Benbrook Public Library

""There is the mammal way and there is the bird way." This is one scientist's pithy distinction between mammal brains and bird brains: two ways to make a highly intelligent mind. But the bird way is much more than a unique pattern of brain wiring, and lately, scientists have taken a new look at bird behaviors they have, for years, dismissed as anomalies or mysteries. What they are finding is upending the traditional view of how birds conduct their...

"Vulnerable, tender, acute, these are serious poems, brave poems, exploring with honesty the ambiguous moment between the rapture of youth and the grace of acceptance. A daughter tends to aging parents. A woman struggles with infertility--"What if, instead of carrying / a child, I am supposed to carry grief?"--and a body seized by pain and vertigo as well as ecstasy. A nation convulses: "Every song of this country / has an unsung third stanza, something...

"Jada Pinkett Smith was living what many would view as a fairy-tale. But appearances can be deceiving, and as she felt more and more separated from her sense of self, emotional turmoil took hold. A rollercoaster from the depths of suicidal depression to the heights of self-acceptance and healing, Worthy is a woman's journey to finding herself again. Smith answers question about her childhood, marriage, parenting style, career choices, and the scrutiny...

In the biting, hilarious vein of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life comes Ben Philippe's candid memoir-in-essays, chronicling a lifetime of being the Black friend in predominantly white spaces. From cheating his way out of swim tests to discovering stray family members in unlikely places, he finds the punchline in the serious while acknowledging the blunt truths of existing as a Black man in today's world....

"A legendary record producer-turned-brain scientist explains why you fall in love with music. This Is What It Sounds Like is a journey into the science and soul of music that reveals the secrets of why your favorite songs move you. But it's also a story of a musical trailblazer who began as a humble audio tech in Los Angeles to became Prince's chief engineer for Purple Rain, and then create other No. 1 hits (including Barenaked Ladies' "One Week")...

"A program proven to heal our relationship with food and our bodies from New York Times bestselling author of Unwinding Anxiety. Anyone who struggles with overeating knows what it's like to feel out of control-and to feel the guilt attached to it. While ordinary anxiety feels like something that happens to us, the siren song of food cravings feels like something we should be able to control. The result is a toxic cocktail of shame and self-loathing...

"Rich and lively illustrations bring to life a classic song for today's kids and families. In this stunning book, birds soar, bugs burrow, elephants dance, plants grow--the whole world sings in praise of their Creator God. With the lyrics to this well-known classic tune, kids and parents can sing along. Jean Claude's charming illustrations are lush and lively, filling each page with interesting, creative characters and scenes. Every time kids open...

For 90 years "Poetry" has been America's most distinguished magazine of verse. This 90th anniversary anthology may be the most bountiful collection of American poems ever published. It offers a record of poetic achievement as well as some of the vagaries, fads, fashions, and failures of the last 90 years.

"The essential biography of one of music's most influential icons: Lou Reed. As lead singer and songwriter for the Velvet Underground and a renowned solo artist, Lou Reed invented alternative rock. His music, at once a source of transcendent beauty and coruscating noise, violated all definitions of genre while speaking to millions of fans and inspiring generations of musicians. But while his iconic status may be fixed, the man himself was anything...