Wednesday, April 7, 2010

In need of book suggestions

I read alot. I read law school books because i have to--and while those are like reading millions of stories, generally the moral of the story makes no sense and has more to do with who's policy goals and politics are winning out than some greater commentary on the universe. Mostly i like non-fiction or historical fiction. Biographies are always good. Please use the comments for suggestions because re-reading Harry Potter for like the eighth time is not what i want to do with my summer.

In exchange, here are a few books i've read lately that i liked lots. I'm including the B&N summaries for you. the second one led Adam to declare last night that he wants to be composted. Great.

1. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West. One of today's most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following an Islamist's murder of her colleague, Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the movie Submission. Hirsi Ali recounts the evolution of her beliefs, her ironclad will, and her extraordinary resolve to fight injustice done in the name of religion. Raised in a strict Muslim family and extended clan, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. In her early twenties, she escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science,  and fought for the rights of Muslim immigrant women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament.


2. Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
In the twelfth century, the bazaars of Arabia were known to offer an exotic and allegedly salutary concoction called "mellified man" -- essentially human remains steeped in honey. Mellified man was also known as "human mummy confection," and one recipe for it called specifically for "a young, lusty man" as the main ingredient. This strange footnote in the history of death and decay is recalled by Mary Roach in her surprisingly lively Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. "Cadavers," Roach writes, "are our superheroes: They brave fire without flinching, withstand falls from tall buildings and head-on car crashes into walls. "We learn, among other notable macabre facts, that a detached human head is about the size and weight of a roaster chicken, that King Ptolemy I of Egypt first green-lighted autopsies in 300 B.C., that embalming-fluid companies once sponsored best-preserved-body contests, and that the French at the time of the Revolution were obsessed with discovering how long guillotined heads remained aware of their surroundings.  Roach reports that the next big thing on the mortuary horizon is something called the "tissue digestor," which replaces the outmoded options of burial or cremation with, essentially, a big tub of lye. In Rest in Peace, the historian Gary Laderman looks into the culture of funeral homes in America, noting that embalming took off after the Lincoln assassination and became a booming business in the twentieth century, nudged along by the popularity of mummy films and a burgeoning class of undertakers leafing through Casket & Sunnyside magazine. As Roach puts it: "Death. It doesn't have to be boring." (Mark Rozzo)

1 comment:

  1. Handling Sin by Michael Malone
    Kaffir Boy & Kaffir Boy in America by Mark Mathabane

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