I Like My Brown Skin Because . . ., by Julia A. Davis

When Julia Davis's grandson asked her if her brown skin made her sad, Davis (after the shock wore off) was inspired to write a book about her pride in her brown-skinned forebears.  When culture seems to degrade or devalue those with brown skin, all of us, children especially, need reminders of the great people of the past and present who have brown skin and to whom we can look as role models.

Davis goes all the way back to Africa, describing the accomplishments and culture of Africans before Europeans colonized their lands and enslaved their people.  She tells of the strength of black people who suffered under slavery, and the bravery of those who participated in the Civil Rights Movement.  She describes the accomplishments of black war heroes, inventors, entrepreneurs, educators, doctors, politicians, engineers, and more.

With each chapter, she concludes with an admonition to the readers to look to what these people accomplished and an encouragement to follow their lead.  She writes, "No matter what negative comments others make about you, don't let their thinking stop you from reaching your goals and your full potential."

I love her positive attitude and the constant refrain that black people don't have to let unjust laws, societal pressure, racist attitudes, and the like keep them from living their lives well.  She acknowledges what many perceive as current reality: "'White privilege' still exists in most American institutions."  In my opinion she takes this a little too far (She says we live in "a nation that preaches equal opportunity for all, while practicing a policy of white privilege and black suppression.")  She's correct that suppression and restrictions in the past have lasting effects today, in terms of family wealth, education, and geography.  My own experience, and the experience of many of the contemporary African-Americans she profiles in the book, tell me white privilege is on the way out.

I Like My Brown Skin . . . will inspire young readers (old ones, too!) and instill an appreciation for the hard work, sacrifices, and accomplishments of black people throughout American history.  It's a hall of heroes; pick your role model.  Hopefully Ms. Davis's grandson, and kids of all ages with brown skin, can join her in saying, "I like my brown skin!"

(I do have to add one thing, concerning her admiration for Obama.  I know it's historically significant that he is the first African-American president.  But her praise of him was really over the top.  I laughed out loud when she called him "a brilliant African-American constitutional scholar."  Sure, he taught some classes at the University of Chicago law school, but he has never published any scholarly articles, on the Constitution or anything else.  This is one of many reasons I believe Obama was judged and elected based on his color not on his character or qualifications.  And before you accuse me of "resent[ing] his occupation of that office due to the color of his skin," just know that no matter his race, I don't like his politics and policies.  All of this is to say, after reading about the heroic, accomplished African Americans in I Like My Brown Skin Because . . ., I understand you have to include Obama because of his historical place, but the hagiography and skewed accounting of his record as president tainted the presentation.)

OK, political rant over.  It's a great book!  Buy it for your kids!

To read a sample and to purchase the book,
visit the Epps-Alford web site.

i-Minds, by Mari K. Swingle

Look around, at the dinner table, on public transportation, at other drivers at a stop light (or driving on the road), at work, just about anywhere, and many, maybe most, maybe all of the people you see are transfixed by their smart phones.  A boon to communication and information?  A detriment to social interaction?  A signal of permanent changes in the structure of our brains and of society?  All of the above?  Psychoneurophysiologist Dr. Mari K. Swingle writes in i-Minds: How Cell Phones, Computers, Gaming, and Social Media are Changing Our Brains, Our Behavior, and the Evolution of Our Species that, in fact, our brains can change as a result of what she calls i-tech, but that doesn't have to be the bottom line.

On one level, Dr. Swingle's point is self-evident: new technology changes the way we interact with each other and the world around us.  Written language, the printing press, the telegraph, the telephone, photography, movies, television, computers, the internet, now smart phones and social media.  Dr. Swingle argues, based on her clinical observations of brain wave patterns, as well as on behavioral observations, that current i-tech takes it a step further, with actual rewiring of the brain.

Dr. Swingle is not all gloom and doom, nor does she take a Luddite position rejecting technology.  "True integration," she writes, is technology that "fits in, being integral to modern life, without overriding, or eclipsing, the development, or maintenance, of other healthy behaviors."  Her theme is "nothing wrong with a little, a lot wrong with a lot."

Parents and non-parents alike will nod in agreement with Dr. Swingle's assessments and recommendations to reduce i-tech usage, especially by very young kids.  Brain wave patterns aside, she describes the ways in which i-tech can alter the way people relate to one another, play together, and learn.  One troubling example relates to the online bullying.  She argues that given the zero-tolerance policies against physical violence at school, children have taken their bullying to i-tech.  In the past boys would fight and be done, or kids would taunt other kids as they passed in the hall.  Now boys and girls take their disputes and taunts to i-tech, where the audience is larger, the record is permanent, and the humiliation is more widespread and accessible.  The solution has become larger than the problem.

I was interested in her discussions of children with autism.  She writes that if you have an autistic child, "under no circumstances permit the child to engage with i-tech, any i-tech," arguing that the hyper-focus on i-tech with thwart social development.  She acknowledges that some individuals can "functionally use technologies for work and communication as needed when older," but doesn't say when "older" is old enough.  I personally have watched my non-verbal daughter, an i-tech lover, use her iPad and other assistive technology to communicate and interact with others.  I am delighted that we have i-tech tools to help autistic and other disabled individuals communicate.  Throughout the book, I was surprised that Dr. Swingle didn't encourage more use of i-tech for people with disabilities.

Much of Dr. Swingle's advice seems very old-fashioned and common-sensical.  (And I mean that in a complimentary way!)  She concludes with some great guidelines: set boundaries, play (she's big on play), get face-to-face with people, use i-tech purposefully and not for its own sake.  I don't know what permanent evolutionary changes we are bringing on ourselves.  Dr. Swingle does really, either.  But I can agree with her call to put down the phone and interact with the world around you.  I-tech is a tool, and can be useful, but we must not let it take over our brains and our world.


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

2016 Reading Challenge: A book about psychology
#vtReadingChallenge

Seven Bad Ideas, by Jeff Madrick

Ideas have consequences.  Journalist and author Jeff Madrick describes the bad ideas that led to economic crises in the United States and the world, particularly leading up to the 2008 recession, in Seven Bad Ideas: How Mainstream Economists Have Damaged America and the World.

In general terms, what Madrick calls "mainstream economics" includes conservative, free-market economics primarily.  To Madrick, Adam Smith's invisible hand "is a brilliant idealization of markets that shows how limited laissez-faire theory is in reality."  Yet the theory has been abused by economists to dictate a limited role for government.  Milton Friedman is the biggest villain to receive Madrick's ire in Seven Bad Ideas.  Madrick talks about "Friedman's Folly," which he says is Friedman's  "failure to define what we may owe each other beyond the Invisible Hand," the failure of which "has had a deep and almost unconscious influence over economists."

Madrick makes some good points about the reluctance of economists to look to economic historical models, rather than relying on mathematical theories.  Many economists want to believe that economic theories are universal and unchanging, like the laws of physics.  One the other hand, Madrick also accuses economists of basing their theories on faith rather than on empirical data.

Madrick's preference toward a communitarian, statist position really defines his concerns with "mainstream economists."  He writes that in the 1970s they began to "denigrate government rather than reform it" starting with, of course, the pernicious influence of Friedman.  By "emphasizing the laissez-faire philosophies of their discipline over more pragmatic and non ideological ones," these economists are "profoundly responsible for what has happened to America and the world."

I am neither an economist nor the son of an economist, but it's pretty clear to me that Madrick's ideological bent is just as pronounced as those he condemns for letting their ideological bent bend their ideologies.  As occasionally insightful as Madrick might be, I found his writing to be rather smug and critical.  Even though he is undoubtedly right on some points, he seems to lack the humility and objectivity that he thinks he has.


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

2016 Reading Challenge: A book about money or finance
#vtReadingChallenge

Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World, by Kristen Welch

I try to be grateful.  But there's too much entitlement culture in me; it leaks out.  Now I'm trying to raise my kids to be grateful, but I'm afraid culture is more entitled today than when I was a kid.  To help me and other entitled parents get their heads on straight, Kristen Welch has written Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World: How One Family Learned That Saying No Can Lead to Life's Biggest Yes.

Welch, author, blogger, and, most importantly, mother, compiles excellent wisdom on parenting.  She states up front that she's no psychologist, but between her own experiences and her sources, she puts together a worthwhile set of guidelines.

Of course it all starts with the parents: "Parents who want less entitled kids have to be less entitled themselves, and parents who want to raise more grateful kids need to start by living more grateful lives."  We all want our kids to be happy and safe, but "when we try to protect our kids from unhappiness, we make life down the road harder for them.  It can be summed up in one word--entitlement."

As it turns out, "Sometimes the best way to help our kids is to not help them."  They can learn to help themselves.  Another element of that is that we can help them learn to help others.  We need all the help we can get with that, because "When we focus all our time and attention on our own needs, it's really hard to see the needs of other people."  Welch points out that those who focus on other people are happier in the long run.

As I said, Welch is a blogger, and many of her sources are other bloggers.  So as you might expect, she has not written an academic treatise or psychology-based parenting manual.  What she gives us is practical wisdom, gleaned from a variety of families' experiences.  She is not shy about sharing her own family's mishaps and habits.  With her honesty, she encourages the rest of us to stop and think about the values we are instilling in our children.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the electronic review copy!

2016 Reading Challenge: A book about parenting
#vtReadingChallenge

Prez Vol. 1, by Mark Russell

In Mark Russell's alternative future, the voting public gets fed up with the candidates of the two major parties and rejects both of them.  Through a combination of brief YouTube infamy and a the elimination of the age requirement, Beth Ross, a 19-year-old corn dog chef, gets herself elected President of the United States.

President Ross handles the challenges of the presidency with aplomb, facing down the rampant cat flu, shutting down the robot soldier program, and angering politicians of the left and right.  Society subsequently breaks down, she goes on the run, and is targeted by cat flu virus defenders.

The art is decent, but the story is silly, the politics are very silly, and the overall reading experience is mediocre.  I'm sure President Ross will find some fans, but I won't be looking for the next issue.



Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, by Mitch Albom

Mitch Albom can tell a story!  His fiction and nonfiction writing has been warmly received and widely read.  He tells another good one in The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto.  Frankie, a Spanish orphan, becomes the star pupil of a reclusive, blind guitar player.  With the aid of some magic strings, a gift from a band of gypsies, he becomes one of the world's greatest guitar players and a top rock and roll star in the early days of the genre.

Frankie's life and times read like a guided tour of music history in second half of the twentieth century.  He jams with jazz greats, stands in for Elvis (fooling the crowd), parties with the Beatles, plays a legendary solo at Woodstock, and becomes teacher and guitar guru to other great guitar players.

But the magic strings are about more than music.  They teach Frankie how his life touches others.  After his inauspicious beginnings, his erratic lifestyle moves from continent to continent, with seemingly random meetings and coincidences shaping his life.  Albom doesn't dwell on the unlikely--no one can live like that (Can they?)--but delves into Frankie's character and the people and music that shape him.

Magic Strings primarily narrated by Music, the personified, omniscient entity.  Music shares plenty of musical wisdom and speaks lovingly of Music's disciples.  Throughout the book, other musicians who knew Frankie and played with him give their perspectives, as well.  I enjoyed the way Albom makes me believe Frankie was a real person, as real musicians make their cameos and tell their stories.

I was inspired by the music, which is weird to say since it's a book.  Albom's descriptions of Frankie's playing and performing brings the music alive, in away.  I was also moved by Frankie's life and love affair with music.  I have never loved music the way Frankie did, but I have been the beneficiary of that love as I have enjoyed the music of the Frankies of the world.


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

2016 Reading Challenge: A book about music
#vtReadingChallenge

The Absence of Guilt, by Mark Gimenez

It's a good day when I get an e-mail from Mark Gimenez announcing a new novel!  I look forward to each new legal thriller from this Texas writer, and he has yet to disappoint.  The Absence of Guilt is as fresh as the latest CNN news crawl and as suspenseful as a season of 24.  Fans of Gimenez's earlier novels will welcome the return of A. Scott Fenney, now a Federal judge.  We catch up with his daughters, some of his admirers (and detractors) in Highland Park, and his legal team.  We also learn the fate of his ex-wife in a cameo appearance.

More important than the reunion is the story of a terrorist threat to destroy the Dallas Cowboys's stadium during the Superbowl.  (This is how you know The Absence of Guilt is pure fantasy: Gimenez has Tony Romo leading the Cowboys to a Superbowl appearance!)  A bunch of local Muslims are rounded up and appear in Fenney's court.  The trouble is, the government can't present a single piece of evidence tying the Muslims to a plot.  Fenney has to rule on whether they can be held in custody, at least until after the Superbowl.

Gimenez's readers won't be surprised that he doesn't take a hard-line stance on the issues at hand. The Muslims don't elicit a lot of sympathy, but by presenting the extreme anti-Muslim point of view from some characters ("Islam is no longer a peaceful religion." "All Muslims are terrorists in waiting."), Gimenez gives Fenney the chance to take a more moderate view. Fenney even learns that a trusted member of his staff is Muslim.

On another issue, Fenney is called on to rule in an immigration decision. Should immigrants be granted amnesty?  On both cases, Fenney has to balance his own opinion and emotional responses with political considerations and constitutional questions.  Gimenez includes several lengthy passages of arguments and Fenney's decisions that make for thoughtful, informative reading, but he never lets these passages get in the way of the story.

Gimenez has a gift for tying together real-world, present-day issues with engaging stories in such a way that the reader has to think about multiple aspects of the issues.  What seems to be black and white in many contexts ends up being not so clear in his novels.  One thing is for sure: we can count on Fenney to make the right call.  If Fenney keeps up the good work, he will land a spot on the Supreme Court.

(One other note that lets you know The Absence of Guilt is pure fantasy: Gimenez has Obama apologizing for releasing terrorists from Gitmo and taking the blame for the former prisoners going back to their ways as terrorist leaders.  I just can't see Obama saying, "That was my bad."  Gimenez apparently thinks more highly of Obama than I do! I think real-life Obama would more likely apologize to the Muslims for their imprisonment.)

Gimenez's readers will be delighted with The Absence of Guilt.  It's one of his best.  Fans of a good suspense novel with colorful, engaging characters and thoughtful, practical commentary on important current issues will similarly not be disappointed.  The only drawback is the wait for Gimenez's next book!

2016 Reading Challenge: A book by your favorite author
#vtReadingChallenge