Jayne’s Recent Non-Fiction Reading List

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Seven Deadly Sins by Guy Leschziner

Seven Deadly Sins will explore the underlying nature of the seven deadly sins, their neuroscientific and psychological basis, and their origin in our genes.

Gluttony. Greed. Sloth. Pride. Envy. Lust. Anger. These are The Seven Deadly Sins, the vices of humankind that define immorality. But do these sins really represent moral failings, or are they simply important and useful biological functions that humans need to survive? Instead of being acts of immorality, are they really just a result of how our bodies, our psyches, and our brains in particular, are wired? In Seven Deadly Sins: The Biology of Being Human, Guy Leschziner, a professor of neurology, dares to turn much of what society thinks of as morality on its head and to ask these controversial questions.

Leschziner takes readers on an exploration of the Seven Deadly Sins as he looks at their neuroscientific and psychological bases, their origin in our genes, and, crucially, how certain medical disorders may give rise to them. He introduces us to patients whose physical and psychological conditions have given rise to behaviours that have for centuries been labelled as “sin” and how these behaviours might actually be evolutionary imperatives that preserve the tribe and ensure the wellbeing of our societies. In Seven Deadly Sins, a book certain to cause debate and raise controversy, Guy Leschziner, a writer who has explored the mysteries of our sleeping brains and the odd crossed wires of our five senses, asks whether these traits truly represent sin, or simply reflect our intrinsic drive to survive and thrive.

Review

This is an interesting idea of using the (religious) “seven deadly sins” to illuminate actions that have propelled the human species and played a major role in our evolutionary survival over the millennia. I had enjoyed a previous book of Dr. Leschziner’s, “The Man Who Tasted Words,” so I started this book with high hopes. Each chapter focuses on a “sin,” which I began to mentally change to “behavior,” which has historically been condemned by religion and society as harmful. But are they really? Have these behaviors actually helped hominids survive and thrive?    

Fair warning that I found the opening chapter on wrath/anger to be a chore to read and resorted to checking other reviews to decide whether or not to continue. Thankfully things improved – to a degree – in subsequent chapters. Yet are some similar drawbacks that continue through the book. Dr. Leschziner uses examples of some of his actual patients (names and details altered for privacy) to illustrate the “sins.” Then he begins to examine possible things that could cause the actions his patients exhibit: brain diseases, brain injuries, drugs, etc. I admire the detail but even with a medical background I found many of these discussions to be close to or over my head (no pun intended) and a bit repetitive. 

Unfortunately what I really came for, how these actions/thoughts might have been to our evolutionary advantage, tended to get lost in the weeds. Given that our brains are still somewhat of a mystery (though advancing medical discoveries are helping reveal new knowledge about it), there is a degree of speculation in the book. The various professionals who specialize in the brain can and do argue about cause and effect. I enjoyed the case studies and thoughts on why these “sins” might have been useful to us but I have my doubts about how accessible much of the book will be to many readers. C

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A Crack in Everything by Marcus Chown

What is space? What is time? Where did the universe come from? The answers to mankind’s most enduring questions may lie in science’s greatest enigma: black holes.

A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. This can occur when a star approaches the end of its life. Unable to generate enough heat to maintain its outer layers, it shrinks catastrophically down to an infinitely dense point.

When this phenomenon was first proposed in 1916, it defied scientific understanding so much that Albert Einstein dismissed it as too ridiculous to be true. But scientists have since proven otherwise. In 1971, Paul Murdin and Louise Webster discovered the first black hole: Cygnus X-1. Later, in the 1990s, astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope found that not only do black holes exist, supermassive black holes lie at the heart of almost every galaxy, including our own. It would take another three decades to confirm this phenomenon. On 10 April 2019, a team of astronomers made history by producing the first image of a black hole.

“A Crack in Everything” is the story of how black holes came in from the cold and took cosmic centre stage. As a journalist, Marcus Chown interviews many of the scientists who made the key discoveries, and, as a former physicist, he translates the most esoteric of science into everyday language. The result is a uniquely engaging page-turner that tells one of the great untold stories in modern science.

Review

Well, when I start to read a scientific NF book, I hope that I’ll learn something, that I won’t be bored, and that the information presented won’t be so above my head that I’ll end it thinking what an idiot I am. I definitely learned a lot and Chown presents the information elegantly but in this case I feel that I only got a partial glimpse of an understanding of quite a bit of the science bits. But we are talking about black holes, the theory of gravity, and the theory of relativity. Einstein stuff. Yes, at times my brain felt as if it had been bent, folded, spindled and mutilated.

 We humans tend to beat ourselves up for things like global warming and the damage our species has done to the environment. But, sometimes, we should pat ourselves on our backs and consider what we have accomplished. We are a puny species of ape that came down from the trees onto an African plain only a few million years ago. We have a threepound brain made mostly of jelly and water. Yet we have seen to the very edge of space and time.

I think that scientists have done an amazing job of learning what they have given the limitations of our technology and the vast distances involved in studying things that (as of now) we have no hope of seeing up close. The ingenuity that has gone into squeezing every last drop of information is astounding. The brilliance of those doing these ingenious things and squeezing as hard as they can is amazing. 

The book covers not only the discoveries but also many of the scientists who have made them. Chown then supplies a lot of scientific information about the discoveries. Much of this is, sadly, over my head though as I mentioned above, I kind of sort of understood some of it. I salute the scientists – past, present, and future – who labor and innovate and spend years or decades discovering more about the Universe around us. B

Go online and look for images of the first black hole actually “seen” in the M87 galaxy. Mind blowing.    

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Opening Weekend: An Insider’s Look at Marketing Hollywood’s Hits and Flops by Jim Fredrick

In a world where movie marketers are the stars of the story, Opening Weekend: An Insider’s Look at Marketing Hollywood’s Hits and Flops recounts Jim Fredrick’s journey through the realm of movie marketing. Fredrick offers readers exclusive access to behind-the-scenes anecdotes and firsthand accounts of working with studio executives and navigating relationships with famous movie stars and directors.

After starting his career in 1983 as a trailer editor and producer at famed advertising boutique Intralink, Jim Fredrick went on to serve as president of marketing at Castle Rock Entertainment; senior vice president of creative advertising at Warner Bros.; and executive vice president of marketing at Sony Screen Gems. In 2011, he founded his own company, Jim Fredrick Motion Picture Marketing.

Across a span of thirty-five years, Fredrick’s roles as a trailer maker and studio executive allowed him to craft advertising campaigns for a range of movies, from such iconic cinematic gems as The Shawshank Redemption to the widely beloved Harry Potter franchise, to commercial failures like The Adventures of Pluto Nash and Fired Up! Opening Weekend explores the intricacies of the lesser-known business of film distribution and marketing, unraveling the complex mechanisms through which movies are sold to discriminating audiences. Replete with triumphs, setbacks, and the relentless spirit that drives the creation and promotion of cinematic masterpieces, Opening Weekend promises an enthralling glimpse into the previously untold world of Hollywood movies.

Review

So, there’s not really much for me to add to the blurb as far as the nuts and bolts of what readers are going to get from this book. Fredrick has an easy, conversational style of writing. He dishes, good and bad, about people with whom he’s worked – both well known actors and behind the scenes coworkers but he backs up what he says. He also points the finger at himself when needed. He doesn’t get too technical about how trailers and posters are created but rather focuses on marketing strategies – the “why” behind, for instance, the need for trailers aimed at certain subgroups of movie goers as well as the fact that the marketing staff must thread a needle in their attempts to make both the filmmakers and the studios happy. The next time you watch a movie trailer or see a poster, you’ll understand a bit more about why you’re seeing what you’re seeing. B

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