5 comments about A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom From an Unconventional Woman.

1. Each book ~ although different in their own way ~ continues to be truly amazing. They are motivating, endearing and engaging. Joan feels like a dear old friend, yet I'm discovering about myself !



2. I first "met" Joan Anderson in her book, A Year By the Sea. I was in awe of this woman who took a hiatus from her marriage, moved to the solitude of a life on Cape Cod and took the time to really get to know herself.
   
   Her second book, An Unfinished Marriage, was a continuation of her journey, as she shared the story of how her husband eventually joined her in Cape Cod.
   
   Not surprisingly, the third book in this trilogy, A Walk On the Beach, was an uncommon delight. I wasn't quite sure what else Ms. Anderson could share about her Cape Cod experience. I was soon to find out there was a lot left to tell.
   
   Her first book in the trilogy will always be my favorite, but "A Walk On the Beach" ranks right up there with it. We are transported back to many of the same scenes we read about in "A Year By the Sea", but we learn of a remarkable friendship that began in an otherwise isolated period of the author's life.
   
   On a foggy day, we walk with Ms. Anderson onto a jetty overlooking the ocean. There we are introduced to Joan Erikson--a writer and the wife of pioneering psychoanalyst Erik Erikson.
   
   In the pages that follow, we are allowed a glimpse into the "Tales of Wisdom From An Unconventional Woman" (the subtitle of the book).
   
   "The beach to me is a sacred zone between the earth and the sea, one of those in-between places where transitions can be experienced--where endings can be mourned and beginnings birthed. A walk along the beach offers the gift of the unexpected. Scan the horizon and glimpse the endelss possibilities. Stroll head down and encounter one natural treasure after another. Tease the tides and feel a sense of adventure. Dive into the surf and experience the rush of risk."
   
   From the Prologue:
   
   "One of the most significant gifts the beach has given me was Joan Erikson, an elderly woman whom I met accidentally on a foggy February day. She was to prod me to find myself again, even when I thought all was lost."
   
   In her prologue, Ms. Anderson tells us that she hopes the readers of this book will be mentored by some of Joan Erikson's wisdom in much the same way she was mentored by the woman who used to say "The important thing is to share what you know. Be generative and pass it on. That is what makes all the difference."
   
   To read this book is to discover validation of the desire to find true wisdom and inner awareness. To savor this book is to be enriched by the uncommon wisdom of a remarkable woman and to experience the sheer joy of a friendship extroidinaire.
   
   by Lee Ambrose
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



3. Scrambling along rocks on a Cape Cod beach, following the sound of a foghorn, Joan Anderson suddenly finds herself almost nose-to-nose with an old woman she doesn't know. The stranger turns out to be Joan Erikson, wife of psychoanalyst Erik Erikson. Feeling an immediate connnection, the two Joans rapidly become close companions.
   
   Joan Anderson has come to the Cape, running away from home, to re-evaluate her marriage and the direction of her life. Always a people-pleaser, she now feels exhausted and confused, no longer fulfilled by family or her career as the author of children's books.
   
   Seeking a small town nursing home where her husband will receive attentive care during his final days, Joan Erikson has relocated to the same town. Her running-away came years ago when she went, a young girl alone, to Europe to dance with Isadora Duncan, at a time when such things simply weren't done.
   
   Anderson's book is the account of the two women's blossoming friendship and the lessons they learn from one another. She recounts a multitude of conversations which took place as they go about their daily activities, walking the beaches, weaving cloth to represent the stages of their lives, sharing meals and ideas.
   
   Erikson urges Anderson to make time for play in her life each day, to get out of her head and into her body. Now in her nineties, she demonstrates the benefits of keeping one's body machinery well-functioning. The friendship reinvigorates her and she excitedly begins to rework and build on the pioneering work on life stages she shared with her husband.
   
   Meanwhile Anderson grows in confidence and clarity of purpose to the point that she can hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, a feat that would have been impossible for her before. She walks back into her marriage but as a changed person, more independent, more aware of who she is and the person she wants to become.
   
   Erikson quotes a Japanese scholar: In order not to fail in the end, you have to be dependent on yourself, and know that you can handle things, and most importantly, bring a little humor into the despair. Lightness, imagination, flexibility-these are the things that go into making a new start.
   
   And so, make a new start they do, each growing from the other, becoming stronger and more vibrant in the process.



4. Overall, the book is worth reading. And although I appreciate the relationship and deep friendship portrayed, it does tend to go overboard and become sappy at times.



5. Joan Anderson captures a woman's heart and soul. This a book for any woman who is searching to find herself and her place in the world. I feel my life has been enriched by reading this lovely story. Joan Erickson is the wise woman we all long to sit at the feet of and perhaps some day become. I have bought copies for all my women friends. Thank you Joan Anderson for sharing your story and Friendship with Joan Erickson with the world!

5 comments about Out of Africa (Modern Library).

1. My favorite movie of all time. The book is not as good as the movie.



2. Out of Africa is Karen Blixen's memoir about her years in Africa, writing as Isak Dinesen. She recounts the world of Africa, specifically Kenya. It is, like the England of her friend Denys Finch-Hatton, "a world that no longer existed" even then and certainly as she left it. The memoir is a slow read, yet a book with prose in which you can luxuriate, or languish perhaps as it seems to mirror the mammoth African landscape. Reading like a pastoral novel, the narrator interested me with her myriad experiences. It presents people, cultures, landscape, and wildlife through her eyes, sometimes noble, sometimes paternal. The culture of the various tribes and religions with whom she had contact on her coffee farm became almost real, so that as I read certain moments became funny or sad or wistful. The reader comes to view animals differently, the fecundity of life struck me particularly. The different forces at work are both natural and foreign; the paradoxical nature of the presence of two churches (Roman Catholic and Church of Scotland) is sometimes presented as working for good yet other times it is in conflict. Blixen's memoir is truly literate and the importance of books and writing is evident throughout. Early in the memoir she tries to explain her wirting a book to a native. Near the end of her stay as she is selling off the furniture and other estate provisions their is a poignant moment when, as she sits on her remaining books, she comments:
   "Books in a colony play a different part in your existence from what they do in Europe; there is a whole side of your life which they alone take charge of ... you feel more grateful to them, or more indignant with them, than you will ever do in civilized countries." (p.373)
   Blixen's memoir of this "uncivilised" land is both memorable and effective in sweeping the reader away into a very different world. Definitely a worthwhile read.



3. The two-cassette abridgment was way too limiting for such a magnificent book. Also disappointing was the fact that the product was a rejected one from a public library, and the second tape was stretched and half of the second tape was not able to be heard. This product should never have been sold in this condition.



4. This was the first of many books I've read about Africa. At the time, I had a romanticized view of The Dark Continent, a naieve view.
   After doing some more research, I realize Karen Blixen's view was VERY romanticized....to the extent that many of her contemporaries thought her somewhat odd and out of touch with reality.
   If you want a lyrically told story colored with emotion...this is for you.
   If you're interested in Africa as it really was, read the many accounts extant by settlers who spent far more time, and ranged over a wider area.



5. The book, "Out of Africa," is a memoir of the Danish Baroness Karen Blixen's habitation near Nairobi in Kenya from 1914 to 1931 on a fertile 6000-acre coffee plantation, "at the foot of the Ngong Hills" (1992: 3). Blixen writes under the pen-name Isak Dinesen. Karen Blixen went to British East Africa (in a location in present-day, Kenya) to join her German husband (Baron Bror Blixen), and upon separation she stayed in Kenya to manage the farm by herself. The extent of her adventures in Africa, and to what extent she is a feminist is borne out by the book, as well as the film "Out of Africa," that is based on the book. This piece will examine such, as well as comparisons between the book and the film.
   
   Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) presents geographical detail, oftentimes comparisons and contrasts within this fertile land of the Kikuyu people that would several decades later be the crux of the Mau-Mau rebellion over whites' displacement and dispossession of natives from their land. Dinesen also compares features with those of her native Europe. Dinesen writes of the equatorial habitat, "Everything that you saw made for greatness and freedom, and unequaled nobility...Up in this high air you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart: Here I am where I ought to be" (1992: 4). Dinesen writes of "heavy-scented lilies," of "long-rains," "ever-changing clouds," of "hills from the farm [that} changed their character many times in the course of the day, and sometimes looked quite close and at times very far away" (1992: 4). Dinesen, in precise and elegant language displays love and fascination for the geography, the clean air, the animals, the beauty of this African environment; she becomes possessed by the place.The movie captures the large, picturesque, mysterious, and varied eastern equatorial Africa where the eland, the buffalo, and the rhino are quite common sights; the movie impressively and unanimously earned, Oscar, "Best Picture of the Year."
   
   In the end Dinesen is forced to give up her plantation, this scenario elicits a heartache and sadness. Dinesen's memoirs, years after she had left Africa could be a reflection of her nostalgic dealing with her loss of the farm as well as overall experiences in Africa. Dinesen stands out as a courageous and strong woman, one who is in the feminist direction. She lost her philandering husband, but stayed on bravely, for nearly 20 years in a foreign harsh environment, one with languages and cultures far-fetched from her own. Dinesen worked well at being appreciative of an environment that was new to her, during an era of colonialism in Africa, a time when Darwinian relegation of black Africans to the lowest of human species and elevation of whites to the upper rung was very strong. Dinesen cuts through the female traditional roles, she tries flying in planes, the goes on safari, she learns how to shoot and even shoots and kills game. She is open and welcomes countless visitors from all over the world to her home and farm. This was an age of exploration and acquisition of "Dark Africa," by Europeans and Asians. Dinesen is quite aware of her feminine strength. She rescues and adopts a wounded antelope she names Lulu; Lulu becomes a celebrity on the farm; Dinesen searches, discovers and celebrates the feminist strength in Lulu: "But Lulu was not really gentle, she had the so-called devil in her. She had, to the highest degree, the feminine trait of appearing to be exclusively on the defensive, concentrating on guarding the integrity of her being, when she was really, with the force in her, bent upon and defensive" (1992: 74). Also, "Lulu of the woods was a superior, independent being...she was in possession. If I had happened to have known a young princess in exile, and while she was still a pretender to the throne, and had met her again in her full queenly estate after she had come into her rights, our meeting would have had the same character" (1992: 78).
   
   The book displays that Karen Blixen exemplified the Europeans with the upper hand in colonial world conquest and politics. It is to be recalled that the three weapons used by Europeans to subjugate Africans were the gun, the Bible, and the anthropologist. Karen used guns to protect herself. Catholic (mostly Belgian and French), Protestant (mostly British), and Muslim (mostly Arabic) agencies vied for power in Africa. The Germans were in present-day neighboring Tanzania (German East Africa) to the south. They would be ousted during this significant, "Scramble for Africa." The book illustrates how Karen Blixen took great interest in which religious group the young natives (some of whom served her) adhered to. Many native followers, taught to kneel and pray to an invisible white Almighty god, became converted to the political/ religious groups, as they became dispossessed of their land resources. The anthropology aspect, as mentioned, involved relegation of black Africans to the lowest rungs of evolutionary mankind...the white was relegated as the superior, the master, the savior, the benevolent, the genius. The movie is great at casting Meryl Streep as the beautiful, rosy-cheeked clean, statuesque woman amidst muddy, black African paradise! The real Karen Blixen likely had more rugged looks and likely often got "down-and-dirty," than is depicted in the movie. An equatorial Africa of long and heavy rainy seasons, of continuous tropical sun, and of limited running water would not leave the Danish heroine so clean and collected.
   
   It is to be recalled that Dinesen is writing from an overly European point of view, hence, negative criticism of her will not be short. Her attitude to black Africans is racist and condescending. In the movie, Denys Finch-Hatton (Robert Redford) rebukes her for instructing native porters to get off her belongings by "shooing," them off!. Finch-Hatton, in shock, remarks to her, "Shoo?" as if telling her, "I do not believe you addressed these people that way!" Finch-Hatton (who became Dinesen's lover) knows the native languages (Kiswahili and Kikuyu), and goes on to communicate her instructions to the porters. Black Africans are prevalently depicted in the movie as poverty-stricken servants, laborers and porters, as helpless people close to animal nature. In tune with the movie, here Dinesen writes, "They were poor people, small and underfed; they looked like a pair of badgers on my lawn...I could hardly distinguish them against the grass. They were sank in deep grief; their bereavement and their economic loss melted into one overwhelming distress" (1992: 108). Dinesen is surprised that the, "Natives," are strikingly open, adapting, welcoming and unprejudiced. Yet, as prevalent in the colonial fashion, she does not attribute this to the inner traditions and workings of indigenous African society, but from influence from foreigners including slavers! "The lack of prejudice in the Natives is a striking thing, for you expect to find dark taboos in the primitive people. It is due...to their acquaintance with a variety of races and tribes, and to the lively human intercourse that was brought upon East Africa, first by the old traders of ivory and slaves...and...by the settlers and big-game hunters" (1992: 54).
   
   Dinesen wishes the natives would understand and appreciate her more. It is always presumptuous to be confident of having fully understood a foreign culture and people; she does not seem to believe she is prejudiced and why the natives to a good extent regard her as a foreigner far different from them, and difficult to comprehend. She writes, "If I know a song of Africa,---I thought,---of the Giraffe, and the African new moon lying on her back, of the ploughs in the field, and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me?" (1992: 83). At the same time, Dinesen quite often acknowledges that newcomers from Africa are from a noisy and rushed world, they do not have the patience and connectedness of native Africans. European colonialists imposed on the natives an alien system of forced dispossession and displacement and of monopoly. So much of this colonial intrusion was quite new to the prevalently communalist and family-oriented, egalitarian way of native African subsistence.
   
   Karen Blixen's marriage starts out as more of a convenience than of romance. She left Denmark to marry the German Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and start a dairy in Kenya. Bror is actually the brother of her lover. Karen is offering her fortune for companionship and adventure (and for the title of, "Baroness") much more than for enjoying the security of a man. So, from the outset, Karen's feminist inclinations are strong. The husband changes his mind about the diary, and instead invests her money in a risky venture of growing coffee. The husband is unfaithful, philandering, gives her syphilis that will disable her from having children; the marriage breaks up. Karen is left to manage the farm, she has to battle with floods and fire. Hardly anything of British big game hunter Denys Finch-Hatton's romance with Dinesen (Karen Blixen), is mentioned in the book; the movie likely borrows from other sources depicting the life of Karen Blixen. Unfortunately the English accent of Denys Finch-Hatton is not conveyed by Redford, compared to Karen's excellent outflow of a Scandinavian accent. Yet, the movie depicts their chemistry, Denys is impressed by her strength and independence, Karen's ability to tell and weave stories, they kiss, and in one scene have sex. Karen does seem to desire long-term companionship and commitment from Denys, desire for a man who will sacrifice to be with her. She stands against having a man like Denys who wants to be "free-wheeling," one who will come and go depending on need and desire, he loves the African outdoors. Finch-Hatton is mysterious, elusive and emotionally distant, but he is miscast in that in the movie: he seems to represent an all-American jock that waywardly found his way into Africa. Karen was wounded before, and this encounter with Denys is only a brief moment of ecstasy, but she bravely soldiers on, appreciating more of what is around her. Karen is indeed confident, stoic and creative in face of the odds. She did resist going on safari with Denys, but she eventually succumbed to his quite undeniable invitation. Eventually, they got closer, she broadened her horizons, she better adapted to and better accepted foreigners and their ways.
   
   In conclusion, the movie emphasizes the romantic issues and episodes in Karen Blixen's life in Africa (romance and sex sells in Hollywood), much more than the book does. The book seems to be constructed from a breadth of notes of what Blixen put together while in Africa, and weaved them into a good fairy tale. The truth is that Blixen dealt with aspects like fluctuating coffee prices, sometimes drought and heavy rains, discontented dispossessed natives, scrambles for Africa amongst several European agencies, African diseases and sometimes unsanitary conditions, wildlife from untamed neighborhoods. The movie does display the exquisite beauty of tropical Africa which Blixen did dwell on, but not on the colonial wranglings. There is lyrical beauty in Blixen's writing, and the movie does elicit an African peaceful mood through the excellent music. Blixen, in both the movie and the book is a strong and opinionated woman, yet flexible and open to ideas, people, and adventure. She is a significant precursor of modern-day feminism.

5 comments about Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood.

1. There are some surprises here: first of all, I honestly thought Sacks is a normal American, probably family immigrated from Eastern Europe in the early 20th century. No, he grew up in London as the youngest boy in a huge family of Jewish scientists, physicians, and industrialists. 100 cousins! Some family branches in South Africa, Palestine, Germany and elsewhere.
   Also, I expected a normal autobiography, despite the ominous subtitle 'memories of a chemical boyhood'. I thought I would find out how the man got where he was to be much later. No, we don't. We only learn about his first 14 years. And we learn a lot about the history of chemistry, probably more than most readers would have opted for.
   But we also learn the following:
   A boy grows up in a huge house in London with a huge family, everything is paradise, there is emotion (from Ma) and stimulation (from all) and whatever a little boy needs.
   Then there is WW2 and the boy and his elder brother get evacuated to a boarding school, which is the prototype of all horrors. Bullying drives the brother into paranoia and the hero into closing the shutters with science and chemistry inside and the rest of the world outside.
   He is liberated after 4 years and moves back home, but things are not what they were. He remains in his insulation. He ignores the events of the world. Politics incl. Zionism is bullying. He dislikes the punitive God of the orthodox. He is only a chemist.
   With puberty and the end of WW2 the infatuation ends, or rather goes subterranean/subcutanean. Sacks learns new things, among others he discovers marine biology, and he reads Cannery Row, which makes him long for America. (previous mentioning of literature is sparse, there is some interest in Wells' science fiction, and there is a fascination with 1984, but that is obviously ahead of itself)
   I give it only 4 stars, because I do not like chemistry quite as much (as I worked for a chemical company for 20 years.)



2. We follow in young Oliver's footsteps as he discovers the evolution of science from its humble beginnings through a succession of remarkable and revolutionary leaps. Each time science takes its next step, it achieves another synthesis wherein so many previously poorly understood and seemingly disparate phenomena are joined together as part of a single framework.
   
   Uncle Tungsten is an eloquent and romantic vision that articulates the poetry of science. As we follow Lavoisier, Davies, Faraday, Maxwell Mendeleev, Rutherford, Bohr, and many others, each time along with Sacks himself we see the world anew, aflame with a fresh and more complete understanding of the underpinnings of our universe.
   
   It is an extraordinary achievement to combine such clarity with a sense of emotional involvement, to help the reader understand both the principles being explained as well as their aesthetic beauty and deeper significance in such a human way.
   
   For me each chapter that described science is as beautiful as anything else I've read and at the same time the book creates such powerful connections that it helped me to understand many important principles of science that I didn't even realize I was ignorant of! I am very grateful for this wonderful book.
   
   My only criticism is that the personal details of Oliver Sacks' own life are few and far between, and seem almost tacked on in between the chapters that are strictly about science and its practitioners themselves. I was fine more or less ignoring these chapters as they provide little real insight into Oliver's life, but if you expect this book to be a true autobiography you will perhaps come away disappointed.
   Never the less, I have not read a more beautiful book about science and I urge whomever is reading this review to give it a chance.



3. This book has many wonderful aspects. One of them is Sacks' somewhat nonchalant description of what was a truly traumatic boarding-school experience. It is remarkable that he emerged as well as he did from the routine sadism of those four years in the countryside. It was only his fascination with chemistry and his capacity for detachment and introspection that permitted him to survive.
   
   Another memorable quality of the book is his immediate and personal understanding of the key question of science: Why? I never gave it much thought, but it wasn't until well into the twentieth century that scientists understood why the sun is so hot and will remain so hot more-or-less permanently. Until nuclear reactions were understood, this was a mystery. Sacks, paralleling centuries of investigators before him, is always asking why. This was great training for his ultimate and successful career as a neurologist.
   
   Finally, the portrayal of upper-middle-class London before and after World War II was very memorable. From a European viewpoint, America was pretty much untouched by the war; it had not been annexed or bombed by Hitler. England, on the other hand, was forever changed by the experience.



4. This is the second copy of Uncle Tungsten for me. I bought it when it was first released, loved it, and, unfortunately, loaned it to one too many friends. Now I have one to browse my favorite bits in, revisit the very different childhood of a man my age. Oliver Sachs treats his younger self with the same wide-eyed curiosity as he affords his patients.



5. The relationship between uncle and nephew is the most precious. Why? Because nephews confide in uncles like they don't confide in a father or mother. And uncles are sort of pseudo fathers to nephews. The responsibility of an uncle is not less than a father: to inspire and stimulate the child wherever he resists parental influence. I would imagine the rapport between an aunt and a niece is the same way, looking up to the corresponding role model and same sex mentor.
   
   Although Dr. Sacks paints a portrait of his extended family in this book, his Uncle Dave "Tungsten" is highlighted as an important source of inspiration. His retelling of his childhood and adolescence is fascinating. This is a beautiful book, sometimes overwhelming when scientific lingo becomes predominant but very warm and engaging. Even with a poor knowledge in chemistry -- my case -- it's immensely enjoyable. Dr. Sacks' childhood memories are colorful, jam-packed, very serious at times but also humorous, a bit like John Boorman's movie "Hope and Glory".

5 comments about American Shaolin: Flying Kicks, Buddhist Monks, and the Legend of Iron Crotch: An Odyssey in theNew China.

1. I just loved this book. It's such a useful glimpse into Chinese life of the period, and a really entertaining story of an ordinary American kid who just one day up and says, "I'm going to China and study at the Shaolin Temple"....and does it! Every boy's Walter Mitty fantasy come to life.
   
   The one major regret I have with it, and why I only gave it four stars instead of five, is that it comes to a stop rather abruptly. He comes home, goes to school, and years later comes back to visit the Shaolin Temple and remark on the changes that have taken place.
   
   But not a word on how his experiences may have affected his later life in any meaningful way. Maybe they didn't, but that would have been a shame since he put so much effort into the journey. Just a word on how he might have used his amazing powers for good back home would have been nice, or how it might have changed his attitudes and perceptions as he grew older.
   
   Well, it's still a great read and very rewarding. Maybe there's a supplement somewhere that fills in the gaps. If anyone knows of one, please let me know. Thanks.



2. I read American Shaolin over the past two days while visiting my brother in Austin and found the book to be incredibly inspiring. At no point while reading the book did I want to put it down. The anecdotes describing the Chinese mindset and language idiosyncracies were both amusing and educational. I would recommend the book to many Chinese language instructors to improve students' cultural understanding. The phrase "eat bitter" has become my personal mantra whether exercising or reviewing mathematics/statistics. I look forward to more books from this exciting author.



3. What a great, unique book. Matthew Polly is a gifted storyteller. In American Shaolin, he shares the true story of his decision (with just one year remaining until his graduation from Princeton) to take off to China, locate and train with the Shaolin monks until he can cross off "coward" from his "Things that are wrong with Matt" list. This list figures prominently in the book and proves a wonderfully entertaining and useful literary device.
   
   What Polly gives us is a very good, well-written personal memoir. If that's all this book were, it would be enough. You find yourself fully engaged in the journey of self-discovery and personal development and you find yourself constantly laughing at Polly's stories. What's great though, is that you get a lot more from this book while you are being entertained.
   
   At a time when China is emerging onto the world scene in a huge way, Polly provides a completely accessible glimpse for the average American into the Chinese mindset. You come away from the book with a much greater understanding of and appreciation for the way the Chinese live, the goals they share, how their culture is like ours, how it is different and how they think. It's a truly valuable education, but without the trouble of slogging through a dry social sciences book.
   
   Congratulations to Mr. Polly, who was clearly aware of the opportunity to educate while entertaining. He accomplished his goal in spades. Highly recommended for anyone who likes a great story and/or wants to know more about China.



4. Mr. Polly has penned a very entertaining, playful book that brings back memories of when I was in China many years ago (some things haven't changed much and some have changed rather dramatically). Although the Shao-lin boxing practiced at the legendary Shao-lin Temple is not at all the original version (nor are the monks truly "monks"), the book was a wonderful read and I very thoroughly enjoyed it!



5. A must-read for anyone interested in travel, martial arts, language, or cultural exchange. There were a few times that I raised my eyebrows, wondering whether Polly exaggerated some of his experiences, but who cares? His book is intensely entertaining and interesting.

5 comments about Well Enough Alone.

1. Funny,dry,sharp without being in any way sad. I laughed the hypochondria out of my body. I don't know why another review suggested that it was negative for Jennifer to "use an excuse" to talk about herself, isn't that what autobiographical material is all about? I would read anything this author wrote about herself. She's funnier than most authors and is an excellent writer as well. Prepare to laugh and laugh again, this book is worth the read!



2. I had so much fun reading Jennifer Traig's memoir, I was sorry when it ended. Jennifer has such an exquisite, dry wit you'll find yourself laughing out loud at all of her imagined health crises, perhaps recognizing a bit of yourself in each one. (And I thought I was the only one thinking about Lupus while my classmates were resting their heads during nap time!) Let's hope that when Jennifer does actually go, it's of old age.
   
   Wendy Aron, author of Hide & Seek: How I Laughed at Depression, Conquered My Fears and Found Happiness



3. About: A biography of Traig's experiences with hypochondria, including not so imaginary experiences with eczema, irritable bowel syndrome and breast-reduction surgery.
   
   Pros: Humorous, not poorly written.
   
   Cons: Chapter on history of hypochondria seems out of place. Sources not cited. I could not get into this book at all. It seems like Traig just used hypochondria as an excuse to talk about herself.



4. Her other book, Devil in the Details, was one of my favorite all time books. I really enjoyed Well Enough Alone and quickly sailed through the book in just two nights. I laughed out loud frequently and look forward to sharing it with 1 or 2 friends who might see themselves in the book!!! While it won't go into the list of one of my all time favorites, if you enjoy a silly and sarcastic, yet beautifully honest look at human nature -I would definitely recommend Well Enough Alone. I love Jennifer's writing and look forward to all of her future books.



5. I had the time of my life reading this book. It's fascinating and informative -- who knew that hypochondria used to be chic? -- but also hilarious. I laughed helplessly more times than I can count. David Sedaris better watch his back!

4 comments about One Ranger Returns (Bridwell Texas History Series).

1. Couldn't put the book down. Great sequel to his first. A great sense of history in plain spoken words. Hope he writes another.



2. Seemed a reach to have enough material for a second book--not as interesting as the first book.



3. Nice to hear the other side of the story. Joaquin Jackson's books are a good read.



4. If you found "One Ranger" by H. Joaquin Jackson interesting, yea, inspirational, then you are going to treasure "One Ranger Returns."
   
   This is life in Texas, "hair down" face-to-face, how it really is. The chapter by his wife, Shirley, is straight from the heart of a beautiful, highly talented, and courageous woman, sharing the details of her personal life.
   
   One Ranger Returns has chapters by their sons, and I'll leave it to those who can truly read human hearts to decide what the first son has learned. Second son, Lance, is as near a clone as a man like Joaquin can ever have hoped for. Lance is very much his own man.
   
   I recently heard an experienced forensic officer describe how, while she didn't have all the latest technology, she did know the fundamentals and they still worked as evidenced by cases won. "One Ranger Returns" is about fundamentals that worked and still works if the officer is man enough to learn them and employ them with integrity and courage.
   
   A review of "One Ranger" is perfect for "One Ranger Returns:" "The book is awesome.... Joaquin Jackson is John Wayne with a real badge."

2 comments about My Three Fathers: And the Elegant Deceptions of My Mother, Susan Mary Alsop.

1. Don't get me wrong. I think the author is in many ways an entirely estimable fellow He had personal problems that he worked hard to overcome. He has a degree in theology. He helps prisoners
   But after I read this memoir I couldn't help thinking that he had to diminish his family in order to feel better about his own life.
   He grew up believing that Bill Patten, who remains something of a dim presence in this volume, was his father.
   In the mid 1990s while his mother was being treated for alcoholism, she reveals to him that he is the son of Duff Cooper, a British diplomat. His stepfather is Joe Alsop, a closeted homosexual, who was a major opinion maker in Washington in the 1940s-1960s
   All of these folks drank and none were models of marital rectitude Mr Patten congratulates himself on how much finer in these regards he is than those who came before him
   What he doesn't dwell much on is the fact that Duff Cooper showed great courage in resigning from Neville Chamberlain's cabinet when Chamberlain came back from his talks with Hitler declaring that he had achieved "peace in our time." Duff Cooper also jollied along Charles DeGaulle following the end of the war and was the first British ambassador to Paris. Mr Patten reduces him to a sad alcoholic and notes that in his diaries Cooper determines to quit drinking and never mentions it again. That's not really true I finished the diaries about 3 weeks before I read this book and Cooper does make more of an effort to quit drinking than Mr Patten gives him credit for.
   His stepfather made every effortt to provide his stepson with opportunities to learn and get ahead and the story of his career in Washington and the willingness of journalists and official Washington to ignore his sexual orientation harks back to a time when privacy was respected.
   Mr Patten's mother, Susan Mary Alsop, was perhaps a wretched parent but she was a noted Washington hostess who derived her power through men which was the way one did it in her time and she did write some very fine books indeed. Her biography of Lady Sackville is riveting and well worth reading.
   Did the adults in Mr Patten's life let him down? Yes. But they are being held to a standard of self-awareness that did not exist when they lived.
   None of them should be writen off because they were more at ease at embassy parties than AA meetings.



2. This memoir is documentary proof that merit trumps birth. The author's lineage - he is descended from John Jay and a clutch of American and British aristocrats - counts for very little when the story he has to tell is so thin. His ancestors are simply not interesting enough to bear the weight of so many pages of narration. What is fascinating family history within the family, does not make for compelling reading to those outside the family circle. I want to read about people who have accomplished something, whose lives are worth recording and reading, but the author's mother, grandfather, grandmother, and various fathers simply do not rise to the level of page-turning material.

5 comments about Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself.

1. Yes, sure, like everyone else over the age of 30 I, too, subliminally believe that Alan Alda really *is* Hawkeye Pierce. And I love watching him get down on the asphalt to sniff the exhaust from an electric car on Scientific American Frontiers. But, really? He's not much more than a competent writer, and at least in this book, he doesn't really have anything to say.
   
   Just in case you haven't picked it up from the other reviews, the bulk of this book is a lot of commencement speeches that Alda has given over the years, in which he tried to give crowds of 20-somethings the benefit of his insights into happiness and personal responsibility. These speeches may have been appropriate to the time and audience for which they were originally intended, but reproducing them in a book is pretty pretentious, particularly given that his advice isn't anything that we haven't already heard. Are platitudes about working hard, making time for our families, practicing some kind of social activism, and accepting happiness as it comes to us more valuable because they're uttered by Alan Alda?
   
   Here's a quick rule of thumb for those contemplating a memoir: if you don't have something truly unique to say, stick to telling interesting stories about your life. This would have been a much better book if Alda had just told the anecdotes he uses as padding between the speeches, although even those are often self-serving (we were actors! protesting! in the 70s! you should be more like we were!). Sadly, I find that I like Alan Alda a lot less after having read this book.



2. 
   Alda's down to earth brief sketch of his life and career was very enjoyable reading. After reading it I thought that Alda turned out to be a fascinating person in spite of being raised by a not with it mother and distant father. He gave some good ideas on how to live with his recalling of the graduation speaches he was asked to give along the way.



3. I reserve a one star review for books I just can't force myself to finish. And this book is one of those. This is a collection of commencement speaches Mr. Alda has given over his career as well as some stories that give background to them. If you love to sit through commencement speaches, this is the book for you. I have better things to do with my time. Sorry Alan.



4. Just a short note about Alan Alda's newest book; it's average. I adore Alan Alda and wish I could write something more glowing about this book, but it truly is a collection of speeches he has written and delivered along the way. Yes, you do get an occasional insight into his life, (and, that is the best part of the book) but it is only by way of introduction to an essay or speech he wants to lay out for you. As well, the speeches become redundant and somewhat conflicting as you get deeper into the book. I found myself thinking, "Oh, no, not another commencement address!" Just be prepared not to expect too much and you won't be disappointed. I still adore him...



5. Well,
   Alan Alda obviously loves himself. Nothing wrong with that. What we have here though, is a book that one would have thought was intended for his readers benefit, at least in part. Instead, we have huge doses of pretentious, self-serving and gooshy drivel served up by Alan about himself for all to see how award winning, financially successful, talented, charming, pseudo-intellectual and well-loved by all and well-thought-of by all he thinks he is (and how he successfully worked through his challenging middle class upbringing - yawn). Modesty? You must be kidding! He name drops unmercifully (Peter Jennings washed his dishes and his face was better known than Lincoln's due to his television series). He was asked to speak at many prestigious universities, occasionally by Nobel prize winners, no less. And he then reads his speeches and eulogies to us! Geez! A reason for the book, perhaps? - new mileage for old pretentious material (and it might sell!)- never mind that such material was only intended for its original audience. Where is your integrity, Alan? I couldn't finish it. This book may have some knowledge or wisdom that we humble readers might find provocative, humorous or even practical. I couldn't find it though, and, in my humble opinion, you are much better off using your heartbeats elsewhere. There are much better ways to be educated, amused and entertained. This book was a gift to me and I'm sorry that good money was spent for it - I couldn't even finish it. This book is even in audio form, read by, you guessed it, Alan himself.
   Now that would be torture...

5 comments about The Man on Mao's Right: From Harvard Yard to Tiananmen Square, My Life Inside China's Foreign Ministry.

1. Ambassador Ji Chaozhu's personal journey in the Chinese Foreign Ministry provides vivid and rich details for our understanding of the inner working of Chinese foreign policy-making establishment. From this book, we learn not only real stories of top leaders such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping, but also personal relations between Ambassador Ji and other senior PRC diplomats such as Huang Zhen, Han Xu, Zhang Wenjin, Nancy Tang and Wang Hairong, and etc. This book is a major addition to the growing literature on PRC diplomacy, and will become an essential reading for any one interested in 20th century China, especially its diplomacy.



2. A good relationship between China and America is crucial for the future of the world. Period. Therefore, learning the history of recent Chinese politics and the historical relationship between China and America should be mandatory for all Americans, young and old. And what better way to start learning than by reading this very entertaining factual book. This book, written by an interpreter for various high-ranking Chinese officials during the Mao era, is a must-read for those who want an insiders view into the momentous events that occurred in China from the 1950's through recent times. The author is humorous, occassionally self-depreciating, and brutally honest in all he recalls about the great historical events he witnessed close-up in China. Riveting and memorable are two words I can use to describe this book. After reading it, I have a better understanding of what was going on in China when China was "closed" from 1949 to 1976. And, I have a desire to read more from the author. I sincerely hope China and America can grow old together, clean up the environment and always be friends. Nothing less than the future of our planet depends upon it.



3. I fully concur with the preceding reviews.I have been a student of China since the US Air Force assigned me to Taiwan in 1957-58 following completion of language training. Of the many books about China I have read over the years this has to be the most compelling. I could not put it down and was disappointed when it ended. I wanted more!



4. For the past 20 years, I've read almost anything I can get my hands
   on about China. Out of the novels, biographies and numerous
   autobiographies, I always considered "Wild Swans" by Jung Chang
   to be at the top of my list. Now its time for that amazing memoir to move over. "The Man on Mao's Right" is my new favorite book on the subject of China. It takes a culture so huge in dimension and makes it personal and more importantly, relevant.



5. Read this book if you want to understand the foreign policy of the Peoples Republic of China, or want guidance from an expert on how to keep your sanity and morality in a bureaucracy, or if you just want a very good story.
   
   In the fall of 1950, at the age of 21, Ji Chaozhu returned to his native China after an absence of 12 years. He left a comfortable middle class life as a Harvard undergraduate scholarship student at a time of increasingly virulent anti-communism in this country. China was on the verge of a shooting war with the USA in Korea, and he literally stepped through the looking glass into an upside down world of opposites. In China it was politically dangerous even to be suspected of intellectual or bourgeois tendencies; membership in the Communist Party was a privilege which it took him years to achieve; to fight against the USA backed forces in Korea was a patriotic duty for which he quickly volunteered. On a more personal level, Chaozhu had to relearn his first language, get used to a new and substantially reduced diet, and - perhaps most difficult of all - adapt to the use of a traditional "squat" toilet.
   
   This is the story of his 50 year odyssey through the hierarchy of the Chinese Foreign Ministry from lowly translator at Panmunjom to Ambassador to the Court of St. James and Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. His original intention when he returned home was to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry and help China to develop an atomic bomb, but his knowledge of English and American culture was a rare commodity in China at that time and proved much more valuable to the Government, so he parlayed that skill along with his good humor and good sense into a career working steadfastly towards the goal of establishing peace and cooperation between China and the USA.
   
   Along the way there were many twists and turns - tragic, exasperating, comical and unhealthy. He spent several long periods living away from his family working on farms in the country standing up to his knees in cold mud leaning over to plant rice seedlings, or carrying human waste to the fields in buckets to fertilize the crops. These stints were supposed to correct his bourgeois tendencies and help him identify with the peasants. He survived cold, heat, fleas, hunger, unsanitary conditions and primitive plumbing, but even more challenging were the internal politics and ideological twists and turns of programs like the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. He gained the confidence and protection of Premier Zhou Enlai, whom he served as translator on many important missions, on occasion being hurriedly summoned from the farm and appearing with manure still under his fingernails.
   
   Ideologues on both the left and the right will find much to quibble about in this book. I may have on occasions been guilty of the former tendency and feel uncomfortable about Chaozhu's admiration for and continuing friendship with Henry Kissinger, but I cannot argue with his results. It appears that this relationship was critical to establishing normal and peaceful relations between the USA and China.
   
   When Chaozhu dropped out of Harvard to return home, he left behind a small group of politically sympathetic classmates of whom I was one. To indulge in a little self-criticism, when I discovered that he had left I was guilty of two self-centered feelings: jealousy that he was going home to work for a real revolution and a dense of betrayal that he had gone off and left us to face the excesses of McCarthyism without him. Over the years I heard bits of news and rumors about his career, thought about him often, and wondered what his life was like. Now I know. When I finally picked up this book 58 years later, I couldn't put it down; I read it in one sitting.

5 comments about Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital.

1. While I will credit the book with being a good personal account of one person's short experience in Iraq, I found the book to be very insulting-especially to other military branches. As I write this review, I am trying to imgaine how this book would benefit civilian readers. I'm sure it gives a glimpse into what a combat zone is actually like-although there are many other books that do so with more experience behind the author. If I were affialited with the Marines-I would be happy with the book perhaps...but I am an Army spouse, stationed overseas, married to a soldier who is going on his 4th deployment-his 3rd to Iraq. I found this book was condensending, 2 references in particularly that insult the Army. How dare a Special Forces soldier NOT be intimidated by 10 Naval Officers! To claim that the Army was waved too and praised as they rolled into Iraqi towns while the Marines are getting shot at is not only inaccuate but very demeaning. We should be proud of ALL service members none of who enter a war zone and come back the same. I also found it disturbing that midway through the book the author decided to leave the Navy because being with family is more important. Surely those soldiers, sailors and airmen who, despite missing YEARS (not months like the author) of their children's lives, are saying that family is less important. Serving one's country is a high calling and it should NOT be compaired to a choice between ones devotion to their family or their country. A big THANK YOU should be extended to those who, DESPITE having to leave their family STILL PROUDLY serve. The freedoms and safety we sleep under each night is provided curtesy of those who VOLUNTEER to serve. And being caught without your kevlar? How nice to go to Iraq and be so lax about having this with you at all times. These are just several of the irriatations I found in the book.
   I appreciate the author's attempt to bring to civilian light one person's account of her time in Iraq, but the constant irriatations took away from the book for me.



2. This was a very good book. It gave me a better appreciation for what our troops are going through in Iraq and Afghanistan - from the point of view of a young mother serving her country.



3. All I can say is that this woman really did her share of caring for critically wounded soldiers. She is a heroine of the first order! Kudos to her and those like her serving our country. Her story should be shared and discussed everywhere.



4. This book offers very powerful insight to the struggle of mental health specialists in the field of combat. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in psychology and combat medicine. Even if you're not, this book is certainly worth it.



5. Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital
   I am a volunteer EMT. My dad had PTSD. I read Heidi's book and listened to her interview on National Public Radio. We have many returning vets in my town. Heidi's book and her work with the US Navy Combat Stress Control Program are in the highest tradition of the Navy and Marine Corps to leave no one behind. Great book! Great woman! We EMTs need more training in how to support our returning vets. We need Psychological First Aid training in addition to trauma and medical training. Heidi and folks like her are on the cutting edge of emergency medicine. Semper Fi