Kepler's News, January 2008

Highlights:

·         Bring your canine friends to a DOG PARTY with The Bark editors (benefiting humane and animal rescue organizations on the Gulf Coast.)

·         We are thrilled to present former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.  Don't miss out - tickets go on sale January 8th!  Special low price for Kepler's members!

·         Tim Harford, award-winning journalist and author of the bestseller The Undercover Economist, will discuss the logic of life; and bestselling author and psychologist Michael Shermer will explain how evolution shaped the modern economy-and why people are so irrational about money.

·         Scientist Neil Shubin presents a thoroughly engrossing chronicle of evolutionary history.

·         Don't miss Beth Lisick and her wickedly humorous take on New Year's resolutions with the leading self-help experts.

·         Local favorite Dr. Fred Luskin will be on hand to talk about Forgiveness - the missing ingredient for a healthy and lasting relationship.

·         Menlo Park resident and Stanford teacher Bruce Henderson will talk about his book Down to the Sea: An Epic Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in WWII.

·         Grump Eric Wiener will discuss his search for the world's happiest places, and David Rieff presents a tribute to his mother, Susan Sontag.

·         Victoria Zackheim, Ellen Sussman, and a host of other great women writers explore with awe and intelligence the surprises and challenges of our bodies.

·         Former NSC staffers under Bill Clinton draw on their experiences to discuss The Next American Century.

·         Kepler's in-store Book Clubs are free and open to the public. See details below.

·         Be sure to check out the entire list of January events below.

·         To receive the Youth and Children's department e-newsblast, please contact Angela Kroner-Grafmiller, angelak@keplers.com    

January Programs and Events

·         We look forward to seeing you at these exciting programs and events. All of these events are free and take place at Kepler's unless otherwise noted.  For more information on Kepler's events, click here.

·         A special note on Book Signings: Your purchase of the author's book at Kepler's allows us to bring these events to our store. Thank you for your support!

Author Events:

Beth Lisick
HELPING ME HELP MYSELF: One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone
Thursday, January 3, 7:30 p.m.

It happens every year. December 31st rolls around and you're perfectly happy with your life, or at least relieved to have made it through another year relatively unscathed. Then, just hours later, it's officially January 1st, and you know what that means. New Year's resolutions. Try as you may, it's nearly impossible to escape the omnipresence of the multi-billion-dollar self-help industry and its New Year / New You promises of happiness and perfection. Unless you're Beth Lisick.

In her wickedly hysterical new book, Lisick takes us along for the frenzied ride as she attempts to determine, once and for all, whether or not 10 of the world's most famous self-help gurus can actually improve her life.

Bruce Henderson
Down to the Sea: An Epic Story of Naval Disaster and Heroism in WWII
Wednesday, January 9, 7:30 p.m.

This epic story opens at the hour the Greatest Generation went to war on December 7, 1941, and follows four U.S. Navy ships and their crews in the Pacific until their day of reckoning three years later with a far different enemy: a deadly typhoon. Henderson, who teaches writing at Stanford University, lives in Menlo Park.

Dr. Fred Luskin
Forgive for Love: The Missing Ingredient for a Healthy and Lasting Relationship
Tuesday, January 15, 7:30 p.m.

Holding a Grudge is Hazardous to Your Relationship. This groundbreaking book from the frontiers of psychology offers startling new research about a factor vital to relationships: forgiveness. Bestselling author Dr. Luskin delivers a proven seven-step program for creating and maintaining loving and lasting relationships, with easy-to-learn forgiveness skills.

Victoria Zackheim (editor), Ellen Sussman, Elizabeth Rosner, Susan Ito, Deborah Grabien, Margot Duxler, and Regina Anavy
For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth about Their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance
Wednesday, January 16, 7:30 p.m.

For Keeps is an inspirational collection by top women writers on their relationships with their bodies. It explores with awe and intelligence the surprises and challenges of our bodies - whether caused by illness, aging, injury, or life circumstances - that make us rethink the way we see ourselves, and even live our lives. These empowering essays reveal the journeys women take as they age and change in ways both good and bad.

Eric Weiner
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World
Thursday, January 17, 7:30 p.m.

Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness. It uses a beguiling mixture of travel, psychology, science and humor to investigate not what happiness is, but where it is. With engaging wit and surprising insights, Eric Weiner offers travelers of all moods some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.

Nina Hachigian & Mona Sutphen
The Next American Century: How the U.S. Can Thrive as Other Powers Rise
Tuesday, January 22, 7:30 p.m.

With a major shift in American foreign policy, the U.S. can step into a new leadership role in the world, argue Hachigian and Sutphen, who draw on their experiences working for the National Security Council during the Clinton administration, as well as a variety of studies, public opinion polls and scholarly work.

Madeleine Albright
Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership
Thursday, January 24, 12:30 p.m.

In her new book, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright offers a persuasive, wide-ranging set of recommendations to the prospective winner of the 2008 Presidential election.

NOTE: TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE JANUARY 8^th.  Ticket price includes one copy of Memo to the President Elect.

Online price: $35.00
In-Store price:

• Kepler's Members (bring Member Rewards Card): book plus tax ($29.17)
• Non-Members: $35.00

Each ticket will include one copy of Memo to the President-Elect and will admit two people to the event.

Secretary Albright will only sign books that she has written - sorry, no memorabilia.
She will personalize books with first name only.

The Bark Editors: Cameron Woo and Claudia Kawczynska
HOWL: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit
Saturday, January 26, 2:00 p.m.

Dogs are celebrated members of our families thanks to their capacity for unconditional love, unfaltering loyalty, and now, in HOWL, for their comedic genius. In the follow-up to the New York Times bestseller, Dog Is My Co-Pilot, the Editors of The Bark have returned with over 70 rollicking pieces-from a variety of humorists, literary authors, and comedians-highlighting the hilarity of life with dogs.

Bring your canine friends to a DOG PARTY with free treats and other surprises for dogs and their companions.

Royalties from the sale of HOWL are earmarked for Gulf Coast humane and animal rescue organizations to assist in their ongoing post-Katrina recovery and rebuilding efforts.

Tim Harford
The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World

Monday, January 28, 7:30 p.m.

Life sometimes seems illogical and unfair. Why do some neighborhoods thrive and others become ghettos? Why is racism so persistent? Thorny questions-and you might be surprised to hear the answers coming from an economist.

But Tim Harford, award-winning journalist and author of the bestseller The Undercover Economist, likes to spring surprises. In this deftly reasoned book, Harford argues that life is logical after all. Under the surface of everyday insanity, hidden incentives are at work, and Harford shows these incentives emerging in the most unlikely places.  Once you've read this quotable and addictive book, life will never look the same again.

Michael Shermer
The Mind of the Market: Compassionate Apes, Competitive Humans and Other Tales from Evolutionary Economics
Tuesday, January 29, 7:30 p.m.

Bestselling author and psychologist Michael Shermer explains how evolution shaped the modern economy-and why people are so irrational about money. Drawing on the new field of neuroeconomics, Shermer investigates what brain scans reveal about bargaining, snap purchases, and establishing trust in business. This entertaining and surprising book will change the way we think about the economics of everyday life.

Neil Shubin
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
Wednesday, January 30, 7:30 p.m.

From the scientist who made the groundbreaking discovery of the "fish with hands," here is a lively, thoroughly engrossing chronicle of evolutionary history that unearths the often startling secrets behind why we look the way we do.

David Rieff
Swimming in a Sea of Death: A Son's Memoir
Thursday, January 31, 7:30 p.m.

Both a memoir and an investigation, Rieff's tribute to his mother--writer Susan Sontag--explores her final battle with cancer and looks at the state of medical science and leading cancer physicians who combine treating patients with pursuing the cutting edge of research.

Kepler's is continuing to book many more exciting programs. Please visit www.keplers.com for frequent updates.

January book club meetings at Kepler's

Kepler's Book Groups are free and open to the public.

Speculative Fiction Book Club

Sunday, January 6, 6:00 p.m.

Moderated by Lisa Rose

The Steerswoman's Roadby Rosemary Kirstein

Spanish Book Club

Monday, January 7, 7:00 p.m.

Moderated by Joan Molitoris (conducted in Spanish)

Travesuras de la niña malaby Mario Vargas Llosa

Fiction Book Club

Monday, January 14, 7:00 p.m.

Moderated by Molly McCall

Winter's Taleby Mark Helprin

For an up-to-date event list and calendar, please visit our Programs and Events page at www.keplers.com.   

Kepler's Books
1010 El Camino Real
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650-324-4321