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Tag: 0409
04.09: The Vatican Diaries
2013-03-15 00:36:42| Powells Books Events Calendar
For more than 25 years, John Thavis held one of the most fascinating journalistic jobs in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican. His daily exposure to the power, politics, and personalities in the seat of Roman Catholicism gave him a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective on an institution that is far less monolithic and unified than it first appears. Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place where Curia cardinals fight private wars, scandals threaten to undermine papal authority, and reverence for the past is continually upended by the practical considerations of modern life. Perceptive, sharply written, and witty, The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church (Viking) will appeal not only to Catholics (lapsed as well as devout) but to any readers interested in international diplomacy and the role of religion in an increasingly secularized world.
04.09: Science Fiction Book Group
2013-03-15 00:36:42| Powells Books Events Calendar
This month we meet to discuss The Amazon Legion by Tom Kratman. Join us!
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04.09: Mary Roach
2013-03-15 00:36:42| Powells Books Events Calendar
The alimentary canal is classic Mary Roach terrain: the questions explored in Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (W. W. Norton) are as taboo, in their way, as the cadavers in Stiff and every bit as surreal as the universe of zero gravity explored in Packing for Mars. Why is crunchy food so appealing? Why is it so hard to find words for flavors and smells? Why doesn't the stomach digest itself? How much can you eat before your stomach bursts? Can constipation kill you? Did it kill Elvis? In Gulp, we meet scientists who tackle the questions no one else thinks of — or has the courage to ask. We go on location to a pet-food taste-test lab, to a fecal transplant, and into a live stomach to observe the fate of a meal. With Roach at our side, we travel the world, meeting murderers and mad scientists, Eskimos and exorcists (who have occasionally administered holy water rectally), rabbis and terrorists — who, it turns out, for practical reasons do not conceal bombs in their digestive tracts. Like all of Roach's books, Gulp is as much about human beings as it is about human bodies.
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mary roach
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