In 1967 the eastern section of Nigeria, dominated by a minority tribe, attempted to form a separate country: Biafra . The civil war which followed killed tens of thousands of people. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie follows the lives of well-to-do twin sisters and their poor house-boy through the disaster and famine which followed in Half of a Yellow Sun.
Published by Knopf Canada.
Winner of the 2002 Booker Prize, "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel is an extraordinary book. It tells the story of a young boy, lost in the south Pacific in a life-boat accompanied by a Royal Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. After that the story gets a bit strange!
Seth Lloyd makes very, very, very small computers. In fact his computers are smaller than many molecules. He talks about quantum computing in his surprisingly entertaining new book "Programming the Universe".
When Michael Ross, from Victoria B.C., left the Canadian Armed Forces to go backpacking through Europe, he had no idea it would lead to being a spy for Israel's Intelligence Agency. He tells his story in "The Volunteer: A Canadian's Secret Life in the Mossad"
Bret "The Hitman" Hart was a World Wrestling Federation champion in and out of the ring. Beyond his remarkable physical skills he also spoke out on behalf of his wrestling brothers and sisters. His new book "Hitman" is a warts-and-all look at his life, his father Stu the wrestling teacher, his profession and the colourful characters of wrestling.
Young adult novelist William Bell has won the Mr. Christie's Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, and the Canadian Librarians' Association Award amongst others. His latest book is "The Blue Helmet".
Best-selling fantasy and speculative-fiction writer Terry Brooks is now linking several of his various novel series together in a new trilogy. "Armageddon's Children" is filled with everything you've come to expect from the author of the Shannara series.
In high school you probably studied the novella "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. There is a new biography of the Ukrainian-born ethically Polish writer who wrote some of the greatest works of English literature by John Stape "The Several Lives of Joseph Conrad".
Madhur Jaffrey is an Indian-born actress and cookbook author. Her latest book is much more personal, "Climbing the Mango Trees: a Memoir of a Childhood in India".
When you think Economist, chances are you picture some ivory-tower intellectual desperately out of touch with the real world. That is NOT Tim Harford. He uses his experience on the real world as "The Undercover Economist".
![Michael Ross-The Volunteer:A Canadian\](http://img.youtube.com/vi/uCw7LqZLwLA/2.jpg "Michael Ross-The Volunteer:A Canadian\")
![Terry Brooks-Armageddon\](http://img.youtube.com/vi/wx6PcwbtXlA/2.jpg "Terry Brooks-Armageddon\")
