Part medical mystery, part autobiography, The Face Laughs While the Brain Cries is the story of multiple sclerosis (MS) and Dr. Stephen L. Hauser, the physician-scientist determined to cure it. Even if you have no background in the sciences or a connection to the disease, this book is a compelling, engaging read.
From his childhood memories to career highlights, Dr. Hauser explains how he became interested in MS, the highs and lows of his research, and how complicated it is to bring new drugs to market. He takes us from patients’ bedsides to his laboratory, following clues of how MS affects the body and brain.
Besides his medical investigations, Hauser also explores the issues of animal research, blind studies, and even the politics of which diseases and studies receive funding. Throughout, this book expresses Dr. Hauser’s compassion and dedication, the gold standard of medicine.
rating: ★★★★★
The Face Laughs While the Brain Cries: The Education of a Doctor
by Stephen L. Hauser, M.D.
St. Martin’s Press
As a child, it's difficult to sit quietly and listen in church if you don’t understand what’s going on and why. That's why Loyola Kids Book of Seasons, Feasts, and Celebrations provides insight into the Christian calendar of celebrations, from events in Jesus’ life to the feasts of Mary and the saints.
Author Mary Welborn explains how Sunday services revolve around readings, prayers, and songs chosen specifically for each liturgical season. She tells how to use your senses to experience the mass, from checking the vestment and flower colors to expressions conveyed through music. She also includes how other cultures, countries, and the Eastern church may have different ways of celebrating holy days.
Welborn also chooses a variety of saints days, from Lily of the Mohawks (July 14) and Joan d’Arc (May 30) to All Saints Day (November 1), All Souls Day (November 2), and Dias de la Muertos (November 1 and 2). The book closes with major Jewish feast days.
Loyola Press offers more titles in
the Loyola Kids Book series that complements this one.
rating: ★★★★★
Loyola Kids Book of Seasons, Feasts, and Celebrations
by Amy Welborn
Loyola Press
According to Brown, during wet weather a parasite caused fungus to grow on rye. Since grains were processed at the local mill, ergot poisoning could spread far and wide. Ergot-related mass casualties occurred in continental Europe but notably not in England, where wheat was the popular grain.
Also known as St. Anthony’s Fire, ergot poisoning could cause “hallucinations, convulsions, erratic behavior, or gangrene; death was common.” While some of these symptoms were apparent in the Salem courthouse in 1692, their underlying causes could be many different health issues. Plus, not every local household or family member displayed symptoms—which would happen if they shared bread—so it’s unlikely that ergot poisoning was a cause of the witch-hunt.
From the start of the Great Migration, ships came from England with plant cuttings and seeds to grow crops and herbs for food, flavorings, and medicines. Recipes were passed down and shared, like making tansy tea for worms; using vinegar, salt, and honey for cleaning and sterilizing a wound; and eating dandelions to encourage urine flow.
Living on Will’s Hill, the tightknit Wilkins clan may not have been privy to the diuretic dandelion remedy. Patriarch Bray Wilkins reported “my water was sodainly stopt, & I had no benefit of nature, but was like a man on a rack” and accused his grandson-in-law John Willard—an outsider—of causing his bladder issue and his grandson Daniel Wilkins’ death. When a “skillful” woman’s remedies didn’t work, she asked Bray if any “evil persons” did him damage. He said he was “sore afraid they had.” Afflicted accuser Mercy Lewis even said she saw John Willard on his grandfather Bray’s belly. Bray later claimed it was not him “but the testimony of the afflicted persons and the jury … that would take away [John Willard’s] life if any thing did, & within about 1/4 hour after this I was taken in the sorest distress & misery my water being turned into real blood, or of a bloody colour & the old pain returned excessively as before which continued for about 24 hours together” (Records of the Salem Witch Hunt 528). It’s clear Bray’s urine retention was a real illness, such as an enlarged prostate, and not a witch’s curse. Yet John Willard was executed for witchcraft on 19 August 1692.
Brown also covers plants with religious associations and magical powers. For instance, Rev. John Hale could have put calendula under his pillow to reveal in dreams that Dorcas Hoar was stealing from him. Saint John’s wort could have expelled the demons from Rev. Samuel Parris’ home while mugwort could have kept ghosts and evil spirits away.
Besides offering insight into historic diets and medical remedies, this book covers common, everyday usage of plants for housekeeping, laundry, animal health care, beauty treatments, and even aphrodisiacs. Well illustrated with photos, Medieval Plants and Their Uses concludes with a few original medieval recipes, a list of plants (their medical and/or practical uses, name variants), and suggested reading.
Brown provides an accessible and fascinating insight into the uses of medieval plants.
rating: ★★★★
Medieval Plants and Their Uses
by Michael Brown
Published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd.
Siegel challenges some traditional tenets of Christianity
because they don’t scientifically hold up, like creationism versus evolution.
However, he does find examples that suggest a higher consciousness exists, most
notably in near-death experiences. Halfway through the book, Siegel concludes
that “successful reconciliation of science and religion must be based on
spiritual experience.”
The book's second half provides arguments against
“prominent proponents of new atheism” who rely on materialism. Here, Siegel
explains their major ideas and refutes them. But at the same time, he claims
these writers are in denial, ignorant, dehumanizing, narrow-minded, bigoted. As
readers, we don’t need Siegel’s judgments thrown at us—it actually weakens his own
voice.
Curiously, Siegel’s book ends abruptly with the “Idealogues”
section, giving the materialists the last word. Instead, he should have reiterated
dualism as a better way to explore religion and faith.
Fortunately, you don’t need a degree in science or
philosophy to follow Siegel’s reasoning, nor do you need to read the new
atheism books he writes about to follow his counter-argument. This is a weighty
book, containing nuggets that may resonate with skeptics and believers.
rating: ★★★★
A Skeptic's Faith: Why Scientific Materialism Cannot Be the Whole Truth
by Charles Siegel
Omo Press
In Teaching Witchcraft: A Guide for Students and Teachers of Wicca, Miles Batty says witchcraft is not Devil worship or Satanism. Yet that’s what they were convicted of in 1692, even the stoutest of Puritans. The convicted witches were accused of harming people and animals, signing the devil’s book, or even trying to overthrow the Puritan church.
In contrast, present-day witches follow a rule to harm none. They celebrate seasonal changes, nature, the moon and stars, the god and goddess, and/or pre-Christian deities. Despite the blend of pagan ideology, Batty explains, their practices were not passed down through the centuries. Modern witchcraft began in the late 19th century, was influenced in the 1920s by the (largely discredited) works of Margaret Murray, expanded through the teachings of Gerald Gardner, and captured the imagination of the 1960s. Today’s witch has nothing in common with the accused witches of 1692.
Batty provides an interesting overview of religious development from pre-history to monotheism, followed by intentional acts to wipe out Pagans, Druids, heretics, magicians, wise women, and witches. What the conquerors couldn’t destroy, they converted for their own use (altars, relics) or absorbed (festivals and celebrations).
The second half of Teaching Witchcraft is more like a manual, providing the basics for incorporating different elements into a personal practice, either as part of a group or as an individual. Although designed for classroom or personal study, the book works well for curious readers like me who want to understand Wiccan beliefs, the cornerstones of magick, the meaning of rituals. Interspersed with charts and drawings, the book is a guide to the Wheel of the Year, the sabbats and esbats, moon cycles, signs and symbols, stones and crystals, amulets and talismans, auras and chakras.
Teaching Witchcraft is set up as lessons, each one ending with a series of questions and recommended reading. It closes with final exams and teacher resources.
The book is a solid introduction to modern witchcraft, whether you’re on that path or wondering what all those witches do in Salem.
rating: ★★★★★
Teaching Witchcraft: A Guide for Students and Teachers of Wicca
by Miles Batty
Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.
