More Library Books

I went to the library this morning to return a few books, and I could not resist borrowing a few (even though I already have seven checked out). Today I borrowed:

• Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach
• Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath by Michael Paul Mason
• 1776 by David McCullough (audio book)
• Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama (audio book)

Now I've never listened to an audio book before, so this is really an experiment. I'm not sure if I'll actually get through 1776 or Dreams from My Father but I'll give it a shot.

I've read Mary Roach's Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (which I found hilariously educational) and Head Cases sounds an awful lot like The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge or like Oliver Sacks's books (I’ve read Awakenings and An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales).

I read about Head Cases last month in the New York Times in William Grimes's review titled "Empathy for the Brain, After Insult and Injury" and in Mary Roach's review (yes the same Mary Roach) titled "Damage Control."

And I heard about Bonk last month in the New York Times in Janet Maslin's review titled "A Sex Researcher Walks Into a Lab, and Then Things Start to Get Comical" and in Pamela Paul's review titled "Sexual Advances."

Both are favorably reviewed and I hope they live up to my expectations.

Back to work!