Tracks in the Wilderness of Dreaming

Tracks in the Wilderness of Dreaming

Tracks in the Wilderness of Dreaming is a pretty strange book. The author identifies himself as a "dream helper" -- he means that he helps others to make sense of their dream lives by giving them his own intuitions. In the examples he gives, I don't really see that his intuitions are particularly relevant or helpful.

All in all, I didn't find his accounts particularly credible. He does, however, interview some Aborigine shamans on the subject, and I did find that content to be much more interesting and credible. Dreams and the human mind are indeed a mysterious and meaningful area -- this just isn't a book that will shed much light on the subject.

Social Networking Spaces

Social Networking Spaces

I've been interested for awhile in getting more involved in social networking sites, and was looking for something pretty basic to get me started. Social Networking Spaces: From Facebook to Twitter and Everything In Between  is pretty basic all right. A little too basic. Well, maybe a lot too basic.

To be fair, the author is covering a whole lot of territory in one book, so it stands to reason that he's not covering anything in much depth. It's hard for me to imagine for whom this book is actually intended: it seems that somebody that new to computing would be pretty much too intimidated to want to network socially.

Oh well, at least it didn't cost me anything. (I got it from the library.) And it didn't take much time to read.

Use Your Brain to Change Your Age

Use Your Brain to Change Your Age

I saw Dr. Amen's PBS program on Use Your Brain to Change Your Age, and decided to take a look. It was about what I expected, and very consistent with his TV program.

We all know the basics, right? Eat healthy, exercise, don't smoke or drink too much alcohol. The best thing about Dr. Amen's book is that he emphasizes that it's never too late to make drastic improvements to your health through simple steps. The worst thing about the book is that Dr. Amen's always hawking his wares: his paid website, his line of vitamins, etc., etc.

1000 Steampunk Creations

1000 Steampunk Creations

I picked up 1,000 Steampunk Creations: Neo-Victorian Fashion, Gear, and Art  at the library on a whim -- it was on the "New Book" shelves, and it looked like it might be fun to look at. Look at it is what I did. It took about half an hour, and then I put it in the pile to return to the library.

To be fair, I'm not all that interested in Steampunk, so maybe if I was I would have enjoyed it more. On the other hand, the book is entirely pictures -- categorized, of course -- but with no text at all except the creators' names. But that's okay, I wasn't really intending to spend much time with it.

Masterpieces from the House of Faberge

Masterpieces from the House of Faberge

Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé is a lovely coffee table book, if you don't want to spend too much time with the text. There's a brief article about the House of Faberge, but most of the text deals with the history of the collections. Of interest to an expert perhaps, but not so much for the rest of us.

The rest of us will enjoy looking at the pictures, which are truly spectacular.

Blood in the Water

Blood in the Water - Jane Haddam

Blood in the Water  is the newest book by Jane Haddam in the Gregor Demarkian series.

Jane Haddam is the pen name of author Orania Papazoglou, who has also published books under her real name. Her most popular series is that featuring Gregor Demarkian, a former FBI agent now working as a police consultant and known to the Press as "the Armenian-American Hercule Poirot." He lives in an Armenian-American neighborhood in Philadelphia, where his quirky neighbors scold, meddle, and coddle him.

I enjoy the Gregor Demarkian books, but I find it necessary to read them in strict order, because I can never tell by the descriptions whether I've read the books or not. (There's always a murder, a group of unlikeable suspects that always includes at least one bitter and usually man-hating older woman, and Gregor's difficulties dealing with the cold, technology, or his inability to drive.) In general, I like the earlier novels in the series better than the later ones, but Blood in the Water  is much better than many of her more recent books.

Total Immersion

I learned to swim as an adult and I'm still not comfortable in deep water. I'm also extremely awkward and self-conscious, and that doesn't help matters much either. When I read about this book in Timothy Ferriss's The 4-Hour Body, I decided to take a look.

I think it may be of some help. Total Immersion teaches a somewhat different method than I was taught in any of my swimming classes -- in fact, it's exactly opposite of some of the techniques I was taught. Will it work? I haven't tried it yet, but mean to this summer. It seems logical, I'll give it that.