Category Archives: Non-Fiction

Review: Don C Reed – Stem Cell Battles

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Stem Cell Battles : Proposition 71 and Beyond: How Ordinary People Can Fight Back Against the Crushing Burden of Chronic Disease
Don C Reed

Stem Cell legislation in the USA has been here and there for many years. This novel is now slightly out of date, but it still provides an accurate picture of how legislation for and against stem cells has developed. In fact, I might take that back. It could still be current – legislation can take a long time to change, even if the science tries to keep moving forward.

27187830This book was actually enjoyable. I was hesitant. As I say though, Reed is from the people angle. After his son’s accident, he’s one of the people who have pushed forward from the ground up to make a difference in politics to change ordinary people’s lives. As a geneticist, this gets into all sorts of ethical ideas and messes, some of which are discussed here.

I recently taught a class on stem cells (three of them actually, all the same but with different students). This was a book I wanted to bring in and get them all to read. In Australia, the stem cell laws are just as annoying as far as I can see. There is so much potential in them (but also many hazards).

I received this novel a very long time ago now, and it was a Galley Proof, not for sale. I’m really not sure why I put off reading it for so long. I think I was sick of science, and didn’t want to read more about it in my free time! This is less about the science, and more about the people though.

Non-fiction, I’m not rating it. But if you have an interest in science, please go and get yourself a copy. It’s pleasurable reading, even for people who hate laws.

Review: David Dyer – the Midnight Watch

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the Midnight Watch
David Dyer

John Steadman is a body man. His reporting for the Boston American newspaper involves finding those bodies, and writing a story of them that brings their lives back. When he gets caught up in the story of the ship that watched the Titanic sink, he finds himself losing himself in the story – to the loss of his own job.

25666052What I loved was that the blending of fact and fiction made me feel at home in the novel. I didn’t object that I never really understood everything behind Lord’s motives. I didn’t mind that there was no happy ending.

I did feel a little confused towards the end, when John’s story of the Titanic is published. There is a disconnect between John’s words and the story, despite this being in chronological order as far as I could see. I felt that John’s newspaper story could have come at the very end of the novel, and I still would have been happy – as I would have seen it as an overall conclusion.

Confession – I’ve never seen The Titanic! Nor do I ever hope to have to sit through it. As far as I can tell, it’s a ‘classic timeless love story’ and I barely have the patience to sit through one of those in novel form, let alone a movie!

Giving this beauty 4 stars. It was surprisingly gripping, despite already knowing the major outcome (pretty much everyone on the Titanic died). Kudos to Dyer for this fantastic and well written novel, and my absolute condolences on it being from your Doctorate!

4star

Review: Marina Go – Break Through

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Break Through
Marina Go

Marina started out as editor of Dolly at age 23. From then on, she worked her way up the ranks of editor of various magazines to the Chair of boards that she is on today. This is a snapshot of the stages of her journey there, and her advice to other young women who want to be major players in the working world.

break-through-9781925183542_lgAs always, I preferred the personal stories rather than the advice given in this novel. I think if you are going for a more ‘traditional’ career (not a university and teaching focussed career like mine) this novel is going to be perfect for you. I’d choose it as a gift for someone just starting out at their first job.

This is in line with inspiring next generation leaders – even if it is aimed at young women, young men might appreciate it (if they have open minds) in order to realise what it is like is a still male dominated business ‘the old boys’ club’. I can think of many cases where this novel will be something that someone needs, without even knowing they need it.

If I got anything about having a career about this novel it was to not be afraid, stand up for yourself, and be driven! Just because you are a woman doesn’t mean you should stand for anything less, and that you should prove yourself better than a man.  Go on and ‘smash those stereotypes’!

I didn’t have any strong feelings either way after completing this novel. I had intended to read a chapter each night, and try and think about the contents of each, but I didn’t manage that. I did one night of 2 chapters, then the next day I binge read the rest. I’m not sure exactly what that means about quality!

Review: Neil M Hanson – Pilgrim Wheels

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Pilgrim Wheels
Neil M Hanson

Neil has taken on the challenge of riding across the USA, sometimes with a friend, and sometimes without. He quickly learns the challenges and rewards of doing it on his own, as well as enjoying some time with old friends. Let me clarify here: He’s riding a PUSH BIKE across the desert.

24820176This novel covers only part of Neil’s journey! It is astounding how much he has travelled on his trusty bike. I can’t believe it, but then I think of other people who have cycled around the exterior of Australia and straight across the middle. Still though, its amazing what one man on a tiny bike can do if he is determined.

I interviewed Neil quite some time ago (I’m too afraid to look at the date), but the novel simply hadn’t taken my fancy to read until lately. I’m on a mission to get through all the novels authors have sent me personally – if you’ve sent me a novel and I haven’t reviewed it, pop me an email please!

This is non-fiction, and as such I’ll not be giving it any stars. That being said, I think this novel would be good for people who have a passion for a ‘singular’ sport – one like cycling or running where you spend a lot of time with the scenery.

Review: David Adam – The Man Who Couldn’t Stop

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The Man Who Couldn’t Stop
David Adam

There’s no such thing as ‘a little bit OCD’. People with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can’t stop their thoughts. They might obsess about germs, AIDs or burning the house down. Or they might fear they will steal money or stab their own baby. They perform compulsive rituals in order to prevent their thoughts from coming true, but it never goes away. Nor do the thoughts usually come true. It’s just a bit of brain biology / mind psychology gone wrong.

9781447259374This novel is a bit of a mix between memoir, textbook and examples. It doesn’t profess to provide any concrete answers. Instead it explores the history of OCD, different interesting cases of OCD and indeed the almighty DSM-5 that is used for categorizing mental illness everywhere.

I learnt about the difference between OCD and OCPD. So many people who say they are ‘a little OCD’ might have OCPD (obsessive compulsive personality disorder), but in fact they have nothing like OCD. For an OCD sufferer, their life is hell. I’ll keep that in mind, and next time someone gives me that line, maybe instead we can have an honest conversation about mental illness and how things are. It is one thing to accept mental illness, and another to trivialise it.

You don’t have OCD? You don’t know anyone with OCD? You’ve somehow never heard about it? Seriously. Get on and read this novel. You won’t be disappointed.

Review: Tara Winkler – How (not) to Start an Orphanage

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How (not) to Start an Orphanage
Tara Winkler

Tara first came to Cambodia over 10 years ago on a long-needed vacation. What she found there were horrific orphanage conditions and suffering that she knew shouldn’t exist. When she returned home, she was determined to raise funds and help those children in need. The process ended up to be slightly more complicated than she expected, and this is the story of that 10 years.

29556438Wow. This novel. Non-fiction is winning at the moment. This was fantastic and well-written. I felt myself at Tara’s side, and I absolutely empathised with every situation she found herself in, likely or not. We are walked through her childhood and highschool years, and then her ‘career’ after that. There are so many situations that Tara found herself in, and it feels like she has done justice to describing them in this novel.

Tara learns a bit of everything, she has to! And so does the reader. I had never really been interested in child attachment psychology, but wow, it is so obvious. I was reading recently about another novel I think where there was a room full of babies in an orphanage – and the room was silent. When asked what was wrong with the babies, the manager replied that the babies had learnt that crying didn’t do anything.

In reading this novel, you’re going to have to look at both the positive and negatives of orphanages. The main take home of this novel is to remember that orphanages are not actually in a child’s best interest. The best is to have them in their own family, and then provide support services to help them remain there.

This is non-fiction, so I won’t be rating it. It’s well worth the read.

 

Review: Johnny Actonis, David Glodblatt and James Wyllie – Time Travel Handbook

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Time Travel Handbook
Johnny Actonis, David Glodblatt, James Wyllie

Always wanted to go back in time? Perhaps the Fall of the Berlin Wall? Or the eruption of Vesuvus (you know, that volcano that preserved an entire village for centuries…)? Now you can, with illustrations in your tour handbook.

27212449Honestly, this novel wasn’t quite right for me. It’s history, written in a sort of fictional, accessible format. Unfortunately I’m not interested in history at the best of times. I was hoping that this novel would pull me in a bit, but it wasn’t quite powerful enough to overtake me. I read selections of this, and enjoyed those. I made sure to just pick those ones though, English history bores me silly (but I can totally go for the Berlin Wall).

It’s like a modern ‘Where’s Wally’! Except it is more writing focused (although there are suitable pictures). I’d see this as a great gift for teenagers getting into history studies, or younger people. It’s got a great overview and witty take on history that is going to get people less jaded than me into it.

I’m not putting this book down at all. It would really be a fantastic addition to any library that might come in contact with young people. If you’re trying to get someone into history, and you can’t use ‘The Last Samurai’ movie (that’s what we did in high school) to do it, this novel might do the trick.

Review: Fiona McArthur – Aussie Midwives

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Aussie Midwives
Fiona McArthur

This collection of stories about Australian midwives couldn’t come at a better time than for Mother’s Day. The role of midwives in looking after mothers from conception to birth and beyond is something that should be inherently built into society. This non-fiction work unpacks some of the roles of midwives around Australia.

251675For me, this had a lot of backstory of each of the midwives so that you got a good feeling for who they were as people, as well as within their jobs. I would have loved to have more about the actual mothers and children. Every birth story is different, and I have a strange fascination with reading about them.

It’s fascinating how many different midwifery roles there are – in a plane, a tiny fishing shack or somewhere else remote. That’s the wonder of working in Australia – there’s always some odd place that a nurse or midwife will find herself going.

All of this was very birth positive, and trying to put women back in control of their bodies. After all, birth is a process which has been taking place for years without medical intervention. Midwives are there to put the brakes on obstetricians that want to force a baby – even if that shouldn’t be their role.

I don’t know whether I can give this stars. It’s non-fiction, and its very enjoyable. It will leave people smiling. That being said, I have a feeling it is more written for women than men. That was such a sexist thing for me to say, but I don’t think most men are comfortable thinking about child-birth, as evidenced by the number of fainting husbands there were in this novel!

Review: Yeonmi Park – In Order to Live

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In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom
Yeonmi Park

Born and raised in North Korea, Yeonmi was brainwashed to believe the Benevolent Dictator Family could read her mind and that poverty was normal. As a woman, she needed to escape North Korea in order to survive, which included passing through China as a human slave and a number of other atrocities.

24611623Some lines were truly funny, and required sharing with my partner, my workmates, the wider world! But others were thought-provoking and hard to take in. It reminded me in some way of Max – dictators being able to brainwash people into believing anything, including that they are immortal and that they can see inside sinners’ heads. This is a wholly true story though, and that makes it both harder and easier to accept that some people actually are evil.

I am not surprised about the human trafficking aspect, and that Park wanted to hide it from others even as she was being the poster child of successful escape. It’s something that creates shame, even if it is not the woman’s fault. Human trafficking is still slavery, and it’s something that has been around for too long before it started. The Purveyor was my first foray into this, and In Order to Live won’t be my last.

I’ve been enjoying non-fiction biographies/autobiographies quite a lot lately. I had just read a fantastic book before this one, and I couldn’t think about jumping into another fantasy book. This hit the spot for something a bit different to refresh me. I couldn’t put it down.

4star

 

Review: Maria Toorpakai – A Different Kind of Daughter

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A Different Kind of Daughter
Maria Toorpakai

Maria was born in a part of Pakistan where being a girl means that you must travel with a man at all times, and remain inside the rest of the time. Maria felt trapped, but luckily her parents were free-thinkers that knew how to support their daughter. After Maria burns her dresses, there is no turning back and she lives as a young man for a number of years before being outed on a squash court when pursuing her dream.

27416066I could hardly put this novel down, which was surprising because its basically a memoir. I’ve never heard of her though, so it was all new to me. I did enjoy the ‘journey’ right from the beginning of her life.

I would go mad on ‘house arrest’. Maria was so brave, doing what she really wanted to do – but she also knew she would die if she didn’t play. I didn’t understand how destructive she could be, but I could understand how she felt she had no other options. All the same though, the kitchen seemed like a better place of practice than her bedroom!

Dengue! She catches Dengue virus! That’s my area of work, so I generally get super excited when it is mentioned. Here it is in a real world situation. Although it bring Maria to her knees, it doesn’t make any difference to her desire to play sport.

What wasn’t clear to me is whether Maria identifies as a woman or as a man, or something in between. With all the sports testing that is going on at the moment, I would expect this to be a problem. That’s not a complain about the book though. Just my particular interest in biology and genetics.

I really did enjoy this, and I’d recommend it to a wide range of readers – those who have doubts about Muslims being all part of the Taliban, or people who are interested in elite sport, or people who want to know about some every-day life in Pakistan.

4star