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Past Books Reviewed
- Star Chart: key to the star ratings
- September 2003: Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
- July 2003: Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons
- May 2003: Baudolino by Umberto Eco
- March 2003: Conduct Unbecoming a Woman: Medicine on Trial in Turn-of-the-Century Brooklyn by Regina Morantz-Sanchez
- February 2003: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
- November 2002: Travels by Marco Polo
- September 2002: The Shrine at Altamira by John L'Heureux
- July 2002: Jihad vs. McWorld : How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World by Benjamin Barber
- May 2002: The Red Queen : Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley
- March 2002: Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief by Andrew Newberg M.D., Eugene G. D'Aquili Ph.D., and Vince Rause
- January 2002: An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot
- November 2001: No Mountain Too High: A Triumph Over Breast Cancer by Andrea Gabbard
- September 2001: The Door in the Dream: Conversations with Eminent Women in Science by Elga Wasserman.
Book for September 2003: Book: Salt: A World History (ISBN# 0142001619) by Mark Kurlansky
Meeting: September 18, 2003 at 6pm
Location: Scripps, Beckman Bldg, 4th fl conference room.Book Review: Salt: A World History (ISBN# 0142001619) Written by: Mark Kurlansky
Reviewed By TBA
The review for this book was written by TBA and is in the Nov/Dec 2003 newsletter issue.Book for July 2003: Book: Ellen Foster (ISBN 0375703055) by Kaye Gibbons
Meeting: July 24, 2003 at 6pm
Location: Scripps, Beckman Bldg, 4th fl conference room.Book Review: Ellen Foster (ISBN 0375703055) Written by: Kaye Gibbons
Reviewed By Jenny Hsieh
The book Ellen Foster is a story of an abandoned, 11-year-old girl, who manages to survive many hardships and obstacles to find meaning and purpose in the world. It is a self-portrait told in Ellen's voice, of her life growing up in the south. Her mother is a sick, abused woman who commits suicide. Her father is a drunk, abusive man who terrorizes Ellen. Somehow with humor, intelligence and grit, Ellen manages to provide and take care of herself. After her father's death, a judge awards custody of Ellen to her grandmother, a bitter and vengeful woman. Ellen's grandmother treats her very badly; the woman blames her son-in-law for ruining her own daughter's life and hates Ellen for bearing physical resemblance to him. Throughout the book, Ellen maintains the belief that there is a place for her in the world and she continues her search for a home that will fulfill her desire for love, acceptance, and order. Her narration alternates between the struggles and horrors of her childhood and the faith and goodness of her present life. Although the story is about a little girl, it can easily be an old woman's tale. The story ends with a visit from Ellen's childhood friend, Starletta, who brings hope to Ellen that she will enjoy the happiness and innocence that a girl her age deserves.Major discussion points for the book included an elaboration of Ellen's character and her desire to search for a home, her need for order, her survival instincts and her division of things as either good and bad, or black and white. Other discussion points focused on the themes of how society and the legal system deal with abandoned children, racial prejudice, slavery, traditional vs. non-traditional family values, and religion.
The author, Kaye Gibbons, has chosen not to use quotation marks for dialogue. The story is instead told in Ellen's voice as she flips back and forth from her past life to her present life. There were different opinions regarding the effect of this for the reading experience; some of which ranged from initial confusion and distraction to delight in absorbing a story told from a child's mind, as if the reader is listening in on a private conversation.
Twelve people attended the meeting, and the book received an average rating of 3.4 stars (out of 5). Most of the readers appeared to enjoy the book and commented that it was a quick read and would recommend it to a friend. Personally, I loved Ellen Foster. I am drawn to books written about strong, confident female characters who manage to find happiness, despite life's hardships. What I enjoyed about Ellen Foster is how Kaye Gibbons managed to develop the character of Ellen; it's easy to adore Ellen and appreciate how precious she is. I also highly recommend other books by Kaye Gibbons, such as A Virtuous Woman, Sights Unseen, and Charms for an Easy Life. Most of Gibbons' themes revolve around women, family, and life in the South.
The review for this book was written by Jenny Hsieh and is in the Sept/Oct 2003 newsletter issue.Book for May 2003: Book: Baudolino [English translation from the Italian by William Weaver] by Umberto Eco
Meeting: May TBA, 2003 at 6pm
Location: Scripps, Beckman Bldg, 4th fl conference room.Book Review: Baudolino [English translation from the Italian by William Weaver] Written by: Umberto Eco
Reviewed By Caroline Lanigan
I so looked forward to reading this book. I'm a big fan of Umberto Eco. Or shall I say was a big fan... I just loved The Name of the Rose, Foucalt's Pendulum, and How to Travel With a Salmon. I bought, in hard back, The Island of the Day Before, but it is still on my list of books to read as it has yet to be unpacked since my recent move. At this point it will stay there.
I'll refer you to this link, http://www.theonionavclub.com/archives.php?acat_id=6&letter=b, and others included below, for more detailed synopsis of the 'plot'; suffice it to say here that it tells of the adventures of the Medieval peasant Baudolino, written as a first person narrative. Charitably, it could be described as a serial collection of mythological and historical anecdotes of the Middle Ages; a more accurate description, in my opinion (as well as the other members of the AWIS book club) is as a gossip's version of various mythical and historical events.
Some seem to find this presentation entertaining, as per http://www.nesfa.org/reviews/Carey/baudolino.htm: The AWIS book club unanimously did not. Of the seven attendees, not one person finished the book. This is unusual - it is expected that most attendees will not have finished the book, but at least one person, in particular the one committed to writing the review, has read the whole thing. Usually we leave the meeting with most, if not all, attendees intending to finish the book ASAP. This did not happen: I would be surprised if any of the book club members ever finish reading it. Personally, I found it impossible to stay awake whenever I started reading it - a few lines read and I was out. This is unusual because I am a person who routinely takes over an hour to fall asleep. Another book club member did read about 400 of the 522 pages, but admitted to being in an altered state of consciousness for the duration. A third found that listening to it as a book on tape was doable, but a fourth who tried this felt listening was just as tedious as reading.
Perhaps the scientific mind-set of AWIS members and friends explains the discrepancy between the response of the book club and that of other published reviews, e.g. the publisher and customer reviews at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0151006903/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/104-26 38974-5995134?v=glance&s=books&vi=customer-reviews, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0151006903/104-2638974-5995134?v=glance&s=books&vi=reviews. I don't know. All I do know is that I cannot recommend this book to anyone. Yes, read The Name of the Rose and see the movie, read Foucault's Pendulum, and any of Eco's collected essays, but skip Baudolino.
A last note: Normally, the first section of a book is supposed to 'grab' the attention of the reader, snare them into reading the book. Chapter 1 of this book is written as a sort of 'chain of consciousness' monologue by Baudolino. Perhaps Eco intends this as an insight into the workings of the peasant mind. I don't know. The publisher italicized this section - singling it out. Eco, or perhaps the publisher, chooses to use archaic, imagined, and even apparently deliberate misspellings. In my opinion, this section was difficult to read, nonsensical, and downright boring. In any case, the universal response of the AWIS Bookclub members was relief that the entire book was not written in this style! It seems to me that this chapter was really a warning of what was to come.
AWIS rating number of votes
1 star (could not finish) 3
2 stars (could not recommend to others) 0
3 stars (might recommend to others) 1
4 stars (would recommend to a friend) 0
5 stars (would read again) 0
new category = 0 stars 3
OVERALL 0.86 / 5
The review for this book was written by Caroline Lanigan and is in the July/Aug 2003 newsletter issue.Book for March 2003: Book: Conduct Unbecoming a Woman: Medicine on Trial in Turn-of-the-Century Brooklyn by Regina Morantz-Sanchez
Meeting: March 20, 2003 at 6pm
Location: Scripps, Beckman Bldg, 4th fl conference room.Book Review: Conduct Unbecoming a Woman: Medicine on Trial in Turn-of-the-Century Brooklyn Written by: Regina Morantz-Sanchez
Reviewed By Cathy Manner
In the spring of 1889, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper published a series of articles accusing a local gynecological surgeon, Mary Dixon Jones, of financial improprieties, unprofessional behavior, and medical misconduct resulting in the death or permanent disability of her patients. Soon after the articles appeared, Dr. Dixon Jones and her son and partner, Charles, were indicted for manslaughter. Dixon Jones, in turn, sued the Eagle for libel.
Regina Morantz-Sanchez deftly recounts the Dixon Jones affair in her book, Conduct Unbecoming a Woman: Medicine on Trial in Turn-of-the-Century Brooklyn. The author could have made a compelling story by focusing on the two trials and writing a 19th-century version of Jonathan Harr's excellent A Civil Action. Instead, Morantz-Sanchez, a history professor at the University of Michigan, takes the book in a different direction. She uses her training, combined with extensive research, to analyze the sociological and historical context of these events, which "[open] a window onto Brooklyn, surgery, gender tensions, and American history" (p. 214).
Mary Dixon Jones was not the sole female physician of her time, nor the only one to found her own hospital, but she was the only woman of her generation to follow a traditionally "masculine" career path. She constructed an international professional identity by joining as many male professional networks as possible and publishing extensively in her fields of gynecological surgery and pathology. Her actions elicited criticism from men who felt that women should be confined to the domestic sphere, as well as from other women doctors who questioned her character and resented the fact that Dixon Jones distanced herself from female professional organizations. Morantz-Sanchez uses Dixon Jones' story to explore broader issues of gender discrimination in Victorian society and discusses the ways in which feminine imagery was used both against her and in her defense. The Eagle's articles underscored her difficult personality and improper conduct "as a woman and physician" (p. 24), while the Brooklyn Citizen, a rival newspaper that championed Dixon Jones, emphasized "her motherly image of respectability" (p. 30) in its coverage.
Dixon Jones' story also highlights the controversy surrounding the specialty of gynecological surgery, which was still relatively new in 1889. In addition to the conflict between traditional doctors and the new "medical scientists," there was also dissent within the field between radical and conservative practitioners, who differed in their willingness to seek surgical solutions to gynecological disorders. Dixon Jones' radical approach to surgery brought harsh criticism from both male and female physicians who accused her of mutilating and unsexing women. However, unlike many others of her generation, Dixon Jones did not believe that women were defined solely by their reproductive potential and did not view her patients as inherently frail. Although some female physicians saw her as anti-woman for her eagerness to perform hysterectomies, it is clear that, in her own way, Dixon Jones was a staunch advocate for her patients and for women in general.
The book concludes with coverage of the two trials. The manslaughter charge against Charles was dropped due to insufficient evidence, so in 1890, Mary Dixon Jones stood trial alone. The libel trial convened two years later and attracted throngs of onlookers. The Eagle defended itself by focusing on Dixon Jones' moral shortcomings, while Dixon Jones' lawyer called doctors and patients who attested to her skills and good character.
This book generated a lively discussion at the Book Club meeting on March 20. Although the book is set in the late 19th century, we found many parallels with modern society. We discussed sensationalism in the press, gender discrimination, feminism, the necessity of female professional networks, and women's medicine. We also discussed how, all too often, women are still judged by how well they conform to the "feminine ideals" of modesty, selflessness, passivity, and dedication to home and family at the expense of career advancement.
Conduct Unbecoming a Woman provides a fascinating glimpse into Victorian society. The book is well written and scholarly, yet accessible to the general reader. Chapter 2, which focuses on Brooklyn, is dry, but can be skimmed for the salient points. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in history, women's studies, sociology, or medicine, or anyone who is simply looking for a good book that is engrossing yet also educational.
This book was rated 3.25 out of 5 stars.
The review for this book was written by Cathy Manner and is in the May/June 2003 newsletter issue.Book for February 2003: Book: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Meeting: February TBA, 2003 at 6pm
Location: Scripps, Beckman Bldg, TBAth fl conference room.Book Review: The Bean Trees Written by: Barbara Kingsolver
Reviewed By Julie Schames
Kingsolver's tale starts off introducing us to Taylor Greer, a headstrong and fiercely independent woman, about to strike off on her own, far away from her native rural Kentucky. En route to freedom, Taylor gets saddled with a small, catatonic Native American girl, and finds herself in the role of mother she desperately avoided back in Kentucky. The book follows the pair to Tucson, and the people they meet and befriend there. The plot is wonderful, but the characters themselves are the real reason to read the book. You'll find yourself rooting for them (both the main characters and the background ones), and actually *caring* about what happens.
Kingsolver explores the notion of "family": what you're born into, who you choose, and ultimately, whom chooses you. This is a book you will NEVER regret reading, and you'll find yourself buying copies as gifts for friends. And the best part is that when the last page has been read, and you're slightly sad that you won't know what happens to Taylor, Turtle, Lou Ann, and all the rest, Kingsolver has written a sequel that's actually worthy of the original.
The review for this book is in the March/April 2003 newsletter issue.Book for November 2002: Book: Travels by Marco Polo (ISBN: 0140440577, Penguin Classics)
Meeting: November 21, 2002 at 6pm
Location: Scripps, Beckman Bldg, 4th fl conference room.Book Review: Travels Written by: Marco Polo (ISBN: 0140440577, Penguin Classics)
Reviewed By Ray SeraydarianIn the middle of the 13th century, Europe's moneyed classes had access to the trade goods of the East - silk, spices, jewels - but not the faintest idea of the countries from which these things had come or of the peoples who lived there. Travel was slow and difficult, and the Islamic world separated East and West. While a bolt of cloth or other material item could pass from ship to ship or from caravan to caravan, ideas didn't travel so easily intact. At the age of 17, Marco Polo set out from Venice with his father and uncle on a trip to the East that lasted over 20 years.
While Polo had traveled farther and had seen more than any Westerner, the fact that he left any written record at all was the result of a happy accident. Both he and a romance writer named Rustichello of Pisa were prisoners of war in Genoa soon after Polo's return to Italy. At Rustichello's urging, Polo reconstructed his tale from memory and from notes he was able to obtain while the writer set them down. While The Travels may have entertained and even fired the imaginations of Polo's contemporaries and successors (including Christopher Columbus, who is known to have possessed a copy), they did not make compelling reading for most of the AWIS discussion group as the reviews below attest. Even the translator Latham admits in his introduction
"We may regret that, with such incomparable material to work on, neither of the men was a literary genius - that Marco failed to impart, or Rustichello to elicit, a living drama of events and personalities, an image of the impact on a mind moulded by medieval Catholicism of a highly developed alien civilization."
The Mongol Empire of Kubilai Khan was immensely larger, more powerful and more prosperous than any part of the West, including the Roman Empire among whose remnants Polo's contemporaries were living. While much of this does come out in the narrative, the text is larded with catalogs of names of cities merely passed through along various parts of the journey along with lists of produce and trade goods produced in those places. The schizophrenic style is a lumpy mixture of Polo's keen but matter-of-fact observations - the Polos were traders, after all, and on the lookout for markets and profit - and Rustichello's romanticism.
One aspect of the book I personally found interesting was Polo's descriptions of people. Given his medieval Catholic upbringing in the years not long after the Crusades, he employs four major divisions: Christians (Catholics), schismatic Christians (called Nestorians & Jacobites), Saracens (Muslims), and everybody else (whom he labels idolaters). He has no good words to say about the Saracens, but the Tartar ruler Chinghiz Khan is described as, "a man of great ability and wisdom, a gifted orator and a brilliant soldier." In Toloman, on the way from Peking to Bengal, he meets a people who are "… a very handsome race, not fair-complexioned but brown, and are good fighting men." Black Africans of the island of Zanzibar are "a big-built race" with "the appearance of giants." They also have "big mouths and their noses are so flattened and their lips and eyes so big that they are horrible to look at. Anyone who saw them in another country would say that they were devils." Polo never uses the word Buddhists, but when in those parts of the world he describes the customs and charity of those "idolaters" in a sympathetic way.
I can actually recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject matter. The dull parts can be skimmed easily, and the reader may savor the more interesting portions such as descriptions of peculiar marriage practices of various peoples (in Tibet no man would ever take a virgin for a wife) or exotic animal life (the description of a "unicorn" on the island of 'Lesser Java' (Sumatra) is clearly that of a rhinoceros). I found Latham's introductory material good preparation prior to reading the main text and a good (and brief) review afterwards. The individual ratings are given below
Ratings
1 star (could not finish) 1 vote by one person who read 10%
2 stars (could not recommend to others) 1 vote by one person who read 25%
3 stars (might recommend to others) 1 vote by one person who read 25%
4 stars (would recommend to a friend) 1 vote by one person who read 95%
5 stars (would read again) 0 votes
Weighted average = 3.32 stars
The review for this book was written by Ray Seraydarian and is in the Jan/Feb 2003 newsletter issue.
Book for September 2002: Book: The Shrine at Altamira by John L'Heureux
Meeting: Sept 19, 2002 at 6pm
Location: Scripps, Beckman Bldg, TBA fl conference room.Book Review: The Shrine at Altamira Written by: John L'Heureux
Reviewed By Hima Joshi
The ratings say it all.
1 star (could not finish) 1 vote
2 stars (could not recommend to others) 3 votes
3 stars (might recommend to others) 0 votes
4 stars (would recommend to a friend) 3 votes
5 stars (would read again) 1 vote
One thing is for sure. Everyone in the book club had an opinion about The Shrine at Altamira. One person got to the middle of the book and could not bring herself to read another word. Another member has read the book several times and will probably read it again. Some people barely survived the read, and others are telling their friends to go out and buy the book. Why such extremes? John L'Heureux has written a book that makes the reader feel. Whether it was disgust with the gruesome details, hatred of a particular character, sympathy with another character, resentment toward the author, fascination with his writing style, or amazement with the story, we all experienced strong emotions when we read this book. In fact, L'Heureux warns us about the emotional nature of his book at the very beginning… This will be terrible; do not deceive yourself. We hear stories like this on television but we do not look, and when they turn up in newspapers, we glance away, because we know there are crazy people and people who are mad with love, but we refuse to know any more than that.
Despite this caveat, we readers cannot be prepared for what we are about to receive. From the moment Maria and Russell meet, we know that something very dark is going to happen, but we are unable to predict what it will be. Maria marries Russell with the hope that he will lift her out of the life that she has come to hate. Russell develops a profound attachment to Maria, and he hopes that his feelings will someday be reciprocated. After their son is born, Maria develops a profound attachment to motherhood. All of a sudden, the terrible thing that we have been awaiting finally happens. L'Heureux describes the event and its aftermath with heart-breaking detail. Some book club members were too shocked by the event and disgusted with the details to enjoy the book. In fact, one member said that she was angry with the author for inundating her with graphic descriptions. Others felt that these descriptions were beautifully written and were necessary to illustrate the gravity of the event that had occurred. We all agreed, however, that the story of Maria, Russell and their son is devastating. It is a tale that revolves around unanswered hopes and circular journeys. It is an account that evokes the strongest of emotions. Perhaps that is its greatest weakness…or its greatest strength.
The review for this book is in the Nov/Dec 2002 newsletter issue.
Book for July 2002: Book Review: Jihad vs. McWorld:
How Globalism and Tribalism Are
Reshaping the World
Written By Benjamin Barber Reviewed By Barbara Armstrong
The AWIS book club found this book very interesting but very slow reading (one book club member was able to finish two other books while trying to get through the book club selection.) The author makes many interesting observations about global capitalism but some found the statistics he used to make his point questionable.Both global capitalism (McWorld) and religious and tribal fundamentalism (jihad) the author argues, erodes democracy. Global capitalism undermines democracy by creating one big market, oblivious to boarders of the nation-state. Jihadists undermine democracy by trying to reclaim these boarders and keep global capitalism and its culture out.
Where the book runs into some problems is in the unfortunate use of the word "jihad," putting a picture of a woman in a burka drinking a pepsi on the cover on the book, implying that the book would talk about Islam. (A marketing decision, no doubt.) Instead he changes the meaning of jihad to describe the politics of self-determination wherever it manifests itself (including gangs in America.) Since no nation, whatever its size, has attained true autonomy from the rest of the world, these political divisions cause problems for democracy.
The author has a chapter on Islam but concedes that not all forms of Islam are anti-democratic In the chapter "Capitalism vs. Democracy in Russia" Democracy is threatened by the failure of the transition from communism to capitalism.
A post 9-11 edition of the book adds a new introduction and a new title. The pre-9-11 title was: "Jihad vs. McWorld, How Globalism and Tribalism are Reshaping the World." The post-9-11 title is: "Jihad vs. McWorld, Terrorism's Challenge to Democracy." The 2001 introduction raises an important question: Does democracy respect human rights? Here, the author is conflicted. On the one hand he says: "The outcome of the cruel battle between Jihad and McWorld will depend on the capacity of moderns to make the world safe for women and men in search of both justice and faith, and can be won only if democracy is the victor." Then, oddly, he says the attacks of 9-11 call for a military response (even though the perpetrators died in the attack) because, "...an outraged and wounded American nation demands it..." A year later, we find that the military response undermined, not strengthened, democracy both abroad and in America. Congress immediately abdicated its duty to determine a response to the attacks, American citizens and non-citizens are being held in American jails indefinitely, without charges, in violation of their rights, and men, women and children in Afghanistan have been terrorized and killed by Americans persuing their "war on terror."
The new introduction should be credited for articulating how the Islamic world views the United States and has some ideas for creating a just world.
The book generated a great deal of discussion at the Book Club meeting and the Book Club members gave Jihad vs. McWorld three out of five stars.
The Review for this book was written by Barbara Armstrong and is in the September/October 2002 newsletter issue.
Book for May 2002: Book Review:
The Red Queen : Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature By Matt Ridley
Reviewed By Lynn Fink
What is human nature and how did it come to be? Matt Ridley attempts to answer this question in The Red Queen by first examining the evolution of human sexuality, of which, Ridley claims, human nature is essentially a by-product. The Red Queen is an ambitious analysis of the reproductive behaviors of many organisms and how they relate to human practices. Ridley approaches this analysis from an evolutionary perspective citing the need to constantly refresh our gene pool by recombining our genetic material in order to maintain an evolutionary advantage over parasites and predators. Ridley guides the reader through a fascinating array of courtship rituals, reproductive practices, and the possible reasons that gave rise to each, from viruses to rotifers to turkeys in order to fathom imponderables such as the constancies of adultery and violence in human society. A zoologist by training and a journalist by trade, he handles the material deftly and writes in an engaging style. Ridley refers to many primary sources from experts in their respective fields and the large bibliography is a testament to the huge amount of research that went into this book. The book club members enjoyed reading The Red Queen and gave it 4/5 stars . There were some criticisms, however, about the accuracy and currentness of the content. Indeed, experts in the field will note that some of the material is, at this point, rather dated and other material is only anecdotal. Whether the author successfully explores the nature of human nature was also questioned since much of the material discussed does not relate to human behavior on an evolutionary level. Ultimately, these misgivings were tempered since the enjoyability of the book rests on the wonderful stories about the bizarre lives of other organisms.The Review for this book was written by Lynn Fink and is in the July/August 2002 newsletter issue.
Book for March 2002: Book Review - Why God Won't Go Away:
Brain Science and the Biology of Belief
By Andrew Newberg M.D., Eugene G. D'Aquili Ph.D., and Vince Rause.
Reviewed By Caroline LaniganI was extremely interested in reading this book: the enticing title coupled with the rave reviews on the dust jacket intrigued me. Few texts on matters of faith are primarily concerned with its biology, I was caught.
The reviews and the publishers' summary on the dust jacket made the spectacular claim that the authors present a revolutionary new approach to understanding why humans require a spiritual component to their lives - after all the publishers want to sell books. Anyway, who isn't interested in revolutionary ideas?
Unfortunately, this claim is not realized.
A quick summary: Chapter One presents the only experiment discussed in the book; Chapters Two and Three discuss in broad outline the current state of understanding of human brain function and structure; Chapters Four and Five acquaint the reader with the human propensity for ritual and myth as social mechanisms to explain the human experience; Chapter Eight is a discussion, albeit a simplistic one, of the philosophy of reality and a description of mystic experience and finally, Chapter Nine completes the discussion of mysticism and introduces a concept the authors call the 'neurology of transcendence.'
The book starts out promisingly with a description of an experiment: Robert, a devout Buddhist, will inject himself with a radioactive tracer at the peak moment of his meditative experience, thus permitting a high-tech analysis of his brain activity at this profound moment. At the conclusion of his meditation, Robert will be whisked off by the authors to a SPECT camera, to have a tomographic image made of his brain activity. SPECT is an acronym for Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography. Incredibly, the tomogram reveals that yes, Robert's brain is active during meditation! The authors present a set of cryptic drawings depicting this astounding observation and then proceed to interpret this result. They have found modulation of brain activity (increases and decreases) correlated with the subject's reported mental activity. Their interpretation requires that they introduce a new vocabulary in order to clearly express their revolutionary ideas that there are parts of the brain associated with spiritual experience. They feel the need to rename well understood psychological phenomenon, for example, calling the posterior superior parietal lobe the 'orientation association area' and using an acronym, OAA, in their discussion of the function of this part of the brain. They seem to believe that the acronym OAA, and others they introduce, is easier to understand and remember than, say, PSPL. Interestingly, or annoyingly, upon completion of Chapter Two, this new vocabulary is not used. Since learning this vocabulary is an impediment to reading established texts on this topic, the purpose of introducing it is not clear, although this penchant for inventing new terms does not end with these chapters. To summarize, they have discovered a specific region of the brain, correlated with spiritual mental activity.
The question that comes to mind is: why are the authors surprised by this finding? Their descriptions of the current understanding of the functioning of this region of the cortex support a hypothesis that spiritual experiences, like other higher mental functions, are expected to occur in the frontal lobe of the neocortex, more specifically, in the posterior superior parietal lobe. Ok, well, data is data.
This recording of Robert's brain activity is the only biological data introduced in the text. The authors seem particularly impressed by their observation of the human interpretation of mystical/ spiritual events as 'real', mainly through this review of the literature. A little thought reveals that the reverse is 'true' - humans interpret their neurological experiences as real, what is profound is the fact that we can discriminate events we imagine as part of our internal world from those imposed from outside ourselves.
The remaining chapters are superficial reviews of very broad and important topics: the development, evolution and function of ritual behavior and myth in human society. To clarify some of their points, the authors engage in what could be charitably described as 'thought experiments' where they imagine primitive peoples struggling to invent explanations for life and death. Their discussions in this section reveal their naïvete: for example, the statement 'As soon as hominids began to behave like human beings' suggests that hominids are not human, when in fact hominid means human (human n 1: a human being; 2: any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae [syn: homo, man, human being] Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University).
If the authors are correct, if we are hard-wired for mystical experience, how do we interpret the fact that few of us actually experience a profound spiritual event? The bottom line here is that few individuals have mystical experiences. Truly profound spiritual experiences are so rare, so life altering, that they do change the world - Moses, Siddhartha, Jesus, and Muhammad were all men who walked among us but experienced a spiritual awareness beyond anything the rest of us have known or can know. The experience is so rare that some institutions, like the Catholic Church, recognize the few individuals who report them, by installing them as models for the faithful; to remember and learn vicariously from their experience and inspire their own spiritual quest. So, on a positive note, one contribution of the authors' analysis is the assertion that mystical experience is natural, that it is a function of normal biological processes in the brain, that such experiences are not the product of anomalous brain activity, albeit that such experience is uncommon. There is no discussion of the use of mind altering states in the religious experience - an odd omission as clearly drugs, trance, and induction of frenzied and/or severely deprived states are a significant part of the quest for spiritual significance. Also the attraction of such states for human beings, to the extent that drug addiction, criminal behaviors, and other self-destructive lifestyles are chosen by some people to make living bearable, seems related to the quest for mystical experience - at least to me.
The spiritual quest is initiated in a novice by questions like 'Did it really happen?' and accompanied by the need for physical proof of persons and events, like the existence of Buddha, the miracles of Christ, the inspirational source of Muhammad's writing. Maturity of faith moves beyond this need for physical proof and proceeds along the path where faith is what it is - the recognition of the role of spiritual knowledge in guiding one along a meaningful path, the path ultimately leading to death, and providing confidence that one's life and death have meaning.
The authors reveal a naïve and immature view of spirituality. On the one hand they claim that physical knowledge of God is unattainable, yet they embark on obtaining physical proof of God. They are embroiled in obtaining proof of a biological need for ritual behavior, yet they seem to have a superficial view of the evolution of such behavior. Although this is an interesting and potentially important quest, from which perspective is this question fruitfully answered? Does assigning an increase or decrease in activity of relatively nonspecific regions of the brain help us understand, from an evolutionary perspective, the human need for spirituality?
This book is not an adequate review of the topics addressed by the authors. To those who wish a cogent, profound, and informative presentation of spiritually-related topics I would recommend reading Karen Armstrong, Joseph Campbell, Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi, Carl Jung, or Kathleen Norris. For a fresh review of the mechanics of mind read Steven Pinker; in fact a close reading of Charles Darwin's works will provoke contemplation of the meaning of the divine, as an emergent property of the natural world.
In conclusion, the book does not deliver on its promise of biological evidence for the experience of God. The book was rated 2 out of 5 stars by the AWIS Book Club.
The review for this book was written by Caroline Lanigan and be in the May/June2002 newsletter issue.
Book for Januray 2002: Book Review: An Unexpected Light, Travels in
Afghanistan Written By Jason Elliot
Reviewed By Kathleen ScullyAn Unexpected Light is the narrative of a young Englishman's two visits to Afghanistan. In 1985, at the age of nineteen, the author was first smuggled from Peshawar, Pakistan, over the mountains around Khyber Pass and across the border to the capital city of Kabul. At the time, General Massoud (until his recent death, the leader of the Northern Alliance) was in control of the city, but the country as a whole was unable to be dominated by a single authority. During this relatively short first visit, Elliot familiarized himself with the city and its devastated neighborhoods, and then ventured into the countryside around Kabul under the protection of the Mujaheddin (translated literally as 'those who struggle') who were battling the Taliban. Ten years later, after the end of the Soviet occupation, Elliot returned for a longer visit. This time, he was relatively free to travel throughout the countryside. Guided by circumstance, he wandered without an itinerary in an arc north from Kabul to Faizabad and then west to Herat. On this epic and sometimes-dangerous journey, his direction was determined by the availability of guides and transportation, and the permissibility of weather.
Throughout his journey, Elliot chronicled the magic of the people and the landscape. The title of the book refers to a quality of both the sunlight and the soul of the people - a crystalline brightness that brings distant faces and objects into luminous and surprising relief. Interwoven with his descriptions of the tribal origins of the people and the ways in which the geography of Afghanistan isolated them, is well-documented political, religious, and cultural history. While somewhat illuminating, this detailed information is presented neither chronologically nor with sufficient context for the casual reader of Asian history and, as such, often provides more distraction than education.
The Book Club decided to read this book after September 11, 2001, thinking that it might provide some explanation of what led to the events of that day. On the contrary, Elliot described the majority of Afghans as a reasonable people with a moderate relationship to religion that kept extremism in check until the years of war and occupation by the Soviets led the Mullas to gain exceptional power. Even then, the Afghans whom the author met in his travels abided by a law of hospitality to visitors that exceeded any usual Western expectation. One story recounted a foreign aid worker's visit to a prison in which a naked, starving detainee welcomed his guest by standing up, shaking off his rug, and offering it as seating. And although the Afghan fighters he encountered were often fierce, they were also humorous. After witnessing a group of Western reporters battling one another to board a plane departing from Kabul, one was overheard making this observation, " Well, they think we are fierce, but imagine, this is just their journalists." As for the women of Afghanistan, there was obviously only minimal contact permitted and hence the author has little to say about either their plight or their nature. This book was rated "4 out of 5 Stars" by the AWIS Book Club.
The Review for this book was written by Kathleen Scully and is in the May/June 2002 newsletter issue.
Book for November 2001:
Book Review: No Mountain Too High
The Story of the Women of Expedition Inspiration
Author Andrea Gabbard
By Janice Payne
Laura Evans discovered a lump in her breast. Four months later, a second lump had metastasized to eleven of her lymph nodes. An avid mountain climber, Laura, age 40, had always eaten a low fat diet and had no known risk factors for breast cancer. She endured surgery and a series of debilitating chemotherapy and radiation treatments but hung on to her dream of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Three years after her diagnosis, she was able to realize that dream. Her climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro inspired her to organize a mountain climbing expedition to raise awareness and fund breast cancer research. Thus was born "Expedition Inspiration."
"No Mountain Too High" chronicles the journey, both physical and emotional, of the 17 extraordinary women who were selected for the team of breast cancer survivors to participate in Expedition Inspiration. The summit team of six women would climb to the top of 22,841 ft. Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, while the trek team of 11 would climb to base camp at 13,800 ft. The women were selected for the team based on their previous climbing experience, their enthusiasm for the project and their willingness to discuss their personal struggles with breast cancer. The women ranged in age from 21-year-old Ashley Sumner Cox, who was diagnosed at 18 years old during breast reduction surgery, to 61-year-old grandmother Sara Hildebrand.
This book is divided into three parts, the first of which introduces team members to the reader and describes how they were selected for the expedition. Part Two: The Inward Journey reveals the personal struggle endured by each member as they progress through diagnosis and treatment. This was the focal point of the book and, at times, was disturbing as the women reveal their experiences with misdiagnoses and failed personal relationships. Part Three: The Outward Journey follows the progress of the team up the mountain as they struggle with uncertain changes in the weather, altitude sickness and individual health problems that force a few members to turn back. Overall, the book provides hope to others suffering from breast cancer that they can deal with their own mortality and achieve their dreams. Rated 3 1/2 stars (out of 5) by the AWIS Book Club.
The Review for this book was written by Janice Payne and is in the Jan/Feb2002 newsletter issue.
Book for September 2001: Book Review: The Door in the Dream: Conversations with Eminent Women in Science.
Author Elga Wasserman
By Tobey TamThe Door in the Dream is a about the 86 women elected into the National Academy of Sciences. This prestigious organization elects into their ranks 60 new members each year. Nominees are recognized by their outstanding achievements in science and the acknowledgement of their peers. These 86 women represent approximately 5 percent of the membership in the Academy. Dr. Elga Wasserman examines the lives of these women through interviews or letter correspondences in order to highlight issues linking gender inequality to success in career opportunities. Wasserman organizes her findings into three main sections in her book. The first focuses on the culture of contemporary women scientists. The second contains 26 narrative profiles from different women Academy members. And the last details suggestions made by these members to attract more women into science careers.
Although many women describe facing extraordinary difficulties such as gender discrimination, child raising issues, and unequal pay, all found success in their careers. They demonstrated at least, that it is possible to excel in a challenging career and to possess a fruitful family life. Asked what changes they would make to aid the careers of contemporary women given sufficient money and power, the members all gave different types of answers that fell into 3 categories. The first includes creating new policies that encourage young women to break traditional barriers and become scientists. The second is the promotion of a family-friendly environment at research institutions in order to retain scientists who are pressured into leaving the field for other responsibilities. The last involves reforming the current system of scales and promotion, so as to reward more women with senior positions and equalize opportunities for women to take part in decision-making levels.
A few independent reports on the equality of women in the sciences have been publicized and clearly delineate a vast discrepancy in advancement between the sexes in terms of appointments, tenureship, and salary within the scientific community. Wasserman's book gives readers a glimpse on the realities women experience as they cope with the hardships that belie the facts and figures.
The Book Club held its first meeting on Wednesday, September 12th at Scripps to review this book. This particular meeting date did not fit into the schedules of most people in the book club. We will try to accommodate more people in the future. The overall opinion of this book was that it was straightforward and brought attention to the different lives of women scientist. A few readers commented that the book lacked a strong message. It hints that women in science had -- and may still have -- difficulties advancing in their careers because of their gender. But the author herself stops short of advancing this thesis, and instead lets her interviewers speak for themselves. This book seems to be one of the 'essential' books that should be read by all women scientists because of its perspectives on how women have handled pursuing a career in science and being a woman. Out of 6 readers, the average rating for this book was 4 stars (out of 5).
The Review for this book was written by Tobey Tam and is in the Nov/Dec2001 newsletter issue.
Back to top (Star Chart: 5 = would read again, 4 = would recommend to a friend, 3 = might recommend to others, 2 = could not recommend and 1 = couldn't finish reading)Updated 8/30/03
