BOOK NOTES: "Radiation: What It Is, What You Need to Know," ...

Grand Forks Public Library

• "Radiation: What It Is, What You Need to Know,"

by Robert Peter Gale, M.D. and Eric Lax. Described as the "essential guide to radiation," this book seeks to dissipate the negative connotations of radiation by clearly articulating what radiation is, how it causes certain cancers, and how it is a necessary part of life on Earth.

• "The Devouring Dragon: How China's Rise Threatens our Natural World," by Craig Simons. A scathing view of China's industrialization and how its rise to power has made it the world's biggest polluter.

• "Moscow: December 25, 1991," by Conor O'Clery. A look at the fall of the Soviet Union, starting from the day of Mikhail Gorbachev's resignation and working backward.

• "Who's On Worst," by Filip Bondy. A celebration of the "game of failures," Bondy argues that it's pointless to argue who the best players are when there are so many awful characters to focus on. With chapters like "The Worst Pitchers of All Time" and "most Overpaid Yankees," what's not to love?

East Grand Forks Campbell Library

• "Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You" by Dolly Parton is an exploration of the author's personal philosophy she forged over her career as a singer, songwriter, perform and philanthropist. Parton elaborates on four great hopes: Dream more, Learn more, Care more and Be more.

• "Elsewhere: A Memoir" by Richard Russo is a surprising account of the author's life, his parents, and the upstate New York town they all struggled to escape. Russo's book is about remembering and forgetting and what it means to be a grown-up.

• "Vintage Wedding Style" by Elizabeth Demos presents more than 25 simple and projects and endless inspiration for designing your big day. Demos shows how to mix your own unique vision with vintage touches.

• "Everybody Matters: A Memoir" by Mary Robinson reveals what lies behind the vision, strength and determination that has helped Robinson to achieve so much for human rights around the globe. Robinson as an advocate for the hungry and the hunted, she illuminates a better future for our world.

• "Look Homeward Cowboy: A Saga of World War II" by Donn de Grand Pre is the story of Samuel Iverson who completes the journey from his home in the Badlands, through a Midwestern metropolis, into a military boot camp, across the seas to days and nights of terror and onto the Pacific Northwest to begin to recover.