Releasing the Notes

The Joad family are farmers in Oklahoma during the dust bowl. They are forced to make the trek to California in search for work, only to find the state flooded with other migrant workers. The stresses of the trans-American trip threaten to break the family apart, will their bonds be enough to keep the family together, and will there be enough work to feed them if they do stay together?

In the 1960s LA music scene, a young Daisy Jones is catching the attention of rockstars, and producers, all through the city. One producer has the idea of pairing her up with Billy Dunne to form an unstoppable force in the industry. The music is a hit, but their future as a band may not be as guaranteed.

Told in an interview style, you get all the juicy details from many different angles.

After her whole life falls apart, Cheryl decides that she needs to find herself. What better way than to hike the Pacific Coast Trail? In an impulsive decision, she starts out on the trail of over a thousand miles all by herself. Besides finding snakes, bears, and other hikers, will she be able to find the part of herself she had lost over the years as well?

George and Lennie are migrant workers that have formed a friendship in Depression Era California. They find work on a Salinas ranch, but while they are there, Lennie’s habit of squeezing the things he finds beautiful a little too hard gets him into trouble. After he suffocates one too many beautiful things, George has to decide what the kindest way to help him would really be.

Bunny is the son of an oil magnate, and is given his own oil field as a young boy. As he grows, he finds himself befriending some of the workers, and agreeing with them on the need for fair working conditions. For years, he plays both sides of the argument, arguing for fair worker conditions while profiting from his family’s oil fields. When the differences between magnates and workers come to a head, Bunny has to decide which side he really wants to be on. Will he choose the moral high ground, or the secure future?

Lauren lives in a version of California where climate change has led to almost apocalyptic conditions. When a gang invades her community, Lauren needs to leave and find a better place. While she is travelling with a few friends, Lauren starts preaching a new religion. Many people are unsure about her ideas, but she gains a following, and they travel together to create a zionistic society where they will be safe from the terrors of the outside world.

Benny Imura lives in a post-zombie-apocalypse world, complete with zombie-hunter collectible cards. As Benny turns 15, he has to get an apprenticeship or his rations will be cut, and he finds himself with only one option – working with his older brother Tom, who he believes is the lamest of all zombie hunters out there. As they work together, Tom and Benny find that some of the other hunters have some questionable projects hidden in the woods.

In a near-future dystopia, the Muslim-Americans are shuffled into internment camps through California. Layla and her family are among the interned, and Layla decides she needs to find a group of fellow inmates to start a revolution. With help from her non-interned boyfriend, her new friends, and an unexpected ally, she launches an aggressive freedom campaign, starting with fighting the camp’s Director.

Robert Neville is the last man on earth, the lone survivor of a vampire outbreak. He has set up all the protections to keep him alive, and the vampires less so. When he finds another survivor he brings her into his house and teams up with her. It doesn’t take long for him to realize that she may not be the best companion, and maybe he is better off on his own.

Following the regular day-to-day lives of some commonplace residents in Monterey California, this book highlights how the strength of the person is in the strength of its people. At the same time, it demonstrates how the strength of the person is dependent on the strength of their community. How can both of these contradictory statements be true at the same time?

The Golden State Killer was a threat to the people of Northern California for over a decade. Years later, Michelle becomes obsessed with the unsolved mystery, and pours over the police reports and anything else she can get her hands on. She dedicated her life to find him, and became a major component in his capture. Unfortunately, she died before she could know how successful her life’s work had been.

Ed Catmull is a co-founder of Pixar, and in this case-study on creativity, he shares much of the process that made his company into the animation powerhouse that it is. The rules he has laid out for his workers are simple, yet profound, in their take on management. Catmull really understood that the strength of the team is not in reeling them in, but in freeing them and supporting them.

One of the most recognizable names in the serial killer world is that of Charles Manson. Though Manson usually sent others to commit the actual crimes themselves, the mastermind behind the terror of central California is an interesting mind to read about. Bugliosi was the prosecutor in the Manson case, and this book shares the information he used to build his case against Manson and his “family”, the young people he inspired so much loyalty from. What inspired Manson to become the monster he was?

Hate the title, love the book. This is the story of a Nickelodeon child star and the behind-the-scenes life that got her there. Jenette struggles with a need to please her mother, and her mother has issues with caving to social pressures. Finding success leads Jennette through losing herself, having promised dreams taken from her, trying to fulfill other’s dreams, and eating disorders, leading to the death of her mother and the freedom to finally find herself.

AT&T put together a crack team of brilliant minds to create their research and development team. In the years that the lab was open their job was to come up with technical innovations and see them through to their creation. Some of the most important inventions of the last century are tied to the work accomplished within the doors of Bell labs. There is much we can learn from the processes and procedures that these brilliant minds created.