Review of Book Reviews from 2007 by RayS

Directions: The date at the beginning of each book is the date on which my review was published in this blog. Each review consists of three parts: 1. “Why read it?” 2. Sample ideas from the book, either paraphrased or quoted, and 3. Final, thought-provoking quotes. To locate the review, look at the “Blog Archive” at the right of the blog. Click on the year 2007. Find the month in which the review was published, click on it and go to the date of the review.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007. Good Advice on Writing: Writers Past and Present on How to Write Well. William Safire and Leonard Safir. Advice from professional writers on how to write.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity. Roy Porter. A history of medicine from the clearly defined conviction of the Hippocratic oath to the muddy ethical dilemmas of modern-day medicine.

Friday, June 8, 2007. The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Novel. Gatsby's attempt to re-live his idealized view of his past experience with Daisy. Symbolizes the illusion of the American dream.

Saturday, June 9, 2007. The Greek Way. Edith Hamilton. Greek spirit: rejoice in life; the world is a beautiful place and a delight to live in. Joy, sorrow, exultation, tragedy stood hand in hand in Greek literature. Even in the darkest moments, the Greeks did not lose their taste for life or for criticizing the powerful and influential.

Sunday, June 10, 2007. A Handful of Dust. Evelyn Waugh. Novel. Bored British aristocrats and the breakup of their marriage.

Monday, June 18, 2007. Here at the New Yorker. Brendan Gill. The joy and hard work in producing interesting stories and nonfiction at The New Yorker. Brendan Gill, the author of this book, fills his pages with gossip about the editors and the writers and the process of putting together each week’s issue.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007. A History of Reading. Alberto Manguel. I thought I knew all there was to know about reading until I came across this book. Manguel's ideas gave me plenty to think about.

Thursday, June 21, 2007. The House of the Seven Gables. 1851. Nathaniel Hawthorne. Romance/Novel. The story of Hepzibah Pyncheon. Phoebe Pyncheon, the young country cousin. Holgrave, the young daguerreotypist who lives there as a boarder. And Clifford, Hepzibah's brother, back from thirty years in prison for a murder he did not commit. The plot is glacial, almost like a somnolent summer afternoon in New England. Small crises gradually enlarge to a major crisis. The curse of one generation is resolved by the marriage of a young couple who represent the cursed and the curser.

Saturday, June 23, 2007. How to Develop Self-Confidence and Influence People by Public Speaking. Dale Carnegie. Some interesting and practical points on successful public speaking.

Sunday, June 24, 2007. How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education. Mortimer J. Adler. Books must be read in three ways: to understand, to question and to criticize the work.