Category: Talk

Technology, For Better or for Worse…
October 16, 2017 | Shawn Walsh
It’s the best of times and the worst of times, the age of wisdom and the age of foolishness, to paraphrase the Dicken’s classic. Every day we’re on the verge of bigger technological advances, but … Keep Reading »

In Vino Duplicitas
July 31, 2017 | Shawn Walsh
In Vino Duplicitas is the tale of perhaps the most extraordinary wine forger in history. Rudy Kurniawan burst onto the ultrafine wine scene in 2002. With a discerning palate and a knack for tracking … Keep Reading »

Esther the Wonder Pig or how big is your love for a pet?!
July 17, 2017 | Shawn Walsh
Esther the Wonder Pig: Changing the World One Heart at a Time If a friend brought you an adorable, tiny little micro piglet and asked you to take care of it, could you refuse? It’s … Keep Reading »

Homing Instincts: Early Motherhood on a Midwestern Farm
July 3, 2017 | Shawn Walsh
“Adulthood, it seems to me, is about narrowing,” Sarah Menkedick wrote in Homing Instincts. After a decade of avoiding the narrow path with travel and exploration covering South America, Reunion Island, Europe and Mongolia, Menkedick … Keep Reading »

The Glass Castle remains “nothing short of spectacular”
June 26, 2017 | Shawn Walsh
A perennial favorite for over a decade, The Glass Castle remains a memoir of resilience and redemption. Jeannette Walls and her siblings grew up in a deeply dysfunctional, yet lively and emotionally attached family in … Keep Reading »

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
April 17, 2017 | Shawn Walsh
With only a library book as his guide, fourteen-year-old William changed his life forever. William Kamkwamba used junk parts and an amazing imagination to build the windmill he read about for his Malawian village, harnessing … Keep Reading »

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
March 6, 2017 | Shawn Walsh
How does a poor, southern tobacco farmer buried in an unmarked grave sixty years ago become immortal? Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Henrietta Lacks’s cells were taken without her … Keep Reading »

Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World
February 27, 2017 | Shawn Walsh
The New York Times-bestselling author of How We Got to Now: Six Innovations that Made the Modern World (and host of the PBS show by the same name) returns to explore how we made world-changing innovations … Keep Reading »

How to Hygge Like You Mean It
February 13, 2017 | Shawn Walsh
Hygge is a warm, cozy corner for your soul. Pronounced hue-gah, hygge is a Danish way of life that includes enjoying ordinary, everyday moments and making the simple special and beautiful. Whether it’s making a … Keep Reading »

A Real Life Indiana Jones
January 16, 2017 | Shawn Walsh
Douglas Preston’s new book, The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story, follows his adventures searching for a legendary lost city in the jungle. Preston traveled deep into the rain forests of Mosquitia … Keep Reading »