THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS
by Rebecca Skloot

Her cells have helped develop a vaccine for polio; been used for cloning, viruses; studied for appendicitis, sexually transmitted diseases; instrumental in creating medicines to treat hemophilia, leukemia; and have even gone up in space. There are billions of them in laboratories all over the world. They are known, to scientists, as HeLa cells and became the first "immortal" human cells grown in culture. The reason they are called immortal is because the cells have lived outside the body, have never died and have never stopped reproducing. They came from a poor black woman named Henrietta Lacks who had cervical cancer. Before she died, in 1951, samples of her cells were taken from her tumor without her knowledge.
Twenty years after Henrietta's death, her family found out and it was not a pretty picture.
Rebecca Skloot takes the reader on an incredible journey which started for herself when she was sixteen taking biology. It was here that she first heard of Henrietta Lacks and her amazing cells. Eventually, Rebecca would meet the family and through many years of research would uncover both devastating and remarkable stuff.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a stupendous story. Although a science writer, Skloot is able to explain all the intricacies of cells in such beautiful detail.
She writes about ethics, racism, poverty, experimentation as one story and intertwines the Lacks family as another story to create one magnificent tale.
I loved this book. It made me both laugh and cry.
Not to be missed.
Very highly recommended.

DISCONNECT : THE TRUTH ABOUT CELL PHONE RADIATION, WHAT THE INDUSTRY HAS DONE TO HIDE IT, AND HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FAMILY
by Devra Davis

There are five billion cell phone users in the world half of which are under the age of twenty-five. What an incredible gadget! You can listen to music, talk to anyone, anywhere, send text, photos, videos, get results from sporting events, etc. But, there is a major problem: they are not safe and have never been tested for safety. Cell phones emit microwave radiation. They can damage DNA (completely unraveled), increase memory loss, cancer and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's. Children are especially vulnerable because their brains are smaller than adults and their skulls are thinner which means that exposures to radiation can be absorbed much faster and more deeply.
Standards for cell phones, today, date back to 1993 when a hypothetical model named SAM (Standard Anthropomorphic Man) was used. SAM was six foot two inches, weighed more than two hundred pounds and had an eleven-pound head. Certainly, not your average guy. He only spoke on the cell phone for six minutes. Beyond this time, the tissues inside the brain start to heat up.
Dr. Davis, an epidemiologist, writes about how the industry suppressed earlier studies of scientists (back in the 1970s), who discovered devastating results of how cell phone radiation damages human cells. For many, it cost them their careers. The data is both disturbing and frightening.
You read about some people that survived brain tumors and others that were not so lucky.
Just about every country, except the United States, is on top of this issue by testing to reduce the amount of radiation absorption. Many of them ban the use of cell phones by children.
At the end of the book is an appendix advising people how to keep themselves and their family safe from cell phone use:
Do not keep a phone turned on next to your body all day. (Check out the manual for your cell phone. There are warnings to keep the phone away from the body.)
When texting (don't dare do this while driving) place phone on a book so it can be used as a barrier.
Don't use your phone in a train, car, or an elevator. Because the area is confined in metal, microwaves radiate out in all directions.
Turn off phone when not in use.
Only use phone for emergencies. (The six minutes still applies.)
Use a landline at home and not a cordless phone as this emits the same radiation as that of cell phones.
Disconnect is a book for everyone to read who owns a cell phone. If you're still skeptical or just want more information, check out the author's website at: www.devradavis.com.
Strongly recommended.

PEARL BUCK IN CHINA : JOURNEY TO THE GOOD EARTH
by Hilary Spurling

When The Good Earth was published in 1931, it became a worldwide bestseller. Depicting the lives of illiterate rural Chinese opened the door between the American and the Chinese worlds. The author would spend the rest of her life cranking out fiction portraying the reality of the Asian people.
Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker was born in West Virginia in 1892 the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries.
Absalom was a mostly absent father while Carie, who had been an idealistic bride, learned to live without him and manage their ever growing brood.
Before Pearl was even two years old, the entire family moved to China. Pearl would learn to talk from Wang Amah (her nurse), play with the children of neighboring farmers, eat the simple food of the poor and therefore, considered herself to be more Chinese than American. That is until the Boxer Rebellion forced them all to flee. Many more flights would happen before Pearl finally returned to live in the United States.
Hilary Spurling has crafted a magnificently written book. I didn't really know much about Pearl Buck and what is revealed here is absolutely riveting.
Pearl Buck was a woman ahead of her time. Her life was transposed in her writings. This biography has brought her out of the shadows.
Highly recommended.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF WALWORTH : A TALE OF MADNESS AND MURDER IN GILDED AGE AMERICA
by Geoffrey O'Brien

Saratoga Springs, in its heyday, was a tourist destination. Its healing waters brought people there in droves. For the aristocratic, it was an exclusive club.
The Walworth family ruled over by Chancellor Reuben Hyde was the most prominent family that fit right in with the romance of the place. Judge Walworth rose to fame by his legal successes and amassed quite a fortune. While he was virtuous, strict and orderly and ran his home that way, his son, Mansfield, was the complete opposite. Mansfield, who considered himself to be a spectacular writer (pulp fiction) would marry his stepsister Ellen and then later would abuse her, for years, with threatening letters.
In due time, their private lives would become public all because of a shooting.
American Gothic meets Poe. Corruption, religious conflict, madness (all hereditary), marital problems, violence, prisons, asylums.
O'Brien is brilliant in how he sets up the characters with all of their strange personalities and quirks. He effortlessly writes about 19th century New York and holds you spellbound from the first page to the last.
Not to be missed.
Highly recommended.

OPERATION MINCEMEAT : HOW A DEAD MAN AND A BIZARRE PLAN FOOLED THE NAZIS AND ASSURED AN ALLIED VICTORY
by Ben MacIntyre

It was 1943. Hitler assumed that the Allies would target Sicily and that would be the next big attack. In order to throw off this thought, a plan had to be put in place to deceive the Nazis.
Two brilliant intelligence officers put their heads together: Charles Cholmondeley (pronounced "Chumly") of MI5 and Ewan Montagu, a British naval officer. Though opposite in temperament and style, their partnership created quite a tour de force.
The idea was to get a corpse, attach false papers to it of where the invasion would be, then drop the body off the coast of Spain. The Germans fell for it bait hook, line, and sinker.
Ben MacIntyre is a phenom of an author. The details of how a corpse had to be found, creating an identity, how it was to be outfitted, bringing in an imaginary fiance are some of the inventions and facts that MacIntyre writes about flawlessly. Spies, double agents, heroes and scoundrels abound.
If you like intrigue, WWII, behind-the-scenes information, then grab this book. You won't be disappointed.
Highly recommended.

JENNIEMAE & JAMES : A MEMOIR IN BLACK & WHITE
by Brooke Newman

"Most every man be good, but not every man be good for everything."
"You can hide a fire, but what do you do with the smoke?"
"Trouble is what troubles."
"When you dream, that dream is the truth, and when you wake, that truth is nothin' but a dream."
These words of wisdom were constantly spoken by Jenniemae Harrington, an illiterate, black woman from Alabama, who was hired as a maid for the Newman family in 1948. Although devoutly religious, she played and won an illegal lottery ("policy") quite frequently. Her uncanny love of numbers impressed James Newman, who was no slouch in that category. He was a mathematical genius. At the tender age of five he was already considered a prodigy. James would be known as the man who brought the concept of "googol" and "googolplex" to the world.
The friendship and relationship between these two people endured through political upheavals, cultural changes, technological advances, and racial divisions.
The author writes in simple prose about the complexities of her father, her beautiful, intelligent, but tormented mother, Ruth, and Jenniemae who settled the chaos that surrounded the family.
Jenniemae & James is a loving tribute that is both inspiring and compelling. A truly, wonderful book.
Recommended.

LOST RIGHTS : THE MISADVENTURES OF A STOLEN AMERICAN RELIC
by David Howard

The year was 1789. James Madison had just pushed through a Constitution. Citizens were not too happy about it. Freedom of speech and religion were not guaranteed. Back to Congress it went and was debated upon for six days. Finally, the amendments were passed, but they had to be in a separate document. There were fourteen handwritten copies; one for each of the original states and one for the federal government. They would come to be known as the Bill of Rights.
Fast forward to 1865. The Civil War is ending. Robert E. Lee surrenders, Abraham Lincoln is shot, and Sherman's army marches into Raleigh, North Carolina. The Capitol is in shambles. Soldiers have destroyed whatever they could find, which included pillaging, inside the building and have left it in total disarray.
One unknown man walks off with a folded piece of parchment paper.
Lost Rights follows the saga of this document in the course of 138 years. The book is so exciting that it's impossible to put down. The tale involves antique dealers, historians, investors,
manuscript experts, auction houses, attorneys, governors, the FBI, and the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
Phenomenal research (Sources consists of 24 pages) and superb writing makes for one heck of a read.
Highly recommended.