Jill Prendergast is our resident poet, cafe manager and an avid reader. These are Jill's picks for your enjoyment in the last days of the summer heat.
The Cloudspotter's Guide: The Science, History and Culture of Clouds. Gavin Pretor-Pinney, 2007. $18
By combining hard science with historical quips, humorous anecdotes, myth, and even lyrical
poetry, Pretor-Pinney has written a quintessential guide to all things Cloud. Bring this book on your next flight (be sure to snag the window seat). Pairs well with pub conversation or a park picnic date. A ten-hour road trip through Nebraska? Better keep this on the dash. You'll find yourself looking up in more ways than one.
Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma. Claire Dederer, 2023. $28
This is the book that needed to be written; A toolbox for vindicated reasoning. Dederer pinpoints the exact ambiguous discomfort in the dangers of binary-thinking relating not only to art, but moral judgement on a broad spectrum. In the season of cancellation, these essays allow room for self-reflection, wit, and vulnerability. Dederer has placed herself in the hot seat, helping us all challenge assumptions and relocate convictions.