Cluster Critiques

NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman

One of the better books about autism if you are new to the topic, or want to know much more about autism than anyone within a hundred-mile radius. 

August in Paris: And Other Travel Misadventures By Marion Winik

Former Austinite takes her surly teens and deceased husband’s despicable mother to Paris and other exotic destinations, and makes us pee our pants laughing at all the craziness that ensues, and at Winik’s no-holds-barred story telling.

Hope: Entertainer of the Century by Richard Zoglin

I’m sort of sorry I read this book because Bob Hope is such a beloved comedian. Now I know he was also a serial adulterer, rude, grumpy, a horrible skinflint and mean. Oh, and he was an incredibly savvy businessman. Well done, just icky.

Shock Value by Jason Zinoman

This is a rollicking fun and well written history of the 1970-80s horror movies period and the players and the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants trajectory that really ended up being hugely successful, changing the genre forever – exit Frankenstein, enter Freddy Kruger.

Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik

This is a fascinating book about the science, history and physical nature of the random everyday things that litter our lives – steel, silicon chips, elastic, etc. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you not to read this unless you have an insatiable hunger for science trivia.

Wayfaring Stranger by James Lee Burke

Dear Mr. Burke:

Please do not ever try to write another romance novel.

Thank you.

SueAnn

100 Things I Want to Tell My Children and Grandchildren: #16

(Random photo - NYC, 1982, with gal-friend, Lisa)

Listen to your “gut”.

We need to respect the fact that it is possible to know without knowing why we know, and accept that - sometimes - we're better off that way. There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis.

Malcolm Gladwell
Blink:  The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell spends an entire book talking about it. I have spent a lifetime trying to overcome an irrational propensity to ignore it. Instinct, suspicion, premonition, gut feeling – call it what you want, but when it comes knocking, you better let it in.

Example: This morning I began making my usual Saturday morning French press coffee, and I noticed that it was very hard to push the plunger down, which sometimes happens when you use coffee ground for drip instead of French press. So I was hunkered down over the plunger using both hands, and practically my entire body, pushing, pushing, when a tiny little voice in the back of my mind said, “You know SueAnn, sometimes when you do this, the suction of the plunger against the glass releases and coffee spits out the pour hole.” So I pulled my face away from the top of the pot, and seconds later the suction released a huge squirt of very hot coffee that landed on the front of my pajama top, burning my chest pretty badly. If I hadn’t moved my head back, that lava-hot splash of coffee would have gone onto my face and possibly my eyes.

I used to never listen to that inner voice - instead rationalizing what I wanted to do. When I was younger, it was often about getting involved with guys I knew were not good for me, and getting "burned".


So when that little inner voice - the one smarter than you - taps on your shoulder and says “Be careful” or “Maybe this isn’t a good idea”, listen!

Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart

I want to say this book felt like a marriage between Victorian-era sensibilities and Hercule Poirot’s muse, Miss Marple, when in fact the setting for Girl Waits with Gun is between those two periods, around 1914, in America. 

This is the story of spinster Constance Kopp, who struggles to survive on the inherited family farm with her older, stern but likably-cynical sister, and a much younger sister (not really – spoiler clue).  

When Constance and her sisters are run down in their horse-drawn buggy by a rotten industrialist’s son, and then are horribly harassed when they try to make the son take responsibility for the expenses associated with the wreck, the sisters are forced to become astute in the matters of law, criminal investigation and armed combat. Side stories include illegitimate children and the stigma and moralities that drove decisions and outcomes for those mothers and children during that era; and the unionization of workers and the stresses and crime that came out of that effort.

This is a glimpse into an era that must have looked a lot like the one in which my mother came of age, and that made it even more interesting to me. The writing is simple, but good, and the story pace keeps your attention. 

The only thing that irked me was that I thought I was reading a novelized story of the first woman deputy sheriff in America, when in fact I was reading the prequel to that story. Constance doesn’t become the first woman deputy sheriff in America until the last few pages of the book, obviously setting the stage for a sequel, and one I will read. Smart on the part of author Amy Stewart (pictured), who is destined to pen a long-running series not unlike the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. Girl Waits with Gun is a gentler member of the crime/mystery genre, for those who wish for less profanity and gore.

My Fight / Your Fight by Ronda Rousey

Why would I want to read a book about a woman cage fighter? This was the question I asked myself as I stared disbelieving at the Best Books of 2015 list on goodreads.com. “Fake fighting,” I said to myself. But my gut (reference SueAnn’s #16) said, “Look a little deeper,” and I am glad I did.

Supposedly Ronda Rousey is the only female professional athlete in the world paid as much as her male peers. That alone was enough to get my attention. She is also an Olympic medalist in Judo who went on to become the first woman to compete in what is called the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) – the cage fighting thing I always rush by when channel surfing because I’m repulsed by people beating the hell out of each other.

Undeniably UFC is as much about entertainment as fighting.  However, unlike the very staged faux fighting you see in the WWC (World Wrestling Championship), in UFC fights, if you’re not highly skilled in a wide variety of legitimate fighting techniques, in ultimate physical shape, and not convinced you are invincible, you’re not there.

The story Ronda tells is about discipline, determination, and the drive to win she inherited and learned from her mother, who won a gold medal for Judo in the Olympics and expected no less from her daughter. Ronda began taking Judo lessons at a young age and continued to compete, working her way to the top. But it wasn’t the lessons that carried Ronda to the top. It was her mom, who taught her with harsh brutality, that if you’re not the best you’re nothing.  Rousey also talks a lot about her father, who she idolizes and who dies too early, and it’s a sweet story. But I don’t think Rousey is who she is because of her father.

We learn about the 24/7 workouts and pain and single-mindedness that are apparently the hallmarks of all the best athletes. We also learn that fighters walk the fine line of being as strong as possible (carrying as much muscle as possible) without going an ounce over the highest weight allowed for their weight class. They obsess over weight, to the point that they fast and run, and do without water for days prior to a weigh-in, then feast and hydrate afterwards to get their strength back and to gain more heft to aide their fight.

I went into My Fight / Your Fight with a heightened sense of curiosity and skepticism, and ended it with a tremendous amount of respect for Ronda Rousey’s discipline, an evolved appreciation for the psychological benefits of self-promotion and confidence (otherwise perceived as arrogance), and a corrected perception of what the sport of UFC is about. I probably won’t ever watch UFC fights, but I got a good story and I learned something, and that is always valuable.