Just finished this book – which was strange for me! I’m used to either reading brand-new, or not-even-released-yet books, or ones that are at least 50 years old that I have found around the house. This book is old enough so its pages are slightly discolored, but it doesn’t smell like “old book,” or “basement.”

A friend of mine on the “left coast” sent me this, as she thought I might enjoy it. It’s a collection of essays, so good for reading a bit at a time. And she was right. The essays are just a few pages long each, so good while waiting for my computer to start up, waiting for a kettle to boil …

And she was right – I did enjoy it. Mr. Bryson is an American, who, at the time he was writing this, had just moved back to America after spending twenty years in England. And he and his wife and children move to Hanover, New Hampshire, which is about an hour North of here. He grew up in the mid-West, so many of his observations are about the oddities of life in New England, the climate and how we all react to it.

Pretty much befuddled by much of life anyway, his observations on the differences of life in America than that of life in England are always fun, often funny, and will make you smile,

I am sure he’s written plenty more since this was printed in 1999, and some of the individual essays are a little dated when he talk about technology and politics, but otherwise it is mostly about us – human beings, and so is pretty timeless stuff.

Not the kind of book you feel compelled to read all at once, but the kind that is good to have around for a chuckle when you need one. And, with the modern wonder are online bookstores, it is still available and “in stock” which is pretty cool in itself!

A fascinating story of a woman with 17 different personalities in her, told by the doctor who helped her recover her life, one “Alter” at a time.A fascinating story of a woman with 17 different personalities in her, told by the doctor who helped her recover her life, one “Alter” at a time. With the new show “The United States of Tara” with Toni Collette being about to start on Showtime, and advertised heavily as being about “a woman with four personalities who has stopped taking her medication,” it seemed a good time to review this book for you. This is a real, not made-for-TV, not funny, but dreadful and serious case. And no one “medication” is able to help in her case.


The woman, Karen, was abused – emotionally, physically and even sexually from an extremely early age. As the doctor begins to treat her, he realizes that this is not a simple case of depression. He realizes that she has extreme problems, but is also very passive and refusing to help herself. He slowly begins to suspect, then confirm the different “personalities” that live inside her, and think of themselves as separate from her. They range in age from infant to adult.


When Dr. Baer gets a letter from Claire, a seven-year-old little girl who is one of the alters, he knows he can begin the process of letting Karen know about her alters, of whom she initially has no knowledge. She just knows she is miserable, suicidal, and that she “loses time” – becoming aware of hours and sometimes days that she does not remember.


Claire’s letter, and those from others, are shown in the book in the book, and you can clearly see the differences in handwriting that signify each personality. The book includes diagrams by two of the more organized members, and some remarkable drawings by Jensen, one of the boys that are part of her.


The book details their her course of treatment and illness and recovery. The abuse she slowly remembers is horrific, and she bears the physical as well as mental scars that bear witness to the events, no matter how awful it seems. Because of what she suffered, this not an easy read, but “Karen” says in an epilogue that she hopes that everyone who does read it will look at the children they meet with new awareness, so they can intervene if another child is suffering.


It is a remarkable book, and very matter-of-factly told. It is fascinating to read, if you are interested in how human beings can cope, and even survive in the face of unthinkable abuse.

If it weren’t for the subtitle “In The Grip of Avalanches” this title would be a good description of me – I love snow, always have, even enjoy shoveling it, and am working on whole page on just snow on my website.


But anyway, this book is fascinating, and with the recent avalanche deaths in the news, timely. Jill Fredston grew up outside New York City, so didn’t see as much snow as a kid as, say, Alaskan kids did, but was always fascinated by it, and studied it throughout school. She became an avalanche expert, both advising people when there is danger, assisting in rescues and recoveries, and analyzing data after an event.


The whole book is laced with stories – both tragedies and triumphs, that bring the very human element to the story, and keep it from being dry or scholarly. The way she can describe the types of snow, the importance of temperature and humidity, how snow changes and evolves once it is on the ground, how to tell the difference between a lovely skiable slope and a brutally dangerous one make a fascinating book.


Her husband is also an avalanche expert, and she describes all she learns from him, the journey of their relationship changing from that of mentor and student to a marriage. Having someone else who understands the frailty of human life, and the hazards of the mountains seems important to maintaining a grip on sanity amidst the chaos and danger.


I got this at the BEA in 2005, and unlike most books, never gave it away after reading it. I live in Massachusetts. It snows here. And while I live nowhere near any avalanche zone – stuff gets plowed here, and the hills are just hills in Newton, snow in all its varieties interests me.


Every skier, snowmobiler and winter sports should be required to read this book. And even those who curse that white stuff while shoveling out after yet another storm might enjoy it, too.


And you will learn what neighborhoods NEVER to move into, too. How anyone could build a life and a home at the bottom of an avalanche zone seems insane to me, but before reading this book, I might never, in summer, have considered how the breathtakingly beautiful mountains and green slopes behind me might be heartache waiting to happen.

With the inauguration of a new President days away, it seems the right time to review this book for you. I first read it in 2005, and loved it so much I gave a copy to my brother, who ended up passing it around to everyone he works with.


Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the US from 1901-1909, becoming the youngest person – at age 42 – to be President when he assumed the role after William McKinley was assassinated. After losing to Taft in 1912 ( 22nd Amendment limiting the President to two terms in office wasn’t passed until 1947) he set his considerable energy and enthusiasm to a new, more physically dangerous task.


This book chronicles his attempt to chart the River of Doubt, a tributary of the Amazon that previously had not been mapped. With him is Candido Rondon, Brazil’s most famous explorer, Roosevelt’s eldest son Kermit and a number of other adventurous individuals, convinced by Roosevelt’s powerful personality, the idea of discovery, and the lure of fame.


Their journey was incredible, dangerous and threatened the lives of every member of the expedition. The jungle was dark, hot, difficult at every turn, and there were no helicopters on standby if things got rough. Those that survived emerged forever changed, mentally, physically, or both. This is a fascinating book with real jungle travel and adventure, no glamour whatsoever, and gives a very different picture of the man whose image is now a bit softened by his association with the Teddy Bear – every child’s beloved friend named after him, or gets confused with his cousin Franklin.


The kind of person who becomes President is always a driven sort of individual, and I think none was ever more so than Theodore Roosevelt. But conquering this river was different than leading an Army into battle or leading a country. The river was indifferent and the jungle and its inhabitants – from microbe up to indigenous human – did not welcome these men, or sympathize with their task.


The actual River of Doubt was renamed after him, and is on maps today as Roosevelt River, and that whole section of northwest Brazil was named Rondonia after Candido Rondon.


This is not the kind of history that ever seems to make it into schoolbooks, but it should. Excellent book, and fascinating picture of a former President. Not everyone goes on to a life of quiet diplomacy. Or lives “happily ever after.”


Excellent book, and it does not read at all like a dry dusty ‘history book’ – you should read it if you are interested in Presidents, Brazil, jungles, or just human beings.

This is an excellent book of the author’s experiences as a deaf American working for the Peace Corps in Zambia. He did get have a cochlear implant, so he does have some hearing. He goes to Zambia to work with deaf children, who traditionally in the area were treated as hopeless cases. As well as teaching them sign language, and reading and writing, he ends up teaching them more about what a deaf person can accomplish.



The book is engaging and interesting – his quest to find a place to fit in teaches him more than he ever expected. Along the way are the usual comedy of errors as he adjusts to how things work – and indeed what does not work, encountering tribal politics and working in a health clinic assisting the local man who becomes a dear friend. He encounters ignorance as well as open minds, and has a hard time adjusting his American attitudes to life in this out-of-the-way village.



Fascinating and well worth a read, I especially recommend it if you ever wondered what a Peace Corps experience can be like.

Interesting nonfiction story of a Marine officer, Nathanial Fick, from his decision to enlist, through the opening of the current Iraq war, and on. The title comes from the phrase they hear in training – “What’s the difference between the officer in charge and the second-in-command?” “One bullet.”

Marine Fick comes across as intelligent and thoughtful, as well as patriotic, belying the stereotype of Marines is gung-ho grunts. He stays away from national politics that surround the war except for the effect they have on him and his men. You get a lot of inside detail on the different types of people in the Marine Corps, as well as getting to know individuals in his squad very well. He shares his experiences – and frustrations – with the military command structure, dealing with officers of widely varying levels of competence being in charge of he and his squad.

The book takes us with Officer Fick an his squad over to Iraq, and just as important, deals with the aftermath of their experience as well. This is no “Mission Accomplised – book ends” – he intelligently deals with his men as human beings, and talks about what we rarely hear – how one adjusts when coming back to “normal life” after being in a war.