Gandhi and Jesus:  The Saving Power of Non Violence

Terrence Rynne, PhD explores the relationship between the teachings of Jesus, the work of Gandhi, and the Christian peace movement.

We Also Serve:  A Family Goes to War

Nanette Sagastume is the mother and wife of combat Marines.  She founded a military family support group in Chico.

It’s Enough To Make You Sick:  The Failure of American Health Care and a Prescription for the Cure

Chico neurosurgeon Dr. Jeffrey Lobosky examines the problems with America’s health care system and offers solutions.

Lincoln in Black and White: 1910-1925

Photographer and author Douglas Keister acquired some glass-plate negatives as a young high school student in Lincoln, Nebraska.  They were images of African American and immigrant neighborhoods in Lincoln, but the identity of the photographer remained a mystery until many years later.  The images were displayed in an exhibit on the Chico State University campus during Black History month in 2012, and now many of the images have been acquired by the Smithsonian for the new African American Museum of Culture and History.

The Birds of Bidwell Park

Two retired Chico State professors, ornithologist Roger Lederer and English professor and illustrator Carol Burr, teamed up to create a guide to the birds you are likely to see in Bidwell Park during a casual stroll or a long hike any time of year.

Words to That Effect:  Well-turned Phrases to Read, Write or Recite

This book is a practical guide to effective communication for every occasion.  The author, a psychologist, speech-writer and consultant, recommends using her apologies, thank you notes, sympathy letters, professional correspondences, and even love letters as a beginning for your own communications.   She also includes a section on snappy comebacks.

Storming the Tulips

Former Butte College teacher Hannie Voyles grew up in Amsterdam and her memories of being a school girl in World War II are included among those of other students at the Montessori school they attended.  She translated and revised this collection of stories of hardship and survival under Nazi occupation.

Feeling Safe with Officer Frank by Linda Mobilio-Keeling

Officer David Frank Mobilio of the Red Bluff Police Department was killed in the line of duty and his widow Linda Mobilio wrote a book for children about what police officers actually do to serve and protect.

The Unstoppable Eagles: The True Story of Patriot and Liberty                                             by Terri Lhuillier and Joanne Brady

Sisters Terri Lhuillier and Joanne Brady tell the story of a pair of Redding bald eagles that were watched by people all over the world via  webcam.  Joanne’s daughter Sarah Brady illustrated the book, which includes facts about animals in a section called ”critter chatter”.

The Farther Shore

This is RobDavidson’s second collection of short stories.  Some of the eight stories are set in Chico, with a novella set on a Carribbean Island.   The author was in the Carribbean when he served in the Peace Corps.   The novella “Criminals” won the 2009 Camber Press Fiction Award.       The collection is published by Bear Star Press in Cohasset.   Professor Davidson is the keynote speak for an upcoming writing conference at Butte College and Amy Antongiovanni is one of the organizers of the conference.

Wildflowers of Table Mountain: A Naturalist’s Guide

When he taught biology at Butte College, Albin Bills led field trips to Table Mountain, near Oroville, California.  He teamed up with botanist Samantha Mackey to write this guide to the wildflowers and waterfalls of this special place.  Their newly revised edition includes color photographs, most taken by Albin Bills, but also retains the line drawings of master baker and self-taught botanical illustrator Larry Jansen.

The Humboldt Wagon Road

The historic road which is now California highway 32 heading west out of Chico has carried freight and passengers from Chico to Susanville since the Civil War era.  Retired National Park Service ranger Marti Leicester and David Nopel, descendant of pioneer families, are co-authors of this book of  early photos, many from the archives of David’s father John Nopel, unofficial archivist for Butte County.  The book tells stories of the road and the families who lived along the road.

Forgotten Burial:  A Restless Spirit’s Plea for Justice

Jodi Foster moved into a small apartment in Chico where strange things happened.  Her small daughter Hannah saw a young woman she called “My Liz” who looked to Hannah like an angel.  Jodi’s book  is a story of families: her own parents and grandparents, herself and her children, the family of a missing young woman called Marliz whose body was never found, and a dysfunctional “family” of a husband and wife from Red Bluff who kidnapped Marliz three decades before Jodi moved into her “haunted” apartment.

Seniors Showers

For years Roger Aylworth has shared insight, wisdom, and humor through his columns in the Chico Enterprise-Record.  In this latest collection of 99 favorite columns, Roger makes his case that senior citizens need showers like brides and expectant mothers get.   Roger’s wife, always referred to as “the saintly Susan” in his columns, is a novelist and poet, and she joins Roger in their conversation about family life in at “Casa Aylworth” and to recite one of her poems.  When the subject of the TV series about Davy Crocket comes up, Susan and Nancy join Roger in an impromptu singing the theme song – ”Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee…..”

Life, the Universe, and Everything: An Aristolelian Philosophy for a Scientific Age

Professor Machuga teaches a philosophy course for the Honors Program at Butte College and this book grew out of his efforts to make ancient philosophers  intelligible to undergraduates.  He discusses the big questions in life — like does God exist.

Dorris Bridge

Clive Riddle grew up in the isolated high desert northeastern California town of Alturas in the 1970s, and draws on his teenage experiences there to create a story of fact, fiction, and rural legends in a fictional small town he calls Dorris Bridge, the original name of the town of Alturas.  It is a crime mystery, but also a touching tale of the heart.

No More Smoking in Bed

Alan Guzzetti wrote this memoir to answer his daughter’s question, “Who are we?”    In his late teens Alan lived in Japan and Korea as a member of the Air Force.  Once out of the military he got in on the ground floor of the high tech revolution in what became Silicon Valley.   A high-stress career took him all over the world.  He was back in San Francisco when the earthquake hit the Bay Area in 1989.   Good food has always played an important role in the Guzzettis’ Italian-American household, and Alan now lives in Chico where  his nephew David and his son Woody are caterers.

“Local Best-Sellers of 2011″

Book reviewer for the Chico Enterprise-Record Dan Barnett and bookstore owner Heather Lyon join Nancy to discuss books by local authors.  They mention Vanessa Diffenbaugh, author of The Language of Flowers, a novel popular internationally; Laird Easton, translater of Journey to the Abyss: The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler 1880-1918, which The Atlantic named one of the top ten books of 2011; Joan Brock of Gridley who collected her grandmother’s letters written during World War II in My Dear, Dear Rigmor.  Orland resident Loyal McCammond’s long trail ride We Poked a Hole in the Wind was a popular book.  Richard Burrill’s Ishi’s Untold Story in his First World about the last “wild Indian” in North America sold well, and The Birds of Bidwell Park by ornithologist Roger Lederer, illustrated by his wife Carol Burr continued to sell well in 2011.   For both aspiring and experienced writers, Dan highly recommends a book by another husband and wife team whose “Pitchapalooza” in Chico was a standing-room-only event, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It … Successfully! by Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry.  A new collection of poems, At Lake Scugog, by award-winning poet and philosopher Troy Jollimore was another reviewer favorite.

Walk in Your Own Footsteps:  Your guide to a happy and balanced life

After great losses in her life, artist Laura Pallatin learned how to create balance and take of her life.  She has practical suggestions to help you find what makes you happy by considering posture, exercise, getting out in nature, and taking deeps breaths.

Living With Your Heart Wide Open:  how mindfulness & compassion can free you from unworthiness, inadequacy & shame

Steve Flowers is a psychotherapist in private practic in Chico, California, and director of the mindfulness-based stress reduction clinic at Enloe Medical Center.  Co-author Bob Stahl, PhD founded and directs mindfulness-based stress reduction programs in three medical centers in the San Francisco By Area.    Steve is also author of The Mindful Path Through Shyness.    Through the practices in Living With Your Heart Wide you learn how to open your heart to the loving-kindness within you and in the world around you.

Ramblings of a Ranger

Park ranger and school teacher Dave Frederick lived and worked in Lassen Volcanic National Park for many years.  He recounts stories of disaster rescue, backcountry patrolling, and promoting the wonders of nature.

Journey to the Abyss:  The Diaries of Count Harry Kessler, 1880-1918

European aristocrat Harry Kessler started keeping a journal when he was a 12-year-old schoolboy in the late 19th century — diaries which totaled 10,000 manuscript pages. Chico State history professor  Laird Easton edited and translated Kessler’s early diaries which were thought lost until discovered in Mallorca in 1983.  His 924-page book, Journey to the Abyss, was named by The Atlantic one of the 10 best books of 2011.