Nonfiction

Madness and Desire

~ The Incurable Romantic, by Frank Tallis ~ This is a lovely read, a fascinating collection of case studies by psychologist Frank Tallis about the problematic love relationships of his patients. The stories/cases are interspersed with some light theory on...

A Hundred Billion Neurons

~ Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey through the World’s Strangest Brains. By Helen Thomson ~ In 1985, neurologist Oliver Sacks wrote a marvellous book: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. He describes some of the more unusual cases...

Greed? Envy?

~ The Billionaire’s Apprentice: The Rise of The Indian-American Elite and The Fall of The Galleon Hedge Fund. By Anita Raghavan ~ The billionaire of the title is Raj Rajaratnam, the charismatic, Sri-Lanka-born hedge fund CEO whose success was built...

Identity Crisis

~ Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert ~ Emotional tourism has its allure; who among us does not find it fascinating to get a peek into another person’s soul? Emotional tourism by Westerners in the third world is less appealing,...

Community Secrets

~ Breaking the Silence: Domestic Violence in the South Asian American Community. Edited by Sandhya Nankani ~ Domestic violence is a dirty secret in the South Asian-American community but in the last decade or so it has become less hidden....

Nomads in Changing Times

~ Desert Places, by Robyn Davidson ~ Robyn Davidson is an Australian woman with a fondness for and familiarity with camels. Some years ago she travelled the Australian desert with 3 camels, occasionally in company with Aborigine groups, and chronicled...

Contraception through the ages

~ Taking Precautions: An Intimate History of Birth Control, by Shyama Perera ~ Luridly coloured condoms and a pack of birth control pills adorn the front page of this history of contraception. (The back cover also features colourful condoms.) This...