Sam Recommends
Sam had a varied carrer as a collegiate and independent school faculty member and administrator, retiring from University of Maryland University College as Adjunct Full Professor and Academic Director of Humanities. Along the way, Sam spent seven years with a small marketing communications agency and ran his own college placement consulting practice. He has been a course leader and administrator with two adult learning programs in Maryland and, since 2016, with S.A.G.E. in Hudson and more recently has taught in Baldwin-Wallace East’s Institute for Learning in Retirement. In his free time, Sam likes playing with his dog, Nelson. At The Learned Owl, Sam is one of our beloved booksellers and handles our out of print orders.
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In this witty, incisive guide to critical thinking the author provides you with the tools to allow you to question beliefs and assumptions held by those who claim to know what they’re talking about. These days there are many people whom we need to question: politicians, lawyers, doctors, teachers, clergy members, bankers, car salesmen, and your boss.
Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction
Winner of the Gotham Book Prize
One of Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of the Year"
Oprah's Book Club Pick
Named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly and TIME Magazine
A Washington Post Notable Novel
"'Coming of age isn’t just for kids.' All too true and Straub introduces us to a quirky, very human, very likeable family who all are coming of age, even at their different ages. With subtle humor and great love for her characters, Straub shows them how wrong they are to think they are done growing up. This is a warm, gentle portrait of people it is hard not to like, even as they display all of their flaws and quirks."
-Sam
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"If you ever have been interested in what our presidents really were like, this is a good way to find out. Although the focus of the book is presidential autobiographies – a genre that has become part and parcel of running for office – Fehrman illuminates much of their personalities and their real motives in writing about themselves. This is an extremely accessible history of some of the men who have been president and, by providing so much context, Fehrman also fills in some fascinating parts of American history most of us never even thought about. I intend to recommend it every chance I get."
-Sam
Instant New York Times Bestseller
One of Fall 2019's Best Books (People, EW, Lithub, Vox, Washington Post, and more)
A young boy is haunted by a voice in his head in this acclaimed epic of literary horror from the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
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“Intellectually stimulating and viscerally exciting, The Darwin Affair is breathtaking from start to stop.” —The Wall Street Journal
Get ready for one of the most inventive and entertaining novels of 2019—an edge-of-your-seat Victorian-era thriller, where the controversial publication On the Origin of Species sets off a string o
A deluxe hardcover edition of the world’s greatest fantasy classic—part of Penguin Galaxy, a collectible series of six sci-fi/fantasy classics, featuring a series introduction by Neil Gaiman
Winner of the AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books | 50 Covers competition
This fiftieth-anniversary edition commemorates Joseph Heller’s masterpiece with a new introduction; critical essays and reviews by Norman Mailer, Alfred Kazin, Anthony Burgess, and others; rare papers and photos; and much more.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.
Now a Hulu limited series starri
For a year, the murder of Mrs. Yvonne Harrison at her home in Oxfordshire had baffled the Thames Valley CID. The manner of her death--her naked handcuffed body left lying in bed--matched her reputation as a women of adventuresome sexual tastes. The case seemed perfect for Inspector Morse.
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The great Dorothy L. Sayers is considered by many to be the premier detective novelist of the Golden Age, and her dashing sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey, is one of mystery fiction’s most enduring and endearing protagonists. In Clouds of Witness, the fiancé of Lord Peter's sister, Mary, is found dead outside the conservatory of the Wimsey family's shooting lodge in Yorkshire.
Detective-story master Dashiell Hammett gives us yet another unforgettable read in Red Harvest: When the last honest citizen of Poisonville was murdered, the Continental Op stayed on to punish the guilty--even if that meant taking on an entire town. Red Harvest is more than a superb crime novel: it is a classic exploration of corruption and violence in the American grain.
The Pulitzer Prize–winning American classic of the American West that follows two aging Texas Rangers embarking on one last adventure.
“McMurtry is an alchemist who converts the basest materials to gold.” — New York Times Book Review
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham reveals how the Founding Fathers viewed faith—and how they ultimately created a nation in which belief in God is a matter of choice.
A New York Times Bestseller
A timely collection of speeches by David McCullough, the most honored historian in the United States—winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among many others—that reminds us of fundamental American principles.
“Insightful and inspirational, The American Spir
#1 New York Times Bestseller
From the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitania
In this Hugo Award–winning alternative history classic??—??the basis for the Amazon Original series??—??the United States lost World War II and was subsequently divided between the Germans in the East and the Japanese in the West.
It’s America in 1962. Slavery is legal once again. The few Jews who still survive hide under assumed names.
(This book cannot be returned.)
How can we know that God exists? Is it possible to find proof of religion's most significant issues? Can we presume that the orderliness of the universe offers evidence of a purposeful creator? David Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion explores these perennial questions in a thought-provoking and highly readable style.
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Collecting year three of the Bloom County relaunch begun in 2015! The stakes are higher, the punchlines are sharper, and the laughter is more desperate!
Maurice Sendak's Caldecott Medal-winning picture book has become one of the most highly acclaimed and best-loved children's books of all time. A must for every child's bookshelf.
Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
New York Times best-selling author of ten genre-bending novels Jonathan Lethem helms this collection of the year’s best mystery short fiction.
For Jonathan Lethem, “crime stories are deep species gossip.” He writes in his introduction that “they’re fundamentally stories of power, of its exercise, both spontaneous and conspirat
Sustained by a deep religious faith, Jason Harrow has built a stable family and become a pillar of principle and patriotism in the Midwest. Then the phone rings, and his past is on the other end of the line. A woman with whom he once shared a life of violence and desire claims her daughter is missing—and Jason is the one man who can find her.
From the New York Times bestselling author of You Should Have Known and Admission, a twisty new novel about a college president, a baffling student protest, and some of the most hot-button issues on today's college campuses.
In June of 1940, when Paris fell to the Nazis, Hitler spent a total of three hours in the City of Light—abruptly leaving, never to return. To this day, no one knows why.
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AN INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
“Wholly original. Scarily clever. Completely mesmerizing. You will never look at family road trips the same way again.”—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake delivers an intimate chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the Blitz—an inspiring portrait of courage and leadership in a time of unprecedented crisis
J.T. Ellison's pulse-pounding new psychological thriller examines the tenuous bonds of friendship, the power of lies and the desperate lengths people will go to in order to protect their secrets.
Goode girls don't lie...
Look for Dan Abrams and David Fisher's new book, Kennedy's Avenger: Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby.
*NOW A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*
"An expert, extremely detailed account of John Adams' finest hour."--Kirkus Reviews
“Stony the Road presents a bracing alternative to Trump-era white nationalism. . . . In our current politics we recognize African-American history—the spot under our country’s rug where the terrorism and injustices of white supremacy are habitually swept.
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
PARADE MAGAZINE – ONE OF FALL'S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS
AARP'S MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF FALL
CRIMEREADS – ONE OF THE BEST TRADITIONAL MYSTERIES OF THE YEAR
GLOBE AND MAIL - TOP 100 BOOKS OF THE YEAR
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR - ONE OF THE BEST NOVELS OF THE YEAR
KIRKUS REVIEWS - ONE OF THE BEST MYSTERIES/THRILLERS OF THE YEAR
