Leisure reading
By Frank Tallis
Random House, $12.95 (softcover)
Originally published in 2005, this intellectually suspenseful tale has just been issued in softcover. The author is a clinical psychologist who lives in London and a specialist in obsessions.
Set in Vienna in 1902, when many new ideas dominated life, the story centers on a homicide with ties to science and the supernatural.
Two sleuths combine talents in working the case Detective Oskar Rheinhardt, a police officer who is on the cutting edge, and Max Lieberman, a follower of Sigmund Freud and the main character in the book. Using both evidence and intuitive analysis, the two try to solve the case with the understanding that "it could not have been committed by anyone alive."
By Stuart Clark
Princeton, $24.95
This book, subtitled "The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began," focuses on circumstances in England in 1859 when the Earth was engulfed in a cloud of gas.
The result was a "blood-red aurora" from the poles to the tropics. Telegraph systems crashed, machines burst into flames and electric shocks rendered operators unconscious.
This is where the amateur astronomer Richard Carrington came in. He suspected a mysterious explosion on the surface of the sun, suggesting that the sun's magnetism directly influences the Earth.
Generally, Carrington's arguments were rejected but a small group of scientists were starting to believe that the Earth could be influenced from outer space.
By Stanley Wells
Pantheon, $26
Wells, a Shakespeare scholar, is determined to make Shakespeare and the other writers of his time better understood.
The setting is Elizabethan England, when theatre was "a growth industry." All the writers knew each other, and they were not averse to learning, borrowing or stealing from one another. Wells writes, "To see Shakespeare as one among a great company is only to enhance our sense of what made him unique."
The author also studies the actors of the time and the ways they influenced Shakespeare's work. Shakespeare's contemporaries and anecdotes about them help the reader to understand this celebrated writer.
Comments
- Jazz brass debate Millsap match 12:17 a.m.
- Teacher faces new sex charges 12:09 a.m.
- BYU professor to work on Hebrew Bible 12:08 a.m.
- Mormon Times national calendar 12:08 a.m.
- John Calvin's 500th birthday 12:08 a.m.
- Dinner Diva: Frugal grocery tips 12:08 a.m.
- FlyLady: Why is home messy? 12:08 a.m.
- Pageants inspire thousands 12:07 a.m.
- Mormon Times mile run on July 18 12:07 a.m.
- Fiddling prodigies team up to win 12:07 a.m.
- LDS seminary principal arrested
- Reactions on Boozer speculation
- Jazz down Oklahoma City
- Jazz talking Boozer trade?
- Animals removed from filthy home
- Tainted beef sold in Utah stores
- Sleepy Ridge offers much for many
- 2 Tooele police officers fired
- Let's bid 'Eli Stone' a fond farewell
- Baseball teams fear 'haunted' hotel
- LDS seminary principal arrested
142 - Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
141 - Jazz talking Boozer trade?
136 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
123 - Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
94 - Jazz brass debate Millsap match
88 - Fairness of BCS debated
81 - Chaffetz eyes challenging Bennett
74 - Letters: Single-payer system best
72 - Services bids farewell to Jackson
70
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