Review: Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book will take you on an impressive journey through the flawed jungle of human decision making. You will come to better understand your own susceptibility to discounts, deals, suggestion, priming and pipe dreams. You will have a better grasp on how far and wide the reach of placebo effect is on your actions and belief systems.

By the end of the book, you will fully accept the fact that you and everyone else in the world is biased, bar none. Mr. Ariely's observations, all reported from a deeply-rooted scientific approach, range from the preposterous to the profound. It is well-written and entertaining.

The book stops short of saying that "nothing is so but in thinking makes it so" and that is not Mr. Ariely's central message. Yet, I could not prevent this jaunty phrase from tripping through my thoughts from start to finish.

A worthy read, though. I'll never think of mummy ointment in quite the same way.

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Review: The Alienist

The Alienist by Caleb Carr
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



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Review: The Confessions of Frannie Langton

The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading this book was like being chased with a heavy club (from chapter to chapter). The author uses words like a blunt instrument and the story is so spellbinding that you will scuttle through those pages - fearful, excited, and hypnotized.

Francis is a mixed-race slave born on a Jamaica plantation. Her master is obsessed with proving that black people form a separate race, using bogus-science fueled by hate. She was permitted to learn to read but only as part of his sick obsession. She was forced to assist him in his barn of a study. She was then "given" to someone else.

She stands accused of murder at the start of this book and so begins the tracing back to all of the terrible things that led her to that sham of a courtroom.

The author is a genius with similes and every page has unexpected treasures of comparisons, I think, never before made.

(Words)...small and black and sharp, like little claws... indecipherable...they seemed trapped, each one shackled to the next one.
For a time, there was only the scratching of brushes against stone, like mice in a cupboard.
I was Black as a fly in butter
Lips like two sharpened knives
The london air, wet as a kiss

It is a sinister time in history and this story cuts into the reader with harsh realities but there is also a salve of love and wisdom there.

A wonderful book.


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Review: The Zookeeper's Wife

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As Poland collapsed and was pulverized by the Nazis, the zookeepers of Warsaw Zoo, Jan and Antonina, fought back with every thread of intelligence, courage and humanity they had.

In The Zookeeper's Wife, Ackerman borrows generously from Antonina's diary and then heaps upon this her own gift and passion for nature writing. She introduces the reader to all of the beauty of the animals in the zoo as she reveals the ghastly animals outside of the zoo - filled with an unnatural hideous hate and bent on mass murder.

Because this is a true story, I was especially struck by the bravery of Jan and Antonina. Their precious animals were killed or stolen from them by the Nazis yet they found strength in their scarred souls to hide and rescue 300 Polish Jews.

I read this book during the Covid quarantine and it helped keep the inconvenience and worry in its proper place.

Two thumbs up!

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Review: Shirley

Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, I had no idea that Bronte had this much of a feminist in her. I loved Shirley (the character) and I loved this book, because Bronte is a wonderful word magician. I want to say more, but it's all been said before! Read Bronte; Will Travel.


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Review: Salt to the Sea

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a WWII story of love, brutality, suspicion, and redemption. It is told in alternating voices of the central characters.

It covers the close of WWII in East Prussia and follows a rag-tag group of people fleeing the Russians. Each of these refugees carries the weight of having witnessed unimaginable violence and each has something to hide. They form a team of sorts. They are aware how tenuously they cling to hopes of survival. They grow to trust one another and learn about love and trust amid the ruins of their lives.

A good story, overall!

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