Bali

Bali really lives up to the promised hype of being beautiful, mystical, and tourist-trodden. The streets of Ubud are lined with incredible Balinese architecture, which is basically to say that everyone's house looks like a crazy red and black Hindu temple, and you cant walk down the street without accidentally stepping on a perfectly arranged offering, usually an immaculately folded banana leaf with rice, cookie, flowers and incense burning, or a woman carefully placing one out on the sidewalk or upon a wall somewhere. It also smells like college- the comingling scents of clove cigarettes and incense pervade everything (and the distant dischordant sounds of Gamelon don't hurt either (Sorry y'all, Wesleyan in-joke)). Flowers spill over walls, and the people are some of the most genuinely friendly I've encountered anywhere. Sure, they want to sell you batiks and carved buddha figurines, but they are not in the slightest bit pushy about any of it.

Our charming Jati Homestay in Ubud, is pretty great. Our room is set on our own little palm-filled rice paddy, with its own flock of ducks, which generally wake us up when they start fighting with the chickens and roosters, which then wake up the monkeys, which awaken the Australians next door, and then us. The jetlag is fairly insane at 12 hours. Breakfast is decent and the grounds of the house are beautiful and fascinating to watch the Balinese traditional life of the women sewing and assembling the mornings offerings, the kids playing, and then men... smoking and tinkering with their motorbikes.

So we wandered down Monkey Forest Road to the Monkey Forest, where AGAIN I was immediately attacked by a monkey-

I swear, I have monkey attractant on (see last summer's monkey attack incident). This time I didn't even have any food on me, but the monkey climbed up my leg, hoisted itself up my shirt to perch on my head and literally do the

monkey-sitting-on-my-head-and-cover-my-eyes thing while he pulled ferociously at my hair and tried to eat it, which hurt like hell. Olivia helpfully got a few pictures of the incident, to be uploaded later...Rest of the day was more wandering, hiding from the crowds of Dutch and Australians, and trying to find charm in Ubud between the t-shirt vendors, Starbucks, and Ralph Lauren.

Day Two:

We found the charm in Ubud. It is found by leaving Ubud. Preferably by bike. We signed up for a bike tour, which turned out to be spectacular, and began at the rim of Bali's largest volcano, something close to 10,000 feet high. At the volcano outlook, peering out across rice terraces, villages and volcanic lakes, someone asked when the last eruption of the broken peak was, to which our guide responded 1986, before being whispered a correction. "I'm sorry it was actually last week, and killed all the fishes in the lake" oh well, glad we were now headed away from the mountain, and so our downhill descent back began.

It was an incredible ride, and not just because it was mostly downhill. We zipped through small villages, high-fiving little kids, outrunning stray dogs and chickens while narrowly avoiding topless old women laying out rice to dry in the sun, or balancing impossibly large baskets on their heads. We paused briefly to see a small home and learned explanations of the architecture, shrines and different living areas in the Balinese living compounds, where multiple interrelated intergenerational families shared meals and more, saw men training their roosters for the nights cockfighting festival (the winner lives to fight again, the loser... Satay), while women stripped bamboo and wove it into mats to make walls for their homes, spitting red betel juice out of their stained mouths. Through alleys and dirt paths we saw kids creating and flying incredible kites, filling the skies over the terraced rice paddies with kites ten to thirty feet long, and I managed to dodge two young men carrying a whole palm trees, 100 feet long down a small country road. Past the traditional occasional Asian gas station- aka a bamboo rack of absolut vodka bottles brimming with golden gasoline, glimmering in the tropical sun.

It was a great way to see village life, and actually felt a little more authentic than most of the tours I've been on. We also stopped at an allegedly organic farm in the countryside, where we saw the spices that first made these spice islands valuable colonies worth fighting over between the Brits, Dutch and Portuguese. Vanillapods and football size and shaped cacao beans were growing next to peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom, along with ginseng, ginger, turmeric and other medicinal roots. Coffee bushes were everywhere, and the small plantation even had it's share of caged civets to which they fed coffee. "why?" you might reasonably ask? To make the world (in)famous civet poop coffee, without the use of "poophunters" as our guide delicately explained. For those who don't know, the civet cat has an appetite for the coffee bean and certain enzymes in it's stomach that ferment the raw coffee in a way that allegedly enhances and complexifies (is that a word?) it's flavor. Their beans are not digested, sonthey are picked out of it's poop, thoroughly (allegedly) cleaned, roasted, and brewed for the pleasure of your author and his companions. A delicacy prized by coffee fanatics the world over. And the verdict dear reader? Yeah, tastes like coffee.

Day Three:

The next day, we met up with Tova and her mother, and enjoyed a long walk through villages north of town, far more pleasant than the endless Eat-Pray-Lovers and tourist shops selling all manner of bamboo crap, alternating storefronts with spas offering Bali massage, foot massage, Thai massage, hot stone massage, milk bath, spice bath, herb bath, tea bath even fish bath (in which you get in a tub with tiny fish that chew off all of your dead skin!) More amazing rice paddies, and the strange and wonderful pleasure of visiting with a friend completely out of context on a continent thousands of miles away.

April, May Books

The Upside of Irrationality- Dan Arielly

Quirky neuro-ecconomics forever! I love this stuff, my favorite parts being the experiments about work and learned helplessness, which I plan to use in my own next book. Much more of the same kind of fun stuff as in "Predictably Irrational," but I just can never get enough. Very interesting stuff.

My Stroke of Insight- Jill Bolte Taylor

I enjoyed this quite a bit- the memoir of a neuroscientist who struggled to recover from her own stroke, after knowing enough to know that she was having a stroke. The whole thing was fascinating, though occasionally somewhat dry. The last chapters in particular were interesting, especially to anyone with an interest in mindfulness, and pre-verbal states of awareness. A great book to assign (and probably is regularly assigned) for a brain and behavior 101 kind of class.

Real Happiness - Sharon Salzberg

Ladies and gentlemen, I have my new go-to recommendation book for patients and people who want to learn a little about meditation. HIGHLY recommend this to any beginner. Just enough humor, just enough science, just enough spirituality, and plenty of heart and wisdom to make this an easy read, crystal clear book for anyone who wants a book about meditation that is also highly simplified and straightforward. Seriously, cant recommend this enough. Comes with guided meditation CD too.

Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters - Alan S. Miller, Satoshi Kanazawa

Kinda goofy evolutionary psychology book, with some great ideas and theories, and some, well, rather dubious ones. The whole thing is by nature rather essentialist especially as it relates to the sexes, but some fun theories that may or may not be totally legit. Like, why do men like large breasts, long blonde hair, blue eyes, and and certain other attributes? Amusing evolutionary explanations for these and other questions.

The Ape in the Corner Office - Richard Conniff

MORE evolutionary psychology- this one with a focus on worklife. A lot of the same references as my favorite pop quirky psych stuff (Paul Ekman, Franz DeWaal, John Gottman etc), but a pretty fun read nonetheless. Interesting ideas about social dynamics, and humans evolving to be part of tribes and tribal culture, and the evolution of social behavior. Worth a quick read if you're into that sort of thing.

The Four Hour Work Week - Tim Ferriss

Ridiculous title aside, okay, and ridiculous ideas aside... I dunno, this book was weirdly inspiring, I found Ferriss’s energy and enthusiasm for living life simply infectious... In a good way. Although some chapters veer into hypersepcific (ie, efficiency with product orders) other chapters on setting up a lifestyle (his mantra is “lifestyle design”) that you love, and for minimal work and money is inspiring. And actually, not minimal work, just a lot of work smarter not harder kinds of strategies for negotiating work from home, taking more time off now and enjoying life rather than deferring everything until retirement is sort of the name of his game. Just the chapters on importance of and how to travel, combined with the chapters on being more productive at work and getting over procrastination by simplifying and slowing down were worthwhile. If you’ve got a travel bone or an entrepreneurial bone in your body, definitely give this a read.

Made to Stick - Chip and Dan Heath

Another social psych-ish book on why ideas from marketing campaigns or urban legends, are “sticky,” and how to make ideas stick. I particularly liked the sections on writing, teaching, and spiritual ideas, but the whole thing is chock full of fun and engaging case studies and straightforward explanations of useful principles for advertisers, marketers, public health advocates, or anyone trying to get their ideas to "stick."

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua

Where to even begin. You've probably heard the controversy- domineering Chinese mother writes memoir about near abusive treatment of kids to raise perfect Ivy-leaguers, and been horrified by the highlights (lowlights) of the book- ripping up child's insufficient mother's day card, locking 3 year old outside, calling daughter human garbage, etc, and yes, these were deeply disturbing and well treaded ground for the outrage. What I found bizarre as well though, was her self-satisfied smug tone, her sadism seemed directed not only at the kids but at the reader, to the point that I felt claustrophobic, boxed-in and judged. I felt like she dared me to judge her so she could accuse me of racism, and the whole thing came off as utterly contemptuous of both Western and Eastern culture, and I suppose most contemptuous of herself. Strange to so forcefully choose to perpetuate such negative stereotypes of so many groups. I'm left both deeply puzzled and deeply disturbed.

The Social Animal - David Brooks

Okay, where to begin with genre here- nonfiction novelization of an intro psychology textbook? As written by a well-known political journalist? That about captures it. A nonfiction narrative story of an imaginary couple and their backgrounds and relationship, that basically draws from all old and new psychology, mostly developmental and social psychology research and describes said research. Kind of an interesting idea. Definitely a fun and interesting book. Were I teaching developmental or social psychology, or even psych 101 I'd probably assign this book, as it is really fun, a helpful way to make real and memorable a lot of the scientific principles and studies that are usually pretty dry. Funnily enough, it directly cites all of these favorite kinds of books I've read- Nudge, Predictably Irrational, Networked, How We Decide, Overall, a fun read. Recommend this.

February / March Books:

Thrive- Dan Buettner

The social psychology of positive psychology... Is it possible to socially engineer a happier society? This book explores a few cases studies of the world's "happiest places" - Cities and towns in Costa Rica, Singapore, Mexico, Denmark, and San Luis Obispo CA to explore what the people and their local governments are doing right to encourage and maintain the greatest happiness and life satisfaction for their people. An interesting addition to the positive psych canon, and I'll likely reference it a lot in my next writing project.

Life- Keith Richards
After coming off Dylan's indulgent "Chronicles vol. 1" I was a little doubtful, but then found myself extremely engaged and fascinated- not just with the life of vice, but the music, the historical aspects of the book. Learning about post-war England and then the slowly changing world in the 1960s, understanding the roots of rock and roll in African American Blues and other historically black traditions that were co-opted, and then just hearing the good old gossip and degeneracy of Keith and The Stones was a real kick. Fun, fascinating stuff.

Let The Great World Spin - Collum McAnn

Straight up, this is the only book I can think of where each chapter was worse than the preceding one. Starts out incredibly promising with great characters and the plot and writing go downhill from there. One of those "everything is interconnected" multigenerational stories (that are usually in the form of Hollywood movies about LA, cf: Short Cuts, Magnolia, Crash), I so wanted to like this book, especially after the lead-off, and then just found myself struggling to get to the end. I see why people like it, but I'd be happy to debate anyone on its larger merits.

Spark- John Ratey

John Ratey (Ned Hallowell's old ADD writing partner) on the benefits of exercise for: depression, anxiety, substance abuse, hormonal issues, concentration, and more. Basically takes the reader through the research while offering up case studies and practical how-to's, as well as solid scientific underpinnings to why and how exercise changes the brain. I suppose really all one needs to read is the first chapter which lays it out- its gets a little repetitive, but still, as a mental health practitioner I always appreciate learning of other treatments for mental illness besides drugs and psychotherapy. The most important thing I learned in all the redundancies were that pushing yourself is very important- a few sprints during a cardio workout are important, as well strength training being added in, and exercise that requires brain power and fine motor work (yoga, tennis, etc)...

January Books

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World - Haruki Murakami

I LOVED Wind-up Bird Chronicles, both as a book and a piece of literature, and this was recommended by some as even better. I enjoyed it, and found it thought provoking, though not nearly to the degree that I like Wind-up Bird, which had a lot more depth and nuance to it. The plot was hard to engage with, although I was pretty taken by the second half and thoroughly enjoyed it, in spite of it being a distant second.

Toward a True Kinship of Faiths: His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Not sure if I'm necessarily the ideal target audience for this, I do like to think of myself as pretty tolerant, pluralist, and interested in a lot of spiritual traditions. But I did feel like I learned a lot about religions I knew little about, their common overlaps, and I like how inspired he was by seeing pluralism in action in India, past and present. I also appreciated that he called out scientists and secular humanists to join the respectful dialog as well, encouraging mutual respect between religions and science.

Chronicles, vol. 1: Bob Dylan

I'm a Dylan fan- not a hyper-obsessed Dylan fan to be sure, but I enjoy and appreciate songwriting and creativity. This book though... I dont know, part of the problem may have been that I did the audiobook, which had an insufferable reader who would drop his g's and try to sound like Dylan, but even that aside the metaphors were flimsy and overdone- disappointing for such an amazing writer, and the tone so affectedly reeking of the most self-indulgent of Dylan's self-invention, and the narrative just so... boring, that it was hard to get into. Furthermore, and I don't know if I'm the first to make this observation about the book, but I think what I really was interested in was an biography of Robert Zimmerman, and what I got was an embroidered memoir of Bob Dylan.

White Teeth- Zadie Smith

Granted, this book was good, and had all the elements of a good book- intergenerational immigrant family drama, well drawn characters, humor and warmth, sophisticated ideas about race, gender, ethnicity, religion and identity with a subplot about genetic ethics that offers a modern take on these questions, and yet... I just couldnt get into it. As much as I liked it and appreciated the ideas, it felt like a bit of a chore to pick up, figure out which characters I was reading about, and push through a little further. It has all the elements of a good book, a great book even, but for my taste, not enough elements of a good read.

Beautiful Boy - David Sheff

I've been meaning to read this book for a while now, and keep putting it off. Its now been almost ten years sober for me, a young man who surely put my parents through hell when I was using, and a recent conversation with a devastated parent kind of pushed me toward finally reading this book, as shitty as it might make me feel. And yeah, I don't feel good thinking about times in my life, but it feels important, personally and professionally, to examine a little bit of the perspective of those who love someone who is an active addict. From the start of the book I was hooked. Sheff is a great writer, and his opening description of a relapse and moving from there toward the motivation to write before delving into the story of his son from birth on could have been a cheesy way to start, but turned out to be immensely powerful in really capturing the horror of watching someone turn into the golem that addiction makes them. It treads the standard addiction memoir ground, though again from a fresh perspective, and integrates science and stats in ways that feel helpful, not pedantic, all the while conveying the hopeless confusion and hellish ups and downs of living with someone in active addiction. Can't recommend this enough. Anyone with an interest in addiction, and certainly anyone in mental health should read this.

Tweak - Nic Sheff

The foil to "Beautiful Boy" this addiction memoir written by the meth-addicted son described in "Beautiful Boy." Well, it suffers from all the problems and perks of a good addiction memoir- addictive to read with some solid debauchery and despair followed by some really astute insights into addiction and recovery, with writing that was mediocre to poor, although the guy wrote the thing half when he was using and have when he was barely sober, and all when he was very very young, so given those constraints and complaints aside, its pretty impressive.

The Power of Less: Leo Babuata

The guy who does "Zen Habits" blog did this book about productivity and personal organization, that may well be the best book on that topic I've read. Simple, straightforward concrete advice about how to organize yourself, set and achieve goals, beat procrastination and be happier at work and home. I think a lot of the material in here isnt new, but is presented well and may well be going into my next book. Definitely recommend this book if you are looking for help organizing your life and getting things done!

The Four Agreements: Don Miguel Ruiz

Bizarre, circularly hypnotic writing style and some very odd metaphor choices in this quickie self-help book from the 90's. Damn I read a lot of these things, this one was recommended by a patient. Some solid ideas about being careful with how you speak, not taking anything personally, and the level of self-respect you have being parallel to how much you will tolerate in others, but overall didnt really speak to me. Interesting uses of Mesoamerican mythology to frame the ideas, I'm guessing this is sort of marketing toward Latinos or people with an interest in Native American traditions and ideas.

After the Ecstacy, The Laundry - Jack Kornfield

Silly title aside, this book is really amazing. Like, in my opinion, all of Jack Kornfield's books about Buddhism and spirituality. This one is based on conversations with spiritual leaders and their struggles with trying to be perfect and spiritual in the face of life in all its complexity and imperfection. Not that I'm a great spiritual leader, but as a therapist it can often feel tremendously difficult to tolerate people's projections on me that I am wise, knowledgable, or have my life together when I know my own perfections and can feel like a fraud. Chock full of wonderful quotes and anecdotes, folk tales from around the world, it was both inspiring and engaging.

November/December Books

Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao: Junot Diaz

Really effective, surprising and engaging book that I just loved. Turns the tired tropes of the first-generation immigrant narrative on their heads with humor and grace, and is a pure pleasure to read. This, the multigenerational story of an Dominican family surviving the dictatorship of Trujillo, then the new traumas of immigration and family dynamics. Overflowing, at times overwhelming, with its sex and violence, but never gratuitously. Can't recommend this one highly enough. And so good it got me to re-read...

Drown: Junot Diaz

Yeah, amazing short stories by Diaz, some better than others, but still an amazing short story collection about Dominican families in New York and New Jersey.

Goodbye Columbus:

The Human Stain - Philip Roth

Yep, the Philip Roth kick continues ever onward. I found this dragged a little more than American Pastoral which I read last month, although I still enjoyed it. The more Roth I read though, the more his own unhappiness, bitterness and misogyny starts to leak through. Still, an interesting study of identity, identity politics, sexuality, academia and the second half of the twentieth century.

Goodbye Columbus - Philip Roth

After the few darker Roth novels I read this year, this love story novella was a breath of fresh air. Capturing the conflicts of class and the confines of the era's conformity (1950's/60's America), this was a wonderful adolescent love story of passion and heartbrake. Star-crossed lovers I suppose, but not a tragedy in the classic sense. Surprisingly sweet for Mr. Roth, but I suppose it was his first book...

Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth

Are we sensing a theme this fall?

Okay, so I really enjoyed this, and found it fascinating as it is so damn famous, and wow, there really is a lot of masturbation in this book. Funny probably to read it so late after publication, and I can understand its impact at the time, and though hilarious at times, it didn't do a ton for me reading it now. In fact, it kind of made me feel icky in the way that reading Bret Easton Ellis will make me feel like taking a shower in bleach after I read one of his books. Further, it really continued to reveal to me the depths of Roth's bitterness and anger toward the world. My thought process "Wow, he really hates shiksa women... oh, I guess actually he just really hates women in general and is a misogynist... oh, now I can see that he just really really hates people."

Shopclass as Soulcraft - Matthew Crawford
A meditation/manifesto on the value of certain manual labor- craftsmanship to be most specific, over being an intellectual or physical cog in the larger production/consumption machine. Crawford himself is a PhD who became a motorcycle mechanic, and speaks of the joys, creative stimulation and good income that comes from craftsmanship, not to mention the self-esteem and self-efficacyt that emerges from problem solving work. Sure, he gets a little moralistic and rigid at times, but overall a solid critique of what we currently call capitalism and its soul-destroying nature in the American corporate version of it. In a lot of ways, he's speaking to and for the very same ideology of a book like "Fight Club," just in a less angry voice, and without the more problematic gender politics of that book. I'd highly recommend this to anyone in education, or in mental health for that matter, as it does tell us something about why our world as we know it is so unsatisfying.

Sway- Ori & Rahm Brafman

Yep -the standard book I love to read, pop social psychology stuff. However, this one had two sections I would recommend be mandatory reading for anyone becoming a therapist- one on theories behind the bullshit rise in bipolar diagnosis (and not a corresponding rise in suicide and bipolar behaviors at the epidemiological level) and another on the depressing/fascinating neurobiology of greed- yep, making money gives people the same rush in the reward centers of the brain as cocaine, and leads to similarly immoral behavior. And we wonder why ethics crumble in the face of money...

The Invisible Gorilla: Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons

Do people know about the Invisible Gorilla study? Now a classic of psych 101 (but not when I took it 15 years ago!). Amazing experiment about attention, "inattentional blindness" and how we are deceived by perception. The book covers that, and then branches out into more generally how to not draw conclusions from data. It would be great for an intro psych course, also explaining why recent grads of med school overdiagnose pathologies (pay attention fellow early career shrinks!), explains the most egregious attribution errors in scientific research and how we stumble into them and how to avoid such pitfalls of trusting intuition over hard-headed analysis, and takes a few swpes at malcolm gladwell along the way. Anyone teaching psych 101 or with a passing interest in psychology, check this one out.

The Dharma Bums: Jack Kerouac

So, I'm revisiting a lot of books I should have read while in college, when I... had some different priorities. The point is, I'm a little older and wiser now than at the peak time I probably would have enjoyed some books more. Which is to say- although there was a lot to like about The Dharma Bums, its sort of a fundamentally adolescent book, and although there is nothing wrong with that, I just would have liked it more when I was younger or in a different place in my life. Would I recommend it? Yes, but more as a document/artifact that a pleasure read or anything enlightening about Buddhism or as literature. All told though, it was a fun read, and I do understand why its so beloved.

The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Christopher Germer

* * * * *
When I was in grad school for psychology, I very nearly wrote my dissertation on the history of self-help books, before writing about meditation with kids and teens. (a much better choice) I still have a place in my heart for self-help books, crappy and otherwise, and their anthropological value. I went crazy with some recent classics not so much in the self-help, but self-improvement realm recently:

How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie

Um, wow- I get why this is a classic. Its really really good and helpful tips on succesfully living in the world of people, whether you are a business person or parent or just someone who has to interact with people. Also unrelentingly positive, and articulates so many basic principles from Ancient Eastern and Western thought, or that could easily be articulated in today's positive psychology. Good stuff. I'm going to start throwing it a my shy and anxious patients.

48 Laws of Power - David Greene
Hot on the heals of Dale Carnegie I decided to check out the polar opposite self-improvement book, partly out of sheer anthropological curiousity about this Machiavellian update and apparent hip-hop bible. Verdict? This book is seriously godawful, not because of the amorality, but the atrociously hammy writing, and embarrassingly, hilariously enormous oversights where it directly contradicts itself (ie, court attention at all costs- any publicity is good publicity, and guard your reputation its priceless). Anyway, again, why did I read this? I guess it was a moderately amusing glimpse of what second-rate wanna-be MBA types fancy to be intellectual reading and keep prominently on their faux-mahoganey shelves. I kept imagining the Christopher Moltisanti's lackeys from the Sopranos.

How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less- Nicholas Boothman
Yet another book in the self-improvement anthropological study this month, this one an apparent classic in the annals of "neuro-linguistic-programming." Kind of ridiculous in its purported science of following people's speech, body language and other preferences to communicate more effectively, it was kind of interesting, if kind of bullshit. It is however, a great title for a book.

10 Qualities of Charismatic People: Tony Alessandro

Yeah, I don't know, really just more of the same as these other three books above...

September/October Books

Wow, I don't know what's happened to my attention span lately, but I was unable to finish no less than three books in the past few months- very unlike me. It also shows either a decreasing attention span, or perhaps an increasing maturity that I no longer put up with books that bore me. The first was "The Black Swan" (no, not the basis Aaronovsky movie) the non-fiction by Nicholas Nasir Taleb- the thesis of which is that big, history changing events are basically unpredictable, and we try to explain them in hindsight, but this is pointless. Well, okay, but I'm not sure how we can stretch that out to an entire book Mr. Taleb, besides citing examples like the recent market crash or 9/11 over and over again, and saying that these things are unpredictable, but somehow you can predict them- either as a high priced consultant or for the price of a hardcover book. The other I just couldnt get into (sorry Aaron), was the sci-fi contemporary classic Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson. I get Sci-Fi, I like sci-fi, I appreciate that it creates a space for interesting ideas to test themselves and play out against a backdrop of the implausable or inconceivable, but I just didnt feel like I was seeing anything new or any important confirmation about human nature that I didnt see beforehand, which is why I read literature. So what have I read recently? Also finished though kinda hated (mostly out of boredom) "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. I was just bored, bored, bored and then annoyed- and this from a guy reads a LOT of self-help books and can usually understand what people find appealing about them.

Ranting aside, some things I did like in recent months:

Surviving the Dragon: Arjia Rinpoche

Fascinating, depressing look at Tibet during the cultural revolution as the communists seized power and sent in the red brigades to overthrow the existing order through attempting to erase culture, torture individuals to testify against each other and generally begin the cultural and literal genocide against the Tibetan people and culture. The book is written by a lama who became a collaborator with the Chinese, then fled from Tibet to tell his story. Really well worth reading for anyone with an interest in the Tibet issue or even just 20th century China.

Switch - Chip & Dan Heath

Very cool book about affecting behavior change on the individual and group levels. I have no idea why these kinds of pop sociology/social psychology books fascinate me lately, but they do. A great shout-out to my family friend Jerry Sternin also made this fun, as well as a unique explanation of solution-focused therapy and how it operates. Metaphors used throughout are easy to understand, and many I actually have already integrated into my work as a therapist - like "the elephant and the rider" as short term decision making vs. long term decision making, and how to fool yourself into better behavior (ie, saving money, eating healthy, etc). In the end, they also nicely explain that you cant force behavior change, but there are factors that are the same in all behavior change- looking for exceptions to the rule/problem, building those, making it as easy as possibly systemically for change, enlisting the "primitive brain" in helping us, etc. And, in January, you can actually read some applications that inspired me from this book in an article about sticking with new years resolutions that I will be quoted in in Good Housekeeping.

Freedom- Jonathon Franzen

As my friend Dan succinctly put it in his gmail status: Corrections > Freedom > Most Books. That about sums it up. I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed this book, was reading it before work even. Sentence for sentence, it was perhaps better written than The Corrections. That said, I did feel it covered a whole lot of territory that The Corrections (possibly my favorite book ever) didn't cover, and was not quite as fun or efficient. The intertwined plots each went on slightly too long, as did the book as a whole, and I never laughed aloud as I did with The Corrections. The tone veered from mild satire into a Tom Wolfe-esque bizarre narrative devices, which also felt tonally inconsistent in spite of some unforgettable lines and poignantly revealing and truthful moments that hit like a punch in the gut. All told, I'd still highly recommend for a balance of pleasurable and thought provoking.

American Pastoral - Phillip Roth

This was recommended highly by Dan after we were discussing Freedom, as another upper-middle-class American family angst drama, and it is one I've been meaning to read for a long time. And yes, it was good, really good- well written, nuanced, terrifying, hilarious, many things, but somehow didnt quite capture my interest in quite the way that Freedom did, even as it explored similar themes. Still, a truly great book, much deserving of its excellent reputation and praise.

Palestine -Joe Sacco

Wow, friend Ben O recommended this, as a pure example of the amazing things that one CAN do with a comic/cartoon. Its a graphic novel travel memoir of his time in Palestine in the early 90's and offers some really interesting perspectives on the Palestine/Israel issue and history and complexity on both sides that rarely gets explored in the tiny narratives that we encounter in the media. Depressing, to be sure, but I'd still highly recommend this for a more human-scale understanding of the issue. And although critics fault him for examining only one perspective, I like that as Sacco himself points out he's not trying to tell two sides, he just is presenting one.

The Accidental Billionaires- Ben Mezrich

As Ben B points out "Oh, Ben Mezrich is writing another book about overprivileged Ivy-leaguers behaving badly?" Well, yes. This is the book that The Social Network movie was based on, and true to Mezrich's form, its both entertaining and impossible to put down, in spite of the fact that the writing is atrociously littered with hyperbole and cliche. Still, a fun read if you want a little more backstory on the lurid history of Facebook.

Bonk - Mary Roach

Sorta ended up being exactly what I expected and thus wasnt exactly "disappointed" because I had such low expectations. A snarkily written, double-entendre ridden pop history of sex and science from ancient times through the present. Some great anecdotes and fun facts to be sure, but ultimately even a topic like this one didn't have quite enough going for it to keep the irritating writing at bay.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes - David Grann

Okay, so basically this is just a compilation of his articles from the New Yorker for the past few years, and capitalizing on the success of Lost City of Z and the infamous story about the Texas death penalty arson case. And I've read all these pieces before, but damn I forgot what a phenomenal writer he is and that he's written many of my favorite pieces in recent memory- the giant squid piece, the Aryan brotherhood piece, the French con man who pretends to be a missing child in Texas, and the crazy Polish novelist-murderer piece. Yeah this is good stuff, even on a second read. What makes the New Yorker great, and an heir to the great writing of William Finnegan.

Also fewer books this month in part due to my recent obsession with listening to Marc Maron's WTF podcast which I highly recommend. (And yes, I also finally caved in and started listening to Radiolab, allowing the quality of its substance to generally overriding its extremely irritating stlye) Favorite captivating recent episodes of WTF include Louis CK, Judd Apatow, Maz Jobrani, Adam McKay, and Maria Bamford, and. Other ones with big stars are also really interesting- Robin Williams, Ben Stiller and others. I'd highly recommend it for anyone with an interest in the creative process, as its instructive and fun to hear about the creative process (and unbelievably hard work) of so many interesting talented people, and a pleasure to briefly feel like an insider in the crazy world of standup comedy. PLus Marc Maron is a great character himself, a recovering alcoholic whose resentments, insecurities and neurosis frame each interview while also leaking into and informing them, and in a self-aware but not self-pitying way.

More Recently Read and Reviewed Books: June Through August

Connected - James Fowler and Nicholas Christiakis
Amazing pop-social-psychology book about the power of social networks (no, just just online social networks) and the ways behaviors and health issues like obesity and smoking are essentially contagious, and full of fun facts like that if one person two degrees of separation away from your circle of friends quits smoking, you are more likely to, etc. Also cites those research studies about longevity and social life, happiness and social life. There are also great and fascinating pieces that are relevant to anyone in public health or thinking about marketing and even voting and activism.

Click - The Magic of Instant Connections
A little bit along the same lines as “Connected,” and a lot about the power of social forces in shaping us, and the influence that we can have in shaping social experiences. A lot about what makes people get along and ally with each other (proximity, exposure, environment, vulnerability etc- surprise, surprise), but some fun ideas about how to build effective teams and in-groups and practical thoughts for relationships in business, medicine, teaching, psychotherapy, and even dating.

Empire of Blue Water - Stephen Talty
I would have thought a book about pirates would be a little more exciting. Still, all told this was pretty good, though exhaustive and occasionally dry story of Captain Morgan. I particularly enjoyed the multiple references to places I’ve travelled in Latin America (ie, the Bolivian Silver mines of Potosi, the repeatedly sacked ports of Cartagena and Granada, and the ruins of Panama Viejo). Also fascinating for the sociology of Pirate values and ethics, and the book’s thesis that it was the British use of long-leash privateers that essentially brought down the Spanish Empire.

Authentic Happiness: Martin Seligman
Call me corny, but I love my scientific self-help books (cf: Tal Ben-Shahar and others). Seligman is the godfather of positive psychology, and this book is a great in-depth exploration of the big hits in positive psychology research, but better yet really breaks down research theory and ideas into practical actions. I wish I’d read the chapter on families before I’d written my book about kids, and I definitely plan to look to his chapter on happiness at work for the next book I write. Highly recommend this one.

Imperial Bedrooms: Brett Easton Ellis
Oh Brett Easton Ellis. I really loved the idea for this book- a semi-sequel to “Less Than Zero” as told by the “real” Clay, not the novelized Clay of Less Than Zero. Sounds great right? Well, it is a great idea, but then so not-well executed it couldnt help but disappoint. I felt similarly about the manic self-awareness of Lunar Park, which at least had better sex scenes. Also, really Ellis? 26.95 for what amounts to a long short story, not even qualifying as a novella. Oh well. At least the Ellis completist can read it in an afternoon.

A High Wind in Jamaica - Richard Hughes
Wow- this book was really good, unexpected and different from almost anything I've ever read. Plotwise, a bunch of 19th century children are kidnapped by pirates, and the book recounts the bizarre and often terrifying events with a detached, almost cheery tone. And what it does incredibly well is capture the psychology of childhood, childhood perspectives and relationships in a way that is similar to but different from Lord of the Flies. Definitely worth checking out for it's uniqueness especially for anyone with an interest in studying childhood.

The Magicians - Lev Grossman
If you were ever a Narnia fanboy as I was, then grew into a jaded and cynical McInerney/Ellis reader, only to become earnest and sentimental again in your thirties well... this is the book for you. Yeah, I couldn’t put down this charmingly written, impossible to dislike book that is so much better than the matchbook description of “Harry Potter goes to college and finds sex, drugs and rock n’ roll.” This made those Chinese traffic jams seem too short as I blazed through it on my travels this summer. Can’t wait to read the sequel next summer on the beach.

Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
Been meaning to read this for a long time, and finally got it started while travelling and finished a few days ago. Wow, completely fascinating and made me wish I had a deeper understanding of Japanese culture to somehow contextualize and digest all that was happening in this dream-like novel. Fundamentally, it was beautifully written, with fascinating characters, scenes that were hilarious and utterly disturbing and the whole thing deeply thought provoking about human nature, fate, war, and so many things. I don’t think any description I try to do would ever do justice, but I highly highly recommend it. Like Blood Meridian, I really wish I had a book group to discuss it with.

Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Oh my god- Have you actually read this? I’ve literally NEVER read as violent and disturbing a book, (partly because its all based on historical fact). The first few hundred pages seemed like an atrocity on every page in this rambling, beautiful story of the early settlement and conquest of the American Southwest. All in all, haunting and powerful, chliched descripters I know, but this book, even if I didn’t always enjoy reading every page, I’m very glad that I read it and experienced it, and it certainly forever changed my understanding of our country’s founding mythologies.


Fortune Cookie Chronicles - Jennifer 8 Lee
Amusing, if occasionally overly detailed account and history of Chinese food in America, and investigation of “authentic” Chinese-American food. Some really great anecdotes and history, combined with a few too many chapters on the history of the fortune cookie. Foodie fans and those with cultural interest will likely enjoy, but even I found it a bit slow at times, in spite of the great subject matter.


Another Bullshit Night in Suck City - Nick Flynn
Another one that’s been collecting dust on my shelf and I’ve been meaning to pick up and read after reading excerpts in the New Yorker years ago. Finally got the chance to tear through this on the plane to China. It was solid- not amazing, but very very good. This memoir follows the main character and his father at different stages in their lives as both descent into alcoholism, addiction and homelessness, and the son’s gradual recovery and work at a homeless shelter where his father occasionally stays. Amazing stories, decently written. By far one of the best in the pack of mediocrity that is the recovery memoir genre.

Lost on Planet China - J. Maarten Troost
Super amusing travelogue in the “this-foreign-country-is-so-crazy” genre of travel writing, making it a wee bit patronizing, but overall amusing writing and some stellar factoids and stats for the reader about modern China. And, having just visited, I can say that what the book describes is -mostly- true, though clearly the author exaggerated a bit here and there and didn't always fully hold up though in terms of how accurate/realistic it was. Still, a fun one before travelling to China.

The Big Short - Michael Lewis
Maddening account of the behaviors of various quant financial guys who invented the credit default swap and other instruments of financial mass destruction. Not a whole lot of new territory for those who have followed “planet money” and the story with some depth, but as usual Lewis writes a colorfully engaging and informative account how things went so wrong. Worth checking out, even if you have just a passing interest in the financial crisis.

Predictably Irrational - Dan Arielly
Yes, my favorite genre- the quirky, semi-scientific popular nonfiction book that explains how the world works in unexpected ways (cf: Dan Goleman, Malcolm Gladwell, et al.). The best tidbits are facts about how we are hardwired with bugs in our cognition like overvalueing things that are “free” (ie, shipping on amazon with a 25$ purchase), facts about procrastination, and how emotion and sexual arousal change our attitudes and behaviors, and the power of expectations and “priming” on decision making and perception. Fascinating stuff. To me anyway.