Pennyworth Books

The very first Agatha Christie book I ever read had languished in ‘the front room’ for ages before I took any notice of it. As this room was kept in a state of immaculate and chilly readiness for special occasions such as Christmas, I rarely ventured in, but on that particular day I had just finished my latest Famous Five book and was desperate for something else to read. I was eleven years old at the time and possessed of an unquenchable thirst for reading.

The glass-fronted bookcase that housed my parents’ books was a last resort. How could I have known that it contained a slim volume that bore within its pages the seeds of an incurable addiction? ‘Three Act Tragedy – with a murder in each act’ proclaimed the blurb.’

I selected it without any great expectation of enjoyment, read it within two days and was irrevocably hooked.

Since then I…

Epigenetics is a new branch of science that studies how genes are controlled by influences from outside the cell. Scientists are discovering more details about how DNA functions and precisely what role our genes play in the function and structure of our bodies. New findings are demonstrating how the protein sheath surrounding our DNA can be “unwrapped”, and different genes triggered or turned off, by influences ranging from emotional states to environmental conditions.

This new research flies in the face of our previous understanding of genetics as a predetermined blueprint for our health and physical condition over which we had no control. Far from the media proclaimed fatalism of a “gene for” everything from dyslexia to cancer, leading edge scientists are discovering that genes are more potential energy than directive reality.

Dawson Church’s book surveys the latest findings in the field of epigenetics. He explains clearly these potentially complex details of our…

Today, Tyler R. Tichelaar of Reader Views is pleased to be joined by Lisa Maria Lanno, who is here to discuss her new children’s book “The Secret Cave,” iUniverse (2006), ISBN 9780595405855. We are also joined today by Brianne Plach, our ten-year old reviewer of “The Secret Cave” who will ask Lisa a few questions to begin.

Lisa Maria Lanno was born in 1954 in Boston, MA, an only child of first generation Italian-Americans. She was married in 1976 to her late husband, Frank, and they had three children, Genevieve, Joe, and Valerie, born in Hawaii, where the family resided for 5 years. She has one grandson, Jedai, and she has three large dogs who live with her, along with Joe, Valerie, and two cats.

Lisa is trained in motivational speaking and graphology (handwriting analysis). She loves to cook, enjoys her family and has a passion for animals. She makes homemade, healthy…