Bücher von Sue Halpern

For head librarian Kit, her local public library offers what she craves most: peace. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget her problems.That changes when fifteen-year-old, homeschooled Sunny gets arrested for shoplifting a dictionary and is assigned community service at the library for the summer. Bright, curious, and eager to connect with someone other than her hippie parents, Sunny coaxes Kit out of her self-imposed isolation.In this little library that has become the heart of this small town, Kit and Sunny are drawn to each other, and to a cast of other offbeat regulars. As they come to terms with how their lives have unraveled, they also discover how they might knit them together again and finally reclaim their stories.

Behind the Scenes of Cutting-Edge Memory ResearchWhen Sue Halpern decided to emulate the first modern scientist of memory, Hermann Ebbinghaus, who experimented on himself, she had no idea that after a day of radioactive testing, her brain would become so "hot” that leaving through the front door of the lab would trigger the alarm. This was not the first time while researching Can't Remember What I Forgot that Halpern had her head examined, nor would it be the last. Like many of us who have had a relative or friend succumb to memory loss, who are getting older, and who are hearing statistics about our own chances of falling victim to dementia, Halpern wanted to find out what the experts really knew, how close science is to a cure, to treatment, to accurate early diagnosis, and, of course, whether the crossword puzzles, sudokus, and ballroom dancing we've been told to take up can really keep us lucid or if they're just something to do before the inevitable overtakes us.Sharply observed and deeply informed, Can't Remember What I Forgot is a book full of vital information and a solid dose of hope.

Every autumn, the monarch butterflies east of the Rockies migrate from as far north as Canada to Mexico. Memory is not their guide — no one butterfly makes the round trip — but each year somehow find their way to the same fifty acres of forest on the high slopes of Mexico's Neovolcanic Mountains, and then make the return trip in the spring.In Four Wings and a Prayer, Sue Halpern sets off on an adventure to delve into the secrets behind this extraordinary phenomenon. She visits scientists and butterfly lovers across the country, offering a keenly observed portrait of the monarchs' migration and of the people for whom they have become a glorious obsession. Combining science, memoir, and travel writing, Four Wings and a Prayer is an absorbing travelogue and a fascinating meditation on a profound mystery of the natural world.