The war on drugs has spawned more crime, violence, addiction and suffering — the exact opposite of what was intended. That is the theme of this provocative and timely book by British author Johann Hari, who spent three years researching the subject. In 1914, Congress banned the sale of heroin and cocaine, although doctors could continue to prescribe these drugs. But that … [Read more...]
‘Just Mercy’ chilling look at American injustice system
Just Mercy is timely in view of two recent cases in which grand juries declined to indict white policemen involved in the deaths of black suspects in Ferguson, Mo., and New York City. Bryan Stevenson has written a chilling book about miscarriages of justice in the criminal justice system, particularly when blacks are prosecuted. Descended from slaves, Stevenson grew up in a … [Read more...]
Health care too focused on repair, not happiness, physician says
Modern medicine excels at treating illness while it mostly sidesteps patients’ end-of-life fears and hopes, which is the theme of Being Mortal, a thoughtful new book by Harvard University surgeon and author Atul Gawande. “I learned a lot of things in medical school, but mortality wasn’t one of them,” Gawande writes. “Our textbooks had almost nothing on aging or frailty or … [Read more...]
How Alzheimer’s robbed victim, healthy spouse of their lives
Harvey Gralnick was a 56-year-old esteemed doctor at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland when his wife and colleagues began noticing changes in his behavior -- forgetting things, getting lost, lashing out. A medical examination found nothing wrong, but two years later a physician suggested that Gralnick might be suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s. “I had never … [Read more...]
‘Pencil’ full of itself, but recounts an admirable idea
Growing up in wealthy Greenwich, Conn., Adam Braun developed an “obsession” with Wall Street and dreamed of “becoming a billionaire. While in college he traveled abroad in the Semester at Sea program, which introduces students to different cultures. Braun decided to ask children he encountered in each nation what they would choose if they could have anything in the world. In … [Read more...]
‘Sixth Extinction’ is an urgent, chilling warning
More than 60 million years ago a 6-mile-wide asteroid crashed into Earth, wiping out the dinosaurs. Four other mass extinctions in the past 450 million years destroyed countless other animal and plant species. In her profound new book, The Sixth Extinction, science writer Elizabeth Kolbert argues that Earth could be heading for another extinction that would kill off many … [Read more...]
Kidd’s ‘Invention of Wings’ compelling tale of slave era
From the opening pages of this engaging novel, Sue Monk Kidd grabs the reader’s attention with her compelling portrait of a slave-owning family in Charleston, S.C. The well-told story begins with the white parents giving their daughter Sarah her own slave as a present on her 11th birthday. Rebellious Sarah wants nothing to do with slavery, but the parents insist. The … [Read more...]
‘Echo Spring’ probes alcohol as source of inspiration, tragedy
It is almost a cliché that famous writers and alcohol go together. In this important new book English author Olivia Laing focuses on six prominent American writers who struggled with alcoholism — F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, John Cheever, John Berryman and Raymond Carver. Laing grew up in an alcoholic family, which partly explains her intense … [Read more...]
‘Malala’ a powerful story of crime, recovery and faith in ideas
Many will recall the electrifying speech delivered last summer at the United Nations by a 16-year-old Pakistani girl who had been shot by the Taliban. Her crime? She had publicly advocated education for girls at a time when the Taliban was burning down schools and threatening girls and teachers. I Am Malala offers a gripping account of that awful day when a Taliban fanatic … [Read more...]
Despite brutality, ex-Somali captive inclines toward forgiveness
Amanda Lindhout was 27 when she and a male friend were captured in Somalia by Muslim extremists who then demanded $2 million in ransom. Lindhout, a novice writer / photographer from Canada, and Nigel Brennan, an Australian photographer, were held hostage under horrid conditions for 460 days. Soldiers raped, starved and tortured Lindhout, who dreamed of an imaginary “house in … [Read more...]