Tag: Book Review

Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What Is Right for You by Jerome Groopman, M.D., and Pamela Hartzband, M.D

Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What Is Right for You by Jerome Groopman, M.D., and Pamela Hartzband, M.D

Posted on by Jack

We are all different. Modern medicine gives us many choices and many are based on probabilities of desired or undesired outcomes. And there is often an abundance of information and/or conflicting information. So, the question is “how do we decide?”

Drs. Groopman and Hartzband take on this question in “Your Medical Mind: How to Decide What Is Right for You” in a very interesting and informative manner. They interview a wide variety of patients dealing with various medical issues ranging from high cholesterol to cancer to end of life. They discuss various biases and how statistics and various narratives (stories of other patients) can either be used to mislead or educate.

Quite often there is no one best choice for everyone and no one best doctor for everyone. This very helpful guide to find the right choices for you . This book is full of good advice for both those facing a medical problem and thinking about their choices in doctors.

I liked this book a lot. I bought it to keep on my bookshelf as I am sure I will face some of the issues they discuss here over the coming years. I particularly liked the extensive notes and bibliography. I highly recommend this book.

Independence: The Struggle to Set America Free by John Ferling

Independence: The Struggle to Set America Free by John Ferling

Posted on by Jack

I’ve been reading Independence: The Struggle to Set America Free by John Ferling for a few weeks now. For me, nonfiction goes much slower than fiction and that has its advantages and disadvantages.

The book focuses on the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence. The author is a historian known for his expertise in the American Revolutionary era and several previous books have shown that he knows how to tell the story well. Concentration of this relatively short period of a few years allows the author to tell the story in some detail and explain well both the English desire to control a part of their empire and the change as the colonists and Continental Congress progressed from just wanting their rights as Englishmen to the realization that independence was neccessary.

Of course, not everyone made that jump, and those that did, moved a very different rates. I very much enjoyed reading about the interactions of the members who moved from their uncertain prospects to the founding a successful republic and highly recommend this book for those who would like more insight into this era.

Little Book of Alternative Investments and humor

Little Book of Alternative Investments and humor

Posted on by Jack

The Little Book of Alternative Investments: Reaping Rewards by Daring to be Different by Ben Stein and Phil DeMuth is indeed a little book. It is about 250 page but those pages are little – a bit less 5 by 7 inches according to my ruler.

I have enjoyed several books in this Little Book, Big Profit series. Of course, Ben Stein is not only an economist but a humorist (among his many talents) and for those of us who enjoy his humor, this is a wonderful new addtion to the series. Not only do Stein and DeMuth explain the world of alternative investments beyond the standard stock/bond portfolio in an extemely clear way but they add a touch of humor to make the economic lessons entertaining.

They propose looking at an entire portfolio in terms of risk. And discuss adding alternatives to your portfolio to decrease risk and add a bit of return as well. They also discuss several stategies used to decrease risk and suggest cheaper alternatives. And strategies that are unlikely to work for most of us. Learn about commodities, collectibles, real estate, hedge funds, and more and how they could fit into your portfolio or NOT. Who knew there were so many hedge fund types? Read this book and you may decide to check out more in the series.

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Posted on by Jack

I finished reading In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson while on a trip last weekend.

A mild mannered history professor, a free spirited daughter, Nazis, Russian spys – what’s not to like. As I said before, it is a wonderful book and I’d highly recommend it.

Tabloid City by Pete Hamill, a thriller of New York City

Tabloid City by Pete Hamill, a thriller of New York City

Posted on by Jack

Tabloid City has a double murder, a terrorist, a dying newspaper, financial fraud, New York, the Lipstick building, the Chelsea hotel, and more stuff. Well, it’s a thiller and it’s complicated and Pete Hamill tells the stories well and moves among them with apparent ease and ties them together into a bigger story about New York City. And nobody is better than Pete Hamill in writing about New York.


The stories are told in brief, sometimes very brief, snippets. When he moves on to the next story, I often missed the story he just left as I wanted to know more, but usually that feeling didn’t last more than a few sentences as you were pulled into the next story. I highly recommend this book to the Pete Hamill fan. If you are not a fan but think you might be interested in his writing, this is a great way to start. The book is only 280 pages and it moves quickly so it really doesn’t seem that long. As you move about with several characters you get a lot about the city as it is now but also a flavor of the New York City of a generation or two back. So all you have to lose is spending several hours with a good book. And if you like the New York City history aspect of Hamill’s writing I suggest Forever as your next Pete Hamill book.

I like Pete Hamill’s writing. I usually don’t finish books I don’t like and so I don’t review them. And if you’ve browsed through this blog, you may have noticed several reviews of Pete Hamill’s work. I also like New York and I think the 2 things are related.

In my review I don’t like to tell too much of the story because I think it may diminish the pleasure or reading the book. On the other hand if the reviewer doesn’t say enough you may not be interested and will definitely miss the pleasures of the book. So if you like a longer review, here is a good one by the Women of Mystery. I completely agreed with the review and since they are mystery writers from the New York City area, their opinions about this New York City thriller are well worth reading.

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly

Posted on by Jack

The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly may be the best in the Lincoln Lawyer series but I can’t say that. It may be, but I’m not the person to say. I had read the first Lincoln Lawyer book years ago. It was OK but I liked other books much better (including his Harry Bosch series). So I haven’t read them all so can’t really say this is the best. But I can say it is very good.

Also Michael Connelly is a very good story teller. In each of his books that I’ve read to date (and it must be close to 20 books now), he constantly surprises you and keeps your interest piqued. One more chapter leads to the next and it is hard to put down the book and take a break to take care of the other things in life. And many of his books are not short quick reads (this is over 400 pages) so this obsessive period where you get little done besides reading usually last several days for me. I started reading his crime stories which were mostly told from the point of view of the investigating detective. I found it surprising when he introduced the Lincoln Lawyer and demonstrated that he is so good at telling stories both through the eyes of a detective and a defense lawyer.

I skipped the next few in the series. But having seen the recent movie on the Lincoln Lawyer and heard this book was very good, I decided to give this book a try. I was not disappointed.

To very briefly summarize the plot (without giving much away), the bad economy has hurt business for Mickey Haller. There are still plenty of criminals and those accused of crime but fewer can afford to pay a defense lawyer. So Mickey has moved over to the new booming business for lawyers, homeowners who are facing foreclosure. But no sooner does the book start than things become much more interesting. A foreclosure client is accused to killing the banker involved with her loan. Yes, Michael Connelly does make the world of foreclosure interesting. And the murder defense makes things more interesting.

The book is excellent as a legal thriller and is also very relevant to current events. The foreclosure mess is very much in the news these days. I’d highly recommend The Fifth Witness.

I headed over to Amazon to see what everyone thought of the book. I thought the book was very good but wanted to know what others thought. There were over 200 hundred reviews so I just read the first few and they were very positive. Then I looked at the summary and about 25% of reviews gave the highest rating (5 stars) and all the rest were the lowest (1 star). There was nothing in between which seemed very odd. Then I remembered a blog entry that discussed the 1 star protest against high Kindle prices (http://thebookstop.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/thoughts-on-kindle-book-pricing-and-the-one-star-protest/) and I read further and that what was happening. The negative reviewers seemed to agree it was a very good book but gave it a 1 star because the Kindle price was too high (in their opinion of course).

I don’t think a review should be based on the price of a book or whether the reviewer thinks the version they read (or refused to buy) is overpriced. The publisher incurs many of the same costs – editorial, publicity, marketing, etc. So I would not expect the books to be extremely cheap since that would mean ignoring some very real costs. But save the cost of actually printing and shipping the book. Preparing and distributing the Kindle versions would also involve cost but I would think these should be lower than warehousing the printed copy and mailing it to the buyer. (Amazon, correct me if I am wrong here. ) It is generally the case that the Kindle version is a little cheaper but I have also seen cases where the Kindle version is actually a little bit more. This makes no sense to me. But it seems to me that the complaint is to the merchant or maybe the publisher, certainly not the author, and the price of various editions has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the work which is what most of us read reviews for.

Prophecy by S.J. Parris (advance reader)

Prophecy by S.J. Parris (advance reader)

Posted on by Jack

After a few pages I was back in 1583. Was it a miracle of time travel? No, I had just started reading Prophecy by S.J. Parris.

I had read the first book in this series (Heresy) which introduced me to Giordano Bruno, a renagade Italian monk who fled to England to avoid the wrath of The Inquisition. He was a free-thinker and philosopher and the Pope wanted him burned at the stake as a heretic. Much to my surprise I later learned that Giordano Bruno was a real person and he did flee the heresy charges but was eventually arrested by The Inquisition, declared a heretic and burned at the stake. And he was really in England for several years (including 1583) during his years between the fleeing and the execution. I thoroughly enjoyed this historical novel/thriller based on this character.

When I saw the second in this series by S.J Parris was coming out in a few months, I managed to get an Advance Reader’s Copy (ARC) of Prophecy. As mentioned at the beginning of the review, the author does a wonderful job of setting the stage and transporting you back to the time period. Much more important than adjusting to life with no cars, no TV, and even no internet is the texture of life with the importance of being Catholic or Protestant, superstition, astrology, and so forth.

The story is set in 1583, the year of the Great Conjunction, when the two most powerful planets, Jupiter and Saturn, align in a certain way, an astrologi­cal event that occurs about once every thousand years and was thought to herald the end of one age and the start of another. All sorts of things could happen, maybe even the death of Queen Elizabeth.

When one of the queen’s maids of honor is killed, Francis Walsingham “spymaster” of the Queen asks Giordano Bruno to help solve the crimes. Bruno must allow the plot to progress far enough to give the queen the proof she needs but in doing so may allow the plot to go too far and result in the death of the Queen.

And although historical fiction does have an interest in itself, it is also very relevant to modern day dilemmas. Walsingham uses methods which would seem to be inconsistent with Elizabeth’s desired openness and tolerance. A dilemma in modern day democracy is how far you should go using methods inconsistent with your values to ensure the survival of your government and values. The police certainly want to prevent crime and terrorism but when they discover plots need to let them go far enough that they are sure they are right and maybe even convict the guilty.

The writing of S. J. Parris and her remarkable sense of place and time make both books stories worth reading. Heresy is now available in paperback and Prophecy is scheduled to be out in March in the UK and Australia but May in the US.

Henrietta Lacks and immortal HeLa cells: a legal but not moral tale

Henrietta Lacks and immortal HeLa cells: a legal but not moral tale

Posted on by Jack

I just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

OK, I am not your typical reader. I am a scientist and have done quite a bit of cell culture. (I am retired now and read a lot.) I knew something about Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells and thought the book would be only somewhat interesting and really not worth the time. But I was wrong. The reviews have all been so positive, I figured I should give this book a try. The story here is well-told and adds much detail that I thought I wouldn’t care about. (Did I mention that I was wrong?).

The doctors treating her cancer took her cells without informed consent. (But that was accepted practice until fairly recently.) This was the first immortal human cell line and was extremely important to medical science. There were medical advances and money was made. Yet the Lacks family got nothing. It was all legal but I doubt many would consider it moral.

There are several stories: Henrietta, her immediate family, the extended Lacks family, and the injustices done to them. And these are important stories. The book would be worthwhile if all it did was tell these stories. But it also puts these stories into the larger contexts of ethics, science, medical research, race, class, journalism, poverty, and education. So it is very complex and somehow Ms. Skloot manages to weave all of these facets into a fascinating and educational book in much less than 400 pages.

The reviews have been great and the book has become a best seller. And there is a simple reason for this. Rebecca Skloot has transformed an interesting story of an injustice into a fascinating book.

And unlike many of those who benefited from these cells and this family, Rebecca Skloot did something very strange. She actually tried to help this family. She has established The Henrietta Lacks Foundation to help Henrietta Lacks’ family. She is donating a potion of the book’s proceeds to the foundation and all visitors to the site may donate as well.

This story is really well-told. And different readers may enjoy one aspect more than another. But all aspects are well done and I think fairly covered.

Gideon’s Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Gideon Crew series)

Gideon’s Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Gideon Crew series)

Posted on by Jack

Thanks to netgalley I read an advanced reader’s copy (ARC) of Gideon’s Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. The book won’t be released until February 22, 2011 but is available for pre-order though Amazon as either a physical book or a Kindle edition. The novel is planned to be the first installment in a new series featuring Gideon Crew. Gideon Crew is a fascinating character: an accomplished art thief, a Los Alamos physicist, an outdoorsman, an actor, a jazz fan, and more.

In the opening chapter a boy’s father is killed in front of him as a traitor to the United States government. Years later, Gideon who is now a young man learns his father was murdered as a scapegoat for an intelligence failure.

He plots his revenge and in carrying it out shows skills which bring him the attention of a private company which seems to be a government contractor for secret projects. Needless to say, Gideon agrees to a specific project and that does not go as planned and a thrilling sequence of events follows.

The authors do a wonderful job in telling his story. It was a real page-turner and I read the whole book (300+ pages) in less than 24 hours. The characters were interesting and the plot moved quickly. I had high expectations having previously read several books in the Agent Pendergast series by the authors.

I almost completely enjoyed this book. The ending seems to only partially resolve Gideon assignment. In many ways it felt like watching a TV show and getting very interested and wondering how they are going to wind up the story in a few minutes and then being left hanging when they say “Continued next week” but worse because you know it will be much more than a week. Although I found this ending disappointing, it does pique your interest for future installments of this planned series.

So this is sort of a mixed review. I enjoyed the book until the chapter which disappointed me greatly.

Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero by Michael Korda

Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero by Michael Korda

Posted on by Jack

I enjoyed the biography of Andrew Johnson (see previous post) so much I decide to read a short biography of the next president. Ulysses S. Grant: The Unlikely Hero by Michael Korda is a good short biography. It is part of “The Eminent Lives” series.

It is worth reading because although we usually think of Grant as a great general and poor president, Korda’s biography shows the decency and gentleness that paired with military genius to make Grant the leader he was. He also makes a great case that Grant was a much better president than is usually thought.

Andrew Johnson by Annette Gordon-Reed

Andrew Johnson by Annette Gordon-Reed

Posted on by Jack

I read the new book on President Andrew Johnson by Annette Gordon-Reed. The author is best known for her books on Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson and has won a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for her work. She is also a MacArthur Fellow and recipient of the National Humanities Medal and holds 3 appointments at Harvard.

Here is a partial quote from near the beginning of the book

… an assassin’s bullet would place the political fate of African Americans into the hands of a man who despised them.

Were it not so thoroughly steeped in mindless tragedy the first assassination of an American president, the destruction of the hopes of a people long treated as property who thought they were finally going to be able to live in dignity and peace, the lost chance to make the promise of America real to all who lived here one might be content to cast Andrew Johnson’s time in the White House as a form of cosmic joke. The gods were playing tricks on us, giving us Abraham Lincoln exactly when we needed him, having him cut down by an inconsequential person, and then giving us Andrew Johnson to teach us the folly of even imagining that we controlled our own destinies. But the effects of Johnson’s presidency were too profound, too far ranging — reaching into twenty-first-century America to be considered anything approaching a joke or trick, even one to teach an important lesson.

To be fair to Johnson, any man would have had a tough time following Abraham Lincoln, particularly under the circumstances that ended his presidency. …

Seems a very tragic thing that we went from Lincoln who is considered one of the best presidents to Andrew Johnson who is considered one of the worst presidents at a time of great national need. Like Lincoln, Johnson rose from very humble beginnings to the highest office in the land. Unfortunately, Johnson learned a very different lesson from the journey. The book documents his career which includes white supremacist beliefs and battles with Congress over Reconstruction of the defeated South.

My take on this is that the author has very strong feelings about the failures of Johnson as a President and events resulting from those failures. At a time the nation need unity and healing, a white supremacist became President and his failures have “haunted the nation ever since.” It seems to me that the author is very fair in her evaluation of events and documents those failures well. The book was extremely interesting and gave me insight into the first president to be impeached (and the only one before Bill Clinton). The Constitution provides for impeachment for “… high Crimes and Misdemeanors” but those offenses are not defined. There is an interesting discussion about various interpretations of that provision of the Constitution. The book has also made me want to learn more about the period after the Civil War and its implications for modern society.

This book is part of The American Presidents Series and if this is a typical example, I assume it must be a series of fairly short and excellent biographies.

Gabriel Cohen: “The Graving Dock” and “Neptune Avenue”

Gabriel Cohen: “The Graving Dock” and “Neptune Avenue”

Posted on by Jack

Recently I’ve been reading some non-fiction and really enjoyed those books but large non-fiction books can be a bit slow and since I liked the crime fiction by Gabriel Cohen, I thought I would give myself a treat with a couple of his books that were on my “to read” list. These would be “The Graving Dock” and “Neptune Avenue”. And as expected, both were much faster and enjoyable in a different way.

In the past few months, I reviewed 2 books by Gabriel Cohen: “The Ninth Step” and “Red Hook”. I really liked both, the first and fourth in a series about Detective Jack Leightner. “The Graving Dock” and “Neptune Avenue” are and second and third.

Gabriel Cohen’s books are crime novels, they are so much more. Jack grew up near the docks in Red Hook, Brooklyn and is haunted by his childhood (his relationship with his father and the death of his brother mostly) and his failures as an adult (especially a failed marriage, an uneasy relationship with his son, and difficulties in relationships). All in this series have been excellent reads and now that I’ve read all 4 in the series to date, I guess I’ll just have to wait for the next.

Since the sense of place is so important in Gabriel Cohen’s novels, these books are wonderful for those who either know Brooklyn or want to know more about Brooklyn. By the way, a graving dock is a dry dock and is used to repair ships below the water line. And Neptune Avenue is in Brooklyn, the Coney Island, Brighton Beach area.

So I’ll finish up with a few links you might find useful or interesting:

Amazon’s Gabriel Cohen Page

Gabriel Cohen’s website

saveindustrialbrooklyn.org

Montaigne: unusual biography of an accidental philosopher and first blogger

Montaigne: unusual biography of an accidental philosopher and first blogger

Posted on by Jack

The reviewers can’t seem to say enough good things about How to Live: Or A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell. If there are any negative reviews I haven’t seen them.

The Amazon.com crowd will usually let you know if they don’t like something and there are nearly always few negatives even if most folks like it. But when I looked this afternoon there were 22 reviews and 16 were the highest rating (5 stars). The rest were 4 stars. Have a look there. Read some reviews if so inclined and maybe even buy the book.

The Library Journal puts in among the Ten Best Books of 2010. The book has gotten rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. (It was released in England before the U.S.) There is a wonderful portrait of the author and the book in the New York Times. But enough about everyone else; what do I think?

Montaigne believed the best way to discover how to live was in the examination of everyday things and events and writing about them in his Essays. In doing so he seems to have invented a new literary form. And you might consider some bloggers as his literary descendants. Speaking of blogs and such, I am grateful that the author chose to talk about the Oxford Muse self-portraits. I was unaware of this and it looks like some very interesting reading.

This is an unusual biography. But then Montaigne was an unusual man. He did think of himself as usual, or maybe as unusual as everyone else, but what made him really unusual was that he wrote about life and himself. And he had a knack for shifting his perspective, imagining events through the eyes of someone else or even his cat. (Yes, that was a shameless attempt to lure cat lovers to my blog.)

Sarah Bakewell has constructed a most unusual biography of this proto-blogger and accidental philosopher. It is structured around 20 answers (or as she puts in attempts at an answer) to the How to Live question. Bits about his life are scattered in among the answers and this a very seems suitable way to tell the story of his life. We slowly to know him as we listen to some of his answers and learn about his life.

The book is an enjoyable read. I felt I was learning much about Montaigne, his life, his philosophy, and the 16th century world he lived in while enjoying a good story or series of stories. The book reads like a novel perhaps because she make the subject so compelling but I think the book is so complete it would also be useful as an academic resource.

Here are a few more links if you want to read a bit more:

Also I might mention that I rarely am impressed with the design on the dust jacket but the design on the US version by John Gall is very good (in my opinion, of course).

Enough about this book and my opinions. I’m off to read some Montaigne essays which I hear are about you (and me!)

My Reading Life and Fall of Giants

My Reading Life and Fall of Giants

Posted on by Libby

My Reading Life by Pat Conroy

Every time that I read Pat Conroy, I remember why I love his writing so much. This book doesn’t disappoint.   My Reading Life can be read a chapter at a time or read all at once.

Anyone who has read his books will love this – the books and people that made him the writer he is today.

Link to Pat Conroy’s page at Amazon

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Finished the first of this planned trilogy. I enjoy historical fiction and Mr. Follett does a wonderful job in this book describing the historical years before WWI.

But the problems I had with this book were the characters. I didn’t care for most of them nor did I want to read about their romantic interludes. The book ends with all his characters surviving. (Kind of hard to believe considering the horrific conditions the author describes.) But I’ll probably will read the next book to see how it continues.

Link to Ken Follett’s page at Amazon

The Book, a dystopian novel

The Book, a dystopian novel

Posted on by Jack

The opening line is “Don’t read The Book” but I’m glad I did. The book is The Book by M. Clifford.

I thought the idea behind the book was important but I wasn’t always fond of how the author told the story. A good editor may have improved matters. The idea is somewhat similar to other dystopian novels in that the government controls and modifies information.

This book adds an interesting twist in that they do so not by banning books or burning books but by becoming a sole publisher of books which are electronic and can be edited as the government wants and paper copies are no longer printed and old paper copies recycled. The great recycling is presented as an environmental plus and government edits of books are a secret and only suspected by a few.

This reminded me of 1984 with government control of information but the technology is now more believable.

Thus this is a cautionary tale which features eReaders as an instrument of government control. It was an unintentional irony that I read my copy on a Kindle. By the way, the paperback version is about what you would expect to pay for a paperback but the Kindle version is only $2.99 (at least that is what I paid and it was still that when I looked tonight.)