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  The Brown Bag Lecture Series features best-selling authors from Maine and New England as well as from across the nation and world. Programs are scheduled from noon-1:00 pm in the Rines Auditorium unless otherwise noted. Bring your lunch and enjoy...Coffee, tea, and light refreshments will be provided. 

All programs are free and open to the public, and are fully accessible to people with disabilities.

The 2007-2008 Brown Bag Lecture Series 

is Generously Sponsored by 

 

Special thanks to our Coffee provider

Books on sale at each lecture courtesy of Longfellow Books, who generously donates a portion of the proceeds to the Portland Public Library.  

    Questions about our Brown Bag Lectures or to be added to our weekly calendar e-mail, send us an e-mail!

 

Upcoming guest speakers include:  

June 18, Meg Wolff, Becoming Whole

Meg Wolff of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, is a two-time cancer survivor. She lost a leg to bone cancer at age 33, and had a mastectomy for invasive breast cancer at age 41. After radiation and chemo, she was so close to death that doctors offered no hope. By a life-saving chance, she learned about the macrobiotic diet (based on whole grains, vegetables and beans), and got to work trying it. Many family members and friends considered her pathetic for believing that dramatically altering her diet could save her life ... yet nine years later, at age 50, she is far healthier than most people.

Becoming Whole is a memoir about her journey back to health and happiness that also contains many easy-to-make healthy recipes and a wealth of helpful resources. 

Meg has been working hard to spread the message of the vital link between good nutrition and health. She considers herself living proof of that connection. Meg calls this information the “missing piece of the cancer puzzle” and she hopes more doctors will one day emphasize this link to their patients.   Through her Web site (www.megwolff.com) and blog (www.becoming-whole.com) and a myriad of speaking engagements around the country, Meg has been building a community of people who share an interest in living a healthier life.  

June 25 , Marc Songini, The Lost Fleet: A Yankee Whaler’s Struggle Against the Confederate Navy and Arctic Disaster --CANCELLED--STAY TUNED FOR RESCHEDULED DATE!

It’s the mid-19th century and the American whaling fleet, the wonder and envy of the maritime nations of the world, is struck by one hammer blow after another. Yankee whalers are contending with icebergs, storms, rogue whales, sharks, hostile natives, and disease. Now conditions are getting even worse, and the chances become ever slimmer a whaling master and his crew will return from a voyage safe and profitable. The scarcity of whales, the increasing dangers of going further into the Arctic, and the roving Confederate privateers are making this already difficult profession ever riskier. Many whalers give up the life—but some carry on the vocation.  One such man is a tall captain from Wethersfield, Connecticut, Thomas William Williams. Not only does he go out on voyage after voyage, but he even takes on board with him his tiny wife, Eliza, and his infant son and daughter. The Lost Fleet thrilling narrative recounts Williams' remarkable career, including a daring escape from the Confederate cruiser Alabama and a daring rescue and salvage of lost ships off Alaska's coast. A family saga, a true narrative of adventure and death on the high seas and a detailed and well-researched look at the demise of Yankee whaling–Songini has crafted an historical masterpiece.  

Marc Songini is a Boston-area journalist whose work has appeared in the Boston Book Review, the Boston Herald, and the Boston Globe.  The Lost Fleet is his fourth book, and third book on New England history. He has lived in the greater Boston area for most of his life.

July 16, Philip Shelton and Dr. Amy Wood, authors of World Voyagers: The True Story of a Veterinarian, A Renaissance Man, and Stewart the Cat

July 23, Nicholson Baker, author of Human Smoke

July 30, Linda Greenlaw, author of Fisherman's Bend

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5 Monument Square, Portland Maine 04101    207 871-1700    email: reference@portland.lib.me.us