Here are some of the latest biographies to come to Glendale/Pasadena libraries!


Harvard Psychedelic Club, by Don Lattin. Lattin brings together four of the most memorable figures from the 1960s (Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Andrew Weil, and Huston Smith, all Harvard professors at the same time). Some laugh-aloud passages make this an entertaining read, but the underlying exploration of the sociocultural reasons for the extravaganza that was the 1960s merits attention, especially from those interested in the period. (quoted from Booklist and PW reviews)



Racing Odysseus, by Roger Martin. Informed that a deadly cancer will soon end his career as a college president, Martin defies the medical prognosis and then embarks upon an unlikely sabbatical adventure: enrolling in a small liberal-arts college as a 61-year-old freshman. Alternately amusing and poignant, Martin's personal epic offers a much-needed perspective on cultural dilemmas both ancient and modern. (from BL)



Living Oprah, by Robyn Okrant. Could you live each day for an entire year following every piece of advice Oprah Winfrey shared with you on her television show, magazine, and web site? That is exactly what Okrant, a yoga instructor and performer with an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago, did throughout 2008. Her project and subsequent blog and now book were designed to take a firsthand look at the impact of celebrity advice-in this case, Oprah's Live Your Best Lifer advice-on the average woman. Her informal social experiment, dubbed "Living Oprah," was a yearlong journey of dieting, exercising, remodeling her apartment, analyzing her marriage, finding her passion, and experiencing Oprah's "favorite things." (from Library Journal)