The Family That Couldn't Sleep

The Family That Couldn't Sleep: A Medical Mystery, by D.T. Max

An extremely interesting book about rare and often fatal prion diseases which are caused by proteins in the body that are folded the wrong way. The book traces one type of disease (which causes fatal insomnia) through an Italian family, discusses mad cow disease, and talks about cannibal tribes in Papua New Guinea. The author explains all the medical and scientific terminology well, and book flows smoothly from one portion to the next. May turn you vegetarian!

The Faith Club

The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew--Three Women Search for Understanding, by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner

These three women initially got together after the 9/11 attacks to write a children's book that explored the common heritage of their three religions. These meetings turned into an honest and deep interfaith dialogue through which they shared their insecurities about their own faiths and talked about stereotypes and prejudices they had against other religions. As a Hindu, I certainly learned concepts about each of these religions which I had previously been unfamiliar with. It would be great to hear a similar dialogue which also included other major religions (like Hinduism, Buddishm, Bahá'í, Taoism, etc.).

Nickel and Dimed

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich

Great book written by a courageous journalist, as well as a very illuminating and shocking read. I hope that someone will publish some sort of follow-up with workable ideas of how to stop this cycle (including practical suggestions for those of us who are more privileged and want to help).


From Publishers Weekly
In contrast to recent books by Michael Lewis and Dinesh D'Souza that explore the lives and psyches of the New Economy's millionares, Ehrenreich (Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class, etc.) turns her gimlet eye on the view from the workforce's bottom rung. Determined to find out how anyone could make ends meet on $7 an hour, she left behind her middle class life as a journalist except for $1000 in start-up funds, a car and her laptop computer to try to sustain herself as a low-skilled worker for a month at a time. In 1999 and 2000, Ehrenreich worked as a waitress in Key West, Fla., as a cleaning woman and a nursing home aide in Portland, Maine, and in a Wal-Mart in Minneapolis, Minn. During the application process, she faced routine drug tests and spurious "personality tests"; once on the job, she endured constant surveillance and numbing harangues over infractions like serving a second roll and butter. Beset by transportation costs and high rents, she learned the tricks of the trade from her co-workers, some of whom sleep in their cars, and many of whom work when they're vexed by arthritis, back pain or worse, yet still manage small gestures of kindness. Despite the advantages of her race, education, good health and lack of children, Ehrenreich's income barely covered her month's expenses in only one instance, when she worked seven days a week at two jobs (one of which provided free meals) during the off-season in a vacation town. Delivering a fast read that's both sobering and sassy, she gives readers pause about those caught in the economy's undertow, even in good times.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The Jungle

I finally got around to reading this classic by Upton Sinclair in December. I think it would turn most people into vegetarians! Despite its length, I read the book rather quickly--one can't help moving forward to see what will happen next to the protagonist Jurgis. Overall, the book does what one expects by unveiling the meat-packing industry's disgusting sanitary practices and wretched treatment of its workers. I didn't care for the ending though; I felt that it suddenly became very political and preachy. Yet I would still recommend reading this at least once.