Frank Carlson Library

The best-selling author of Blink identifies the qualities of successful people, posing theories about the cultural, family, and idiosyncratic factors that shape high achievers, in a resource that covers such topics as the secrets of software billionaires, why certain cultures are associated with better academic performance, and why the Beatles earned their fame.

"When Alma is scared during a storm, her mother teaches her that when she's scared, it helps her to imagine that somewhere out in the world, something beautiful is happening in nature. Alma then spreads this message to her brother, who spreads it to their father"--

A caterpillar learns to be patient while trying to metamorphosize.

This book attempts to provide a short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years. The question motivating the book is: Why did history unfold differently on different continents? In case this question immediately makes you shudder at the thought that you are about to read a racist treatise, you aren't as you will see, the answers to the question don't involve human racial differences at all. The book's emphasis is on the search for ultimate explanations,...

Finding circles everywhere, a grandfather and his granddaughter meditate on the cycles of life and nature.

Obe Devlin spends a lot of his time cleaning up the creek that runs through what little is left of his family's once extensive farmland, and worrying about what the developers are doing nearby, and the pollution it is causing--but one day he finds a strange creature by his creek that eats plastic, and soon the animal he calls Marvin Gardens becomes his personal secret, which he believes needs to be protected from pretty much everybody.

The orchard is putting on a Valentine's Day dance! And the town is once again totally involved. Lizzie and her friends have been tasked with decorations. When all four of them go into town to buy them, they see Sheriff Hadley and Sarah's mom kissing beside a building! Sarah is shocked. But she's the only one. Lizzie tries to comfort her but then to her surprise, Sarah is thrilled! She's so thrilled in fact, she wants to hurry them along. She wants...

"Baby animals observe the strange habits of children"--

"When the kids in room 5 write to Earth asking what they can do to help save our planet, they are delighted to get a letter back."--