Mixed Media: UB Bookshelf

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Featured Author

Marilynn Deane Mendell (BA ’95)

Mendell writes the book on becoming a self-made single mom. Divorced with three young boys, she started cooking, turning necessity into what she calls “the largest off-premise catering company” in Western New York. She went on to get a philosophy degree from UB, then discovered a passion for public relations and founded Win Spin CIC Inc., a business marketing and development firm based in Washington, D.C. Part cookbook, part memoir, “Elbow Grease” is a reflection of Mendell’s eclectic career, serving up how-to business advice along with her favorite scratch recipes: Each anecdote culled from her trove of hard-knock life lessons is paired with a dish from her catering days (example: “Trust Your Gut” and Tenderloin Pasta Salad). It’s chicken soup for the corporate soul. (Pretzelman, 2014)

Annette Pasternak (BA ’92) with Tammy Fletcher

Also known as excoriation disorder, skin picking, or SPD, is a poorly understood but potentially serious and disfiguring condition. Pasternak, a health coach and yoga instructor who struggled for more than two decades with chronic SPD, offers sufferers hope through lifestyle changes and behavioral guidelines. (Self published, 2014)

Jeff Schober (MA ’99)

The sequel to Schober’s “Broken and Profane” whodunit, “Boneshaker” follows detective Mark Bennett and patrolmen George Pope and Bobby Bennett as they struggle with their respective cases: a missing Buffalo nurse and a domestic dispute involving a couple’s infant daughter. (No Frills Buffalo, 2013)

Tim Madigan (MA ’98) and Tim Delaney

A study of the environment from a sociological perspective (Delaney) and a philosophical perspective (Madigan, who teaches philosophy at St. John Fisher College), “Beyond Sustainability” tackles such hot-button issues as fracking, food waste and what is known as the sixth mass extinction, which is sadly underway now. Each author also examines the differences between sustainability and “thrivability.” (McFarland, 2014)

Richard J. Ablin (PhD ’67) with Ronald Piana

More than a million men each year undergo unnecessary biopsies to test for prostate cancer, says Ablin in his exposé about the screening test that grew out of his 1970 discovery of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA). A pathologist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, Ablin says the test was never meant to be used as a prostate cancer screening, but was patented anyway by the FDA, co-opted by the pharmaceutical industry and transformed into a multibillion-dollar business. (Palgrave Macmillan Trade, 2014)

Calling alumni authors

Send us your latest novel, mystery thriller, memoir, poetry collection, non-fiction or other published work! Mail a review copy to At Buffalo, 330 Crofts Hall, Buffalo, N.Y. 14260.