Posts
Tanya at the Motherwear Breastfeeding blog posts a nice review of Dr. James McKenna's new book, Sleeping with Your Baby. She's also giving away a copy, if you hurry.
I've just discovered Library Thing, and you can see I've added a widget and a column on the left titled "Recent books from my library". Actually, it is a list of books that I am currently reading, including the ones "up next" and a couple that I will be reading to my 1st grader this year for school.
It's a neat tool. Check it out.
An Army of Davids: How Markets and Technology Empower Ordinary People to Beat Big Media, Big Government, and Other Goliaths
A great - but not earth-shaking - book about how new technologies are revolutionizing culture and society, from law professor and Instapundit Glenn Reynolds.
Perfect Parenting: The Dictionary of 1000 Parenting Tips
This book is neat. When you have an issue with a child and just need some ideas as to how to handle it, just turn to one of hundreds of alphabetized topics, from "Allowances" to "Nightmares" to "Yelling and Screaming". What I liked about this book is that it is useful no matter what, if any, parenting philosophy you subscribe to, and does not claim to have only one answer for every child in every situation. Endorsed by Dr. Sears, too.
Hunters of Dune, by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.
I read this book last year when it came out, but it had been years since I had read the original Dune series. Now, reading it immediately after Chapterhouse: Dune, I am impressed by how well the two books flow together. My library has ordered Sandworms of Dune and I am anxiously awaiting it. Although, I do agree wholeheartedly with one Amazon.com reviewer who wrote: "The biggest gap between father and son is subtlety. What Frank Herbert implied with a sentence, B. Herbert and Anderson drag out into a paragraph-long explanation."
Your Fairy Bookmother posts on the lack of breastfeeding images in children's books (Reluctant Lactivism).
She may have missed these.
Heretics of Dune, by Frank Herbert.
Chapterhouse: Dune 
I am eagerly awaiting Sandworms of Dune
Heretics of Dune
This week I stumbled across Bryan Terry's review of the audiobook of Dune. Bryan's Book Blog (which I found through his wife's blog, which I found where?) seems to be taking off, in the sense that real authors are visiting his site and commenting on his posts. By comparison, would you believe that this blog gets, on average, one hit a day? Me neither.
Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About God, Dreams, and Talking Vegetables
I first heard of this book after I stumbled across Phil Vischer's blog. I put in a request for my library to purchase it, and they did. I liked the book a lot. Here's a review which sums the book up better than I could:
From Publishers Weekly
Have you ever been tempted to start your own business? First read this cautionary tale, especially if you think your ideas come from God. Vischer, a pioneer in computerized animation and creator of Veggie Tales, proves that a pathetically skinny, shy techno-geek can be hilarious even when describing his headlong plunge into bankruptcy. In 1989, "with an unflappable 'How hard could it be' attitude," the 22-year-old entrepreneur launched his dream of creating high-quality Christian entertainment by founding the company that would become Big Idea Productions. Thirteen stressful years later, he was featured in a People magazine cover story—"small town kid kicked out of Bible college and down to his last ten bucks creates talking vegetables and hits it big, selling 40 million videos!"—shortly before firing half his staff in an unsuccessful attempt to avert disaster. While Vischer accepts the blame for the collapse ("my strengths built Big Idea, and my weaknesses brought it down"), he also details various unnamed executives' incompetence. One question haunted him: if he was doing God's work, why didn't God rescue his company? Concluding his story of spiritual inspiration and heartbreak, Vischer draws lessons from his experience for anyone who has ever lost a dream. (Jan. 9)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Blogwild!: A Guide for Small Business Blogging
I liked this book because it delivered what it promised. It's a perfect introduction for a small business owner who doesn't know much about blogging but knows s/he needs to get on board. It's concise and to the point, and not too technical. My only criticism is that all of the "how to set up a blog" etc. information is based on a Typepad platform. It would have been nice if this book had been more relevant to other blogging services.
God Emperor of Dune
Are Dune novels like Star Trek movies? You know, odd ones good, even ones bad? It would seem so. Although the concept of Leto II's transformation into the giant sand worm and his thousands-year reign is fascinating, this book is a bit plodding.
I'm also confused by the fact that the Duncan ghola says that he remembers Leto as a child, when actually the original Duncan died way before Leto was even conceived. Is Herbert insinuating that the Duncan gholas are not copies of the original but of a later ghola/clone? Or did he just get confused when writing this book. If you have a theory, let me know.
Body Clutter: Love Your Body, Love Yourself
If you are a FlyLady or Dinner Diva devotee, that this book is a must-read goes without saying. It's motivational and inspirational for everyone else, although there is a lot of "fly-lingo" to fight through (glossary provided). It helped me, and I'm sure that it will be a life-changing book for some people who desperately need to hear its message.
Children of Dune
Although I have read this book many times, I still enjoy it. Much better than the disappointing Dune Messiah.
Dune Messiah
Personally, I thought this book was a bit of a dud. It's a bridge between Dune and Children of Dune but doesn't really stand on it's own.
Daddy Types comments on Slate's review of two new books about fertility, one of which is Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction Is Changing Men, Women, and the World
The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much?
Hathor has a musing and a comic about this book. It's waiting for me on the library "hold" shelf, so I'll let you know what I think.
A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder--How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place
I think the title pretty much says it all. Recommended.
Dune: House Atreides
Dune: House Harkonnen
Dune: House Corrino
Dune
(took a break here, before plunging into the rest of the original Dune series, and read:)
The Road to Dune
Please note that I've changed my email address to (in standard format) mommyblawger at gmail.com. Thanks!
Living on Earth has a great interview with Dr. Marsden Wagner, former director of Women and Children's Health for the World Health Organization, and author of a new book, Born in the U.S.A.: How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First
GELLERMAN: For most of his career Dr. Marsden Wagner was your typical American OB/GYN. A baby doctor; delivering his share of the four million babies that are born each year in the United States.
Ninety-nine percent of those births take place in hospitals. That's the way it should be, thought Dr. Wagner until he became the Director of Women and Children's Health at the World Health Organization and began to travel to places where midwives do the job.
What he saw changed his life.
WAGNER: And it was an epiphany for me it was a shock beyond belief because that woman when she got near birth she started yelling and she said to the midwife and to me and the family and everybody, "Stand back, I'm gonna have this baby!" And she did. And what I actually witnessed for the first time in my life was a woman in her full power, and it scared me to death.