The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission that Changed Our Understanding of Madness
Susannah Cahalan, 2019
Grand Central Publishing
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781538715284
Summary
Doctors have struggled for centuries to define insanity—how do you diagnose it, how do you treat it, how do you even know what it is?
In search of an answer, in the 1970s a Stanford psychologist named David Rosenhan and seven other people—sane, healthy, well-adjusted members of society—went undercover into asylums around America to test the legitimacy of psychiatry's labels.
Forced to remain inside until they'd "proven" themselves sane, all eight emerged with alarming diagnoses and even more troubling stories of their treatment.
Rosenhan's watershed study broke open the field of psychiatry, closing down institutions and changing mental health diagnosis forever.
But, as Cahalan's explosive new research shows in this real-life detective story, very little in this saga is exactly as it seems. What really happened behind those closed asylum doors? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 30, 1985
• Raised—Summit, New Jersey, USA
• Education—Washington Uiversity
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Susannah Cahalan is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, a memoir about her struggle with a rare autoimmune disease of the brain that affected her at the age of 24.
Cahalan writes for the New York Post. Her work has also been featured in the New York Times, Scientific American Magazine, Glamour, Psychology Today, and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn. (From the publisher.)
Read this account of Cahalan's own illness.
Book Reviews
The Great Pretender reads like a detective story, with Cahalan revealing tantalizing clues at opportune moments so we can experience the thrills of discovery alongside her.… What she unearthed turned out to be far stranger, as documented in her absorbing new book…. [It is the] fraught history of psychiatry and the pursuit of scientific knowledge.
Jennifer Szalai - New York Times
Cahalan's passionate and exhaustive reexamination of the famous research On Being Sane in Insane Places by Stanford psychologist David Rosenhan is a riveting read.… A terrific piece of detective work [with] fascinating insights into the mental health controversies that have swirled ever since the study's publication.
Forbes
This is a well-crafted, gripping narrative that succeeds on many levels. Cahalan, who gained the trust of Rosenhan's family, is meticulous and sensitive in her research; compelling and insightful in her writing.
Financial Times
[A]n impressive feat of investigative journalism--tenaciously conduct, appealingly written... as compelling as a detective novel.
Economist
A stranger-than-fiction thrill ride exposing the loose screws of our broken mental health system.
O Magazine
A thrilling mystery--and a powerful case for a deeper understanding of mental illness.
People
Cahalan's research is dogged and her narrative riveting, leading us from red herring to clue and back with the dexterity of the best mystery novelists. Then she builds her case like a skilled prosecuting attorney.
New York Journal of Books
Cahalan sets a new standard for investigative journalism in this fascinating investigation…. Her impeccable inquiry into the shadowy reality of Rosenhan’s study makes an urgent case that… [psychiatry] must recover the public trust that "Rosenhan helped shatter."
Publishers Weekly
Cahalan's brilliant book… diligently traces and interviews people associated with the study, the circumstances of which became increasingly suspect. In the end, she provides a convincing argument that Rosenhan largely fabricated his research. —Lynne Maxwell, West Virginia Univ. Coll. of Law Lib., Morgantown
Library Journal
A sharp reexamination of one of the defining moments in the field of psychiatry.… Her pursuit reads like a well-tempered mystery…. A well-told story fraught with both mystery and real-life aftershocks that set the psychiatric community on its ear.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Discuss the book’s title. Does the term "the great pretender" change meaning for you over the course of the book, and if so, how? What different things does it represent to you by the end of the book versus the beginning?
2. In chapter 1, Susannah encounters a woman whose disease was similar to her own, but her fate was drastically different. She begins to refer to her as her "mirror image." How does this figure—and the author’s awareness of her background presence—help shape the rest of the book? What would such a person look like in your own life?
3. Why do you think "On Being Sane in Insane Places" hit such a nerve in American culture in1973, and caused such a sea change in the history of psychiatry? How was it different from the work done by Nellie Bly and other brave pseudo patients and reporters in previous decades?
4. Try to imagine what mental health care in this country would look like now if Rosenhan had never published his work. Would we be in a better place? A worse one? Why?
5. Dr. Levy described Susannah as a ninth pseudo patient. In what ways do you feel that Susannah fills this role in the book?
6. The central mystery of the book propels Susannah down a number of rabbit holes, and to a frustrating series of dead ends, before she discovers the truth. Once she does, she realizes that the answer has been staring her in the face the whole time. How did you feel about this revelation? Have you had any experiences in your own life that have been similarly surprising?
7. From the beginning, psychiatry has struggled with identifying the divide between the body and the mind, between the biological and the psychological, between the "real" and the idea that something is "all in your head." Do you agree that this line needs to be drawn, and if so,where would you draw it and why? Is there a better system of diagnosis than the one we have currently?
8. If you had to write policy for revamping the mental health care system in this country, what would you tackle first? What approach do you feel is the most likely to succeed long term?
9. What was the most exciting, dramatic twist, or piece of evidence, that stuck with you over the course of the book?
10. Susannah describes herself as in awe of Dr. Rosenhan, early in the book, and her drive to understand his study is fueled by her admiration for him; his students frequently describe him as "charismatic" and "charming." But of course, the secrets she uncovers considerably complicate her—and our—portrait of him as a man and a scientist. Have you had any experiences in your own personal or professional life with the fall of a hero, someone you admired who, in one way or another, failed to live up to your expectations? Discuss.
11. If you were Rosenhan’s student and he recruited you to participate as a pseudo patient in the study, would you have done it? Why or why not?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Susannah Calahan, 2013
Simon & Schuster
266 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781451621389
Summary
An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity.
When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there.
Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk.
What happened?
In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Susannah tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen.
Brain on Fire is an unforgettable exploration of memory and identity, faith and love, and a profoundly compelling tale of survival and perseverance that is destined to become a classic. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 30, 1985
• Raised—Summit, New Jersey, USA
• Education—Washington Uiversity
• Currently—lives in Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Susannah Cahalan is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, a memoir about her struggle with a rare autoimmune disease of the brain that affected her at the age of 24.
Cahalan writes for the New York Post. Her work has also been featured in the New York Times, Scientific American Magazine, Glamour, Psychology Today, and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Brain on Fire is at its most captivating when describing the torturous process of how doctors arrived at [the] diagnosis…At its best, Cahalan's prose carries a sharp, unsparing, tabloid punch in the tradition of Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin.
Michael Greenberg - New York Times Book Review
Cahalan's tale is told in straightforward journalistic prose and is admirably well-researched and described. Because she has no memory of her "month of madness," the story rests on doctors' notes and recollections, hospital films, her father's journals, both parents' recounting of what happened, and the reminiscences of her devoted boyfriend and those of her many friends and relatives. This story has a happy ending, but take heed: It is a powerfully scary book.
Maggie Scarf - Washington Post
The best reporters never stop asking questions, and Cahalan is no exception.… The result is a kind of anti-memoir, an out-of-body personal account of a young woman's fight to survive one of the cruelest diseases imaginable. And on every level, it's remarkable.… Cahalan is a gifted reporter, and Brain on Fire is a stunningly brave book. But even more than that, she's a naturally talented prose stylist—whip-smart but always unpretentious—and it's nearly impossible to stop reading her, even in the book's most painful passages.
NPR.org
A fascinating look at the disease that—if not for a nick-of-time diagnosis—could have cost this vibrant, vital young woman her life.
People
The bizarre and confounding illness that beset the 24-year-old New York Post reporter in early 2009 so ravaged her mentally and physically that she became unrecognizable to coworkers, family, friends, and—most devastatingly—herself… She dedicates this miracle of a book to "those without a diagnosis"…. [An] unforgettable memoir.
Elle
Focusing her journalistic toolbox on her story, Cahalan untangles the medical mystery surrounding her condition.… A fast-paced and well-researched trek through a medical mystery to a hard-won recovery.
Publishers Weekly
A compelling, quick read with a moving message. Cahalan's hip writing style, sympathetic characters, and suspenseful story will appeal to fans of medical thrillers…. [T]his book may save lives and promote empathy for those struggling with mental illness. —Chrissy Spallone, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Lib.
Library Journal
(Starred review)This fascinating memoir by a young New York Post reporter…describes how she crossed the line between sanity and insanity…Cahalan expertly weaves together her own story and relevant scientific information…compelling.
Booklist
[T]he author conjures the traumatic memories of her harrowing ordeal.… A valiant attempt to recount a mostly forgotten experience, though the many questions that remain may prove frustrating to some readers.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. A quote from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche appears at both the beginning and end of Cahalan’s memoir: "The existence of forgetting has never been proved: we only know that some things do not come to our mind when we want them to." Why do you think Cahalan chooses to recall this quotation at both the story’s start and end? How does it correspond to Cahalan’s tale and its major themes? In addition to the content of the quotation, why is it particularly poignant that the author would choose a quote by Nietzsche to bookend her work?
2. Evaluate and discuss the style and genre of Brain on Fire. Cahalan describes the book as a memoir, but she also says that it reportage. She acknowledges using help from other sources since she has little to no memory of many of the happenings recounted in the book. In the author’s note she goes so far as to describe herself as an "unreliable source." How does this detail affect our experience of and response to her story? What does this indicate about truth and bias in storytelling? What complex issues does it raise in our understanding of works designated as nonfiction?
3. In the author’s note, Cahalan says that her book is "a journalist’s inquiry into that deepest part of self—personality, memory, identity." What does her story reveal about these three subjects? How does her account challenge our preconceptions of these three subjects? Alternatively, how does her account confirm or bolster what we already know and believe about these three subjects?
4. Brain on Fire is divided into three parts and fifty-three chapters. Why is this structure meaningful and important? How does it correspond to some of the major subjects and themes of the book? How does this structure affect our comprehension of the work or our emotional experience of it as readers?
5. Consider and discuss the various reactions to Cahalan’s illness as chronicled in her book. Are the responses uniform or varied? Are they expected or unexpected? What about Cahalan’s own responses to her illness and what she endures? Consider the response she recalls having while she was suffering versus her response after her treatment and recovery. What does consideration of these responses reveal about our responses to the mysterious and the unknown?
6. Consider and discuss your own reactions as readers to what you encounter on the page—at the opening of the story and as the story continues to its conclusion. How did your thoughts, feelings, and opinions change throughout?
7. In Chapter 22 (p. 83), Cahalan refers to a quote by William F. Allman’s book Apprentices of Wonder: Inside the Neural Network Revolution: "The brain is a monstrous beautiful mess." What does Allman mean by this? What does it reveal about the workings of the brain? How does this correspond to what we find revealed in Cahalan’s book?
8. The characters in Brain on Fire—friends, family, medical personnel, and even Cahalan herself—frequently consider if she may be suffering from some form of mental illness. What does the book reveal, then, about our way of thinking about mental illness? For instance, what does Cahalan’s story suggest about the relationship between psychology and neurology? What preconceptions does it reveal about our understanding of mental illness as a society? How does this story help to highlight the necessity of compassionate responses to those who are ill?
9. Cahalan incorporates many epigraphs, quotes, and references to famous figures—Nietzsche, Aristotle, Virginia Wolff, and many others—in her story. What may be the primary reason or reasons for these being included and why are they important?
10. Cahalan has titled her memoir Brain on Fire. What does this title mean and where does it come from?
11. Consider the role of faith in the story—not only religious faith, but also faith defined more broadly to include support for others, faith in one’s self (think not only of Cahalan’s story but of Dr. Najjar’s story), hope and resilience. What role does faith seem to play in success and recovery both for Cahalan and those around her?
12. What are some of the reasons that Cahalan may have chosen to share her story with the public? What lessons can we ultimately learn from her unique story?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Body: A Guide for Occupants
Bill Bryson, 2019
Knopf Doubleday
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385539302
Summary
Bill Bryson, bestselling author of A Short History of Nearly Everything, takes us on a head-to-toe tour of the marvel that is the human body. As addictive as it is comprehensive, this is Bryson at his very best, a must-read owner's manual for everybody.
Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body…
—How it functions
—Its remarkable ability to heal itself
—The ways (unfortunately) it can fail
Full of extraordinary facts (your body made a million red blood cells since you started reading this) and irresistible Bryson-esque anecdotes, The Body will lead you to a deeper understanding of the miracle that is life in general and you in particular.
As Bill Bryson writes, "We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted." The Body will cure that indifference with generous doses of wondrous, compulsively readable facts and information. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 8 1951
• Where—Des Moines, Iowa, USA
• Education—B.A., Drake University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Norfolk, England, UK
William McGuire "Bill" Bryson is a best-selling American author of humorous books on travel, as well as books on the English language and on science. Born an American, he was a resident of North Yorkshire, UK, for most of his professional life before moving back to the US in 1995. In 2003 Bryson moved back to the UK, living in Norfolk, and was appointed Chancellor of Durham University.
Early years
Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, the son of William and Mary Bryson. He has an older brother, Michael, and a sister, Mary Jane Elizabeth.
He was educated at Drake University but dropped out in 1972, deciding to instead backpack around Europe for four months. He returned to Europe the following year with a high school friend, the pseudonymous Stephen Katz (who later appears in Bryson's A Walk in the Woods). Some of Bryson's experiences from this European trip are included as flashbacks in a book about a similar excursion written 20 years later, Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe.
Staying in the UK, Bryson landed a job working in a psychiatric hospital—the now defunct Holloway Sanatorium in Virginia Water in Surrey. There he met his wife Cynthia, a nurse. After marring, the couple moved to the US, in 1975, so Bryson could complete his college degree. In 1977 they moved back to the UK where they remained until 1995.
Living in North Yorkshire and working primarily as a journalist, Bryson eventually became chief copy editor of the business section of The Times, and then deputy national news editor of the business section of The Independent.
He left journalism in 1987, three years after the birth of his third child. Still living in Kirkby Malham, North Yorkshire, Bryson started writing independently, and in 1990 their fourth and final child, Sam, was born.
Books
Bryson came to prominence in the UK with his 1995 publication of Notes from a Small Island, an exploration of Britain. Eight years later, as part of the 2003 World Book Day, Notes was voted by UK readers as the best summing up of British identity and the state of the nation. (The same year, 2003, saw Bryson appointed a Commissioner for English Heritage.)
In 1995, Bryson and his family returned to the US, living in Hanover, New Hampshire for the next eight years. His time there is recounted in the 1999 story collection, I'm A Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to American After 20 Years Away (known as Notes from a Big Country in the UK, Canada and Australia).
It was during this time that Bryson decided to walk the Appalachian Trail with his friend Stephen Katz. The resulting book is the 1998 A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. The book became one of Bryson's all-time bestsellers and was adapted to film in 2015, starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.
In 2003, the Brysons and their four children returned to the UK. They now live in Norfolk.
That same year, Bryson published A Short History of Nearly Everything, a 500-page exploration, in nonscientific terms, of the history of some of our scientific knowledge. The book reveals the often humble, even humorous, beginnings of some of the discoveries which we now take for granted.
The book won Bryson the prestigious 2004 Aventis Prize for best general science book and the 2005 EU Descartes Prize for science communication. Although one scientist is alleged to have jokingly described A Brief History as "annoyingly free of mistakes," Bryson himself makes no such claim, and a list of nine reported errors in the book is available online.
Bryson has also written two popular works on the history of the English language—Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way (1990) and Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States (1994). He also updated of his 1983 guide to usage, Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words. These books were popularly acclaimed and well-reviewed, despite occasional criticism of factual errors, urban myths, and folk etymologies.
In 2016, Bryson published The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in England, a sequel to his Notes from a Small Island.
Honors
In 2005, Bryson was appointed Chancellor of Durham University, succeeding the late Sir Peter Ustinov, and has been particularly active with student activities, even appearing in a Durham student film (the sequel to The Assassinator) and promoting litter picks in the city. He had praised Durham as "a perfect little city" in Notes from a Small Island. He has also been awarded honorary degrees by numerous universities, including Bournemouth University and in April 2002 the Open University.
In 2006, Frank Cownie, the mayor of Des Moines, awarded Bryson the key to the city and announced that 21 October 2006 would be known as "Bill Bryson, The Thunderbolt Kid, Day."
In November 2006, Bryson interviewed the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair on the state of science and education.
On 13 December 2006, Bryson was awarded an honorary OBE for his contribution to literature. The following year, he was awarded the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society of University College Dublin.
In January 2007, Bryson was the Schwartz Visiting Fellow of the Pomfret School in Connecticut.
In May 2007, he became the President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. His first area focus in this role was the establishment of an anti-littering campaign across England. He discussed the future of the countryside with Richard Mabey, Sue Clifford, Nicholas Crane and Richard Girling at CPRE's Volunteer Conference in November 2007. (From Wikipedia. Adapted 2/1/2016.)
Book Reviews
Delightful…. Reveals the thousands of rarely acknowledged tasks our body takes care of as we go about our day.… Informative, entertaining and often gross (kissing, according to one study, transfers up to one billion bacteria from one mouth to another, along with 0.2 micrograms of food bits)…. Bryson, who gives off a Cronkite-like trustworthy vibe, is good at allaying fears and busting myths.
New York Times Book Review
Glorious…. Having described the physical nature of our world and beyond… [Bryson] now turns inward to explain—in his lucid, amusing style—what we’re made of.… Astonishing…. [He] draws on dozens of experts and a couple hundred books to carry the reader from outside to inside… and from miraculous operational efficiencies to malignant mayhem when things go awry.… You will marvel at the brilliance and vast weirdness of your design.
Washington Post
A witty, informative immersion…. The Body—a delightful, anecdote-propelled read—proves one of his most ambitious yet, as he leads us on a head-to-toe tour of a physique that’s terra incognita to many of us…. Playful, lucid… [Bryson] cover[s] a remarkably large swathe of human corporeal and cerebral experience.
Boston Globe
A directory of wonders…. Extraordinary…. A tour of the minuscule; it aims to do for the human body what his A Short History of Nearly Everything did for science.… The prose motors gleefully along, a finely tuned engine running on jokes, factoids and biographical interludes…. Wry, companionable, avuncular and always lucid… [The Body] could stand as an ultimate prescription for life.
Guardian (UK)
Mr. Bryson’s latest book is a Baedeker of the human body, a fact-studded survey of our physiques, inside and out. Many authors have produced such guides in recent years, and some of them are very good. But none have done it quite so well as Mr. Bryson, who writes better, is more amusing and has greater mastery of his material than anyone else.
Wall Street Journal
Bryson launches himself into the wilderness of the human anatomy armed with his characteristic thoroughness and wit. He ably dissects the knowns and unknowns of how we live and die and all the idiosyncrasies of our shared infrastructure.… This book is full of such arresting factoids and, like a douser hunting water, Bryson is adept at finding the bizarre and the arcane in his subject matter.… Amazing.
USA Today
(Starred review) Bryson’s tone is both informative and inviting, encouraging the reader, throughout this exemplary work, to share the sense of wonder he expresses at how the body is constituted and what it is capable of.
Publishers Weekly
[Bryson] keeps the science lively by interweaving facts and statistics with anecdotes, interviews with scientists and doctors, and his trademark dry humor.… Bryson has shaped an enormous amount of anatomy and physiology into an informative and entertaining biostory. —Cynthia Lee Knight, Hunterdon Cty. Historical Soc., Flemington, NJ
Library Journal
(Starred review) A delightful tour guide…. Bryson's stroll through human anatomy, physiology, evolution, and illness (diabetes, cancer, infections) is instructive, accessible, and entertaining.
Booklist
A narrative by Bryson rarely involves the unfolding of a grand thesis; instead, it's a congeries of anecdotes, skillfully strung, always a pleasure to read but seldom earthshakingly significant. So it is here.… A pleasing, entertaining sojourn into the realm of what makes us tick.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for THE BODY … then take off on your own:
1. Were you surprised by the myriad physical processes that your body performs as you go about your daily life? How about things like the number of oxygen molecules you breathe in and out every so many minutes … or those cute little mites that dine on your eyebrows? (Oh yum.)
2. If we're lucky enough, we take our bodies for granted. Has reading Bill Bryson's book opened your eyes to just how remarkable these large clusters of cells actually are, how well (for the most part) they perform their jobs?
3. (Follow-up to Question 2) Unfortunately, our bodies aren't always in good health, yet over the years science has developed treatments for disease and physical dysfunction. Sometimes they have been legendary cures, like Jonas Falk's vaccine for polio. Other times they have been the seemingly insignificant things like, say, the use of agar in petrie dishes. Talk about some of the unsung heroes—those who never became household names but whose work resulted in important discoveries.
4. What are some of the myths about health that Bryson says have been debunked by science. What surprised you: perhaps the information antioxidants or how often men think about sex?
5. What does Bryson have to say about the overuse of antibiotics? How have we gotten ourselves to the point where we find ourselves in a bacterial "arms race"? How do we win? Can we win?
6. Overall, what do you think of Bill Bryson's The Body? Do you feel informed, that you've learned something valuable after reading it? Is it engaging? Does it offer a good balance of science and technology with readable prose for the non-expert? Is it funny?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Leaving the Wild: The Unnatural History of Dogs, Cats, Cows, and Horses
Gavin Ehringer, 2017
Pegasus
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781681775562
Summary
A thought-provoking and surprising book that explores the ever-evolving relationship between humans and domesticated animals.
The domestication of animals changed the course of human history. But what about the animals who abandoned their wild existence in exchange for our care and protection?
Domestication has proven to be a wildly successful survival strategy. But this success has not been without its drawbacks. A modern dairy cow’s daily energy output equals that of a Tour de France rider. Feral cats overpopulate urban areas. And our methods of breeding horses and dogs have resulted in debilitating and sometimes lethal genetic diseases.
But these problems and more can be addressed, if we have the will and the compassion.
Human values and choices determine an animal’s lot in life even before he or she is born. Just as a sculptor’s hands shape clay, so human values shape our animals—for good and or ill. The little-examined, yet omnipresent act of breeding lies at the core of Gavin Ehringer's eye-opening book.
You’ll meet cows cloned from steaks, a Quarter horse stallion valued at $7.5 million, Chinese dogs that glow in the dark, and visit a Denver cat show featuring naked cats and other cuddly mutants. Is this what the animals bargained for all those millennia ago, when they first joined us by the fire? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Award-winning journalist Gavin Ehringer is a former cowboy, a horseman, and a dog trainer. He’s written for a wide range of animal publications, including Western Horseman, The Chronicle of the Horse, Dog Fancy, and Dogster. He is also the author of five animal-related books over a career that spans thirty years. Ehringer lives in Colorado Springs. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Animal devotees will be eager to explore Ehringer’s interpretative research…. His engrossing study presents ways humans can set and maintain high ethical and moral standards for the breeding and care of our animal partners.
Shelf Awareness
Ehringer explores how dogs, cats, cows, and horses have fared under domestication and human association.… [R]ecommended for those interested in a casual read. —Cynthia Lee Knight, Hunterdon Cty. Historical Soc., Flemington, NJ
Library Journal
Ehringer writes about the different ways dairy cattle are maintained, the 1980s craze for Arabian horses, the problem of feral-cat colonies, and the ongoing issues surrounding the dog known as the pit bull, fodder for Ehringer’s tracing of the part humans have played in the unnatural history of domestic animals.
Booklist
Ehringer chronicles our changing relations — changes mostly not for the better — with the world of familiar animals.… Solid, well-reported popular science for animal lovers.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discusion for Leaving the Wild … then take off on your own:
1. In what way does Gavin Ehringer see animal domestication as a double-edged sword?
2. What does the author suggest we can do to improve the lives of the animals in our care?
3. What do you see as the best and the worst cases in terms of how we have used science in our treatment of animals?
4. Talk about pitbulls. What are some of the ongoing controversies surrounding that breed? Have you known pitbulls — either a pure bred or a mixed breed?
5. How does Ehringer view the future of the cow?
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Letters from an Astrophysicist
Neil deGrasse Tyson, 2019
W.W. Norton
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781324003311
Summary
A luminous companion to the phenomenal bestseller Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has attracted one of the world’s largest online followings with his fascinating, widely accessible insights into science and our universe.
Now, Tyson invites us to go behind the scenes of his public fame by revealing his correspondence with people across the globe who have sought him out in search of answers.
In this hand-picked collection of 101 letters, Tyson draws upon cosmic perspectives to address a vast array of questions about science, faith, philosophy, life, and of course, Pluto. His succinct, opinionated, passionate, and often funny responses reflect his popularity and standing as a leading educator.
Tyson’s 2017 bestseller Astrophysics for People in a Hurry offered more than one million readers an insightful and accessible understanding of the universe. Tyson’s most candid and heartfelt writing yet, Letters from an Astrophysicist introduces us to a newly personal dimension of Tyson’s quest to explore our place in the cosmos. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 5, 1958
• Where—New York City, New York, USA
• Education—B.S., Harvard University; M.S., University of Texas; M.S., Ph.D., Columbia University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, author, and science communicator. Since 1996, he has been the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. The center is part of the American Museum of Natural History, where Tyson founded the Department of Astrophysics in 1997 and has been a research associate in the department since 2003.
Born and raised in New York City, Tyson became interested in astronomy at the age of nine after a visit to the Hayden Planetarium. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, where he was editor-in-chief of the Physical Science Journal, he completed a bachelor's degree in physics at Harvard University in 1980.
After receiving a master's degree in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983, he earned his master's (1989) and doctorate (1991) in astrophysics at Columbia University. For the next three years, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University. In 1994, he joined the Hayden Planetarium as a staff scientist and the Princeton faculty as a visiting research scientist and lecturer. In 1996, he became director of the planetarium and oversaw its $210-million reconstruction project, which was completed in 2000.
From 1995 to 2005, Tyson wrote monthly essays in the "Universe" column for Natural History magazine, some of which were published in his books Death by Black Hole (2007) and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (2017). During the same period, he wrote a monthly column in Star Date magazine, answering questions about the universe under the pen name "Merlin." Material from the column appeared in his books Merlin's Tour of the Universe (1998) and Just Visiting This Planet (1998).
Tyson served on a 2001 government commission on the future of the U.S. aerospace industry, and on the 2004 Moon, Mars and Beyond commission. He was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in the same year. From 2006 to 2011, he hosted the television show NOVA ScienceNow on PBS. Since 2009, Tyson hosted the weekly podcast StarTalk. A spin-off, also called StarTalk, began airing on National Geographic in 2015.
In 2014, he hosted the television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a successor to Carl Sagan's 1980 series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences awarded Tyson the Public Welfare Medal in 2015 for his "extraordinary role in exciting the public about the wonders of science." (Excerpted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 6/72/2017.)
Book Reviews
Scintillating…. Tyson’s latest is a stimulating companion to his Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and both are recommended for inspiring readers wary of science to give it a chance.
Booklist
Tyson… delivers few surprises and much admirable commentary.… Again and again he defends "science," and his criteria… are not controversial but will remain easy for zealots to dismiss.… [T]he author also discusses philosophy, parenting, and schooling.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for LETTERS FROM AN ASTROPHYSICIST … then take off on your own:
1. Granted the fact that your decision to read this book suggests you have a personal appreciation for, if not perhaps deep knowledge of, science. Nonetheless, has the book challenged, altered, or confirmed your understanding of science itself and/or it's importance in solving issues facing human kind?
2. Consider the criteria required for scientific theories—observation, repeatable experiments, honest discourse, peer review. Then consider how we use the word "theory" in daily parlance: "I have this theory…" or "it's just a theory…" Does Tyson do a good job of explaining the painstaking methodology that under girds our knowledge of the world versus our casual use of the word theory?
3. How does deGrasse Tyson handle the letters that denounce him personally, debunk science, or make claims regarding ghosts, UFOs, or Bigfoot?
4. (Follow-up to Question 3) How do you rate deGrasse Tyson's response to his various correspondents? Which was your favorite response? Were there some in which you think he missed the mark?
5. (Follow-up to Question 4) Which were your favorite letters sent to deGrasse Tyson. If you were to write to him, what question(s) would you want to know?
6. What nuggets of scientific knowledge surprised you most in the book?
7. How does Tyson view the relationship between science and religion? What are the differences? Do those differences rise to the level of conflict … or do the two subjects occupy completely separate realms making it impossible for one to critique the other?
8. Talk about the path Neil deGrasse Tyson took to become a scientist, starting with his youthful inspirations and mentors.
9. Degrasse Tyson says that "True science literacy is less about what you know and more about how your brain is wired for asking questions." What does he mean?
10. The author reveals a great deal about his personal philosophy, the things he loves, and his fear. Having read this collection, how would you describe him? Is he someone you would want to know or spend time with?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)