Never Shower in a Thunderstorm

Never Shower in a Thunderstorm: Surprising Facts and Misleading Myths About our Health & the World we Live in - Anahad O'Connor 

From Amazon: "For more than two years, the New York Timess science and health columnist Anahad OConnor has tracked down the facts, fictions, and occasional fuzziness of old wives tales, conventional-wisdom cures, and other medical mysteries. Now in this lively and fun book, he opens up his case files to disclose the experts answers on everything, from which of your bad habits you can indulge (yo-yo dieting does not mess up your metabolism and sitting too close to the television does not hurt your eyes) to what foods actually pack the punch advertised (you can lay off the beet juice!). A compendium of answers to the curious and nagging questions of how to keep healthy, Never Shower in a Thunderstorm will provide guidance and amusement to anyone who has ever wondered if the mosquitoes really are attacking her more than everyone else. (Yes, they are.)"

Not the most exciting book I've read, but I suppose not the worst either. Sort of like mythbusters, but for old wives tales and myths. Unfortunately, it involves mostly health, with much less blowing up. It was fast to read because it was just a few pages on each question. I suppose I'd recommend it to someone who wanted to know the answers to these weird questions, but really, there's many better books out there...

Anthem

Anthem - Ayn Rand

From Amazon: "

In a future where there is no love, no science, and everyone is equal and of one entity, one man defies the group to be his own person. That is a serious offense."

I really enjoyed this very short book. It reminded me of the Giver, which I read so long ago. This is the first Ayn Rand book that I've read, but we have many more of them sitting on our bookshelf at home, so maybe I'll actually read more of them. It also reminds me a bit of Oryx and Crake.. and maybe even 1984. 

I'd recommend it!

Payback

Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth - Margaret Atwood

From Amazon: "Debt is usually regarded as bloblike, cheerless, and about as illuminating as a dungeon. But Atwood sees things in it that we don’t. What she offers us in tBohese meditations is nothing less than a secret history of human obligation, economic and otherwise. From ancient tax collectors to the reason why “Hell is like a maxed out credit card,” Atwood exposes the debts we incur and the pledges we make in the arenas of law, business, religion, and the environment."

I really enjoy Margaret Atwood. She's bizarre and crazy and I love it. This book has nothing to do with debt as we think, instead she touches on different kinds of debt, and talks about the history of debt, justice, and why there has to be two sides (debtor/creditor) in order for everything to make sense. I enjoyed the history lesson - although it would have been a bit better if I knew a few more of her examples.

Overall, I'd recommend this to someone who wants a different kind of read, especially different for Atwood. The other books that I've read by her are fiction -- this one brings out a different, more inquisitive side of her.

Still Alice

Still Alice - Lisa Genova

From Amazon: "Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old, she's a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's disease changes her life.

As the inevitable descent into dementia strips away her sense of self, fiercely independent Alice struggles to live in the moment. While she once placed her worth and identity in her celebrated and respected academic life, now she must reevaluate her relationship with her husband, a respected scientist; her expectations of her children; and her ideas about herself and her place in the world. At once beautiful and terrifying, Still Alice is a moving and vivid depiction of life with early-onset Alzheimer's disease that is as compelling as A Beautiful Mind and as unforgettable as Ordinary People."

This book was tragic, at times hard to read, yet impossible to put down. I'm glad I read it, even though I wasn't in a great mood while reading it. It reminded me so much of Nana, and really gave me a better idea of what she must have been feeling like, and dealing with. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who knows someone who is dealing with or dealt with this tragic disease.


I almost wish that I had read this book earlier, so that I could understand Nana's need for "home" and her weird gaps in memory a bit better. I really hope that neither of my parents (or anyone I know, for that matter) develops Alzheimer's or dementia, or whatever Nana had.

Denialism

Denialism - Michael Specter

From Amazon: "In Denialism, New Yorker staff writer Michael Specter reveals that Americans have come to mistrust institutions and especially the institution of science more today than ever before. For centuries, the general view had been that science is neither good nor bad — that it merely supplies information and that new information is always beneficial. Now, science is viewed as a political constituency that isn't always in our best interest. We live in a world where the leaders of African nations prefer to let their citizens starve to death rather than import genetically modified grains. Childhood vaccines have proven to be the most effective public health measure in history, yet people march on Washington to protest their use."

If you think that eating organic food is a good thing for the world, or that eating multi-vitamins is actually useful.. you should read this. I'd recommend it, if for nothing more than reading a different side of the story.

Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

From Amazon: "The story revolves around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Whereas the former is a sensible, rational creature, her younger sister is wildly romantic--a characteristic that offers Austen plenty of scope for both satire and compassion. Commenting on Edward Ferrars, a potential suitor for Elinor's hand, Marianne admits that while she "loves him tenderly," she finds him disappointing as a possible lover for her sister."

I only read this book because I felt like I should, at some point, read a Jane Austen. This will probably be the first and last. I wasn't really interested in the plot, and their simplistic and pathetic? lives just weren't that interesting to me.

Finally finishing this book (I started it in late December, and finished it yesterday) means that I can cross number 16 off the list. Sweet!

Charlie Johnson in the Flames

Charlie Johnson in the Flames - Michael Ignatieff

From Amazon: "This short, intense novel tells the story of Charlie Johnson, a war correspondent working in the Balkans during the recent conflict there. Charlie, hardened to the realities of war but not yet insensitive to the human beings experiencing daily trauma, is accompanied by his cameraman and best friend, Jacek, a melancholy, reliable Pole. The story focuses on a single event and its aftermath. While hiding in a contested village, Charlie sees a peasant woman set alight and tries to put the fire out with his bare hands. After his recovery, he grows obsessed with his memory of the woman, who was rescued by helicopter but eventually died. He returns to the Balkan danger zones to hunt down the high-ranked soldier who murdered her, not to kill him but to simply ask, "Why?""

I don't like Ignatieff as a politician (can he still be called that?) but as an author he is marginally better. This book wasn't super interesting, but it was something to read. I don't know if I'd really recommend it to anyone though.

A Case of Exploding Mangoes

A Case of Exploding Mangoes - Mohammed Hanif

From Amazon: "On August 17, 1988, Pak One, the airplane carrying Pakistani dictator General Zia and several top generals, crashed, killing all on board--and despite continued investigation, a smoking gun--mechanical or conspiratorial--has yet to be found. Mohammed Hanif's outrageous debut novel, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, tracks at least two (and as many as a half-dozen) assassination vectors to their convergence in the plane crash, incorporating elements as diverse as venom-tipped sabers, poison gas, the curses of a scorned First Lady, and a crow impaired by an overindulgence of ripe mangoes."

This was a very random book.. starting with the plane crash that killed the dictator and his colleagues. It followed six? different characters, in a very interwoven story. I really enjoyed it, and would recommend it. The book was very military-based, and while I don't know much about army goings-on, I was still able to follow everything.