Non-Fiction for the curious.
If you've ever wondered how the US suffered so horrifically from the Opioid epidemic, this book will enrage you. By advertising, influencing the FDA, and convincing doctors that Oycontin was a miracle drug which would reduce everyday pain without addiction, this impacted American life with profound consequences. The depth of the Sackler family's moral indifference in putting profits over the users' well being is truly astounding.
Well researched, this book reads as a family saga, much like the tv drama Succession. Only real.
“An engrossing and deeply reported book about the Sackler family, the owners of Purdue Pharma. Their company created Oxycontin, the opioid introduced in the mid-90s that sent a wave of addiction and death across the country. Unlike previous books on the epidemic, Empire of Pain is focused on the wildly rich, ambitious and cutthroat family that built its empire first on medical advertising and later on painkillers. In his hands, their story becomes a great American morality tale about unvarnished greed dressed in ostentatious philanthropy.” —Time Magazine, The Best Books of 2021 So Far
James Clear, a New York times best selling author, provides a framework for using small changes to making a happier, more productive life. Using his own experience of recovering after a life altering accident, Clear built small habits to gradually improve his physical abilities and become an athlete, once more.
In my own experience, I was teaching an advanced ballet class in a local university as society began opening up after the Covid pandemic. My students had been sequestered for so long they lost a lot of habits that form the basis of a dance career. They were also stressed physically and time wise.
Using a lot of James Clear's Atomic Habits, I had the dancers examine their daily lives to make themselves healthier and less anxious about getting everything accomplished. In time, they managed to find those small habits, such as packing a lunch and snacks, preparing for the day's activities the night before, adding better eating routines and adding in downtime to relax and recovery.
Clear examines how we build habits and how to make good habits attractive and sustainable.
I highly recommend this book. There is a reason it has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 260 weeks.
This is another book that has been on the New York Times bestseller list for ages. In fact it was my book club's favorite read and we are all somewhat elderly white women.
Many of us remember the South African apartheid years and perhaps think we understand it. However, to read Trevor Noah's book is to gain a profound understanding of what it was like to live in it.
Because of the strictures imposed by the South African government, bi-racial Noah was the evidence of a crime. His father was white and his mother Black. Sexual relations between the races was a crime, punishable by five years in prison and the child placed in an orphanage. So Noah was hidden away in his early years to conceal his origins.
Trevor Noah was a clever and wily child, reined in by his equally clever mother, Patricia, a rebel in her own right. Deeply religious, Patricia, made sure that Trevor was educated and taken care of.
This is not a sad story of injustice but a compelling tale of Noah and his mother living in difficult circumstances. For instance, he would negotiate his chores by exchanging business like correspondence with his mother. On Sundays she would take him to not one, but three church services.
Noah, a world famous comedian, relates his story with humor, intelligence and warmth.
“Noah’s childhood stories are told with all the hilarity and intellect that characterizes his comedy, while illuminating a dark and brutal period in South Africa’s history that must never be forgotten.”—Esquire
Stuff : Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Randy Frost and Gail Steketee
Have you ever known a hoarder and wondered why they impacted their life and those around them with what seems a normal common sense solution? Get rid of useless items and trash! If you've watched the tv shows about hoarders, are you fascinated by the people unwilling or unable to recognize their problem?
Delving into the psychology and history of hoarding, (yes, it goes back to ancient times!) the authors, both PhD.s,who began studying this behavior over a decade ago, have produced a book for the general public, drawing from the many cases they have examined. Among their discoveries are: it may run in families, hoarders cannot make split decisions the rest of us can about trash or items to be discarded, hoarders have overwhelming urges to buy things, and hoarding afflicts far more people than originally thought. Revealing the stories of people caught in this web of never ending accumulation, you may recognize hoarding tendencies among your friends and neighbors.
This is not a how to fix book because hoarding is a complex, psychological problem. However it may lead you to consider your own relationship to material things. You will also gain some understanding of the condition and how difficult it is to treat.
Fun Fiction!
For when you just need a good read.
A timely book about a court case that will shake you, The Proving Ground is a great read for anyone concerned with the inroads AI and the Internet are making with impressionable kids logging on for company and friends.
In his latest Lincoln Lawyer series, John Connelly's character, Mickey Haller switches from high profile criminal lawyer to civil court lawyer. His first big case concerns a young man in high school who murders his girlfriend. Hired by the girl's mother, Haller sues the AI company that created an AI companion for the youth, and perhaps encouraged him to kill his friend.
Along the way Haller encounters various witnesses that are bullied and intimidated by the tech, a journalist who helps him sift through enormous mounds of paperwork, and the parents of the boy who is also a victim of the company.
As the professionals say: garbage in, garbage out when developing a chatbot, but who is putting the information in and where are the safety measures?
Quite frankly, this may be the best Lincoln Lawyer novel yet.
"The Proving Grounds seems so ripped from the headlines it feels as if [Connelly's] writing it as you read it...Connelly keeps the tension and the stakes rising in this all-too-plausible story of the power and perils of AI."―Tampa Bay Times
p.s. The book is better than the television series.
I am a huge fan of humorous novels. As one reader put it, it's a refreshing read in the light of the current disastrous news.
So for Dave Barry, award winning journalist from Miami, we can sum up the novel in two words: Florida Man. (And others.) Improbable actions by self serving lunatics. Lunatics who are looking to make a fortune with TikTok, in the Swamp, with alligators and snakes.
Jesse Braddock is living in a shack in the Everglades with her daughter and ex-boyfriend, broke and with out support. Slater, the boyfriend is making videos of himself encountering the wild life to the 'Glades and hopes to become famous as Swamp Man, though his production assistant refers to him as Swamp Guy. Jesse discovers a treasure hidden in the swamp and figures this can be her lifeline to escaping poverty and getting back into civilization. Unfortunately for her, others are looking for the trove of valuables.
Meanwhile, the Bortle Brothers who own a bait shop are also looking for newfound riches by creating videos of the Swamp Melon Man, a fictitious character and ghoul of the Swamp who is played by an alcoholic journalist. What could go wrong?
Have fun reading it!
"With Swamp Story, Dave Barry combines two important elements of literature: A swamp and a story." —Steve Martin
"Before you open this book, ask yourself one important question: How hard do I want to laugh? Because (a) it’s Dave Barry, and (b) it’s Dave Freaking Barry. Of course Swamp Story is about greed, fraud, and viral fame, but there are also big-ass reptiles to keep the sketchiest characters on their toes. Everything that happens in this wild novel could easily happen in South Florida, and probably will. Read it here first. Dave’s version is always the funniest." —Carl Hiaasen
Leslie Grey Streeter is a journalist who has published two books: one a memoire of her experience as a widow and this, her first novel. Drawing on her experience with her family and being a Black journalist, she has written a novel of family and career which include grieving, a betrayal of epic proportions by a fellow journalist, city government corruption, and cultural expectations that clash between her family and the family of her deceased husband.
While this could have been a sad, angry novel, Streeter writes with wit and humor.
Her exuberant spirit shines throughout the novel as her protagonist, Dawn Roberts, returns home to bury the ashes of her husband and along the way she encounters her nemesis, another Black journalist, Joe, who was supposed to be a friend and mentor, but who actually stole her research and writing to publish a ground breaking piece and become famous. With her career reduced to ashes, she relocates to the West coast to begin a new life with her husband and works on a magazine. While she escapes the reminders of her humiliation, she also loses touch with her family.
Can she make Joe pay for his crime? Will she reconnect with her family?
I enjoyed the plot and her writing.
“It would have been nice to have been loved. But I liked being right even more.”
“journalism is on life support and democracy is in the next bed in the ICU.”
“Currently, my career aspirations are queen, veterinarian, and crossing guard, because crossing guards control the traffic with a whistle and a white glove. That impresses me.”
― Leslie Gray Streeter, Family & Other Calamities
