“Connections” in life are critical to many. That concept is critical to several selections this week. We learn the story of how an autistic, nonverbal boy began communicating after making a connection with his service dog. A nationally-recognized psychologist explains that those connections — to the point of trust — are an essential element of life. We also learn how the application of “good power” can lead to positive changes to the ones we connect to, and a leading ESPN sports authority will tell us which professional athletes “own” their jersey numbers. Our fiction selection of the week is a spinoff of a wildly popular 32-book series of novels.
“Dark Angel,” by John Sandford (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
John Sandford’s popular “prey” series of novels took on a new life last year with the introduction of protagonist Lucas Davenport’s adopted daughter, Letty Davenport, which launched a whole new series. People at the Department of Homeland Security and the NSA believe that her weapon skills and tough-as-nails attitude are the perfect combination to move her from desk duty to a field assignment. Her first case involves posing as a computer programmer to infiltrate a group of hackers who are wreaking havoc. But while uncovering the group’s next target, Letty and her reluctant partner discover that one of their own may have double-crossed them, placing their lives in danger. (Fiction)
“The Dog That Gave My Brother Words,” by Wendy Hinote Lanier, illustrated by Jieting Chen (End Game Press)
This is the story of a boy and his dog, in this case a service dog that changed the world of a young, nonverbal autistic boy by helping him find his voice. The themes it tackles include:
- Service animals;
- Families with nonverbal children;
- Understanding autism;
- Accessibility and disability;
- Neurodivergence.
The author is a former elementary school teacher turned Texas-based writer and speaker, and holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in speech language pathology and a master’s in elementary education. (Nonfiction)
“Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World,” by Ginni Rometty (Harvard Business Review Press)
Ginni Rometty rose from a challenging childhood when her father left her mother, herself and three siblings when she was 16. She persevered to become the first female CEO of IBM, an icon in the male-dominated tech industry. Her rise from IBM entry-level systems engineer to CEO is based on the belief that how we lead is as important as what we achieve. Rometty combines memoir, leadership lessons, and big ideas on how we can achieve what she calls "good power” to drive meaningful change in positive ways. (Nonfiction)
“Got Your Number: The Greatest Sports Legends and the Numbers They Own,” by Mike Greenberg (Hyperion Avenue)
ESPN personality and New York Times bestselling author Mike Greenberg literally goes through every jersey number from No. 1 through 100 and tells readers which sports legend “owns” that digit and why. Mike Greenberg recounted that the idea for the book was hatched from a discussion of how many Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks wore the No. 12. When the names Roger Staubach, Joe Namath, Terry Bradshaw, Tom Brady and others were mentioned, someone asked which one “owned” the iconic number. “It was as though a little light bulb went off over my head,” he told USA Today.
A few days before his Tuesday, April 4 release, Greenberg tweeted, “The reception for our new book, the first one I’ve ever written about sports, has blown me away. I am as excited…as I’ve ever been for anything.” (Nonfiction)
“Trust: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken,” by Dr. Henry Cloud (Worthy Books)
Whether it’s our job, our marriage, or our interactions with friends, trust is the most important commodity at our disposal. It also determines what newspapers we read and which cable news stations we turn to. We all have stories of people who have betrayed our trust, and according to Genesis 6:6, that can even extend to God. Observing man’s inhumanity to man, the Holy Bible states that “And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” So why do we even make ourselves vulnerable to others if the possibility of being betrayed exists in the end? “Because if we don’t, if we can’t trust, we’ll have no life,”
Cloud says. When we board a commercial airliner for example, we trust that the ground crew properly maintained the aircraft and gave it the correct fuel. We trust that the pilot knows what he’s doing and that the food and drink we’re served hasn’t been tainted. “Because trust is life. Because trust is the fuel of life.”
(Nonfiction)
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.