Not Fair

The thing is, had a never read a Faye Kellerman book, I think I would be more fair to Jonathan Kellerman books.  It's just that every page of every Faye Kellerman book has made me want to keep turning.  I have never wanted to skip or skim.  Not so with many books that I still love.  But F. Kellerman is just that good!
Breakdown was a good book!  And again the thing is, I would have given it a five if I wasn't always saying, "Man I wish Peter and Rina were involved!"  So not fair of me!
Anyway, I recommend Dr. Delaware to anyone.

Lucky Find!

Our local middle school librarian found herself with a copy of Stoned:  Jewelry, Obsession and How Desire Shapes the World.  Knowing middle school kids, she knew right away that the title would be provocative.  For sure. But also, the book was an adult book.  Some high school kids MIGHT like it, maybe, but that would be a big maybe, but this was not for seventh and eighth graders.  But when I started looking at the book I thought it sounded really interesting and so I bought it on audible and man, I am so glad I stumbled on to this!  Heavy on a lot of history that I didn't know, I found this to be fascinating and am going to suggest it for our non-fiction book group next time.  Aja Raden is a professional jewelry designer, but this is about more than jewelry.  It's about Armand Hammer, and the Dutch buying the Manhattan and Fabergé eggs and Marie Antoinette and so much more.  Great, great and very interesting book!

Get Me Some Kellerman

I have read a lot of Kellermans and written about them a lot, too.  Savage Spawn:  Reflections on Violent Children is an old nonfiction book.  Written in 1999, there are so many more horror stories that it would include today.  This was published just before the Columbine shooting, for example, I assume.  Although folks on goodreads remarked their surprise at it not being included, the book was published in 1999 and the massacre took place in 1999, and it takes a long process to write and publish a book, regardless of the exact date, this one was done before April 20.
In addition to being an author, Kellerman is has a PhD in Psychology and has done a great deal of work with children.  He is very informed on the topic.  This work seems like a very balanced read.  The pros and cons of nature vs. nurture, an examination of what begets violence, is it the media?  Maybe, maybe not.  Is it oppression?  Poverty?  Education?  Maybe, maybe not.  There is discussion of psychopathology as well.  A lot to think about and Kellerman doesn't claim that he or anyone has the answers. But one thing he definitely takes a stand on is children's access to guns.  He admits he has gotten a lot of criticism about this but it makes sense.  I know I always repeat the story that there was a knife attack in China in a school on the same day that the Sandy Hook nightmare occurred.  No fatalities.  Dude to strict gun laws.  Could anyone have stopped the nut who stabbed the Chinese children?  Could anyone have stopped the nut who shot the children of Sandy Hook?  Who knows?  But if the Sandy Hook nut had not had a gun....

He is what he is....

Some of the negative reviews for The Psychopath Inside:  a neuroscientist's journey into the dark side of the brain confused me.  Folks were very critical of the author, saying that he was full of himself or a jerk and the like, and I thought, "um...didn't they read the title?"  

The guy is a psychopath.  The title says so and the author continues to say so in the book, so it shouldn't come as a surprise!  

I wasn't put off by the author, but rather the scientific stuff was way beyond me, so I didn't rate it very high.  If you know more about the brain itself, you might enjoy it more.  It is a quick read.  Yes, the guy isn't a nice guy.  As the title says, he's a psychopath!  

I Don't Know How Long It Will Last

hopefully forever, but Traffic:  why we drive the way we do (and what it says about us) has made me a more careful driver, I believe.  What a neat little book.  Well it isn't too little.  It's more than 400 pages which is a lot for me! It was weird to listen to this book while driving.  I was stuck in traffic more than a few times during my listening.  Fascinating stuff.  I love to drive and I love books like this!