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Summary: A grab bag of
book reviews on topics
ranging from hospital
bureaucracy and math
instincts to a critique on
wifeliness and a nation
addicted to therapy.
Blink: The Power of Thinking
Without Thinking
By Malcolm Gladwell (Little,
Brown)
 A
celebration of the power of
quick thinking. Why is it
that hunches, snap judgments
and high-speed
decision-making can be more
accurate than deliberate
analysis? Gladwell, author
of The Tipping Point, argues
that rapid cognition and
"thin-slicing"-quickly
recognizing underlying
patterns-may feel like a
bolt from the blue but are a
matter of experience and
training. Blink is a
delightful read, introducing
us to ace bird-watchers,
master marital counselor
John Gottman, the designers
of the Aeron chair and the
best car salesman in New
Jersey.
Science Friction: Where the
Known meets the Unknown
By Michael Shermer (Henry
Holt)
 For
someone who believes that
science trumps opinion,
Shermer, founding publisher
of Skeptic magazine, reveals
a surprising number of
personal details in his
eclectic collection of
essays. He ranks the stirrup
as a top-100 invention, and
he once tried colonics in
preparation for a bike race.
But his main obsession is
the truth, not himself.
Amateur skeptics will learn
from his matter-of-fact
dismissals of astrology and
creationism, though only
committed skeptics -- true
non-believers? -- will
appreciate his dry analysis
of Star Trek.
Poe's Heart and the Mountain
Climber: Exploring the
Effect of Anxiety on our
Brains and our Culture
By Richard Restak
(Harmony/Crown)
 Fear,
anxiety, angst: Neurologist
Restak explores this unholy
trinity of the modern era,
explaining why so many of us
tremble and fret. He
combines brain biology with
anecdotes about lonely
parrots, adrenaline junkies
and people whose lives have
been undone by fear,
including the sad story of a
subway conductor who was
plagued by visions after
accidentally running down a
homeless woman on the
tracks. Restak also offers
straightforward tips on
combating anxiety -- and the
reassurance that fear is
part of being human.
What it Takes to Pull Me
Through: Why Teenagers Get
in Trouble and How Four of
Them Got Out
By David L. Marcus (Houghton
Mifflin)
 Readers
will find themselves pulling
for four kids in crisis-and
their parents-in this
absorbing account of 14
months at the Academy at
Swift River, a school for
troubled teens. Hope and
courage develop in an
inner-city boy clouded by
depression, a privileged
girl addicted to drugs and
sex, a boy coming to terms
with being adopted and a
girl coping with her
mother's death. Marcus
details their successes and
heartaches-one passage
describes how academy
graduates deal with the
death of one of their own.
Eyeing the Flash: The
Education of a Carnival Con
Artist
By Peter Fenton (Simon and
Schuster)
 Peter
Fenton, a former reporter
for the National Enquirer,
begins his memoir when he
was 15, living in an idyllic
Michigan town. A gawky
108-pounder, Peter is
approached after geometry
class by Jackie, a carnie
grifter who says he started
training elephants at age 6.
Under Jackie's wing, Peter
learns how to fleece
carnivalgoers, survive
carnie life and turn himself
from a mouse into a shark.
Fenton's take on 1960s
suburban life is reminiscent
of David Sedaris. You'll
grin your way through the
chapters.
13 Dreams Freud Never Had:
The New Mind Science
By J. Allan Hobson (Pi
Press)
 Even
as a university student, J.
Allan Hobson was obsessed by
dreams. He first
participated in Dreamstage
(a theatrical museum like
exhibit), then studied dream
theory and brain physiology.
Now a Harvard psychiatry
professor, Hobson uses
neuroscientific research to
explain the dreaming
process, bringing
credibility to this
interdisciplinary field.
What's most engaging in 13
Dreams, though, are the
salacious tidbits Hobson
shares from his own dreams
at the beginning of every
chapter -- complete with
sketches from his bedside
journals and prophetic
details about his
extramarital affairs.
Article courtesy of
www.psychologytoday.com
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