The Guinea Pig Diary by A.J. Jacobs

Review (3/5 Stars):

It was a quick and easy read and I couldn't help but laugh of some of things he does. I admire A.J.'s willingness to try new things, even if they may be embarrassing, uncomfortable or completely crazy. My favorite chapters were "I Think Your Fat" (the one where he tries to be radically honest) and "Whipped" (the one where he does everything his wife wants for a month). Brad Blanton, the founder of Radical Honesty is HILARIOUS! I would love the chance to meet him and see Radical Honesty in action. I found some of the experiments to be too far fetched or impractical but every once in a while, I would put down the book and picture myself try to do what he's done... I don't think I can.

SYNOPSIS:

Chapter 1 (My Life as a Beautiful Woman)

• "To understand the world of dating from a woman’s point of view, I appropriated the identity of Michelle, my children’s gorgeous nanny, and venture into the land of online dating. Interacting with men as a beautiful woman gave me a unique look at the male species from the other side. I saw the expected sleaziness, but also the unexpected vulnerability."
  

Chapter 2 (My Outsourced Life)

• "Why should Fortune 500 companies have all the fun? I hired a team in Bangalore, India, to take care of everything in my life. And I mean everything. My e-mails, phone calls, shopping, arguments with my wife and reading bedtime stories to my son."

Chapter 3 (I Think You're Fat)

• "I became a temporary convert to the Radical Honesty movement, which teaches that you should never, ever lie. But more than that, you should say whatever’s on your mind. You should remove the filter between your brain and your mouth. This was the worst month of my life. I had to spend the following weeks apologizing to everyone I offended. But it was also one of the most illuminating."

Chapter 4 (240 Minutes of Fame)

• "Venturing into the world of celebrity worship, I assumed the identity of actor Noah Taylor (to whom I bear an eerie resemblance) and crashed the Academy Awards. I gave autographs, took interviews and rubbed elbows with other celebrities. I watched my ego be warped by fame."

Chapter 5 (The Rationality Project)

• "I tried to retrain my brain to be something more than an ad hoc collection of half-assed solutions that have built up over millions of years of evolution. I attempted to eliminate every irrational bias using the insights of behavioral economics. And in doing so, I permanently changed the way I make every decision, from the simplest (what toothpaste to buy) to the biggest (how to raise the kids)."

Chapter 6 (The Truth About Nakedness)

• "Esquire asked Mary-Louise Parker to pose nude, and she said she would do it only if the editor of the piece also posed nude. I was the editor. My boss told me to take off my pants and get in front of the camera. I learn priceless lessons in objectification and the value of good lighting."

Chapter 7 (What Would George Washington Do?)

• "Living in an increasingly uncivil world, I decide to take radical measures: I follow in the footsteps of George Washington. I adhere to the Founding Father’s “110 Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” I learn about dignity, compassion, and the timeless social benefits of a properly executed bow. I also refrain from adjusting my private parts in public. That is Rule Number 11 in George Washington’s list."

Chapter 8 (The Unitasker)

• "I was so distracted – by the internet, by my cell phone, by snacks beckoning from the kitchen – that I was four months behind deadline in writing this book. So I became the Unitasker. I pledged to quit multitasking. I decided to rewire my brain to I will be the most focused person alive. I unplugged my laptop, I meditated, I talked on the phone – just talked, no surfing the internet at the same time – crazy, no? (it helps that I blindfolded myself). I literally tied myself to my desk chair. It did end up changing my life. I’ve come to believe multitasking isn’t just a minor problem, it’s the Eleventh plague."

Chapter 9 (Whipped)

• "At the suggestion of readers who point out that my wife is a saint, I vowed to spend a month agreeing to her every command. Sure, it was a month of Kate Hudson movies and foot massages —but also of stereotype-shattering insights into the politics of the modern American marriage. Plus, at one point, I had wear a male chastity belt. (It comes in three varieties—clear plastic, wood-paneled and camouflage!) And Julie gets to write the final section."

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Review (5/5 Stars):
Tragedy at it's best. This is a beautifully crafted novel that demonstrates the powerful bond between twins. Conjoined twins may be physically separated at birth and then emotionally separated through the events of their separate lives but the mental connection, the connection that goes deeper than anything words can describe, is too powerful between twins to ever be severed. Although Cutting for Stone was as much about Africa (namely Ethiopia and Eritrea), it was the story of ShivaMarion that captured my heart. The events of their birth was written with so much detail, it was as if everyone was going in slow motion and as the reader, I was inside Operating Theatre 3 myself, watching everything happen. I sympathized with Stone, who in his shocked state helped to kill the one woman he loved. I applauded the strength and intelligence of Hema, who helped to deliver her own sons from another woman's body. Eventually, I fell in love with the two brothers, so different, but together in every way. My heart broke as I understood the subtle hints of their drifting apart. Shiva's dancing, the puppies, Shiva using his own voice instead of relying on his brother Marion to speak for them all foreshadowed the physical and emotional separation of ShivaMarion. I felt angry with the betrayal Marion faced and finally, I cried when the end came and all was forgiven and the brothers were joined again. Absolutely beautiful Abraham Verghese!


Synopsis (SPOILERS):

The day Marion and Shiva were born, their mother died and the man who may very well be their father left disgusted with them.

Their mother was Sister Mary Joseph Praise, an Indian nun who was trained as a nurse and sent to Africa to spread God's and India's love to the Africans. During her journey over by sea, the other nurse / nun she was with became ill. The only doctor on board was so seasick, he could barely survive the trip himself much less help anyone. Sister Mary Joseph Praise nursed him back to health, with that, he took care of everyone else on the ship. Unfortunately, the other nun ended up dying and Sister Mary Joseph Praise was left to complete their mission in Africa alone. After getting off the ship and turning down Dr. Stone's offer of going with him to be a nurse at his hospital, she was devastated to find that the nun she was supposed to go learn from just died of old age. Eventually, Sister Mary Joseph Praise showed up at the exact hospital that Dr. Stone worked at (of course, she didn't know this at the time) weak and about to collapse. The Matron took her in and she became a nurse at Missing Hospital. Verghese then deliberately told the readers that everything that nobody knows what happened to Sister Mary Joseph Praise in between the untimely death of her mentor and her showing up at missing hospital.

Anyway, her arrival at the hospital began a 7 year partnership between herself and Dr. Thomas Stone. She was his most trusted and compatible assistant, from almost reading his mind in the operating theatre to helping him write and illustrate his book. She was there beside him for everything. In fact, the reader can already tell pretty early on in the book that Sister Mary Joseph Praise has developed feelings for Thomas Stone that went beyond their professional relationship. One day, Sister Mary Joseph Praise was not at Stone's side during his operation, furious he went to her room to find her in labour. With their head obstetrician on vacation and the only surgeon too stunned seeing the woman he loves in pain, there was no one there to help. After hours of nothing, Hema (the obstetrician) returns to find Stone ready to crush the skull of the baby to get it out of Sister's system. To Stone, this thing inside of Sister is killing her and all he can think of is getting it out at any cost. Under Hema's instructions, they were able to do a c-section and brought two baby boys into the world. The boys arrived conjoined by an imbelical cord like tube connecting their heads and not breathing. Eventually they were able to revive the boys but Sister was lost. Stone, upset that these two "things" killed his beloved Sister, didn't even take one look at his sons before running off and disappearing.

Thus beginning Hema's sudden journey into motherhood. At the point in the novel, we meet another key character, Ghosh. Ghosh is somewhat of a player as he frequents the bars and the bedrooms of the barmaids as his one true love (Hema) would not give him the time of day. The truth is, Hema is also in love with Ghosh but neither of them realized that their flirting and rejection was taken in the wrong way by the other person. Through an incident where they discovered that Shiva sometimes forgets to breath because of the trauma his biological father subjected him through during delivery, the two of them discover their love for one another and end up raising the boys together.

In the middle of the boys teenage years, a series of events started that would further divide the twins to the point where they were familiar strangers to one another. Basically, Shiva deflowered the girl of Marion's dreams, the girl that he's been saving himself for, the girl he wanted to marry. Genet's mother killed herself as a result of this first act and Genet withdrew into a world of her own. Years later when Ghosh dies (of a blood disease), he makes Marion promise him two things: go to America and find his father, Thomas Stone and help heal him; and forgive Shiva for whatever it is he did. Marion had no intentions of doing such and continued to finish his medical degree until one day Hema called him back home. It turns out that Genet joined a rebel group and Marion's name has been associated with her so he has to flee the country or else he'd most likely end up dead or in jail. His final moments with his family was bitter sweet as Shiva, who's usually emotionally awkward, shows his love to his brother by giving him his beloved possession and Marion, who finally understands the impact of the events that led them to this rift. But even as Marion leaves, he finds that although he loves his brother and will never stop, he still has not been able for forgive him for what he's done to him and indirectly, to the family.

Off Marion goes to America, where he basically has to start all over in order to become a surgeon in a second class hospital. He studies under a Dr. Deepak Jesudass and one day, while Deepak was completing a rather complicated surgery involving a blood vessel behind the liver, a doctor from another hospital walks in and compliments the team (namely Deepak) on their work. This was none other than Dr. Thomas Stone himself. Throughout the span of years, father and son would only deal with one another professionally (other than one outrageous outbreak on Marion's part which lead to a very awkward dinner). Out of the blue one day Genet walked back into Marion's life and walked out 2 days later leaving him dying with Hepatitis B. Thomas then contacts Hema and along with Shiva, she comes to the States to see her baby boy. The most heartbreaking moments of the novel are within these few chapters when you see the bond between the two. When Shiva first sees his twin, in a comatose state at the hospital, he gets into bed beside him and touches Marion's head with his own as if that were the most natural thing ever (in a sense it is as that's how they came into this world). Then Shiva decides that he will give up half his liver to save his brother. This never been done before operation will be performed by none other than their father, Thomas Stone. The operation is successful and the moment that both brothers are conscious and Marion realizes Shiva just saved his life was beautiful. So the book ends happily ever after right? WRONG. Irony and tragedy strikes when Shiva takes some blood thinners as a result of the operation and a clump in his brain that's no one clarifies but I believe is an extension of the cord connecting Shiva and Marion's heads at birth bleeds into his brain and he dies. Marion was about to give up in life lying next to the corpse of his dead twin but eventually realizes that ShivaMarion are finally back as one and so he returns to Ethiopia to take the place of his brother and both his fathers (Ghosh and Stone) at Missing Hospital.