RaveThe Chicago Tribune...revelations about the state of his emotions are rare. He does not dwell on darkness. He never reveals how he broke his amphetamine addiction or what that felt like. He states in passing that he hasn\'t had sex in 35 years, but never remarks on what that means to him. Even when he acknowledges feeling isolated or hurt, he never lingers on the bad feelings. It\'s not until the book\'s end, where he writes with obvious joy about finding love, that he reveals the strong emotion that surely has been there all along.
Oliver Sacks
RaveThe Chicago Tribune... the reader is in thrall to Sacks’ ability to braid wide reading, research and experience with his neurology patients to reach original and subtle conclusions ... We are gently shepherded through Darwin’s obsession with the deeper meaning of plant lives (Darwin and Sacks, with their expansive abilities to look deeply into small matters and uncover, with evident delight, large truths, seem like brothers separated by a mere century) ... Sacks himself is the expression of just this mental agility, a mind at play in the world, capable of profound insights into the pain of his patients.
Robert Galbraith
RaveThe Chicago TribuneWhile there's no Dumbledorean magic in these mysteries, Rowling's earthbound Muggles — most notably the detective himself — are nearly as bewitching as the headmaster of Hogwarts … Strike is a shambling, overweight, hairy, 6-foot-3 (sounds like a diminutive Hagrid) with a face like ‘a young Beethoven who had taken to boxing,’ as he's described in The Cuckoo's Calling. His short curly hair is all too often called ‘pubic.’ And more important, he possesses ample tortured past to propel him through several more novels … There's still plenty of back story to fuel future novels: Where did Robin learn to drive like a stunt woman? Why can Strike quote stanzas of poetry in Latin? And a last-minute bit part for Strike's spoiled, rich, charming younger brother seems to promise a reappearance. So stay tuned: It's probably a safe bet that there are more Strikes to come.
David Oshinsky
RaveThe Chicago Tribune...[a] deeply engrossing history ... There is no easy narrative path through this material, yet Oshinsky has wrestled an institutional history of significant complexity into a compelling tale. Winner of the 2006 Pulitzer for Polio: An American Story, Oshinsky is a master of finding and relating memorable anecdotes to embody the history. The result is a serious story studded with juicy and occasionally blood-curdling bits from the past.
Luke Dittrich
RaveThe Chicago Tribune...what Dittrich shows through painstaking and thorough reporting is how ego and self-regard fueled questionable scientific and ethical decisions, not only through the heyday of lobotomy, but long after.
Mary Roach
RaveThe Chicago TribuneWelcome to military research as viewed through the eyes of America's funniest science writer. Grunt is Roach's sixth book of oddball exploration, and it's a swift and engrossing romp through topics that few would treat with anything other than grim solemnity — penis repair, for instance. But Roach has a knack for making the horrific fascinating, fueled by delightfully nutty curiosity and a slightly off-center perspective ... Altogether, it's quite a performance. She's treading on near-sacred ground when she takes on the lives of those who put themselves in harm's way for their country. And watching her pull this off left me a little breathless. She manages to convey both respect for the soldiers and humor, often by making herself the punch line ... No other nonfiction writer so consistently manages to be both hilarious and informative. Even when she makes us utterly squeamish.
Vincent T. DeVita Jr. and Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn
PositiveThe Chicago TribuneIf cancer research seems too difficult for nonscientists and too dry for sustained interest, The Death of Cancer should swiftly correct that misapprehension. Written by DeVita with his daughter, science writer Elizabeth DeVita-Raeburn, this is a surprising and riveting story.
