The On The Bookshelf Podcast

Jeff Deaver is back with a new Colter Shaw Thriller (plus sister Dorion!)

  The New York Times bestselling master of suspense, Jeffery Deaver, returns to his beloved series, adapted for TV in CBS's Tracker, starring Justin Hartley. Reward seeker Colter Shaw races against the clock in SOUTH OF NOWHERE (G.P. Putnam's Son's; On-Sale: May 6, 2025), to save a flooding town from a full-fledged disaster, where the culprit lurks in the plain sight.

 When a levee collapses in Hinowah, a small town in Northern California, Colter Shaw is brought on by his sister, Dorion, a disaster response specialist, to help locate a family swept away by the raging water, with mere hours to survive. But after a surprise attack along the river obstructs Colter's urgent search, the siblings are forced to consider a new reality: Is the levee at risk of failing from natural causes, or is someone sabotaging it?

 Colter and Dorion must race against a ticking clock to uncover the truth and save the citizens before the village washes out completely, destroying everything and everyone in its path.

 Fans of the hit CBS show Tracker and Deaver fans alike will thrill to a fifth Shaw adventure and SOUTH OF NOWHERE will not disappoint.

Jeffery Deaver is the #1 international bestselling author of more than forty novels, three collections of short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. His first novel featuring Lincoln Rhyme, The Bone Collector, was made into a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. He's received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world, including Novel of the Year by the International Thriller Writers and the Steel Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association in the United Kingdom. In 2014, he was the recipient of three lifetime achievement awards. A former journalist, folk singer, and attorney, he was born outside of Chicago and has a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri and a law degree from Fordham University. His character Colter Shaw is the basis for the hit CBS-TV series TRACKER starring Justin Hartley as Shaw.

 

Tony-winning Producer Jeff Seller on his life as a "Theater Kid"

 

THEATER KID (Simon & Schuster) is a coming-of-age tale from one of the most successful American producers of our time, Jeffrey Seller, who is the only producer to have mounted two Pulitzer Prize-winning musicals-Hamilton and Rent. Before he was producing the musical hits of our generation, Jeffrey was just a kid coming to terms with his adoption, trying to understand his sexuality, and determined to escape his dysfunctional household in a poor neighborhood just outside Detroit. We see him find his voice through musical theater and move to New York, where he is determined to shed his past and make a name for himself on Broadway. But moving to the big city is never easy-especially not at the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis-and Jeffrey learns to survive and thrive in the colorful and cutthroat world of commercial theatre.

 From his early days as an office assistant, to meeting Jonathan Larson and experiencing the triumph and tragedy of Rent, to working with Lin-Manuel Miranda on In the Heights and Hamilton, Jeffrey completely pulls back the curtain on the joyous and gut-wrenching process of making new musicals, finding new audiences, and winning a Tony Award-all the while finding himself. Told with Jeffrey's candid and captivating voice, THEATER KID is a gripping memoir about fighting through a hardscrabble childhood to make art on one's own terms, chasing a dream against many odds, and finding acceptance and community.

 

Jeffrey Seller is one of the most successful American producers of our time. He produced the Tony Award-winning musicals Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights, and Hamilton. His shows have garnered twenty-two Tony Awards, including four for Best Musical, and his Broadway productions and tours have grossed over $4.6 billion and reached more than 43 million attendees. Jeffrey is the only producer to have mounted two Pulitzer Prize-winning musicals-Hamilton and Rent. He also revolutionized theater accessibility with the $20 ticket lottery for Rent, making theater affordable for all.

 

Steve Goreham shows why "Renewable Energy" is Unreliable and Wasteful

The Climate apocalypse is manufactured. CO2 is not a poison. Electrical energy and gas-powered vehicles have dramatically improved life in the developed world. Renewable generation cannot create enough energy consistently to meet the enormous demand, made even more so by computer technology. Hurricanes are NOT getting more dangerous; humanity cannot change the climate (and the planet does its own changing every 1000 years or so); wildfires aren't caused by global warming; the Arctic ice isn't melting, the oceans are rising, and nothing Al Gore Jr said or (the worst prophet ever) Paul Ehrlich said ever came true. So why waste trillions of dollars on wasteful and environmentally-destructive inventions that could be used to raise people out of poverty? 

Steve Goreham is Executive Director of the Climate Science Coalition of America and author of four books on energy, climate change, and sustainable development, with over 100,000 copies in print.  Steve’s latest book is Green Breakdown: The Coming Renewable Energy Failure.

 

Brian Boone on the 37th Edition of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader

Uncle John’s Action-Packed Bathroom Reader--37^th Edition

Whether he’s a fun dad, wise dad, fair dad, or strong dad, he’s your dad and Father’s Day appreciation feels good.

With more than 16 million books in print since 1988, Uncle John’s Action-Packed Bathroom Reader will take longtime fans and new readers alike on a whirlwind world tour with stories that appeal to all sorts of dads-exploring the realms of history, sports, science and pop culture – with stories on the fastest pro football TD, to basketball’s first player to shatter an NBA backboard and the grossest tennis story ever!

This 37^th annual collection of entertaining and informative articles includes short reads for a quick trip to the throne room as well as longer page-turners for extended visits. Also included are plenty of amusing lists, factoids, quotes, and quizzes that will fill heads with all sorts of odd trivia that dad can use to amaze friends gathered around the barbeque grill! With stories like - The Funny Craft Beer Name Quiz. Which asks which funny beer names are real? Moose Drool, Barbarian Streisand, Tactical Nuclear Penguin, or Smooth Hoperator? (They all are!)

UNCLE JOHN’S ACTION-PACKED BATHROOM READER has lots of stories and funny dad jokes, along with some challenges, like the quiz “What’s The Difference Between” where you examine similar but different words, like “dirt and soil”, “buffalo and bison”.

 

Annapolis History Prof Abby Mullen on the 1st Barbary War

"To Fix a National Character:The United States in the First Barbary War, 1800–1805" Abigail G. Mullen (John Hopkins Press)

 

A new history of the First Barbary War, a conflict that helped plant the seeds for the United States' ascent to a global superpower.

After the American Revolution, maritime traders of the United States lost the protection of Britain's navy, leading privateers from the Barbary States—Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and the Sultanate of Morocco—to prey on American shipping in the Mediterranean, kidnapping and enslaving American sailors. While most European countries made treaties to circumvent this predation, this option was fiscally untenable for the young nation, and on May 14, 1801, Tripoli declared war on the United States.

In To Fix a National Character, Abigail G. Mullen argues that the First Barbary War represented much more than the military defeat of an irritating minor power. The United States sought a much more ambitious goal: entrance to the Mediterranean community, as well as respect and recognition as an equal member of the European Atlantic World. Without land bases in the region, good relations with European powers were critical to the United States' success in the war. And because the federal government was barely involved in the distant conflict, this diplomacy fell to a series of consuls and commodores whose goals, as well as diplomatic skills, varied greatly.

Drawing on naval records, consular documents, and personal correspondences, Mullen focuses on the early years of the war, when Americans began to build relationships with their Mediterranean counterparts. This nuanced political and diplomatic history demonstrates that these connections represented the turning point of the war, rather than any individual battles. Though the war officially ended in 1805, whether the United States truly "won" the war is debatable: European nations continued to regard the United States as a lesser nation, and the Barbary states continued their demands for at least another decade.