Mike Perry of New Auburn, Wisconsin, is a registered nurse and former working cowboy. He serves on a volunteer basis with two rural rescue services and one fire department. His first book tells how he left his hometown, only to return and joins the volunteer fire and rescue department, meeting his neighbors, as he writes, "one siren at a time." Population: 485 is a well-written chronicle of one town as pieced together from different emergency scenarios. A funny and heartbreaking book that celebrates the weirdness of rural life.

5 p.m.