This is the story of David Pelzer and how he grew up as an extremely abused child. This book tells the story of his daily life as a child and the things that happened.
A Child Called “It”
My Comments
This was a grueling read and anyone reading it may think they had a perfect childhood! Mr. Pelzer lived through things that bordered on the unbelievable and the longer I sit and think about it, I am in the unbelievable camp. Still, there is evil in the world…
Recommendation
I wouldn’t read this book. Truthfully, I prefer innocence.
Supernormal by Meg Jay is a non-fiction book that explores the concept of resilience and how it develops in individuals who have experienced significant adversity in their lives. The author draws on her extensive experience as a clinical psychologist and her research on the subject to provide a nuanced and insightful look at how individuals can overcome adversity and develop resilience.
Supernormal
My Comments
This book was hard to read. I had put it down a couple of times but resolved to finish it. I was glad that I did. It wasn’t something I’d suggest others read. It reminded me of much of my childhood and what I considered unfair or wrong. I made my peace with that a long time ago but this book brought back a number of memories. I truly believe each of us have had to endure hard times. Each of us are impacted by our surroundings. Some may be better than others but we each have those moments that define us. They make us “us”.
Recommendation
I wouldn’t recommend this book unless you have a strong interest in the subject matter. It was a solid read but painful for me at times. I was left feeling I needed to fact check a number of citations. (Studies I hadn’t heard of and the like.) Still, there was enough “truthiness” to it that I didn’t bother.
Ron Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, novelist, and non-fiction writer. He also lost a son to suicide and almost lost the other. Both were impacted with mental illness. This book documents their family’s journey through the events and brought them through to today. It also gives a history of mental illness in America and the policies and politics shaping how we react to them.
No One Cares About Crazy People
My Comments
Mr. Powers is a great writer. His style is engaging and his story telling is first rate. I empathize with his plight and, as a father of 4, I can’t imagine losing one of my precious kids.
That said, I didn’t enjoy this book. I put it aside a number of times because it would upset me. Part of my being upset was at the system in general as Mr. Powers intended but, only part… It is my belief he gave a one sided Micheal Moore style view of so many things. So much rhetoric… He ran the gamut of what is wrong without giving much in the way of what could be right.
To declare my bias, I have worked in the mental health industry. I hold a BS in sociology with a minor in psychology and my studies were with criminality and deviance. From my experience, there is so much more to the issue than this book presented. Mr. Powers paints with a very broad brush and dismisses nearly everyone with whom he doesn’t agree.
Recommendations
I wouldn’t recommend this book. While there is some value in understanding his families plight, I think the book was cathartic for Mr. Powers. I can’t recommend it.
This book is another volume of work on the subject of the psychology of happiness. It deals with specifically the happiness trajectory over the lifetime and makes particular mention of a statistical “curve” during what we may call “midlife”.
The Happiness Curve
Comments
I am in the bottom of the “U Curve” (as the author puts it), meaning that I am statistically in the unhappiest part of human life, my 40s. Interesting really. I’ve considered my forties to be a great time so far. However Mr. Rauch makes a particular point to say this curve is an average and isn’t predictive. I did enjoy the book and found comfort in many of the concepts presented. For example, I have had an increasing unrest in my career. Mr. Rauch’s concept of the Hedonic Treadmill rang pretty true for me. I am reminded to be accepting of where I am and find enjoyment in the here and now. Those are great words and I hope to be able to hold to them. The thought of my not being alone in this regard is comforting.
Recommendation
I would recommend the book to other folks in my age group. Although Mr. Rauch paints the picture if everyone understood the happiness of aging we would have a better world in which to live, a well trod path for second careers and much better understanding of the elderly, I believe it will take some time till this dream is realized if the theory bears out. I’m not sure those younger than I would enjoy the book.
The book American Sniper came out in 2012 well before the movie. Chris Kyle is credited as the sniper with the most confirmed kills of any American before. The story is in his words and was completed before he was killed in 2013.
American Sniper
My Thoughts
I still haven’t seen the movie so I was very interested in the book. I work with our Marines on a daily basis and was interested in the book purely on that merit. Much of the war aspects rung true with what I had been told in my years of working with the Marines. Of course, Chris Kyle was a Navy SEAL but he frequently worked with Marines and was very complimentary of them.
I was struck in particular of how plain his words were. We have heard so much rhetoric in our society, I enjoyed hearing an unvarnished version. No apologies, no excuses. He simply was who he was and was just fine with it.
My personal opinion is that war really sucks. It is also sometimes justified. Rarely are there black and white decisions. Chris Kyle says he sees things in mostly black and white with very little grey. I suppose he had to think of it that way to do his job.
I had a discussion a long time ago with an older gentlemen on the topic of war. The man told his sons, “Be loving in peace but be terrible in war.” I had a hard time with that concept then. I’m still struggling with it now. However, I do see the utility in the statement.
Recommendation
If you are an adult who is relatively secure with yourself, I would suggest you read this book. I did enjoy it and the thoughts it spurred. However, it is graphic and violent and generally not for folks with a forming or weaker constitution. It discusses a topic we should all know about and we are very fortunate to have avoided.
Yet another of the “Great Courses” series, The American Civil War is a lecture given by Professor Gary W. Gallagher, Ph.D. of the University of Virginia. This lecture series is over 24 hours of lecture. As such it took me a while to get through… Professor Gallagher takes us from what lead up to the war before the election of 1860 and details everything through the early parts of reconstruction and how we remember the war today. It was recorded in the early 2000’s.
The American Civil War
Comments
I live in Virginia and continue to be very interested in what happened during the civil war. Although this was a long lecture, I was kept engaged and found myself wanting to know more. I very much enjoyed Professor Gallagher’s presentation of each side and how he touched on many of the theories and popular misconceptions about the war. I feel he gave a balanced account to what had happened and he made sense of a subject highly sensationalized and used for propaganda on both sides. I still want to know more about it and I feel I have been given a good foundation.
Recommendation
This lecture series is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of material and it will take some time to get through it all. However, I highly recommend it to all Americans. Both those who want to know more about the war and those who should want to know more.
Yet again, not a book but a lecture series by the Great Courses. Power over People: Classical and Modern Political Theory, is given by Professor Dennis Dalton, Ph.D. of Barnard College, Columbia University.
Power over People: Classical and Modern Political Theory
The Scope
There are 16 lectures in the series with each lecture being 46 minutes. Dr. Dalton quickly covers all the ground from the Greeks to 20th century thinkers and how they saw their world around them.
Take Away
Honestly, I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I did the last course on Greek Philosophy. In some elements, this course and the other are in opposition. Dr. Dalton states Plato was a fond student of Socrates while Professor Roochnik states that wasn’t the case.
Not to disparage the course, I found Dr. Dalton to be engaging and very interesting. Perhaps it was just too broad of a sweep since he had too much ground to cover. Still, many of the facts presented were new to me. Karl Marx’s abject poverty and his writing in London. Gandhi’s inspiration from a quote by Thoreau. The climb of power of Hitler and so on. I was glad I experienced it.
Rating
I would recommend this to most people. It was a good overview.
The lectures took us from the early Greek philosophers and we made it to Socrates at lecture 8. Lectures 9 – 16 were on Plato and 17 – 23 were on Aristotle. The final lecture was on the “Philosophical Life” which wrapped it all together. Each lecture was 30 minutes long.
Take Away
I enjoyed the lectures. Professor Roochnik did a wonderful job of keeping me engaged through the series and I feel I learned a great deal. I have always been interested in philosophy and I was pleasantly surprised with how much ground the Greeks covered and what impact they had on Western thought.
I had no idea Socrates was such a minor figure. After all, Bill and Ted picked up Socrates not Plato or Aristotle… I came away thinking of Socrates less like the Grandfatherly figure shepherding his young students along to more of a Rodney Dangerfield was just “can’t get any respect”.
I knew of Plato’s Republic. I had heard of his analogy of the shadows on the cave wall but I didn’t know he only wrote in conversations and never really came out and stated what he as Plato felt. This seems to be very subjective…
I knew nearly nothing of Aristotle. Of course, I had heard the name and knew he was Plato’s student but that was really about it. I appreciated seeing where he differed from Plato and how he thoughts were the basis of thought throughout so much of Western history. I’m left to wonder what the role of women would have been in the last 2000 years had Plato been the last word on the subject.
Bossypants is a book by Tina Fey and published in 2011.
Bossypants
Scope
277 pages of Tina Fey talking about her life to 2011.
Take Away
I liked Tina Fey before and now I like her even more! I can’t unsee the man arms on the cover of the book but I guess it does apply. Sort of…
Tina Fey is hilarious! I don’t agree with everything she does and says but I do enjoy her humor. It was great seeing behind the curtain of how she got into writing, ended up doing Sarah Palin on SNL and how 30 Rock started. It makes me want to watch it all again.
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is written by Neil de Grasse Tyson in 2017.
Scope
It is 202 pages covering a wide swath of knowledge in science. If you have watched Dr. Tyson’s reboot of “Cosmos”, most of the material will not be new.
Take Away
Dr. Tyson is a master instructor and lecturer. I have listened to his podcast “Star Talk” since the beginning so none of the information presented was new or even unexpected. However, I loved it! He did a great job wrapping all those thoughts together and presenting it in an understandable form. A quick read and a good reference item.
