Reed Books

"Travels in Place" is a memoir written by Christiane W. Griffin-Wehr. It is a memoir that describer the journey she traveled as her mother begins a descent into memory loss and dementia.

Christiane shares random glimpses of her past with stories of an incident, a time or place in her childhood in Germany. She may then segue into a more recent experience as she relates training for a marathon on the Mesa trails in Boulder or reflections on her son Curtis, his studies, his career, and his concerns as she builds these into the stages of delicate balance of denial and reality ever present in the unpredictable journey of dementia.

The snapshots from family albums throughout the narrative add a dimension to Chrisiane's writing and make the reader feel they are a part of her journey. I understood when she described her mother's increase in loneliness and the stage of withdrawing into the isolation of her own world.

Christiana tells of the difficulty she had with accepting the three indelible words which became a permanent part of her mother's medical records, "severe memory loss." She describes her mother's fading memory as the "deepening canyon of her decline."

She relates the sacrifice made by family members to help with care, of vacations gone awry, of meals, meds, and the difficulty she had in dealing with the frightening imaginations of her mother's disturbed mind. She describes the ever changing subtleties of recognition, reliance, and reality. She expresses the sense of loss as she watched her mother withdraw from the world around her into a "gray space" of mental deterioration.

Christiana's writing is touching, personal, and poignant. She has crafted beautiful similes using the seasons of the year as parallels to the seasons of life. She tells of "hope born of possibility" when she discovered the motto of the Mountain View home is: "Alive in All Seasons of Life."

I found the chapter discussion questions titled, "Nourishment for Your Journey" especially helpful, as I have began recording journal entries of lessons I am learning on my own journey as primary caregiver of a loved one.

This is an important book for Caregivers, family members, and health professionals caring for the elderly. Sensitive, honest, and relevant.

You can read this book out loud to kids or you can take it to bed with a cup of tea and get lost in the magic of these new almost-fairy tales about lost souls who find their way home. The first story about a man who can understand the language of animals is a take off on the first tale of Arabian Nights. The last story is a funny version on a very old bedtime story we all recognize. In between a miser meets his match, an angel rescues a grieving mother and children save the village, all long, long ago.

James Follett is a British author who has been in print since 1976, writing both sci-fi/futuristic technothrillers and World War 2 dramas such as THOSE IN PERIL and U-700. He also penned THE TIPTOE BOYS, one of the first SAS novels. This book, TROJAN, is just superb. It's an exciting thriller set around the world of nanotechnology and biological computer chip possibilities. Beverly Laine is the heroine of this story, who invents the KRONOS nanochip which revolutionises technology. But when nasty accidents occur when the chips become infected, she launches her own investigations and discovers that billionnaire media tycoon Marshall Tate may be responsible. However, his chain of computerised casinos begins to catch a computer virus and people suddenly win massive amounts unexpectedly! But this is not all . . . what is the significance of a space probe to MArs to retrieve Martian soil samples? What exactly is the nature of the Trojan virus? The plot will keep you guessing! Follett also brings his previous work at the BBC into the plot when he flashes the story back to the 1960s and Marshall Tate's first hand at filmmaking and Beverly's schooldays and a past romance - this part of the plot also charts baddie Marshall Tate's rise to fame well. This was written around 1992, but set in the early 21st century - and Follett has a habit of predicting things as best he can. Digital satellite TV, nanotechnology, the Internet, virtual reality, mobile phones and their increasingly widespread use and even digital speed cameras to catch dangerous drivers are featured, one wonders whether in years to come Follett will be looked upon as another George Orwell. Anyway, don't miss this exciting and very prophetic and original novel. If you like this one also check out DOMINATOR and SABRE by the same author.

Reed Way Dasenbrock not only took several years to write Truth and Consequences: Intentions, Conventions, and the New Thematics, but in writing the book he was already building on his long involvement with analytic philosophy and literary criticism, an involvement publicly announced at least as early as the publication in 1989 of a collection he edited entitled Redrawing the Lines: Analytic Philosophy, Deconstruction, and Literary Theory. Truth and Consequences demonstrates that Prof. Dasenbrock has spent his time well. Like analytic philosophy itself, Prof. Dasenbrock argues carefully and meticulously, identifying in his own work and in others' the premises (spoken and unspoken), conclusions, and further implications of conventionalist and anti-intentionalist literary theory of the last twenty or so years. For those readers - students especially - who want to see the logical connections in that literary theory, Prof. Dasenbrock's study of recent treatment of personalism and truth may prove indispensable.

Though he focuses on analytic philosophy as a distinguishable body and voice of work in order to make his argument that "a deeper acquaintance with the central figures of analytic philosophy...brings us to very different conclusions from those advocated by...contemporary literary theory in general," (xiv) his arguments are quite capable of standing on their own without that "deeper acquaintance." Truth and Consequences would not only be a much shorter book, but would surely as a consequence be easier to follow. In fact, the force of those arguments rely much less on any kind of head count of who holds those views and who doesn't, be they philosopher or literary theorist, than they do their own internal integrity. Besides, his claim that analytic philosophy provides just as powerful a voice for intentionalism and truth as some have supposed it does against intentionalism and truth, simply isn't the point, which is whether intentionalism and truth work in literary theory or not.

Prof. Dasenbrock does his best work in the book (though there is little in the book that isn't valuable) when he is laying out the actual arguments proposed for and against conventionalism and anti-intentionalism, and anti-conventionalism and intentionalism. The conclusions at which many have arrived - that there is no such thing as truth that isn't profoundly qualified (hamstrung, stillborn, disqualified) by context, and that an author relinquishes any prerogative vis a vis the meaning of her text as soon as she writes it - are themselves straightforward in their meaning. What is not so obvious is why so many have in fact arrived at these conclusions, nor what exactly the implications are for literary theory and the teaching of literature.

Prof. Dasenbrock demonstrates well and fully the provenance of these conclusions as conclusions of arguments. He contends that those arguments are faulty. Many will, or will be able to, in turn find fault with his arguments, and/or with the way he constructs the arguments that he claims to see in the theoretical literature. But if they disagree by taking up an argument themselves, they implicitly accept the rules of argumentation - a game very different from other ways of putting forth one's opinions or attempting to change some current practice or theory. One rule of argumentation is that an argument must be valid if you are to arrive at any truth of the matter, irrespective of context. Dasenbrock demonstrates again and again how many who argue to explicitly deny it hold this notion of truth implicitly.

But there are many who reject the game altogether, who proceed then on pragmatic grounds: Given our time and place, does the particular theory cash out as we want it to? Does it, for example, widen the circle of inclusion of the academic literary canon? Prof. Dasenbrock addresses this pragmatic stream of literary theory head on, and succeeds in bringing out salient features of the principles involved. His work here is valuable, but less carefully extended, and less convincing, than his more formal argumentative treatment of the issues. Nevertheless, on both counts, Truth and Consequences rewards close reading throughout, and deserves as careful a response from literary theorists of every sort.

The late philosopher Thierry Hentsch produced a profound, inspiring and luminous book that examines the Western literary tradition as a quest to prevail over mortality and hope for building social tissue when most people have stopped believing in afterlife. A serious masterpiece full of sensitivity, literary style and philosophical discipline.

This book, first published in 1921 in Britain and New Zealand, and now reissued in the United States with a generous and enthusiastic introduction by William Cronon, is certainly one of the strangest and at first sight most unpromising works of environmental history ever written. The book is basically an extraordinarily detailed account of the environmental history of a single sheep "station" (sheepfarm) on the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand written by the lessee of the property, Herbert Guthrie-Smith. He describes in great detail the environmental transformations that he himself brought about as he cleared the forest cover from the steep hills, grassed the slopes and stocked the property with sheep. In many ways Guthrie-Smith regretted what he had to do in order to make a living.The book describes everything: clearing the land, changes in birdlife, the local geology and archaeology, the spread of noxious weeds, accelerated erosion, the complexities of exporting wool, etc etc. Guthrie-Smith was from Scotland and the book is written in an old-fashioned heavily literary style, but it is well worth persisting with. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is Guthrie-Smith's descriptions of his Maori landlords, from whom he leased his farm but who were a lot poorer than he was. One can see from his pages how the present day sheepfarming landscape of the North Island was created, and at what cost: a true classic, but for serious environmental historians only.

This is an excellent book for all those interested in true quantification of tissue elements. Here, methods are outlined, amply illustrated and put forward in the form of exercises making it a pleasure even for the novice reader to get an understanding of what stereology is and what it is for. Now, the day seems near when researchers report their results on quantitative tissue features based on stereological estimation procedures. Highly recommended for serious morphologists.

Reed, Wellington, 1970. Photos, Maps (illustrator). 22cm By 14cm. 174 pages, 38 b/w photos, e/paper maps.

Here is a lively, down-to-earth, account of a townie couple who in 1940 decided to live on a high country station in the Canterbury foothills of the Southern Alps. They quickly adapted to the life and remained there for 30 years. Here they recount experiences, incidents and anecdotes --- of isolation, harsh winters, hot summers. farm-life, hunting and fishing and the many characters who frequent the high country. Ted's lake and river fishing expertise led to friendships with US Deep Freeze officers and these enabled him to visit Antarctica three times. Great stories, lots of laughs.

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (12/06)

The theme of "Unleashing Kids' Potential" is helping our children lead a happy, successful, and fulfilling life. This book contains the stories of families' struggles to give children a wholesome childhood. "All of them want today's children to be happy, to avoid the land mines around them, such as substances and violence, and to take charge of the journey from successful childhood to successful adulthood."

Today's society is one that presents complications when raising kids. We look back fondly at a past when mothers were at home when their children returned from school, most households had two parents. It was a simpler time. The author suggests we need to return to the premise of an extended family where adults supported each other and took responsibility for "all related children through good and bad times."

The actions of parents have an impact on their kids whether they realize it or not. In the story of Crystal, her mother strongly supports her schoolwork and encourages her. The mother is glad the teacher stopped in for a visit. Crystal eagerly shares library books with her teacher but then her father walks in drunk. Crystal is embarrassed but later discusses it with her teacher. Crystal is determined never to do that to her child. Crystal is strong and wise but not all children are.

As a reading coach I've seen what happens when a child comes in cold, hungry and with no sleep. "A child's physical needs must be met before they can be successful at school. They should be rested and fed." I applaud Dr. Waldron for writing this book. She is honest and open in her thoughts and ideas. The book is well written. Dr. Waldron obviously knows from experience how to assist a child in being all he was meant to be. I highly recommend "Unleashing Kids' Potential" to all who work with and care about children and their future: teachers, parents, grandparents, etc.

Ben Rutherford was brought up on a high country sheep station of the old style, and many are his stories of high country farming, swaggers, the eccentricities of high country cooks, not to mention the lighter side of dog trialling, horse racing, show jumping, pig and deer shooting and many more rumbustious aspects of our New Zealand way of life.
Spice all this with history of the Rutherford family.....

Printed 1970