A new book by Thomas Kida, professor in the School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, should get everyone thinking straight: Don't Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make in Thinking.   From the jacket copy:  “Although our creative problem-solving capacity is what has made humans the successful species we are, our brains are prone to certain kinds of errors that only careful critical thinking can correct.   This enlightening book discusses how to recognize faulty thinking & develop the necessary skills to become a more effective problem solver.”   (2006)

Tracy Kidder, author of, among other books, Mountains Beyond Mountains, Home Town, & House, has a new book, to wit: My Detachment: A Memoir.   It is a war memoir like no other: an unromanticized portrait of a young man coming of age in the controversial war that defined a generation.   In an astonishingly honest, comic, & moving account of his tour of duty in Vietnam, master storyteller Kidder writes for the first time about himself.   (2005; paper 2006)

Arthur Kinney, professor of English at the University of Massachusetts & founding Director of the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance studies, has a new book on Shakespeare, Shakespeare & Cognition: Aristotle’s Legacy & Shakespearean Drama.   Author of, among other books, Shakespeare’s Webs: Networks Of Meaning In Renaissance Drama , Shakespeare by Stages: An Historical Introduction, & A Companion to Renaissance Drama, the new book continues Kinney’s work in Renaissance scholarship by examining the relationship among vision, knowledge & memory in Renaissance models of cognition as seen in Shakespeare’s plays.   Drawing upon a history of cognition that includes Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, & Leonardo da Vinci, as well as contemporary cognitive literary theory, Kinney examines the reception of four iconic objects—crowns, bells, rings, & wills.   (2006)

Jenny Krainski is author of two young adult novels, Deep in the Forest & now, a sequel, The Leader of Nature.   The book highlights & embraces human differences & interests.   It introduces veganism to a group of travelers who previously only knew how to live by hunting.   It emphasizes tolerance & acceptance of others that are different from the “norm,” & other core human values.   These are introduced in a fast–paced, nonjudgmental adventure/fantasy story geared toward a young adult audience with rave reviews from adults & children of all ages. (2006)