Author: Tyson Bolles

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Lincoln’s Lieutenants

Lincoln’s Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac by Stephen W. Sears From the best-selling author of Gettysburg, a multilayered group biography of the commanders who led the Army of the Potomac. The high command of the Army of the Potomac was a changeable, often dysfunctional band of brothers, going through the […]

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MacArthur’s Spies

 MacArthur’s Spies: The Soldier, the Singer, and the Spymaster Who Defied the Japanese in World War II  by Peter Eisner On January 2, 1942, Japanese troops marched into Manila unopposed by U.S. forces. Manila was a strategic port, a romantic American outpost and a jewel of a city. Tokyo saw its conquest of the Philippines […]

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New Science Books for May

May 9th Aliens: Prominent Scientists on the Search for Extraterrestrial Life by Jim Al-Khalili,  (Author, Editor) In these lively and fascinating essays, scientists from around the world weigh in on the latest advances in the search for intelligent life in the universe and discuss just what that might look like. Since 2000, science has seen […]

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New Science Fiction: April

April 4th   1636: Mission to the Mughals by Eric Flint, & Griffin Barber The United States of Europe, the new nation formed by an alliance between the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus and the West Virginians hurled back in time by a cosmic accident, the Ring of Fire is beset by enemies on all sides. […]

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The Collapsing Empire

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi Our universe is ruled by physics. Faster than light travel is impossible, until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field available at certain points in space-time, which can take us to other planets around other stars. Riding The Flow, humanity spreads to innumerable other worlds. Earth is forgotten. […]

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The World Remade

The World Remade: America in World War I by G. J.Meyer An indispensable, sharply drawn account of America’s pivotal-and still controversial-intervention in World War I, enlivened by fresh insights into the key issues, events, and personalities of the period. In his previous book A World Undone: the Story of the Great War, 1914-1918 Meyer focused […]

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Exoplanets

Exoplanets: Asking the Right Questions in Our Strange New Universe by Michael E. Summers, &  James Trefil The past few years have seen an incredible explosion in our knowledge of the universe. Since its 2009 launch, the Kepler satellite has discovered more than two thousand exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system.  The recent discovery […]

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The Raven’s Table: Viking Stories

The Raven’s Table: Viking Stories by Christine Morgan The wolf’s wind is howling, stalking like death itself. The carrion-crows, avaricious and impatient, circling the battle-ground, the Raven’s Table. Listen… The furious clangor of battle. The harrowing singing of steel. The desperate cries of wounded animals. The gasps of bleeding, dying men. The slow, deep breathing […]

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Agent 110

Agent 110: An American Spymaster and the German Resistance in WWII by Scot Miller This is the secret and suspenseful account of how OSS spymaster Allen Dulles led a network of Germans conspiring to assassinate Hitler and negotiate surrender to bring about the end of World War II before the Soviet’s advance into Europe. Agent […]

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We March Against England

We March Against England: Operation Sealion and German Air-Sea Actions Against Great Britain, 1940-41 by Robert Forczyk In June, 1940, Nazi Germany was master of continental Europe. Great Britain stood alone and the all-conquering German armed forces were poised to cross the English Channel and launch an invasion that would if successful, change the entire course […]

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Fit for the Presidency?

Fit for the Presidency?: Winners, Losers, What-Ifs, and Also-Rans by Seymour Morris Jr. Every four years Americans embark on the ultimate carnival, the Super Bowl of democracy: a presidential election campaign filled with endless speeches, debates, handshakes, and passion. But what about the candidates themselves? In Fit for the Presidency? Seymour Morris Jr. applies an […]

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Pandora’s Star

Pandora’s Star by Peter F. Hamilton I just finished Peter F. Hamilton’s latest book A night without stars: a novel of the Commonwealth and I must admit he is one of my favorite authors. The thing is, there is so much background information provided by previous books that A night without stars: a novel of […]

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The Fleet at Flood Tide

The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945 by James D. Hornfischer The extraordinary story of the World War II air, land, and sea campaign that brought the U.S. Navy to the apex of its strength and marked the rise of the United States as a global superpower. One of […]

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Iron Dawn

Iron Dawn: The Monitor, the Merrimack, and the Civil War Sea Battle That Changed History by Richard Snow The thrilling story of the naval battle that not only changed the Civil War but the future of all sea power. The Confederacy, with no fleet of its own, built an iron fort containing ten heavy guns […]

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Waiting for Contact

Waiting for Contact: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Lawrence Squeri Imagine a network of extraterrestrials in radio contact with each other across the universe, superior beings who hail from advanced civilizations quadrillions of miles away, just waiting for Earth to tune in. Some people believe it’s only a matter of time before we discover […]

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God’s Armies

God’s Armies: Crusade and Jihad: Origins, History, Aftermath by Malcolm Lambert Crusade and jihad are often reckoned to have represented two sides of the same coin: each resonated on the opposing sides in the holy wars of the Middle Ages and each has been invoked during the war on terror. A chronicle of the Christian […]

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The General vs. the President

The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War by H. W. Brands From master storyteller and historian H. W. Brands comes the riveting story of how President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur squared off to decide America’s future in the aftermath of World War II. At the height […]

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American Heiress

American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes, and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin From “New Yorker” staff writer and bestselling author of “The Nine “and “The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson,” the definitive account of the kidnapping and trial that defined an insane era in American […]

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Hero of the Empire

Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard From New York Times bestselling author of Destiny of the Republic and The River of Doubt, a thrilling narrative of Winston Churchill’s extraordinary and little-known exploits during the Boer War. At age twenty-four, Winston Churchill was […]

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American Revolutions

American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804 by Alan Taylor The American Revolution is often portrayed as a high-minded, orderly event whose capstone, the Constitution, provided the ideal framework for a democratic, prosperous nation. Alan Taylor, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, gives us a different creation story in this magisterial history of the nation’s founding. […]

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Defying the Nazis

Defying the Nazis: the Sharps’ War  by Artemis Joukowsky; with a foreword by Ken Burns. The official companion to the Ken Burns film premiering September 20, 2016, on PBS tells the little-known story of the Sharps, an otherwise ordinary couple whose faith and commitment to social justice inspired them to undertake dangerous rescue and relief […]

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Robopocalypse

The Robots are coming . . . Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson They are in your house. They are in your car. They are in the skies. Now they’re coming for you. In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn […]

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Robot Uprisings

The Robots are coming . . . Robot Uprisings by Daniel H. Wilson  &  John Joseph Adams;  (Editors) Humans beware. As the robotic revolution continues to creep into our lives, it brings with it an impending sense of doom. What horrifying scenarios might unfold if our technology were to go awry? From self-aware robotic toys […]

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Accelerando

The Robots are coming . . .   Accelerando by  Charles Stross Accelerando presents a startling vision of humanity’s inability to cope with rapid technological advancement. Expanding on his award-winning short story cycle from Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine, the Hugo Award-winning Stross introduces us to technologies leading edge. Struggling to survive and thrive in this […]

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Genesis

The Robots are coming . . . Genesis by Bernard Beckett Like The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and Divergent this short novel is set in a dystopian society however, this post-apocalyptic world is packed with suspense and ideas. Anax thinks she knows history. Her grueling all-day Examination has just begun, and if she passes, […]

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Blade Runner

The Robots are coming . . .  Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?  by Philip K. Dick Philip K. Dick was probably the most  brilliant science fiction writer in the world but, he died of a stroke at the age of 53.  More than a dozen of his stories have been made into movies. His […]

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I Robot

The Robots are coming . . . I, ROBOT by Isaac Asimov In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot through a series of interlinked stories: from robots gone mad, to mind reading robots, robots with a sense of humor and even robot politicians. In this classic, Asimov introduces us to the three […]

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The Windup Girl

The Robots are coming . . . THE WINDUP GIRL by Paolo Bacigalupi Bacigalupi (The Water Knife) presents a grim but beautifully written tale of Bangkok struggling for survival in a post-oil era of rising sea levels and food economy. Capt. Jaidee Rojjanasukchai of the Thai Environment Ministry fights desperately to protect his beloved nation […]

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We Think Therefore We Are

The Robots are coming . . . WE THINK THEREFORE WE ARE edited by Peter Crowther Fifteen original stories about our fear of and fascination with artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence has captured the imaginations of writers, readers, and scientists alike. Now some of the most innovative thinkers in science fiction offer an intriguing variety of […]

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Daemon

The Robots are Coming . . . DAEMON by Daniel Suarez Computer technology expert Daniel Suarez blends haunting high-tech realism with gripping suspense in an authentic, complex thriller.  DAEMON IS, a high-tech thriller for the wireless age that explores the unthinkable consequences of a computer program running without human control “a daemon”, designed to dismantle […]

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THE MECHANICAL

In order to prepare for our future Robot Overlords, during the next few weeks I will feature books with a Robot or Machine Intelligence theme. – Tyson THE MECHANICAL by Ian Tregillis MY NAME IS JAX. That is the name granted to me by my human masters. I AM A SLAVE. A Clakker, a mechanical […]

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Uprooted Wins

Uprooted by Naomi Novik Naomi Novik’s Uprooted has won the Locus Award and Nebula Award for best novel. Uprooted is a wonderful story loosely based on a number of fairy tales from Eastern Europe. Naomi is of Polish and Russian descent, and the stories her family used to tell her as a child left an […]

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And Then All Hell Broke Loose

And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East by Richard Engel Over two decades Engel has been under fire, blown out of hotel beds, taken hostage. He has been through the Lebanese war, covered the whole shooting match in Iraq, interviewed Libyan rebels who toppled Gaddafi, reported from Syria as Al-Qaeda […]

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True Crime Top 5

True Crime Top 5 True Crime stories are filled with violence, deception, murder, and mystery, perfect for a summer read. The Top 5 True Crime stories in the last year based on library circulation are: #5 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote Powerful account of the brutal slaying of a Kansas family in 1959. #4. […]

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Sleeping Giants

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel   A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon […]

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The Medusa Chronicles

The Medusa Chronicles by Stephen Baxter, Alastair Reynolds A sequel to Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s Nebula Award-winning novella A Meeting with Medusa, this novel continues the thrilling adventure of astronaut Howard Falcon, humanity’s first explorer of Jupiter from two modern science fiction masters. Howard Falcon almost lost his life in an accident as the first […]

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Winter Fortress

The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler’s Atomic Bomb by Neal Bascomb From the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of Hunting Eichmann and The Perfect Mile , an epic adventure and spy story about the greatest act of sabotage in all of World War II. It’s 1942 and the Nazis are racing to be […]

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MacArthur at War

MacArthur at War: World War II in the Pacific by Walter R. Borneman In predawn darkness the black telephone rang loudly. The general’s wife lifted the receiver from its cradle on the nightstand in the Manila Hotel penthouse suite’s master bedroom and hesitantly answered it. Telephone calls in the middle of the night were rarely […]

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Valiant Ambition

Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick From the New York Times bestselling author of In The Heart of the Sea and Mayflower comes a surprising account of the middle years of the American Revolution, and the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold. In […]

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Mapping the Heavens

MAPPING the HEAVENS: the Radical Scientific Ideas that Reveal the Cosmos by Priyamvada Natarajan This book provides a tour of the “greatest hits” of cosmological discoveries, the ideas that reshaped our universe over the past century.The cosmos, once understood as a stagnant place, filled with the ordinary, is now a universe that is expanding at […]

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Game of Crowns

Game of Crowns: Elizabeth, Camilla, Kate, and the Throne by Christopher Andersen The #1 New York Times bestselling author of William and Kate and The Day Diana Died takes a compulsively readable look into the relationships and rivalries of Queen Elizabeth, Camilla Parker Bowles, and Kate Middleton. One has been famous longer than anyone on […]

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The Genius of Birds

The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman Bird brains no longer new research is demonstrating that birds are astonishingly intelligent creatures. In fact, some birds rival primates and even humans in their remarkable forms of intelligence. Like humans, many birds have enormous brains relative to their size. Although small, bird brains are packed with neurons […]

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1941: Fighting the Shadow War

1941: Fighting the Shadow War: A Divided America in a World at War by Marc Wortman In 1941: Fighting the Shadow War: A Divided America in a World at War , historian Marc Wortman thrillingly explores the interesting history of America’s clandestine involvement in World War II before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Prior to […]

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Jungle of Stone

Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood by William Carlsen In 1839 rumors of extraordinary yet baffling stone ruins buried within the unmapped jungles of Central America reached two of the world’s most intrepid travelers. Seized by the reports, American diplomat John Lloyd Stephens and British artist Frederick Catherwood, […]

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Fluke: The Math and Myth of Coincidence

Fluke: The Math and Myth of Coincidence by Joseph Mazur What is the true nature of chance? This is the question Joseph Mazur examines in his new book. What are the chances? is often the question we ask ourselves when we encounter the strangest and most seemingly impossible coincidences But, when we look at coincidences […]

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The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition

The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance by  Paul Strathern This book is not a boring list of names and dates but instead a dazzling history of the modest family that rose to become one of the most powerful in Europe, The Medici is a remarkably modern story of power, money, and […]

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Ghost Warriors: Inside Israel’s Undercover War

The Ghost Warriors: Inside Israel’s Undercover War Against Suicide Terrorism by Samuel M. Katz The story of how Israel fought back with an elite force of undercover operatives. The untold story of the Ya’mas, Israel’s special forces undercover team that infiltrated Palestinian terrorist strongholds during the Second Intifada. It was the deadliest terror campaign ever […]

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Great History Books of 2015 (Part 2)

This is a continuation of an earlier post Great History Books of 2015 (Part 1).   Went the Day Well?: Witnessing Waterloo by David Crane Went the Day Well? offers a highly original view of Waterloo, grand in scope but meticulous in detail. What was Britain doing on that Sunday, from the mad king downward? […]

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Great History Books of 2015 (Part 1)

 These books look at the important historical figures, and events, and ordinary people that made the world what it is today. It was not inevitable that history would turn out the way it did. S.P.Q.R. A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard Illustrating how a classical democracy yielded to a self-confident and self-critical empire, […]

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Be Curious: Great Science Books of 2015

Learn about our world with these books for the general reader. Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett Cynthia Barnett’s Rain begins four billion years ago with the torrents that filled the oceans, and builds to the storms of climate change.  It weaves together science, the true shape of a raindrop, with the […]

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JURASSIC LIBRARY

Hidden in a dense forest of science books in the 567’s this adventurer has discovered Dinosaurs. You can also with these books:   Dinosaurs Without Bones: Dinosaur Lives Revealed by Their Trace Fossils by Anthony J. Martin Welcome to the world of ichnology, the study of traces and trace fossils, such as tracks, trails, burrows, […]