New Nonfiction: Friday, October 17

If you frequently read fiction books, you might want to consider nonfiction for a change of pace. The library is constantly receiving new nonfiction and biography books, including the items below. Why not stop by and check out a book, CD, movie, or other material that you find interesting? We will continue to offer “Grab and Go” services for those who prefer to place their books on hold online and then pick them up on the shelves by the circulation desk.

Here are a few of the new nonfiction books that have arrived at the library recently. We invite you to check them out!

If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All

In 2023, hundreds of AI luminaries signed an open letter warning that artificial intelligence poses a serious risk of human extinction. Since then, the AI race has only intensified. Companies and countries are rushing to build machines that will be smarter than any person. And the world is devastatingly unprepared for what would come next. How could a machine superintelligence wipe out our entire species? Why would it want to? Would it want anything at all? In this urgent book, Yudkowsky and Soares walk through the theory and the evidence, present one possible extinction scenario, and explain what it would take for humanity to survive. The world is racing to build something truly new under the sun.

The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz: A Story of Survival

In 1943, German SS officers in charge of Auschwitz-Birkenau ordered that an orchestra be formed among the female prisoners. Almost fifty women and girls were drafted into a band that would play marching music to other inmates, forced laborers who left each morning and returned, exhausted and broken, at the end of the day. For almost all of the musicians chosen to take part, being in the orchestra saved their lives. But at what cost? From Alma Rosé, the orchestra’s main conductor, niece of Gustav Mahler and a formidable pre-war celebrity violinist, to Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, its teenage cellist and last surviving member, Sebba draws on meticulous archival research and exclusive first-hand accounts to tell the full and astonishing story of the orchestra, its members, and the response of other prisoners for the first time.

To the Stars: The Story of NASA

From novel technology to international collaboration to scientific research, NASA has become a global leader in space exploration. It even enabled people to walk on the moon for the first time. But how did NASA get here? What has the agency accomplished along the way? Award-winning science author Ron Miller explains NASA’s rich history through a curious, detailed exploration of its successes and failures. Discover the full story of how NASA came to be and learn about its many accomplishments and the scientists and technology behind them. Then look to the future through NASA’s Artemis program and their next big goal of sending astronauts to Mars—if they can find the funding.