Beautifully illustrated retelling of an ancient Persian fable and epic poem. The message is familiar and almost archetypal - don't search for meaning...moreBeautifully illustrated retelling of an ancient Persian fable and epic poem. The message is familiar and almost archetypal - don't search for meaning or leadership outside yourself, you are the person you've been looking for, there's no place like home, all that. But it's a message that is an archetype for a reason, and all the other retellings of it that I can think of came after this one. And this is a beautifully done version of it.
Thanks, Allyson, for giving this to me as a gift! (less)
Received a free copy courtesy of my mother (Bonnie Lyons) who has several poems featured in this collection and translation of the Torah - and it is b...moreReceived a free copy courtesy of my mother (Bonnie Lyons) who has several poems featured in this collection and translation of the Torah - and it is both of those things. It is a brilliant new translation plus commentary of the Torah, through feminist eyes, and it includes poetry at the end of each parsha, which often offer the most interesting interpretations of all.
I'm putting Trash in memoir because that's the way it reads, and Allison has spoken about how much of what she has written about is based directly on ...moreI'm putting Trash in memoir because that's the way it reads, and Allison has spoken about how much of what she has written about is based directly on her own life.
I'm usually not a big fan of "fiction" which is really memoir. I guess I want a little bit of displacement - it may be therapeutic for you to write about your traumatic life experiences but that doesn't make it pleasant to read.
So why do I give Trash 4 stars? Because some - not all, but some - of the stories in this collection read more like poetry than fiction or memoir. Allison uses language beautifully, interweaving thoughtful commentary on class, violence, women, and the South subtly with elegant, precise descriptions and imagery. I particularly admire the way she uses metaphor in poetic ways - "A Lesbian Appetite" does this with food and "Steal Away" does this with stealing.
Some of the other stories are good, but feel more like memoir and therefore don't leave me with something to chew on in quite the same way - like "Mama." Then there's "The Meanest Woman in Tennessee" which has a great title, and draws a picture of fascinating characters, but struggles with what all writers struggle with anti-hero characters - making the primary character likeable enough to keep the reader engaged. This novel solves the problem but viewing that unlikeable primary character through someone else's eyes, with mixed results. (less)
In general this is a fascinating and readable book for someone who isn't a lawyer and who is often confused by the ins and outs of how the Supreme Cou...moreIn general this is a fascinating and readable book for someone who isn't a lawyer and who is often confused by the ins and outs of how the Supreme Court works - both now and historically. Justice Breyer walks us through some of the most important, pivotal cases in history in terms of determining the Court's role in American life. The most interesting chapters are definitely the first section, where he reviews Marbury v. Madison, The Cherokees v. Georgia, Dred Scott, Brown v. Board, and then the third section where he reviews Korematsu and other cases related to Japanese internment camps, and the contemporary Guantanamo Bay cases. The middle section bogs down a little in technical details and is harder for a layperson to follow, but it's crucial to setting up the later chapters. (less)
Picked it up used. It's from the Bush years yet some of his insights are still relevant and funny. Done in short comics so the depth of analysis is ...morePicked it up used. It's from the Bush years yet some of his insights are still relevant and funny. Done in short comics so the depth of analysis is more limited than, say, Pete Bagge's Everyone Here is Stupid. Art style is clean and easy to read. (less)
I'll be updating my copy to the 8th edition as soon as it arrives, but the essential text is pretty similar to the 5th edition I read in graduate scho...moreI'll be updating my copy to the 8th edition as soon as it arrives, but the essential text is pretty similar to the 5th edition I read in graduate school. It's a pretty decent foundation for understanding ethical guidelines for therapists, and does a good job of conveying the complexities of ethical decision making. The self-inventories at the beginning of each chapter is a clever structure to make sure readers are thinking about the material as they go along, it could be a little less clunky and obvious about what the "right" answers are, since in real-world ethical dilemmas the "right" answer is rarely as clear as the book makes it seem. (less)
This is a well-written, well-researched, and incredibly important book. I think that people who aren't in the mental health field could probably read ...moreThis is a well-written, well-researched, and incredibly important book. I think that people who aren't in the mental health field could probably read it without realizing how important it is, in part because Watters does a good job of being objective and giving his subjects the benefit of the doubt - i.e. he assumes whenever possible that the mistakes being made are being done with good intentions. Towards the end of the book he reveals that his wife is a psychologist, and implies that this helped guide his perspective on this matter.
But the book is pretty groundbreaking in some important ways. It challenges a lot of the fundamental ideas about mental health and makes a good case for the idea that what we think of as fundamental ideas about psychology and health are in fact products of American civilization. Which would be fine, perhaps, if we were only using these ideas to heal ourselves, but we're not. We're assuming those ideas are what's right for everybody, much as we do for our ideas about what form of government everyone should have and what values people should hold. He doesn't really go there and say this explicitly, that's my extrapolation. Like I said, Watters is actually quite understated in his writing - he assumes even in the case of pharmaceutical companies marketing antidepressants in Japan (changing the fundamental cultural definition of depression to do so) that for the most part, people at these companies are doing so with good intentions.
All mental health therapists and psychiatrists should be required to read this book. (less)
I love the concept - the largest study of human sexuality since Kinsey's, the idea of using the internet as the source of data. And they collected a l...moreI love the concept - the largest study of human sexuality since Kinsey's, the idea of using the internet as the source of data. And they collected a lot of data, much of which is unsurprising. Men are generally more turned on by visual stimuli. Women require a narrative, more cues. Straight men are attracted to body parts, women are attracted to masculinity cues. I found it problematic how quickly they interpreted these unsurprising results as evidence of innate biology, when there's no way to rule out the impact centuries of patriarchy have had on our sexual desires. Moreover, I was disappointed at the lack of any information about lesbians, presumably because they're not using the internet to find and look at people they're attracted to as much as straight men, straight women, and gay men. Interesting section on the evidence that bisexual women look a lot like straight men in terms of their sexual preferences - more so than straight women and lesbians. Also I liked the second to last chapter where they talk about "tranny porn" and vampire stories as the ultimate embodiment of men and women's sexual turn ons, what the authors call "erotic illusions." (less)
Very readable style of journalism, albeit a little meandering. I've heard Ronson on both the Daily Show and This American Life and it reads like he t...moreVery readable style of journalism, albeit a little meandering. I've heard Ronson on both the Daily Show and This American Life and it reads like he talks. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the book was different than what it was purported to be on either of those two shows. Mostly what gets press is Ronson's ability to "diagnose" someone as a psychopath within a first meeting of them. In fact, what the book really deconstructs is how this is a misleading, and at times dangerous ability, and the use of the Hare Checklist to do so has devastating consequences at times for people who are, in fact, innocent. At the same time, it's fascinating to see how psychopathic traits in a corporate environment, or when surrounded by wealth and privilege, are socially accepted and even encouraged, but in war-torn countries and impoverished communities, they are quickly labeled as "deviant."
The beginning of the book and the end of the book are about this strange book that someone sends out to a random group of academics, seemingly for the purpose of garnering a lot of intrigue and attention. It was kind of a interesting sidebar, but Ronson spends entirely too much time on this. The chapter on the former CEO of Sunbeam and the leader of a Haitian death squad - both psychopaths - were excellent. The chapters on understanding the history and "treatment" of people labeled psychopaths were also excellent. He meanders over into the misuse of other diagnoses in contemporary culture, specifically Bipolar Disorder, and this is a little off topic but still interesting.
All in all an interesting book, a quick and easy read, slightly uneven in quality. (less)
The Giving Tree Makes Me Want to Give Up On This World (c) 2011 Realsupergirl
In my world, we bless our food before every bit...moreThe Giving Tree Makes Me Want to Give Up On This World (c) 2011 Realsupergirl
In my world, we bless our food before every bite. In my world, we say thank you after we are sated. In my world, we pay attention to the impact of our words, destructiveness of our footsteps, we try not to add to the darkness. In Shel Silverstein's world a boy takes and take and takes a tree gives and gives and gives until the tree is no more and that is considered love. In my world, that's violence. (less)
This book should be required reading for any mental health professional - therapists, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists. I discovered Dr. Carlat v...moreThis book should be required reading for any mental health professional - therapists, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists. I discovered Dr. Carlat via his blog, and the book gives a thorough analysis of the mental halth field and how it has "gone astray" in his words. It has become corrupted by pharm companies and the medical world, and gotten away from its roots, which is about healing people. I appreciate Dr. Carlat's frank and honest account, including of his own experience being a "hired gun" for the company that makes Effexor, until he started being too even-handed about his experiences with antidepressants (they all work about the same as each other and placebos, and we don't really know why they work when they do work) (less)
Amazing book, especially considering when it was written and how the fears that Orwell lays out about the future of humanity in his lifetime are still...moreAmazing book, especially considering when it was written and how the fears that Orwell lays out about the future of humanity in his lifetime are still things we should fear today, in 2011, decades after 1984. I read it in part because I read some sort of internet list of books many people quote but have never actually read.
Narratively, 1984 is actually a little clunky. It's got long exposition passages that don't really need to be so long, such as when Winston reads the book, and Orwell digresses into the actual text of the book for pages and pages. It doesn't really add to the narrative or even the concept Orwell is trying to present. Animal Farm is a better book in terms of the actual writing and narrative, but 1984 is an incredible story, an important book, and a must read.
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