The Violinist’s Thumb by Sam Kean

Genre:  Non-Fiction

Published by:  Little, Brown and Company

Pages:  Soft Cover

Rating:  9 JAGS 

How does our DNA influence culture, art, and a person’s libido? The Violinist’s Thumb and other lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as written by our Genetic Code by Sam Kean is the perfect introduction into genetics. He explains the race to map the Human Genome with wit and humor while at the same time, break-down the history to why and how science exploration in unraveling our genetic code is gaining momentum.

I will admit I was daunted by reading about a topic I wasn’t really that familiar with. Other than TV crime drama and cable, DNA defined for me was something you didn’t want to leave at a crime scene, or a memory about that lamb they cloned in Europe. The Violinist’s Thumb opened up a whole new world of interest in the topic of DNA, RNA and what mapping our genetic code could do to our future. Sam Kean explained it perfectly with intelligence, humor and honest truth. My only quarm with this book was that it was only 389 pages long.

This is a definite purchase new for anyone interested in learning how our DNA has shaped our evolution through time and civilization, and the scientists racing to prove it. See it! Grab it! Buy it!

This Bright River by Patrick Somerville

Genre:  Fiction

Published by:  Little,Brown and Company

Pages:  Soft Cover

Rating:  4 JAGS

 

In Patrick Somerville’s new book, This Bright River, Ben Hanson is lost in life living aimlessly day to day- no carrier, no prospects, and no ambition. He is approached by his father to move back to the sleepy town of Ben’s youth, St. Helen’s, WI to take care of his recently deceased Uncle’s home. He accepts, and with that, memories of his childhood and the mysterious death of a cousin he left behind.

Lauren Sheehan, Ben Hanson’s formally estranged high school lab partner and formally Dr. Lauren Besco, has been divorced for four years from a man she thought she knew- and she too is lost in life living in St. Helen’s, WI.

As fate would have it, Ben and Lauren meet up again, and the self discovery begins. They drive from Madison to Milwaukee, and all over Wisconsin to learn the truth about Ben’s cousin, and in doing so, learn to unburden their lives and to look for a connection with honesty and trust. 

At exactly the 200^th page, and I remember this because I glanced up to the top right, I silently asked myself; “Did I miss something?” I honestly imagined myself as a therapist as I read this story. Each time I opened this book, I felt like I was in an hour session with the main characters. Not to mention, they all had to have smoked a joint before coming to therapy.

 It felt like work. Something’s were funny and the story even made me feel nostalgic, but I felt better finishing This Bright River then I did starting it. The back drop of small town Wisconsin living was surprisingly accurate and comical. I would not purchase new, but wait for it on resale shelves…reduced resale shelves. Keep the gift receipt if you get it as a present.