The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery

The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery
 By Barbara K. Lipska Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018. 188 pgs. Biography

Barbara Lipska, a neuroscientist who has studied brain physiology for decades, survived cancer treatment for melanoma in her brain. As she endured radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy that caused brain swelling and other problems, she suffered the symptoms of a variety of mental illnesses. In spite of her knowledge, she didn’t recognize the signs of schizophrenia, dementia, and other pathologies even as she began manifesting them in her behavior. It wasn’t until she recovered that she fully realized the trauma she had caused her family and the extent of her evident madness.

Her lack of self-awareness of her problems in spite of being an expert on the brain was a very interesting aspect of her story. Many people who suffer mental illness have this condition, known as anosognosia , making it difficult for them to acknowledge their illness and follow through with taking medications and other treatments. She was absolutely determined to recover from her cancer but didn’t see the abnormality her behaviors until after her treatments were finished. Her story is one of courage and family unity as well as triumph over a lethal form of cancer. We can hope that long term insight into mental illness is also one of the outcomes of her suffering. SH

The Wind in My Hair: My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran

The Wind in My Hair: My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran
by Masih Alinejad
Little, Brown and Company. 2018. 394 pgs. Biography

Masih Alinejad relates her life story and her present activism for women’s rights in Iran. Her story is a compelling one as she recounts her childhood and the youthful idealism that led her to a period in prison and subsequent activism. Blocked by her prison history from further education and many jobs in Iran, she became a journalist covering the political events and corruption in the Iranian Majlis. In 2009, with a presidential election looming in Iran, she was pressured by the regime to leave the country. Since then she has lived abroad and carries on her activism from the freedom of London and the U.S. One of her major projects is to help Iranian women stand against the forced wearing of the hijab (covering for the head, and often the face and body as well) through her Facebook page “My Stealthy Freedom.” Iranian women send her photos of themselves without the hijab and she puts them on "My Stealthy Freedom." She feels that the hijab represents all the repression that women in Iranian society experience, making the compulsory hijab a worthy target of her activism. SH

Nemesis

Nemesis
by Isaac Asimov
Bantam, 1989. 385 pgs. Sci-Fi

Nemesis tells of colonies orbiting earth that provide self-sustaining lifestyles for humans who have never even lived on earth. One of those “Settlements” discovers hyper-drive and launches itself to orbit a previously unknown star named Nemesis located only two light years from earth. Extensive study of the new star and its planetary system reveals that Nemesis will one day collide with and completely destroy earth. Wanting to establish a civilization that is free of the strife and prejudices and crowding on earth, the head of the colony does not want to warn earth. But there are those who disagree. And many fear that scientists on earth will discover their star and hyper-drive and come to disturb their fledgling colony circling Nemesis.

This is a classic from Asimov that dedicated science fiction fans will want to read. The story mainly unfolds through long conversations between the major characters.  While a lot of action is talked about or hinted at, the book is not action filled. Plenty of interesting science and astronomy is discussed, relationships are dissected and considered, the ethical basis for courses of action is reviewed, and a mystery plaguing the new colony is unraveled. Read this for cerebral stimulation, not adrenaline producing action. SH

Claiming My Place: Coming of Age in the Shadow of the Holocaust

Claiming My Place: Coming of Age in the Shadow of the Holocaust
By Planaria Price and Helen Reichmann West
Farrar Strauss Giroux 2018. 250 pgs. Young Adult Nonfiction

Helen Reichmann West tells the life story of her mother Barbara. Born as Gucia Gomolinska and in her early twenties when Poland falls to the Nazis, she and her family are confined to a ghetto. Eventually, she hides her Jewish identity and obtains an ID card under the name Danuta Barbara Tanska that allows her to work as a household servant in Germany. Hiding in plain sight, so to speak, she survives the war in spite of Allied bombing and the continual danger of discovery. In the devastating aftermath of the war, with few of her family members surviving, she tries to build a life with her husband in Germany but prejudice against the Jews remains a reality in Europe after the war.  Eventually they obtain permission to live in the United States.

This is a very readable biography that brings to life the childhood and teen years of a happy Jewish teenager in a close family surrounded by a faithful Jewish community. The terrible changes brought by the Nazi invasion destroy their peaceful life forever. These events must never be forgotten so that they will never be repeated. SH

Butterfly: from Refugee to Olympian, My Story of Rescue, Hope and Triumph

Butterfly: from Refugee to Olympian, My Story of Rescue, Hope and Triumph
By Yusra Mardini
St. Martin’s Press. 2018. 284 pgs. Biography

Yusra Mardini is from Syria, where from a young age she trained as a swimmer. As a young person she represented Syria at various international competitions and cherished a dream to someday swim for Syria at the Olympics. Then in 2015, after her family’s home was destroyed in the civil war that engulfed Syria and Damascus became an increasingly dangerous place to live, she and her sister Sara fled. Her book recounts their dangerous and grueling journey through Turkey, Greece, Hungary, and Serbia to Germany. Along the way she encountered reporters who were writing about the refugee crisis and wanted to photograph and interview her. Germany welcomed the refugees but life was still very hard until she found a swim coach who helped her start training again and find a place to live. Struggling with the one word identity “refugee,” she almost passed up a chance to swim in the 2016 Olympics on a refugee team, but encouraged by her parents, her coach and her newspaper and television contacts she decided to compete. Since then she has become the youngest ever Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and has embraced her identity as a refugee in order to speak for the thousands like her who have fled war and only want peace and a normal life. This is an inspiring read for adults and young adults. SH

The Fox Hunt: a Refugee's Memoir of Coming to America

The Fox Hunt: a Refugee’s Memoir of Coming to America
by Mohammed Al Samawi
William Morrow. 2018. 323 pgs. Biography

Mohammed Al Samawi was raised in a well-educated Muslim family in Sana’a, Yemen. Disabled by a stroke at a young age, he worked hard in school to make up for his physical deficiencies .He enrolled in English classes where he became friends with his instructor from England. He didn’t want this good man to go to hell so he gave him a Koran and begged him to read it. The teacher agreed, with the stipulation that Mohammed read the Bible. Mohammed became an interfaith peace activist and a target for assassination because of his exposure to the Bible. As chaos and civil war engulf Yemen, he turns to his international contacts on Facebook to help him escape to a place of safety. This is a gripping story and includes much interesting background to events in the Middle East. SH

The Lightless Sky: a Twelve-Year-Old Refugee's Harrowing Escape from Afghanistan and His Extraordinary Journey Across Half the World

The Lightless Sky: a Twelve-Year-Old Refugee’s Harrowing Escape from Afghanistan and His Extraordinary Journey Across Half the World
By Gulwali Passarlay
HarperOne, 2016. 361 pgs. Biography

Born in Afghanistan, after his father was killed by American troops, the Taliban wanted to recruit Gulwali as a suicide bomber and the Americans wanted him to be an informer. His mother was determined that her sons would have a better future and paid smugglers to take Gulwali and his older brother out of the country. Gulwali traveled 12,500 miles and passed through the hands of at least twenty-five smugglers. He crossed and was deported and re-crossed borders to Iran, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France and finally Great Britain for nearly a year. He was imprisoned, beaten, starved, nearly drowned, but determined to reach the freedom his mother paid so much for him to have.

Through the experiences of Gulwali Passarlay the reader can glimpse the desperate situation for refugees trying to escape the chaos in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other war torn countries. SH

The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity and My Fight Against the Islamic State

The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State
by Nadia Murad
Tim Duggan Books. 2017. 306 pgs. Biography

Nadia Murad was raised in Kocho, a Yazidi community in Iraq. Though telling her story is traumatic, she knows that telling the truth about what ISIS did to the people of  Kocho is the surest way to make the world understand their crimes against the Yazidi people.

In August, 2014, the men of the village were murdered by ISIS and the women either killed, or kidnapped and taken to various ISIS controlled cities. Nadia was taken to Mosul, forced to convert to Islam, and sold as a sex slave to an ISIS leader who subsequently sold her to another soldier. Finally Nadia was able to escape and make her way to Kurdish controlled territory where she rejoined her few remaining family members. Today she is an activist working on behalf of the Yazidi people who are refugees, speaking whenever she can about the genocide against them and seeking to bring the leaders of ISIS to justice.  SH

Glow of Death

Glow of Death
By Jane K. Cleland
Minotaur, 2016. 291 pgs. Mystery

Antiques expert, Josie Prescott, is also an amateur sleuth. Appraising an authentic Tiffany lamp for a wealthy woman named Ava seems like the opportunity of a lifetime.  When Ava is found dead a few days later, the local police, unable to contact Ava's husband, ask Josie to identify her.  To Josie's shock, the dead woman is not the person who let her into Ava's home to appraise the lamp.

Finding that the lamp is indeed authentic, Josie can imagine a large number of people who might have wanted to steal the lamp, perhaps even murder the owner.  But the lamp is still in the house and doesn't seem to have been disturbed in the course of the murder.  And why and how would someone impersonate Ava? As Josie learns more about the murder, she becomes angry about being deceived by the person who asked her to appraise the lamp and at whoever is trying to murder her as she delves deeper into the murder investigation.

Glow of Death is #11 in the Josie Prescott series. The series doesn't need to be read in order and offers more complex plots than some "cozy mysteries."  SH

A World Ablaze: the Rise of Martin Luther and the Birth of the Reformation

A World Ablaze: the Rise of Martin Luther and the Birth of the Reformation
By Craig Harline
Oxford University Press, 2017. 300 pgs. Biography

BYU professor Harline's well-written biography of Martin Luther brings Luther to life for the reader.  Scholarly, yet very readable and interesting, Harline mainly covers the years 1515 to 1522 and the controversy generated in Catholic Europe by the 95 theses.  Harline helps the reader understand how Luther's preoccupation with his own personal salvation led to his understanding of justification by grace, ultimately leading him to write numerous books and theses. Though the sale of indulgences was already unpopular in many places, nonetheless, his ideas would place him in conflict with the religious and secular powers of his day.  This book deserves to be high on the reading list for people who are staying abreast of the numerous new books published about Luther and the Reformation for the 500th anniversary in 2017 of the posting of the 95 theses.  SH

Orphan Train: a Novel

Orphan Train: a Novel
by Christina Baker Kline
William Morrow, 2013. 278 pgs. Fiction

A memorable novel of two women: Molly, a teenager in foster care and Vivian, a nonagenarian who in 1929 at age nine was sent West on an orphan train after her parents died in a fire. When Molly is assigned to do community service to avoid a term in juvenile detention, her boyfriend arranges for her to help widowed Vivian organize her attic.  Seemingly very different, these two women find that they have much to offer one another and much to learn from each other.  Vivian's life and memories seem to have stagnated along with the trunks full of possessions gathering dust in her attic.  As Molly helps her organize and sort the attic, Vivian's stories come tumbling out.

This is a wonderful novel that would be appropriate for adult or young adult readers. SH

Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan

Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan
By Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
Henry Holt, 2016. 323 pgs. Nonfiction

The World War II battles in the Pacific against the Japanese were brutal and very costly in human lives.  As the United States pushed the Japanese back, suffering tremendous losses on island after island, it became clear that the final land invasion of Japan would also cause many US casualties.  The Japanese were trained to never surrender and their leaders were teaching every civilian man, woman, and child to fight as well.  Meanwhile, at Los Alamos, the atom bomb was finally completed, making it possible to consider ending the war without incurring thousands of deaths and injuries of US troops.

O'Reilly and Dugard detail this background to the decision to drop the atom bomb.  They describe the battles, the personalities of the major military leaders, and the unexpected presidency of Harry Truman.  Their aim is to help the present generation understand the context of the decision to drop the first atom bomb and they do it by bringing to life in dramatic detail the closing months of World War II in the Pacific. SH

George Washington's Secret Six: the Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution

George Washington's Secret Six: the Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution
By Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager
Sentinel, 2013. 235 pgs. Nonfiction

We've all heard of Nathan Hale, who only survived 24 hours as a spy for George Washington, and Benedict Arnold, the American general who secretly conspired to turn the fort at West Point over to the British.  But mostly unknown to history are the American spies in New York who risked everything during the British occupation to send important information to Washington about British troop movements and other essential information  The authors trace the identities and activities of the secret Culper spy ring, demonstrating the vital role they played in helping the colonies to win the American Revolution.  This is an exciting and accessible account of little known events in history. SH

Sourdough: a Novel

Sourdough: a Novel
By Robin Sloan
MCD, 2017. 272 pgs. Fiction

Robin Sloan's new novel, Sourdough, is a delightful blend of magical realism, quirky characters, high tech, and a very special sourdough start.  Lois Clary works at a San Francisco tech company where many of the programmers exist by eating (actually slurping) a nutritive gel named Slurry. She discovers a local restaurant that delivers sourdough bread and delicious spicy food.  When the restaurant closes and the owners leave Lois their sourdough start to tend she begins to bake.  Mastering the magic of mixing flour, water and sourdough starter, she shares the delicious bread with co-workers and then looks for a venue to sell bread through one of San Francisco's many farmers markets. She ends up with a stall at a high-tech food emporium where the vendors are all experimenting with innovative food formulations.  As the new market nears its opening day, complications arise when Lois researches the history of her unique sourdough starter and begins to understand its microbial complexity.

Sloan's novel is both fluffy and fulfilling.  You will want to have a loaf of really good bread on hand when you sit down to read it. SH

Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitiri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad

Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad
By M.T. Anderson
Candlewick Press, 2017. 456 pgs. Young Adult Nonfiction

Brilliantly written and with a beautiful layout as well, this book about the 872 day German siege of Leningrad during World War II deserves a wide readership among adults and young adults.  In fact, due to the harsh and often gruesome details of life under Stalin's regime and life during the siege, I would recommend the book only for adults and older teens.  Describing life in the Soviet Union during Shostakovich's lifetime, the author weaves in the plight of artists and ordinary citizens under Stalin's reign of terror.  Shostakovich managed to survive the purges and labor camps to become a national icon widely known outside the Soviet Union for his major musical works.  His 7th Symphony, written during the siege of Leningrad, became a national symbol of hope for the defeat of the Nazis and an international public relations coup as well.  As Russia became an ally of the United States during the war it was sometimes difficult for Americans to think of Russia as a friend.  But Shostakovich's 7th became an international symbol of the humanity and high culture of the Russian people and triggered an outpouring of donations from ordinary Americans to help the besieged Soviets.

The audio-recording by the author is one of the best audio-books I have ever heard.  His pronunciation of Russian words is excellent and his dramatic inflection is powerful. SH

A Surgeon in the Village: an American Doctor Teaches Brain Surgery in Aftrica

A Surgeon in the Village: an American Doctor Teaches Brain Surgery in Africa
Tony Bartelme
Beacon Press, 2017. 274 pgs. Biography

Brilliant, newly minted neurosurgeon Dilantha Ellegala decides to go to a hospital in a remote area of Tanzania for a change of pace and the opportunity to share his surgical skills for a few months. Discovering that the hospital has almost zero surgical tools that he needs to do surgery on the brain he relaxes and enjoys himself until one day a patient in need of immediate brain surgery arrives at the clinic. With no tools Ellegala declines to treat the patient and goes out for a run. While running he sees a man cutting a tree with a wire saw that Ellegala realizes he can adapt and use to cut through a skull. He buys the saw, goes back to the hospital and uses it to do the needed surgery. This event opens his eyes to possibilities he hadn’t considered before and he begins not only doing surgery with makeshift equipment he finds or devises – he also starts training one of the local medical officers (not a full doctor) to do brain surgery. He realizes that the normal routine of sending trained doctors from Europe or America to spend a few months at a rural hospital in an underdeveloped county is a flawed model. The surgeons return to their homes leaving the hospitals without surgeons. In his mind, the answer was to train local doctors and medical personnel to do surgery, not come for a short time and be the super star surgeon who goes home and leaves the local area still lacking a surgeon.

This book is the story of his awakening to the urgent need for trained surgeons in Africa and other underdeveloped nations and his work to establish a nonprofit organization with the aim of training local surgeons.  The book is very well written with beautiful descriptions of the landscape and the people he encounters.  I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in the work of non-profit organizations  and is not afraid to read the graphic descriptions of urgent medical emergencies. SH

The Orphan's Tale

The Orphan’s Tale
By Pam Jenoff
Mira, 2017. 363 pgs. Historical Fiction

Former circus aerialist Astrid returns home to look for her family after her Nazi officer husband divorces her because she is Jewish;  Noa, a young Danish woman whose baby by a German officer is forcibly taken from her after her family disowns her, rescues an infant from a railroad car filled with Jewish babies. The lives of these two women intersect as the owner of a German circus shelters them and struggles to keep his circus operating in spite of the war. The suspenseful story begins with the present day and is told in a long flashback to the past.  If you read and liked Kristen Hannah’s The Nightingale you will enjoy this well written novel based on historical events. Both authors keep you in suspense about who is narrating the story right until the end.

SH

The Pearl Thief

The Pearl Thief

By Elizabeth Wein

Hyperion, 2017.325  pgs. Young Adult Fiction

In this prequel to Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein writes an intriguing mystery, introduces us to Scottish river pearls, acquaints us with Scottish “travellers” and the deep-seated prejudices against them, and to top it off – we get to know the spunky and intelligent Julia who is a main character in Code Name Verity. Arriving at her grandparent’s recently sold Scottish estate she takes a walk along the river.  She settles on a warm rock to rest and the last thing she remembers is an explosion of pain in her head. When she wakes up she is in a hospital bed two days later.

The novel has a cast full of interesting characters and a quirky heroine.  A bit of Scottish accent and “traveler” dialect challenge the readers’ comprehension once in a while but but try reading those parts out loud. Who doesn’t love the sound of a Scottish brogue!

 SH

A Disappearance in Damascus: Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War

A Disappearance in Damascus: Friendship and Survival in the Shadow of War      

By Deborah Campbell

Picdor, 2017. 341 pgs. Nonfiction

Deborah Campbell has won awards for her writing focusing on situations in various countries.  Traveling to Damascus, Syria, to cover the stories of Iraqi refugees who fled there, she hires an Iraqi woman named Ahlam as her “fixer,” the person who helps connect her to locals and give her on the ground help with her story. Ahlam is deeply involved with the refugees in the “Little Baghdad” area of Damascus and is passionate about helping them.  She starts a school for girls in her apartment, maintains connections with Americans she has translated for in the past and other journalists she has helped.  Then one day she is arrested and disappears.  Campbell is extremely concerned and worried that Ahlam’s work for her has compromised Ahlam’s safety. Ahlam is no longer just her “fixer” but a good friend and Campbell is determined to find out what happened to her.

Seeing Damascus and the situation there in 2007 through Campbell’s eyes is very informative and interesting.  Syria had not yet plummeted into civil war though everyone was jittery because of the influx of refugees from Iraq.  Her insight into the background of the situation there and her “immersive” view is full of insight and also intrigue and adventure.  Her relationship to Ahlam and the friendship they develop enhances the emotional pull of her reporting. SH

The Polygamist's Daughter

The Polygamist’s Daughter

By Anna LeBaron

Tyndale, 2017. 307 pgs. Nonfiction

As a child Anna LeBaron rarely lived with her mother or father. She lived in the homes of her father’s followers or with relatives in the LeBaron clan.  As a teenager she finally found a stable home and an opportunity to attend school on a regular basis but there was danger in taking that course.  Ervil LeBaron, her father, didn’t tolerate anyone leaving or being disaffected from his fundamentalist polygamist organization.  Even from prison he managed to assassinate the head of the family where Anna found refuge.

Neglect, abuse, child exploitation, homelessness were all part of Anna’s childhood.  In spite of everything she finally made her way to a better life but her past took a heavy toll even in times of happiness. This was an interesting personal memoir because of her unique family connections and her personal triumph.   

SH