Marlena by Julie Buntin

Marlena by Julie Buntin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A beautiful exploration of young friendship, its betrayals, and its lasting love and effects.

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High Price by Carl Hart

High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society by Carl Hart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

About 60% memoir (very good interesting memoir) and 40% the science of drug effects that the author researches professionally. Super interesting and thoughtful book that will probably change the way you think about drug abuse, though I think it's a better memoir than it is a science book.

As a science book, there is a little more to be desired. I've read previous accounts of Rat Park and other such studies, but the author only mentions them in passing without fully explaining the study and the implications for humans and drug laws and policy. I followed what he was getting at because I've read other related books, but I'm not sure if he provides enough information if someone is coming to this without previous reading on the topic. Also, I would have appreciated more information about Adderall in general since it is often used to treat children. With regards to the actual science, the personal account is a little irrelevant, especially since the author is stressing how useless anecdotes of "monstrous" drug users are when assessing the real effects of drugs. Well, that works both ways, his personal accounts how he managed to create a life for himself isn't specifically relevant to the examination of drugs, except that he became a drug researcher and his viewpoint with regards to the racism behind the drug policies. But that doesn't require a full memoir to convey.

As for the memoir, kind of sexist. I could have lived with fewer references to "chasing pussy." I understand he's trying to explain the perspective of his friends and family in the memoir, but he didn't exactly disown or condone this perspective in any way. I don't think it's so blatant that it will destroy interest in the memoir, but it might be a lot for some readers.

Overall, a good book worth reading: interesting from start to finish, a good memoir, and decent science book.

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Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This has everything: moral conscience, adventure, family, romance, feminism, politics, and religion. It's literary fiction and it has an element of fantasy. Some of it reads like a poetry. Worth reading.

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Forward: A Memoir by Abby Wambach

Forward: A Memoir by Abby Wambach
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The best thing about this book is how honest Abby Wambach is about her struggles. She seems like a very decent person, and her honesty might help people struggling with similar issues. I'm not a big sports fan, but her descriptions of games were interesting and not too lengthy.

Unfortunately, the book isn't very well written. There's a lot of public statements and personal emails in the book- and those are largely filled with cliches. Her most important relationship in the book (besides her relationship with her mother) is her relationship with her wife Sarah, and I closed the book without actually knowing anything about it. She doesn't explain how she fell in love with Sarah in any detail, while her relationship with Hailey was covered in some very personal detail. Though we are told many times that she and Sarah were having problems after she didn't go back to Buffalo, there's no actual discussion of what the specific problems are or how she and Sarah tried to work through them.

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Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks

Hallucinations by Oliver Sacks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sacks details all the reasons why someone might have visual, olfactory, or disassociative hallucinations. Most of the conditions he covers are not related to psychosis, meaning the person is often aware that the hallucinations are not real (at first or eventually- though some of these conditions do cause confusion as to what is real and what is not). The book structure and focus, seems to be because Sacks is determined to protect patients against a misdiagnosis of psychosis. There is no sense of what the psychosis and non-psychosis percents are though.

I probably didn't need so many real-life examples of all the hallucinations themselves, particularly the repetitive kind- I guess a lot of conditions cause people to hallucinate Lilliputians? Okay, understood.

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On the Move: A Life by Oliver Sacks

On the Move: A Life by Oliver Sacks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I especially enjoyed the parts where he focused on his scientific life, but it was interesting to see how his personal and professional life intermingled. He faced a lot of difficulties both personally and professionally and it seems like he didn't overcome these difficulties so much as he was just able to keep going which is inspirational to those of us who aren't skilled at "overcoming."

At times though the narrative dissolved into a list of interesting people he met or things that happened to him one afternoon, and I found that both boring and disappointing for the overall structure of the book. It's worth reading, particularly if you're a fan of neuroscience or Sacks personally (both of which I am).

PS. Sacks can easily convince a reader to never ever try PCP. Holy cow!

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The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley

The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very interesting book about how peyote/mescaline affect perception and consciousness. Mescaline is the active property occurring naturally in peyote and some other breeds of cactus. It was particularly interesting to me in light of the meditation and mindfulness books I've read this year. Huxley takes mescaline, records it, and have friends observe him and ask him questions while he's on it. It's a very interesting format.

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (in Journeys Through Oz) by L. Frank Baum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is well known to everyone since the movie is so famous that even if you haven't seen the movie, you know almost exactly what happens. There's not much more to be said about the first book except that it's a story about confidence in your abilities and proceeds the way many kids books do: first this happened, then this, then this.

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Waking Up by Sam Harris

Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I thought this book was really interesting. I think his negative view of religion hurt how broadly available this book will be to others. However, I thought his interpretation of some of the science and his unique descriptions of his experiences with and understanding of mindfulness and meditation is invaluable to someone trying to understand consciousness and mindfulness.

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Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher

Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is Fisher’s second memoir. I also read her first one, Wishful Drinking, which is more of a conventional memoir so I recommend reading that one first. This one is more of a series of super interesting anecdotes. Nonetheless, I like this one better than the first.

Wow, Ted Kennedy sounds like a huge misogynist asshole in Fisher’s account of meeting him. Despite being a liberal myself, I’ve always suspected the worst of him, so it’s easy to just trust Fisher’s account.

The Michael Jackson account is also fascinating but maybe less reliable because she makes a lot of assumptions about him.

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The Book of Drugs: A Memoir by Mike Doughty

The Book of Drugs: A Memoir by Mike Doughty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm pretty biased in Doughty's favor because I'm a fan of all of his music. On the other hand, maybe I'm also biased in the other direction because I take some of his scathing criticism of his fans a little personally. So take what I say however you will.

He writes well, and he writes honestly. He betrays even his darkest thoughts. I believe there is goodness in truth, and so there is goodness in this book.

But, but, but: Though he is harsh on himself by admitting every thought, it's tricky because he's not precisely sorry for the bigger moral transgressions. It's not the drugs that are a gateway to worse things, but falterings in morality. We have to hold ourselves to a high moral standard-- not out of snootiness or superiority-- but so we can be happy with ourselves and each other. Maybe he's trying to reach some of this at the end, but it sort of feels like a slapped on cheery ending. It doesn't really sound like him.

Still a big fan.

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The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In order to illustrate the very close relationship between certain plants and humans, Pollan uses the examples of apples (I will be drinking more hard cider), tulips, marijuana, and potatoes. It's a bit slow in places, especially the tulip chapter. The marijuana chapter is very entertaining and informative, and the potato chapter is the most terrifying.

I might reread Omnivore now as it's been a decade since I read it, and I didn't then have the same background info I have now. Also, this book encourages a lot of Pinker and Dawkins reading, so I might do that as well.

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