This is an easy, quick read with a very pointed message. The author, a Yale law professor, believes that pushing kids to be their best, whatever the tactics, is a superior parenting practice. She calls this type of parenting “Chinese parenting” as opposed to “Western parenting”.
It is a lot of work to parent this way. She spends hours after school drilling the children or forcing them to practice their musical instruments. She picks them up at school during non-essential classes (in her opinion) like PE or music or art to do more practicing. She has two girls. The eldest, Sophia, adapts relatively well to this parenting strategy. At fourteen, Sophia plays the piano at Carnegie Hall.
“Once, Sophia came in second on a multiplication speed test, which her fifth-grade teacher administered every Friday…. Over the next week, I made Sophia do twenty practice tests (of 100 problems each) every night, with me clocking her with a stopwatch. After that, she came in first every time.”
I have to wonder if every child had a parent pushing them to succeed and was so utterly invested in their success what our nationwide test scores would look like. Sophia recently was admitted to both Harvard and Yale. Of course, she was never allowed to have a playdate, go to a sleepover, try out for a play, watch TV or get anything lower than an A.
There is another side. Lulu, the author’s other child, does not take so well to the threatening parenting style. Here’s one episode when she’s seven years old.
“Back at the piano, Lulu made me pay. She punched, thrashed, and kicked. She grabbed the music score and tore it to shreds. I taped the score back together and encased it in a plastic shield so that it could never be destroyed again. Then I hauled Lulu’s dollhouse to the car and told her I’d donate it to the Salvation Army piece by piece if she didn’t have ‘The Little White Donkey’ perfect by the next day. When Lulu said, ‘I thought you were going to the Salvation Army, why are you still here?’ I threatened her with no lunch, no dinner, no Christmas or Hanukkah presents, no birthday parties for two, three, four years….. I told her to stop being lazy, cowardly, self-indulgent, and pathetic."
Can you imagine? The child is seven. Lulu continues playing an instrument though she does switch to the violin and eventually quits at age 13. She takes up tennis. I wonder what she will do next. In the scheme of things her rebellion was small, as her grades at school were still excellent.
The author emphasizes that all her actions were done out of love and that her children knew that. She has come in for a lot of flack as to whether she was emotionally abusing them. I think she has a point about developing a work ethic in children, but her tactics seem pretty extreme. Plus, how does she have the time to do this?
You can hear an interview with the author on NPR here. Or listen to other moms discussing her parenting tactics, also on NPR.
Showing posts with label memoir. Show all posts
Showing posts with label memoir. Show all posts
Monday, April 11, 2011
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon
Manhood for Amateurs is a collection of essays by one of the most well-regarded living authors in the US today. It is subtitled The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son. I enjoy Chabon’s fiction writing and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union was my favorite fiction book read in 2008.
This is an interesting book to pick up if you’d like to know more about Chabon’s family and his thoughts about random things like Jose Canseco or using a murse (a man purse). I think the best essay in the book is the first one entitled “The Loser’s Club.” It’s about 10 year old Michael Chabon and the comic book club he initiates by writing a newsletter and advertising in the paper. You get a hint of how determined he is and yet it is a somewhat depressing view into his life at that age.
He reflects on what he learned then:
“Success, however, does nothing to diminish the knowledge that failure stalks everything you do. But you always knew that. Nobody gets past the age of ten without that knowledge.”
I liked the essays that were about his father or other father figures in his life, like his father-in-law from his brief first marriage. I didn’t enjoy the essays that were more rants about legos or books today and how his children are experiencing a different, more commercialized, childhood than he did. It seems like he could take action to change that.
Chabon lives with his wife Ayelet Waldman, also a writer, and their four kids in Berkeley. She has a memoir out as well, but it focuses more on parenting. It is called Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace. She wrote it after some controversy about a NY Times article she wrote where she stated she loved her husband more than her children.
Chabon has this to say about being a parent in an essay about the Obama family entitled “The Binding of Isaac”: “Being a father is an unlimited obligation, one that even the best of us, with the least demanding of children, could never hope to fulfill entirely.”
This is an interesting book to pick up if you’d like to know more about Chabon’s family and his thoughts about random things like Jose Canseco or using a murse (a man purse). I think the best essay in the book is the first one entitled “The Loser’s Club.” It’s about 10 year old Michael Chabon and the comic book club he initiates by writing a newsletter and advertising in the paper. You get a hint of how determined he is and yet it is a somewhat depressing view into his life at that age.
He reflects on what he learned then:
“Success, however, does nothing to diminish the knowledge that failure stalks everything you do. But you always knew that. Nobody gets past the age of ten without that knowledge.”
I liked the essays that were about his father or other father figures in his life, like his father-in-law from his brief first marriage. I didn’t enjoy the essays that were more rants about legos or books today and how his children are experiencing a different, more commercialized, childhood than he did. It seems like he could take action to change that.
Chabon lives with his wife Ayelet Waldman, also a writer, and their four kids in Berkeley. She has a memoir out as well, but it focuses more on parenting. It is called Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace. She wrote it after some controversy about a NY Times article she wrote where she stated she loved her husband more than her children.
Chabon has this to say about being a parent in an essay about the Obama family entitled “The Binding of Isaac”: “Being a father is an unlimited obligation, one that even the best of us, with the least demanding of children, could never hope to fulfill entirely.”
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Having Faith An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood by Sandra Steingraber
I’ve read a number of books by mothers about having children over the past few years, so I was surprised I had not heard of this book by Sandra Steingraber, especially since it was published in 2001. It was an interview with the author in The Sun in January that first caught my attention. Steingraber has a Ph.D. in biology and is also a cancer survivor. She is passionate about environmental toxins and the problems they cause. I have yet to read her first book entitled Living Downstream: A Scientist’s Personal Investigation of Cancer and the Environment. In the introduction to her interview with The Sun she takes issue with the idea that her cancer stemmed from genetic causes.
“Years later, when cancer research began to focus on genetic causes, she submitted to doctors’ questions about her family history. She would recount her mother’s breast cancer, her uncles’ prostate and colon cancers, and her aunt’s bladder cancer. The doctors would nod knowingly. Then she would reveal that she was adopted.”
So, Having Faith is not your typical memoir about having a first baby. In fact, I would not recommend it to anyone who is currently or soon to be pregnant. It starts off gently. I completely agree with her complaint about gestation and how obstetricians consider you pregnant two weeks before you are pregnant, not because it is accurate, but because it is easier. She also gives some interesting historical perspectives. For example, morning sickness used to be considered a psychological problem.
“In one hospital in the 1930s, pregnant women prone to sickness were confined to bed and forbidden visitors and vomit bowls until they showed improvement. As further incentive for recovery, the nurses who cared for them were instructed to refrain from changing their sheets promptly.”
The book is initially organized with a chapter devoted to each month of her pregnancy. The really scary stuff starts in Chapter 3 where she looks into four different problems from the past and their impact on pregnancies. Her examples of rubella, thalidomide, Minamata (a town in Japan with mercury waste in the water), and diethylstilbestrol are not for the faint hearted. Thalidomide was given in the late 50s to quell morning sickness, however, it results in what is called reduction limb deficit, which is exactly what it sounds like. The day that thalidomide was taken would correspond to different birth defects, for example, a pill taken on days 35-37 of the pregnancy would result in a baby with no ears, and this is mapped out for which limbs would be lost depending on what day the drug was taken.
Her main point is that the fetus is very vulnerable to environmental toxins, but this is rarely discussed with pregnant women, instead the focus is on possible genetic problems.
“The most troubling aspects of prenatal testing still seem to me the single-minded search for rare genetic defects and the concomitant disregard of environmental threats to pregnancy. For expectant mothers over thirty-five, the hunt for chromosomal trisomies has become a routine part of prenatal care. But ask if your amniotic fluid contains pesticides, and if, so, how this contamination may affect the development of your baby, and you are likely to be met with blank stares. Genes and environment are two partners in a dance of creation.”
The second half of the book, immediately prior to and once her daughter Faith is born, is easier reading and tends to sound more like a memoir. She begins to wonder if a birth at a renowned teaching hospital is the best idea, especially one where epidurals and episiotomies are routine. She quarrels with the idea that pregnant women are sick and should be treated as patients.
“As more than one advocate of natural childbirth has pointed out, if labor and delivery were viewed less as medical events and more as Olympic ones, this distinction would be obvious. Who, after all, would rush up to a marathon runner in the final stretch with a needleful of narcotics?”
She does return to environmental toxins and makes the point that man is not at the top of the food chain, but rather a breastfeeding infant resides there. She examines toxins found in breast milk and looks at studies for how these toxins impact children later in life. Should we tell women, not just pregnant ones, but any 10 year old considering ever having a child, to behave in certain ways and avoid certain foods, or should we clean up those foods? It seems clear to me that we would all be much better off with the cleaned up foods.
Her book reminds me of an article in National Geographic where the author was tested for 320 different chemicals. It would be so interesting for each person to know this information for themselves, but obviously not feasible considering the $15K price tag. I think this is a book I’m going to purchase and set on my shelf next to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.
“Years later, when cancer research began to focus on genetic causes, she submitted to doctors’ questions about her family history. She would recount her mother’s breast cancer, her uncles’ prostate and colon cancers, and her aunt’s bladder cancer. The doctors would nod knowingly. Then she would reveal that she was adopted.”
So, Having Faith is not your typical memoir about having a first baby. In fact, I would not recommend it to anyone who is currently or soon to be pregnant. It starts off gently. I completely agree with her complaint about gestation and how obstetricians consider you pregnant two weeks before you are pregnant, not because it is accurate, but because it is easier. She also gives some interesting historical perspectives. For example, morning sickness used to be considered a psychological problem.
“In one hospital in the 1930s, pregnant women prone to sickness were confined to bed and forbidden visitors and vomit bowls until they showed improvement. As further incentive for recovery, the nurses who cared for them were instructed to refrain from changing their sheets promptly.”
The book is initially organized with a chapter devoted to each month of her pregnancy. The really scary stuff starts in Chapter 3 where she looks into four different problems from the past and their impact on pregnancies. Her examples of rubella, thalidomide, Minamata (a town in Japan with mercury waste in the water), and diethylstilbestrol are not for the faint hearted. Thalidomide was given in the late 50s to quell morning sickness, however, it results in what is called reduction limb deficit, which is exactly what it sounds like. The day that thalidomide was taken would correspond to different birth defects, for example, a pill taken on days 35-37 of the pregnancy would result in a baby with no ears, and this is mapped out for which limbs would be lost depending on what day the drug was taken.
Her main point is that the fetus is very vulnerable to environmental toxins, but this is rarely discussed with pregnant women, instead the focus is on possible genetic problems.
“The most troubling aspects of prenatal testing still seem to me the single-minded search for rare genetic defects and the concomitant disregard of environmental threats to pregnancy. For expectant mothers over thirty-five, the hunt for chromosomal trisomies has become a routine part of prenatal care. But ask if your amniotic fluid contains pesticides, and if, so, how this contamination may affect the development of your baby, and you are likely to be met with blank stares. Genes and environment are two partners in a dance of creation.”
The second half of the book, immediately prior to and once her daughter Faith is born, is easier reading and tends to sound more like a memoir. She begins to wonder if a birth at a renowned teaching hospital is the best idea, especially one where epidurals and episiotomies are routine. She quarrels with the idea that pregnant women are sick and should be treated as patients.
“As more than one advocate of natural childbirth has pointed out, if labor and delivery were viewed less as medical events and more as Olympic ones, this distinction would be obvious. Who, after all, would rush up to a marathon runner in the final stretch with a needleful of narcotics?”
She does return to environmental toxins and makes the point that man is not at the top of the food chain, but rather a breastfeeding infant resides there. She examines toxins found in breast milk and looks at studies for how these toxins impact children later in life. Should we tell women, not just pregnant ones, but any 10 year old considering ever having a child, to behave in certain ways and avoid certain foods, or should we clean up those foods? It seems clear to me that we would all be much better off with the cleaned up foods.
Her book reminds me of an article in National Geographic where the author was tested for 320 different chemicals. It would be so interesting for each person to know this information for themselves, but obviously not feasible considering the $15K price tag. I think this is a book I’m going to purchase and set on my shelf next to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Mother on Fire by Sandra Tsing Loh
Have you spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about where your child will go to kindergarten? Sandra Tsing Loh dedicates a year of her life to working out that problem. Reading this book will make you grateful for the choices you have and that you don’t live in LA. Or, at least that is how I felt.
The author’s tumultuous year includes being fired from NPR for saying an obscenity on air as well as trying to get her daughter into various schools. She almost gets her daughter into a private, religious school, but then the school decides her daughter should do another year of preschool. She lucks into a very exclusive school that costs more than $20,000 a year and deals with that stress of deciding whether to do that. And, of course, there is a confusing lottery system to get into magnet schools as well as the public school possibility located three blocks from their house.
This memoir is funny, mainly because the author lets you in her head. Loh’s husband is delegated to be in charge of finding a kindergarten. However, when she finds a preschool flier sitting in the van for an informational meeting that night she springs into action. The informational meeting, pre-registration required, is directly after the Spring Fund-Raising Committee meeting, both of which the same person happens to be directing. Here’s how Loh finagles her way into the meeting:
" 'Hey Joan! I’m just leaving twenty dollars for our two Spring Fund-Raising Jamboree tickets and—Hey is there still room to volunteer on the committee? The fund-raising committee! Love to be on that!'
'YOU want to be on the committee?' Joan’s glazed look turns into one of incredulity.
Feeling a little stung to be found out, here I actually attempt to rewrite—or at least re-interpret—my conspicuously non-committee-volunteering-mother history, all in one mangled run-on sentence. I fabricate something about a big writing deadline I have had, for several years, which all at once I am abruptly clear of, and so of course now will return to my original plan of TOTAL CO-OP PRESCHOOL INVOLVEMENT."
So, Loh, after all the extra volunteering efforts, ends up at the meeting where frantic parents discuss all the drawbacks of the LA public schools. This does not help her peace of mind.
Besides the kindergarten issues, the author has a meltdown while giving what is supposed to be an inspiring talk to Marymount College students. She is the college writer in residence, but the students are surprised to hear that she is not the huge success they imagine.
“ 'Each of the books I’ve published were at some point deemed a failure by some twenty-two-year-old publicist in New York named Jennifer. They were all named Jennifer. All my Jennifers —they’re a bit like my discarded wives. My Jennifers were all graduates of Brown, they deserved so much better than me as an author, they had such beautiful hair, beautiful educations… They’d been groomed to have much bigger successes. But I and my incorrigably midlist work destroyed them.
Somewhere, in some hip bar in Manhattan, are my Jennifers, about thirty-three now, still cutting great figures in the dark, but with hard lines around their mouths. It is my career that put them there.' "
You can imagine how her somewhat bitter comments go over with enthusiastic twenty-year-olds.
Loh has a somewhat manic style with lots of exclamation points and words in all caps. She is not shy about her takes on her friends, her Chinese father, and her husband among others. She adds in crazy hand drawn graphs and timelines. Mother on Fire is subtitled A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting. It is a good, quick read and, since I can’t imagine any search for kindergarten being more dramatic, will make you feel more relaxed about any upcoming school decisions you may have.
The author’s tumultuous year includes being fired from NPR for saying an obscenity on air as well as trying to get her daughter into various schools. She almost gets her daughter into a private, religious school, but then the school decides her daughter should do another year of preschool. She lucks into a very exclusive school that costs more than $20,000 a year and deals with that stress of deciding whether to do that. And, of course, there is a confusing lottery system to get into magnet schools as well as the public school possibility located three blocks from their house.
This memoir is funny, mainly because the author lets you in her head. Loh’s husband is delegated to be in charge of finding a kindergarten. However, when she finds a preschool flier sitting in the van for an informational meeting that night she springs into action. The informational meeting, pre-registration required, is directly after the Spring Fund-Raising Committee meeting, both of which the same person happens to be directing. Here’s how Loh finagles her way into the meeting:
" 'Hey Joan! I’m just leaving twenty dollars for our two Spring Fund-Raising Jamboree tickets and—Hey is there still room to volunteer on the committee? The fund-raising committee! Love to be on that!'
'YOU want to be on the committee?' Joan’s glazed look turns into one of incredulity.
Feeling a little stung to be found out, here I actually attempt to rewrite—or at least re-interpret—my conspicuously non-committee-volunteering-mother history, all in one mangled run-on sentence. I fabricate something about a big writing deadline I have had, for several years, which all at once I am abruptly clear of, and so of course now will return to my original plan of TOTAL CO-OP PRESCHOOL INVOLVEMENT."
So, Loh, after all the extra volunteering efforts, ends up at the meeting where frantic parents discuss all the drawbacks of the LA public schools. This does not help her peace of mind.
Besides the kindergarten issues, the author has a meltdown while giving what is supposed to be an inspiring talk to Marymount College students. She is the college writer in residence, but the students are surprised to hear that she is not the huge success they imagine.
“ 'Each of the books I’ve published were at some point deemed a failure by some twenty-two-year-old publicist in New York named Jennifer. They were all named Jennifer. All my Jennifers —they’re a bit like my discarded wives. My Jennifers were all graduates of Brown, they deserved so much better than me as an author, they had such beautiful hair, beautiful educations… They’d been groomed to have much bigger successes. But I and my incorrigably midlist work destroyed them.
Somewhere, in some hip bar in Manhattan, are my Jennifers, about thirty-three now, still cutting great figures in the dark, but with hard lines around their mouths. It is my career that put them there.' "
You can imagine how her somewhat bitter comments go over with enthusiastic twenty-year-olds.
Loh has a somewhat manic style with lots of exclamation points and words in all caps. She is not shy about her takes on her friends, her Chinese father, and her husband among others. She adds in crazy hand drawn graphs and timelines. Mother on Fire is subtitled A True Motherf%#$@ Story About Parenting. It is a good, quick read and, since I can’t imagine any search for kindergarten being more dramatic, will make you feel more relaxed about any upcoming school decisions you may have.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
better: A Surgeon’s Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande
I, personally, have had a few issues with those in the medical profession. For example, about 6 years ago I asked my pediatrician if the vaccines she had contained Thimerosal, a preservative that used to be commonly added to vaccines. This was exactly what the CDC suggested I ask. She said they did not, but began lecturing me; stridently insisting that if I was concerned with mercury I should be more concerned about the fish I ate. She also told me that Thimerosal did not contain mercury. At that point, my husband and I – both of us Ph. D. chemists – looked at each other, made a few under-the-breath comments, and walking out of her office decided to never see her again. Thimerosal contains mercury; her comment was like insisting that chocolate chip cookies contain no chocolate. Why would a doctor make up something like that? If she doesn’t know any chemistry, why pretend she does? I don’t expect doctors to know everything, but I do expect them to be honest about what they don’t know.
That was only my most egregious incident. I have had other minor incidents with doctors that just simply did not feel right. This may be why I appreciate the writings of Atul Gawande so much. He does not sugarcoat what goes on in medicine. He also obviously cares for his patients and cares about the state of medicine as a whole. He gives an insider view into why certain decision or practices are so prevalent. For example, in better he spends a chapter looking at the increase in cesarean section rates in this country. I was surprised to learn that a forceps delivery, in the hands of an experienced doctor at a large hospital, actually has “fabulous results”. However, it turns out that it is much easier to teach someone how to do a c-section and that is why it has become the standard of care in difficult deliveries. Gawande expresses his concerns eloquently, “Some hospitals across the country are doing Cesarean sections in more than half of child deliveries. It is not merely nostalgic to find this disturbing. We are losing our connection to yet another natural process of life. And we are seeing the waning of the art of childbirth, too. The skill to bring a child in trouble safely through a vaginal delivery, however inconsistent and unevenly distributed, has been nurtured over the centuries. In the obstetrical mainstream, it won’t be long before it is lost.” (pg 198)
Gawande also examines the care of children and adults with cystic fibrosis. The data collected on the treatment of children with cystic fibrosis has been compiled by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and for many years they reported back to the responding hospitals on how well they were doing in comparison with other hospitals. A hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, wanted to do better. They asked to know what the top hospitals were so they could learn from them. The Foundation did not want to give this data out because then hospitals may be less likely to report their data, if they knew it was not going to be anonymous. It is a fascinating look into the system. The data was finally released and it is now available online. Now, when will this ever happen for other specialties?
I found the other chapters in better interesting as well, but the afterword where Gawande gives suggestions for becoming a positive deviant is worthwhile reading for anyone in any profession. A positive deviant is someone who gets much better results than anyone else. For example, in 1964 the average age of death for someone with CF was twenty-one years at the best center, which was seven times the age of patients at other centers. A patient could live 7× longer if they happened to be at that one center and it was mainly due to the efforts of one doctor. Gawande suggestions for being the positive deviant, with my quick summations, are as follows:
1. Ask an unscripted question – find out something new about a patient or colleague.
2. Don’t complain – it’s just discouraging.
3. Count something – you may find out something new.
4. Write something – you may find out something new or just feel better.
5. Change – don’t get stuck doing the same thing if it is not working.
I think his main point is to be mindful and pay attention. “Regardless of what one ultimately does in medicine—or outside medicine, for that matter—one should be a scientist in the world.” (pg 254)
That was only my most egregious incident. I have had other minor incidents with doctors that just simply did not feel right. This may be why I appreciate the writings of Atul Gawande so much. He does not sugarcoat what goes on in medicine. He also obviously cares for his patients and cares about the state of medicine as a whole. He gives an insider view into why certain decision or practices are so prevalent. For example, in better he spends a chapter looking at the increase in cesarean section rates in this country. I was surprised to learn that a forceps delivery, in the hands of an experienced doctor at a large hospital, actually has “fabulous results”. However, it turns out that it is much easier to teach someone how to do a c-section and that is why it has become the standard of care in difficult deliveries. Gawande expresses his concerns eloquently, “Some hospitals across the country are doing Cesarean sections in more than half of child deliveries. It is not merely nostalgic to find this disturbing. We are losing our connection to yet another natural process of life. And we are seeing the waning of the art of childbirth, too. The skill to bring a child in trouble safely through a vaginal delivery, however inconsistent and unevenly distributed, has been nurtured over the centuries. In the obstetrical mainstream, it won’t be long before it is lost.” (pg 198)
Gawande also examines the care of children and adults with cystic fibrosis. The data collected on the treatment of children with cystic fibrosis has been compiled by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and for many years they reported back to the responding hospitals on how well they were doing in comparison with other hospitals. A hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, wanted to do better. They asked to know what the top hospitals were so they could learn from them. The Foundation did not want to give this data out because then hospitals may be less likely to report their data, if they knew it was not going to be anonymous. It is a fascinating look into the system. The data was finally released and it is now available online. Now, when will this ever happen for other specialties?
I found the other chapters in better interesting as well, but the afterword where Gawande gives suggestions for becoming a positive deviant is worthwhile reading for anyone in any profession. A positive deviant is someone who gets much better results than anyone else. For example, in 1964 the average age of death for someone with CF was twenty-one years at the best center, which was seven times the age of patients at other centers. A patient could live 7× longer if they happened to be at that one center and it was mainly due to the efforts of one doctor. Gawande suggestions for being the positive deviant, with my quick summations, are as follows:
1. Ask an unscripted question – find out something new about a patient or colleague.
2. Don’t complain – it’s just discouraging.
3. Count something – you may find out something new.
4. Write something – you may find out something new or just feel better.
5. Change – don’t get stuck doing the same thing if it is not working.
I think his main point is to be mindful and pay attention. “Regardless of what one ultimately does in medicine—or outside medicine, for that matter—one should be a scientist in the world.” (pg 254)
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Books Set in the Science World
There was an interesting article on the Scientific American website entitled, “We Need More Novels about Real Scientists”. I have long thought this as well. One of the books mentioned in the article, Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis, is often cited by scientists now nearing their retirement age as a motivating influence in their life. I did not find it that interesting. However, Search by C. P. Snow, which was written about the same time, is an engrossing read; maybe because it focuses on the ambition of a young scientist and the decisions he has to make that dramatically impact his and other’s careers.
A recent novel that has received much acclamation and is also mentioned in this article is Intuition by Allegra Goodman. This novel follows the story of an academic research group. The details that the author adds shows that she has spent some time talking with people who actually work in a lab. The novel revolves around some research that appears to show one thing, but, in fact, may simply be sloppy note-keeping. It throws this group into turmoil and Goodman does a good job of showing the different points-of-view from the group leaders to the graduate students. A book that is not mentioned is Cantor’s Dilemma by Carl Djerassi. Djerassi is a very well-known scientist; he is a retired professor from Stanford who first synthesized the steroid oral contraceptive. In Cantor’s Dilemma he writes about trust and ambition in a science setting, or what he calls science-in-fiction. This is one of those books I would like to re-read, but I have unfortunately forgotten who I lent it to a few years ago.
Since few of these novels with scientists as lead characters, and not villains, exist, biographies or memoirs can fill the gap. My graduate school advisor, himself a Nobel prize-winner, mentioned Marie Curie by Eve Curie, her daughter, as a book that inspired him. I also found the story of Rosalind Franklin & DNA by Anne Sayre an enlightening read, especially when compared to the story told by her Nobel prize-winning colleague, James Watson. Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande is an insightful look into what it means to be a practicing doctor these days. I am looking forward to reading his next book, Better.
Know of any other good books out there with realistic pictures of scientists?
A recent novel that has received much acclamation and is also mentioned in this article is Intuition by Allegra Goodman. This novel follows the story of an academic research group. The details that the author adds shows that she has spent some time talking with people who actually work in a lab. The novel revolves around some research that appears to show one thing, but, in fact, may simply be sloppy note-keeping. It throws this group into turmoil and Goodman does a good job of showing the different points-of-view from the group leaders to the graduate students. A book that is not mentioned is Cantor’s Dilemma by Carl Djerassi. Djerassi is a very well-known scientist; he is a retired professor from Stanford who first synthesized the steroid oral contraceptive. In Cantor’s Dilemma he writes about trust and ambition in a science setting, or what he calls science-in-fiction. This is one of those books I would like to re-read, but I have unfortunately forgotten who I lent it to a few years ago.
Since few of these novels with scientists as lead characters, and not villains, exist, biographies or memoirs can fill the gap. My graduate school advisor, himself a Nobel prize-winner, mentioned Marie Curie by Eve Curie, her daughter, as a book that inspired him. I also found the story of Rosalind Franklin & DNA by Anne Sayre an enlightening read, especially when compared to the story told by her Nobel prize-winning colleague, James Watson. Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande is an insightful look into what it means to be a practicing doctor these days. I am looking forward to reading his next book, Better.
Know of any other good books out there with realistic pictures of scientists?
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
I heard about this book long before I picked it up to read. Barbara Kingsolver is one of my favorite fiction authors. I think The Poisonwood Bible is a great read and it is one of my favorite novels of all time. I have been disappointed in the past, though, with fiction authors’ memoirs. I also was not too thrilled with the subject. It did not sound that exciting to me to follow a family as they lived on a farm eating local food for a year.
However, once I started reading this book, it seemed to be on my mind a lot. I wondered if I had ever actually had fresh asparagus. I had no idea there was really only a two-week window for eating it. I found myself mentioning the book to friends, some of whom had already read it. I started thinking a little more about the basic premise behind the book and if it would be feasible to do where I live; that is, could my family eat only items that had been grown or made within a 100-mile radius? I got inspired to think about planting a vegetable garden, although here the planting season does not begin until June.
The Kingsolver-Hopp family consists of the mom, Barbara Kingsolver, her husband, Steven Hopp, and two daughters. Barbara describes their year on the farm while Steven contributes to the book with insights from a biologist’s point-of view. Camille, the oldest daughter, contributes recipes that use their home-grown products and are available at http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Recipes.html. I tried the eggplant papoutzakia, but unfortunately, I was the only one in my family that liked it. I am hoping to try the 30-minute mozzarella recipe. There are some other great recipes in there, but after reading the book I am going to wait until the vegetables and/or fruits are actually in season.
The Kingsolver-Hopp family did not completely eliminate all non-local food from their diet. Each family member got to pick an item they did not want to live without for a year. The choices are telling: coffee, dried fruit, hot chocolate, and spices. They were lucky to live in an area (southern Appalachia) where they were able to grow quite a lot. I think one of the hardest items to forego as a mother would be fresh fruit in the fall, winter and spring, since really not much grows here in Central Oregon. To eat locally it seems you have to pick where you live very carefully. It would be a lot easier to do in California than in climates further north.
I have heard recently that eating locally is the latest food trend. I think I’ll try to at least focus on fruits and vegetables from the Pacific Northwest and in the right season. I highly recommend this book if eating locally is something you are considering, or even if you just want to know what all the fuss is about.
However, once I started reading this book, it seemed to be on my mind a lot. I wondered if I had ever actually had fresh asparagus. I had no idea there was really only a two-week window for eating it. I found myself mentioning the book to friends, some of whom had already read it. I started thinking a little more about the basic premise behind the book and if it would be feasible to do where I live; that is, could my family eat only items that had been grown or made within a 100-mile radius? I got inspired to think about planting a vegetable garden, although here the planting season does not begin until June.
The Kingsolver-Hopp family consists of the mom, Barbara Kingsolver, her husband, Steven Hopp, and two daughters. Barbara describes their year on the farm while Steven contributes to the book with insights from a biologist’s point-of view. Camille, the oldest daughter, contributes recipes that use their home-grown products and are available at http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Recipes.html. I tried the eggplant papoutzakia, but unfortunately, I was the only one in my family that liked it. I am hoping to try the 30-minute mozzarella recipe. There are some other great recipes in there, but after reading the book I am going to wait until the vegetables and/or fruits are actually in season.
The Kingsolver-Hopp family did not completely eliminate all non-local food from their diet. Each family member got to pick an item they did not want to live without for a year. The choices are telling: coffee, dried fruit, hot chocolate, and spices. They were lucky to live in an area (southern Appalachia) where they were able to grow quite a lot. I think one of the hardest items to forego as a mother would be fresh fruit in the fall, winter and spring, since really not much grows here in Central Oregon. To eat locally it seems you have to pick where you live very carefully. It would be a lot easier to do in California than in climates further north.
I have heard recently that eating locally is the latest food trend. I think I’ll try to at least focus on fruits and vegetables from the Pacific Northwest and in the right season. I highly recommend this book if eating locally is something you are considering, or even if you just want to know what all the fuss is about.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Dispatches From a Not-so-Perfect Life by Faulkner Fox
Sometimes, rather than reading about an unfamiliar culture or life choice, I like to find out more about what people in similar situations to mine think. Memoirs about mothering are quite popular these days, but finding really interesting ones is more of a challenge.
This “momoir” by Faulkner Fox is insightful, interesting, and amusing to read. Her first few pages pulled me in,
“When I hit my maternal low, I was in a situation that, I think, is considered totally normal for a person who has a baby and a three-and-a-half-year-old: Every day for the past three and a half years, at least one small, cute, and needy person woke me up at 6 A.M. or earlier.” (pg 4)
Fox is able to discuss in-depth her difficulty in adjusting to being a new parent, and, in particular, her need to be with her children conflicting with her need to write. Her anguish comes through loudly. She marries an avowed feminist, but still finds herself doing the majority of the childcare and housework after her child is born. She wonders how this could possibly happen when she has prepared herself to avoid this exact situation her whole life. She takes to making charts of the time she is putting in versus her husband.
She is also lonely as she in unable to make friends with other new moms. The reasons are complex, but seem to stem from her own judgmentalness and her fear of being judged. She is aware of these issues and her self-awareness makes the reading interesting.
“I felt that my loneliness came from some complex bundle, a personal or structural sickness perhaps: the disturbing inability to feel connected to loved ones who were standing right by me because endless domestic tasks – laundry, dishes, trash, vaccinations, taxes, cleaning the fish bowls- seemed to be always calling my name; a dearth of wandery, deep conversations with those who knew me well; and inadequate involvement in the social movements I cared about.” (pg 32)
Fox takes the radical step of not being a public mom for a year. She doesn’t go to birthday parties or out to the park with her kids. She avoids other mothers, going so far, as to hang out a McDonald’s where she is sure she won’t run into anyone she know. Her dark humor also didn’t seem to go over well with casual acquaintances. “ ‘This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,’ I said honestly, ‘and my last job, director of a pro-choice organization, involved death threats.’” (pg 145)
I’d highly recommend this book for new mothers, especially those who are taking time off from a high-powered career or an undertaking that is extremely important to them. Or for any mother who looks around the playground and wonders what she is doing there.
This “momoir” by Faulkner Fox is insightful, interesting, and amusing to read. Her first few pages pulled me in,
“When I hit my maternal low, I was in a situation that, I think, is considered totally normal for a person who has a baby and a three-and-a-half-year-old: Every day for the past three and a half years, at least one small, cute, and needy person woke me up at 6 A.M. or earlier.” (pg 4)
Fox is able to discuss in-depth her difficulty in adjusting to being a new parent, and, in particular, her need to be with her children conflicting with her need to write. Her anguish comes through loudly. She marries an avowed feminist, but still finds herself doing the majority of the childcare and housework after her child is born. She wonders how this could possibly happen when she has prepared herself to avoid this exact situation her whole life. She takes to making charts of the time she is putting in versus her husband.
She is also lonely as she in unable to make friends with other new moms. The reasons are complex, but seem to stem from her own judgmentalness and her fear of being judged. She is aware of these issues and her self-awareness makes the reading interesting.
“I felt that my loneliness came from some complex bundle, a personal or structural sickness perhaps: the disturbing inability to feel connected to loved ones who were standing right by me because endless domestic tasks – laundry, dishes, trash, vaccinations, taxes, cleaning the fish bowls- seemed to be always calling my name; a dearth of wandery, deep conversations with those who knew me well; and inadequate involvement in the social movements I cared about.” (pg 32)
Fox takes the radical step of not being a public mom for a year. She doesn’t go to birthday parties or out to the park with her kids. She avoids other mothers, going so far, as to hang out a McDonald’s where she is sure she won’t run into anyone she know. Her dark humor also didn’t seem to go over well with casual acquaintances. “ ‘This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,’ I said honestly, ‘and my last job, director of a pro-choice organization, involved death threats.’” (pg 145)
I’d highly recommend this book for new mothers, especially those who are taking time off from a high-powered career or an undertaking that is extremely important to them. Or for any mother who looks around the playground and wonders what she is doing there.
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