Blink:
The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
By Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown)
A celebration of the power of quick thinking. Why is it that hunches, snap judgments and high-speed decision-making can be more accurate than deliberate analysis? Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, argues that rapid cognition and "thin-slicing" -- quickly recognizing underlying patterns -- may feel like a bolt from the blue but are a matter of experience and training. Blink is a delightful read, introducing us to ace bird-watchers, master marital counselor John Gottman, the designers of the Aeron chair and the best car salesman in New Jersey.
Science Friction:
Where the Known meets the Unknown
By Michael Shermer (Henry Holt)
For someone who believes that science trumps opinion, Shermer, founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, reveals a surprising number of personal details in his eclectic collection of essays. He ranks the stirrup as a top-100 invention, and he once tried colonics in preparation for a bike race. But his main obsession is the truth, not himself. Amateur skeptics will learn from his matter-of-fact dismissals of astrology and creationism, though only committed skeptics -- true non-believers? -- will appreciate his dry analysis of Star Trek.
Poe's Heart and the Mountain Climber:
Exploring the Effect of Anxiety on our Brains and our Culture
By Richard Restak (Harmony/Crown)
Fear, anxiety, angst: Neurologist Restak explores this unholy trinity of the modern era, explaining why so many of us tremble and fret. He combines brain biology with anecdotes about lonely parrots, adrenaline junkies and people whose lives have been undone by fear, including the sad story of a subway conductor who was plagued by visions after accidentally running down a homeless woman on the tracks. Restak also offers straightforward tips on combating anxiety -- and the reassurance that fear is part of being human.
What it Takes to Pull Me Through:
Why Teenagers Get in Trouble and How Four of Them Got Out
By David L. Marcus (Houghton Mifflin)
Readers will find themselves pulling for four kids in crisis -- and their parents -- in this absorbing account of 14 months at the Academy at Swift River, a school for troubled teens. Hope and courage develop in an inner-city boy clouded by depression, a privileged girl addicted to drugs and sex, a boy coming to terms with being adopted and a girl coping with her mother's death. Marcus details their successes and heartaches -- one passage describes how academy graduates deal with the death of one of their own.
Eyeing the Flash:
The Education of a Carnival Con Artist
By Peter Fenton (Simon and Schuster)
Peter Fenton, a former reporter for the National Enquirer, begins his memoir when he was 15, living in an idyllic Michigan town. A gawky 108-pounder, Peter is approached after geometry class by Jackie, a carnie grifter who says he started training elephants at age 6. Under Jackie's wing, Peter learns how to fleece carnivalgoers, survive carnie life and turn himself from a mouse into a shark. Fenton's take on 1960s suburban life is reminiscent of David Sedaris. You'll grin your way through the chapters.
13 Dreams Freud Never Had:
The New Mind Science
By J. Allan Hobson (Pi Press)
Even as a university student, J. Allan Hobson was obsessed by dreams. He first participated in Dreamstage (a theatrical museum like exhibit), then studied dream theory and brain physiology. Now a Harvard psychiatry professor, Hobson uses neuroscientific research to explain the dreaming process, bringing credibility to this interdisciplinary field. What's most engaging in 13 Dreams, though, are the salacious tidbits Hobson shares from his own dreams at the beginning of every chapter -- complete with sketches from his bedside journals and prophetic details about his extramarital affairs.
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