The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge ***

I belong to a great online support group, Hemi-kids, that I get a lot of information and understanding from. Though Puppy doesn't have hemiplegia himself, he does have the same underlying issue--stroke. Puppy had a blood disorder when he was born called NAIT. Though it can be complicated to explain, I'll just say it made him prone to bleeding. When he was born he was covered in bruises and because the doctor used a suction device to deliver him he had a stroke.

A couple of years ago some of the people on the list serv started talking about this great book that proved brain plasticity. Not only that, it talked about how plasticity doesn't go away when we get older. For those of us dealing either personally or as a parent of someone with a brain challenge, this information can make your hopes soar. Something can be done to help either regain or establish those connections lost to brain injury.

Norman Doidge is a psychiatrist, and maybe because of this his writing sometimes gets a little...dry. But despite that, the book compels you to continue reading. Three chapters in particular were not boring at all for me: Chapter 2, Building Herself a Better Brain; Chapter 3, Redesigning the Brain; and Chapter 7, Pain.

Chapter 2 is fascinating in that it is about a woman who was labeled mentally deficient and how she not only figured out how to overcome her own obstacles, but opened a school for children in order to help those with learning challenges. Two things I took from that chapter that I've already tried implementing with Puppy are tracing and memorizing. Tracing has been found to help with writing (duh!) by building up those neuro pathways in the brain that control that function. It's a low-stress way of dealing with it, but with good results. The memorization helps kids with poor auditory memory. Puppy has poor memory in almost all ways, but right now I've been reading poems to him at bedtime over and over in the hopes that it will help him memorize them himself, and help him to learn how to do that too.

Chapter 3 is fascinating because of a program that is being used at Puppy's school--Fast ForWord. A scientist named Michael Merzenich developed it to help people with learning disorders learn to read. But as a side effect, it was discovered to also help kids with autism and various other developmental disabilities. Basically he figured out how to rewire the brain using fun computer games that get results without kids even realizing it.

Chapter 7 was interesting because it was about V.S. Ramachandran. He's described in the book as the Sherlock Holmes of modern neurology, and that description is apt. He doesn't like working with fancy technology--he works with what is around him and comes up with startling and amazing discoveries. I won't go into how he does it, but he can make it feel like he's hit your hand with a hammer simply by hitting the table in front of you with one.

Overall this was a very good book. I have a very hard time reading non-fiction and this book was no exception. I start to feel like I'm back in college reading something I have to for a class, so even if it was my own idea to read it in the first place it soon becomes a chore. But I forced myself through it and I'm glad I did.

I don't agree with all the theories presented by Doidge in this book, but I do understand them. Overall it gives me some hope for Puppy's future. But I also worry--there is no such thing as a magic bullet. And even if there was one, do I want Puppy to be someone else? Thoughts to ponder.

My Lobotomy by Howard Dully ****

Howard Dully was given a lobotomy in December 1960, when he had just turned 12 years old. His step-mother hated him & wanted him gone from her life, & this was her way of doing that. When that brutal procedure didn't make him non-communicative & immobile, he was made a ward of the state of California & lived the rest of his childhood & young adulthood in mental hospitals. As Howard writes in this book, he always wanted to know "why?" What had he done so wrong to warrant these actions against him?

When he was approached by two producers from NPR to do a 22 minute story about lobotomy, Howard finally found out what had happened to him. And the horrible truth, which was that he was a typical 12 year old boy, with no justification except his step-mother's lies for what was done to him.


To say this is a moving book is to put it mildly. The horror & outrage that I felt when reading this, & the fear that filled me when I realized that sometimes the medical community is not only incompetent but twisted, was breathtaking. How could this happen? How could this happen?


After reading the book I looked up Howard's NPR story online. If I thought the book was moving, it was nothing compared to hearing Howard himself finding out & dealing with what was done to him.


I think the thing that made the biggest impression on me was the realization of the power we, as adults, hold over children. We make so many choices for them, & not just for our own kids, but those we deal with in our jobs & in the community. We owe them the responsibility of doing what is best for them at all times, in all ways. As Howard points out, he was helpless against what was done to him. But no one stood up for him: not his father, not the doctors, not the nurses, no one.


With Holocaust Remembrance Day fast approaching (April 11), we remember to say, "Never again." Let's remember that when we deal with children also. Never again.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher *****

I'm going to keep this short--this is a good book. Read it. It is funny. I liked it. Carrie Fisher is crazy. She has lots of problems. But she has a great sense of humor. So what the hell. Don't we all?

American Family of the 1920s by Tom Tierney *****

I know, I know...long time no post. So much for my lovely vow to write on here twice a week. Twice a month is probably a more realistic goal!

One reason I haven't written is that I haven't read anything lately. I've started a few books, but just haven't been able to get into them right now. I guess I'm going thru one of my dry spells again.

But that doesn't mean I haven't looked at any books. The book for today is part of a series I absolutely love--The American Family paper doll books by Tom Tierney. Not many people know that I love fashion. I am not a fashion plate by any means--most would categorize me as fashion-compromised. But I truly love looking at what people wore in the past. I think it helps books become more real to me if I know what the people were wearing, & this book series is great for that. I already own the following American Family series books: Pilgrims, Colonial, Early Republic, Pioneer, Civil War, 1890's, & 1900-1920.

This particular book was harder to come by because for some reason it's out of print. Nevertheless I was able to get it, & it's a gem. I can't help but make up stories in my head about the family members, since Tierney likes to make the families related thru the years.

I tried cutting out the dolls with one of my first books, but found it not to be a good idea. They're too detailed & once they're cut out they're easy to lose.

I highly recommend these books for anyone interested in the clothing of a particular period in American history!

Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business by Dolly Parton ***

Yep, I read Dolly Parton's autobiography. I guess there has been some debate recently if women can be funny, & on the side of women definitely being funny was this book. Yes, it is a hoot in parts. Her hilarious descriptions of life in the mountains & the fact she doesn't take her self very seriously are great to read. Plus, her one-liners are the best.
She seems like the sort of person that gets along with everyone. She's very spiritual also, though not religious. There's a lot to find in common with her, & I like where she writes upfront that anyone who's reading this book to be like her shouldn't do that--be like yourself.
Here's why I'm only giving this 3 stars though--I guess I just get tired of reading stories about famous people. Pretty damn lame, eh? Like an un-famous person is going to get a deal to write about their massively exciting life. I guess what I mean is that it seems to be that famous people are rather selfish & self centered. I think this is by necessity, because you have to constantly strive for your goals & not let other people get in your way if you're going to become famous. You can't bow out of opportunities of you want to become famous either.
I suppose I'm a tiny bit jealous, to be honest. I live a compromised life, like 95% of the people on the planet. I know a self-help guru would say I'm choosing that, but like I said, so are 95% of my fellow humans, so I don't feel very alone. We all go out & buy the self-help books, write down lists of our dreams & goals, make all the moves to make it come true, then realize we don't have the money/time/energy/support/motivation to do it. And we come off feeling like shit.
Now, Dolly acknowledges her fans & seems like a genuine, sweet loving woman. But at the end of the book she talks about all her plastic surgeries, her refusal to be seen by anybody without wearing a massive amount of makeup, a wig, & 5 inch heels, & her talk about starting a cosmetic line the help all those "homely" women out there.
No thanks, Dolly. I'd rather just roll out of bed & let the world see me for who I am. How horrible!

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin ****

My sister loaned me this book, she’s in a book club that reads non-fiction books from & about different cultures. Basically, it has to do with a man who tried to climb K2 & failed, but in the process found his true calling—building schools for the people of the Karakoram Mountains of northern Pakistan. I have to say that this is a very inspirational story, where one person actually did make a difference. Greg Mortenson now heads an organization called the Central Asia Institute that’s responsible for building 55 schools in Pakistan & Afghanistan.
Musing on how important education is to those who don’t get to have it, it makes me think about how much me take for granted in our country. The US has a lot of problems, that’s true. But they’re the kind of problems born out of plenty. We’re fat, depressed, & stressed, all because we get to have too much. When seeing how other people live, in countries where food is scarce, let alone education, it makes me feel like our country needs to do more. And when I say do more, I don’t mean exporting & imposing our way of life onto others. I mean just giving them a fair chance, like all of us have.
Dog & I got to see President Obama about a month ago when he came to town to give his first 100 days speech. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I’ll never forget. I particularly liked his take on giving aide to other countries. He pointed out how little of our budget is spent on foreign aid—it’s a pittance. By reaching out a hand to help other countries make their own dreams come true, we do good for others. When we retroactively wage war against people who don’t even know who we are, & who we certainly haven’t taken the time to know, all it does in set the human race back. I hope we’re getting back on the right track. I know I feel much better about the direction of our country now than I did a year ago.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch *****

I was first aware of Randy Pausch when Katie Couric announced his death on the evening news on July 25, 2008. I guess by that time the youtube film of his last lecture had made him famous, but I wasn't in tune to that as much as others & so had never heard of him. After seeing the news story, Dog went online & listened to his lecture. He told me it was great & I needed to watch it, but there's a lot I need to do that I don't get around to & that was one of them.

Then a few weeks later, the interview he did with Diane Sawyer aired & we watched it together. There were excerpts from his lecture included, but I still wasn't convinced. I guess I just get tired of having people held up as the ideal, either in the way they live their lives or how they die, & feeling like a very selfish, sub-human creature afterwards because I get upset about not getting what I want. I feel sometimes that's the set up the media gives us so we'll buy more stuff & try to become perfect.

But this Christmas, a friend of mine from work that I don't get to see very much anymore gave me the book. First Dog read it, then Dick read it. Then I finally gave in.

Here's the thing that's great--never does he make out that he's got the answers to all life's problems. The book is for his kids. It's all the things he wants them to know, that he wasn't going to be able to tell them himself. It's not for anyone else. We can read it, of course, but he didn't write it for us. And that's the beauty of the whole thing.

Inferno by Keith Lowe *****

Yes, another 5 star book. Honestly, I've just been on a lucky streak lately! This is one of Dog's books, I had run out of reading material one night & he said he was going to pick some books out for me. This is the one I chose.

It's about the almost total destruction of the city of Hamburg during the course of 1 week in late July/early August 1943. Four night bombing raids by RAF bombers & two by American day bombers pretty much finished off the city. You may have heard of the fire storm the RAF started on their second raid of July 27--it was of almost unspeakable power & horror. The descriptions of what some of the people of Hamburg went through & saw are chilling. I will always remember a particular scene: fleeing their bomb shelter because they realized they would be roasted alive or die of smoke inhalation if they stayed, a young family reached the street & saw the road burning, the trees burning, & horses from a local business running by, burning. Everything was on fire. Everything. Even bricks were incinerated in the high heat, & winds that could pick you up & carry you into the fire were created by the hideously high heat & lack of humidity.

I don't generally like non-fiction, I find it dry & boring. This was nothing of the sort, & it isn't because of the events that the author was describing--it was because of his ability as an author. This was Keith Lowe's first non-fiction book after writing two successful novels, & his talent is a wonderful thing to behold. He somehow is able to describe both sides of this conflict, interviewing survivors of the bombing & the men who did the bombing, with a knack for getting you to see how each person was part of an inevitable cog in history. You can blame each side for what happened, but you're left just feeling the burden of being human. Why are we this way? I don't know, & Keith Lowe doesn't either, but I'm left with the words NEVER AGAIN stamped in my mind.

Are we doing enough in the here & now to keep this from happening again? Or is it already happening as we speak?

The Great Influenza by John M. Barry ****

I'm not much of a non-fiction gal, as I've mentioned before. But after a slow start, this book really kept my interest. It's about the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918-19, the deadliest plague in history. I had some personal interest in it as well, since my Grandma Bradley's younger brother, Peter, died of it when he was 8 years old.

Though it doesn't mention the epidemic in St. Louis really at all, it really blows your mind as to how pervasive & horrible this sickness was. It reached an ability to kill that could knock somebody out in 24 short hours. Imagine--getting the flu & being dead the next day.

Much of the book deals with the advances in American medical science in the time period leading up to the Spanish flu. I had a hard time wading through these parts of the book, but I understood why it was focused on--the US went from practising medieval bleeding & purging to modern med science in just a few short years. It's insane how ignorant the typical American doctor was before this time! I totally understand why someone back in the late 1800's would rather just keel over dead that call the doctor--3 pints of blood & some violent laxatives later, you'd be dead anyway!

All in all, a good read.

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali ****

This is the memoir of the woman who's most famously known as writing the script for the skit that Theo VanGogh directed & then was murdered for. The short film they made went off on the way women are treated in Islam, basically, & after reading about her life, you can see why she's angry. By the end of the book she's an atheist, even though she was brought up to be a devoted Muslim. After being genitally mutilated, forced into marriage, & a host of other horrible things that a woman such as myself can't hardly imagine, she escapes to Holland & builds a life for herself there. She was a member of their parliament until all this exploded back in 2004 when Theo VanGogh was murdered in the streets of Amsterdam by a Muslim man who was angry at the movie they had made together. She's currently living in the US, in hiding.

I think this book is a must read to understand from an insiders view what the Islamic faith is about. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a very inflammatory person in that she condemns all the violence that has erupted since 9/11 to be due to Islam--her argument is that it is a very violent religion, intolerant of any other belief systems. Whatever you may think, this book will make you think about it in a different way.