If you like to relax with nonfiction books during the summer, here are some titles you'll enjoy.
On the true crime scene,
Reasonable Doubt, by Peter Manso, relates the 2002 murder case of Christa Worthington who was stabbed to death in her kitchen on Cape Cod. While it's possible that several local men who knew her could have killed her, an illiterate 34 year old, African-American garbage man was arrested and convicted of the crime. Manso proposes that the police investigation was botched and the trial was rigged. In
The Man in the Rockefeller Suit, Mark Seal tells the story of a German immigrant who assumed several identities and rose to a position of success as an American businessman over the period of 17 years. If you liked Catch Me if You Can, you'll enjoy the escapades of this con man, Clark Rockefeller. Take a macabre tour of the world of organ trafficking in
Red Market, by Scott Carney. Carney has spent the last five years investigating organ brokers, bone thieves, blood farmers, and child traffickers and presents a chilling history of this horrific "business".
For some pleasant armchair travel, you could try these titles.
Wild Coast, by John Gimlette, takes the reader on a tour of the lesser known South American coastal countries of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. This area, commonly known as the Guianas, is host to charming undiscovered small towns and dense forests, filled with unusual flora and fauna. A famous South American site is visited in
Turn Right at Machu Picchu, by Mark Adams. This is an historical account of Hiram Bingham's 1911 discovery of the still mysterious "city in the sky". Take a tour of a legendary wine region in,
To Burgundy and Back Again, by Roy Cloud. The author relates his and his brother's adventures in the French countryside as they build a wine exporting business.
Visit the animal planet with
Feathers, by Thor Hanson. This book, a natural history of the evolution of (you guessed it) feathers, is the first exploration of this 100 million year old wonder of the ornithology field. Amy Stewart has written a different type of natural history in her look at the insect world in
Wicked Bugs. She presents the reader with a catalog of the earth's most insidious bugs and the role they've played in the history of mankind. You won't want to go in water after reading,
Demon Fish, by Juliet Eilperin. The author focuses on sharks and explores how these denizens of the deep and humans interact around the globe.
Forecast for the dog days of summer - more reading ahead!
