Washoe County Library System

"From the best-selling author of Why We Get Fat, a groundbreaking, eye-opening expose that makes the convincing case that sugar is the tobacco of the new millennium: backed by powerful lobbies, entrenched in our lives, and making us very sick. Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever; obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And sugar is at the root of these,...

"A finalist for the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction, Nicholas Carr’s bestseller The Shallows has become a foundational book in one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the internet’s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply? This 10th-anniversary edition includes a new afterword that brings the story, “a Silent Spring for the literary mind” (Slate), up to date, with a deep examination of the cognitive...

Every year, millions of people forgo traditional gyms and push the limits of human endurance by doing boot camp style workouts in seemingly raw conditions. These extreme athletes train in Cross Fit boxes, compete in Tough Mudders and challenge themselves in Spartan races. They share a unifying ideology: the comforts of the modern age have made us weak and the key to human power is to recreate the original environmental conditions of our ancestors...

A look at how alcohol and other intoxicants helped spark the rise of the first large-scale societies by enhancing creativity, alleviating stress, and building trust among conflicting tribes to allow them to cooperate with each other.

DDT Wars is the inside story of the decade-long scientific, legal, and strategic campaign that culminated in the nation ban of the insecticide DDT in 1972.

An eye-opening report from an award-winning author and former New York Times reporter reveals the link between teenage marijuana use and mental illness, and a hidden epidemic of violence caused by the drugfacts the media have ignored as the United States rushes to legalize cannabis. Recreational marijuana is now legal in nine states. Almost all Americans believe the drug should be legal for medical use. Advocates argue cannabis can help everyone from...