ON CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE, LIFE AND DEATH, SYNESTHETES
ANDMORE
CHILDREN WHO SEE TOO MUCH: LESSONS FROM THE CHILD WITNESS TO
VIOLENCE PROJECT Beacon Press, $25
A man interrupts his assault on his wife to tell his daughter
Jenna, "If you call the police, I'll beat you." Jenna, age 9, runs from
the house and is later wracked by guilt for abandoning her mother. Betsy
Groves, founder of the Child Witness to Violence Project at Boston
Medical Center, writes of the horrendous violence children witness,
mostly in their own homes, and of its devastating effects on them. One
cannot read this book without thinking, "Surely, if we are a civilized
nation, we can do better than this."
WHAT CAN I DO? A BOOK FOR CHILDREN OF DIVORCE Magination Press,
$14.95
THE DIVORCE HELPBOOK FOR KIDS Impact, $12.95
Books and support groups for adults going through divorce abound,
but what about for the kids? Two books aimed at 8- to 12-year-olds may
help. In What Can I Do? "Rosie" tries various tactics to bring her
parents together. When her efforts fail, she becomes angry and irritable.
Author and school guidance counselor Danielle Lowry, M.S., has Rosie
visit her school guidance counselor, who provides support and useful
information. The Divorce Helpbook for Kids, by children's book author
Cynthia MacGregor, answers many questions ("Will my name change?" "What
if Mom and I move far away?") and suggests exercises for dealing with
stress (keep a diary; talk to someone who can help). Both books emphasize
that divorce is not the child's fault and that their parents are
divorcing each other, not the children. These are things all children
need to hear when their parents are splitting up.
LIFE AND DEATH ON YOUR OWN TERMS Prometheus Books, $26
Woody Allen once said that he wasn't afraid of dying, he just
didn't want to be there when it happens. Dying scares many of us more
than death. L.L. Basta, M.D., clinical professor of medicine at the
University of South Florida, attempts to take some of the fear out of
anticipating dying with an advance directive that allows us to instruct
our final caregivers when we are no longer able to speak for ourselves.
Whether this is better than a living will is debatable, but the
importance of preparing for departing this world is not.
BLUE CATS AND CHARTREUSE KITTENS: HOW SYNESTHETES COLOR THEIR
WORLDS W.H. Freeman, $24
When I was a boy, the number five was red and eight was black. Many
children sometimes experience a blending of sensations, seeing sounds and
hearing colors, for example, but true synesthetes, or people who
routinely experience a blending of different sensations, are rare. So are
books about them. This one, by synesthete Patricia Duffy, offers few
scientific insights but provides a rich panoply of sensory experiences
that we can share vicariously.
IT MUST HAVE BEEN MOONGLOW Villard, $19.95
After 56 years of marriage, Phyllis Greene became "just another
widow." But not quite: Three weeks after husband Bob's death, she began
to keep a journal, and the core of that work forms this book. Reading it
will not cure any widow's grief, but sharing the author's misery might
lighten a reader's burden.
TRIUMPH OVER SHYNESS: CONQUERING SHYNESS AND SOCIAL ANXIETY
McGraw-Hill, $19.95
Slight shyness is an appealing quality, like dimples, but severe
anxiety in social situations can be disabling, interfering not only with
intimate relationships (very shy people are less likely to marry), but
with virtually all aspects of a person's life. Authors Murray Stein,
M.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San
Diego, and John Walker, Ph.D., director of the Anxiety Disorders Program
at St. Boniface General Hospital in Winnipeg, Canada, have written a book
that provides useful information and specific guidance for reducing and
overcoming shyness.
AIR RAGE: CRISIS IN THE SKIES Prometheus, $20
The events of September 11, 2001 notwithstanding, "air rage," when
airline passengers "act crazy or menacing," may yet be, as the authors
claim, "today's greatest threat to the safety and security of the flying
public." The authors, an anonymous airline industry "insider" and
journalist Andrew Thomas, identify several causal factors of air rage,
including alcohol and drug abuse, mental illness, overcrowded planes and
the lack of punishment of offenders. Although the authors suggest steps
to reduce the danger, this is not a book likely to increase airline
ticket sales.
THE HAUNTED SMILE: THE STORY OF JEWISH COMEDIANS IN AMERICA Public
Affairs, $16.50
What do comedians George Burns, Joan Rivers and Jerry Seinfeld have
in common? All are Jewish. While Jews make up only about 3 percent of the
U.S. population, 80 percent of professional comics are Jewish. What's so
funny about being Jewish? Author Lawrence Epstein, an authority on Jewish
literature, doesn't offer much insight into that question, but he does
provide a highly entertaining look at some of the most fascinating
personalities in American culture.
PT LINKS
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