Routledge releases medical anthropologist Diane Tober’s groundbreaking study of human egg donors this week, cracking open the conversations about IVF, women’s reproductive health, rights to bodily autonomy, and parenting before an important presidential election. Eggonomics: The Global Market in Human Eggs and the Donors Who Supply Them is both timely and jaw-dropping in its findings and implications. In February 2024, the University of Alabama at… [Read More]
It’s summer! The season of beach reads, page-turning suspense, and cozy reading at the cabin. Whether you travel far or stick close to home, it’s the perfect time to kick back, relax, and get into a good book. And there are plenty of new releases to add to your TBR list! Here are some recent releases across varied genres that I am excited to dive… [Read More]
Diane Tober pulls back the clinical curtain on the multibillion-dollar global egg industry in her new book coming out in October. A medical anthropologist recently tenured at the University of Alabama, Tober has conducted the first study of egg donors and reveals the introduction of private equity into fertility medicine. The recent Alabama Supreme Court decision, which upended IVF procedures at the teaching hospital in… [Read More]
First there was an earthquake. Then came the tsunami. Floods. Loss of power. The Fukushima nuclear plant released radioactive contaminants in Japan in March 2011. I first heard about the evacuation listening to National Public Radio and recognized the reporter’s voice. Doualy Xaykaothao had been a journalism student whom I had advised when I was a college professor. Stationed in the Seoul Bureau of National… [Read More]
After years of research and writing, author Sharon Yntema has published her latest book, Ithaca Area Bookstores: Two Hundred years of Bookstore History in Tompkins County 1819-2019. A compendium of retail operations dedicated to purveying books offers a history of a reading community through the lens of bookstores. Sharon agreed to an interview about her new release. Q: When were the first bookstores opened in Ithaca? The… [Read More]
Sunshine and warmer weather are here, and that means it’s the perfect time to head outside, kick back your feet, and read a good book. There are plenty of new releases in fiction to be excited about. Here are some of the new releases I am most eager to read this summer from some popular genres of fiction. Fantasy – Witch King by Martha Wells… [Read More]
In the pre-dawn hours of February 18, 1942, three American warships zigzagged in convoy along the south coast of Newfoundland. Caught in a raging blizzard, the three ships ran aground on one of the most inhospitable stretches of coastline in the world—less than three miles apart, within eight minutes of each other. The Wilkes freed herself. The Truxton and Pollux could not. Fighting frigid temperatures, wild surf, and a heavy… [Read More]
Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca is very excited to host local author Alice McDowell for an evening of readings and conversation about her newest book, Dance of Life: Christian, Sufi, and Zen Wisdom for Today’s Spiritual Seeker. Q&A to follow, led by Maureen O’Brien. Event date: Sunday, March 27, 2022 – 7:00pm to 8:00pm McDowell writes about the spiritual journey as a captivating dance. In a clear and… [Read More]
Congratulations to Bett Fitzpatrick whose new book of narrative nonfiction history, Hard Aground, will be released in Spring 2022 by Boulder Books, an independent publishing company in Newfoundland and Labrador. In the pre-dawn hours of February 18, 1942, three American warships zigzagged in convoy along the south coast of Newfoundland, heading for one of the worst disasters in American naval history. The USS Pollux and… [Read More]
The MIT Press releases Out of the Cave: A Natural History of Mind and Knowing by Mark Johnson and Don Tucker on August 17. What do we know, and how do we know it? I can’t think of any more essential question to the human experience. Or to the scientific method. Objectivity and subjectivity. Thoughts and emotions. Big ideas. Mark Johnson and Don Tucker responded to my… [Read More]
