Recommended reading - The Bee Book (2016):

The Bee Book

The Wonder of Bees. How to Protect Them. Beekeeping know-how.

Authors: Fergus Chadwick, Steve Alton, Emma Sarah Tennant, Bill Fitzmaurice, Judy Earl.

Published by DK.
Published 2016.

Hardcover.

First Edition.

ISBN-13: 9781465443830

Back cover description:

Bees are vital to the future of the planet, yet they are under threat and in decline.
The Bee Book offers remarkable insights into their world and shows how we can support and enjoy them in our daily lives.
What makes bees such perfect pollinators?
How can we adapt our outdoor spaces to feed and attract the widest variety of bees?
How is honey harvested?
Find answers to these questions and so much more in this beautiful celebration of bees.

On this day in music history - Beyond Dreams: Pathways To Deep Relaxation, by Hennie Bekker (2016):

Beyond Dreams: Pathways To Deep Relaxation

Album by Hennie Bekker,
released July 22, 2016.

Track list:

Self Connect; Floating to Forever; Letting Go; The Calm; Quiescence; Beyond Dreams.

On this day in movie history - Star Trek: Beyond (2016):

Star Trek: Beyond

directed by Justin Lin,

written by Simon Pegg and Doug Jung,

was released in the United States on July 22, 2016.
Music by Michael Giacchino.

Cast:

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Idris Elba, Sofia Boutella, Joe Taslim, Lydia Wilson, Sara Maria Forsberg, Deep Roy, Melissa Roxburgh, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Greg Grunberg, Danny Pudi, Kim Kold, Anita Brown, Dan Payne, Shea Whigham, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Walter Koenig, William Shatner, James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, Jeff Bezos.

On this day in music history - Beautiful Broken, by Heart (2016):

Beautiful Broken

Album by Heart,
released July 8, 2016.

Track list:

Beautiful Broken; Two; Sweet Darlin’; I Jump; Johnny Moon; Heaven; City’s Burning; Down on Me; One Word; Language of Love.

On this day in music history - In The Midst of Stars, by Majestica (2016):

In The Midst of Stars

Album by Majestica / aka Sherry Finzer & Cass Anawaty,
Released June 17, 2016.

Track list:

In the Midst of Stars; Carousel; In Bloom; Close of Day; Lone Mountain; View from the Summit; How Does It Feel; Aurora Australis.

Recommended reading - Mastering Black & White Photography, by John Walmsley (2016):

Mastering Black & White Photography

By John Walmsley.

Published by Ammonite Press.

Published 2016.

ISBN-10: 1781450870

ISBN-13: 9781781450871

Description:

Mastering Black & White Photography is the definitive work on how to shoot black & white images on today's sophisticated digital SLR and compact digital cameras and smart phones.

Jargon-busting text, illustrated with the author's own stunning images, explains the theory behind digital photography, along with a guide to the equipment and software needed to take outstanding images. The book explains the basics of exposure and good composition, file types, manipulating captured images using popular software, and applying special effects (such as split toning, simulating film grain, lith prints and using cyanotypes). A printing chapter discusses outputting and displaying images.

Recommended reading - In Sunlight or In Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper (2016):

In Sunlight or In Shadow:
Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper

Edited by Lawrence Block.

Published 2016.

ISBN: 9781681772455

Description:

A truly unprecedented literary achievement by author and editor Lawrence Block – a newly commissioned anthology of seventeen superbly crafted stories inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper.

"Edward Hopper is surely the greatest American narrative painter. His work bears special resonance for writers and readers, and yet his paintings never tell a story so much as they invite viewers to find for themselves the untold stories within."

So says Lawrence Block, who has invited seventeen outstanding writers to join him in an unprecedented anthology of brand-new stories: In Sunlight or In Shadow. The results are remarkable and range across all genres, wedding literary excellence to storytelling savvy.

Contributors include Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Olen Butler, Michael Connelly, Megan Abbott, Craig Ferguson, Nicholas Christopher, Jill D. Block, Joe R. Lansdale, Justin Scott, Kris Nelscott, Warren Moore, Jonathan Santlofer, Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, and Lawrence Block himself. Even Gail Levin, Hopper’s biographer and compiler of his catalogue raisonée, appears with her own first work of fiction, providing a true account of art theft on a grand scale and told in the voice of the country preacher who perpetrated the crime.

In a beautifully produced anthology as befits such a collection of acclaimed authors, each story is illustrated with a quality full-color reproduction of the painting that inspired it.

On this day in music history - The Modern Romantic, by Laura Sullivan (2016):

The Modern Romantic

Album by Laura Sullivan,

released May 20, 2016.

Track list:

WInds of Magic; Moonlight Romance; Timeless; Come Home; The Most Beautiful Girl in the World; Finding You Finding Me; The Princess Dance; A Tender Obsession; Fairytale Waltz; I Will Remember.

On this day in movie history - The Trust (2016):

The Trust

directed by Alex Brewer and Benjamin Brewer,

written by Adam Hirsch and Benjamin Brewer,

was released in the United States on May 13, 2016.

Music by Reza Safinia.

Cast:

Nicolas Cage, Elijah Wood, Sky Ferreira, Eric Heister, Alexandria Lee, Ethan Suplee, Kenna James, Steven Williams, Carl Windom Carlito, Jerry Lewis, Lisa Mack, Marc D. Donovan, Kevin Weisman, Erica Vanlee, Tommie Vegas, Christie Beran, Jeff Manning, Ronnie Thurmand Jr., Jeff Howard, Keston John, Reagan Pfifer, Ashley Campbell, Joe Palubinsky, Jay Hieron, Vanessa Campbell, Paul Vato, Xin Yi Gan, Jiaming Zhang, Marcus Weiss, James D. Smith Jr., Michael Beal, Andre Body, Tom Bonello, Alex Brewer, Benjamin Brewer, Shawn Wilson, Lisa Gardner, Alexander Garganera, Keith L. Hall, David Hershwitzky, Avo Jabourian, Slim Khezri, Kimya Mallory, R.H. McClurg, Bryan Moore, Jan Paulo Musni, Allyson Newell, Elise Quintana, Abigail Rich, Mark Roman, Jonathan Ruggiero, Mark Sawtelle.

Recommended reading - Star Trek: The Official Guide to Our Universe, by Andrew Fazekas (2016):

Star Trek: The Official Guide to Our Universe

The True Science Behind the Starship Voyages

By Andrew Fazekas.

Foreword by William Shatner.

Published by National Geographic.

Illustrated edition.

Published 2016.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1426216521

ISBN-13: 978-1426216527

Description:

This book reveals the science behind Star Trek’s beloved fictions about the universe, inviting readers to gaze up at the night sky and observe where the Starfleet has gone. Many of the galactic destinations featured in Star Trek over the years – multiple star systems, alien worlds, supernova explosions, emission nebulae, voracious black holes – are scientifically valid, so much so that one can step out and view them in the night sky. In this book astronomy educator Andrew Fazekas, “The Night Sky Guy,” takes you on that journey, starting with specific Star Trek voyages, explaining the science behind them, and guiding you in observing and learning more about the real-universe corollaries of planets and places in the Star Trek universe.

With a foreword from William Shatner and stunningly illustrated with hundreds of full-color images – some artists’ interpretations and some real images generated by the most recent NASA missions – plus stills of favorite Star Trek scenes and characters, Star Trek The Official Guide to Our Universe uses Star Trek to teach astronomy, taking every reader on a voyage of discovery. From Altair to Vega, from red giants to white dwarfs, from our solar system to exoplanets we are only beginning to imagine, the book visits dozens of celestial objects, spotlighting some 20 in careful scientific detail and offering easy-to-follow star-gazing instructions to find them in the night sky.

No warp-driven starship, not even a telescope is required to go on these voyages: Most destinations are bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. For Star Trek fans and budding stargazers who are ready to launch their own space mission, this inventive book blends science and fiction, making learning fun and making Star Trek’s 50th all the more worthy of celebration.

On this day in music history - Songs from a Secret Garden, by Secret Garden (2016):

Songs from a Secret Garden

Album by Secret Garden,

released April 16, 2016.

Track list:

Nocturne; Pastorale; Song From A Secret Garden; Sigma; Papillon; Serenade To Spring; Atlantia; Heartstrings; Adagio; The Rap; Chaconne; Cantoluna; Ode To Simplicity.

On this day in music history - Trialogue, by Sherry Finzer, Darin Mahoney & Will Clipman (2016):

The album Trialogue,

by Sherry Finzer, Darin Mahoney & Will Clipman,

was released on April 15, 2016.

On this day in music history - All The Time, by Csillagköd (2016):

All The Time

Album by Csillagköd,

released April 1, 2016.

Track list:

All Directions (Brainshaped Universe); Spheres (Part 2); Everything Is Happening; Only Matter; Vy Canis Majoris; Long Far Distant; Cosmic Ocean; Merging of Substances; Outside This World; Transexistential Perspectives.

On this day in music history: Visual Music, by Joan Jeanrenaud (2016):

Visual Music

Album by Joan Jeanrenaud,

Released March 25, 2016.

Track list:

Solo Prelude; Pilasters; Harmonic Harlem; Isola; Spinario; Dead Reckoning; Hypocrite; Puzzle; St Paul; Harlem Strut; Winter; Oulipo; This Is Not a Duet; Bacchanal; Moon Above; Virgin & Child; Ethereal Tree.

On this day in music history - Signature Synchronicity by Fiona Joy Hawkins (2016):

Signature Synchronicity

Album by Fiona Joy Hawkins,

released March 18, 2016.

Track list:

Ceremony; Grace; Fair Not; Once Upon Impossible; Calling Earth; Invisible Train; Grace (Chill Version); Signature; From the Mist; Little Star.

On this day in music history - For Dreaming, by Roxanne Potvin (2016):

For Dreaming

Album by Roxanne Potvin,

released March 18, 2016.

Track list:

I Thought I’d Miss You; Prairie Sunrise; Help Each Other; Little Heartbreaks; I Wouldn’t Tell You That; The March; Figuring It Out; Ni Toi Non Plus; For Dreaming; In Your Sleep.

On this day in movie history - 9 Rides (2016):

9 Rides

directed and written by Matthew A. Cherry,

was released at the South by Southwest Film Festival in the United States on March 11, 2016.
Music by Donald Hayes.

Cast:

Dorian Missick, Omar J. Dorsey, Robinne Lee, Xosha Roquemore, Amin Joseph, Thomas Q. Jones, Skye P. Marshall, Aasha Davis, Tracie Thoms, Andra Fuller, Sujata Day, Nadine Ellis, Frank Califano, Dominique Columbus, Alice Ensor, Malcolm Matthews, Jake McLean, Brittany Richards, Capri Sampson, Kayla Smith, Tiffany Snow.

On this day in movie history - 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016):

10 Cloverfield Lane

directed by Dan Trachtenberg,

written by Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken and Damien Chazelle,

based on a story by Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken,

was released in the United States on March 8, 2016.
Music by Bear McCreary.

Cast:

John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., Douglas M. Griffin, Suzanne Cryer, Bradley Cooper, Sumalee Montano, Frank Mottek, Kayla Bechor.

On this day in music history - Altered States, by Uma Silbley (2016):

Altered States: Music for the Journey Within

Album by Uma Silbey,

released March 1, 2016.

Track list:

Voices from the Deep; Morning Embrace; Mountain; Streaming; Cloudscapes; Levitation; Remembering; Moonscape; Tide Travel; Destination Infinity; Lightfield; Heartfelt.

On this day in music history - Sulla Riva, by Amy Lauren (2016):

Sulla Riva

Album by Amy Lauren,

released February 25, 2016.

Track list:

Mahogany Cider; Black Creek Trail; Where Rivers Meet; Emmerson's Ballad; Bridges on River Road; Rain Rhythm; White Feather's Tale; Lavender Clay; Sulla Riva; Waterline; Towards the Sea; Let Waters Rage; The Autumnal Sessions.