Quantcast
/* ]]> */
Sep 132012
 

Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy
Published by Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin

The question, then is not who the werewolves of the sixteenth century were, or the vampires of the eighteenth…. The more relevant question is why: Why should it have been widely believed, and widely feared, that men were stalking the land as wolves? What is so terrifying about the vampire, a creature that, despite its hman form, bites at the flesh of its victims? Why do dark forces so often manifest themselves in the shape of a dog? …The animal infection - the zoonotic idea - is mankind’s original horror, and its etiology traces back inevitably to the rabies virus.
-p. 68

My grandparents visited us a few weeks after the girls were born so they could see them in person. As we were all sitting around my living room one evening, my grandmother asked what I was reading at the time. “A cultural history of rabies,” I responded. She thought it sounded interesting, but my father looked at me as if I was a lunatic.

Perhaps a book about rabies would not be the first thing that most people think of when they are looking for a good read, but it would be a mistake to discount Rabid by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy. Rabid is a complex and complete look at rabies and its place in human history. Waskik and Murphy cover everything from the ancient views on rabies and potential rabies treatments, to the place of rabies in literature and the monsters created in the human psyche, to the ways the rabies virus is being used today to solve other major medical issues.

Rabid is a well-rounded book including both the science and culture of the rabies virus that is also an absolutely fascinating read. A strong science background is not a necessity, Wasik and Murphy write the science sections clearly and concisely and maintain an engaging prose style throughout.

Highly recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, via Netgalley.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

dp seal trans 16x16 pictureCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2012
Aug 082012
 

A Calm Brain: Unlocking Your Natural Relaxation System by Gayartri Devi, M.D.
Published by Dutton Adult, an imprint of Penguin

From the publisher:

Our ancestors used the fight-or-flight mechanism to protect themselves from predators. We use it to fend off daily crises. In a world filled with too many toys, too much technology, and too many choices—how can we possibly keep up? Our bodies have been trained to react to the beeps and alarms of all our different technologies, be it the ever present cell phone, an angry text message, or a frantic voicemail. The result is chronic stress and a learned inability to relax.

With a warm, lucid voice, Dr. Devi shares stories from her medical practice of ordinary people—suffering from migraines, neck pain, gastrointestinal upsets, and sleep deprivation— trying to work through life’s difficulties. With practical advice she shows just how to promote a higher “vagal tone,” and delivers the best news yet: you don’t need more drugs. Here are the keys to more tranquil, productive, and enjoyable life.

Dr. Devi explores a paradigm shift in our understanding of the brain’s relaxation mechanisms. It is hard for our brains to talk our bodies into feeling calm, but our bodies have strong wiring that makes true enduring calm possible. The body does this through the vagus nerve, a powerful conduit that taps directly into our brain’s built-in relaxation system. This revolutionary science can transform your work life and your home life.

A Calm Brain is no simple self-help book; Dr. Devi is clearly an expert in brain science. She intelligently and clearly lays out the workings of the brain and the nervous system to explain first and foremost how and why we get stressed out and what happens to us physically when we do. She is actually quite gifted at such explanations, as she is clear for those who have little background in brain-based science without dumbing things down. Dr. Devi’s clear expertise in her subject matter was impressive to me, but she does have a tendency to explain everything about how all of this works without offering specific steps for calming your brain throughout the book. There is a list at the very end of the book, for those who want to see the suggestions sooner, but the lack of concrete action steps throughout may bother some readers. That being said, I think that having the 200+ pages of background and understanding makes the list much more meaningful - not to mention you will certainly pick up ideas throughout her discussion of the brain.

This does seem to be a very helpful book, even when both girls are crying at the same time, I have found myself staying much calmer than I would have expected, and I am giving at least some of the credit to actually finishing this book while I was in the hospital waiting for them to be born. Recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
*These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

dp seal trans 16x16 pictureCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2012
Jul 272012
 

Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson, narrated by Dion Graham
Published in audio by Blackstone Audio, published in print by W. W. Norton & Co

Synopsis:

From the publisher:

Loyal readers of the monthly “Universe” essays in Natural History magazine have long recognized Neil deGrasse Tyson’s talent for guiding them through the mysteries of the cosmos with stunning clarity and almost childlike enthusiasm. Here, Tyson compiles his favorite essays across a myriad of cosmic topics. The title essay introduces readers to the physics of black holes by explaining the gory details of what would happen to your body if you fell into one. “Holy Wars” examines the needless friction between science and religion in the context of historical conflicts. “The Search for Life in the Universe” explores astral life from the frontiers of astrobiology. And “Hollywood Nights” assails the movie industry’s feeble efforts to get its night skies right.

Thoughts on the book:

If there’s one thing that Neil deGrasse Tyson knows how to do, it is make astrophysics interesting. If there are two things, they are how to make astrophysics interesting and how to make it comprehensible to the layperson. Each of Tyson’s essays in Death by Black Hole is well-reasoned, well-organized, and accessible to those with basic science skills. In one particularly interesting piece, Tyson details a number of experiments one can conduct with no more than a stick and some string (and, you know, some equations), all of which have significant things to teach us about the structure of the universe as a whole. He does get a bit nit picky in the essay “Hollywood Nights,” as he catalogs the liberties that the film industry has taken with the universe, often at the same time he admits that no movie is likely to get EVERYTHING right. Overall, however, Death by Black Hole is full of fascinating information.

Thoughts on the audio production:

Dion Graham does a wonderful job narrating Death by Black Hole. In particular, he captures Tyson’s obvious passion for and excitement about this topic, without coming across corny. His excitement is so genuine, in fact, that one suspects that he may be an astrophysics junkie as well and if not then he is a truly superb narrator. The delineations from one essay to the next were clear, which is essential in an audio collection like this (see: my one criticism of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?). That being said, the audio was not idea, in my experience, for close study of the subject, what with limited ability to go back and review, or take time and really allow what Tyson is saying to sink in. Luckily, his style in these pieces is more loosely informative than scholarly, so listening to get a general overview of his subjects worked well for me.

Overall:

A fascinating essay collection, and one whose narrator ably matches the passion of its author. Recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells: Audio/Print*
Indiebound: Audio/Print*

I’m launching a brand-new meme every Friday! I encourage you to review any audiobooks you review on Fridays and include the link here. If you have reviewed an audiobook earlier in the week, please feel free to link that review as well. Thanks to Pam for creating the button.

Source: Library.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
dp seal trans 16x16 pictureCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2012
May 232012
 

Gravity: How the Weakest Force in the Universe Shaped Our Lives by Brian Clegg
Published by St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan

From the publisher:

A history of gravity, and a study of its importance and relevance to our lives, as well as its influence on other areas of science. Physicists will tell you that four forces control the universe. Of these, gravity may the most obvious, but it is also the most mysterious. Newton managed to predict the force of gravity but couldn’t explain how it worked at a distance. Einstein picked up on the simple premise that gravity and acceleration are interchangeable to devise his mind-bending general relativity, showing how matter warps space and time. Not only did this explain how gravity worked – and how apparently simple gravitation has four separate components – but it predicted everything from black holes to gravity’s effect on time. Whether it’s the reality of anti-gravity or the unexpected discovery that a ball and a laser beam drop at the same rate, gravity is the force that fascinates.

In many ways, Brian Clegg’s Gravity is a work of popular science. The early chapters, particularly those dealing with the Greeks, are extremely accessible, and provide a good basis for the workings of gravity by examining the erroneous beliefs about the force that used to prevail. Clegg is a clear and engaging writer, but as we approached the present, I began having a harder and harder time with the book. This was not the fault of Clegg, his writing, or the way the book was laid out. I blame science. As we have gained a better understanding of how gravity and other forces in the universe work, the explanations have become increasing complicated and mathematical. Sadly, by midway through the 20th century, my long-ago high school physics was no longer quite enough to help me wrap my brain around exactly what Clegg was trying to impart and reading – for me – became a slog. I might have been able to get through this in audio with a good narrator, where I could just let the too-difficult parts wash over me and glean what I could, but in print it was a word-by-word battle and eventually I had to concede defeat.

Gravity really is a very interesting book about a very interesting and important force, but a good basic grasp of physics and/or a willingness to spend a lot of time puzzling over the details is a must to enjoy it.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, via Netgalley.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

 

dp seal trans 16x16 pictureCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2012
May 032012
 

Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World’s Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler by Jessica Speart
Published by William Morrow Paperback, an imprint of HarperCollins

As a new agent at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency, Ed Newcomer is determined to make a name for himself and thus is initially disappointed when his first major assignment has to do with butterfly smuggling. Bugs? Really? He can’t be assigned to protect bald eagles or something? Quickly, though, Newcomer realizes that this could be a very major case, that Hisayoshi Koshima, the man he is investigating, is perhaps the world’s top smuggler of butterflies and might just be a target that Ed can take down. From there, the story gets increasingly strange, as Ed finds himself pulled into Yoshi’s butterfly smuggling world and works to build a case against him.

Winged Obsession is a very interesting work of narrative nonfiction and a fascinating peek inside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency. The story seems to falter a bit early on, mostly because the writing is not initially as smooth as it might be, but Speart is a good enough storyteller that before too long her narrative takes over and the reader becomes enmeshed in Newcomer’s fight to stop Koshima’s devastating trade in butterflies while at the same time trying to hold together his marriage. Particularly interesting is the look at how the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency operates and just how much they try to do on a tiny budget. The budgetary constraints tie the hands of the agents frequently, Newcomer had trouble even getting set up with an undercover cell phone for his operation.

Although the writing is slightly weak initially, Speart is quickly able to draw the reader into her story of high-stakes butterfly trading. Her research was thorough, which helps bring the story vividly to life. Recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

dp seal trans 16x16 pictureCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2012
Mar 082012
 

brainrulesforbaby pictureBrain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five by John Medina
Published by Pear Press

As a (now former) teacher and a math/science nerd, my husband has a significant fascination with brain-based learning research, thus it was only natural that he read John Medina’s Brain Rules, followed by his Brain Rules for Baby. When we found out that we are expecting this summer (before we learned that we are expecting twins), he pulled Brain Rules for Baby off of his shelf and stuck it at the top of my TBR pile, then proceeded to pester me about it any time he saw me reading anything else at all.

Here’s the publisher’s description of exactly what the book is about:

What’s the single most important thing you can do during pregnancy? What does watching TV do to a child’s brain? What’s the best way to handle temper tantrums? Scientists know.

In his New York Times bestseller Brain Rules, Dr. John Medina showed us how our brains really work—and why we ought to redesign our workplaces and schools. Now, in Brain Rules for Baby, he shares what the latest science says about how to raise smart and happy children from zero to five. This book is destined to revolutionize parenting. Just one of the surprises: The best way to get your children into the college of their choice? Teach them impulse control.

Brain Rules for Baby bridges the gap between what scientists know and what parents practice. Through fascinating and funny stories, Medina, a developmental molecular biologist and dad, unravels how a child’s brain develops – and what you can do to optimize it.

I am very conflicted as to how I felt about Brain Rules for Baby. On the one hand, it is full of fascinating and potentially helpful information for parents to understand how their children’s brains work and how their choices can influence their children’s brain development. On the other hand, it often comes off as if Medina is talking down to parents and Holy Mother of Metaphors is it ever overwritten. As far as the talking down, I don’t think that this was a purposefully disparaging move on Medina’s part. As a developmental molecular biologist he clearly needed to phrase things in layman’s terms to make it accessible to most parents, but I think he underestimated the education of parents who would be interested in a book on brain-based learning and parenting and often oversimplified or over-explained.

The overwriting may also be a symptom of Medina’s not knowing exactly how to approach the audience of this book. The main problem with his prose (there may have been others, but this one drove me so to distraction that it was all I could do at times to glean the important information he was presenting, syntax and the like were beyond me at that point) is his severe overuse on metaphors. There is a general, overarching gardening metaphor that in and of itself could be quite useful, and might of been had he primarily stuck to that. Instead, he seemed to just use whatever metaphor presented itself first for any general topic - at times I counted up to four discrete metaphors on a single page. In addition, many of the metaphors used are not particularly edifying, but instead add an additional layer that needs parsing, such the explanation, below, of the workings of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex:

This is oversimplified, but think of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex as the Golden Gate Bridge, connecting San Francisco (emotions) to its northern neighbor, Marin County (just the facts, Ma’am). Here’s how some scientists think the traffic generally flows:

  1. An emotional reaction occurs. When a child’s brain is confronted with a moral dilemma, San Francisco is alerted first. The child’s deep, mostly unconscious circuitry generates an emotional reaction - a Post-it note.
  2. The signal is carried across the bridge. That message is spirited across the VMPFC, the cellular Golden Gate connecting lower and higher centers of the brain.
  3. Fact centers analyze it and decide what to do. The signal arrives at the neuroanatomical equivalent of Marin County. The child’s brain reads the note and makes up its mind about what to do. It judges right from wrong, critical from trvial, necessary from elective, and ultimately lands upon some behavioral course of action. The decision is executed.
    - p. 233-234

That reference to a Post-it note comes from a metaphor Medina utilizes earlier in the chapter. I really think he’s making this much wordier and more complicated than it needs to be. Perhaps he feels that the metaphor makes it easier to remember, which might be the case if they were used sparingly and if they were much simpler, but in this case it simply distracted me from what he was really trying to get across.

Now, I don’t want the writing issues to completely overshadow the fact that Brain Rules for Baby really is chock full of interesting and useful information about the brain development of children in utero to about five years old. There is enough good stuff here that I would tentatively recommend it to parents of small children interested in developing their parenting style around brain-based research, but I wouldn’t ever pick it up just to learn fun and interesting new things, because of the annoyances of the writing.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Personal copy.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.

dp seal trans 16x16 pictureCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2012
Nov 112011
 

A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage, narrated by Sean Runnette
Published in audio by Tantor Audio; published in print by Walker Books, an imprint of Bloomsbury

Synopsis:

From the publisher:

A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the 21st century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. Beer was first made in the Fertile Crescent and by 3000 B.C.E. was so important to Mesopotamia and Egypt that it was used to pay wages. In ancient Greece wine became the main export of her vast seaborne trade, helping spread Greek culture abroad. Spirits such as brandy and rum fueled the Age of Exploration, fortifying seamen on long voyages and oiling the pernicious slave trade. Although coffee originated in the Arab world, it stoked revolutionary thought in Europe during the Age of Reason, when coffeehouses became centers of intellectual exchange. And hundreds of years after the Chinese began drinking tea, it became especially popular in Britain, with far-reaching effects on British foreign policy. Finally, though carbonated drinks were invented in 18th-century Europe they became a 20th-century phenomenon, and Coca-Cola in particular is the leading symbol of globalization.

For Tom Standage, each drink is a kind of technology, a catalyst for advancing culture by which he demonstrates the intricate interplay of different civilizations. You may never look at your favorite drink the same way again.

Thoughts on the story:

Tom Standage has a fascinating story to tell of how our history has shaped what we drink, which ends up shaping our history again. Both the book and the argument were well-laid out, progressing logically through each of the six drinks and through human civilization, as one drink gave rise to another. Different technological and cultural advances precipitated the rise of each of the six drinks, and each of them further shaped culture in its own way. It should be noted, though, that this is less a history of the world than a history of Western Civilization, beginning with the early farmers in the fertile crescent and moving ever westward. Of course the east does get a mention, particularly when tea is involved, and coffee came to Europe from the Arab world, but in both cases the use of the beverage in Western Europe is the main focus. This is not necessarily a bad thing if one is prepared for this, but at the same time it would have been nice to have a more worldwide lens based on the title.

Thoughts on the audio production:

Sean Runnette is a great narrator of nonfiction. His delivery is clear and his voice easy to listen to, with just the right amount of interest added in his inflection. There was occasionally an issue with the quality of the recording, some of the edits were noticeable, but overall they didn’t negatively affect the listening experience.

Overall:

A really fascinating way of looking at our shared history. Recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells: Audio/Print*
Indiebound: Audio/Print*

I’m launching a brand-new meme every Friday! I encourage you to review any audiobooks you review on Fridays and include the link here. If you have reviewed an audiobook earlier in the week, please feel free to link that review as well. Thanks to Pam for creating the button.

* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
dp seal trans 16x16 pictureCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2011
Sep 282011
 

Paradise Lust: Searching for the Garden of Eden by Brook Wilensky-Lanford
Published by Grove Press, an imprint of Grove/Atlantic

When Brook Wilensky-Lanford learned that a relative of hers had, in his younger days, searched for the Garden of Eden on Earth, she was a bit perplexed. After all, her family definitely did not subscribe to Biblical literalism. As she began to dig a little further into his motivations, however, she found an entire subculture - both religious and secular - dedicated to the discovery of the Garden of Eden. Soon Wilensky-Lanford was on a quest of her own, to discover the breadth of the mania for Eden.

Paradise Lust is a comprehensively researched look at humankind’s desire to return to an Edenic paradise - whether that paradise represents unity, civilization, or progress to any given supplicant - mixed with just a hint of humor and sarcasm. The subjectivity of humor could be a problem in a nonfiction book such as this, but Wilensky-Lanford does a fabulous job of separating the historical record from her own opinions.

It is simply fascinating how many different motivations have driven people to search for the Garden of Eden, particularly the fact that there were secular, not only religious ones. Similarly fascinating is the number of Eden-seekers who have placed paradise in the New World. Columbus, for example, believed he located the Garden in Venezuela, and more than one group has claimed its existence in middle America.

Wilensky-Lanford is an engaging writer, and brings a great deal of clarity to the profusion of quests for Eden. That people continue to search for the Garden on Earth is not an idea that would have ever occurred to me, but regardless, Paradise Lust makes for an intriguing read. Recommended.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, via NetGalley.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
dp seal trans 16x16 pictureCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2011
Aug 292011
 

sexonsixlegs pictureSex on Six Legs: Lessons on Life, Love, & Language From the Insect World by Marlene Zuk
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Animals can tell us much about ourselves. We can study their gene, their reactions to stimuli, their behaviors in order to better understand the vagaries of humanity. Studying adorable mammals tends to cause anthropomorphizing, which can confuse results. Studying insects, however, does not tend to result in any romantic notions, which is part of the reason that Marlene Zuk is so fascinated by them; although she finds them captivating in their own right as well. In Sex on Six Legs, Zuk endeavors to share with the rest of us myriad things she believes make insects so worth our attention.

Insects play a special role in our use of animals to help us understand ourselves, as I argue throughout this book. Because they are rarely cared for by their parents, and usually live relatively solitary lives without the input of others, the behavior they exhibit as adults is largely controlled by their genes. -p. 143

Zuk is extremely successful both in her attempts to make insects interesting and to shed light on just what complex creatures they are, and just how much many of their behaviors mirror our own. For example, Zuk discusses in the first chapter the extremely few species that engage in true teaching, one of the hallmarks of which is that information is passed on at some cost to the teacher, simply allowing children to mimic actions is not sufficient to count. Surprisingly, none of our simian relatives meet this distinction:

That teaching happens in ants and not monkeys or apes is unsettling for the same reason I love studying insects: it’s all about getting to the same destination with different modes of transportation. -p. 33

And who knew just how complicated bee dance language is?

The length of the run is correlated with the distance of the food from the hive, while the angle of the bee’s body relative to vertical indicates the angle between the sun and the food source…. In other words, bees seem to have symbolic representations for the distance and direction of the food, which fits many if not all of the criteria for an actual language. -p. 214

Sex on Six Legs is not merely didactic, however, but entertaining as well. Zuk brings a measure of her own personality into the book, recounting her fondness for earwigs and other insects, as well as a good degree of humor.

At some level, everyone with siblings understands the urge to murder them. -p. 167

Sex on Six Legs is an incredibly interesting and educational book, although readers do run the risk of seeming insufferable spouting off insect knowledge to anyone who will listen. Zuk succeeds in granting a new appreciation for the six-legged creatures, although it doesn’t make me want to see them in my house any more than I did before.

Buy this book from:
Powells | Indiebound*

Source: Publisher, via Netgalley.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
dp seal trans 16x16 pictureCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2011
Aug 052011
 

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson, narrated by Jon Ronson
Published in audio by Tantor Audio; published in print by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin

Synopsis:

Known as a journalist who gets things done, Jon Ronson is called quickly when neurologists all over the world all receive the same baffling book. Ronson uncovers the perpetrator with little difficulty, but his involvement in the hoax gives him an insight into another phenomenon: the impact of madness on our every day lives. During the course of his investigation, Ronson meets neurologists who deal with psychopathy and becomes particularly interested in the theory that nearly every aspect of our lives is shaped by the influence of psychopaths, particularly those who seem to be in positions of power in disproportionally large numbers. Armed with Bob Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist, known in many circles as the Psychopath Test, Ronson ventures out among a variety of people, all with apparently psychopathic tendencies to see what he can learn.

Thoughts on the story:

The title of The Psychopath Test is ever so slightly misleading. Ronson is not truly exclusively interested in psychopaths, but in madness and how it shapes the world, and our reactions to it - the case that led him to this topic did not directly involve a psychopath at all, in fact. However he finds over the course of his investigation that psychopathy is the most influential of madnesses, so it fittingly takes a place of prominence in his research and the resulting book.

The study of psychopaths truly is fascinating. At one point, another psychologist complains that Bob Hare - of checklist fame - speaks of psychopaths almost as if they were a separate species, Homo psychopathis, or something. There were many times throughout the book when the same thought occurred to me, not as a criticism, but as something that sent shivers down my spine. Still, though, by the end of his research, Ronson has learned not only a respectful fear of psychopaths, but a healthy dose of skepticism about our method for identifying them. Contrary to the ‘separate species’ remark, psychopathy is not an all or nothing proposition, but instead it is a spectrum. At what point are you a psychopath? For most intents, someone who scores a 30/40 on Hair’s checklist is so classified, but what about someone who scores a 29? Is that so far from a 31?

One thing I do wish had been addressed by Ronson and his research, even if only fleetingly, is the prevalence of male vs. female psychopaths. Unless I am much mistaken, each of the people in whom Ronson and others diagnosed psychopathic tendencies was male. We know that psychopaths comprise approximately 1% of the population, but it would have been interesting to see how that breaks down on gender - and other socioeconomic - lines. Is the faulty amygdala primarily a male defect, or did Ronson merely have a faulty sample?

Thoughts on the audio production:

In The Psychopath Test, Ronson narrates his own work. His voice does take some getting used to, but he is not half-bad, as narrators go. He is perfectly capable of inserting appropriate excitement and emotion into the text. Particularly attractive is his narration of his own anxieties, oftentimes nearly crippling. Because he inserts himself so completely into his narrative, it makes complete sense for him to do the actual narration when the text is translated into an audiobook. The experience is made that much richer by his familiarity with the text and ability to impart the full range of emotions he felt during this period of research.

Overall:

The Psychopath Test is a fascinating work of extremely narrative journalistic nonfiction. Readers and listeners alike will be more than a little horrified by the psychopaths who lurk everywhere around us, mimicking our emotions though they feel none themselves. I would recommend The Psychopath Test in either print or audio, but be prepared to begin measuring everyone you meet against the Hair Checklist.

Buy this book from:
Powells: Audio/Print*
Indiebound: Audio/Print*

I’m launching a brand-new meme every Friday! I encourage you to review any audiobooks you review on Fridays and include the link here. If you have reviewed an audiobook earlier in the week, please feel free to link that review as well. Thanks to Pam for creating the button.

Source: Tantor Audio.
* These links are all affiliate links. If you buy your book here I’ll make a very small amount of money that goes towards hosting, giveaways, etc.
dp seal trans 16x16 pictureCopyright protected by Digiprove © 2011