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Christmas in Topanga, 1942 
The Coastwatchers, TNT’s original fiction series set in Malibu during WWII, concludes in this issue. Our story began in December, 1941, just after the United States entered WWII, and ends on Christmas, 1942. Coastwatchers focuses on the experiences of...
New Books: Local Authors / Local Interest 
This is TNT’s annual holiday season round up of new books by local authors and new books on subjects of interest to our local community. For more local books published earlier this year, check out our summer reads list...
Mushroom Madness 
Fungi can cure or kill, nourish life, and also decompose it back into soil. Fossil evidence for fungi is limited, but the ability to analyze molecular data has led to revelations about the evolution of this extraordinary family of...
Fool’s Gold: The Myth of Tiburcio Vasquez 
“And still of a winter’s night, they say,  when the wind is in the trees, When the moon is a ghostly galleon  tossed upon cloudy seas,    When the road is a ribbon of moonlight  over the purple moor,    A...
Books & Such

Henrietta Lacks 

Good history illuminates the past, informs the present, and inspires reflection. Case in point: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010) by Rebecca Skloot. In 1988, high school science student Rebecca Skloot learned that Henrietta Lacks, a poor African...
Books & Such

Play Ball! 

I recently revisited one of the finest baseball books of all time: George Will’s Men At Work: The Craft of Baseball (1990). I offer as evidence the book’s ability to stir in me some early baseball-esque memories. When I...
Books & Such

Candice Millard 

Over the past two decades, narrative historian Candice Millard has become one of America’s preeminent storytellers. While fully committed to the grinding work of comprehensive archival research befitting the hard-driven historians of days-gone-by, Millard’s fluid prose and sprightly sense...
Books & Such

Dollar Mania 

The Good-Enough Life by Avram Alpert appears at first glance to be another self-help book; albeit one whose title suggests rather low aspirations. Good-enough equates with mediocrity and who among us wants to live a mediocre life? Closer examination...
Books & Such

Dam II 

There are over 91,000 dams impeding the waterways of the United States. During much of the twentieth century, dams were built in just about every location where a dam could be built. The question, should a dam be built?...
Books & Such

Dam I 

In response to three years of record drought, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has declared a “water shortage emergency” and Governor Gavin Newsom has called upon businesses and residents to reduce water usage by 20-30%. In a...