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<\/a>Let\u2019s start our English requirement with a book about the history of a famous author. \u201cThe Making of Jane Austen\u201d by Devoney Looser is about the popularization of the writer after her death. In the book\u2019s introduction, Looser notes that the path from talented writer to posthumous fame was not inevitable, nor was it a straight line. Influential family members, publishers, illustrators, politicians, actors, directors, biographers, all contributed through their praise, comment or disdain, to shape her persona and works into a global phenomenon over the past 200 years.<\/p>\nMoving on to the world of art, we have \u201cHamilton: The Revolution\u201d by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter. While every schoolchild receives a vague introduction to Alexander Hamilton, we often get little sense of him except that he was one of many who looked stately in a powdered wig. Why it took a hip-hop musical based on the Founding Father to bring his tale to life, I\u2019m not sure, but the play stormed the nation like few other theater productions. For those who loved the play, this book is an expanded version of its libretto, with a detailed account of how the play was conceived, took shape, and threw its captivating tea into America\u2019s harbor. Metaphorically. Somehow.<\/p>\n
For science, let\u2019s delve into the \u201cmad\u201d variety. The field of scientific discovery is not solely about stoics in lab coats making notes on clipboards; it is filled with tales of obsession, politics, war, betrayal and joy.\u00a0 \u201cThe Disappearing Spoon: and Other True Tales of Madness, Love and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of Elements\u201d is author Sam Kean\u2019s attempt to make science more exciting and relatable by attaching surprising and shocking anecdotes about the human discoveries of each chemical element.<\/p>\n
For biology (and a little sex ed), Mary Roach\u2019s \u201cBonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex\u201d explores the exciting\/embarrassing\/complicated study of \u201cit.\u201d The book examines the anatomy, psychology, and chemistry of sex, as well as the pitfalls and awkwardness that accompany focusing on this topic for one\u2019s scientific studies. Roach is known for science reporting that is very readable and fun, and this book is no exception.<\/p>\n
And for computer science, we\u2019ll find a little knowledge you can use. Author Kevin Mitnick is an expert on computer security because he has been a hacker since his teen years. Young Mitnick was infiltrating computer networks while most Americans were trying to master the technology of the digital watch. He was so misunderstood and notorious that after serving a prison sentence for computer fraud, he was banned from using any technology more advanced than a landline phone.<\/p>\n
Now that he can use computers again, Mitnick has started a computer security company, and has written a new book called \u201cThe Art of Invisibility: The World\u2019s Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data.\u201d You can get the prodigy\u2019s two cents on protecting yourself from all manner of identity theft and digital surveillance, a perpetual concern in our too-modern times.<\/p>\n
Library concerts<\/strong><\/p>\n The La Mesa Library\u2019s Second Saturday Concert Series has returned, with new local musicians performing for free every second Saturday at 1 p.m. Our Oct. 14 show is guitarist and hard-to-describe-in-one-sentence songsmith Gregory Martin Campbell.<\/p>\n