Recent works by alumni and faculty

Connecting with Clay at the UConn Co-op

Suzy Staubach, manager of general books at the UConn Co-op , is not only an avid reader, but also the author of a new book, Clay (Penguin Group US), which traces the use of clay throughout the centuries.

The book’s subject is something that Staubach knows viscerally as both a potter who has her own kiln and as a gardener. But her interest in clay also includes a wide variety of historical applications.

“Clay is crucial to the computer and space industries, to biotechnology, to the publishing industry, for water clarification, and for a wide range of manufacturing processes,” she says in the book.

“The potter’s wheel was the very first machine. With the invention of pottery came cooking and storage vessels, ceramics, the discovery of alcoholic beverages, the oven, clay tablets for the first written communication, irrigation for agriculture, vast trade networks, plumbing, sanitation, and its use as an incredibly durable building material.”

One of the most common materials on Earth, clay is something Staubach has been thinking about for a long time.

“As a bookseller, I believe I have seen every book even remotely connected to clay,” she says. “I have been saving tidbits and facts and notes for years because I thought that I would write about it someday.”

When the day came, however, there was a lot of pressure.

“I wrote two chapters and an outline, and an agent took the project on,” Staubach says. “Three publishers were interested in it. But when it came time to sign the contract, I was given just over a year to get it done. It was horrifying!”

Soon, Staubach was at her desk every morning at 4 a.m., working on the book at home before coming to work.

As the project moved forward, she stored more and more information on index cards that were stacked neatly throughout her house. Piles of books were sorted for easy fact checking, and soon the project was all consuming.

To promote the book, she went on a book tour throughout New England, including the Harvard Bookstore in Cambridge, to the Miami book fair and to Milwaukee, Wis.

Writing is not new for Staubach, who has been a regular contributor to Fine Gardening, Mother Earth News, Old Farmer’s Almanac, and Parents.

Now that Clay is written Staubach plans to return to the kiln where she likes to make simple, functional pottery used as table and garden ware. — Karen Grava ’73 (CLAS)

The Maltese Murders
Jerry Labriola
(Welcome Rain Publishers)

The James Bond of medicine enters the scary world of bioterrorism in the third book focused on the adventures of doctor-detective David Brooks, the alter ego of retired UConn Health Center Prof. Jerry Labriola. When the inventor of an inhaler that would prevent the effects of any bioterror attack is murdered, Brooks, along with his detective girlfriend and cabdriver sidekick, become nearly overwhelmed by a series of twists and turns in the wake of a trail of dead bodies. Adding spice to the plot is a backdrop of international intrigue, national security and the now real-world issues of genetic engineering, cloning and super germs.

Insects are the most dominant and diverse creatures on Earth, having inhabited our world for most of its existence. Grimaldi, curator of invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, and his collaborator Michael S. Engel, traveled the continents extensively, examining and collecting insects and million-year-old insect fossils. Highly readable and extensively illustrated, Evolution of the Insects brings together the evolutionary history of insects and examines the diversity of the living species.

There is something here for everyone—students, scientists, naturalists and collectors. It is the ultimate bug book.

The Great Justices 1941–54
William Domnarski ’83 J.D., ’84 M.A.
(University of Michigan Press)

The president makes appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States, expecting them to be sympathetic to his values and ambitions. However, once on the bench, the jurists can, and often do, change course as they begin an intellectual battle over individual rights and federalism that has had a lasting impact on the nation. In a timely book, Domnarski examines how four men appointed to the Supreme Court by Franklin D. Roosevelt worked through their personal battles and Constitutional issues. It offers insight into why court appointments remain a political minefield today.  — Kenneth Best