22, 7:00 p.m.

The Dead-Tossed Waves  BUY NOW

Gabry lives a quiet life. As safe a life as is possible in a town trapped between a forest and the ocean, in a world teeming with the dead, who constantly hunger for those still living. She’s content on her side of the Barrier, happy to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. But there are threats the Barrier cannot hold back. Threats like the secrets Gabry’s mother thought she left behind when she escaped from the Sisterhood and the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Like the cult of religious zealots who worship the dead. Like the stranger from the forest who seems to know Gabry. And suddenly, everything is changing. One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned. Now Gabry only knows one thing: she must face the forest of her mother’s past in order to save herself and the one she loves.

Born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina, Carrie Ryan, whose debut novel was The Forest of Hands and Teeth, is a graduate of Williams College and Duke University School of Law. A former litigator, she now writes full time. She lives with her writer/lawyer fiancé, two fat cats and one large puppy in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are not at all prepared for the zombie apocalypse. 

Photo Credit: Darren Cassese 

Dr. Aaron David Miller 

Monday, March 22, 7:00 p.m.

The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace  BUY NOW

Oshman Family JCC - Schultz Cultural Arts Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto

Yoram Bauman

Tuesday, March 23, 7:30 p.m.

The Cartoon Introduction to Economics: Volume One: Microeconomics  BUY NOW

The award-winning illustrator Grady Klein has paired up with the world’s only stand-up economist, Yoram Bauman, PhD, to take the dismal out of the dismal science. From the optimizing individual to game theory to price theory, The Cartoon Introduction to Economics is the most digestible, explicable, and humorous 200-page introduction to microeconomics you’ll ever read. 

Bauman has put the “comedy” into “economy” at comedy clubs and universities around the country and around the world (his “Principles of Economics, Translated” is a YouTube cult classic). As an educator at both the university and high school levels, he has learned how to make economics relevant to today’s world and today’s students. As Google’s chief economist, Hal Varian, wrote, “You don’t need a brand-new economics. You just need to see the really cool stuff, the material they didn’t get to when you studied economics.”

“Hilarity and economics are not often found together, but this book has a lot of both. It also does a great job of explaining important economic concepts simply, accurately, and entertainingly—quite a feat.” —Eric Maskin, Nobel Laureate in Economics  

Photo Credit: Andrea M. Lee 

Frances Mayes

Wednesday, March 24, 7:30 p.m.

Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life  BUY NOW

In this sequel to her New York Times bestsellers Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany, the celebrated "bard of Tuscany" (New York Times) lyrically chronicles her continuing, two decades-long love affair with Tuscany's people, art, cuisine, and lifestyle.
 
Frances Mayes offers her readers a deeply personal memoir of her present-day life in Tuscany, encompassing both the changes she has experienced since Under the Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany appeared, and sensuous, evocative reflections on the timeless beauty and vivid pleasures of Italian life. Throughout, she reveals the concrete joys of life in her adopted hill town, with particular attention to life in the piazza, the art of Luca Signorelli (Renaissance painter from Cortona), and the pastoral pleasures of feasting from her garden.  

In addition to her Tuscany memoirs, Frances Mayes is the author of the travel memoir A Year in the World; the illustrated books In Tuscany and Bringing Tuscany Home; Swan, a novel; The Discovery of Poetry, a text for readers; and five books of poetry.  She divides her time between homes in Italy and North Carolina.

Photo Credit: John Gillooly

Jack Bowen

Thursday, March 25, 7:30 p.m.

If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers  BUY NOW

A PICTURE MAY BE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS—BUT A FEW CHOICE WORDS CAN SPEAK VOLUMES!

Long before blogs, tweets, and sound bites, people were telling the world how they felt in brief, blunt bursts of information plastered on the backs of their cars. Whether they’re political or religious, passionate or proud, controversial or corny, these brightly colored, boldly lettered mini manifestos are declarations of who we are, where we stand, and what we’d rather be doing. But as bestselling author and noted philosopher Jack Bowen reveals, there’s much more to the pop-culture phenomenon of bumper stickers than rolling one-liners and drive-by propaganda—no less, in fact, than a wise, funny, poignant, contentious, and truthful discourse on the human condition.
 
Mixing pop culture with the ideas of historically prominent philosophers and scientists, If You Can Read This exposes the deeper wisdom couched behind these slogans—or, as need be, exposes where they have gone wrong. If you brake for big ideas, now’s the time.

Jack graduated from Stanford with Honors in Human Biology. He went on to earn a Masters Degree in Philosophy from California State University, Long Beach graduating Summa Cum Laude. Following a six-year stint teaching philosophy and ethics at De Anza College, he has settled at Menlo School where he teaches philosophy and coaches water polo.
 

Paul McHugh

Tuesday, March 30, 7:30 p.m.

Deadlines: A Novel of Murder, Mystery, and the Media  BUY NOW

Land-use activist Beverly Bancroft is slain on a stretch of Northern California shore. The killers, who disguise her death as an accident, work for Cornu Point, an equestrian resort seeking to boost profit from public land along the coast. The detectives are San Francisco newspaper reporters.

“Every reporter worth his or her notepad is a sleuth at heart. Paul McHugh brings this truth to life with crackling suspense and a true, ink-stained veteran's eye for the newsroom.”
—Dan Rather, TV anchor and newsman

Peter Abaci, M.D.

Wednesday, March 31, 7:30 p.m.

Take Charge of Your Chronic Pain: The Latest Research, Cutting-Edge Tools, and Alternative Treatments for Feeling Better  BUY NOW

With more than twelve years' experience treating its sufferers and seeing the nation's health-care system come up short, Dr. Peter Abaci developed innovative treatments that have helped thousands better their lives in dramatic ways--techniques he now offers in this book for the first time.

“Peter Abaci has learned the secrets of successful chronic pain management and put them into Take Charge of Your Chronic Pain. Both pain sufferers and those who provide care for chronic pain patients can learn from his superb guide to contending with chronic pain and all its facets. He makes it quite clear that it is the patient who must do the work; the health care provider is a guide and source of encouragement and wisdom.  This book is a counterbalance to the excessive reliance on pills and procedures that so often fail to adequately deal with those who suffer from chronic pain.  The book is an excellent companion-piece for patients entering into a chronic pain management program.”
—John D. Loeser, MD, Professor Emeritus, Neurological Surgery and Anesthesiology and Pain Management, University of Washington 

Marcia Gagliardi 

Thursday, April 1, 7:30 p.m.

The Tablehopper's Guide to Dining and Drinking in San Francisco: Find the Right Spot for Every Occasion  BUY NOW

When it’s time to take your parents out to dinner or your girlfriend on a sexy date, or when you’re looking for a hot venue for a birthday blowout or brunch with friends, who do you turn to for a spot-on recommendation? Why, the tablehopper, of course! Marcia Gagliardi is San Francisco’s cuisine concierge, providing restaurant recommendations and helping thousands of diners find the right place for the right occasion. With her unique blend of enthusiasm, insider knowledge, and sass, Marcia bases her recommendations on the reason you’re going out, who you’re dining with, and how much money you have to burn.

Covering a huge range of places for all tastes, ages, and budgets, this insider’s guide also includes sections on the South Bay, Wine Country, top eats in the East Bay, and one-, two-, and three-day San Francisco culinary itineraries. Only a local and no-holds-barred eater like the tablehopper can offer visitors and locals alike such a knowledgeable and comprehensive look at the Bay Area dining and drinking scene.

Steve Poizner

Friday, April 2, 7:30 p.m.

Mount Pleasant: What Happened When I Traded a Silicon Valley Board Room for an Inner City Classroom  BUY NOW

Entrepreneur Steve Poizner has run a billion dollar company, but the greatest challenge of his life was the year he spent teaching twelfth graders at San Jose's Mt. Pleasant High School. On many days, like the one when a student's boyfriend was arrested for bank robbery, his managerial and entrepreneurial skills seemed irrelevant. But on others, they helped him demonstrate how exciting it is to learn. Playing Jeopardy with the class and inviting speakers into the classroom, Poizner motivated his students by expanding their horizons far beyond their high school's walls.

Steve Poizner is currently a candidate for governor of California, but this is a memoir of a riveting personal journey, not a point-by-point account of his vision for his state. Poizner writes, "Often I came to ask myself one question: What exactly are you doing here? As it turns out, I was receiving one hell of an education." Mt Pleasant is ultimately a success story, as Poizner wins Rookie Teacher of the Year honors and, more important, ensures that all his students graduate. 

Photo Credit: David Kennerly

Hugh Raffles

Monday, April 5, 7:30 p.m.

Insectopedia  BUY NOW

For as long as humans have been here, insects have been here. Yet we hardly know them, not even the ones we’re closest to: the insects that eat our food, share our beds, live in our homes. Organizing his book alphabetically, with one entry for each letter, weaving together brief vignettes, meditations, and extended essays, Hugh Raffles uses the prism of history and science, anthropology and travel, economics and popular culture to show how insects have triggered our obsessions, stirred our fears, and beguiled our imaginations.

Hugh Raffles teaches anthropology at the New School for Social Research. He is the author of In Amazonia: A Natural History, which received the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing. His essays have been published in Best American Essays and Granta. He lives in New York City. 

Photo Credit: Michael Lionstar 

Photo Credit: Matt Schumaker 

Malena Watrous

Tuesday, April 6, 7:30 p.m.

If You Follow Me  BUY NOW

Hoping to outpace her grief in the wake of her father's suicide, Marina has come to the small, rural Japanese town of Shika to teach English for a year. But in Japan, as she soon discovers, you can never really throw away your past . . . or anything else, for that matter.

If You Follow Me is at once a fish-out-of-water tale, a dark comedy of manners, and a strange kind of love story. Alive with vibrant and unforgettable characters—from an ambitious town matchmaker to a high school student-cum-rap artist wannabe with an addiction to self-tanning lotion—it guides readers over cultural bridges even as it celebrates the awkward, unlikely triumph of the human spirit.

"I love, love, love IF YOU FOLLOW ME. It's fearlessly honest, occasionally heartbreaking, and extremely funny, and I can't recommend it highly enough."
-Curtis Sittenfeld, New York Times bestselling author of PREP and AMERICAN WIFE

"In this beautiful novel, what is most "foreign" to Marina turns out to be her complex relationships with those she thought she knew best. Malena Watrous's writing is sharp-edged and generous, tragic and true. I would follow her anywhere."
-Katharine Noel, author of Halfway House 

Co-sponsored by:

Bill Guttentag

Wednesday, April 7, 7:30 p.m.

Boulevard: A Novel  BUY NOW

A teenaged runaway fights for survival on “the boulevard of broken dreams” in this searing debut novel based on a true story. It’s always sunny in California until you walk on the wrong side of Sunset Boulevard. And yet the bright lights still call to thousands, and every day new arrivals fill the ranks of Hollywood’s underworld of teenage runaways and hopeful stars turned hookers and strippers.

Their stories are too wretched and too sad for society’s attention, but when a high-profile lawyer is murdered at the Chateau Marmont, lackluster detective Jimmy McCann takes to the streets and finds himself enmeshed in this complex web of prostitution and drugs, learning that the killer, a young girl named Casey, is a victim in her own right. Delving into Casey’s troubled community of homeless runaways, characterized by abuse, rape, death and disease, but also by friendship, loyalty and love, Bill Guttentag has crafted a stunning literary crime novel—based on real-life incidents—that will resound with readers everywhere. 

Bill Guttentag is a two-time Oscar-winning documentary and feature film writer-director. His films include the documentary feature Nanking, and the dramatic feature Live!. He was an executive producer and creator of the series Law & Order: Crime & Punishment, which ran for three seasons on NBC. He has also directed films for HBO, ABC, CBS and others. He lives with his family in Northern California, where he teaches a course at Stanford University. 

Heidi W. Durrow

Thursday, April 8, 7:30 p.m.

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky  BUY NOW

This debut novel tells the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I. who becomes the sole survivor of a family tragedy. 

With her strict African American grandmother as her new guardian, Rachel moves to a mostly black community, where her light brown skin, blue eyes, and beauty bring mixed attention her way. Growing up in the 1980s, she learns to swallow her overwhelming grief and confronts her identity as a biracial young woman in a world that wants to see her as either black or white.

It is the winner of the Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice.  

Heidi W. Durrow is a graduate of Stanford, Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism and Yale Law School. She is the recipient of a Fellowship in Fiction from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Emerging Writers, a Jentel Foundation Residency, and won top honors in the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition and the Chapter One Fiction Contest. She has received grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation, the American Scandinavian Foundation, the Roth Endowment and the American Antiquarian Society. 

The Commonwealth Club presents Louann Brizendine, M.D.

Thursday, April 8, 6:30 p.m.

The Male Brain  BUY NOW

Historic Hoover Theatre, 1635 Park Avenue, San Jose

From the author of the groundbreaking New York Times bestseller The Female Brain, here is the eagerly awaited follow-up book that demystifies the puzzling male brain.
 

For all those times you've wondered "Why?," Brizendine has the answers. A neurobiologist, Brizendine has studied why our brains lead us to act and react the way we do. Founder of the Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic, Brizendine first focused on the female brain, studying the neurology behind the emotions and actions of women, and coming to conclusions that helped answer many of those "why" questions that females kept asking her. Now she has answers for the other half. Brizendine explores the male brain, showing how, through every phase of life, the "male reality" is fundamentally different from the female one. 

The Male Brain finally overturns the stereotypes. Impeccably researched and at the cutting edge of scientific knowledge, this is a book that every man, and especially every woman bedeviled by a man, will need to own.
 

For reservations call 1-800-847-7730 or register online at www.Commonwealthclub.org/sv 

Photo Credit: Michael Chang 

Kon & Arlene Balin 

Sunday, April 11, 2:00 p.m.

Born Stateless: A Young Man's Story 1823 - 1957  BUY NOW

"Born Stateless" is a book of memories crisp in detail and depth of feeling. Konstantin Balabushkin's young life in Japan bridged the two worlds of east and west with apparent ease. His safe and sheltered childhood vanished with the eruption of Second World War while he attended college in Shanghai waiting for his visa to study in the United States. He and other stateless people, including Russian nobles with whom he lived, became trapped in history with no way out. The war, the defeat and reinvention of Japan and the reinvention of Konstantin Balabushkin, as Kon Balin, bring to the reader a first hand account of suffering and survival. It is a young man's tale, a very lucky young man, who lived through a time that profoundly changed the world. 

Kon and Arlene Balin reside in Sonoma and San Francisco where they continue to enjoy the fruits of Kon's garden, fine wines, and the company of family and good friends.

Sue Miller 

Monday, April 12, 7:30 p.m.

The Lake Shore Limited: A Novel  BUY NOW

Four unforgettable characters beckon you into this spellbinding new novel from the author of last year’s New York Times best seller The Senator’s Wife. First among them is Wilhelmina—Billy—Gertz, small as a child, fiercely independent, powerfully committed to her work as a playwright. The novel centers around her play, The Lake Shore Limited, about the terrorist bombing of that train—and about a man waiting to hear the fate of his estranged wife who is traveling on it.

There’s not a wasted word in this tour de force about the dislocations wrought in our lives by accidents of fate and time, and about how we try to make peace with whom we become in the face of circumstances beyond our control.

Sue Miller is the author of the novels The Senator’s Wife, Lost in the Forest, The World Below, While I Was Gone, The Distinguished Guest, For Love, Family Pictures, and The Good Mother; the story collection Inventing the Abbotts; and the memoir The Story of My Father.  

Robin Black

Tuesday, April 13, 7:30 p.m.

If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This: Stories  BUY NOW

Heralding the arrival of a stunning new voice in American fiction, Robin Black’s If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This takes readers into the minds and hearts of people navigating the unsettling transitions that life presents to us all.
 
Written with maturity and insight, and in beautiful, clear-eyed prose, these stories plumb the depths of love, loss, and hope. A father struggles to forge an independent identity as his blind daughter prepares for college. A mother comes to terms with her adult daughter’s infidelity, even as she keeps a disturbing secret of her own. An artist mourns the end of a romance while painting a dying man’s portrait. An accident on a trip to Italy and an unexpected connection with a stranger cause a woman to question her lifelong assumptions about herself.

Brilliant, hopeful, and fearlessly honest, If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This illuminates the truths of human relationships, truths we come to recognize in these characters and in ourselves.  

Robin Black’s stories and essays have appeared in numerous publications, including One Story, Colorado Review, The Georgia Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Bellevue Literary Review, The Southern Review, and the anthology The Best Creative Nonfiction. The winner of many awards and a recipient of fellowships from the Leeway Foundation and the MacDowell Colony, Black is a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. She lives with her family in Philadelphia.

Charlotte Jacobs, M.D.

Wednesday, April 14, 7:30 p.m.

Henry Kaplan and the Story of Hodgkin's Disease  BUY NOW

In the 1950s, ninety-five percent of patients with Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of lymph tissue which afflicts young adults, died. Today most are cured, due mainly to the efforts of Dr. Henry Kaplan. Henry Kaplan and the Story of Hodgkin's Disease explores the life of this multifaceted, internationally known radiation oncologist, called a "saint" by some, a "malignant son of a bitch" by others. Kaplan's passion to cure cancer dominated his life and helped him weather the controversy that marked each of his innovations, but it extracted a high price, leaving casualties along the way. Most never knew of his family struggles, his ill-fated love affair with Stanford University, or the humanitarian efforts that imperiled him.
 

Charlotte Jacobs, M.D., is Ben and A. Jess Shenson Professor of Medicine at Stanford University.

Youth Event: Andrew Clements

Thursday, April 15, 6:00 p.m.

We the Children: Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School  BUY NOW

Benjamin Pratt’s school is about to become the site of a new amusement park. It sounds like a dream come true! But lately, Ben has been wondering if he’s going to like an amusement park in the middle of his town—with all the buses and traffic and eight dollar slices of pizza. It’s going to change everything. And Ben is not so big on all the new changes in his life, like how his dad has moved out and started living in the marina on what used to be the “family” sailboat. 

As much as the town wants to believe it, the school does not belong to the local government. It belongs to the CHILDREN and these children have the right to defend it!

Don’t think Ben, his friend Jill (and the tag-along Robert) can ruin a multi-million dollar real estate deal? Then you don’t know the history and the power of the Keepers of the School. A suspenseful six-book series, book one, We the Children, starts the battle. It’s a race to keep the school from turning into a ticket booth and these kids are about to discover just how threatening a little knowledge can be.

Clements is the author of the enormously popular FRINDLE. He has been nominated for a multitude of state awards and has won the Christopher Award and an Edgar Award. His popular works include EXTRA CREDIT, LOST AND FOUND, NO TALKING, ROOM ONE, LUNCH MONEY, A WEEK IN THE WOODS, THE JACKET, THE SCHOOL STORY, THE JANITOR'S BOY, THE LANDRY NEWS, THE REPORT CARD AND THE LAST HOLIDAY CONCERT. Mr. Clements taught in the public schools near Chicago for seven years before moving East to begin a career in publishing and writing.

J. Kirk Boyd

Thursday, April 15, 7:30 p.m.

2048: Humanity's Agreement to Live Together  BUY NOW

Many of the problems the world faces, such as war, poverty, and environmental ruin are the by-product of a flawed international social order.  Fortunately, there is an international agreement, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which all countries signed in 1948, that promises a social order of justice, equality, and freedom.  But although the UDHR was agreed to by all countries it is only a declaration and is unenforceable in courts of law.  

The 2048 Project, launched by the author and his colleagues at the University of California School of Law and from which the book gets it’s name, is a movement to make the fundamental rights in the Declaration enforceable in the courts of all countries by 2048, the 100th anniversary of the Universal Declaration.  2048 tells how the UDHR came to be written and the origins of the movement to make it enforceable; lays out the five basic freedoms the UDHR is meant to protect; and gives detailed advice on what everyone can do to make international human rights a reality.

Dr. John Kirk Boyd is a lawyer, professor, and Executive Director of the 2048 Project at the U.C. Berkeley law school. In addition, the author has argued at every level of court, including the United States Supreme Court. He teaches International Human Rights, Civil Rights, International Law, Free Speech, and Constitutional Law at the University of California.

Meet & Greet Booksigning with Katherine Howe 

Friday, April 16, 12:00 p.m.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane  BUY NOW

Scholars of the Salem witch trials have long asked why the accusers chose to ruin so many lives, but Howe asks, what if the women really were witches?  What if the magic was real? 

As Booklist notes in its starred review, “Howe’s vividly detailed, witty, and astutely plotted debut is deeply rooted in her family connection to accused seventeenth-century witches Elizabeth Howe and Elizabeth Proctor. . . . A keen and magical historical mystery [it’s] laced with romance and sly digs at society’s persistent underestimation of women.”  Paced like a thriller, set at a university, and plotted around the search for a breakthrough in a historical mystery, it will keep you turning pages long into the night.  

PLEASE NOTE: This is a meet & greet booksigning only.  There will be no formal presentation. 

Photo Credit: Laura Dandaneau

Christopher Moore 

Friday, April 16, 7:30 p.m.

Bite Me: A Love Story  BUY NOW

The undead rise again in this third farcical vampire love story from the wonderfully twisted New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore.  

Christopher Moore is the author of 11 previous novels: Practical Demonkeeping, Coyote Blue, Bloodsucking Fiends, Island of the Sequined Love Nun, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Lamb, Fluke, The Stupidest Angel, A Dirty Job, You Suck, and Fool. He lives in San Francisco.

The Los Altos Library Endowment "Speaking Volumes" Series presents:

T.J. Stiles

Friday, April 16, 4:30 p.m.

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt  BUY NOW

Los Altos Library, 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos

T. J. Stiles has held the Gilder Lehrman Fellowship in American History at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, taught at Columbia University, and served as adviser for the PBS series The American Experience. His first book, Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, won the Ambassador Book Award and the Peter Seaborg Award for Civil War Scholarship, and was a New York Times Notable Book. He has written for The New York Times Book Review, Salon.com, Smithsonian, and the Los Angeles Times. He lives in San Francisco.

The First Tycoon is a gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism.

This event is free and open to the public. For questions, contact the Los Altos Library Endowment at 650-948-7683 ext. 3500 or by email: info@LALEndow.org

Photo Credit: Stephanie Rausser 

Breast Cancer Connections Spring Breakfast Benefit - presenting Ayelet Waldman

Tuesday, April 20, 8:00 - 10:00 a.m.

Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club, 2900 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park

Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace  BUY NOW

Green Dream Team Panel Discussion

Find out how to avoid the worst design flaws!

Julia Powers has been professionally gardening in the Bay Area and Peninsula for over 20 years. In addition to being a contractor with a successful landscape maintenance company, she has taught at both Gamble Gardens and Common Ground in Palo Alto.

Julie Orr is a landscape designer specializing in lush, water-wise and low maintenance gardens, and a member of the Green Dream Team. Her collaborative design approach ensures your project is done right the first time, which not only removes the stress from planning but also saves you time and money. Her gardens have been called “good for the soul and the environment.”

The Green Dream Team is a group of experts dedicated to providing you with the most comprehensive selection of services to improve, remodel, build, furnish, and landscape your home - always in an eco-friendly and sustainable way.

For information, contact Rich Wingerter at 650-207-8014. www.essentialquality.com

Terry McDermott

Tuesday, April 20, 7:30 p.m.

101 Theory Drive: A Neuroscientist's Quest for Memory  BUY NOW

An obsessive scientist and his eclectic team of researchers race to discover one of the hidden treasures of neuroscience–the physical makeup of memory–and in the process pursue a pharmaceutical wonder drug.

It’s not fiction: Gary Lynch is the real thing, the epitome of the rebel scientist – malnourished, contentious, inspiring, explosive, remarkably ambitious, consistently brilliant. He is one of the foremost figures of contemporary neuroscience, and his decades-long quest to understand the inner workings of the brain’s memory machine has begun to pay off.

Award-winning journalist Terry McDermott spent nearly two years observing Lynch at work and now gives us a fascinating and dramatic account of daily life in his lab. He provides detailed, lucid explanations of the cutting-edge science that enabled Lynch to reveal the inner workings of the molecular machine that manufactures memory. And he explains where Lynch’s sights are now set: on drugs that could fix that machine when it breaks, drugs that would enhance brain function during the memory process and that hold out the possibility of cures for a wide range of neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. 

Terry McDermott is a former national reporter for the Los Angeles Times and the author of Perfect Soldiers: The 9/11 Hijackers—Who They Were, Why They Did It. 

Photo Credit: Nelly Min

Anne Lamott

Wednesday, April 21, 7:30 p.m.

Imperfect Birds  BUY NOW

Rosie Ferguson is seventeen and ready to enjoy the summer before her senior year of high school. She's intelligent, athletic, and beautiful. She is, in short, everything her mother, Elizabeth, hoped she could be. The family's move to Landsdale, with stepfather James in tow, hadn't been as bumpy as Elizabeth feared.

But as the school year draws to a close, there are disturbing signs that the life Rosie claims to be leading is a sham, and that Elizabeth's hopes for her daughter to remain immune from the pull of the darker impulses of drugs and alcohol are dashed. Slowly and against their will, Elizabeth and James are forced to confront the fact that Rosie has been lying to them--and that her deceptions will have profound consequences.

This is Anne Lamott's most honest and heartrending novel yet, exploring our human quest for connection and salvation as it reveals the traps that can befall all of us. 

Lamott is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Grace (Eventually), Plan B, Traveling Mercies, and Operating Instructions, as well as seven novels, including Rosie and Crooked Little Heart. She is a past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

The Commonwealth Club presents Roxana Saberi 

Wednesday, April 21, 6:30 p.m.

Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran  BUY NOW

Cubberley Theatre, 4000 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
 

On the morning of January 31, 2009, Roxana Saberi, a journalist working in Iran, was dragged from her home and secretly arrested. The intelligence agents who captured her accused her of espionage - a charge she denied. For eleven days, Saberi was cut off from the outside world, forbidden even a phone call. For weeks, neither her family, friends, nor colleagues had any knowledge of her whereabouts. After a sham trial that made headlines around the world, the 32-year-old reporter was sentenced to eight years in Iran's notorious Evin prison. But following broad-based international pressure, she was released on appeal on May 11, 2009. Now, Saberi breaks her silence to share the full story of her ordeal.

Saberi writes movingly of her imprisonment, her trial, her ultimate release, and the faith that helped her through it. Between Two Worlds is also a deeply revealing account of this complex nation and the six years Saberi lived there. A citizen of both the United States and Iran, Saberi sheds new light on the Iranian regime's inner political workings and the restrictions to basic freedoms that have intensified since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in 2005.

For reservations call 1-800-847-7730 or register online at www.Commonwealthclub.org/sv 

Jeffrey Zaslow 

Wednesday, April 21, 7:00 p.m.

The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship  BUY NOW

Oshman Family JCC - Schultz Cultural Arts Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto

Paul Davies

Thursday, April 22, 7:30 p.m.

The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence  BUY NOW

Fifty years ago, a young astronomer named Frank Drake pointed a radio telescope at nearby stars in the hope of picking up a signal from an alien civilization. Thus began one of the boldest scientific projects in history, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). But after a half century of scanning the skies, astronomers have little to report but an eerie silence—eerie because many scientists are convinced that the universe is teeming with life. The problem, argues the leading physicist and astrobiologist Paul Davies, is that we’ve been looking in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong way. A provocative and mind-expanding journey, The Eerie Silence will thrill fans of science and science fiction alike. 

Paul Davies is an internationally acclaimed physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist at Arizona State University, where he runs the pioneering Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He also chairs SETI's Post-Detection Taskgroup, so if scientists succeed in finding intelligent life, he will be among the first to know. In addition to his many scientific awards, the Guardian newspaper recently named Davies one of the "masters of the universe," along with Richard Dawkins and Michael Frayn. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the bestseller The Mind of God, About Time, How to Build a Time Machine, and The Goldilocks Enigma. The asteroid 1992OG was officially renamed Pauldavies in his honor.

Harrell Remodeling: Kitchen and Bath Remodels

Saturday, April 24, 10:00 a.m. - Noon

Learn the facts and how-to's of the remodeling process. Designed especially for homeowners, this class will cover the step-by-step details, decisions and considerations - including how to live through a remodel - that are part of transforming a home into the special place you've always wanted.

Topics will include;

• Making the decision to remodel
• The design process
• Choosing an architect, designer & contractor
• Budgeting
• Materials
• Floor plans
• Scheduling
• Code requirements, Inspections & Building permits
• Fabulous photos!
  

For more information or to pre-register for the workshop call (650) 230-2900
 

Peninsula Volunteers 19th Annual Author Salon

Sunday, April 25

10:30 a.m. - Doors open

11:30 a.m. - Lunch seating begins

Fourth Street Summit Center, 88 S. 4th St., San Jose

Featuring: Nick Taylor (Moderator): The Disagreement  BUY NOW

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: One Amazing Thing BUY NOW

Herant Katchadourian: Guilt: The Bite of Conscience  BUY NOW

Keith Raffel: Smasher: A Silicon Valley Thriller  BUY NOW

T.J. Stiles: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt  BUY NOW

 

Peninsula Volunteers, Inc. has provided service for more than 60 years and has led the nation in developing programs and properties to support the welfare of the senior members of the community.

For tickets and information, please call 650-326-0665  ext.238 

Rosalind Wiseman's Girl World Tour

Monday, April 26, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.  

Menlo-Atherton High School, 555 Middlefield Rd., Menlo Park

Moms & daughters (ages 8-14) are invited to join Rosalind Wiseman, an internationally-recognized author, mom and expert on teens & parenting for a fun-filled evening of mother-daughter bonding.  In addition to celebrating Rosalind’s latest books, the tour will feature an interactive discussion about confidence, friendships, sweat-inducing moments and common mother-daughter challenges. A Q&A session and book signing will follow. The two-hour event is sure to get mothers and daughters talking, laughing and connecting. 

Cost:  $40 per mother-daughter pair includes admission to the event, one* copy of each of Rosalind's latest books, light refreshments and a gift bag containing Dove go fresh samples and a 12-month subscription to Family Circle magazine!

Moms will receive Queen Bees & Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and the New Realities of Girl World and daughters will receive Rosalind's debut young adult novel Boys, Girls, and Other Hazardous Materials, along with a free sample of Dove Go Fresh deodorant.

*Additional tickets may be purchased for $20 per person (also includes a book and gift bag).  

Ticket information coming soon! 

For more information on Rosalind Wiseman, visit www.rosalindwiseman.com.

For more information on the Dove and the Don’t Fret the Sweat campaign, visit www.dontfretthesweat.com.

Andre Aciman

Monday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.

Eight White Nights  BUY NOW

Eight White Nights is an unforgettable journey through that enchanted terrain where passion and fear and the sheer craving to ask for love and to show love can forever alter who we are. A man in his late twenties goes to a large Christmas party in Manhattan where a woman introduces herself with three words: “I am Clara.” Over the following seven days, they meet every evening at the same cinema. Overwhelmed yet cautious, he treads softly and won’t hazard a move. The tension between them builds gradually, marked by ambivalence, hope, and distrust.  

Call Me by Your Name, Aciman’s debut novel, established him as one of the finest writers of our time, an expert at the most sultry depictions of longing and desire. As The Washington Post Book World wrote, “The beauty of Aciman’s writing and the purity of his passions should place this extraordinary first novel within the canon of great romantic love stories for everyone.” 

Acimen is also the author of Out of Egypt, and False Papers, and is the editor of The Proust Project. He teaches comparative literature at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Meet and Greet: Megan Whalen Turner

Tuesday, April 27, 5:30 p.m.

A Conspiracy of Kings  BUY NOW

Lisa Shannon

Tuesday, April 27, 7:30 p.m.

A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman  BUY NOW

Lisa J. Shannon had a good life—a successful business, a fiancé, a home, and security. Then, one day in 2005, an episode of Oprah changed all that. The show focused on women in Congo, the worst place on earth to be a woman. She was awakened to the atrocities there—millions dead, women raped and tortured daily, and children dying in shocking numbers. Shannon felt called to do something. And she did. A Thousand Sisters is her inspiring memoir. 

She raised money to sponsor Congolese women, beginning with one solo 30-mile run, and then founded a national organization, Run for Congo Women. The book chronicles her journey to the Congo to meet the women her run sponsored, and shares their incredible stories. What begins as grassroots activism forces Shannon to confront herself and her life, and learn lessons of survival, fear, gratitude, and immense love from the women of Africa. 

From ‘Oprah’ to Building a Sisterhood in Congo by Nicholas D. Kristof

Feb. 3, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/opinion/04kristof.html?sudsredirect=true

Katie Crouch

Wednesday, April 28 7:30 p.m.

Men and Dogs  BUY NOW

When Hannah Legare was 11, her father went on a fishing trip in the Charleston harbor and never came back. And while most of the town and her family accepted Buzz's disappearance, Hannah remained steadfastly convinced of his imminent return.

Twenty years later Hannah's new life in San Francisco is unraveling. Her marriage is on the rocks, her business is bankrupt. After a disastrous attempt to win back her husband, she ends up back at her mother's home to "rest up", where she is once again sucked into the mystery of her missing father. Suspecting that those closest are keeping secrets, Hannah sets out on an uproarious, dangerous quest that will test the whole family's concepts of loyalty and faith. 

Katie Crouch is the author of the bestselling novel Girls in Trucks. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Observer, Tin House, and McSweeney's. She lives in San Francisco, a city filled with men and dogs, one or two of which reside with her from time to time.

Photo Credit: Miriam Berkley

Youth Event: Ridley Pearson

Thursday, April 29, 6:00 p.m.

Kingdom Keepers III: Disney in Shadows  BUY NOW

Following the first two books of The Kingdom Keepers, Disney after Dark, and Disney at Dawn, Finn and his friends have much worse problems in the third book, Kingdom Keepers 3: Disney in Shadows. In a 'dream world' the five hologram teens, Finn, Philby, Willa, Charlene, and Maybeck search to find Wayne, their mentor and head Disney Imagineer who has mysteriously gone missing. They think Wayne has been abducted by the Overtakers--Disney villains--along with other Disney characters, who take over the parks. Turnstiles stop spinning, and the desperate Overtakers begin to steer the parks to a far darker place.   

Quickly, the five kids pick up a major clue from a close friend, Jez, whose dreams (nightmares, really) can predict the future.

Then more clues from Jez's dream lead the kids into Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot--through imaginary worlds that become real, by imaginary kids who are real.  Each clue seems tied to the last, and with the stakes growing ever higher, what starts out as a puzzle ends up as a fight for their lives. 

Nancy Keeney Forster

Thursday, April 29, 7:30 p.m.

Encounters: A Lifetime Spent Crossing Cultural Frontiers  BUY NOW

A carefree child of expatriate parents at age 10, a prisoner of the Japanese at 16, a valued source of intelligence to the U.S. military at 19, and a fervent advocate of public diplomacy throughout his long career as a Foreign Service Officer, Clifton Forster spent his life crossing and recrossing frontiers, determined to use dialogue, not conflict, to solve differences between nations.

In 2007, a year after her husband's death, Nancy Forster began to sort through the wealth of papers Cliff had tucked away in a Japanese tea chest, and to reexamine her own memories and writings from nearly 60 years of shared international adventures. Her compelling memoir could serve as a blueprint for a U.S. government newly dedicated to building bridges across frontiers.

Celebration: The Magic of Reading

Saturday, May 1, 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 

Kepler's Plaza - Rain or Shine! 

Join Kepler's and the friends of the Menlo Park Library for our 16th annual Celebration of the Magic of Reading. Kepler's will donate a percentage of the day's sales to the Belle Haven Library when you mention the library at the register.

Talented student bands from Encinal, Menlo Atherton High, and other Menlo Park schools will provide rousing entertainment all day. Join the fun, and make a difference!  

Elizabeth George

Monday, May 3, 7:30 p.m.

This Body of Death: An Inspector Lynley Novel  BUY NOW

On compassionate leave after the murder of his wife, Thomas Lynley is called back to Scotland Yard when the body of a woman is found stabbed and abandoned in an isolated London cemetery. His former team doesn't trust the leadership of their new department chief, Isabelle Ardery, whose management style seems to rub everyone the wrong way. In fact, Lynley may be the sole person who can see beneath his superior officer's hard-as-nails exterior to a hidden—and possibly attractive—vulnerability.

While Lynley works in London, his former colleagues Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata follow the murder trail south to the New Forest. There they discover a beautiful and strange place where animals roam free, the long-lost art of thatching is very much alive, and outsiders are not entirely welcome. What they don't know is that more than one dark secret lurks among the trees, and that their investigation will lead them to an outcome that is both tragic and shocking. 

Elizabeth George is the New York Times bestselling author of fourteen novels of psychological suspense, one book of nonfiction, and two short-story collections. Her work has been honored with the Anthony and Agatha awards, the Grand Prix de LittÉrature PoliciÈre, and the MIMI, Germany's prestigious prize for suspense fiction.

Youth Event: A.R. Silverberry

Tuesday, May 4, 7:00 p.m.

Wyndano's Cloak  BUY NOW

Jen has settled into a peaceful life when a terrifying event awakens old fears of being homeless and alone, of a danger horrible enough to destroy her family and shatter her world forever. She is certain that Naryfel, a shadowy figure from her past, has returned and is concentrating the full force of her hate on Jen's family. But how will she strike? A knife in the dark? An attack from her legions? Or with the dark arts and twisted creatures she commands with sinister cunning?

Wyndano's Cloak may be Jen's only hope. If she can only trust that she has what it takes to use it. A tale of madness, friendship, and courage, Wyndano's Cloak reveals the transformative power of love and forgiveness, and the terrible consequences of denying who you really are.  

A. R. Silverberry, the pen name of Peter Allan Adler, holds a B.A. in music and a Ph.D. in psychology. Ever feeling the call for a creative life, he's a watercolorist, pianist, and composer. Silverberry has been a licensed psychologist since 1991, and continues to balance his clinical practice with writing. Wyndano's Cloak is his first novel.

The author will donate a portion of his profits from the book to the Children's Health Council.

Erin Arvedlund 

Tuesday, May 4, 7:00 p.m.

Too Good to Be True: The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff   BUY NOW

Oshman Family JCC - Schultz Cultural Arts Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto

Walter Bortz, M.D.

Wednesday, May 5, 7:30 p.m.

The Roadmap to 100: The Breakthrough Science of Living a Long and Happy Life  BUY NOW

With a baby boomer turning sixty every ten seconds, we are rapidly becoming an aging society. But cutting edge research on the connection between age and disease shows us that many of the preconceptions we had about how to grow old need a second look. This groundbreaking book is full of take-away prescriptive advice which the nearly seventy-five million boomers in this nation will value. Top gerontologist and Stanford medical school professor Dr. Walter Bortz and co-author Randall Stickrod draw on new science and a thirty-year longitudinal study of centenarians to show that:

• Genetics plays a smaller role in aging than previously thought

• Senility, dementia, and other diseases of the elderly, are largely preventable and not an inevitable consequence of aging

• Engagement, through sexual relationships, social  interaction, and professional activity, is a key factor in  long, healthy lives

• Physical fitness can recover at least 30 years of aging

Filled with in-depth insight and practical advice, The Roadmap to 100 gives you the power to control your own destiny and live well beyond 100. 

Louise Nayer 

Thursday, May 6, 7:30 p.m.

Burned: A Memoir  BUY NOW

Youth Event: Michael Grant

Friday, May 7, 6:30 p.m.

Lies: A GONE Novel  BUY NOW

Meet Michael Grant, creator of the Gone series, a world where everyone disappears in a flash the day they turn 15.  The kids are in charge and it’s terrifying.

In LIES, conditions are worse than ever in the FAYZ and kids are desperate for a way out. But are they desperate enough to believe the lies of a false prophet who says death will set them free? The third book in the Gone series: another heart–in–your–throat page–turner, both chilling and thought–provoking.

“These are exciting, high-tension stories told in a driving, torrential narrative that never lets up…this is great fiction.  I love these books.”

—Stephen King on GONE

It’s "LOST" for Teens!

Jane Smiley

Wednesday, May 12, 7:30 p.m.

Private Life  BUY NOW

A riveting new novel from the Pulitzer Prize–winner that traverses the intimate landscape of one woman’s life, from the 1880s to World War II.

Margaret Mayfield is nearly an old maid at twenty-seven in post–Civil War Missouri when she marries Captain Andrew Jackson Jefferson Early. He’s the most famous man their small town has ever produced. Margaret’s mother calls the match “a piece of luck.”

Margaret is a good girl who has been raised to marry, yet Andrew confounds her expectations from the moment their train leaves for his naval base in faraway California. Soon she comes to understand that his devotion to science leaves precious little room for anything, or anyone, else.

Private Life is a beautiful evocation of a woman’s inner world: of the little girl within the hopeful bride, of the young woman filled with yearning, and of the faithful wife who comes to harbor a dangerous secret. But it is also a heartbreaking portrait of marriage and the mysteries that endure even in lives lived side by side. 

Jane Smiley is the author of numerous novels, including A Thousand Acres, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, as well as four works of nonfiction.

Photo Credit: Mark Bennington

Green Dream Team Panel Discussion

Speaker: Drew Maran of Drew Maran Construction

For information, contact Rich Wingerter at 650-207-8014 or visit http://www.meetup.com/Green-Making-for-the-Silicon-Valley-Area/calendar/12763629/

Parenting Event: Dr. B. Annye Rothenberg

Tuesday, May 18, 7:30 p.m. 

Why Do I Have To?  BUY NOW

Mommy and Daddy Are Always Supposed to Say Yes...Aren't They?  BUY NOW

The latest tools for understanding and guiding your preschoolers 

Annye Rothenberg, Ph.D., author, has been a child/parent psychologist and a specialist in childrearing and development of young children for more than 25 years. Her parenting psychology practice is in Emerald Hills, CA. She is also on the adjunct faculty in pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Dr. Rothenberg was the founder/director of the Child Rearing parenting program in Palo Alto, and is the author of the award-winning book Mommy and Daddy are Always Supposed to Say Yes … Aren’t They? and Why Do I Have To? and the just released I Like To Eat Treats. These are all-in-one books with a story for young children and a manual for parents.

Sebastian Junger

Sunday, May 23, 1:00 p.m.

War  BUY NOW

In his breakout bestseller, The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger created "a wild ride that brilliantly captures the awesome power of the raging sea and the often futile attempts of humans to withstand it" (Los Angeles Times Book Review). Now, Junger turns his brilliant and empathetic eye to the reality of combat--the fear, the honor, and the trust among men in an extreme situation whose survival depends on their absolute commitment to one another. His on-the-ground account follows a single platoon through a 15-month tour of duty in the most dangerous outpost in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. Through the experiences of these young men at war, he shows what it means to fight, to serve, and to face down mortal danger on a daily basis.

“Riveting . . . Junger experiences everything [the soldiers] do—nerve-racking patrols, terrifying roadside bombings and ambushes, stultifying weeks in camp when they long for a firefight to relieve the tedium . . . Junger mixes visceral combat scenes—raptly aware of his own fear and exhaustion—with quieter reportage and insightful discussions of the physiology, social psychology, and even genetics of soldiering. The result is an unforgettable portrait of men under fire.” - Publishers Weekly

Sebastian Junger is the New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Storm and A Death in Belmont. He is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, and has been awarded a National Magazine Award and an SAIS Novartis Prize for journalism. 

Photo Credit: Tim Hetherington 

Youth Event: Louis Sachar

Wednesday, May 26, 6:30 p.m.

The Cardturner: A Novel About Imperfect Partners and Infinite Possibilities  BUY NOW

Newbery-winning author, Louis Sachar has a new YA book out! The Cardturner is about a teenager named Alton Richards. The summer after Alton's junior year, things look bleak. His girlfriend has dumped him to hook up with his best friend. He has no money and no job. His parents insist that he drive his great-uncle Lester to his bridge club four times a week and be his cardturner -- whatever that means. Alton's uncle is old, blind, very sick, and very rich. Alton soon finds himself intrigued by his uncle, by the game of bridge, and especially by a pretty and shy girl, Toni Castaneda. There is tension, confusion, and life's crazy obstacles.

Louis Sachar explores the disparity between what you know and what you think you know. He inspires readers to think and think again. Mr. Sachar has published over twenty-one fiction and educational books for children. His book, Holes, won the prestigious National Book Award and the Newbery Medal.