I find it hard to review this book but the best way would say this is a standard Jackie Collins novel. If you want a break from the world and a peak into the lives of people driven by vanity, wealth, sex and drama, then pick up this book for a bit of candy for the brain. This could be read in one sitting (a rather very short novel).

This is an essential summary of almost (the book was published in 2007,) current thinking on neuroplasticity--one of the hot topics of the last few, and next several, years. This is because for a long time scientists viewed the human brain as an isolated, unrepairable machine that was pretty much built and finished by the time we reached adulthood. Now we have so much evidence to the contrary that we are trading in an old scientific model for a brand new one, and then racing down the highway with it. This book describes that change.

Doige traces the various experiments that have led up to our present awareness of the brain as plastic. He shows how everything we do, and how we do it, constantly rewires our brains and can even, at times, change our epigenetic expression. This is extrodinary news for people recovering from strokes, good news for people fighting O/C, depression and other mental maladies, and sobering news for all -- in that its implications mean that we can no longer pretend that our cultural choices are irrelevent, for the asthetic and the ethical are not seperate realms. We now have a better grasp of how the culture we make, makes us. Or as the book says, "To a larger degree than we suspected, culture determines what we can and cannot perceive." So-- since we now know more about what produces what sorts of human beings, the question becomes, what choices will we make about who we are and who we will become. Sobering indeed.

While this chronicles an interesting time and place, the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, each chapter became somewhat repetitive and boring. There isn't really enough information about the real-life characters to care that much about them. Disappointing considering it was the winner of the National Book Award for nonfiction.

Collections of essays, where different authors attack different subjects garnered together under a loosely-defined topic, tend to inspire nothing but yawns. So then how did this collection turn into such a great read? Perhaps because the historians gathered here are all first rate writers, and, one would guess, because they are allowed to let loose on subjects they ardently care about. It is a joy to read Evan Thomas on Robert Kennedy or Frances FitzGerald on Charles Finney. In fact, at one point FitzGerald almost starts to rant, so frustrated and bewildered is she by Finney's lack of fame. To see such erudite,well-balanced professionals expose their intellectual crushes is heaven indeed, especially considering the levels of admiration, affection and clear insights they bring.

In Russian with English subtitles, but soon that makes little difference, as you get into the story. Spanning several decades, the film deals with lives of 3 Soviet women, friends since their teens. Very effective, and all the actors did an excellent job.

This is the most chilling and realistic film about Hitler's last days that I have ever seen. I don't know about anyone else, but I always have a hard time accepting Hitler speaking perfect English with an upper class British accent. Because this one is in German with subtitles, this is definitely not a problem. "Told" from the point of view of one of Hitler's private secretaries, who was present for all the events that occured just prior to Hitler's suicide in the bunker, this film feels and looks more like a documentary than drama. It also contains arguably one of the most psychologically frightening scenes in film history - the poisoning of the 5 Goebbels children by their own mother. Although it may be very disturbing to many viewers, I cannot recommend this movie enough.

A very well made film about the latter part of Thomas More's life. He is a bit too idealized in this one, but on the whole the portrayal works. Recommended to Tudor era film fans.

This is a prequel to "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" and "Elizabeth R". Has significantly more parts than the other two, it occasionally moves somewhat slowly, which is why it may mostly appeal to hard core English history/BBC fans (like yours truly). But if you liked the former two, you will enjoy this one too.

This is a fascinating book for at least three reasons.

First of all, by honing in on specific vignettes of particular people doing particular things, Appiah engages the readers' feelings as well as their minds. When history comes alive it is a compelling as a good story, and the author uses our sense of lived experience to lead the reader into considering the deeper implications of what an honor code is, how it operates, and its strengths and weaknesses. This is the author's second success, granting laypeople a painless, complex knowledge that allows for deeper thought. Once this is achieved Appiah can move into his major point and third success,showing how codes can change, improving peoples' lives. In short, a bravo performance of edifying middlebrow literature, a genre more likely to make for the sort of moral revolutions this book describes, than perhaps any other.