A game of Thrones:George R.R. Martin

Never before have I professed to being a fantasy reader. After reading the first installment of Fire and Ice: A Game of Thrones; I not only only admit to being a fantasy freak, but can't shut up about it. This book has most likely cost me quite a few dates.

This book is the ultimate yummy confection of all things that make a great read for me. You've got healthy doses of treachery, oath-breaking, chivalry, love, loss,murder and enough Ser's and Lady's to make your head spin. Oh, and did I mention the blood and bone crushing that comes from mace weilding Knights and longsword swinging Lords?

You will at times find yourself skimming over all the titles and names that accompany a world of royal courts and outlaws. I also found myself rooting for borderline bad guys, and being heartbroken when the underdog doesn't always come out on top. The characterizations follow real life rules: some people are fascinating, and others are just scenery. You won't know until much later who is who.

The premise goes something like this:There are 7 kingdoms which you are introduced to in this first installment. Our most intimate knowledge is of the Lady, Lord, and Children of House Stark of Winterfell in the North with their honor bound actions and foreshadowing house motto of "Winter is Coming," They are brought into the Game of Thrones as the King of their realm bestows the honor and duty of royal service on Lord Stark. Foes and treachery come out of the woodwork as the great houses vie for the throne and protect the kingdom from the otherworldly creatures beyond the great wall. It's a great ride, and I could spend a few thousand words in summary.

I found this book to have wonderful characterizations, a compelling story, and writing that is worthy of at least a high school level.

After I turned the last page, I immediately went to the bookstore and bought the rest of the books in the series if that is any indication of my grading.

835 PGS, 7.99

Kessler's new book

And by the way, David Kessler has a new book out.... this one is on food. Also topical, President Obama today signed legislation giving the FDA some regulatory rights over the tobacco industry. The story is not yet over.

Who's Afraid of Marie Curie?

Subtitled: The Challenges Facing Women in Science and Technology, by Linley Erin Hall

The majority of Hall's book is spent focusing on women in Post Doc/graduate programs in the "hard" sciences (physics, chemistry, engineering) and covers their struggles to prevail in an area that is often not suited for them for various reasons, ranging from innate differences in how men and women learn, to "good ol' boys club" to work/life balance with children and overt sexism. She also covers other sciences (biology, computer science, social sciences), undergraduate programs, and emerging areas such as biotechnology. She interviews women and seeks to understand why they succeed, or why they leave the sciences to pursue other interests.

I found this book to be a fast and interesting read. It is not too "in your face", as it seeks to understand all sides of the story. The last chapters are on how to encourage women to go into science. In 8th grade, I attended a "women in math and science" day at my future university, UC Irvine, and decided on the spot that I would attend that university, so I can speak to the importance of programs such as these, and mentors to go along with them. Having a science degree from a med-school focused university and a career in biotechnology, I found all too often, things that I could relate to in the book... and many were very positive.

Lisa Trent

3 Hot Titles and R.I.P.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson, Vintage, ISBN 978-0307454546, 608 pages.

Somebody's gotta keep up with the pop (if not quite junk) fiction in this erudite collection of Important Stuff. Dragon Tattoo is the first of a trilogy that Larsson delivered to his publisher then had the bad manners to die before the first was in print. The series has taken Europe by sturm and the third installment is eagerly awaited by any here in the US this summer who ever opened the cover and got hooked. (The Girl Who Played with Fire is the second.) The characters are well oiled and chiseled, a smart, young journalist and his randybabe publisher, a wierdo don't-mess-with-me girl superhacker, some nasty industrialists...a well-rounded cast. The twists and conundrums are just what you need for a long (VERY long) plane ride or a few days on a palm-covered beach in an exotic corner of the world (when you disabuse yourself of seeking all the cultural treasures that corner has to offer...and just order-up another caipirinha). I could tell you all about the story, but that would kill the fun. Read about it on Amazon, if you must, it's in the 1-thou sales rank.

A Question of Intent by David Kessler

This name will be very familiar to Rog, as I've been telling him to read this for years. I actually reread it this month, so I can discuss with a lawyer friend, the topic of FDA jurisdiction and preemption for medical devices vs. drugs/biologics. [What do you discuss on vacation????]

David Kessler is former FDA commissioner under George HW Bush and Bill Clinton. He is known for many things, the most notable of which was his fight to have nicotine fall under FDA jursidiction, as a drug delivery device. The question he said, hinges on the intent of the tobacco companies: is the intent to deliver an addictive substance. Kessler feels (and proves) the answer is an unequivocal "Yes". He also felt the conversation and laws should turn, so that smoking is recognized as a pediatric disease. If you do not start smoking by the time you are 18, odds are extremely high that you will not ever start. Kids, never intending to become addicted, take a single cigarette and try it, and before they have time to think about the consequences, are hooked for life. Kessler wants to regulate cigarette availability to minors. He ultimately took his battle to the Supreme Court, and lost in a 5-4 opinion during the Rehnquist court. I believe the case is FDA v. Brown & Williamson.

The book is fascinating, thought-provoking and certainly controversial. It will make you angry beyond belief.

And it's a "must read". I've read it a half dozen times, and have given it as a gift a few times. For years it was my "best book ever" until finally Shilts' book superceded it (clears throat to Roger).

Next time-- a light offerring. Really!!!

Lisa

Sacred Hunger (how's THAT for a title?)

Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth, W.W. Norton & Co, 1992, ISBN 0393311147.

Thomas Flanagan wrote in The New York Times, "...a book of grace and meditative elegance, and of great moral seriousness." Damn. Wish I'D written that. Or that someone would write that about MY books. (Though it may not be quite so appropriate for "How the Russian Snow Maiden Helped Santa Claus"). This is Georgian English angst, power-hungryness, domination, greed, ignorance and introspection at their classic best. The look into the "triangular" slave trade of the period is infuriating and depressing in equal measures, though fascinating through the eyes of a contemporary. It's believably accurate historically. This is a yarn, alright, and a good read, with well-developed characters and the smell of old and unpleasant worlds you can't imagine, but can picture just a little better through Mr. Unsworth's work. No wonder this guy won a Booker Prize.

Best Book I've Ever Read

Rog should have anticipated that I would make a post about Randy Shilts' treatise on AIDS, And the Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic in this blog. I've been telling him for years he must read it. It's simply one of, if not the, best book I have ever read. Add to that his career in public health, and it is a must read.

Below is a review by a friend of mine who I gave it to. She also declared it would have a permanent spot on her "best of" lists.

It is not always an easy read, especially when you know what is coming. This book is credited with forcing the acknowledgment of AIDS.

Sadly, Shilts' life was cut short by the disease. He refused to be tested while writing the book, thinking it may bias him. The last chapters he wrote from the hospital. It is a loss I feel, not knowing where else his life may take him. Shilts was also the author of Mayor Castro Street about Harvey Milk, and Conduct Unbecoming, about gays in the military.

If you do read this (or have read it) please post and let me know what you think.

Lisa

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This book shot to the top of my nonfiction reads for 2005, an amazing feat because I also read Lindbergh this year and expected it to hold the top position.

And the Band Played On is an act of phenomenal research and writing, and a very frightening book on many levels because of the political wrangling, political bumbling, and political disregard for a medical crisis which cost the lives of so many, the scientific in-fighting which slowed medical break throughs and sacrificed lives, and the insanity of national agencies which were supposed to be saving lives, but which in this case knowingly risked the lives of many either because they didn’t want to do the work, didn’t want to spend the money, or didn’t want to anger certain political groups. Gay men were deemed to be utterly dispensable by so many.

It’s the sign of a good book when it brings out strong emotions. This book provoked in me anger, rage, confusion, compassion, sadness, and tears. I wish I could thank all those, like Don Francis, Dr. Michael Gottlieb, Dr. Selma Dritz, Marc Conant, Dr. Dale Lawrence, Paul Volberding, and Dr. Arye Rubenstein, who tried so hard, against such overwhelming odds, to save lives quickly. I would also chastise President Ronald Reagan and Merve Silverman and give Margaret Heckler and Bob Gallo a piece of my mind — the skunks!

I am thankful that there are politicians like Orrin Hatch and people behind the scenes like Bill Kraus and Cleve Jones. Though he was woefully slow in responding I’m grateful for the response of C. Everett Koop and that once he made his stand he never wavered and took it to the media wherever he could.

Randy Shilts did an excellent job of showing the culture in the United States and France and the politics in the medical and scientific communities and the political posture and arena during the 1980s. He also humanized the crisis by following many of the patients from onset of medical problems to death (Enno Poersch, Gary Walsh, Frances Borchelt, Bill Kraus, and Gaetan Dugas) and by following the doctors and scientists in their fight to discover the properties of this terrible disease and conquer it. It was enlightening and helpful to have the book structured as a time line.

The amount and variety of research done for this book is astounding, requiring Shilts to conduct hundreds of interviews and read millions of pages of articles and medical material.

It is a great tragedy that AIDS killed Randy Shilts as it had killed so many other innocents, and that as I write this there is still no cure for AIDS. As far as I can tell, it is again being largely ignored by governments and the medical community. Where will the next Bill Kraus, Dr. Gottlieb, and the other saviors come from and will they come soon enough?

I cannot thank PokPok enough for lending me this book. My education has been enhanced and my life is more full and forever changed as a result of reading it. I'll return it to her on the 15th at our meetup.