Baum on Books

James Conroy’s new novel, The Coyote Hunter of Aquidneck Island not only introduces readers to a still rural bit of paradise set in Narragansett Bay, but to little known facts about indigenous New England Indian tribes…and coyotes. And, starting with the opening dialogue, the novel also introduces some good writing that brings together domestic drama, lore about the environment and some little-known Civil War military history. Conroy, a published poet and novelist from Long Island has an unusual

It may be hard to credit in this age of monster McMansions that the “tiny house movement” which began in the hippie `60s, continues to grow. But so say architectural designer and illustrator David Stiles and his wife, Jeanie Stiles, a writer and photographer. Their attractive newest how-to book, Building Small , their 25th, pitches barns, cabins and sheds as weekend and year-round retreats, whether off the grid or on. Would you believe an adorable 8’ X 11’ backyard Tudor or a two-level Japanese

It may be hard to credit in this age of monster McMansions that the “tiny house movement” which began in the hippie `60s, continues to grow. But so say architectural designer and illustrator David Stiles and his wife, Jeanie Stiles, a writer and photographer. Their attractive newest how-to book, Building Small , their 25th, pitches barns, cabins and sheds as weekend and year-round retreats, whether off the grid or on. Would you believe an adorable 8’ X 11’ backyard Tudor or a two-level Japanese

According to reports, the famous astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, won’t be available to answer any questions during Monday's solar eclipsey. Tyson says he’ll be in an undisclosed location where he will experience this celestial phenomenon in private. But Tyson did share his ideas about the cosmos and the people who have studied it, in his latest book, “Astrophysics For People In A Hurry.” Book critic Joan Baum has this review: Neil de Grasse Tyson knows he’s a science rock star and loves it.

According to reports, the famous astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, won’t be available to answer any questions during Monday's solar eclipsey. Tyson says he’ll be in an undisclosed location where he will experience this celestial phenomenon in private. But Tyson did share his ideas about the cosmos and the people who have studied it, in his latest book, “Astrophysics For People In A Hurry.” Book critic Joan Baum has this review: Neil de Grasse Tyson knows he’s a science rock star and loves it.

In her moving, elegiac new novel The Burning Girl , Claire Messud alludes to childhood as a Wordsworthian time when we still trail “clouds of glory.” For adolescence, though, she invokes the Biblical phrase “through a glass darkly,” meaning that what we think we see and know of life and ourselves is imperfect. That the “weight of the world falls upon us” in adolescence, and pain and fear and uncertainty replace the bliss of being young. The Burning Girl is a haunting coming-of-age story in the

Despite praise for Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films – an assignment journalist Molly Haskell accepted for Yale University Press’s Jewish Lives series, this witty, accessible though sometimes glib inquiry disappoints. But not because Haskell’s not Jewish. She was surprised, she said, that she was asked to do the book, and she readily acknowledges being ambivalent about many Spielberg movies, especially his pre-Schindler work. A feminist critic and an intellectual, she always favored complex,

Despite praise for Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films – an assignment journalist Molly Haskell accepted for Yale University Press’s Jewish Lives series, this witty, accessible though sometimes glib inquiry disappoints. But not because Haskell’s not Jewish. She was surprised, she said, that she was asked to do the book, and she readily acknowledges being ambivalent about many Spielberg movies, especially his pre-Schindler work. A feminist critic and an intellectual, she always favored complex,

At an age many people retire – or expire – Judy Gethers who never worked a day in her life became a renowned gourmet chef. The granddaughter of a famed dairy restaurant owner on the Lower East Side, Ratner’s, she loved to eat well, but that was it. And then one day, sitting with her husband in Ma Maison, Wolfgang Puck’s upscale restaurant in Los Angeles, she suddenly decided she wanted to learn how to cook. She was 53. Puck put her to work as an unpaid intern in his kitchen: “You’ll be our slave

At an age many people retire – or expire – Judy Gethers who never worked a day in her life became a renowned gourmet chef. The granddaughter of a famed dairy restaurant owner on the Lower East Side, Ratner’s, she loved to eat well, but that was it. And then one day, sitting with her husband in Ma Maison, Wolfgang Puck’s upscale restaurant in Los Angeles, she suddenly decided she wanted to learn how to cook. She was 53. Puck put her to work as an unpaid intern in his kitchen: “You’ll be our slave