Jen's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:43:26 -0700 60 Jen's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Complete Poems 607602 896 Walt Whitman 0140422226 Jen 0 to-read 4.35 1892 The Complete Poems
author: Walt Whitman
name: Jen
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1892
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[What It Means to Be a Man: Reflections on Puerto Rican Masculinity]]> 1169921 . 144 Rafael Ramírez 0813526612 Jen 5 3.86 1993 What It Means to Be a Man: Reflections on Puerto Rican Masculinity
author: Rafael Ramírez
name: Jen
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1993
rating: 5
read at: 2002/01/01
date added: 2014/10/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom]]> 386482
� A New York Times bestseller for over a decade
� An international bestseller published in 52 languages worldwide

“This book by don Miguel Ruiz, simple yet so powerful, has made a tremendous difference in how I think and act in every encounter.� � Oprah Winfrey

“Don Miguel Ruiz’s book is a roadmap to enlightenment and freedom.� � Deepak Chopra, Author, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

“An inspiring book with many great lessons.� � Wayne Dyer, Author, Real Magic

“In the tradition of Castaneda, Ruiz distills essential Toltec wisdom, expressing with clarity and impeccability what it means for men and women to live as peaceful warriors in the modern world.� � Dan Millman, Author, Way of the Peaceful Warrior]]> 140 Miguel Ruiz 1878424319 Jen 4 4.23 1997 The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
author: Miguel Ruiz
name: Jen
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2005/09/01
date added: 2014/05/05
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review:

]]> Love Poems and Sonnets 42040 160 William Shakespeare 0385017332 Jen 0 to-read 4.26 1608 Love Poems and Sonnets
author: William Shakespeare
name: Jen
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1608
rating: 0
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date added: 2013/11/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[You've Got to Read This: Contemporary American Writers Introduce Stories That Held Them in Awe]]> 820367 Ron Hansen 0785769668 Jen 0 to-read 4.00 1994 You've Got to Read This: Contemporary American Writers Introduce Stories That Held Them in Awe
author: Ron Hansen
name: Jen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2012/04/16
shelves: to-read
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]]> Nightworks: Poems, 1962-2000 1045028 "To Dorothy" You are not beautiful, exactly.
You are beautiful, inexactly.
You let a weed grow by the mulberry
and a mulberry grow by the house.
So close, in the personal quiet
of a windy night, it brushes the wall
and sweeps away the day till we sleep.
A child said it, and it seemed
"Things that are lost are all equal."
But it isn't true. If I lost you,
the air wouldn't move, nor the tree grow.
Someone would pull the weed, my flower.
The quiet wouldn't be yours. If I lost you,
I'd have to ask the grass to let me sleep. "One of our finest and most acclaimed poets."� Booklist Marvin Bell’s poetry has appeared in scores of anthologies and in magazines such as The New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly . He has lectured and read at universities in 45 states and territories, is the recipient of the Lamont Award and teaches in the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. Also available by Marvin Bell
The Book of the Dead Man
PB $12.00, 1-55659-063-6 � CUSA
HC y $22.00, 1-55659-062-8 � CUSA
The Book of the Dead Man, Volume 2
PB $14.00, 1-55659-081-4 � CUSA
Iris of Creation
PB $10.00, 1-55659-032-6 � CUSA Less Self Throwing your voice is one of t]]> 360 Marvin Bell 1556591470 Jen 0 to-read 4.25 2000 Nightworks: Poems, 1962-2000
author: Marvin Bell
name: Jen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2010/09/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> Being Born 1158172 Sheila Kitzinger 0863181694 Jen 0 to-read 4.33 1986 Being Born
author: Sheila Kitzinger
name: Jen
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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date added: 2010/03/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret]]> 304996
"Are you there God? It's me, Margaret. I can't wait until two o'clock God. That's when our dance starts. Do you think I'll get Philip Leroy for a partner? It's not so much that I like him as a person God, but as a boy he's very handsome. And I'd love to dance with him... just once or twice. Thank you God.]]> 149 Judy Blume Jen 4 3.96 1970 Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
author: Judy Blume
name: Jen
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1970
rating: 4
read at: 1993/01/01
date added: 2010/02/28
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hilarious. obviously dated - but this book, like all judy blume's, is so honest and funny.
]]> <![CDATA[Molecules Of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine]]> 70197 In her groundbreaking book Molecules of Emotion, Candace Pert provides startling and decisive answers to these and other challenging questions that scientists and philosophers have pondered for centuries.
Her pioneering research on how the chemicals inside our bodies form a dynamic information network, linking mind and body, is not only provocative, it is revolutionary. By establishing the biomolecular basis for our emotions and explaining these new scientific developments in a clear and accessible way, Pert empowers us to understand ourselves, our feelings, and the connection between our minds and our bodies -- body-minds -- in ways we could never possibly have imagined before.
Molecules of Emotion is a landmark work, full of insight and wisdom and possessing that rare power to change the way we see the world and ourselves.]]> 368 Candace B. Pert 0684846349 Jen 0 to-read 4.17 1997 Molecules Of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine
author: Candace B. Pert
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/11/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability]]> 2411757 320 James Gustave Speth 0300136110 Jen 0 to-read 3.81 2008 The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability
author: James Gustave Speth
name: Jen
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/09/25
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Buffalo Soldier 126816
His name is Alfred; he is ten years old and African American. And he has passed through so many indifferent families that he can’t believe that his new one will last.

In the ensuing months Terry and Laura will struggle to emerge from their shell of grief only to face an unexpected threat to their marriage; Terry’s involvement with another woman. Meanwhile, Alfred cautiously enters the family circle, and befriends an elderly neighbor who inspires him with the story of the buffalo soldiers, the black cavalrymen of the old West. Out of the entwining and unfolding of their lives, The Buffalo Soldier creates a suspenseful, moving portrait of a family, infused by Bohjalian’s moral complexity and narrative assurance.

Look for Chris Bohjalian's new novel, The Lioness !]]> 432 Chris Bohjalian 0375725466 Jen 0 to-read 3.83 2002 The Buffalo Soldier
author: Chris Bohjalian
name: Jen
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/09/21
shelves: to-read
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]]> Midwives 5166
As recounted by Sibyl's precocious fourteen-year-old daughter, Connie, the ensuing trial bears the earmarks of a witch hunt except for the fact that all its participants are acting from the highest motives—and the defendant increasingly appears to be guilty. As Sibyl Danforth faces the antagonism of the law, the hostility of traditional doctors, and the accusations of her own conscience, Midwives engages, moves, and transfixes us as only the very best novels ever do.]]> 384 Chris Bohjalian Jen 4 3.99 1997 Midwives
author: Chris Bohjalian
name: Jen
average rating: 3.99
book published: 1997
rating: 4
read at: 2008/08/01
date added: 2008/09/21
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]]> Ten Little Indians 52879
Even as they often make us laugh, Sherman Alexie's stories are driven by a haunting lyricism and naked candour that cut to the heart of the human experience.]]> 256 Sherman Alexie 009946456X Jen 5 4.07 2003 Ten Little Indians
author: Sherman Alexie
name: Jen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2008/09/21
date added: 2008/09/21
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations]]> 1998185 336 Clay Shirky 1594201536 Jen 0 to-read 3.79 2008 Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
author: Clay Shirky
name: Jen
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/06/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Gradual Vegetarian: For Everyone Finally Ready to Make the Change]]> 2499742 297 Lisa Tracy 0871314525 Jen 0 to-read 4.00 1985 The Gradual Vegetarian: For Everyone Finally Ready to Make the Change
author: Lisa Tracy
name: Jen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1985
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/04/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Ten-Year Nap 1235499 351 Meg Wolitzer 1594489785 Jen 0 to-read 3.04 2008 The Ten-Year Nap
author: Meg Wolitzer
name: Jen
average rating: 3.04
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/04/04
shelves: to-read
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]]> World as Lover, World as Self 536524 252 Joanna Macy 0938077279 Jen 0 to-read 4.29 1991 World as Lover, World as Self
author: Joanna Macy
name: Jen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1991
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/04/01
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America]]> 1388782 296 Hanna Rosin 0151012628 Jen 0 to-read 3.70 2007 God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America
author: Hanna Rosin
name: Jen
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/03/30
shelves: to-read
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]]> Interpreter of Maladies 5439 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. In "A Temporary Matter," published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession. Lahiri writes with deft cultural insight reminiscent of Anita Desai and a nuanced depth that recalls Mavis Gallant.]]> 198 Jhumpa Lahiri 0618101365 Jen 4 4.18 1999 Interpreter of Maladies
author: Jhumpa Lahiri
name: Jen
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2008/03/20
date added: 2008/03/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[To-Do List: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us]]> 565986
More and more, we are a nation of list-makers, from grocery lists, New Year's resolutions, and things to do before we die to DVDs to rent and people we've kissed. In To-Do List (based on the popular blog of the same name, todolistblog.com) Sasha Cagen celebrates the humble to-do list, exploring the ways these scribbled agendas reflect our personalities and passions.

To-Do List is both a celebration of lists and a peek at the lists that others create. Broken down by subjects like "Daily Lists" to "Sex Lists," it's a fascinating collection of lists from everyday people to the well-known:

Novelist Nick Hornby's list of desert island discs A therapist's secret fears ("I HATE having to think about clients in relation to my hair or clothes") A shopping list from chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse A woman's accomplishments before her thirtieth birthday ("Hot air ballooned over the Serengeti," "Danced on a table in Vegas") Qualities one man is looking for in a future wife, including "Chews with her mouth shut" and "Will let me give my first son the middle name of 'Jacob'"

With each list, Cagen offers the story behind it and a prompt for readers to compare notes and take their own stab at a similar list.

Voyeuristic and interactive, To-Do List will show you just how much -- and what -- your lists say about you.

]]> 256 Sasha Cagen 1416534695 Jen 0 to-read 3.60 2007 To-Do List: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us
author: Sasha Cagen
name: Jen
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/03/23
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Maybe Baby: 28 Writers Tell the Truth About Skepticism, Infertility, Baby Lust, Childlessness, Ambivalence, and How They Made the Biggest Decision of Their Lives]]> 856814 288 Lori Leibovich 0060737816 Jen 0 to-read 3.46 2006 Maybe Baby: 28 Writers Tell the Truth About Skepticism, Infertility, Baby Lust, Childlessness, Ambivalence, and How They Made the Biggest Decision of Their Lives
author: Lori Leibovich
name: Jen
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/03/23
shelves: to-read
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]]> Ghost 128388 Einstein's Dreams, became an international best seller and was hailed by Salman Rushdie as "at once intellectually provocative and touching and comic and so very beautifully written." His novel The Diagnosis, called "highly original and imaginative" by The New York Times, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Now comes a stunning and disturbing new novel about a man's encounter with the unfathomable.

David is a person of modest ambitions who works in a bank, lives in a rooming house, enjoys books and quiet walks by the lake. Three months after unexpectedly being fired from his job, he takes a temporary position at a mortuary. And there, sitting alone in the "slumber room" one afternoon at dusk, he sees something that he cannot comprehend, something that will force him to question everything he believes in, including himself. After his metaphysical experience, all his relationships change—with his estranged wife, his girlfriend, his mother—and he grudgingly finds himself at the center of a bitter public controversy over the existence of the supernatural. As David struggles to understand what has happened to him, we embark on a provocative exploration of the delicate divide between the physical world and the spiritual world, between skepticism and faith, between the natural and the supernatural, and between science and religion.

Combining a dramatic story with compelling characters and provocative ideas, Ghost investigates timeless questions that continue to challenge contemporary society.]]> 256 Alan Lightman 0375421696 Jen 0 to-read 2.97 2007 Ghost
author: Alan Lightman
name: Jen
average rating: 2.97
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/03/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Playing Catch: A Midwife's Memoirs]]> 651403 420 Sally Urang 142087621X Jen 0 to-read 3.88 2006 Playing Catch: A Midwife's Memoirs
author: Sally Urang
name: Jen
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/02/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> A Midwife's Story 15599
Going far beyond mere biography, Armstrong’s journey of self-discovery is ultimately very moving, and it is the honesty with which she describes the world she discovers which makes this book a classic, and essential reading not just for aspiring midwives but to anyone interested in natural birth.]]> 208 Penny Armstrong 1905177046 Jen 0 to-read 4.04 1986 A Midwife's Story
author: Penny Armstrong
name: Jen
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/02/24
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]]> <![CDATA[Listening to the Land: Conversations about Nature, Culture, and Eros]]> 60976 340 Derrick Jensen 1931498563 Jen 0 to-read 4.21 1995 Listening to the Land: Conversations about Nature, Culture, and Eros
author: Derrick Jensen
name: Jen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/02/10
shelves: to-read
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]]> Atonement 6867
On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses the flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant. But Briony's incomplete grasp of adult motives—together with her precocious literary gifts—brings about a crime that will change all their lives.

As it follows that crime's repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century, Atonement engages the reader on every conceivable level, with an ease and authority that mark it as a genuine masterpiece.]]> 351 Ian McEwan 038572179X Jen 0 to-read 3.94 2001 Atonement
author: Ian McEwan
name: Jen
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/02/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> Making Globalization Work 9841 384 Joseph E. Stiglitz 0393061221 Jen 0 to-read 3.86 2006 Making Globalization Work
author: Joseph E. Stiglitz
name: Jen
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/01/26
shelves: to-read
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]]> The House on Mango Street 139253 The House on Mango Street is the remarkable story of Esperanza Cordero.

Told in a series of vignettes � sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous–it is the story of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago, inventing for herself who and what she will become. Few other books in our time have touched so many readers.]]> 110 Sandra Cisneros 0679734775 Jen 0 to-read 3.69 1984 The House on Mango Street
author: Sandra Cisneros
name: Jen
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1984
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/01/25
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith]]> 12535 From the New York Times bestselling author of Hallelujah Anyway and Help, Thanks, Wow, a spiritual antidote to anxiety and despair in increasingly fraught times.

As Anne Lamott knows, the world is a dangerous place. Terrorism and war have become the new normal. Environmental devastation looms even closer. And there are personal demands on her faith as well: getting older; her mother's Alzheimer's; her son's adolescence; and the passing of friends and time.

Fortunately for those of us who are anxious about the state of the world, whose parents are also aging and dying, whose children are growing harder to recognize as they become teenagers, Plan B offers hope that we’re not alone in the midst of despair. It shares with us Lamott's ability to comfort and to make us laugh despite the grim realities.

Anne Lamott is one of our most beloved writers, and Plan B is a book more necessary now than ever. It is further evidence that, as The New Yorker has written, "Anne Lamott is a cause for celebration."]]> 320 Anne Lamott 1594481571 Jen 0 to-read 4.04 2004 Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
author: Anne Lamott
name: Jen
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/01/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Mainstreaming Midwives: The Politics of Change]]> 72316 Including detailed case studies, the book looks at the efforts of direct-entry midwives to achieve legalization and licensure in seven New York, Florida, Michigan, Iowa, Virginia, Colorado, and Massachusetts with varying degrees of success.]]> 570 Robbie E. Davis-Floyd 0415931517 Jen 0 to-read 3.48 2006 Mainstreaming Midwives: The Politics of Change
author: Robbie E. Davis-Floyd
name: Jen
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/01/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> Island 5130 Island, his last novel, Huxley transports us to a Pacific island where, for 120 years, an ideal society has flourished. Inevitably, this island of bliss attracts the envy and enmity of the surrounding world. A conspiracy is underway to take over Pala, and events begin to move when an agent of the conspirators, a newspaperman named Faranby, is shipwrecked there. What Faranby doesn't expect is how his time with the people of Pala will revolutionize all his values and—to his amazement—give him hope.]]> 354 Aldous Huxley 0060085495 Jen 0 to-read 3.87 1962 Island
author: Aldous Huxley
name: Jen
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1962
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/01/20
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]]> The Medical Malpractice Myth 1199251
This, according to Tom Baker, is the myth ofmedical malpractice, and as a reality check he offers The Medical Malpractice Myth , a stunning dismantling of this familiar, but inaccurate, picture of the health care industry. Are there too many medical malpractice suits? No, according to Baker; there is actually a great deal more medical malpractice, with only a fraction of the cases ever seeing the inside of a courtroom. Is too much litigation to blame for the malpractice insurance crisis? No, for that we can look to financial trends and competitive behavior in the insurance industry. Are these lawsuits frivolous? Very rarely. Point by point, Baker—a leading authority on insurance and law—pulls together the research that demolishes the myths that have taken hold about medical malpractice and suggests a series of legal reforms that would help doctors manage malpractice insurance while also improving patient safety and medical accountability.

President Bush has made medical malpractice reform a priority in his last term in office, but if history is any indication, legislative reform would only worsen the situation and perpetuate the gross misunderstanding of it. The debate surely will be transformed by The Medical Malpractice Myth , a book aimed squarely at general readers but with radical conclusions that speak to the highest level of domestic policymaking.]]> 222 Tom Baker 0226036480 Jen 0 to-read 3.90 2005 The Medical Malpractice Myth
author: Tom Baker
name: Jen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/01/12
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]]> A Tree Grows in Brooklyn 14891 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.]]> 496 Betty Smith 0061120073 Jen 0 to-read 4.29 1943 A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
author: Betty Smith
name: Jen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1943
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/01/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> What to Eat 268963 What to Eat has been praised as welcome relief. As Nestle takes us through each supermarket section—produce, dairy, meat, fish—she explains the issues, cutting through foodie jargon and complicated nutrition labels, and debunking the misleading health claims made by big food companies. With Nestle as our guide, we are shown how to make wise food choices—and are inspired to eat sensibly and nutritiously.]]> 624 Marion Nestle 0865477388 Jen 0 to-read 4.03 2006 What to Eat
author: Marion Nestle
name: Jen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/01/08
shelves: to-read
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]]> Miracle at St. Anna 23438 Miracle at St. Anna is a singular evocation of war, cruelty, passion, heroism, and love. It is the story of four American soldiers, the villagers among whom they take refuge, a band of partisans, and an Italian boy, all of whom encounter a miracle - though perhaps the true miracle lies in themselves.]]> 320 James McBride 1573229717 Jen 0 to-read 3.84 2001 Miracle at St. Anna
author: James McBride
name: Jen
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2008/01/05
shelves: to-read
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]]> Ooga-Booga: Poems 804491 rage, and desire.


Here I am, not a practical man,
But clear-eyed in my contact lenses,
Following no doubt a slightly different line than the others,
Seeking sexual pleasure above all else,
Despairing of art and of life,
Seeking protection from death by seeking it
On a racebike, finding release and belief on two wheels . . .
--from "The Death of the Shah"

The poems in Ooga-Booga are about a youthful slave owner and his aging slave, and both are the same man. This is the tenderest, most savage collection yet from "the most frightening American poet ever" (Calvin Bedient, Boston Review ).]]> 112 Frederick Seidel 0374226555 Jen 0 to-read 4.00 2006 Ooga-Booga: Poems
author: Frederick Seidel
name: Jen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/01/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World]]> 1275377
By the time Donald Rothberg was in his early twenties, he knew he had two vocations. He wanted to dedicate himself to justice and social change, and he wanted to commit himself to exploring the depths of human consciousness—to an awakening of our deeper spiritual nature. It has been his life's work, as an activist, organizer, writer, and teacher, to bring these two paths together and to reveal how deeply they require one another.

The Engaged Spiritual Life is the fruit of this work. Skillfully weaving together basic spiritual teachings, real-life examples, social context, and exercises, Rothberg provides a clear, thorough, and compelling guide for those interested in connecting inner and outer transformation. At the core of the book are ten spiritual principles and associated practices that will enable readers to engage all the parts of their lives—whether personal, interpersonal, or political—into a seamless whole.]]> 256 Donald Rothberg 0807077259 Jen 0 to-read 4.08 2006 The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World
author: Donald Rothberg
name: Jen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2008/01/02
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[A Short History of the Shadow: Poems]]> 322145
Landscape, as Wang Wei says, softens the sharp edges of isolation.
Don't just do something, sit there.
And so I have, so I have,
the seasons curling around me like smoke,
Gone to the end of the earth and back without a sound. ―from "Body and Soul II"

This is Charles Wright's first collection of verse since the gathering, in Negative Blue , of his "Appalachian Book of the Dead," a trilogy of trilogies hailed "among the great long poems of the century" (James Longenbach, Boston Review ). In A Short History of the Shadow , Wright's return to the landscapes of his early work finds his art resilient in a world haunted by death and the dead.]]> 96 Charles Wright 0374528799 Jen 0 to-read 4.17 2002 A Short History of the Shadow: Poems
author: Charles Wright
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2002
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/12/24
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making]]> 2045737
Today’s superclass has achieved unprecedented levels of wealth and power. Nationalist critics have argued that they have more in common with one another than with their own countrymen. They have globalized more rapidly than any other group—they control globalization—but they have been accused of feeding the growing economic and social inequity that divides the world. What happens inside closed-door meetings in Davos or aboard corporate jets at 41,000 feet? Conspiracy or collaboration? Deal-making or idle self-indulgence? What does the rise of Asia and Latin America mean for the conventional wisdom that shapes our destinies? Who sets the rules for a group that operates beyond national laws?

Drawn from exclusive interviews and extensive original reporting, Superclass answers all of these questions as it draws back the curtain on a privileged society that most of us know little about, even though it profoundly affects our everyday lives. It is the first in-depth examination of the connections between the global communities of leaders who are at the helm of every major enterprise on the planet and control its greatest wealth. And it is an unprecedented examination of the trends within the superclass, which are likely to alter our politics, our institutions, and the shape of the world in which we live. "Mr. Rothkopf's book argues that on many of the most critical issues of our time, the influence of all nation-states is waning, the system for addressing global issues among nation-states is more ineffective than ever, and therefore a power void is being created. This void is often being filled by a small group of players�'the superclass'—a new global elite, who are much better suited to operating on the global stage and influencing global outcomes than the vast majority of national political leaders." � Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times "Mr. Rothkopf's book argues that on many of the most critical issues of our time, the influence of all nation-states is waning, the system for addressing global issues among nation-states is more ineffective than ever, and therefore a power void is being created. This void is often being filled by a small group of players�'the superclass'—a new global elite, who are much better suited to operating on the global stage and influencing global outcomes than the vast majority of national political leaders." � Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times

"Mr Rothkopf makes a fascinating tour of the world of the superclass. He opens the door to the office of the head of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, on the top floor of Goldman's tower on New York's Broad Street. He visits the factory that customises Gulfstream jets (every year nearly 10% of Gulfstream's clients attend Davos). He calls on the Carlyle Group where financiers and former presidents get together to make each other richer. And he offers a tour of the weird proceedings of the Bohemian Grove meetings, which Richard Nixon described as 'the most faggy goddamned thing you could ever imagine' . . . Superclass is a pioneering study of a subject that has often been the preserve of conspiracy theorists. Mr Rothkopf is anything but a crank, and he is right when he says that, these days, the most influential people around the world are also the most global people. He is also admirably ambivalent about his subject. He worries about surging inequality—the richest 1% of humans own 40% of the planet's wealth—and about the rumbling backlash against so much unaccountable power. But he points out that, in a world where most global institutions are lumbering and antiquated, members of the superclass have repeatedly stepped in to put the global system to rights. Let us hope that they have not lost their touch."� The Economist

"If you're trying to figure out where to throw your Molotov cocktails, David Rothkopf's book proves you've got your work cut out for you. The businessman and former Clinton official spent years crunching numbers and trailing the 6,000 or so 'power elite' who make most of the decisions about how the planet works. Neither a gossipfest nor an anarchist call to arms, this measured book demonstrates the way these elite businessmen anonymously influence politicians and dictators, and take advantage of international chaos to advance their own interests."� New York magazine

"There are just over 6,000 people in the superclass. So says the author of this fascinating book, a field guide to the world's most élite citizens. See the rich and powerful in their natural habitats, from Davos and Bilderberg to the Bohemian Grove. 'That such a group exists is indisputable,' says Rothkopf, who includes such power brokers as heads of state, CEOs of the world's largest companies, billionai]]> 400 David Rothkopf 0374272107 Jen 0 to-read 3.57 2008 Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making
author: David Rothkopf
name: Jen
average rating: 3.57
book published: 2008
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception]]> 778328
In The Baby Business, Debora Spar argues that it is time to acknowledge the commercial truth about reproduction and to establish a standard that governs its transactions. In this fascinating behind-the-scenes account, she combines pioneering research and interviews with the industry’s top reproductive scientists and trailblazers to provide a first glimpse at how the industry works: who the baby-makers are, who makes money, how prices are set, and what defines the clientele. Fascinating stories illustrate the inner workings of market segments--including stem cell research, surrogacy, egg swapping, “designer babies,� adoption, and human cloning--as Spar explores the moral and legal challenges that industry players must address.

The first purely commercial look at an industry that deals in humanity’s most intimate issues, this book challenges us to consider the financial promise and ethical perils we’ll face as the baby business moves inevitably forward.]]> 302 Debora L. Spar 1591396204 Jen 0 to-read 3.67 2006 The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception
author: Debora L. Spar
name: Jen
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/12/24
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]]> Water for Elephants 43641
Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.]]> 368 Sara Gruen 1565125606 Jen 0 to-read 4.11 2006 Water for Elephants
author: Sara Gruen
name: Jen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/12/20
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference]]> 2612 The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate. This widely acclaimed bestseller, in which Malcolm Gladwell explores and brilliantly illuminates the tipping point phenomenon, is already changing the way people throughout the world think about selling products and disseminating ideas.]]> 301 Malcolm Gladwell 0316346624 Jen 0 to-read 4.01 2002 The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Jen
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2002
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/12/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> Animal Farm 7613
The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, however, the rebellion is betrayed, and the farm ends up in a state as bad as it was before, under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon.

One night, all the animals at Mr. Jones' Manor Farm assemble in a barn to hear old Major, a pig, describe a dream he had about a world where all animals live free from the tyranny of their human masters. Old Major dies soon after the meeting, but the animals � inspired by his philosophy of Animalism � plot a rebellion against Jones.

Two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, prove themselves important figures and planners of this dangerous enterprise. When Jones forgets to feed the animals, the revolution occurs, and Jones and his men are chased off the farm. Manor Farm is renamed Animal Farm, and the Seven Commandments of Animalism are painted on the barn wall...]]> 129 George Orwell Jen 4 3.90 1945 Animal Farm
author: George Orwell
name: Jen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1945
rating: 4
read at:
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]]> <![CDATA[Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies]]> 1842
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: the global account of the rise of civilization that is also a stunning refutation of ideas of human development based on race.

In this "artful, informative, and delightful" (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed writing, technology, government, and organized religion—as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war—and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history.

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, the Rhone-Poulenc Prize, and the Commonwealth Club of California's Gold Medal]]> 498 Jared Diamond 0739467352 Jen 0 to-read 4.04 1997 Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
author: Jared Diamond
name: Jen
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/12/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Inheritance of Loss 149269 336 Kiran Desai 0871139294 Jen 0 to-read 3.38 2005 The Inheritance of Loss
author: Kiran Desai
name: Jen
average rating: 3.38
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/12/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales]]> 22915
� "The Frog Prince"

� "Hansel and Gretel"

� "Snow-White and Red-Rose"

� "Rapunzel"

� "Little Red Riding Hood"

� "Rumpelstiltskin"]]> 704 Jacob Grimm 0517229250 Jen 0 to-read 4.17 1812 The Complete Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales
author: Jacob Grimm
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1812
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/12/17
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Prescription for Nutritional Healing: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements]]> 170844 896 Phyllis A. Balch 1583332367 Jen 0 to-read 4.38 1990 Prescription for Nutritional Healing: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements
author: Phyllis A. Balch
name: Jen
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/12/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Poetry of Rumi Illustrated Journal J1-RUM]]> 265562 126 Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi 1891731149 Jen 0 to-read 4.29 1999 The Poetry of Rumi Illustrated Journal J1-RUM
author: Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
name: Jen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/12/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[A Grateful Heart: Daily Blessings for the Evening Meal from Buddha to the Beatles]]> 873643 280 M.J. Ryan 157324855X Jen 0 to-read 3.97 1994 A Grateful Heart: Daily Blessings for the Evening Meal from Buddha to the Beatles
author: M.J. Ryan
name: Jen
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1994
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/12/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto]]> 315425 The Omnivore's Dilemma, launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. Pollan proposes a new answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Pollan's bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.,,,]]> 205 Michael Pollan 1594201455 Jen 0 to-read 4.07 2008 In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto
author: Michael Pollan
name: Jen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/12/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> Gut Symmetries 15056 Washington Post as "one of our most important writers in English," Jeanette Winterson has firmly established her reputation as an extraordinarily daring and original novelist. In Gut Symmetries, lives and universes run parallel in a complex contemporary love story set in New York and Liverpool and aboard the QE2.]]> 219 Jeanette Winterson 0517286939 Jen 0 to-read 3.83 1997 Gut Symmetries
author: Jeanette Winterson
name: Jen
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/12/14
shelves: to-read
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]]> Naked 4138 Naked, Sedaris turns the mania for memoir on its proverbial ear, mining the exceedingly rich terrain of his life, his family, and his unique worldview—a sensibility at once take-no-prisoners sharp and deeply charitable. A tart-tongued mother does dead-on imitations of her young son's nervous tics, to the great amusement of his teachers; a stint of Kerouackian wandering is undertaken (of course!) with a quadriplegic companion; a family gathers for a wedding in the face of imminent death. Through it all is Sedaris's unmistakable voice, without doubt one of the freshest in American writing.]]> 304 David Sedaris Jen 0 to-read 4.10 1997 Naked
author: David Sedaris
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/12/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> Cut 662597
Now she's at Sea Pines, a "residential treatment facility" filled with girls struggling with problems of their own. Callie doesn't want to have anything to do with them. She doesn't want to have anything to do with anyone. She won't even speak.

But Callie can only stay silent for so long...]]> 151 Patricia McCormick 0439324599 Jen 0 to-read 3.77 2000 Cut
author: Patricia McCormick
name: Jen
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/12/13
shelves: to-read
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]]> Speak 439288
In Laurie Halse Anderson's powerful novel, an utterly believable heroine with a bitterly ironic voice delivers a blow to the hypocritical world of high school. She speaks for many a disenfranchised teenager while demonstrating the importance of speaking up for oneself.]]> 202 Laurie Halse Anderson 014131088X Jen 0 to-read 4.01 1999 Speak
author: Laurie Halse Anderson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/12/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Internal Bleeding: The Truth Behind America's Terrifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes]]> 752508 Two dynamic physician-professors investigate (and re-investigate) the rampant errors endemic to modern medical care and suggest ways to prevent hospitals and doctors from inadvertently killing their patients. Emerging from these compelling stories and provocative insights is a powerful case for change–by policymakers, hospitals, doctors, nurses, and even patients and their families. Wachter & Shojania underscore the depth and breadth of dangers in medical care; more important, they suggest basic safety procedures and hard-nosed remedies that could make erratic systems fail-safe and save countless lives.]]> 441 Robert M. Wachter 1590710738 Jen 0 to-read 3.72 2004 Internal Bleeding: The Truth Behind America's Terrifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes
author: Robert M. Wachter
name: Jen
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/12/03
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[What Mothers Do: Especially When it Looks Like Nothing]]> 1119381 already do in the course of any exhausting day's work. Drawing from countless conversations with hundreds of mothers spanning more than a decade, What Mothers Do provides lucid insight into the true experience of motherhood and answers the perennial question common to mothers everywhere: What have I done all day?

Stadlen's wise reflections, threaded throughout with the voices of real mothers, explore unsentimental reactions to motherhood—resentment, guilt, splintered identity, crippling inefficiency, and deadening fatigue. Yet the overriding sentiment is one of empowerment and wonder. Remarkably perceptive and heartening, What Mothers Do will resonate with mothers everywhere.]]> 288 Naomi Stadlen 0749926201 Jen 0 to-read 4.06 2005 What Mothers Do: Especially When it Looks Like Nothing
author: Naomi Stadlen
name: Jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/12/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling With D.H. Lawrence]]> 49423 ]]> 256 Geoff Dyer 0865475407 Jen 0 to-read 4.04 1997 Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling With D.H. Lawrence
author: Geoff Dyer
name: Jen
average rating: 4.04
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/11/29
shelves: to-read
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]]> The World Without Us 248787 A penetrating, page-turning tour of a post-human Earth

In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity's impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us. In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; which everyday items may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe.

The World Without Us reveals how, just days after humans disappear, floods in New York's subways would start eroding the city's foundations, and how, as the world's cities crumble, asphalt jungles would give way to real ones. It describes the distinct ways that organic and chemically treated farms would revert to wild, how billions more birds would flourish, and how cockroaches in unheated cities would perish without us. Drawing on the expertise of engineers, atmospheric scientists, art conservators, zoologists, oil refiners, marine biologists, astrophysicists, religious leaders from rabbis to the Dalai Lama, and paleontologists—who describe a prehuman world inhabited by megafauna like giant sloths that stood taller than mammoths—Weisman illustrates what the planet might be like today, if not for us.

From places already devoid of humans (a last fragment of primeval European forest; the Korean DMZ; Chernobyl), Weisman reveals Earth's tremendous capacity for self-healing. As he shows which human devastations are indelible, and which examples of our highest art and culture would endure longest, Weisman's narrative ultimately drives toward a radical but persuasive solution that needn't depend on our demise. It is narrative nonfiction at its finest, and in posing an irresistible concept with both gravity and a highly readable touch, it looks deeply at our effects on the planet in a way that no other book has.]]> 324 Alan Weisman Jen 0 to-read 3.81 2007 The World Without Us
author: Alan Weisman
name: Jen
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/11/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment]]> 183756
In her early twenties, Steingraber was afflicted with cancer, a disease that has afflicted other members of her adoptive family. Writing from the twin perspectives of a survivor and a concerned scientist, she traces the high incidence of cancer and the terrifying concentrations of environmental toxins in her native rural Illinois. She goes on to show similar correlation in other communities, such as Boston and Long Island, and throughout the United States, where cancer rates have risen alarmingly since mid-century. At once a deeply moving personal document and a groundbreaking work of scientific detection, Living Downstream will be a touchstone for generations, reminding us of the intimate connection between the health of our bodies and the integrity of our air, land, and water.

"By skillfully weaving a strong personal drama with thorough scientific research, Steingraber tells a compelling story....Well worth reading."--Washington Post]]> 374 Sandra Steingraber 0375700994 Jen 0 to-read 4.25 1997 Living Downstream: A Scientist's Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment
author: Sandra Steingraber
name: Jen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/28
shelves: to-read
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]]> How Doctors Think 185897 How Doctors Think offers direct, intelligent questions patients can ask their doctors to help them get back on track.

Groopman draws on a wealth of research, extensive interviews with some of the country’s best doctors, and his own experiences as a doctor and as a patient. He has learned many of the lessons in this book the hard way, from his own mistakes and from errors his doctors made in treating his own debilitating medical problems.

How Doctors Think reveals a profound new view of twenty-first-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients the vital information they need to make better judgments together.]]> 307 Jerome Groopman 0618610030 Jen 0 to-read 3.92 2007 How Doctors Think
author: Jerome Groopman
name: Jen
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/11/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Ina May's Guide to Childbirth 32127
Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention.

Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:

� Reducing the pain of labor without drugs—and the miraculous roles touch and massage play
� What really happens during labor
� Orgasmic birth—making birth pleasurable
� Episiotomy—is it really necessary?
� Common methods of inducing labor—and which to avoid at all costs
� Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth
� How to avoid postpartum bleeding—and depression
� The risks of anesthesia and cesareans—what your doctor
doesn’t necessarily tell you
� The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers
� How to create a safe, comfortable environment for
birth in any setting, including a hospital
� And much more

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth takes the fear out of childbirth by restoring women’s faith in their own natural power to give birth with more ease, less pain, and less medical intervention.]]> 348 Ina May Gaskin 0553381156 Jen 0 to-read 4.36 2003 Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
author: Ina May Gaskin
name: Jen
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/11/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[The Educated Heart: Professional Boundaries for Massage Therapists, Bodyworkers, and Movement Teachers (LWW In Touch Series)]]> 1185300 256 Nina McIntosh 0781748860 Jen 0 to-read 4.22 2005 The Educated Heart: Professional Boundaries for Massage Therapists, Bodyworkers, and Movement Teachers (LWW In Touch Series)
author: Nina McIntosh
name: Jen
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2005
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/11/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Cooking among friends: Meal planning and preparation delightfully simplified]]> 356929 228 Mary Tennant 0970156111 Jen 0 to-read 3.80 2001 Cooking among friends: Meal planning and preparation delightfully simplified
author: Mary Tennant
name: Jen
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/11/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[A Thorn in My Pocket: Temple Grandin's Mother Tells the Family Story]]> 222890 She tells of her fight to keep Temple in the mainstream of family, community, and school life, how Temple responded and went on to succeed, as Ms. Cutler puts it, beyond my wildest dreams. Ms. Cutler also explores the nature of the autism disorder as doctors understand it today, and how its predominant characteristics reflect our own traits in an exaggerated form.
Insightful chapters And Baby Makes Three As the Twig Is Bent Childhood The Separate Worlds Begin Things Fall Apart
And Start All Over Again The End of Childhood Then What Happened? Looking for the Source The Legacy of Genes What It Means to Be Human]]> 228 Eustacia Cutler 1932565167 Jen 0 to-read 3.82 2004 A Thorn in My Pocket: Temple Grandin's Mother Tells the Family Story
author: Eustacia Cutler
name: Jen
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/22
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]]> Emergence: Labeled Autistic 2299 199 Temple Grandin 0446671827 Jen 0 to-read 4.08 1986 Emergence: Labeled Autistic
author: Temple Grandin
name: Jen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1986
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/22
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]]> <![CDATA[Thinking In Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism]]> 103408 240 Temple Grandin 0679772898 Jen 0 to-read 4.11 1995 Thinking In Pictures: and Other Reports from My Life with Autism
author: Temple Grandin
name: Jen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1995
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2007/11/22
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn]]> 242592 254 Catherine Friend 1569242984 Jen 5 3.85 2006 Hit by a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn
author: Catherine Friend
name: Jen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2007/11/21
shelves:
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]]> Born on a Blue Day 74812
This unique first-person account offers a window into the mind of a high-functioning, 27-year-old British autistic savant with Asperger's syndrome. Tammet's ability to think abstractly, deviate from routine, and empathize, interact and communicate with others is impaired, yet he's capable of incredible feats of memorization and mental calculation. Besides being able to effortlessly multiply and divide huge sums in his head with the speed and accuracy of a computer, Tammet, the subject of the 2005 documentary Brainman, learned Icelandic in a single week and recited the number pi up to the 22,514th digit, breaking the European record. He also experiences synesthesia, an unusual neurological syndrome that enables him to experience numbers and words as "shapes, colors, textures and motions." Tammet traces his life from a frustrating, withdrawn childhood and adolescence to his adult achievements, which include teaching in Lithuania, achieving financial independence with an educational Web site and sustaining a long-term romantic relationship. As one of only about 50 people living today with synesthesia and autism, Tammet's condition is intriguing to researchers; his ability to express himself clearly and with a surprisingly engaging tone (given his symptoms) makes for an account that will intrigue others as well.]]> 226 Daniel Tammet 1416535071 Jen 0 to-read 3.82 2006 Born on a Blue Day
author: Daniel Tammet
name: Jen
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues]]> 10233
Challenging the accepted methodologies of epidemiology and international health, he points out that most current explanatory strategies, from "cost-effectiveness" to patient "noncompliance," inevitably lead to blaming the victims. In reality, larger forces, global as well as local, determine why some people are sick and others are shielded from risk. Yet this moving account is far from a hopeless inventory of insoluble problems. Farmer writes of what can be done in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds, by physicians determined to treat those in need. Infections and Inequalities weds meticulous scholarship with a passion for solutions—remedies for the plagues of the poor and the social maladies that have sustained them.]]> 424 Paul Farmer 0520229134 Jen 0 to-read 4.10 1999 Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues
author: Paul Farmer
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know And Must Communicate to the Public]]> 82993

From Silence to Voice features stories about nurses who ensure that patients receive appropriate, timely, and even life-saving care, nurses who make all the difference while crises are underway but whose contributions are neglected in medical charts and thank-you notes, nurses who are left out altogether or obscured by the generic "nurse." However, the book also provides detailed accounts of nurses who do make their voices heard, who do make their concerns public- and it shows how those successes can be duplicated. Buresh and Gordon draw on real-world examples that will help nurses to



gain respect for themselves as professionals,
communicate well with both patients and health-care colleagues,
understand how the news media work,
collaborate with public relations professionals,
write effective letters to the editor and publish op-ed pieces,
appear on television and radio, and
promote research on nursing



About the Authors:

Bernice Buresh writes and lectures on health care, nursing and the media. She has been a reporter for the Milwaukee Sentinel, a professor of journalism at Boston University and an adjunct professor of American Studies at Brandeis University. Buresh is president of the Writers' Room of Boston, Inc, which provides affordable workspace for writers.



Suzanne Gordon is an award-winning journalist. She is the author of Life Support: Three Nurses on the Front Lines and co-editor of Caregiving: Readings in Knowledge, Practice, Ethics and Politics. She is an adjunct professor in the school of nursing at McGill University. Gordon is a health care commentator on Public Radio International's "Marketplace," and a popular lecturer on nursing and health care.

]]> 296 Bernice Buresh 080147258X Jen 0 to-read 3.98 2000 From Silence to Voice: What Nurses Know And Must Communicate to the Public
author: Bernice Buresh
name: Jen
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/18
shelves: to-read
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]]> <![CDATA[And a Time to Die: How American Hospitals Shape the End of Life]]> 317507
“An act of courage and a public service.”� San Francisco Chronicle

“This beautifully synthesized and disquieting account of how hospital patients die melds disciplined description with acute analysis, incorporating the voices of doctors, nurses, social workers, and patients in a provocative analysis of the modern American quest for a ‘good death.’”� Publishers Weekly

“Kaufman exposes the bureaucratic and ethical quandaries that hover over the modern deathbed.”� Psychology Today

“Kaufman’s analysis illuminates the complexity of the care of critically ill and dying patients [and] the ambiguity of slogans such as ‘death with dignity,� ‘quality of life,� and ‘stopping life support.� . . . Thought-provoking reading for everyone contemplating the fate of us all.”� New England Journal of Medicine]]> 413 Sharon R. Kaufman 0226426858 Jen 0 to-read 3.83 2005 And a Time to Die: How American Hospitals Shape the End of Life
author: Sharon R. Kaufman
name: Jen
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2005
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]]> Leaves of Grass 27494 624 Walt Whitman Jen 0 to-read 4.12 1855 Leaves of Grass
author: Walt Whitman
name: Jen
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1855
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/16
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]]> <![CDATA[Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption: On the Meaning of Family and the Politics of Neurological Difference]]> 764401 Reasonable People illuminates the belated emergence of a self in language. And it does so using DJ's own words, expressed through the once discredited but now resurgent technique of facilitated communication. In this emotional page-turner, DJ reconnects with the sister from whom he was separated, begins to type independently, and explores his experience of disability, poverty, abandonment, and sexual abuse. "Try to remember my life," he says on his talking computer, and remember he does in the most extraordinarily perceptive and lyrical way.

Asking difficult questions about the nature of family, the demise of social obligation, and the meaning of neurological difference, Savarese argues for a reasonable commitment to human possibility and caring.]]> 496 Ralph James Savarese 1590511298 Jen 0 to-read 3.95 2007 Reasonable People: A Memoir of Autism and Adoption: On the Meaning of Family and the Politics of Neurological Difference
author: Ralph James Savarese
name: Jen
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/09
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]]> This Side of Married 326765 Pride and Prejudice transplanted to an affluent suburb of Philadelphia. Well-meaning but domineering Dr. Evelyn Rubin has one consuming wish, that her three daughters be happily married. Alice, the eldest, is about to tumble into a speedy engagement. Sensible Isabel is already married, and having second thoughts. Tina, the baby, remains blithely single, though always dreams of a perfect wedding down the line. As various men—some good, some fascinatingly bad—enter from the wings and the romantic complications mount, This Side of Married stands unveiled as a novel that’s as heady as good champagne and as rich as a genuine Sachertorte.]]> 272 Rachel Pastan 0143035436 Jen 0 to-read 2.77 2004 This Side of Married
author: Rachel Pastan
name: Jen
average rating: 2.77
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/09
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]]> Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers 327 Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers features new chapters on how stress affects sleep and addiction, as well as new insights into anxiety and personality disorder and the impact of spirituality on managing stress.

As Sapolsky explains, most of us do not lie awake at night worrying about whether we have leprosy or malaria. Instead, the diseases we fear—and the ones that plague us now—are illnesses brought on by the slow accumulation of damage, such as heart disease and cancer. When we worry or experience stress, our body turns on the same physiological responses that an animal's does, but we do not resolve conflict in the same way—through fighting or fleeing. Over time, this activation of a stress response makes us sick.]]> 560 Robert M. Sapolsky 0805073698 Jen 0 to-read 4.17 1993 Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers
author: Robert M. Sapolsky
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/06
shelves: to-read
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]]> The Magician's Assistant 16055 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781857028157

Sabine-- twenty years a magician's assistant to her handsome, charming husband-- is suddenly a widow. In the wake of his death, she finds he has left a final trick; a false identity and a family allegedly lost in a tragic accident but now revealed as very much alive and well. Named as heirs in his will, they enter Sabine's life and set her on an adventure of unraveling his secrets, from sunny Los Angeles to the windswept plains of Nebraska, that will work its own sort of magic on her.]]> 357 Ann Patchett Jen 0 to-read 3.68 1997 The Magician's Assistant
author: Ann Patchett
name: Jen
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition]]> 10464
Uncover the power of food as nature's ultimate medicine and unlock the healing potentials that rest within your own kitchen.

Embark on a transformative wellness journey with Paul Pitchford's bestselling Healing with Whole Foods . This comprehensive handbook goes beyond the simple integration of traditional Chinese Medicine and modern nutritional it's a beacon of wisdom and insights for individuals committed to healthful living and holistic practitioners alike.

Discover what makes Healing with Whole Foods a timeless


Ultimately, Healing with Whole Foods is more than just a book—it's an invitation to a healthier way of living. It beautifully illustrates how traditional wisdom and modern science can come together to inform our nutritional choices. This comprehensive guide invites you to embark on a journey of wellness, empowerment, and self-discovery, all facilitated by the power of whole foods.]]> 784 Paul Pitchford 1556434308 Jen 0 to-read 4.41 1993 Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition
author: Paul Pitchford
name: Jen
average rating: 4.41
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/04
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]]> A Collection of Essays 9640 George Orwell's collected nonfiction, written in the clear-eyed and uncompromising style that earned him a critical following

One of the most thought-provoking and vivid essayists of the twentieth century, George Orwell fought the injustices of his time with singular vigor through pen and paper. In this selection of essays, he ranges from reflections on his boyhood schooling and the profession of writing to his views on the Spanish Civil War and British imperialism. The pieces collected here include the relatively unfamiliar and the more celebrated, making it an ideal compilation for both new and dedicated readers of Orwell's work.]]> 316 George Orwell 0156186004 Jen 0 to-read 4.28 1941 A Collection of Essays
author: George Orwell
name: Jen
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1941
rating: 0
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]]> Siddhartha 52036 152 Hermann Hesse Jen 0 to-read 4.07 1922 Siddhartha
author: Hermann Hesse
name: Jen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1922
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Phaedrus, #1)]]> 629 Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is an examination of how we live, a meditation on how to live better set around the narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, undertaken by a father & his young son.]]> 540 Robert M. Pirsig 0060589469 Jen 0 to-read 3.78 1974 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values (Phaedrus, #1)
author: Robert M. Pirsig
name: Jen
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1974
rating: 0
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]]> The Poetry of Robert Frost 95819 The only comprehensive gathering of Frost's published poetry, this affordable volume offers the entire contents of his eleven books of verse, from A Boy's Will (1913) to In the Clearing (1962). Frost scholar Lathem, who was also a close friend of the four-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, scrupulously annotated the 350-plus poems in this collection, which has been the standard edition of Frost's work since it first appeared in 1969.
]]> 607 Robert Frost 0805005013 Jen 0 to-read 4.24 1969 The Poetry of Robert Frost
author: Robert Frost
name: Jen
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1969
rating: 0
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]]> Morning Poems 162353 128 Robert Bly 0060928735 Jen 0 to-read 3.85 1997 Morning Poems
author: Robert Bly
name: Jen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail]]> 9791 A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in).]]> 397 Bill Bryson 0307279464 Jen 0 to-read 4.07 1998 A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
author: Bill Bryson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking]]> 40102 The Tipping Point a classic, Blink changes the way you'll understand every decision you make. Never again will you think about thinking the same way.

Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. Now, in Blink, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within. Blink is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant - in the blink of an eye - that actually aren't as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? How do our brains really work - in the office, in the classroom, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others?

In Blink we meet the psychologist who has learned to predict whether a marriage will last, based on a few minutes of observing a couple; the tennis coach who knows when a player will double-fault before the racket even makes contact with the ball; the antiquities experts who recognize a fake at a glance. Here, too, are great failures of "blink": the election of Warren Harding; "New Coke"; and the shooting of Amadou Diallo by police. Blink reveals that great decision makers aren't those who process the most information or spend the most time deliberating, but those who have perfected the art of "thin-slicing" - filtering the very few factors that matter from an overwhelming number of variables.]]> 296 Malcolm Gladwell 0316010669 Jen 0 to-read 3.97 2005 Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
author: Malcolm Gladwell
name: Jen
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[To Have or to Be? The Nature of the Psyche]]> 25490 182 Erich Fromm 0826417388 Jen 0 to-read 4.24 1976 To Have or to Be? The Nature of the Psyche
author: Erich Fromm
name: Jen
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1976
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness]]> 1098486
Saks was only eight, and living an otherwise idyllic childhood in sunny 1960s Miami, when her first symptoms appeared in the form of obsessions and night terrors. But it was not until she reached Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar that her first full-blown episode, complete with voices in her head and terrifying suicidal fantasies, forced her into a psychiatric hospital.

Saks would later attend Yale Law School where one night, during her first term, she had a breakdown that left her singing on the roof of the law school library at midnight. She was taken to the emergency room, force-fed antipsychotic medication, and tied hand-and-foot to the cold metal of a hospital bed. She spent the next five months in a psychiatric ward.

So began Saks's long war with her own internal demons and the equally powerful forces of stigma. Today she is a chaired professor of law who researches and writes about the rights of the mentally ill. She is married to a wonderful man.

In The Center Cannot Hold, Elyn Saks discusses frankly and movingly the paranoia, the inability to tell imaginary fears from real ones, and the voices in her head insisting she do terrible things, as well as the many obstacles she overcame to become the woman she is today. It is destined to become a classic in the genre.]]> 340 Elyn R. Saks 140130138X Jen 0 to-read 4.29 2007 The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
author: Elyn R. Saks
name: Jen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]> My Year of Meats 12349 A cross-cultural tale of two women brought together by the intersections of television and industrial agriculture, fertility and motherhood, life and love—the breakout hit by the celebrated author of A Tale for the Time Being

Ruth Ozeki’s mesmerizing debut novel has captivated readers and reviewers worldwide. When documentarian Jane Takagi-Little finally lands a job producing a Japanese television show that just happens to be sponsored by an American meat-exporting business, she uncovers some unsavory truths about love, fertility, and a dangerous hormone called DES. Soon she will also cross paths with Akiko Ueno, a beleaguered Japanese housewife struggling to escape her overbearing husband.

Hailed by USA Today as “rare and provocative� and awarded the Kirayama Prize for Literature of the Pacific Rim, My Year of Meats is a modern-day take on Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle for fans of Michael Pollan, Margaret Atwood, and Barbara Kingsolver.]]> 366 Ruth Ozeki 0140280464 Jen 0 to-read 4.02 1998 My Year of Meats
author: Ruth Ozeki
name: Jen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself]]> 82535 Never Have Your Dog Stuffed left off–having been saved by emergency surgery after nearly dying on a mountaintop in Chile–beloved actor and acclaimed author Alan Alda offers an insightful and funny look at some impossible questions he’s asked himself over the years: What do I value? What, exactly, is the good life? (And what does that even mean?) Here, Alda listens in on things he’s heard himself saying at critical points in his life–from the turbulence of the sixties, to his first Broadway show, to the birth of his children, to the ache of September 11, and beyond. Reflecting on the transitions in his life and in all our lives, he notices that “doorways are where the truth is told,� and wonders if there’s one thing–art, activism, family, money, fame–that could lead to a “life of meaning.� In a book that is candid, wise, and as questioning as it is incisive, Alda amuses and moves us with his uniquely hilarious meditations on questions great and small.

Praise for Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself

“Engagingly thoughtful and thought-provoking . . . [Alan Alda] candidly shares many stories of his life, so easily and wittily you can hear him speak as you read.�
�Sydney Sun Herald

“Alda is chatty, easygoing and humble, rather like a Mr. Rogers for grownups. His words of inspiration would be a perfect gift for a college grad or for anyone facing major life changes.�
�Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Smart, engaged, funny and observant.�
�San Antonio Express-News]]> 209 Alan Alda 1400066174 Jen 0 to-read 3.77 2007 Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself
author: Alan Alda
name: Jen
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library)]]> 324074 744 Pellegrino Artusi 0802086578 Jen 0 to-read 4.24 1891 Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library)
author: Pellegrino Artusi
name: Jen
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1891
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Intellectual Capital: The new wealth of organization]]> 615168
Intellectual Capital should be read as if the futures of your company and your career depend on it.They do.]]> 320 Thomas A. Stewart 0385483813 Jen 0 to-read 3.96 1997 Intellectual Capital: The new wealth of organization
author: Thomas A. Stewart
name: Jen
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1997
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Shakespeare on Management: Leadership Lessons for Today's Management]]> 2124928 244 Paul Corrigan 0749428457 Jen 0 to-read 3.93 1999 Shakespeare on Management: Leadership Lessons for Today's Management
author: Paul Corrigan
name: Jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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]]> Zen in the Art of Archery 103758
This book is the result of the author’s six year quest to learn archery in the hands of Japanese Zen masters. It is an honest account of one man’s journey to complete abandonment of ‘the self� and the Western principles that we use to define ourselves. Professor Herrigel imparts knowledge from his experiences and guides the reader through physical and spiritual lessons in a clear and insightful way.

Mastering archery is not the key to achieving Zen, and this is not a practical guide to archery. It is more a guide to Zen principles and learning and perfect for practitioners and non-practitioners alike.]]> 81 Eugen Herrigel 0375705090 Jen 0 to-read 4.00 1948 Zen in the Art of Archery
author: Eugen Herrigel
name: Jen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1948
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ]]> 26329
Everyone knows that high IQ is no guarantee of success, happiness, or virtue, but until Emotional Intelligence, we could only guess why. Daniel Goleman's brilliant report from the frontiers of psychology and neuroscience offers startling new insight into our “two minds”—the rational and the emotional—and how they together shape our destiny.

Drawing on groundbreaking brain and behavioral research, Goleman shows the factors at work when people of high IQ flounder and those of modest IQ do surprisingly well. These factors, which include self-awareness, self-discipline, and empathy, add up to a different way of being smart—and they aren’t fixed at birth. Although shaped by childhood experiences, emotional intelligence can be nurtured and strengthened throughout our adulthood—with immediate benefits to our health, our relationships, and our work.

The twenty-fifth-anniversary edition of Emotional Intelligence could not come at a better time—we spend so much of our time online, more and more jobs are becoming automated and digitized, and our children are picking up new technology faster than we ever imagined. With a new introduction from the author, the twenty-fifth-anniversary edition prepares readers, now more than ever, to reach their fullest potential and stand out from the pack with the help of EI.]]> 352 Daniel Goleman 055380491X Jen 0 to-read 4.07 1995 Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
author: Daniel Goleman
name: Jen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1995
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism]]> 10238 366 Fritjof Capra 1570625190 Jen 0 to-read 3.97 1975 The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism
author: Fritjof Capra
name: Jen
average rating: 3.97
book published: 1975
rating: 0
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date added: 2007/11/01
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]]> The Poisonwood Bible 7244 The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it -- from garden seeds to Scripture -- is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.]]> 546 Barbara Kingsolver 0060786507 Jen 0 to-read 4.10 1998 The Poisonwood Bible
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]> Prodigal Summer 14249 Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives inhabiting the forested mountains and struggling small farms of southern Appalachia.

From her outpost in an isolated mountain cabin, Deanna Wolfe, a reclusive wildlife biologist, watches a den of coyotes that have recently migrated into the region. She is caught off-guard by a young hunter who invades her most private spaces and confounds her self-assured, solitary life. On a farm several miles down the mountain, Lusa Maluf Landowski, a bookish city girl turned farmer's wife, finds herself unexpectedly marooned in a strange place where she must declare or lose her attachment to the land that has become her own. And a few more miles down the road, a pair of elderly feuding neighbors tend their respective farms and wrangle about God, pesticides, and the possibilities of a future neither of them expected.

Over the course of one humid summer, these characters find their connections to one another and to the flora and fauna with whom they share a place. Prodigal Summer demonstrates a balance of narrative, drama and ideas that is characteristic of Barbara Kingsolver's finest work.]]> 444 Barbara Kingsolver 0060959037 Jen 0 to-read 4.03 2000 Prodigal Summer
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Jen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2000
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life]]> 25460
"As the U.S. population made an unprecedented mad dash for the Sun Belt, one carload of us paddled against the tide, heading for the Promised Land where water falls from the sky and green stuff grows all around. We were about to begin the adventure of realigning our lives with our food chain.

"Naturally, our first stop was to buy junk food and fossil fuel..."

Hang on for the ride: With characteristic poetry and pluck, Barbara Kingsolver and her family sweep readers along on their journey away from the industrial-food pipeline to a rural life in which they vow to buy only food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it themselves, or learn to live without it. Their good-humored search yields surprising discoveries about turkey sex life and overly zealous zucchini plants, en route to a food culture that's better for the neighborhood and also better on the table. Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.

"This is the story of a year in which we made every attempt to feed ourselves animals and vegetables whose provenance we really knew . . . and of how our family was changed by our first year of deliberately eating food produced from the same place where we worked, went to school, loved our neighbors, drank the water, and breathed the air."]]> 370 Barbara Kingsolver 0060852550 Jen 0 to-read 4.03 2007 Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
author: Barbara Kingsolver
name: Jen
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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]]> Bel Canto 5826 318 Ann Patchett Jen 4 3.93 2001 Bel Canto
author: Ann Patchett
name: Jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2001
rating: 4
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date added: 2007/10/29
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]]> The Birth House 171102 The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare, the first daughter to be born in five generations of the Rare family. As a child in an isolated village in Nova Scotia, she is drawn to Miss Babineau, an outspoken Acadian midwife with a gift for healing and a kitchen filled with herbs and folk remedies. During the turbulent years of World War I, Dora becomes the midwife's apprentice. Together, they help the women of Scots Bay through infertility, difficult labors, breech births, unwanted pregnancies and even unfulfilling sex lives.

When Gilbert Thomas, a brash medical doctor, comes to Scots Bay with promises of fast, painless childbirth, some of the women begin to question Miss Babineau's methods - and after Miss Babineau's death, Dora is left to carry on alone. In the face of fierce opposition, she must summon all of her strength to protect the birthing traditions and wisdom that have been passed down to her.

Filled with details that are as compelling as they are surprising-childbirth in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion, the prescribing of vibratory treatments to cure hysteria and a mysterious elixir called Beaver Brew- The Birth House is an unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to maintain control over their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.]]> 408 Ami McKay 0676977731 Jen 0 to-read 4.00 2006 The Birth House
author: Ami McKay
name: Jen
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2006
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent]]> 407854
New parents are faced with innumerable decisions to make regarding the best way to care for their baby, and, naturally, they often turn for guidance to friends and family members who have already raised children. But as scientists are discovering, much of the trusted advice that has been passed down through generations needs to be carefully reexamined.

In this ground-breaking book, anthropologist Meredith Small reveals her remarkable findings in the new science of ethnopediatrics. Professor Small joins pediatricians, child-development researchers, and anthropologists across the country who are studying to what extent the way we parent our infants is based on biological needs and to what extent it is based on culture--and how sometimes what is culturally dictated may not be what's best for babies.

Should an infant be encouraged to sleep alone? Is breast-feeding better than bottle-feeding, or is that just a myth of the nineties? How much time should pass before a mother picks up her crying infant? And how important is it really to a baby's development to talk and sing to him or her?

These are but a few of the important questions Small addresses, and the answers not only are surprising, but may even change the way we raise our children.]]> 292 Meredith Small 0385483627 Jen 0 to-read 4.17 1998 Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent
author: Meredith Small
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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]]>