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Common Freshmen Reader Book Reviews

Please note:  Some reviews are not scholarly (Those highlighted in yellow).  If there were no scholarly reviews or criticism available personal reviews were used (mainly from Amazon).

1.         Monkey Wrench Gang

            By Edward Abbey -421 Pages

            Publisher Notes: Edward Abbey’s best known and most highly acclaimed novel.  It is the story of four unique, somewhat motley individuals who have had enough with big government and big business’s raping of the American West for every increasing building and the paving over of the natural beauty that is found there.  It is both a moving and humorous story about freedom and commitment that has ignited the flames of environmental activism. 

            Review from New Statesman:  Originally published in 1975, The Monkey Wrench Gang poses a question that is key to our own time: what should ordinary citizens do when their own governments do unspeakable things?  The rebellious gang at the centre of Edward Abbey's novel is led by a somewhat simian and seriously disaffected Vietnam veteran, George Washington Hayduke (the "George W" is serendipitous). It includes two intellectuals - Dr A K Saris and an Abraham Lincoln-like ex-Mormon called Seldom Seen Smith; and is completed by a Jewish hippie from the Bronx, Bonnie Azzbug. Each in his own way hates what big business is doing to his wondrous wild America; and they hate, too, the engineers who are helping business do it, engineers whose dream world "is a model of perfect sphericity AE highways merely painted on a surface smooth as glass". So they set out on a course of escalating violence, first destroying the giant billboards that flank the highways, then the earth-movers and mile-long trains, and then the bridges over once-magnificent rivers that have been siphoned off and reduced to sewers.  Abbey, who died in 1989, was both a professor of English and a fire-watcher and ranger (and clearly a fine naturalist), and wrote of what he knew. Today, his fictional gang has a real successor -- the Earth Liberation Front, which, even as you read this, might well be filling the fuel tanks of huge bulldozers with syrup and sand, defacing the odd McDonald's, or (as it did a few years ago) firebombing an "outlet" for Hummers in California. Sometimes the ELF leaves a slogan: "Hayduke lives."

2.         Street without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina

            By Bernard Fall - 382 pages of reading 407 pages total

            Publisher Notes:  Originally published in 1961, before the United States escalated its involvement in South Vietnam, Street without Joy offered a clear warning about what American forces would face in the jungles of Southeast Asia: a costly and protracted revolutionary war fought without fronts against a mobile enemy. In harrowing detail, Fall describes the brutality and frustrations of the Indochina War, the savage eight year conflict-ending in 1954 after the fall of Dien Bien Phu-in which French forces suffered a staggering defeat at the hands of Communist led Vietnamese nationalists. With its frontline perspective, vivid reporting, and careful analysis, Street without Joy was required reading for policymakers in Washington and GIs in the field and is now considered a classic.

 3.         Gifted Hands:  The Ben Carson Story

            By Ben Carson - 224 Pages

            In 1987, Dr. Benjamin Carson gained worldwide recognition for his part in the first successful separation of Siamese twins joined at the back of the head. The extremely complex and delicate operation, five months in the planning and twenty-two hours in the execution, involved a surgical plan that Carson helped initiate. Carson pioneered again in a rare procedure known as hemispherectomy, giving children without hope a second chance at life through a daring operation in which he literally removed one half of their brain. But such breakthroughs aren't unusual for Ben Carson. He's been beating the odds since he was a child. Raised in inner-city Detroit by a mother with a third grade education, Ben lacked motivation. He had terrible grades. And a pathological temper threatened to put him in jail. But Sonya Carson convinced her son that he could make something of his life, even though everything around him said otherwise. Trust in God, a relentless belief in his own capabilities, and sheer determination catapulted Ben from failing grades to the top of his class — and beyond to a Yale scholarship . . . the University of Michigan Medical School . . . and finally, at age 33, the directorship of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.  This inspiring autobiography takes you into the operating room to witness surgeries that made headlines around the world — and into the private mind of a compassionate, God-fearing physician who lives to help others. Through it all shines a humility, quick wit, and down-to-earth style that make this book one you won't easily forget.

4.         My Antonia

            By Willa Cather – 249 Pages

Publisher Notes :  Widely recognized as Willa Cather’s greatest novel, My Ántonia is a soulful and rich portrait of a pioneer woman’s simple yet heroic life. The spirited daughter of Bohemian immigrants, Ántonia must adapt to a hard existence on the desolate prairies of the Midwest. Enduring childhood poverty, teenage seduction, and family tragedy, she eventually becomes a wife and mother on a Nebraska farm. A fictional record of how women helped forge the communities that formed a nation, My Ántonia is also a hauntingly eloquent celebration of the strength, courage, and spirit of America’s early pioneers.

5.         Eragon

            By Christopher Paolini – 528 pages

            The Barnes & Noble Review
Teen author Christopher Paolini breathes fire into the realm of fantasy -- whisking readers to a world of dragons, magic, and legends -- in his first impressive entry in the Inheritance trilogy. Following in the footsteps of J.R.R. Tolkien and Terry Goodkind, Paolini recounts the harrowing adventure of Eragon, a peasant boy who one day discovers a strange rock that happens to be a lost, coveted dragon's egg. Eragon finds himself raising the highly intelligent creature (which he names Saphira) and bonds with her both mentally and soulfully, but after a team of marauders sent by the land's conniving ruler destroys his family home and kills his uncle, the boy sets out to hone his skills as a Rider and claim his vengeance. Paolini pays meticulous attention to detail and to the characters' actions in the book, letting readers travel eagerly with the young hero along every step of his journey.

6.         Mountain Windsong: A Novel of the Trail of Tears

            by  Robert Conley — 218 pages

            Publisher Notes: Set against the tragic events of the Cherokees’ removal from their traditional lands in North Carolina to Indian Territory between 1835 and 1838, Mountain Windsong is a love story that brings to life the suffering and endurance of the Cherokee people. Robert J. Conley makes use of song, legend, and historical documents to weave the rich texture of the story, which is told through several, sometimes contradictory, voices.  In this layering of contradictory elements, Conley implies questions about the relationships between history and legend, storytelling and myth-making.

            Publishers Weekly:  Conley chronicles the Trail of Tears—the forced removal of the tribe in the 1830s from its homelands in the southeastern U.S. to alien territory in Oklahoma. He gives this epic drama a human scale by focusing on the story of Oconeechee, daughter of a famous Cherokee chief, and Waguli (Whippoorwill), the young man she loves.  Uncompromisingly accurate and authentic, the narrative incorporates historical documents (the full text of the 1835 treaty the Cherokees signed with the U.S. government is included; as a result, the story slows for some pages) and many words in the Cherokee language. As the tragic tale unfolds, the novel acquires power and resonance and the reader cannot failed to be moved by Conley’s insights into Cherokee history and culture.

7.         State of Fear

By Michael Crichton – 688 Pages
Publisher Notes: In Paris, a physicist dies after performing a laboratory experiment for a beautiful visitor. In the jungles of Malaysia, a mysterious buyer purchases deadly cavitation technology, built to his specifications. In Vancouver, a small research submarine is leased for use in the waters off New Guinea. And in Tokyo, an intelligence agent tries to understand what it all means. Thus begins Michael Crichton's exciting and provocative technothriller, State of Fear. Only Michael Crichton's unique ability to blend science fact and pulse-pounding fiction could bring such disparate elements to a heart-stopping conclusion. This is Michael Crichton's most wide-ranging thriller. State of Fear takes the reader from the glaciers of Iceland to the volcanoes of Antarctica, from the Arizona desert to the deadly jungles of the Solomon Islands, from the streets of Paris to the beaches of Los Angeles. The novel races forward, taking the reader on a rollercoaster thrill ride, all the while keeping the brain in high gear. Gripping and thought-provoking, State of Fear is Michael Crichton at his very best.

8.         When Smoke ran Like Water: Tales of Environmental Deception and the Battle against Pollution

            By Devra Lee Davis – 316 pages

Publisher Notes: In When Smoke Ran Like Water, the world-renowned epidemiologist Devra Davis confronts the public triumphs and private failures of her lifelong battle against environmental pollution. She documents the shocking toll of a public-health disaster-300,000 deaths a year in the U.S. and Europe from the effects of pollution-and asks why we remain silent. For Davis, the issue is personal: Pollution is what killed many in her family and forced some of the others, survivors of the 1948 smog emergency in Donora, Pennsylvania, to live out their lives with impaired health. She describes that episode and also makes startling revelations about how the deaths from the London smog of 1952 were falsely attributed to influenza; how the oil companies and auto manufacturers fought for decades to keep lead in gasoline, while knowing it caused brain damage; and many other battles. When Smoke Ran Like Water makes a devastating case for change.

9.         Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas

            By Frederick Douglas – 126 Pages

      Publisher Notes:  No book except perhaps Uncle Tom’s Cabin had as powerful an impact on the abolitionist movement as Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. But while Stowe wrote about imaginary characters, Douglass’s book is a record of his own remarkable life. Born a slave in 1818 on a plantation in Maryland, Douglass taught himself to read and write. In 1845, seven years after escaping to the North, he published Narrative, the first of three autobiographies. This book calmly but dramatically recounts the horrors and the accomplishments of his early years—the daily, casual brutality of the white masters; his painful efforts to educate himself; his decision to find freedom or die; and his harrowing but successful escape. An astonishing orator and a skillful writer, Douglass became a newspaper editor, a political activist, and an eloquent spokesperson for the civil rights of African Americans. He lived through the Civil War, the end of slavery, and the beginning of segregation. He was celebrated internationally as the leading black intellectual of his day, and his story still resonates in ours.

10.       Nickled and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America

            By Barbara Ehrenreich -  240 pages

            Publisher Notes:  Millions of Americans work for poverty-level wages, and one day Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that any job equals a better life. But how can anyone survive, let alone prosper, on $6 to $7 an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich moved from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, taking the cheapest lodgings available and accepting work as a waitress, hotel maid, house cleaner, nursing-home aide, and Wal-Mart salesperson. She soon discovered that even the "lowliest" occupations require exhausting mental and physical efforts. And one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors.
Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity--a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate strategies for survival. Instantly acclaimed for its insight, humor, and passion, this book is changing the way America perceives its working poor.

11.       Man’s Searching for Meaning

            By Victor Frankl - 250 pages

            Publisher Notes: Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl's memoir has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival. Between 1942 and 1945 Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished. Based on his own experience and the experiences of those he treated in his practice, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose. Frankl's theory—known as logotherapy, from the Greek word logos ("meaning")—holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.

12.       World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century

            By Thomas Friedman – 640 pages

            Publisher Notes: In this brilliant #1 bestseller, "the most important columnist in America today" (Walter Russell Mead, The New York Times) demystifies the brave new world for readers, allowing them to make sense of the often bewildering global scene unfolding before their eyes. With his inimitable ability to translate complex foreign policy and economic issues, Thomas L. Friedman explains how the flattening of the world happened at the dawn of the twenty-first century; what it means to countries, companies, communities, and individuals; and how governments and societies can, and must, adapt. The World Is Flat is the timely and essential update on globalization, its successes and discontents, powerfully illuminated by one of our most respected journalists.

13.       Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

            By Malcolm Gladwell – 320 Pages

Publisher Notes: In his #1 bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. In BLINK, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within.  How do we make decisions--good and bad--and why are some people so much better at it than others? That's the question Malcolm Gladwell asks and answers in BLINK. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, examining case studies as diverse as speed dating, pop music, and the New Coke, Gladwell shows how the difference between good decision making and bad has nothing to do with how much information we can process quickly, but rather with the few particular details on which we focus.

14.       Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It

            By Al Gore – 325 Pages (TOO EXPENSIVE)

            Publisher Notes: An Inconvenient Truth, Gore's groundbreaking battle cry of a follow-up to the bestselling Earth in the Balance, will be published to tie in with a documentary film of the same name that will be seen in theaters across the country in May. Both the book and film were inspired by a series of multimedia presentations on global warming that Gore created and delivers to groups around the world. With this book, Gore, who is one of our environmental heroes -- and a leading expert -- brings together leading-edge research from top scientists around the world; photographs, charts, and other illustrations; and personal anecdotes and observations to document the fast pace and wide scope of global warming. He presents, with alarming clarity and conclusiveness -- and with humor, too -- that the fact of global warming is not in question and that its consequences for the world we live in will be disastrous if left unchecked. This riveting new book, written in an accessible, entertaining style, will open the eyes of even the most skeptical.

15.       Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism

            By Temple Grandin – 304 Pages

Publisher Notes: Temple Grandin is renowned throughout the world as a designer of livestock holding equipment. Her unique empathy for animals has her to create systems which are humane and cruel free, setting the highest standards for the industry the treatment and handling of animals. She also happens to be autistic. Here, in Temple Grandin's own words, is the story what it is like to live with autism. Temple is among the few people who have broken through many the neurological impairments associated with autism. Throughout her life, she has developed unique coping strategies, including her famous "squeeze machine," modeled after seeing the calming effect squeeze chutes on cattle. She describes her pain isolation growing up "different" and her discovery visual symbols to interpret the "ways of the natives" Thinking in Pictures also gives information from the frontlines of autism, including treatment medication, and diagnosis, as well as Temple's insight into genius, savants, sensory phenomena, etc. Ultimately, it is Temple's unique ability describe the way her visual mind works and how she first made the connection between her impairment and animal temperament that is the basis of extraordinary gift and phenomenal success.

17.       Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

            By Mark Haddon – 240 Pages

Publisher Notes: Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.  Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration. But the investigation leads him down some unexpected paths and ultimately brings him face to face with the dissolution of his parents’ marriage. As he tries to deal with the crisis within his own family, we are drawn into the workings of Christopher’s mind.  And herein lies the key to the brilliance of Mark Haddon’s choice of narrator: The most wrenching of emotional moments are chronicled by a boy who cannot fathom emotion. The effect is dazzling, making for a novel that is deeply funny, poignant, and fascinating in its portrayal of a person whose curse and blessing is a mind that perceives the world literally. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is one of the freshest debuts in years: a comedy, a heartbreaker, a mystery story, a novel of exceptional literary merit that is great fun to read.

18.       Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy

            By Hazel Henderson – 280 Pages

            Publishers Weekly Review: In this companion to the television series of the same name, economist Henderson delivers an optimistic overview of socially responsible, environmentally sensitive businesses, investors and visionaries. Keeping an eye on the "triple bottom line" that adds "people" and "planet" to the usual focus on "profits," the book divides "cleaner, greener, more ethical and more female sectors of our U.S. economy" into three areas: lifestyles of health and sustainability, socially responsible investing and corporate social responsibility. An economist with a long history of activism in "redefining success" (for example, revamping the GDP to include environmental capital and unpaid labor such as child-rearing), Henderson adeptly packs large amounts of information into chapters within her expertise. Discussion of topics that are further from her experience, such as green building and the health care system, tends to careen from problems to solutions so quickly that a reader can become confused. The interviews after each chapter, meant to show how CEOs are "walking the talk," seem to be taken unedited from the TV show, coming across as incoherent and shallow. Fortunately, the book is crammed with Web references that can offer a fuller picture to readers tantalized by this glimpse of the economic revolution thriving below the radar of mainstream media.

19.       The Kite Runner

            By Khaled Hosseni – 384 Pages

            From Barnes and Noble: The Kite Runner, is a poignant tale of two motherless boys growing up in Kabul, a city teetering on the brink of destruction at the dawn of the Soviet invasion.  Despite their class differences, Amir, the son of a wealthy businessman, and Hassan, his devoted sidekick and the son of Amir's household servant, play together, cause mischief together, and compete in the annual kite-fighting tournament -- Amir flying the kite, and Hassan running down the kites they fell. But one day, Amir betrays Hassan, and his betrayal grows increasingly devastating as their tale continues. Amir will spend much of his life coming to terms with his initial and subsequent acts of cowardice, and finally seek to make reparations.  Hosseini's depiction of the cruelty children suffer at the hands of their "friends" will break your heart. And his descriptions of Afghanistan both before and after the war will haunt readers long after they've read the last page. The Kite Runner is a stunning reminder that the dark hearts of adults are made, step-by-step, by the hatred they learn as children, and that all it takes for evil to triumph is for a good man to stand back and do nothing.

20.       Brave New World

            by Aldous Huxley -  259 Pages

            Publisher Notes: Huxley´s vision of the future in his astonishing 1931 novel Brave New World is a darkly satiric vision of a 'utopian' future - where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment.

21.       What Lies Beneath:  Katrina, Race, and the State of the Nation

            By Joy James -  176 Pages

Publisher Notes: In August 2005, thousands of New Orleans residents-overwhelmingly poor, largely people of color, the majority black-were left to face one of the worst "natural" disasters in US history on their own. They were left to die in prisons, in nursing homes, and on the street. Survivors were criminalized as "looters" for struggling to obtain food, water, diapers, medicine, and other essentials of life that no one else could or would provide. As Katrina's waters receded and the body count soared, an ugly truth (re)surfaced: The lives of those who are poor, who are vulnerable, and who are not white are not valued by the US government.  Short and accessible, this anthology takes readers beyond the Superdome. It explores the complexity of this turning point in US history as representative of the nation's direction and priorities.

22.       The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic - and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World – Not available in Paperback until October 2007

23.       Mountains Beyond Mountains:  The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who would cure the World

            By Tracy Kidder – 336 Pages

Publisher Notes: This powerful and inspiring new book shows how one person can make a difference, as Kidder tells the true story of a gifted man who is in love with the world and has set out to do all he can to cure it.  At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, world-class Robin Hood, Farmer was brought up in a bus and on a boat, and in medical school found his life's calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most. This magnificent book shows how radical change can be fostered in situations that seem insurmountable, and it also shows how a meaningful life can be created, as Farmer--brilliant, charismatic, charming, both a leader in international health and a doctor who finds time to make house calls in Boston and the mountains of Haiti--blasts through convention to get results. At the heart of this book is the example of a life based on hope, and on an understanding of the truth of the Haitian proverb "Beyond mountains there are mountains": as you solve one problem, another problem presents itself, and so you go on and try to solve that one too.

24.       Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money -- That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

            By Robert Kiyosaki – 272 Pages

            Barnes and Noble Review:  The advice that dads traditionally give is so commonplace, it seems almost clichéd: Go to school and do well. Save your money. Work hard, and financial reward will follow. What would you say upon learning that dear ol' Dad was dead wrong? In his explosive financial manuals, Robert T. Kiyosaki suggests that perhaps you shouldn't have taken Dad's advice, encouraging a new look at an old financial mind-set. The subtitle of Rich Dad, Poor Dad says it all: "What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money — That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!" Contending that the wealthy have learned to make money work for them, rather than toiling for the almighty dollar, Kiyosaki reveals the secrets to success — his way. A millionaire himself, Kiyosaki's own experience plays a part in his controversial financial guidebooks.  His philosophy — including the assertion that a high income does not a wealthy person make — forms the cornerstone of his remarkable books, and his message is clear: "Take responsibility for your finances or take orders all your life. You're either a master of money or a slave to it." With Kiyosaki's guidance, explode the myth that you need to earn a high income to become rich, challenge the belief that your house is an asset, and refuse to rely on the school system to teach kids about money.

25.       Field Notes from a Catastrophe:  Man, Nature and Climate Change

            225 pages

Publisher Notes:  Americans have been warned since the late 1970s that the buildup of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere threatens to melt the polar ice sheets and irreversibly change our climate. With little done since then to alter this dangerous path, the world has reached a critical threshold.  Taking listeners from the melting Alaskan permafrost to storm-torn New Orleans, acclaimed journalist Elizabeth Kolbert approaches this monumental problem from every angle. She interviews researchers and environmentalists, explains the science, draws frightening parallels to lost civilizations and presents the moving tales of people who are watching their worlds disappear. Growing out of an award-winning three-part series for the New Yorker, Field Notes from a Catastrophe brings the environment into the consciousness of the American people and asks what, if anything, can be done to save our planet.
            Kirkus Reviews: New Yorker staff writer Kolbert reports from the frontlines of global warming. Based on a three-part series that appeared in the magazine, this slim volume conveys through telling detail the changes already being wrought by human-induced global warming. For most Americans, this issue is not yet "close to home," Kolbert writes; the early effects are found nearer the poles. In the Alaskan village of Shishmaref, early spring thaws and storm surges may force residents to relocate from their centuries-old home. The same fate threatens permafrost expert Vladimir Romanovsky; huge sinkholes are opening up practically on his doorstep.  Obligatory chapters on politics and the Kyoto Protocol are followed by stories of grassroots efforts by local governments-but will they be enough? Good storytelling humanizes an often abstract subject.

26.       Beauty Junkies: Inside Our $15 Billion Obsession With Cosmetic Surgery

            by Alex Kuczynski

            NOT available in Paperback

27.       Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity

An excellent summary of the history and potential future of copyright, December 26, 2006
Reviewer:  Joe Wikert (Amazon Review)

You might think a book about the history and future of copyright law would be painfully boring. If the book is Free Culture: The Nature & Future of Creativity, by Lawrence Lessig, you'd be wrong. Lessig does a fantastic job of framing copyright with terms and scenarios everyone can understand. On top of that, he's a very engaging writer, the type that can probably make just about any topic interesting.

Lessig explains how large media companies like Disney got their start in an era of very relaxed copyright rules and regulations. In fact, Disney's classic Steamboat Willie was nothing more than a knock-off of Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill, Jr. What would happen if you tried to do the same thing today and based your video on a Disney character? You'd probably get a nice cease and desist letter from the folks at Disney.

One could argue that the IP policies that existed when Disney got off the ground needed some adjustments to fit today's content world. Lessig points out where things have probably gone too far though (e.g., the ridiculously high financial penalties associated with peer-to-peer file sharing). I'm not saying piracy isn't wrong. Not at all. As I've said on my blog, stealing is stealing, but Lessig gives plenty of examples to show how the resulting penalties are more than excessive.

A main thrust of the book has to do with how Congress keeps extending copyright terms and that almost nothing is therefore allowed to move into the public domain. He argued the case at the Supreme Court level but apparently lost because he couldn't show how the situation was hurting anyone. He makes a good point that there are plenty of works in a state of limbo, not really in distribution but beyond the reach of the public domain because they're still covered by copyright term extensions. I tend to agree with the Supreme Court though and find it hard to believe there are loads of derivative works opportunities that aren't being leveraged because of this. That said, Lessig presents an interesting alternative copyright model where owners can opt in to extend the original term.

Lessig is also well-known for his work on the Creative Commons (CCL) initiative. The CCL is a valuable model and a nice alternative for certain uses. Although I had originally thought this book wasn't available via CCL I now understand that was an oversight in the printed book. It is a CCL product and you can obtain the content, and various remixes of the content, at free-culture.org.

28.       Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. (Brief Article) Taylor, Gilbert.  Booklist, Nov 1, 1994 v91 n5 p476(1)

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1994 American Library Association

Loewen, James W. Jan. 1995. 384p. illus. New Press, $24.95 (1-56584-100-X). Galley. 973 U.S.--History--Textbooks [parallel] U.S.--Historiography [CIP] 94-5925

When textbook gaffes make news, as with the tome that explained that the Korean War ended when Truman dropped the atom bomb, the expeditious remedy would be to fire the editor. Loewen would rather hire a new team of authors bent on the pursuit of context instead of factoids. In Loewen's ideal text, events and people illuminating the multicultural holy trinity of race, gender, and social class would predominate over the fixation on heroes and acts of government. Such is the mood adopted throughout this critique of 12 American history texts in current use. Vetting 10 topics they commonly address--from the Pilgrims to the Vietnam War--Loewen bewails a long train of alleged omissions and distortions. To account for the deplorable situation, he offers this quasi-marxist explanation: "Perhaps we are all dupes, manipulated by elite white male capitalists who orchestrate how history is written as part of their scheme to perpetuate their own power and privilege at the expense of the rest of us." Certainly students' appalling ignorance of history is troublesome, and broken families and excessive TV viewing are at least the equals of white male conspirators as the cause. However, libraries located where dissatisfaction with textbooks exists should be interested in Loewen's critique.

29.       The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World. (Better and Better). (Review) Shapiro, Kevin A. Commentary, Nov 2001 v112 i4 p60(3)

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2001 American Jewish Committee

The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World by Bjorn Lomborg Cambridge. 496pp. $27.95 (paper)

ON CHURCH Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a large and colorful mural, sponsored by the Women's Community Cancer Project (WCCP), encourages environmental awareness and activism. The mural depicts several women gathered around a model of the earth, and is emblazoned with the motto: "Indication of harm, not proof of harm, is our call to action."

In other words, we should not wait for confirmation of our fears; if something seems horribly awry, it probably is, and will only get worse while we do nothing. This has been called the precautionary principle, and it is often invoked today in connection not only with chemical pollution, the elimination of which is the goal of the WCCP, but also with supposedly even greater threats like overpopulation and global warming.

The problem with the precautionary principle, however, is that it is wrong. One of the peculiarities of the human condition is that we are irrationally averse to risks, and tend to overestimate the probable negative consequences of actions and events. We are fascinated by bad news, and generally bored by good news; more often than not, we tend to perceive things as being worse than they actually are. Whatever the ultimate reasons for this predilection, it is hardly a sound basis for dealing with complex, long-term problems.

In the 1960's and 70's, a string of alarmist tracts--most notably Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962) and Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb (1968)--stoked fears in America and Europe of an imminent apocalypse that, needless to say, never came about. Strangely, however, we took no notice of the fact that the catastrophes we worried about had failed to occur. Even more strangely, the doomsayers never lost their credibility, instead merely postponing their deadlines to convenient future dates.

One person who pointed out the absurdity of all this was the late economist Julian Simon. It is true that Simon had a somewhat bellicose style, and a flair for provocative thought-experiments. (In his 1981 book, The Ultimate Resource, for example, he estimated that the entire population of the world could be supplied with food from an area equal to the combined land mass of Vermont and Massachusetts, or about one-thousandth of presently cultivated land.) Partly for this reason--but mostly because his arguments ran counter to what environmentalists believed to be true--Simon was dismissed as a right-wing crank. Meanwhile, the environmental movement continued to imagine new and even greater problems, all of them requiring immediate action.

BUT was Simon mistaken? In 1997, the Danish statistician Bjorn Lomborg, a self-described "old left-wing Greenpeace member," set out to disprove Simon's disproofs and confirm the claims of environmental alarmists. But he failed spectacularly--and, what is much more unusual, in The Skeptical Environmentalist he says so. In 25 chapters supplemented and supported by almost 3,000 footnotes, Lomborg takes a fresh look at the data, using the newest publicly available evidence to examine long-term trends in human welfare and the quality of the environment. What he shows is that not only are things not getting worse, they are getting better.

Lomborg's tone throughout is mild and modest, and his arguments are exceedingly careful. His explanations are lucid, unbiased, and unadorned by rhetorical flourishes (which makes for a sometimes clunkily matter-of-fact style). At every possible turn he is willing to grant the benefit of the doubt to his adversaries. Nevertheless, his conclusions are nothing short of breathtaking.

Throughout the world, including the developing world, life expectancy is increasing. Food and energy are becoming both cheaper and more plentiful. Natural resources are available in greater abundance. Inequality in purchasing power is decreasing. The air and water in our cities are cleaner than has been the case in at least 500 years. These are facts, and there is no getting around them.

Environmental organizations, when faced with such data, argue that even if they are true, progress has come at too great a cost--namely, the irreversible disruption of nature--and is therefore immoral and unsustainable. Lomborg takes on and demolishes this assertion, demonstrating that most of the problems environmentalists predict for the future are unlikely to materialize.

Thus, at least one fear common in the 1980's--that acid rain would cause the death of forests--has already been conclusively dispelled (though we never heard about this from the media). As for the effects of so-called ecological catastrophes like oil spills, these have been surprisingly benign; in almost all cases, the affected ecosystems are well on their way to total recovery. Estimates of the proportion of species likely to become extinct as a result of human activity are also wildly exaggerated, often by a factor of more than 50. Global warming is demonstrably overestimated, and even if the estimates were correct, climate change would most probably not have anything like the calamitous effects that are usually foretold. Population growth, whose supposed perils constitute a major shibboleth of the environmental movement, is likely to level off in the near future, and in any case there is more than enough food and space in the world to accommodate many more people.

IF THE predictions of environmental doomsayers are wrong, Lomborg also shows that the precautionary principle, if taken seriously, is downright dangerous. Take the simple example of pesticides, one of the great evils fought by the Women's Community Cancer Project. At most, the use of pesticides results in twenty extra deaths from cancer per year in the United States (out of a total of 200,000)--equivalent to about 1 percent of the deaths caused by the use of spices like mustard and cinnamon, and about one-hundredth of 1 percent of the deaths caused by natural properties of foods themselves.

Proponents of "organic" farming might counter that this is, all the same, unacceptable: though we cannot (or do not wish to) eliminate the risk of cancer from eating spices, we can (and ought to) eliminate the risk from chemical pesticides. But not only would this be a hugely expensive proposition, costing the economy at least $1 billion per saved life, it would be counter-productive. If pesticides were phased out, fruit and vegetables would become more expensive, causing people to eat fewer of them in favor of fattier and starchier foods; this in turn would significantly increase the rate of death from cancer and heart disease.

A similarly stark example comes from a cost-benefit analysis of the precautionary principle as applied to climate change caused by carbon-dioxide emissions ([CO.sub.2]). On the assumption that global warming will occur to about the degree most often predicted, and that we do nothing about it, its adverse effects are likely to cost the world economy about $5 trillion in total--not a trivial sum. If, however, we attempt to stabilize global [CO.sub.2] emissions, we will be faced with a cost of about $8.5 trillion, while actual cutbacks in [CO.sub.2] emissions could cost an astronomical $38 trillion. Surely, suggests Lomborg, there are better ways to spend $33 trillion than in combating what is almost certain to be an insignificant environmental problem.

THIS, INDEED, is the central message of Lomborg's book: given the range of large and small problems that we face as a civilization, we should use our resources wisely, in ways that are likely to pay off in the long term. Although there is less starvation than there has been in the past, undoubtedly it is a moral imperative to reduce it even further. And the methods for doing so are not mysterious. In order to increase agricultural production in the developing world, we need to improve farming methods, both through better technology (genetically modified foods) and by increasing the use of existing aids to agriculture (fertilizer). These methods will not be available to third-world farmers if they remain impoverished. In like manner, poverty is the main stumbling block to improvements in the environment and human health.

The point here is stunningly simple. The real way to improve the environment is to reduce poverty in the world; the real way to reduce poverty is to encourage the global development of free and efficient markets. This requires a substantial initial investment in public health (sanitation and access to clean water) and education. Beyond that, however, the requirements are virtually cost-free--consisting, in the main, of democratic governance and adherence to the rule of law. (One of the conspicuous subtexts of The Skeptical Environmentalist is that exceptions to the general trend of global improvement have occurred in totalitarian systems; thus, caloric consumption, while rising in most of the developing world, has fallen in Cuba and Iraq.)

But the link between free-market economies and human progress is, perhaps more than anything else, exactly what the environmental movement is most perturbed by. Lomborg puts his finger squarely on this issue--the extent, that is, to which environmentalism has become a proxy for anti-capitalism. It is, he says, the "environmental trump card," and it goes like this: even if we are doing better and better on almost every objective environmental indicator, we still need to change our way of life by decreasing consumption, limiting industrial activity, and sharing resources.

As Lomborg goes on to point out, this argument, untethered from either an objective evaluation of risks or any consideration of what will actually leave us better off, is wholly ideological. Indeed, if we followed the course of action loudly advocated by the largest environmental organizations, we would almost certainly end up, as P.J. O'Rourke put it in his 1994 book, All the Trouble in the World, in "a just and peaceful world full of powerless nobodies who are broke and have empty shopping malls."

And herein lies the great value of The Skeptical Environmentalist, even apart from the clarity with which it shows that the state of the world is improving. A reader of this book cannot fail to be made acutely aware of the relationship between environmental decisions and human welfare. That relationship is precisely what goes suppressed or unrecognized when environmental issues are discussed by most policymakers and in the media, and it is certainly never invoked when the precautionary principle is under discussion. Bjorn Lomborg is correct to say that, in deciding how to apply our resources in order to better the state of humanity, we must be guided by evidence and not by intuition. He is also correct to point out, as was Julian Simon before him, that our record in this regard has been astonishingly good.

KEVIN A. SHAPIRO is a researcher in neuroscience at Harvard.

30.       Angry Black White Boy

Say It Loud, April 9, 2005
Reviewer: The RAWSISTAZ Reviews RAWSISTAZ.com (Amazon Reviewer)

Decades after the Sugar Hill gang burst onto the scene with "Rapper's Delight," the proliferation of hip-hop moves forward at a steady pace. ANGRY BLACK WHITE BOY is a chronicle of the effects hip-hop has had on America, racial politics, suburban youth, and Macon Detornay as he enters his freshman year at Columbia University.

Macon is a man on a mission to be known as "the downest white boy." For years, he has paid his dues to Black culture and Black folks, earning respect in most circles with his lay-it-on-the-line speeches, innovative poetry, and his hatred for "the man." Nevertheless, Macon isn't content to just be down. He smells a revolution brewing, and he is at its forefront - accidentally on purpose.

Mansbach's story enraptured me with its humor, lilt, and permutation of racial biases, issues, and scope. By creating a character who was totally different from, and almost antithetic to, any other I had ever read about, Mansbach won me over and held me captive in a story I had yet to hear. The writing was unpredictable and almost improvisational, and it fit the plot of this story without overshadowing the central themes and characters. ANGRY BLACK WHITE BOY gleams with brilliance, and I will never forget it. (RAW Rating: 4.5)

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

31.       Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education. (Review)(Brief Article) Lukowsky, Wes.  Booklist, July 2000 v96 i21 p1992

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2000 American Library Association

Sperber, Murray. Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education. Sept. 2000. 308p. index. Holt, $26 (0-8050-3864-7). DDC: 796.04.

Sperber, an English professor at Indiana University and a longtime critic of major college-sports, offers a carefully researched examination of the substandard education received by undergraduates at many large universities. Although the book's subtitle suggests that the focus is on the deleterious effect of college athletics on educational quality, much of Sperber's attack is directed at more general failings: the pressure on tenured staff to do research; the lack of contact between professors and undergrads; the reliance on teaching assistants and part-time staff. In fact, the weakest part of the book is Sperber's attempt to establish a direct relationship between the presence of big-time athletics on campus and the poor education received by most undergraduates. The reader finishes the book convinced that athletics harms athletes, but that university education is in plenty of trouble with or without sports on campus. Sperber often shows up as a talking head on news shows, so expect his latest screed to generate controversy and demand.

32.       Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell

Author: Eric (arthur) Blair (1903-1950) also known as: Eric (Arthur) Blair, Eric Blair, and Eric Arthur Blair
Genre: novel
Date: 1949
Nationality:  British; English Genre(s):  novel Plot

Orwell's classic dystopian novel is set in Oceania, a totalitarian state controlled by a mysterious Inner Party that exacts blind devotion to the Party and to its leader, Big Brother. Devotion is reinforced through constantly rewritten history (which retrospectively proves the Party infallible), two-way telescreens monitored by Thought Police, Big Brother's omnipresence, frenzied group hate sessions, and frequent public executions. The novel recounts the brief revolt of one man, thirty-nine-year-old Winston Smith, a writer of newspeak for the Ministry of Truth who is privy to the deliberate revision of historical records. One day Winston begins keeping a private journal, in which he pens statements antithetical to Big Brother and the Party. Soon after he begins a furtive romantic alliance with Julia, a member of the Anti-Sex League. Initially characterized by physical need, their relationship develops into one of close affection and understanding. An acquaintance of Winston, Mr. Charrington, rents them a small bedroom above his antique shop. At work Winston discovers his colleague O'Brien shares his subversive views and so he and Julia visit O'Brien's apartment and discuss an underground conspiracy, led by Emmanuel Goldstein, that plans to overthrow the Party. After O'Brien has admitted them to the conspiracy and given them Goldstein's tract to read, the two are later besieged in their flat by a voice from a hidden telescreen and then stormed by guards who arrest them. Winston and Julia are separated; Winston eventually finds that Charrington is a member of the Though Police and O'Brien a member of the Inner Party. After undergoing days of excruciating torture and brainwashing Winston, brutalized and dispirited, is finally released. O'Brien, his interrogator, has revealed that the Party itself fashioned the Goldstein ruse, that the Party seeks power for its own sake, with no moral justification, and that it dislikes martyrs, who might breed opposition, hence Winston's fate. Although Julia and Winston meet again they are irrevocably changed, physically and mentally, and have little to say. The novel closes when Winston realizes, during a war celebration, that he truly loves Big Brother.

When Nineteen Eighty-Four first appeared at the height of the Cold War, it was perhaps natural to interpret the novel, as many did, as a denunciation of the Soviets. Popular perception of the novel has shifted, however, to a more generalized understanding of it as a horrific warning against all intrusive, freedom-denying governments. As testament to the novel's immense influence, the society of Big Brother has become a universal archetype for modern political oppression. Nineteen Eighty-Four remains Orwell's best-known and most widely read work, and is regarded as a masterpiece of twentieth-century fiction.

33.       My Sister's Keeper. (Brief Article)(Children's Review)(Audiobook Review) Huntley, Kristine.  Booklist, Nov 1, 2004 v101 i5 p504(2)

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2004 American Library Association

My Sister's Keeper. By Jodi Picoult. Various readers. 2004. 14hr. unabr. Recorded Books, CS, $89.75 (1-40257322-7). 800-638-1304.

Picoult's spellbinding story centers around 13-year-old Anna, who is expected to donate a kidney to her older sister, who is suffering from a rare form of leukemia. Instead, Anna consults a lawyer (she wants to sue her parents for the rights to her own body) and plunges her family into conflict. The compelling and complex tale is told from several points of view. Seven different narrators, including Julia Gibson, Barbara McCullough, and Richard Poe, take on the voices. The readers effectively capture the characters' personalities, including Anna's curiosity and energy, her mother's strength (often bordering on hardness), her brother's weary steadfastness, and the lawyer's guarded jauntiness. This entrancing family drama makes for an exciting listen. --Kristine Huntley

34.       Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. (Brief Article)(Book Review) Dwyer, Ed. Booklist, March 15, 2005 v101 i14 p1248(1)

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2005 American Library Association

Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. Mar. 2005. 272p. illus. index. Riverhead, $24.95 (1-57322-308-5). 158

"Abundance, Asia, and automation." Try saying that phrase five times quickly, because if you don't take these words into serious consideration, there is a good chance that sooner or later your career will suffer because of one of those forces. Pink, best-selling author of Free Agent Nation (2001) and also former chief speechwriter for former vice-president Al Gore, has crafted a profound read packed with an abundance of references to books, seminars, Web sites, and such to guide your adjustment to expanding your right brain if you plan to survive and prosper in the Western world. According to Pink, the keys to success are in developing and cultivating six senses: design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. Pink compares this upcoming "Conceptual Age" to past periods of intense change, such as the Industrial Revolution and the Renaissance, as a way of emphasizing its importance.--Ed Dwyer

35.       Omnivore’s Dilemma

Dinner Will Never Be The Same, February 24, 2007
Reviewer:  rctnyc (Amazon Review)

This book may change the way that you think, not merely about food, but also about the American food industry. In describing the production, preparation and consumption of four very different meals, Pollard also charts the history and explains the economics of modern food production. Basically, as depicted by Pollan, the American food industry is built on corn, agricultural subsidies, and the economies of scale of mass production, the latter of which "fuel" not merely waste and, through the use of fossil fuels in mass-agriculture, global warming, but also the production and use of food additives. The results are poor nutrition, sick and suffering animals, a damaged environment and a less-than-healthy America.

Pollan's description of the conditions under which cattle, hogs and chickens are raised in mass-breedings pens may transform the most cynical meat-eater into, not a vegetarian, but rather an advocate of small-scale farming and grass-fed animals. His consideration of the arguments for and against vegetarianism are thoughtful and well-reasoned. After reading this book -- which I have recommended to friends, including those who might be more interested in the historical, economic and philosophical issues addressed therein than the arguments for better nutrition -- I used Pollan's bibliography to identify several sources of "local produce" and "grass-fed" animal products close to my home.

Anyone who eats should read this book.

36.       Critical Essay on "The Grass Dancer"

Critic: Kelly Winters
Source: Novels for Students, Vol. 11, The Gale Group, 2001.
Criticism about: Susan Power (1961-)

Susan Power wrote in Reinventing the Enemy's Language that she began writing when she was five, and that a large part of her impulse to write came from the fact that, by writing, she could "sort through the conflicting values and belief systems I was taught by being raised with one foot in the Indian world and the other in mainstream society." As the only Native American in her school classes until high school, she was keenly aware of white attitudes toward her and toward Native Americans in general.

'I have to get this down,' she says, making notes. 'A Sioux girl listening to Little Richard.' It's as if, to her, Native Americans are museum pieces, with no interaction with current culture."

Throughout her novel The Grass Dancer, Sioux characters encounter whites and white culture. Power's vivid characterization, dialogue, and storytelling style subtly, accurately, and often humorously portray various ways that whites view the Sioux, all of them based on misconceptions.

When Jeannette McVay comes to the reservation in the early 1960s, she is a starry-eyed anthropology student who wants to "go out there and meet humanity" instead of reading about people's customs in dusty books. Originally, she is sent to Herod Small War when she asks people about tribal religion and medicine people, but her feminist sensibilities are offended when he tells her she cannot participate in his sweat lodge because she is female, and can't attend his Yuwipi ceremony because she is menstruating. "What's the use of studying with someone like that, who excludes me, who doesn't recognize me as a full-functioning peer?," she complains to Mercury. Of course, Jeannette is not a peer of Herod Small War at all, since she doesn't share his world view or spiritual experience, but she doesn't realize that.

Like many non-Native Americans, Jeannette has preconceived notions about who Native Americans are, and about who they should be. For example, she is shocked and amused by the fact that Crystal, who is then in high school, listens to the popular singer Little Richard. "I have to get this down," she says, making notes. "A Sioux girl listening to Little Richard." It's as if, to her, Native Americans are museum pieces, with no interaction with current culture. This notion is verified by the fact that she tells Mercury Thunder that she had thought Sioux culture was dead, but that she is pleasantly surprised to find "all this activity and vitality and living mythology. I feel like I've stumbled on a secret." It's also symbolized by the beaded dress that belonged to Margaret's grandmother, which is now on display in the Field Museum in Chicago. Margaret would have loved to take that dress out, dance in it, and pass it on to future generations, but this use does not fit white notions of what is appropriate: the dress has become a dead museum piece, not a living part of culture, so now no one can use it. On display in the museum, it verifies the white visitors' impression that Sioux culture is a thing of the past.

Of course, the vibrancy of Sioux life is not a secret or a new discovery to those living it; Jeannette doesn't know it, but her attitude is much like that of the European explorers who "discovered" America, as if it was not previously "discovered" and settled by the Native Americans already living there.

In addition, Sioux culture is only fascinating to her when it fits into her comfortable notions of what it should be: she is disgusted with Herod Small War's "prejudice" against women, and she can't see Mercury as the Sioux witch she is, but must label her in terms of the Greek mythology that is familiar to her from her East Coast schooling. Mercury becomes "Aphrodite, Goddess of Desire," and this supposed familiarity and accessibility makes her all the more interesting: "You're not in some book or reclining on Mount Olympus. You're right here in the kitchen, serving me peaches!"

When Jeannette finally realizes that Mercury is not what Jeannette thought she was, that she's not some character from a book but a very powerful, selfish, and frightening woman, she flees--too late, since Mercury has already created a spell to trap her on the reservation. Like it or not, her wish to "go out there and meet humanity" has come true, and for the rest of her life, she'll be on the reservation, learning about Sioux culture.

Jeannette's views of Native Americans as a dead or dying cultural group, and simultaneously as a nobler, more spiritual people than whites, seems to be only a continuation of the nineteenth-century attitudes depicted in later chapters of The Grass Dancer. For example, Red Dress is aware that in the view of the Catholic missionary priest, Father La Frambois, "We were already a degraded people, whom he intended to elevate, single-handedly, into the radiant realm of civilization."

Reverend Pyke shares this view, extending his vision of degradation and disorder to the entire natural world, which the Native Americans are part of: "Pyke said there was nothing natural about the natural world: it was an evil disorder requiring the cleansing hand of God." He crushes a spider's egg sac and licks his fingers clean, saying, "I've swallowed the spit of Satan." He is a deep believer in the biblical notion that humans, specifically white Europeans, were created to own and master the earth and everything on it: "Replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." As Power makes clear, Native Americans don't share this belief, preferring to live in harmony with nature and its spiritual forces rather than "subdue" it. As Vine Deloria, Jr., the activist writer mentioned by the character Frank Pipe, wrote in his book God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, "We are a part of nature, not a transcendent species with no responsibility to the natural world."

Just as Jeannette is amazed and amused to see a Sioux girl listening to the popular singer Little Richard, the whites at Fort Laramie are taken aback by Red Dress's familiarity with English and her apparent conversion to Christianity. The white widow Fanny Brindle patronizingly tells Red Dress, "Do you know what they're saying about you? That you're a princess. . . . Yes, a Sioux princess with the light of the world in your heart, and a love of Jesus Christ that is so pure, your soul is white as cream. I think it's because of your remarkable English. . . . They can't conceive of it as anything but a miracle, and it is, you know. It is."

Another response to Native-American people in the book is the attempt to freeze them at some mythic time in the past, as "noble savages." This begins early, when Red Dress travels to Squaw Town and finds that the people there, unlike her own band, have accepted white trade goods. Red Dress's band is more conservative; her father, who noticed that trade with whites brought disease and dependence on them, decreed that his band would continue making bone arrowheads instead of using metal, cook with pots made of buffalo stomach lining instead of iron ones, and wear traditional buckskin clothes decorated with paint and quills, instead of beaded cloth. When Red Dress and her brother go to Squaw Town, the people there, who are now poor and unkempt, think they are the ghosts of their ancestors, and revere them because they follow the old ways.

Jeannette eventually also falls into this position. She reads to the students from a complete set of the works of the white writer James Fenimore Cooper, whose descriptions of Native Americans exasperate and bore the students--as she reads, they roll their eyes at each other, but she doesn't notice. Finally, Frank Pipe approaches her and asks, "Instead of this stuff, could we read some of that Vine Deloria?"

Jeannette has never heard of Deloria, who is a Native-American writer famous for writing activist texts such as God Is Red: A Native View of Religion, Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto, and Beyond the Trail of Broken Treaties. His work is much more relevant to the students, and not just because, as Frank tells her, he's their cousin. After Jeannette reads his work and that of other Native-American writers, she begins viewing her students as "royalty in exile"--an echo of the view, a hundred years earlier, of Red Dress as a "princess."

In any time period, all of the characters, both white and Sioux, are challenged by fate and by the contrast between white and native cultures. They are also constantly aware of the presence of the spirit world, which Power describes as vividly and concretely as she describes the ordinary physical world. The spirit world is not easily categorized as "good," or "evil"; like nature, it exists within and outside everyone, and includes forces that may or may not be controlled, but must be reckoned with. In every chapter, ghosts, spirits, and mysterious events occur, so much a part of ordinary life that there is no obvious dividing line between them. To Power's characters, this is reality: ghosts move among the living; a man who killed dogs is stalked and killed by the protective coyote spirit; an elder dances on the moon; a witch can make any man come to her; men can be forced to hang themselves; there is a medicine hole that leads to another reality; and a young man who fasts and prays for vision can find it and be led to a healing understanding of himself and his past.

Red Dress describes the way she is "hitched to the living and their concerns," and says, "I can bear witness to only a single moment of loss at a time. Still, hope flutters in my heart, a delicate pulse. I straddle the world and pray to Wakan Tanka that somewhere ahead of me he has planted an instant of joy." Throughout the book, characters have these moments of understanding and joy as they come to terms with history and their own past, and as they discover secrets about their heritage. Harley's brother Duane is not his full brother, but the result of an affair between his father and his mother's sister. Lydia and Evelyn are not full-blooded Native Americans, but half-Japanese. Charlene's parents are not dead, they are alive, and her father is a white artist who designs his wife's beadwork. Crystal Thunder's father was an abusive man who disappeared. Harley meets his father and brother, filling his lifelong craving for connection and validation. Through all these events, Power shows the healing power of love, truth, and reconciliation with the past.

37.       A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness: from Impostor Poodles to Purple Numbers. (Brief Article)(Book Review) Publishers Weekly, June 7, 2004 v251 i23 p43(1)

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2004 Reed Business Information

A BRIEF TOUR OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS: From Impostor Poodles to Purple Numbers V.S. RAMACHANDRAN. Pi Press, $27.95 (220p) ISBN O-13-148686-1

What does an amputee who still feels a phantom limb have in common with an avant-garde artist, or a schizophrenic who claims to be controlled by alien implants, or an autistic child who can draw a hyper-realistic horse? According to neuroscientist Ramachandran (coauthor, Phantoms in the Brain), named by Newsweek one of the 100 people to watch in the 21st century, the answer lies deep in the physical structures of the brain, and his new book offers a thought-provoking survey of his area of research. Through examples, anecdotes and conjecture, Ramachandran aims "to make neuroscience ... more accessible to a broad audience." In this he succeeds admirably, explaining how the roots of both psychological disorders and aesthetic accomplishment can be located in the various regions of the brain and the connections (or lack thereof) between them. The text is engaging and readable, feeling as though Ramachandran had sat down for an afternoon to explain his research over tea (no surprise, as the book grew out of the author's 2003 BBC Reith lectures). Though the topic of neuroscience might initially seem daunting, readers who enjoy science popularization in the vein of Oliver Sacks, Richard Dawkins (both of whom enthusiastically blurb this book) and Stephen Jay Gould will find much to appreciate here. Agent, Deirdre Mullane at the Joe Spieler Agency (July)

38.       Anthem, by Ayn Rand

Author: Ayn Rand (1905-1982) also known as: Alice Rosenbaum
Date: 1953
Nationality:  American; Russian

A man called Equality 7-2521 is the focus of Ayn Rand's Anthem. Equality lives in a time when a person is not seen as an individual but rather as a part of humankind. No one has a name; instead, everyone wears a bracelet on the left wrist with a word and a number imprinted on it. As a result, the word I does not exist. Throughout the book, Equality refers to himself in the plural form. He lives in an age where freedom and the search for knowledge and truth do not exist.

There are many severe laws that exist in Equality's time. For example, it is illegal for a person to be alone, to write without permission, and to be more intelligent than others. It is even illegal to be good friends with one particular person because all people are supposed to be one another's friends. Men and women are not allowed to notice or speak with each other. Those who break the law are sent to the Palace of Corrective Detention and are punished. Each year men over the age of twenty and women over the age of eighteen are sent to the City Palace of Mating for one night. The Council of Eugenics assigns a man to a woman. Babies never know their mother or father. Instead they are sent to live in the Home of Infants with all the other infants who are born that year. They live there until they are five, when they are then sent to the Home of the Students where they learn for ten years. At the age of fifteen, the Council of Vocations assigns everyone a Life Mandate, or a job. They work on this job until the age of forty before being sent to the Home of the Useless to wait for death. Life expectancy is very low during this time. Many do not live beyond the age of forty. Anyone forty-five is considered ancient.

Equality believes he is cursed because he is different from everyone. At six-feet tall, he stands out from others. He fought with his brothers in the Home of Infants and was locked in the cellar more than anyone else. As a student, he showed more intelligence than his brothers. His teachers often frowned upon that because being too smart made him different. Equality dreamed of being assigned to the House of Scholars because he loved science and wanted to learn about everything. The House of Scholars made great discoveries, such as glass and candles. But instead the Council of Vocations assigned him the Life Mandate of a street sweeper.

Equality made the best of his life. He dutifully swept the street every day with his brothers from the House of the Street Sweepers. One day he and his friend, International 4-8818, were sweeping when Equality discovers an underground tunnel. Not only does Equality convince International not to report what they found, he explores the tunnel. Both these crimes, if discovered, would earn Equality many lashes. In the tunnel he sees things he has never seen before. He knows this tunnel was built before the Great Rebirth during the Unmentionable Times. From that day on, Equality sneaks away for a few hours every night and hides in the tunnel. For the first time in his life, he is alone and happy. He steals supplies for his tunnel and begins to study the things he was denied because he wasn't assigned to the House of Scholars. He performs experiments and learns about the things he had always wanted to know about.

One day, while sweeping, he meets someone who changes his life. Although Equality knows that he is not allowed to notice females, he meets Liberty 5-3000 from the House of Peasants and they fall in love. Equality names her the Golden One and she calls him the Unconquered One.

Equality continues with his experiments. One day he makes a great discovery. He finds another source of powerelectricity. Equality wants to present his new discovery to the World Council of Scholars. One night, Equality stays in the tunnel too long and returns home late. He is questioned by the Council of Home. When he refuses to tell them where he was, he is sent to the Palace of Corrective Detention where he is lashed until he loses consciousness. He manages to escape from the detention area and goes back to his tunnel. Equality takes the glass box that produces electricity to the House of Scholars and reveals his discovery. Instead of gratitude, the scholars curse Equality for thinking above his level and breaking so many laws. They say that anything not created collectively is evil. They threaten to burn Equality at the stake and try to destroy the box. Equality manages to escape and make his way into the Uncharted Forest where no one is allowed to enter. When the Golden One hears about what happened to Equality, she escapes from the House of Peasants and finds Equality in the Uncharted Forest. Together, they go deeper into the forest and away from the city.

In the forest they find a house from the Unmentionable Times and decide to make this their home. It is here where Equality finds books and discovers the word I. He finds names for himself and for the Golden One. Equality renames the Golden One, Gaea, and he becomes Prometheus. Prometheus vows to learn all he can and return to the city for one last time. He will bring International 4-8818 and others whose spirits have not been broken to his fortress. Together, they will build a new history of humankind.

39.       Avatar –
Reviewer:  Robert J. Boldin, PhD, Indiana, PA
"Ray's Avatar is clearly a monumental effort. The time spent in writing this book should not go unnoticed or unrewarded. Clearly, the author possesses a wide range of knowledge; he applies it throughout the book with careful thought. Ray pays close attention to all the important details from the cave description in Montana to the gruesome prison fight. The book can be compared to a movie in that the various scenes unfold in a logical fashion which the reader can readily envision.

"The book, although of considerable length, captures the reader's attention from the start and holds it to the end. It is an easy read and one hesitates to put it down once started. It is obvious that Dr. Ray had in his mind the overview of the book before writing it. As such, the flow and connectivity that he envisioned has been nicely transferred from his mind to his book. There is no doubt that Ray has produced an exciting best-seller. His book will be of interest not only here in the US but will gain popularity worldwide. I wish him much success."

40.       Red Earth a Vietnam Warrior’s Journey

This is a wonderful book, June 5, 2000

Reviewer:  LaLoren “laloren” (Amazon Review)

There's been a lot written about Vietnam vets and post traumatic stress, but I've never read any author who portrays the pain and anguish as well as Red Eagle. Then he portrays the healing. But to understand it you must enter a different skin. The skin of a people not held to standard conventions; where time has a different meaning and visions and dreams are an important part of life. I have never read an author who managed to accomplish this, but Red Eagle does. Even Alexie, an author I greatly admire, still leaves the reader on the outside looking in. But with Red Eagle you are truly taken inside.

I am an avid reader who usually consumes one book after another. However, when I finished this book I couldn't start another one for a couple of days. It has that kind of effect on you.

41.       Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media

Small is Getting Bigger, August 21, 2006
Reviewer:  Roger N. Overton (Amazon Review)

Whoever said size matters hasn't read An Army of Davids by Glenn Reynolds, well known in the blogsphere as Instapundit.com. The book is about how individuals, as opposed to large organizations, media, and government, are and will continue to be the primary moving force behind changes journalism, business, technology, space exploration, and overall human advancement.

Composed of twelve chapters, An Army of Davids examines our society from the bottom up. The analysis begins with the growing number of small businesses, specifically work-at-home jobs, in contrast Dilbert type office jobs. Reynolds suggests that this shift will continue and will be beneficial as a crime deterrent and for more stable families. Moving on, Reynolds looks at recent developments in music technology, the war on terror, and media as instances of individuals becoming more powerful and important.

After a brief interlude on good blogging, Reynolds continues by making the case that war video games have become the best educational tool for military history and tactics. He then moves on to discuss the possibilities available from the development of nano and age-prolonging technologies. The final chapters explore our potential for space exploration and reaching "singularity." Singularity, I think, refers to the point in time where technological advancement occurs beyond the grasp of human intelligence.

While an Army of Davids has much to offer, it also has a few problems. For one, the discussion of singularity went mostly over my head, and I think that's mostly because I couldn't find a clear definition in the book that could help make sense of the discussion. From time to time, some topics seemed to steer off course (portions of video gaming, nanotechnology, and space exploration come to mind) and in the back of my mind I questioned their relevance as I read.

I disagreed with a few points here and there, but the most troubling were statements about teens and pornography: "But, despite continued warnings from concerned mothers' groups, teenagers are less violent, and--according to some, if not all, studies--they're having less sex, not withstanding the predictions of many concerned people that such exposure would have the opposite effect. More virtual sex and violence would seem to go along with less real sex and violence; certainly with less pregnancy and violence." (149-150). The argument that Reynolds appears to make is that this is reason for considering deregulating pornography. However, assuming his premises hold up, he fails to consider psychological impact apart from promiscuity. What happens when these teens get married, if they do? How would this affect their marriage and families? How will these teens treat women? I fail to see any good possible answers.

Despite these shortcomings, An Army of Davids by Glenn Reynolds is a very intriguing book. It expanded my thought into areas I haven't considered, and for that I'm appreciative. Reynolds expertise and background make An Army of Davids an interesting and enjoyable book overall.

42.       Forty Million Dollar Slave – out of budget range

43.       Triple Bottom Line
Editorial Review from Amazon

Andrew Savitz recalls a conversation he had with a purchasing manager at a large telecommunications company. The man was adamant that social responsibility had nothing to do with his job, which was to buy products at the lowest price.

"Would you buy from a foreign supplier that you knew was employing 10-year-old girls and paying them 60 cents a day for their labour?" Savitz asked.

"Of course I wouldn't do that," came the reply.

"Not even if the supplier offered the lowest price, if child labour was legal in that country and if no one could possibly find out?"

"No," the manager replied. "It would not be right."

"Do you think your company would support your decision to sacrifice profit in this case?" Savitz persisted.

"Absolutely, I'm certain of it," the manager said.

Do not be deterred by the unfortunate title of this forthcoming book. In just 250 pages, rich in anecdotes, Savitz makes a lively and cogent case that no company or manager can afford any longer to ignore the world around them. Many of the reasons companies face "the age of accountability" are familiar, but it is useful to see them pulled together: our shared sense of vulnerability, fostered by climate change and natural disasters, coupled with the awesome power that global corporations have accumulated; the goldfish bowl in which companies operate; their increased exposure through networks of business partners and global supply chains; the campaigns mounted by lawyers, non-governmental organisations and shareholder activists.

But this book is not a tract admonishing business to take its responsibilities seriously. Its central argument is an upbeat one that is gaining currency: it makes financial sense for companies to anticipate and respond to society's emerging demands. In the long run, says Savitz, the sustainable company is likely to be highly profitable.

There is a flipside: companies that fail to respond, or thumb their noses at society, are likely to pay the price.

What is a sustainable company?

Savitz and Karl Weber, his co-author, spend time on their definitions-a sensible move given the confusion and spin that often surround this debate. Sustainability is not about philanthropy, which has nothing to do with the company's main purpose. Nor is it merely about ethics. The authors even prefer "sustainability" to "responsibility", arguing that the latter emphasises benefits to society rather than benefits to the company.

For Savitz, who created the environmental practice at PwC and has worked with some of America's biggest companies, it is about conducting business in a way that benefits employees, customers, business partners, communities and shareholders at the same time. It is "the art of doing business in an interdependent world". The best-run companies find "sustainability sweet spots"-areas where shareholders' long-term interests overlap with those of society. Implausible? Look at General Electric, with its revenue-boosting Ecomagination green technology, says Savitz. Or Toyota's fuel-efficient Prius. Or Unilever's Project Shakti in India, training 13,000 women to distribute its products to rural customers and thereby greatly increasing families' income while expanding its market penetration. Every company can find a sweet spot, he suggests, even if it is the minimal one of cutting costs by reducing energy use, employee accidents or the chances of a lawsuit-though some of this could just as well be called smart risk management.

In the second half of the book, he explains how to translate all this into "business as usual": how to decide what it means for the company; how to work with stakeholders, not against them; how to set enforceable goals in difficult areas such as child labour. Throughout, the arguments are driven by pragmatism, not dewy-eyed altruism. The narrative occasionally suffers from its American slant. The English Quakers, after all, pioneered decent working and community practices long before Henry Ford.

Even if you do not agree with it all, this is a thoughtful guide for managers who still harbour doubts about the point of sustainability, who are taking tentative steps towards it or who are seeking a clearer path through the maze. With luck, it should also help the anoraks in the sustainability industry to distinguish the wood from the trees.

44.       The Autobiography of Delfina Cuero

 "There Was More to It, but That Is All I Can Remember": The persistence of History and the Autobiography of Delfina Cuero. Round, Phillip H. The American Indian Quarterly, Spring 1997 v21 n2 p171(23)

Abstract: 'The Autobiography of Delfina Cuero' tells the story of a member of the Kumeyaay Indian tribe inhabiting the mountain and costal regions of San Diego County and Baja California. The story is read as a tragic tale of displaced people and of cultural change and persistence, however Cuero's behavior was not that of a typical Indian woman, but was formed through a lifestyle that demanded creativity.

Full Text: COPYRIGHT 1997 University of Nebraska Press

The Autobiography of Delfina Cuero first came to my attention when I was sorting through a pile of books, all tagged by the on-line library catalogue as having something to do with ethnobotany. I was then involved in research on the discourse of Indian/White relations (as it is usually termed by historians), and was looking for information on botanical "plantways" as a possible model for non-European discursive modes. The Autobiography immediately caught my eye because its cover featured a black and white photograph of a woman wearing a kerchief sitting on a large boulder with a traditional grinding stone in her hand. The desert background of the picture seemed very familiar, and when I looked over the introduction, I discovered that, indeed, the photograph reproduced a horizon from the California/Mexican borderland where I had grown up.

Putting aside my other work, I read the sixty-three-page autobiography in one sitting. In a few hours I learned of a traditional people who had lived in the same California countryside I grew up in, yet had remained invisible to me until this moment. I never knew they were there. Upon rereading the text, I began to hear a tone of lamentation in the words of the woman who told this story. "There is more to it," she kept saying, "but this is all I can remember." Her refrain led me to wonder about history and American Indian life and literature. What was it that I knew nothing of and that she couldn't quite remember? Delfina Cuero was a member of the Kumeyaay(1) people who originally inhabited the mountain and coastal regions of what is now San Diego County and Baja California. She lived in the California/Mexican borderland from 1900 until her death in 1972 -- most of those years spent migrating on foot, following the seasonal cycle of natural food harvests. Within her lifetime, the traditional Kumeyaay gathering grounds were decimated by the influx of "Mericain" immigrants. Her "autobiography," a written transcription made in 1967 by Florence Shipek, an anthropologist and professor of American Indian history, was initially assembled to provide evidence of Cuero's U.S. citizenship in lieu of the normal documentary proof required when she found herself on the "wrong" side of the international border during an extended period of habitation in Baja California. In our era of increasing tension over immigration from Mexico, it is an especially timely example of that genre of American Indian literature that Arnold Krupat has termed "original bicultural composite composition."(2)

Apart from its timeliness, however, the Autobiography of Delfina Cuero is particularly useful to American Indian literary studies for the way it further enriches our understanding of narrated Indian texts by introducing borderlands theory(3) and the discourse of immigration into the critical debate over the nature of these "as-told-to" works. Sedimented in Delfina Cuero's tale is not only the history of traditional people throughout the United States, but also the history of the international border itself. In the frontera, stories like Delfina Cuero's transit the space between the hard facts of material want and the fluid improvisations of everyday life that existence on the border brings. History in the Autobiography thus resides both in the "material practices of colonialism" the text exposes -- those signs of economic imperialism that have left the frontera (in the words of Gloria Anzaldda) una herida abierta(4) -- and in the "discursive practices of colonialism," the covert narrative strategies of which help to structure the text and render it recognizable (and malleable) to cultural outsiders.(5)

On the surface, this dialectic would seem to be easily resolved with the processes of ethnocriticism recently outlined by Arnold Krupat. When faced with such binary oppositions we must, Krupat argues, "[recognize]...the dual directionality of cultural contact called transculturation" (1992:15). Yet Krupat's formulation ("the frontier is understood as that shifting space in which two cultures encounter one another") rests on a simple dichotomy -- one that I believe is too facile to represent adequately Kumeyaay utterance.

In practice, la frontera is not so easily transited -- not by a Chicana like Gloria Anzaldua, and certainly not by a Kumeyaay woman whose very historicity was challenged from several different directions by the U.S. government.(6) For the literary reader, the problem lies in how such stories are usually read. Like many such texts, the Autobiography has most often been understood as either a "tragic story of displaced peoples," or a story of "cultural change and persistence" (Bean 1991: 3). Yet once this machinery of tragic emplotment and sociological conceptualization is set in motion (in the forms of "tragic story" and "change and persistence"), Delfina Cuero's voice and the landscape that sustained it are eclipsed by "larger" concerns about generalized "Indians" and acculturation. Time and again in my own reading, however, I was struck by Delfina Cuero's insistent presence. Unlike the image in the cover photograph, frozen in the static, taxonomic pose used for ethnographic representations of the native subject's "typical" behavior, the speaker I had come to know through this text was creative and alive. The places she named mattered -- in all their specificity. In her own life story, Delfina Cuero was always "going."

By exploring what I have chosen to call the "persistent history" in Delfina Cuero's words, I hope to break down some of the reading strategies which threaten to frame her as that typical Indian woman, and to engage the essentially dialectical nature of border life expressed by that troubling term -- history -- which is specific both to this frontera and to American Indian discourse in the region. I hope to show that Delfina Cuero's participation in constructing this ethnographic tale is part and parcel of the creativity demanded by a discursive space on the frontera that Gloria Anzaldua has described as "El choque de un alma atrapado entre el mundo del esptritu y el mundo de la tecnica a veces la deja entullada" (78).(7)

I. A Narrative History: "It Can Happen to You"

Delfina Cuero's life story, as it is presented in this text, is a somewhat fragmented recitation of Kumeyaay cultural memories which extend back only to the end of the mission period. Although "born in Mission Valley," her elder relations "...were not raised in the Mission. There was nobody there anymore..." (23). Delfina Cuero herself "just heard about priests; [she] never saw one" (53). Kumeyaay life in this period between the secularization of the missions and the great influx of American immigrants at the turn of the century was charac