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The Way We Will be, 50 Years from Today, 60 of the World's Greatest Minds Share Their Vision of the Next Half Century, Mike Wallace -

The world is an unknown - which is why the future and the unknown absolutely fascinate us. Veteran television journalist Mike Wallace asked the question, "What will life be like 50 years from now?" Sixty of the world's greatest minds answered and here offer fascinating glimpses into the cultural, scientific, political, and spiritual mood of the times.

"Capital flows and economic growth will be less concentrated in the West. China and India will likely be peer competitors, if not outright world economic leaders."

"Global food and feed demand in 2050 is likely to increase 75 percent over today, and this figure could be much higher, if large quantities of food and feed crops are diverted to make ethanol and other biofuels."

"Soldiers will be able to climb inside bullet-resistant suits that monitor their body functions."

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"Issues of bioethics will make the current stem cell, abortion, and evolution debates look mild."

"Chinese will be spoken in boardrooms and intercontinental hotels and will become the language of the Internet for tens of millions."

When you ask some of the smartest, most imaginative people on the planet what the world will be like in 50 years, the answers you get are as unexpected as they are visionary. Edited and with an introduction by Mike Wallace, this book provides an imaginative and thought provoking look into our collective soul and critical issues that underlie our hopes, prayers, fears, and dreams for life in the 21st century.

And, The Prince of Frogtown, Rick Bragg -

In this final volume of the beloved American saga that began with Over But The Sharin' and continued with Ava's Man, Rick Bragg closes his circle of family stories with an unforgettable tale about fathers and sons inspired by his own relationship with his 10-year-old stepson.

He learns, right from the start that a man who chases a woman with a child is like a dog who chases a car and wins. He discovers that he is unsuited to fatherhood, unsuited to fathering this boy in particular, a boy who does not know how to throw a punch and doesn't need to: a boy accustomed to love and affection rather than violence and neglect; in short, a boy wholly unlike the child Rick once was, and who longs for a relationship with Rick that Rick hasn't the first inkling of how to embark on. With the weight of this new boy tugging at his clothes, Rick sets out to understand his father, his son, and himself.

The Prince of Frogtown documents a mesmerizing journey back in time to the lush Alabama landscape of Rick's youth, to Jacksonville's 100-year-old mill, the town's blight and starvation; and to a troubled, charismatic hustler coming of age in its shadow. Rick's father, a man bound to bring harm even to those he truly loves. And the book documents the unexpected corollary to it, the marvelous journey of Rick's later life; a journey into fatherhood, and toward a child for whom he comes to feel a devotion that staggers him. With candor, insight, tremendous humor, and the remarkable gift for descriptive storytelling on which he made his name, Rick Bragg delivers a brilliant and moving rumination on the lives of boys and men, a poignant reflection on what it means to be a father and a son.

- Unforgettable!

And, The Secret Pulse of Time, Making Sense of Life's Scarcest Commodity, Stefan Klein -

Have you ever fantasized about having more time, now, this minute to accomplish everything you need and want to get done today? Or wondered why time flies when you are thoroughly engrossed in something? Or why minutes pass so slowly when you are standing in line at the store or airport, or on hold waiting for a customer service rep to answer your call? Or how, simply, to find more time to relax and unwind?

Now, with The Secret Pulse of Time, already a long standing bestseller in Germany, internationally best selling and award winning science writer Stefan Klein has crafted what amounts to "operating instructions" for time. "We are all taking part in a giant experiment in dealing with time," Klein writes, and his aim with this book is to help us each to understand "the degree to which our experience of time hinges on our outlook on life."

Popular science at its best, awakening us to and empowering us with the idea that time is far more at our disposal than we have ever realized.

See you at Rylander!