The Paradox of Sleep: The Story of Dreaming (MIT Press, 1999) by
sleeppioneer Michel Jouvet is a short scholarly book that tells the story
of science's (mostly unsuccessful) struggle to understand the nature and
purpose of dreams.
If you are suffering the agony of debilitating depression, you may
find solace and useful information in Malignant Sadness: The Anatomy of
Depression (Free Press, 2000). In this part-memoir, part-scientific
inquiry, biologist Lewis Wolpert suggests that depression is sadness run
amok.
In Taming the Troublesome Child (Harvard University Press, 1999),
historian Kathleen Jones explains clearly, though possibly a bit
laboriously for some readers, how Americans came to view troublesome
children as products of troubled parents, especially mothers, and how
they developed an army of child guidance experts to intervene.
While it is no longer politically correct to tell dumb blond jokes,
victims of mental illness are still fair game for ridicule and
discrimination, says psychologist Otto Wahl in Telling is Risky Business:
Mental Health Consumers Confront Stigma (Rutgers University Press, 1999).
Wahl documents social, professional and legal ostracization of people who
suffer from serious mental illness.
The secret to health and long life may be as simple as staying
connected to friends, family; neighbors and to some higher purpose, says
physician Edward Hallowell, author of Connect (Pantheon, 1999). He
identifies 12 areas that play critical roles in our lives, and through
entertaining anecdotes, suggests ways to build meaningful relationships
in each area.
In The Gift of a Year: How to Achieve the Most Meaningful,
Satisfying, and Pleasurable Year of Your Life (Dutton, 2000), Mira
Kirshenbaum tells women to devote a year to the fulfillment of a dream:
From finally making time for R&R to becoming more assertive or
writing poetry.
Stormy Night (Kids Can Press, 1999) by Montreal artist Michele
Lemieux struggles with fundamental philosophical quandaries in a light
cartoon format, posing questions such as: Where does infinity end? What
will my future be? Where do the ideas in my head come from? The book may
serve as a conversation starter for thoughtful parents and gifted
children.
Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training (Bantam,
1999) is the revised edition of the 1984 classic by professional animal
trainer Karen Pryor. Pryor proposes that pets be rewarded for good
behavior--with a noisemaker signal or treat--rather than punished for bad
behavior. Astute readers may find it also improves their efforts to cope
with other beasts, such as teenagers and spouses.
POP GOES THE PHOBIA
Resolution 2000 and a half: Hell) the neurotics in your life take
the first step toward confronting profound fears by offering them The
Pop-Up Book of Phobias (Roi) Welsbach Books, 1999) by Gary Greenberg.
This leather-hound, macabre masterpiece brings anxieties about flying,
spiders, dentists and dying to three-dimensional light. It is terrifying
but captivating when the dentist's drill comes spinning out; when the
edge of a skyscraper looms hundreds of feet above the sidewalk below; or
when the airplane shifts to an angle that is just wrong. After this
experience, your friends should be ready for anything. Moral of this
story: Enjoy life enough to appreciate a silly satire.
Adapted by Ph.D.
