Microhistories

Microhistories are books that explore focused subject areas. They give insight and interest to the mundane pieces of life we do not often think about.

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Diarmuid Jeffreys - Aspirin: The remarkable story of a wonder drug
(615.783 Je) This is not just the story of a household drug, but more of an exciting medical history with plot twists and turns, humor, and drama. It is well-documented and fast-paced

Tom Lutz - Crying: A natural and cultural history on tears
(152.4 Lu) Crying is an act only shared by other humans. There are many different interpretations and responses to tears, however. Tom Lutz takes a look at what tears have meant throughout history with detailed and insightful scientific facts. This is an intriguing study that will keep you turning pages.

Katherine Ashenburg - The Dirt on Clean: An unsanitized history
(361.64 Ash) From Greeks to modern-day America, Ashenburg uses lively stories to look at the changing views on cleanliness. Hygiene examples from all different times and cultures are examined with an enthralling pace.

Lynne Truss - Eats, Shoots & Leaves: A zero tolerance approach to punctuation
(428.2 Tr) Truss uses wit, humor, and everyday familiar examples to demonstrate the role of punctuation in our lives and describes how and how not to use it. The characterization comes from the author herself as she tells about how punctuation matters.

Mark Larson - The Mullet: Hairstyle of the gods
(391.5 La) The hairstyle, common in the 1980’s, was an interesting phenomenon that Larson looks at with non-conventional means such as cartoons, artifacts, and recipes. You will be laughing out loud wile reading this book.

Witold Rybczynski - One Good Turn: A natural history of the screwdriver and the screw
(621.972 Ry) Most of our hand tools have been around for hundreds of years. Rybczynski is highly entertaining in describing the use of everyday things through explaining the history of the screw. He also gives some detailed biographical accounts of important figures whose characters are striking.

Mary Roach - Stiff: The curious lives of cadavers
(611 Ro) Roach pulls off being hilarious while writing about dead bodies. This book is interesting to not only people in forensics and science, but for anyone who is curious about where dead bodies go, science, or who just loves intense details about unexpected subjects.

Henry Petroski - The Toothpick: technology and culture
(674.88 Pet) This book is a celebration of useful and elegant device. Petroski claims that the toothpick is one of the world’s oldest instruments and is universally used. This readable book will have you hooked form the beginning.

Robert Friedel - Zipper: An exploration in novelty
(609 Fr) What would our lives be like without zippers? Learn about the fascinating history of this now common place object with a cast full of charismatic people, and rich story lines.

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