Bad dog : a love story
by Martin Kihn
636.7 KIHN (New Book Area). A true story. Meet Hola. She’s a nightmare, but it’s not her fault if she tackles strangers and chews on furniture, or if she runs after buses and fried chicken containers and drug dealers. No one ever told her not to. Worse yet, she scares her family. Hola may be the most beautiful Bernese mountain dog in the world, but she’s never been trained. At least not by anyone who knew what he was doing.
Hola’s supposed master, Marty, is a high-functioning alcoholic. A TV writer turned management consultant, Marty’s in debt and out of shape; he’s about to lose his job, and one day he emerges from a haze of peach-flavored vodka to find he’s on the verge of losing his wife, Gloria, too, if he can’t get his life—and his dog—under control.
Desperately trying to save his marriage, Marty throws himself headlong into the world of competitive dog training. Unfortunately, he knows even less than Hola, the only dog ever to be expelled from her puppy preschool twice. Somehow, together, they need to get through the American Kennel Club’s rigorous Canine Good Citizen test. Of course, Hola first needs to learn how to sit.
It won’t be easy. It certainly won’t be pretty. But maybe, just maybe, there will be cheesecake.
--- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
The science of kissing : what our lips are telling us
by Sheril Kirshenbaum
394 KIRSHENB (New Book Area). From a noted science journalist comes a wonderfully witty and fascinating exploration of how and why we kiss. Drawing upon classical history, evolutionary biology, psychology, popular culture, and more, Kirshenbaum's winning book will appeal to romantics and armchair scientists alike.
Super species : the creatures that will dominate the planet
by Garry Hamilton
578.62 HAMILTON (New Book Area). A gripping examination of invasive species' impact. Super species are the phenomenally successful invasive life-forms that are dominating ecosystems. These animals, plants and microbes have spread far from their native habitats, most often as a result of human activities. The key to super species' success is their ability to adapt quickly. Super species may be unusually aggressive, difficult to kill, unfazed by the presence and activity of humans, capable of astonishingly rapid rates of growth and reproduction, exceptionally tolerant of pollution or, in many cases, all of the above! Author Garry Hamilton profiles the 20 super species that are having the greatest impact in our world today, including: Feral pigs-- relentless boars that are trampling across Europe, North America and Australia Bullfrogs -- predatory amphibians that are endangering native frog populations Jellyfish -- spineless wonders that are dominating the world's oceans C. difficile -- potentially deadly microbes that flourish in human intestines Brown tree snakes -- unusually vicious reptiles that have overrun Guam and are now infiltrating America Argentine ants -- aggressive insects capable of forming super-colonies spanning thousands of miles Humboldt squid -- gigantic beasts that hunt in packs of several hundreds The author also examines the opposing views of top ecologists who are studying this global phenomenon. While some of these experts view invasive species as a threat to biodiversity that costs humans millions of dollars, others believe these creatures may simply be nature's way of restoring ecological vibrancy in the wake of human-mediated destruction. Whether good or bad, the life-forms in Super Species are the current winners in nature's ruthless process of natural selection. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
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