Nonfiction: January 2008 Archives

Anthropologist David Givens has decoded the body language of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein for the Department of Defense and now he's written a book to help the average person do the same thing.

In Crime Signals: How to Spot a Criminal Before You Become a Victim (St. Martin's, 210 pages, $24.95), Givens gives real-life examples of crimes and survival.

The book title and the cute little boy playing chess on the cover are what drew me to Nerds: Who Are They and Why We Need More of Them (Tarcher/Penguin, 253 pages, $24.95) by David Anderegg.

In his attempt to change our thinking about long-standing stereotypes that start affecting our children and younger and younger ages, Anderegg, a psychology professor and child psychologist, dissects the terms "nerd" and "geek" — a uniquely American stereotype, by the way — in a way that is engaging and understandable. Just check out some of the chapter titles...