Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Bernd Heinrich

I've been enjoying Bernd Heinrich's New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year in 1999 Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds (click here to read all my entries about this book).

Yes I'm still getting through it. It's really quite good; easy to read, full of interesting facts and thoughtful writing. It's just that my reading pace has slowed down now that it's summer time.

By the way, did you know that the author Bernd Heinrich is a record-setting ultramarathoner?

Quoting wikipedia:

In 1981, he set an absolute American Record (i.e., the best of either road or track venues; this one was a road race in Chicago) of 6:38:20 for 100km (62.137 miles). Two years later, he set an absolute American Record for the 24 Hour Run of 156 miles, 1388 yards in a track race in Maine. In 1984, he set an absolute American 100 mile record of 12:27:01, again in a track race. One year later, he set the American track record of 7:00:12 for 100km. In so doing, he became the only American man to hold both the road and track versions of the American Record for the same event. His 12:27:01 for 100 miles and 7:00:12 for 100km still remained, at the end of 2007, the official American Track records. At the end of 2007, Heinrich was inducted into the American Ultrarunning Association's Hall of Fame.

Will write more when I finish this book.

Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life by Queen Noor

I have been reading the extraordinary memoir of Queen Noor of Jordan, Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life.

This book is incredibly touching, from the breathless romance of their courtship to the painful stories of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

I'm a sucker for letters and I was particularly moved by the 10th anniversary letter King Hussein of Jordan wrote to Queen Noor, pubilshed in Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life by Queen Noor (which I'm reading for a book club).

Here's the letter:

This is a very special time, this is a very special month and a very special year. We are ten years older and ten years old. We will never be ten again, but with God's blessings we shall continue to grow and mature together all the more for many other years to come. Silver, gold, who can predict?

I thank God for our life of love and the children we are blessed to have. I thank you for so much. I know it is not all that I would have wished for you or anything close to that. I know myself, I know my shortcomings, and I also know I am blessed to have you by my side, loving, caring, brave, and pure. All the finest things in life grow more valuable as they grow and mature. I hope the times to come will be better than those that have passed, and I treasure all the happiest of memories of our travel through time. For despite the fact that everything changes from time to time and one drives down to start a hill climb, the balance I feel is in the realm of goodness as together we climb through the years.

This is a special time, a special month and year. I am every proud of you as you stand by my side. I pray for God to bless you through the years and give us strength and courage, happiness, contentment, and the comfort of sharing and giving of our best. God bless our family. And many thanks to you for being you. The One God blessed me by bringing us together ten years ago to start through life a loving husband and his beloved wife. With you by my side, I celebrate each day. Happy 10th and with God's blessings, many more to come.

With all my love,

Hussein

Summer Reading

As you have no doubt noticed, my reading pace has slowed down considerably now that it's summer time.

For a lot of people, summer means finally some time to read.

For me, summer means warm sunny days, long walks, breathtaking hikes, kayaking, swimming, and playing tennis.

I read more frequently the days are shorter and the nights are cold.

For those of you looking for some summer reads, I'll recommend three books.

Fiction
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

I've written about this book quite a bit so I won't bore you with a re-hash (click here for all my posts about this book).

It's an easy read, beautifully written, and thoroughly enthralling. You'll have trouble putting it down.

Click here to read an excerpt.

Non-Fiction
How to Read a French Fry: And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science by Russ Parsons

I love to eat and for me Summer is all about grilling and cook-outs.

How to Read a French Fry is one of my favorite books because it teaches readers all about the science of cooking in clear, concise, entertaining writing. And it's got great recipes!

Check out this review from the Atlantic to learn more and to try some of Parsons's recipes.

Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules–a Social History of Living Single by Betsy Israel.

As one reviewer on Amazon.com says:

Betsy Israel's book takes a look at single women in the United States, specifically in New York City. I think because Israel isn't single herself, she's able to approach the subject with more objectivity. She begins at the end of the 19th century, with the "singly blessed," (a great term, I think) and continues through the decades, with the Bowery Gals, shop girls, flappers, Gibson Girls, the Riveting Rosie of WWII (both of the latter being completely made up stereotypes), the career girl. It seems as though single women in America have never fit into one category, even though the rest of society tries to place her in one.

Click here to read an excerpt.

Happy reading!

Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales by Ray Bradbury

The book I keep by my bedside, for those times when I can't sleep, is Ray Bradbury's Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales.

I first read Fahrenheit 451 for school and was fascinated by Bradbury's tale of a dystopian future where to be a fireman meant to be a book burner.

That was when I first fell in love with Ray Bradbury's writings.

I read the whole book in one sitting, even though we were supposed to be read the book over the course of the semester.

Bradbury Stories is a wonderful collection of stories chosen by Bradbury himself including "The Pedestrian," the precursor to Fahrenheit 451.

In the introduction to this collection, Bradbury tells readers his inspiration for this story and many others:

I had dinner with a friend fifty-five years ago and after dining we decided to take a walk along WIlshire Boulevard. Within minutes we were stopped by a police car. The policeman asked us what we were doing. I replied, "Putting one foot in front of the other," which was the wrong answer. The policeman looked at me suspiciously because, after all, the sidewalks were empty: nobody in the whole city of Los Angeles was using them as a walkway.

I went home, sorely irritated at being stopped for simply walking -- a natural, human activity -- and wrote a story about a pedestrian in the future who is arrested for doing just that.

A few months later I took that pedestrian for a walk in the night, had him turn a corner and meet a young girl named Clarisse McClellan. Nine days later, Fahrenheit 451 was born as a short novella called "The Firemen."

Last night, I re-read In "The Garbage Collector," the story of a garbage man generally satisfied with his life who learns that if a bomb hits the city (presumably an atomic bomb), he and his co-workers will have to collect the dead in his truck. He is torn between quitting his job to stand up for his morals and continuing to work to support his family (his wife prefers the second option); both lousy choices.

The Martian tales -- "The Messiah," "The Visitor," and "February 1999: Ylla" among others -- are truly original.

Click here to read the Table of Contents, courtesy of Wikipedia.

I know most folks pick bedtime reading to help them get to sleep. I read one or two of Ray Bradbury's stories because Bradbury never fails to entertain while teaching me a bit about myself and humanity. For me, it's the perfect way to end my day.

The Political Mind by George Lakoff

Just read William Saletan's "Neuro-Liberalism" published June 22, 2008 in the New York Times Sunday Book Review, a review of The Political Mind: Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century Politics With an 18th-Century Brain by George Lakoff.

George Lakoff is Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Rockridge Institute, a think tank in Berkeley, and The Political Mind sounds like a guide for progressive politicians.

As Lakoff explains:

American values are fundamentally progressive, centered on equality, human rights, social responsibility, and the inclusion of all. Yet progressives have, without knowing why, given conservatives an enormous advantage in the culture war. The radical conservatives seek and have already begun to introduce: an authoritarian hierarchy based on vast concentrations and control of wealth; order based on fear, intimidation, and obedience; a broken government; no balance of power; priorities shifted from the public sector to the corporate and military sectors; responsibility shifted from society to the individual; control of elections through control of who votes and how the votes are counted; control of ideas through the media; and patriarchal family values projected upon religion, politics, and the market.

Lakoff's suggestions for progressives, according to Saletan, are also interesting:

What should progressives say? That conservatism is “fundamentally antidemocratic.” It “tells us to save your own skin and not to care about your neighbor,” so “conservatives don’t pay that much attention to injured veterans.”

I don't know how much I buy into all of this but I'm certainly curious to hear more about Lakoff's theories!

Tales from Q School by John Feinstein

Flying home to Baltimore, I read about Tales from Q School: Inside Golf's Fifth Major by John Feinstein, the best selling author of of A Good Walk Spoiled.

Q School is what they call the annual PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament where veterans and rookies play six rounds to get a shot at one of 30 slots on the PGA Tour. John Feinstein tells the story of the players from the 2005 Q School from struggling former champions to rising stars (including J.B. Holmes, winner of the 2006 FBR Open, and Brett Wetterich, winner of the 2006 EDS Byron Nelson Championship and member of the 2006 Ryder Cup team).

I don't even play golf but the reviews make it seem like Tales from Q School tells the compelling human story of the players, many of whom will never make it to the PGA Tour!


Click here to read an excerpt from the publisher's website.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

I finished Kim Edwards's New York Times Bestseller The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

For those of you who have not heard of this book, here's a summary.

This novel begins on a winter night in 1964, when a blizzard forces Dr. David Henry, an orthopedic doctor and surgeon, to deliver his own twins. His son (Paul) is born first and appears to be perfectly healthy. Suddenly, he realizes that his wife is having twins and when the second baby, a daughter (Phoebe), is born, Dr. Henry immediately realizes that she has Down syndrome.

He makes a split-second decision to ask his nurse, Caroline Gill, to take the second baby away to an institution (as was common practice in that time) in an effort to spare his wife the pain of raising and losing Phoebe. Dr. Henry tells his wife Norah that Phoebe was stillborn and Caroline disappears overnight into another city to raise the child as her own.

The book then tells the parallel stories of Dr. & Mrs. Henry raising Paul and Caroline raising Phoebe and how each deals with their secrets and loss.

I have mixed feelings about book. I felt like the plot was predictable and oftentimes felt contrived.

Still, I'm a sap and I will admit to crying towards the end of the book.

The ethical dilemma raised in this book is certainly worth discussing. Put in a similar situation at that time in history -- when it was common practice to put children with Down syndrome into institutions since medical knowledge of the disease was so limited -- I can't say for sure that I would have chosen to keep the baby.

What do you think?

The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

Since I have been I've been learning about ravens in Bernd Heinrich's Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds -- click here to read all my entries about this book -- I re-read Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven (first published on January 29, 1845, in the New York Evening Mirror ) and I thought I'd share with you:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; - vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore -
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me - filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door -
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; -
This it is, and nothing more,'

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,' said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you' - here I opened wide the door; -
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!'
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!'
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,' said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore -
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; -
'Tis the wind and nothing more!'

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door -
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door -
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,' I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore -
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door -
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.'

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,' said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore -
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of "Never-nevermore."'

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion's velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o'er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o'er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,' I cried, `thy God hath lent thee - by these angels he has sent thee
Respite - respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil! -
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted -
On this home by horror haunted - tell me truly, I implore -
Is there - is there balm in Gilead? - tell me - tell me, I implore!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Prophet!' said I, `thing of evil! - prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us - by that God we both adore -
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore -
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked upstarting -
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! - quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore!

NYTimes.com - A Book Club Courts Liberals

I've just heard about the new Progressive Book Club in Motoko Rich's "A Book Club Courts Liberals" published June 16, 2008 in the New York Times.

Members can join and buy three books at $1 apiece in exchange for the obligation to buy four books over the next two years.

Members of the Progressive Book Club will be offered a slate of books each month, reviewed and chosen by a panel that includes the novelists Michael Chabon, Erica Jong and Barbara Kingsolver; John Podesta, president of the Center for American Progress; Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation magazine; and Todd Gitlin, the author and a journalism and sociology professor at Columbia University.

The offerings for June include:

• The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker by Steven Greenhouse (click here for my entries on this book)
• Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It by Elizabeth Royte (click here for my entry on this book)
• Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy by Jeffrey Feldman
• Mudbound, a novel by Hillary Jordan
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (click here for my entries on this book)
• Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv
• Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America by Cullen Murphy
• Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America by Steven Waldman (click here for my entry on this book)

The club will also offer about 200 older titles such as:

• Beloved by Toni Morrison
• Common Sense by Thomas Paine
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• Oil! by Upton Sinclair
• The End of Nature by Bill McKibben

I doubt I'll join -- I've been trying to limit my book purchases by borrowing books from my local library -- but it seems like it'll be a good place to check for new books.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

So far, I'm not sure how I feel about Kim Edwards's New York Times Bestseller The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

Nevertheless, here are some discussion questions courtesy of the publisher:

1. When David hands his baby girl over to Caroline and tells Norah that she has died, what was your immediate emotional reaction? At this early point, did you understand David’s motivations? Did your understanding grow as the novel progressed?
2. David describes feeling like “an aberration” within his own family (p. 7) and describes himself as feeling like “an imposter” in his professional life as a doctor (p. 8). Discuss David’s psyche, his history, and what led him to make that fateful decision on the night of his children’s birth.
3. When David instructs Caroline to take Phoebe to the institution, Caroline could have flatly refused or she could have gone to the authorities. Why doesn’t she? Was she right to do what she did and raise Phoebe as her own? Was Caroline morally obligated to tell Norah the truth right from the beginning? Or was her moral obligation simply to take care of Phoebe at whatever cost? Why does she come to Norah after David’s death?
4. Though David wanted no part of her, Phoebe goes on to lead a full life, bringing much joy to Caroline and Al. Her story calls into question how we determine what kind of life is worth living. How would you define such a life? In contrast to Phoebe’s, how would you describe the quality of Paul’s life as he grew up?
5. Throughout the novel, the characters often describe themselves as feeling as if they are watching their own lives from the outside. For instance, David describes the moment when his wife is going into labor and says “he felt strangely as if he himself were suspended in the room . . . watching them both from above” (p. 10). What do you think Edwards is trying to convey here? Have you ever experienced similar feelings in your own life?
6. There is an obvious connection between David and Caroline, most aptly captured by a particular moment described through David’s point of view: “Their eyes met, and it seemed to the doctor that he knew her—that they knew each other—in some profound and certain way” (p. 12). What is the significance of this moment for each of them? How would you describe the connection between them? Why do you think David married Norah and not Caroline?
7. After Norah has successfully destroyed the wasps’ nest, Edwards writes that there was something happening in Norah’s life, “an explosion, some way in which life could never be the same” (p. 139). What does she mean, and what is the significance of Norah’s “fight” with these wasps?
8. When David meets Rosemary (p. 267) it turns out to be a cathartic experience for him. What is it about her that enables David to finally speak the truth? Why does he feel compelled to take care of her?
9. The secret that David keeps is enormous and ultimately terribly destructive to himself and his family. Can you imagine a circumstance when it might be the right choice to shield those closest to you from the truth?
10. What do you think Norah’s reaction would have been if David had been honest with her from the beginning? How might Norah have responded to the news that she had a daughter with Down syndrome? How might each of their lives have been different if David had not handed Phoebe to Caroline that fateful day?

Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It by Elizabeth Royte

I've just read Lisa Margonelli's "Tapped Out," a review of Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It (by Elizabeth Royte) published June 15, 2008 in the New York Times.

It makes me think of Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water (which I'd like to read) and Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke (which I have read); click here to read my entries on these books.

For many years now, I've preferred to simply drink filtered tap water in my own reusable bottle -- used to be a Nalgene but with all the health problems associated with the old Nalgenes made with Bisphenol A (BPA) I've given mine up.

Here's how Lisa Margonelli concludes her review:

By the time I finished “Bottlemania” I thought twice about drinking any water. Among the risks: arsenic, gasoline additives, 82 different pharmaceuticals, fertilizer runoff sufficient to raise nitrate levels so that Iowa communities issue “blue baby” alerts. And in 42 states, Royte notes, “people drink tap water that contains at least 10 different pollutants on the same day.” The privatization of pristine water is part of a larger story, a tragic failure to steward our shared destiny. And if you think buying water will protect you, Royte points out that it too is loosely regulated. And there is more — the dangers of pipes and of plastic bottles, the hazards of filters, and yes, that “toilet to tap” issue. But there is slim comfort: Royte says we don’t really need to drink eight glasses of water a day. Drink when you’re thirsty, an expert says. That’s refreshing.

Ick, now that makes me think of The Secret History of the War on Cancer by Devra Davis (click here to read my entries on that book).

I think I will pick up a copy of Bottlemania at my local library, though I may take my time before getting to it.

Reading all these books about the lies of corporate America has been generally depressing.

Click here to read an excerpt.

The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty by Julia Flynn Siler

Since my local library does not carry Robert Mondavi’s 1998 autobiography Harvests of Joy: How the Good Life Became Great Business, I read The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty by Julia Flynn Siler (published in 2007) instead.

The story of the Mondavis is quite captivating. The competitiveness of the brothers (Peter and Robert, and then Michael and Timothy) and the resulting heartbreak and destruction of the family businesses felt like a soap opera.

Overall, I was satisfied with the book though I wish Siler had written more about Peter Mondavi after the split with Robert Mondavi. I would have also liked to have learned more about Charles Krug and other vinters -- even the Franzia Brothers and their success with Charles Shaw / "Two Buck Chuck."

Also, I was expecting to learn about wine from this book and while it does teach readers a bit about the process (barreling, pomace, etc.) it really focuses almost exclusively on Robert Mondavi's rise to power and subsequent sale to Constellation Brands.

Still, definitely worth reading for those interested in learning about Napa Valley wine history!

An Ocean of Air: Why the Wind Blows and Other Mysteries of the Atmosphere by Gabrielle Walker

In March, I read Gabrielle Walker's fantastic book about the atmosphere, An Ocean of Air: Why the Wind Blows and Other Mysteries of the Atmosphere, which I'd heard about in William Grimes's review published in the New York Times in August 2007.

Since there have been many tornadoes in the news lately, I have frequently found myself thinking about this fascinating and informative book.

Walker -- author of Snowball Earth: The Story of a Maverick Scientist and His Theory of the Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life As We Know It (2004) and co-author of The Hot Topic: What We Can Do About Global Warming (2008) -- earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cambridge and it shows in the scientific knowledge she conveys to readers through her lyrical, witty, and easy-going prose.

Written for the average reader without much science knowledge, Walker captivates readers with surprising facts -- did you know that the air filling Carnegie Hall weighs seventy thousand pounds -- and easy to understand details of scientific theories (and the people who discovered them) with cheerful storytelling.

The reviews quotes printed on the back cover say it all:

"Who knew air could be so interesting? Like the scientific mavericks she profiles, Gabrielle Walker had the freshness of vision to realize that within its presumed-nothingness lay the most fascinating, profound revelations about life on earth. This is science writing at its best: clear, witty, relevant, unbelievably interesting, and just plain great."

-Mary Roach, author of Stiff

"An Ocean of Air is a fascinating book. The subject is hot, the science is cool, and Gabrielle Walker''s style is lighter than air. Warmly recommended."

-Jonathan Weiner, author of The Beak of the Finch

"I never knew air could be so interesting."

-Bill Bryson, author of A Short History of Nearly Everything

An Ocean of Air starts with the nail biting story of "the man who fell to Earth and lived": Captain Joseph W. Kittinger, a test pilot for the U.S. Air Force, who in 1960 rode a helium balloon into space and jumped 103,000 feet (almost 20 miles in four and half minutes) to earth wearing an early version of a spacesuit and a parachute.

I particularly enjoyed learning about William Ferrel -- a largely self-taught West Virginia farm boy, who helped explain the movement and direction of air -- and Charles Kettering -- the DuPont scientist whose well-intentioned creation of freon and chlorofluorocarbons were later found to be creating holes in the ozone layer -- and Oliver Heaviside -- the eccentric, self-taught scientist who discovered that an electrical layer in the sky (now called the Heaviside Layer) is responsible for transmitting radio signals across Earth.

Click here to read an excerpt or listen to an interview with Walker about this delightful popular science book.

Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich

I've just started reading Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Bernd Heinrich. As I mentioned in my entry about borrowing this book, Mind of the Raven was a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of the Year in the year it was published (1999).

I didn't know much about ravens -- really all I knew was Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven -- so I was surprise to read in the Introduction that "ravens have throughout history commonly been singled out to be most like man . . . [and] have been considered highly intelligent, and mythologized as creators, destroyers, prophets, playful crowns, and tricksters."

Here's an unbelievable quote from Mark Pavelka, who studied ravens for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in the Introduction:

With other animals you can usually throw out 90 percent of the stories you hear about them as exaggerations. With ravens, it's the opposite. No matter how strange or amazing the story, chances are pretty good that at least some raven somewhere actually did that.

I'm eager to learn more, especially since our local NFL football team is the Baltimore Ravens (after Baltimore-born Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven)!

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

I've been meaning to read The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards for years now.

I've heard mixed reviews from friends who have read this book. Many loved it and highly recommended the book. Others said it was so terrible they couldn't even finish reading it.

I kept seeing it in bookstores but finally picked it up at my local library book sale in April and have just started it.

I'm hopeful that my low expectations will increase my enjoyment of this book!

Click here to read an excerpt or to read Motoko Rich's review titled "A Stirring Family Drama Is a Hit (in Paperback)" published July 13, 2006 in the New York Times.

The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin

I enjoyed reading Letters of a Portuguese Nun: Uncovering the Mystery Behind a 17th Century Forbidden Love by Myriam Cyr (click here to read my other entries about this book).

Cyr writes that the Portuguese Letters have inspired writers and lovers for hundreds of years and I wonder if Emma Darwin was also inspired by them when she wrote her debut novel The Mathematics of Love.

The Mathematics of Love is the story of both a veteran of the Napoleonic wars (and the Battle of Waterloo) named Stephen Fairhurst (told with letters and memoirs) and of a teenager, Anna Jocelyn Ware, who moves into the soldier’s former home in the mid-1970s (told in first-person narrative).

If you haven't read The Mathematics of Love, you may not understand why reading Letters of a Portuguese Nun made me think of this novel and it's such a complex story that I can't explain it without giving away the plot.

It starts off a bit slow but it's really quite clever. Darwin brilliantly writes with two distinct voices and creates an eloquent, intelligent, and beautiful historical novel.

I liked how Darwin was able to write her great-great-great grandfather Robert Darwin (who married Susannah Wedgwood, brother of Thomas Wedgwood, the pioneer of photography) into the novel; makes perfect sense since she uses photography as a metaphoric device to tell these parallel stories.

If you're reading it for a book club, you may want to read these discussion questions from the publisher (also published on the author's website here):

1. Sexual morality is a key theme in The Mathematics of Love. Discuss morality in the context of the relationships between Anna/Theo, Eva/Theo, Anna/Eva, Stephen/Catalina and Stephen/Lucy.
2. How does war change the characters in The Mathematics of Love ?
3. "I was the plain, pale nothing, pressed into a thin strip between their lives. And it wasn't enough for me. I knew that now." (p. 394) How does Anna change during the course of the novel?
4. Discuss the role of art, photography and voyeurism within The Mathematics of Love.
5. How do memories affect the characters within this novel? What made Stephen able to move on from painful memories and Belle unable to do so?
6. How do the two 'lost boys' work within the story?
7. "I've never been bothered about relations and things." (p. 404) Discuss the role of family within The Mathematics of Love.
8. What did you think of the ending? Would you have liked it to end differently?
9. What other books would you compare this to? What books would you recommend to other readers who have enjoyed this book?
10. How would this novel have been different if Darwin had chosen to focus entirely on one time period, rather than move the narrative between 1819 and 1976?

Click here to read the first chapter of The Mathematics of Love or click here to read Susann Cokal's review titled "Housemates" published March 4, 2007 in the New York Times.

Winning: The Answers

Last month I read Winning: The Answers: Confronting 74 of the Toughest Questions in Business Today by Jack Welch & Suzy Welch (I read Winning in April 2008).

I really enjoyed Winning but I thought Winning: The Answers was just okay.

Each of the 74 chapters starts with a question and the questions are broken down into the following categories / sections:

Global Competition: On the Brave New World
Leadership: On Being a Better Boss
Management Principles and Practices: On Running a Business to Win
Careers: On Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of a Promotion
Privately Held: On Working for the Family
Winning and Losing: On Why Business is Good

And each section starts with a one to two page essay on the subject.

The Welchs write a weekly column in Business Week, called The Welch Way, answering questions about business and as they write in the introduction to Winning: The Answers much of the book comes from this no-nonsense column written in the same to-the-point optimistic style as Winning.

I particularly like Question 16, Building Trust From the Top Down:

Is there a short answer for building trust in the workplace?

-Johannesburg, South Africa

To which the Welchs begin their response with:

Yes, very short: Say what you mean, and do what you say!

I also like Question 54, Am I An Entrepreneur:

I am currently a consultant with a small organizational development firm, but I dream about starting my own business. How do I know if I have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? I always experience such conflicting emotions when it comes to this issue.

-Johannesburg, South Africa

To which the Welchs reply with four questions to help the consultant answer his own questions:

1. Do you have a great new idea that makes your product or service compelling to customers in a way no competitor can match?
2. Do you have the stamina to hear “no” over and over again and keep smiling?
3. Do you hate uncertainty? If so, stop reading here.
4. Do you have the personality to attract bright people to chase your dream with you?

Some of the questions also come from talks the Welchs have given since the publication of Winning or from the lectures they have given at their respective business schools (Jack teaches as MIT's Sloan School of Management and Suzy teaches at Babson College's Center for Women's Leadership).

I don't doubt that the Welchs provide much insight in their weekly column, I just don't like my books to feel like a bound version of such a column. Especially since such writing can quickly become outdated.

Though I suppose if you really look up to Jack Welch, this book could come in handy as a reference guide when you want to find out Welch's ideas on a particular topic.

I recommend that folks pick up a copy of Winning to learn about Jack Welch's business methods and ideas but don't bother with Winning: The Answers and just start reading Business Week's The Welch Way on-line or just visit the Welch's website.

My First Vegetable Garden

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, after reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Bill McKibben, I went out and bought plants for my first vegetable garden.

I visited my local used bookstore today and perused the large section on gardening.

I was quite tempted to purchase a few but decided to simply take down some notes.

Here are some basic vegetable gardening tips I learned (for you seasoned vegetable gardeners out there, I suspect you'll want to skip this post):

• Most fruits and vegetables needs full sun to grow.
• It's good to rotate crops even in a small vegetable garden.
• Some vegetables prefer cooler weather. These can be planted both in the Spring and in early Fall.
• Compost is the key to a great vegetable garden.
• Never water tomatoes with an over-head sprinkler, always water them at their base.
• To allow plants to grow deep roots, water thoroughly when you water, then hold off for several days before watering again.
• The best time to water vegetables is early morning, so the soil can warm-up before the cooler evening hours.

I will share more of my novice gardening tips as the season goes by.

Leap of Faith by Queen Noor

I just picked up Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life by Queen Noor at my local library; it’s the next selection for one of my book clubs.

This is the memoir of Queen Noor, the fourth wife and widow of the late King Hussein of Jordan. Born Lisa Najeeb Halaby as an American, Queen Noor is of English, Swedish, Scottish, and Syrian descent. Educated in the United States at Concord Academy and Princeton University where she studied architecture and urban planning, she met King Hussein while working in Jordan on the development of the Amman Intercontinental Airport. The couple married on June 15, 1978 and had four children.

Should be quite interesting!

Click here to read an excerpt.

And since I’m reading this for a book club, I looked up some discussion questions:

1. In the Acknowledgments section Queen Noor states, "This book was written in the spirit of reconciliation, which I hope will contribute to a greater awareness, especially in the West, of events that have shaped the modern Middle East, and encourage a deeper understanding of contemporary challenges facing the Arab world." Prior to reading Leap of Faith, what was your perception of Jordan and the Middle East? Did reading this book change your opinion in any way? How is it different to get a personal perspective rather than journalistic accounts in the media?
2. What circumstances in Queen Noor's background-ie, her Arab-American heritage, her family's international travels, etc-gave her an advantage in assuming the role of Jordan's queen? What, if any, were detriments?
3. In one instance Queen Noor recalls her "first impressions of Jordan" (pg 2) as being "overwhelmed by an extraordinary sensation of belonging and an almost mystical sense of peace." Were you surprised at how quickly she embraced life in Jordan? Why or why not?
4. What do you think attracted Queen Noor and King Hussein to one another? Queen Noor admits that she agonized over her decision of whether or not to marry King Hussein. One of her concerns was that his "own people might feel antagonistic toward their King, even betrayed, by his choice of an American woman, albeit one with Arab roots" (pg 82). How, ultimately, did she know it was the right decision to marry King Hussein?
5. Queen Noor reveals that the "most precious gift" (pg 95) the King ever gave her was her name, which means "light" in Arabic. As she said, "Over the next few weeks and months, a transition gradually took place in my mind, in my dreams. I became Noor." Why did this bestowing of a new name have such an impact on her? Why do you think she was willing to change her name?
6. "My attachment to Jordan and Jordanians came very naturally, but it was harder to define exactly what my role should be in terms of contribution to the well-being of the country" (pg 128). What role did Queen Noor ultimately define for herself? Were you surprised that King Hussein encouraged his wife in the pursuit of a non-traditional role for a queen?
7. The marriage of Queen Noor and King Hussein was inescapably intertwined with the politics of the region and the world. "My memories of those personally challenging times are inextricable from my memories of the political dramas we were engaged in" (pg 139). How did she make her marriage work under these circumstances? If you had been in her shoes what, if anything, would you have done differently?
8. When Queen Noor told her family of her decision to marry King Hussein, her mother and father were both concerned for her future but for different reasons. Her mother "expressed her concern that our culturally different backgrounds might prevent us from finding a common language." Her father's anxieties "were more political" (pg 91), wondering if his daughter could handle the intricacies of a Byzantine royal court and fearing for her safety amid the turbulence of the Middle East. How did these concerns-personal and political-come into play in their daughter's life as Jordan's queen?
9. During the Gulf War, Queen Noor visited the United Stated and believed that her husband "was being made out to be an enemy of the United States, when he was anything but" (pg 318). What was your perception of King Hussein as a ruler in the Middle East? Discuss the significance of King Hussein's friendship with Prime Minister Rabin of Israel.
10. Upon her marriage to King Hussein, Queen Noor found herself stepmother to his eight children, and she later gave birth to four children of her own. What challenges did she face being both mother and stepmother to twelve children, and how did she overcome them?
11. What surprised you the most about Queen Noor?
12. What will you most remember from Leap of Faith?

Tidbits from Bonk by Mary Roach

Last week I finished reading Mary Roach's hilariously educational Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (click here to read all my posts about this book).

Here are some tidbits for you:

• The syngina is a synthetic human vagina used in tampon R&D.
• In 2002, a group of psychologists at SUNY Albany published a paper suggesting that semen may have antidepressant properties, based on studies of college age women's moods and whether they have sex with or without condoms.
• The Monkey Gland Affair by David Hamilton is the story of the once popular notion that the implantation of monkey testicles would rejuvenate male sexual powers and heal just about any ailment.
• The USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) has issued a variety of interestingly titled patents for sex or penis related purposes such as Disposable Internally Applied Penile Erector and Men's Underwear with Penile Envelope.
• There is supposedly a Thai saying "I better get home or the ducks will have something to eat." This is due to the hundreds of incidents in 1970s Thailand involving angry wives chopping off their adulterous husbands' members. Sometimes the women would flush them down the drain or thrown them out the window and if the latter occurred, ducks and other livestock would end up eating them.
• Somewhere in Seattle, WA, the local police department sponsored a bondage safety course.
• Only one tenth of the clitoris is visible but 60% of the penis is visible.
• The only FDA approved device for female sexual arousal disorder, Eros Clitoral Therapy Device, is essentially a $400 masturbation device.

Bonk was a fun and easy read (though the graphic descriptions of penis surgery and experiments may make this book less appealing to men) and I wonder what Mary Roach's next subject matter will be!

Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath by Michael Paul Mason

Earlier this week I finished reading Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath by Michael Paul Mason (click here to read all my entries about this book).

I was surprised by Mason's references to Tibetan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism.

In the chapter titled Wood of the Suicides, Mason shares the tragic story of expressing his belief that suicide is okay with his friend John who subsequently hung himself.To cope with the suicide of his friend John, Mason visits a Buddhist monastery in upstate New York.

And on page 125 through 127, Mason summarizes the three death bardos described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead and on page 213 introduces some of the Zen koans complied by the Chinese monk Mumon in The Gateless Gate.

Mason uses his discussion of Zen koans to illustrate the power of mindfulness training through guided meditations as a treatment for brain injury patients.

He even uses a haiku -- a kind of traditional Japanese poetry (俳句) -- in his Introduction (page 6):

In this world
We walk on the roof of hell
Gazing at the flowers. *

While I appreciate reading these Buddhist and Eastern ideas, I felt they were out of place in this book.

Also, while The Hospital in the Desert, the Chapter on Balad Hospital in Iraq, was interesting I felt that it too seemed out of place and perhaps could be the start of another book entirely.

I was also disappointed by the depressing and severe tone of this book and I much preferred the hopeful tone and the hard science of Norman Doidge's The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph From the Frontiers of Brain Science.

Both books use stories of real life brain injury cases and while Head Cases uses them to paint a bleak picture of traumatic brain injury (TBI) without teaching readers much science, The Brain That Changes Itself inspires readers with the astonishing findings of neuroplasticity research.

As I recall, Mason dedicates just one page to neuroplasticity (page 169) and manages to make it sound unscientific.

My recommendation? Stick to Oliver Sacks and Norman Doidge's The Brain That Changes Itself. If you read Head Cases, be prepared for depressing hopeless stories; to be expected, I suppose, from a man who must feel constant frustration at the poor treatment available to patients with traumatic brain injuries.

* In case you're curious about the original Japanese text by Kobayashi Issa (小林一茶), I looked it up:

世の中は
地獄の上の
花見かな

And here's the romanization (also not included in the book):

Yo no naka wa
Jigoku no ue no
Hanami kana

The Buddha from Brooklyn by Martha Sherrill

Last month I read The Buddha from Brooklyn by Martha Sherrill and out of curiosity this morning I read some of the reviews posted on Amazon.com.

Some reviews confirm the accuracy of Sherrill's portrayal of the Poolesville, MD Center (one poor woman even writes that she is about to purchase the book since her husband of 2.5 years has left her at Jetsunma's recommendation) while others are sympathetic to "Jetsunma."

I found this review by Teddy Baines (Oregon), who writes that he has been a Tibetan Buddhist for ten years, particularly interesting as it brought forth unfamiliar ideas:

1. Mandarava, the consort of Guru Rinpoche's, was slandered and derided to the point that she was imprisoned and sentenced to death. The two main criticisms levelled at Mandarava were that she was despoiling the Dharma and that she was a whore. Jetsunma is recognised by many high Lamas as an emanation of Mandarava. It is no surprise then that the same patterns are recurring. Indeed Holiness Penor Rinpoche predicted this at her enthronement.

2. Martha Sherril is aligned with neo-christian journalists who simply cannot accept the reality of incarnate lamas. To them any incarnate lama has to be a fake. Sherril was heavily pressured by two journalists in particular to turn the book, which was initially positive, into a negative expose. Also, Sherrill has limited exposure to Vajrayana and so has fallen victim to doubt. Doubt is one of two principle causes for human rebirth and so is a major factor in all of our make-up. Doubt will cause even the most perfect teacher to be seen as a villain. Need I remind you there is also a very nasty book about the Dalai Lama and a number of books about the high Kagyu Lamas involved in the 'Two Karmapas' affair. There are also slanderous books about Kalu Rinpoche and Trungpa. NO SLANDER OF ANY LAMA, OR ANY ORDINARY PERSON FOR THAT MATTER, IS EVER OK.

3. Very few of the truly great masters of the past would be accepted by us today. Jetsunma is mild mannered compared to Tilopa or any of the great Dakinis such as Niguma. Guru Rinpoche, the founder of Vajrayana, engaged in activity we would all frown one - promiscuity being the main one. The great saint Milarepa even killed someone. Also, what about the reverred saint Drukpa Kunley, who stole, advocated incest, engaged in drunkenness and promiscuity, including the sodomy of a demon?? Clearly Jetsunma's behaviour, if indeed the book is factual, which no-one here seems to question, is well within the boundaries of what in Vajrayana is considered enlightened behaviour.

4. The very, very high Lamas provoke moral outrage and controversy. All the Tibetan Lamas who have been asked about this, such as Holiness Ngawang Tenzin, the Dorje Lopon of Bhutan, who has no lineage connection to Jetsunma or the Palyul and who is the most reverred monk in Bhutan, has said that Jetsunma must be a very accomplished Lama indeed to provoke this stuff. He also said that she had guided her students perfectly.

5. It is a breach of one's Samyaya with one's own root Guru to disparage anyone else's root Guru. So to disparage Jetsunma means you make your own Lama's life shorter and damage your own wellbeing. Also it is quite simply a breach of our committment not to engage in gossip and harsh speech.

6. Martha Sherril works in a field not known for its truthfulness nor its committment to accuracy. Sherril breached a fundamental journalistic ethic by NOT giving Jetsunma right of redress and NOT interviewing current students about what past students were saying. This, if nothing else, is unethical and flawed journalism.

Click here to read all the reviews on Amazon.com and click here to read my other entries about this strange book.

NYTimes.com Book Review - The Uncertain Art by Sherwin B. Nuland

I've just read about Sherwin B. Nuland's The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine in Barry Gewen's "A Doctor Finds Miracles in Medicine" published June 6, 2008 in the New York Times Book Review.

I've always been fascinated by medicine and I love to read books about medicine (Awakenings and An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales by Oliver Sacks, The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph From the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doidge, and most recently Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath by Michael Paul Mason).

Nuland is a clinical professor of surgery at Yale University and the author of How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter (which won the National Book Award).

The publisher, Random House, describes The Uncertain Art as "a superb collection of essays about the vital mix of expertise, intuition, sound judgment, and pure chance that plays a part in a doctor’s practice and life."

Already it sounds more light-hearted than Mason's Head Cases (good book, but quite intense and sad) and more interesting than Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God and Diversity on Steroids by Julie Salamon (reviewed June 3 in the New York Times by Abigal Zuger here).

I would especially like to read Nuland's writing about acupuncture, electroshock therapy, and other non-mainstream practices; I'll have to check my local library and see if I can put a copy of The Uncertain Art (and maybe also Hospital) on hold!

Click here to read an excerpt of The Uncertain Art.

NYTimes.com Book Review - Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis by Kingsley Amis

Dwight Garner's "Toasting the Joys of Imbibing Properly" published in the New York Times on June 4, 2008 reviews Everyday Drinking: The Distilled Kingsley Amis by Kingsley Amis.

Everyday Drinking is a compilation of Amis's out-of-print classics on drinking alcoholic beverages, its history, social mores, and etiquette: "On Drink" (1973), "Everyday Drinking" (1983) and "How's Your Glass?" (1984).

Garner's review has pretty much sold me on this book.

I'm not much of a drinker and I haven't read any of those three books and still I may purchase a copy of Everyday Drinking for my ever expanding personal library.

Though I've had Stuart Walton's Out of It: a Cultural History of Intoxication on my "Books to Read" list, I haven't read any books on nor do I own any on drinking and Garner makes Everyday Drinking sound witty and delightful (more so than Out of It). Garner writes:

These books are so delicious they impart a kind of contact high; they make you feel as if you’ve just had the first sip of the planet’s coldest, driest martini.

Click here to read an excerpt of the Introduction and click here to read an excerpt of Chapter One.