Did you know that Cornell has an online book club? Check it out!<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For more titles by Big Red authors, peruse our previous round-ups<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you published a book you’d like to submit? Scroll down for details!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomas Seeley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kirkus<\/em> calls this nonfiction book<\/a>\u2014subtitled 20 Mysteries of Honey Bee Behavior Solved<\/em>\u2014\u201cfascinating both for its insights about nature and as a portrait of the scientist at work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seeley, the Horace White Professor in Biology Emeritus, is a longtime Cornell faculty member<\/a> in neurobiology and behavior whose previous books include Honeybee Democracy<\/em> and The Wisdom of the Hive<\/em>. In his latest title<\/a>, he explores a variety of intriguing aspects of honeybee life, from an apiculturist\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Says the publisher, Princeton University Press: \u201cIn this book, he weaves illuminating personal stories with the latest science, explaining such mysteries as how worker bees function as scouts to choose a home site for their colony, furnish their home with beeswax combs, and stock it with brood and food while keeping tens of thousands of colony inhabitants warm and defended from intruders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ted Leighton \u201970, PhD \u201984<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Leighton\u2019s second novel<\/a>, published by a small press in Canada, is a sequel to his debut, A Ring of Justice<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Set in western Nova Scotia, it continues the dramatic arc of scientist Rick Robichaud, who deprioritized his own promising career to facilitate his wife\u2019s dream of practicing veterinary medicine in a rural area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plot is catalyzed by the discovery of new construction on a remote part of the Bay of Fundy coast. <\/p>\n<\/div> It eventually comprises environmental threats, piracy, stolen plutonium, and more\u2014as Rick balances his investigations with caregiving for his infant daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n A theatre arts major as an undergrad, Leighton<\/a> is a retired veterinary pathologist who holds a doctorate from the Vet College as well as a DVM from the University of Saskatchewan, where he\u2019s a professor emeritus. His work in clinical pathology and wildlife disease earned him the Order of Canada, one of the nation\u2019s highest civilian honors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leerom Medovoi \u201986<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Medovoi, who was a College Scholar in Arts & Sciences, is an English professor<\/a> at the University of Arizona, where he\u2019s the founding chair of a graduate program in social, cultural, and critical theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His third book<\/a>, published by Duke University Press and subtitled Souls, Bodies, and the History of Racial Power<\/em>, delves into the roots of contemporary forms of populist racism\u2014exploring how religion and racial animus combine to form Islamophobia, antisemitism, and other types of xenophobic hatred that can be wielded for political advantage.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBringing the Muslim and the Jew together as twin racial figures reminds us that neither is the unique target of this game of power that is premised on racial invisibility,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is not only that the very idea of antisemitism originally served to conjoin Jew and Muslim together into a unitary threat \u2026 but also that at certain historical moments other populations have also been singled out for the invisible danger posed by their inward commitments to religious theologies or political ideologies\u2014Catholics, communists, or anarchists\u2014or even to their perverse inner desires\u2014miscegenators, gays, queers, trans people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brett Blumenthal \u201995, MBA \u201904 & David Wax, MBA \u201904<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The married couple, who own an online store<\/a> that sells art prints, collaborated on this children\u2019s book<\/a> featuring text by Wax and illustrations by Blumenthal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a follow-up to their first book, 2022\u2019s I Wish for You<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div> <\/p>\n\n\n\n In both, inspirational verse accompanies heartwarming images of parent-child animal pairs\u2014from whales to polar bears to chameleons. One spread, for instance, depicts two sloths on a tree branch, with the lines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI dream for you to take your time \/ to slow your life \u2026 enjoy the climb. \/ Try not to rush along the way, \/ you\u2019ll miss the beauty of each day. \/ Embrace the world, clear your mind \/ and inner peace is what you\u2019ll find<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Marina Welker<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCausing harm and death when used as intended, the cigarette is no ordinary commodity,\u201d the anthropology professor<\/a> writes. \u201cThe kretek, in turn, is no ordinary cigarette.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In her nonfiction book<\/a> from University of California Press\u2014which is also available for free<\/a> in open-access form\u2014Welker explores the role that smoking and the tobacco industry play in Indonesian society, and the harm they cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As she explains, two-thirds of Indonesian men smoke, while just 5% of women there do.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The nation has more than 250,000 tobacco-related deaths annually. And 95% of the tobacco sales in the country consist of kretek, a type of clove-laced cigarette that has become a deeply ingrained part of the culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnyone who has been to Indonesia will be familiar with the smell of clove cigarettes, which is different from \u2018white cigarette\u2019 smoke because it has all this spice in it, like incense,\u201d Welker told the Cornell Chronicle<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe smoke itself is heavier, the way it hangs in the air, which can become very saturated with cigarette smoke. When tobacco control groups measure the air quality at indoor and outdoor events, they find that it\u2019s quite toxic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Susan Stevens Gebo \u201985<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Gebo\u2019s latest novel<\/a> (written under her pen name, S.M. Stevens) follows the dramatic ups and downs of a group of six friends with intertwined lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Its protagonist, Charley, is the 29-year-old manager of an independent bookstore, above which she lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\u2019s mourning the deaths of her parents and grandparents when she meets a man who brings her out of her shell and draws her into his social circle\u2014which both sparks joy and leads to complications.<\/p>\n<\/div> \u201cThe new friendships bring back-to-back betrayals that threaten the bookstore\u2014Charley\u2019s haven\u2014and propel her into a dangerous depression,\u201d says the publisher\u2019s description. \u201cCan her friends save the store? And Charley?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gebo, who majored in English on the Hill, previously penned<\/a> the middle-grade novel Shannon\u2019s Odyssey\u2014<\/em>about a girl who can communicate with animals\u2014among other works of fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To submit your book for consideration, email cornellians@cornell.edu<\/a>. Please note that to be included in our listings of new titles, books must be recently published by a conventional publisher\u2014not self published, pay-to-publish, publish on demand, or similar\u2014and be of interest to a general audience. Books not featured will be forwarded to Class Notes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Published January 23, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n This month\u2019s featured titles include a work of nonfiction about honeybees, a kids\u2019 picture book, and a novel set in rural Nova Scotia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":10397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-46600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/01\/piping-hot-bees-A.jpg\")
<\/figure>Piping Hot Bees & Boisterous Buzz-Runners<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nKnowers and Lovers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/01\/Knowers-and-Lovers-A.jpg\")
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<\/figure>The Inner Life of Race<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nI Dream for You<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/01\/I-dream-for-you-A.jpg\")
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\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/01\/kretek-capitalism-A.jpg\")
<\/figure>Kretek Capitalism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nBeautiful & Terrible Things<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/01\/Beautiful-and-Terrible-Things-A.jpg\")
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