Book Reviews

Most of the time a good book finds you, and not the other way around. I think R.W. Emerson said a similar thing about butterflies and happiness, but I’m not sure. Either way, these books were recommended to be by others who don’t always share my tastes in conversation or reading. All three are informative, enlightening, and in other respects, somewhat disturbing, but what of it? That’s what good reading is all about.

I’m very lucky to have been an introverted, depressed, and shy child. I can’t imagine things otherwise. My self-imposed social restraints turned me into an avid reader and explorer of all things mental; this in spite of my being, as my father would comment, ‘not the brightest banana in the bunch.’ I was equally fortunate to have blossomed socially in recent years and that has expanded the range of subjects I read ten-fold. Readers attract readers, and good books are highly contagious in certain circles. My illness is terminal.

Janice is also a reader from a family of readers. She enjoys mystery, true crime, marketing, and business. She joined a book club called the “Diesel Divas” (named for the original members who work for Detroit Diesel.) I read the books, too, but can’t attend the dinners (it must be a girl thang.)

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (ISBN 0-7679-0818-X)

This is a book about science, scientists, and natural history written by a non-scientist. Bryson uses his straightforward, entertaining, and humorous writing style while conveying some of deep realities of our universe and being, as explained to him by some of our world’s leading scientific minds. This is an awesome book for anyone wanting to gain some background into science and how it works. There is nothing technical here, just an entertaining and well written account of how things are and how we came to know it.

I borrowed the book from a maybe-soon-to-be brother-in-law.

Burned Alive by Souad (ISBN 0-446-53346-7)

This was a very sad and very real account of an attempted ‘honor killing’ in the West Bank as told by the intended victim herself. Souad talks about her family, her culture, her religion, her village, and her own impressions about being a woman in a rigidly male dominated society. Reading this book will probably make you angry at Moslems, yet the message is not limited to that alone. It is also about her rescue, renewal, and recovery. I cried reading her story.

There is one brief passage after her rescue where she wonders why it is that everyone in her village hated Jews so much. After all, none of them had ever seen any that she recalled. (The story takes place long before the Israeli take-over of West bank and Gaza.)

Janice put me onto this one. She bought it for $5.99 at Borders.

Overdosed America by Dr. John Abramson (ISBN 0-06-056852-6)

If you have a vested interest in either the medical insurance or the pharmaceutical industry, you might not want to read this book. Dr. Abramson explains and exposes in a simply-put manner the means and method by which the American medical consumer is being cheated out of both money and health. This book is well written and not loaded with industry-specific technical jargon or nomenclature. The author puts forth a good case for drug reform, insurance reform, and a return to common sense medical practice.

I paid $3.95 for this book. It was on the discount rack at Borders.

Happy Reading!