Bookshelf: Winter 2010

A Short History of Wisconsin

For a brief background on all things Badger State — truly — look no further than Erika Janik MA’04, MA’06’s authoritative, yet accessible A Short History of Wisconsin (Wisconsin Historical Society Press). The Madison author is a travel writer and historian, and was recently married at the National Mustard Museum in nearby Middleton.

Islands of Genius

For nearly fifty years, Darold Treffert ’55, MD’58 of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, has studied savant syndrome, a rare condition in which a brilliant ability co-exists alongside a developmental disorder. Now the esteemed psychiatrist, UW clinical professor of psychiatry, and consultant for the film Rain Man has written Islands of Genius: The Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, Acquired, and Sudden Savant (Jessica Kingsley Publishers).

Not Without My Dog

Jenny Pavlovic ’84’s first book, 8 State Hurricane Kate: The Journey and Legacy of a Katrina Cattle Dog, shared her experiences with animal rescue following Hurricane Katrina and garnered eight national awards. Her latest work, The “Not Without My Dog” Resource & Record Book (www.8StateKate.net), provides the recording space and resources you need to keep your canine safe every day and in emergencies. Pavlovic is a biomedical engineering consultant at Frestedt, Incorporated in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.

The Mindfulness Workbook: A Beginner’s Guide to Overcoming Fear & Embracing Compassion (New Harbinger Publications) guides readers to experience mindfulness as a “practical, attainable state from which they can see their lives more clearly.” It’s the work of Thomas Roberts ’76, a private-practice psychotherapist and clinical hypnotherapist in Onalaska, Wisconsin.

Recovering from Identity Theft

If you’re concerned about identity theft, Mari (Marion) Bear Frank ’70 has a book for you: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Recovering from Identity Theft (Alpha Books). The author is a Laguna Niguel, California-based attorney, professor, and expert witness who’s also hosted the PBS special “Identity Theft: Protecting Yourself in the Information Age.”

Love Over 60: An Anthology of Women’s Poems (Mayapple Press) features poetry by more than eighty female poets — some well known, and some not so very — that originates from a particular age frame of reference, but speaks timelessly of the many forms of love. Madisonians Jeri (Geraldine) Dixon McCormick MS’77 and UW professor emerita Robin Chapman edited this collection.

Resilient Leadership for Turbulent Times

Co-author George Goens PhD’73 describes his latest book, Resilient Leadership for Turbulent Times (Rowman and Littlefield), as a “research-based analysis of the thinking, capacity, and action skills necessary to lead and thrive in a complex and dynamic context.” He’s senior partner at the consulting and search firm Goens/Esparo in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Kristin Cardinale PhD’00 of Milwaukee has written a “user’s guide to an innovative career lifestyle that combines the very hot topics of lifestyle design and gigonomics” called The 9-to-5 Cure: Work on Your Own Terms and Reinvent Your Life (JIST Works). Gigonomics refers to people working in short-term “gigs” rather than in long-term, full-time employment. Cardinale is a consultant, educator, speaker, and serial entrepreneur.

Badger Boneyards

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel roving-travel-writer-turned-freelancer Dennis McCann ’74 has completed a warm, humorous, yet compassionate book that’s been “haunting” him for years about our state’s cemeteries and their inhabitants: Badger Boneyards: The Eternal Rest of the Story (Wisconsin Historical Society Press). McCann lives “up north” in Bayfield, Wisconsin.

Gerald Schaefer ’83, with grief counselor Tom Bekkers, has created a helpful, restorative guide after losing his wife to breast cancer: The Widower’s Toolbox: Repairing Your Life After Losing Your Spouse (New Horizon Press). The duo explains men’s grieving and shares thoughts and activities on how to “pick up the pieces,” heal from within, give back to others, and love again. Schaefer, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, is a large-capital project manager in the utility industry.

Retirement was the catalyst for Alice Van Deburg Honeywell ’84 and her friend Bobbi Montgomery as they executed a bicycling trip from Oregon to Maine, carrying all they needed for three months. Now the co-authors have turned their entertaining, very human diary of the journey into Across America by Bicycle: Alice and Bobbi’s Summer on Wheels (University of Wisconsin Press).

Through Endangered Eyes

Through Endangered Eyes: A Poetic Journey into the Wild (Windward Publishing) has earned author and illustrator Rachel Allen Dillon ’94 of Folsom, California, an honorable mention in the 2010 Eric Hoffer Award competition. Its poetry about endangered species is paired with facts, activities, resources, and illustrations made of colorful assortments of dots.

Published in the Winter 2010 issue