Book Review: Brain Rules

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina (Seattle: Pear Press, 2008. 301 pp)

John Medina is a development molecular biologist and research consultant. He is an affiliate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University.

In Pursuit of Learning 

Can we, as human beings, learn better? We go through grade school, middle school, high school, college, perhaps even graduate work without ever questioning if we are learning optimally. As a person who seeks to learn continuously and realizing I won’t remember every piece of information imparted to me in my lifetime, Brain Rules offers almost magical solutions to apply my learning better in work and life on the whole.

Separated into 12 easy-to-remember principles about optimal brain function, Brain Rules explains complex issues in simple, relatable, and applicable ways. Medina culls research all across the field of brain science and translates the research into easily digestible chapters. Since Brain Rules attempts to popularize scientific research, the book won’t be for everyone. In particular, I imagine those in scientific fields related to brain research will find Medina’s writing much too simplistic.

But for the common reader, Medina’s prose is perfect. He translates complex ideas into simple notions the everyday man and woman can apply.

While the research behind the 12 principles of Brain Rules is interesting, the most fascinating part of the book, for me, surrounded the potential ways in which businesses and educators can take these principles and use them within their contexts.

Exercise for the Brain 

For example, science reminds us of the critical importance of exercise. While most understand the importance of physical activity on bodily health, many don’t recognize the effect of exercise on brain function.

“Business leaders already know that if employees exercised regularly, it would reduce health-care costs… But exercise also could boost the collective brain power of an organization” (26-27).

I have already found this principle undeniably useful. Whenever I get stuck in the brainstorming phase of a project, a quick run typically launches my creativity to higher levels.

Illustrations for the Brain 

Consider the importance of association. How often have you been in a lecture or a business presentation where you sit in front of an hour-long, text-based Powerpoint presentation? Assuming you’ve encountered one of these occurrences, do you remember anything from it? If you’re anything like me, probably not.

“If you are a student, whether in business or education, the events that happen the first time you are exposed to a given information stream play a disproportionately greater role in your ability to accurately retrieve it at a later date. If you are trying to get information across to someone, your ability to create a compelling introduction may be the most important single factor in the later success of your mission” (116).

Whether in academia or the boardroom, the introductory hook to your information matters significantly. Whether a story, a metaphor, a picture, or a song, an audience needs a hook in order to ignite memory retention. To just state facts is a failure to understand the best ways for your audience to remember.

Sleep for the Brain 

Photo by Scott Akerman 

Lastly, how often did you pull an all-nighter before a final exam? Did your last-second cramming help your grades? Brain research suggests a good night’s sleep helps your brain to retain information. Likewise, the mid-afternoon period when all of your employees are yawning is the least productive time during the day. Studies suggest a power nap contributes to productivity at a greater degree than powering through tiredness. Medina ponders,

“What if businesses and schools took seriously the existence of nap zones? No meetings or classes would ever be scheduled at the time when the process C and process S curves are flat-lined. No high-demand presentations and no critical exams would be assigned anywhere near the collision of these two curves” (167).

When you schedule exams or critical presentations/meetings for time periods where people function at their most tired state, you should expect sub-optimal results.

Simple Principles Worth Applying 

Now, all three of these examples might seem self-explanatory. I, for example, utilized the sleep-before-a-test strategy throughout my academic career without understanding the scientific benefits behind it.

But even if some of the Brain Rules principles seem self-explanatory, the bottom line remains static. Our society functions inefficiently. We make students sit in front of text-based presentations and then expect them to have a photographic memory for the test. We require our employees to sit in front of computer screens 8-10 hours a day and expect them to function at full brain capacity.

There’s room to reform business and education to become more efficient and productive. Brain Rules offers intriguing possibilities for creating a better system. If you are interested developing a better process for learning, you must read Brain Rules.

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5

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Posted by: Donovan Richards

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Book Review: Strength to Love

Strength to Love by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963. 192 pp)

Born in 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a pastor, activist, and leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. King rose to prominence during the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and orchestrated the 1963 March on Washington where King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. King earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assassinated in 1968.

A Big Deal 

Martin Luther King, Jr. is a big deal. I recall learning about his life and his influence on civil rights early and often in grade school. I heard his famous “I Have a Dream” speech long before I knew what it meant. King County—where I live—originally named after William Rufus King is now named after MLK.

Yet for all I’ve learned about King over the course of my education, I knew little about the origins of King’s thought. Aside from a passing mention of King as a Baptist minister, the facts I was taught regarding King sit mostly on the secular side.

Photo by Scott Ableman 

Thus, I found King’s theological inspiration fascinating. When I read his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” for a college course, my life changed. I found an ethic by which to live. I had no clue that King spent so much time in the public eye grounded by his theological inspiration.

A Collection 

For this reason, I found King’s Strength to Love incredibly fascinating.

A compilation of 15 separate sermons, Strength to Love follows a variety of topics. Loving neighbors and enemies represent a major theme. Contextual issues such as a Christian’s response to Communism also populate the pages.

If you have heard MLK’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, you’ve heard his unparalleled eloquence. King’s possesses stolid and erudite prose. As such, you could underline every other sentence.

The Continual Journey 

But for me, the most fascinating sermon concludes this book. Titled “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence”, the chapter unveils the MLK’s theological journey.

In his words,

“In my senior year in theological seminary, I engaged in the exciting reading of various theological theories. Having been raised in a rather strict fundamentalist tradition, I was occasionally shocked when my intellectual journey carried me through new and sometimes complex doctrinal lands, but the pilgrimage was always stimulating, gave me a new appreciation for objective appraisal and critical analysis, and knocked me out of my dogmatic slumber” (146).

Having experienced theological study, such sentiments ring true with me. Reading King’s words about his time in preparatory study reminds me of the journey we all take in faith, in philosophy, and in life. Without King’s intellectual journey, we more than likely would not have seen such a powerful external representation of his beliefs.

The Foundations of Faith 

Likewise, King’s honesty about his faith inspires me.

“God has been profoundly real to me in recent years. In the midst of outer dangers I have felt an inner calm. In the midst of lonely days and dreary nights I have heard an inner voice saying, ‘Lo, I will be with you’” (153).

Photo by Nathan Gibbs

In statements such as these, I find profound awe. This man—arguably the most important figure in the 20th century—relied heavily on his faith. Underneath his intellectual journey and his public leadership in the civil rights movement was a foundation in Christian faith.

In Appreciation of the Man 

Of course, Martin Luther King’s influence reaches far beyond Christian circles. As a philosophical system, King’s views on nonviolence are revolutionary. MLK openly announces the influence of Gandhi on his positions—a position clearly outside of orthodox Christianity but nonetheless an influence on King’s beliefs.

But, reading King talk about faith in Jesus and the importance of the church in tender words all while admitting his intellectual journey gives me courage.

If you are a fan of Martin Luther King or are interested in hearing his positions from his voice, Strength to Love is a mandatory read.

Verdict: 5 out of 5

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Posted by: Donovan Richards

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Book Review: Ambiguous Adventure

Ambiguous Adventure by Cheikh Hamidou Kane; translated by Katherine Woods (Brooklyn: Melville House Publishing, 2012; originally published 1962.
176 pp)

Cheikh Hamidou Kane was born the son of a local chief in Senegal in 1928. He studied philosophy and law at the Sarbonne in Paris and later at the École Nationale de la France d’Outre-Mer. While in Paris, Kane wrote Ambiguous Adventure basing it on his experiences. Upon returning to Senegal, he published his novel to considerable acclaim winning the Grand Prix Littéraire d’Afrique Noir. Kane garnered employment in the Senegalese government in multiple ministerial positions. Kane lives in Dakar, Senegal.

Besides her translation of Ambiguous Adventure, Katherine Woods is best known for her translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince.

A Western-Centric Education 

Enveloped in study during my college years, I often overlooked the narrow focus of my discipline. To me, philosophy meant the study of the question, “Why?” No matter the source of the question, philosophy dove deeper than a simple explanation.

In retrospect, my program specifically dealt with analytical philosophy. As students, we dove into philosophy from a deductive approach, setting aside much of European existentialism and Eastern philosophy. While it may have seemed those angles were less worthwhile, we just didn’t focus on them.

Understanding the narrow focus of my studies, I find the philosophical tension in Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s novel, Ambiguous Adventure intriguing.

The Studies of Samba Diallo 

The story follows a young, Senegalese boy, Samba Diallo—a devout Muslim born and raised in the Diallobé country of Senegal. While in his homeland, Samba Diallo learns the culture, tradition, and faith of his people.

Photo by Steve Mohundro

At the behest of the Diallobé milieu, Samba attends college in Paris studying philosophy. For Samba—ever the excellent student—this opportunity allows him a chance to continue learning. For the Diallobé community, Samba’s encounter with the Western world will provide answers about the current political pressures the community encounters from all sides.

“The men of the Diallobé wanted to learn ‘how better to join wood to wood.’ The mass of the country had made the reverse choice to that of the teacher. While the latter was setting at naught the stiffness of his joints, the pressure on his loins, setting his cabin at naught, and recognizing the reality only of Him toward Whom his thought mounted with delight at every instant, the people of the Diallobé were each day a little more anxious about the stability of their dwellings, the unhealthy state of their bodies. The Diallobé wanted more substance” (29).

Tensions between Past and Present 

Yet, Samba’s studies carry consequences. The more he learns of the Western world, the less he associates himself with his Muslim faith and his cultural tradition. While never outright disowning his past, he finds the tension between past and present difficult to maintain.

“The West is in process of overturning these simple ideas, of which we are part and parcel. They began, timidly, by relegating God to a place ‘between inverted commas.’ Then two centuries later, having acquired more assurance, they decreed, ‘God is dead.’ From that day dates the era of frenzied toil. Nietzsche is the contemporary of the industrial revolution. God was no longer there to measure and justify man’s activity. Was it not industry that did that? Industry was blind, although, finally, it was still possible to domicile all the good it produced… But already this phase is past… After the death of God, what they are now announcing is the death of man” (91).

In the end, the more Samba learns, the more he realizes life is ambiguous.

Pondering the Value of Broad-Ranging Study 

Photo by Jeff Attaway

These conclusions resonate with my experience as a former philosophy student. Much like Samba, my philosophical studies carried an immensely Western influence. Whether intentional or unintentional, the program implies an inconsequential view of non-Western worldviews.

Even though I greatly appreciate my education and credit it for sharpening my critical reasoning skills, I feel unbalanced. For this reason, I find immense value in reading non-Western views and rebalancing the way I comprehend the world.

Ambiguous Adventure is a short-but-dense philosophical read. It doesn’t offer a fast moving plot, but its thought-provoking motifs offer much for a curious reader. If you are interested in non-Western views on life, check out Ambiguous Adventure.

Verdict: 3.5 out of 5

What about you? Has your education been Western-centric? If it has, does such a focus bother you? What sort of value do you find in learning about other cultures?
Share your thoughts below.

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Posted by: Donovan Richards

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Book Review: The Element

The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Ken Robinson with Lou Aronica (New York: Viking, 2009. 260pp)

Sir Ken Robinson (b. 1950) is the former director of The Arts Schools Project and Professor Emeritus of Arts Education at the University of Warwick. He is now an author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts.

Lou Aronica (b. 1958) is an American writer and Publisher, who primarily works in publishing science fiction works.  

The Audition

In the musical arts, it’s almost as easy to find out who is good at the subject right away as it is to find out who excels at math. As a result, music educators have developed the audition to keep students growing at the best rate possible. The audition comes with a price. Nervousness, or even failure loom in the distance as students frantically prepare for their ten minute slot of unencumbered stress. 

I’m never surprised in the audition process. Based on past experience with each student, I could have placed him or her into respective categories varying from supremely talented to abysmal. But I don’t. I want the students to see for themselves what they are good at, and learn from putting themselves out there. They improve by just forcing themselves to be open.

This raises the question, “why don’t we have ‘auditions’ for everything in education?” Moreover, why don’t we place students appropriately in every academic “core” class? Educators, falsely and perhaps brazenly, assume students all have the same intellect. All students must follow the same path to nirvana and education bliss. Ken Robinson, in his book The Element, tries to suggest a reform to education based on the fact learning is unique to the individual.

A Fingerprint of Intelligence

Sir Ken Robinson

“Every person’s intelligence is as unique as a fingerprint. There might be seven, ten, or a hundred different forms of intelligence, but each of us uses these forms in different ways. My ability involves a different combination of dominant and dormant intelligences than yours does” (50).

When we begin to explore preconceived ideas about our own individual intelligence, we can see how “smart” we really are in different ways. 

America’s educational system has been based around a notion of learning which Robinson argues is primarily based on reading, writing, and math skills. While these skills are undoubtedly important, we don’t equally possess them all. 

Yet, educators sometime scoff at the notion that a student is failing Language Arts or an Algebra class. Somehow as educators, myself included, we’ve decided on the “norm” of learning, even when each individual possesses something unique. Robinson proposes America’s educational system actually prevents people from finding their passion, and living in their “Element”.

Finding Your Element

“The Element is the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion. What you’ll find in common among the people you’ve met in this chapter and the vast majority of the people you will meet in the coming pages is that they are doing the thing they love, and in doing it they feel like their most authentic selves. They find that time passes differently and that they are more alive, more centered, and more vibrant than at any other times” (21).

Robinson offers the example of Paul McCartney, who hated school, and only found his passion by not doing homework and focusing on the guitar. Gillian Lynne, who didn’t do well in school finding her joy in dancing, ended up producing shows with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac) also didn’t do well in school, and the numbers suggested he even lacked intelligence.

“‘I had a learning disability at school and still do. I had no understanding of math at all. None. I’d be hard pushed right now to recite the alphabet backward. I’d be lucky if I got it right going forward quickly. If someone were to say, ‘What letter is before this one?’ I’d break out into a cold sweat’” (27).

Mentorship and Education

Robinson then suggests the role of a mentor is needed to find these people who don’t naturally rise to “normal” academic prowess, and is needed to find their own element. The role of a mentor, as Robinson describes, includes four steps: Recognition, Encouragement, Facilitating, and Stretching. 

By assuming the role of a mentor, Robinson argues, we can improve education. Great teachers are great mentors, because they don’t rely on standardized tests and curriculum standards, but rather on their sole purpose: to help their students live up to the fullest potential.

“The most powerful method of improving education is to invest in the improvement of teaching and the status of great teachers. There isn't a great school anywhere that doesn't have great teachers working in it. But there are plenty of poor schools with shelves of curriculum standards and reams of standardized tests” (138).

As an educator The Element makes me think. Because I succeeded in academia, I often assume that my students should and will do the same. But, there isn’t a standard, as all students and individuals have different gifts. How can I best challenge people to live up to their fullest potential without relying on the standard norms of what is considered educated? If intellect is an individual fingerprint as Robinson suggests, education simply has to change. 

Focusing on making my students meet a set of standardized test scores would rob the world of the next Paul McCartney, Mick Fleetwood, or Gillian Lynne. If you’re curious about what education could look like, or what to change in your preconceived notion on education, you should read this book.

Verdict: 4 out of 5

What do you think?  Do you disagree with anything Robinson says?  Do you think education is in need of reform?  Share your thoughts below.
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Posted by: Andrew Jacobson


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Film Review: Waiting for "Superman"

Waiting for "Superman" directed by Davis Guggenheim (Electric Kinney Films, Participant Media, Walden Media, PG, 111 minutes)

Starring: Geoffrey Canada, Michelle Rhee, and Bill Strickland

A Good Teacher Is Hard to Find

I’m a teacher and I consider myself a decent one. I care about my students, work hard, and push myself constantly so that I can stay ahead of the curve. One would think that this mindset would be the norm for education professionals, but it isn’t. Reality suggests that good teachers are few and far between; this state should not exist. Geoffrey Canada says it this way in Waiting for "Superman",

“No matter where we live, or what we believe in, when we believe in our school systems, we take a leap of faith.”

In the documentary, Geoffrey Canada (CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone), Michelle Rhee (former chancellor of the Washington D.C. public schools), and Bill Strickland (CEO of the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild) look at the failing American school system, and why it isn’t working. For the sake of brevity, I’ll outline two of their reasons for you in this review: teachers and unions.

Good and Bad Teachers

Unbeknownst to me, there is a kind of school termed a “dropout factory” where over forty percent of students fail to graduate. The film used Theodore Roosevelt High School in Los Angeles as an example, where two thousand students annually don’t graduate. Most place the blame of this terrible dropout rate on the marginalized neighborhood, but the opposite of this statement is true. Failing neighborhoods result from failing schools, and failing schools are based on failing teachers. Canada states,

“You simply cannot have great schools without great teachers.”

While it might seem obvious, most have ignored this simple fact. Terrible teachers impede both the success of a school and a student’s life. Waiting for "Superman" discusses this fact in great depth, mourning the notion that bad teachers are allowed to have job, mainly due to tenure and the teacher’s union.

A bad teacher is characterized as a teacher who only covers fifty percent of the material, while a good teacher covers one hundred and fifty percent of the required curriculum (curriculum that is required by the district and general education standards). Sadly, the documentary reveals that these bad teachers effect the U.S. education tremendously. Canada argues,

“If we replaced the bottom six to ten percent of teachers with average teachers, we would bring the level of U.S. education up to the level of Finland.”

Finland currently leads the world in education, and the U.S. could find itself level if it replaced the lowest of our teachers. It doesn’t require huge educational reform, just getting better teachers.

Getting Better Teachers

If I had a dollar for every time I considered leaving the teaching profession for better pay, I could retire right now. Teachers get paid terribly, and that seems to be part of the problem.

Michelle Rhee, when she was acting chancellor of the Washington D.C. public school system derived a way to get better teachers—give them better pay. The catch was that if they denied tenure, they would get a six figure salary (any teacher reading this blog now is assuredly drooling).

If the teacher chose to keep tenure, they would only get a modest pay increase. That way good teachers would flourish financially and push themselves to be better teachers for fear of losing their jobs due to lack of tenure, and the bad teachers could remain with modest pay.

To me, this idea sounded like a brilliant solution: better pay attracts good teachers. And, with the better pay came a price, the teachers actually had to work for it. But, the unions shot it down, and wouldn’t even raise the proposal for a vote.

Unions: An Utter Failure

The NEA and the AFT (the two biggest teachers unions) believe that distinctions shouldn’t be made among teachers. Frankly, as a teacher who works hard to improve, I don’t want to be lumped in with the mediocre and terrible. According to Michelle Rhee, teachers unions won’t even allow the increase in teacher pay so that all can be somewhat equal around the country.

Therefore, Waiting for "Superman" states that unions have become an impediment to reform in education. Until unions allow the education profession to be performance based like the rest of the job market, reform simply won’t happen.

Though it is my profession, I teach in private schools, and haven’t been really involved in the policies of public education. This movie is saddening, bewildering, and frightening at every level. It reveals through poor teaching quality, low pay, and stubborn unions how a society has given up on the one thing in life that can never take away from us: our education. I recommend this documentary for anyone wanting to see the inner workings of our educational system, and how it might be reformed.

Verdict: 5 out of 5

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Posted by: Andrew Jacobson

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Book Review: The Tiger's Wife

The Tiger's Wife: A Novel by Téa Obreht (New York: Random House, 368 pp)

Born in 1985 in the former Yugoslavia, Téa Obreht grew up in Cyprus and Egypt before immigrating to the United States in 1997. Her writing is published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, Zoetrope: All-Story, The New York Times, and The Guardian. Her first novel, The Tiger’s Wife, won the 2011 Orange Prize. She has been named by The New Yorker as one of the twenty best American fiction writers under forty and included in The National Book Foundation’s list of 5 Under 35. Téa Obreht lives in Ithaca, New York.

Faith or Reason

With the death of famed author and theist critic Christopher Hitchens framing recent discussions, the culture wars between evangelical Christians and hard-nose atheistic scientists rage on. Both sides consider the other to be the epitome of evil in the current age. The Christian is either a beacon of morality or the source of discrimination, violence, and ignorance; the atheist represents either the foundation of the new, secular, and humanist world or a brazen liar spewing hate toward a specific people group.

Setting aside all rhetoric, the core of the argument resides in the principle of reason versus faith. Often painted as polar opposites, reason and faith act as the different ways in which an individual can approach a problem or provide an explanation.

And reason versus faith offers the core debate in Téa Obreht’s new novel, The Tiger’s Wife.

A Doctor Dealing with Death

Set in the Balkans in an unnamed country with a remarkably similar history to the former Yugoslavia, the protagonist, Natalia, travels with her best-friend-since-childhood, Zóra, to an orphanage near the sea. Both trained as doctors, the pair arrives hoping to cure physical and psychological wounds.

While the duo travels, Natalia learns of the sudden death of her grandfather, who was a physician of great renown. Natalia’s grandfather silently suffered through cancer and chose to die alone in a rundown region unknown to his family. Coping with the shock of losing her closest family member, Natalia reminisces about the unique stories her grandfather told—particularly about the tiger’s wife and the deathless man.

“My grandfather never refers to the tiger’s wife by name. His arm is around me and my feet are on the handrail, and my grandfather might say, ‘I once knew a girl who loved tigers so much she almost became one herself.’ Because I am little, and my love of tigers comes directly from him, I believe he is talking about me, offering me a fairy tale in which I can imagine myself — and will, for years and years” (4).

During recollections such as these, the reader learns of the intricate relationship Natalia had with her grandfather, and the complicated relationship he had with the world at large.

A Grandfather Caught between Science and Belief

Photo by Tambako the Jaguar

Born and raised in a small Balkan village, Natalia’s grandfather learned of Balkan superstition from an early age. When a mysterious tiger appears in the outskirts of the village, popular opinion in the settlement exposes the fantastical interpretations the human mind creates to explain such situations. With fear and faith in superstition, the existence of the tiger spells doom for the ease of mind in the village — Natalia’s grandfather included.

Separately, Natalia thinks back to the many stories her grandfather told of the deathless man. On multiple occasions during her grandfather’s work as a doctor, the grandfather meets a man who claims the supernatural ability of immortality. In one moment of disbelief, in fact, her grandfather wagers with the man and ties the deathless man to a cinder block before allowing him to wade into a deep lake. Imagine the grandfather’s surprise when the deathless man slips out of the shallows hours later.

Medicine or Superstition

Despite the many themes of war, family, regret, and mysticism in The Tiger’s Wife, I find the disconnect between faith and reason to be the core theme of this novel. Natalia’s grandfather sought a degree in medicine in order to combat the superstitious beliefs that killed many people he knew. Yet at the same time, the grandfather must face many supernatural and seemingly miraculous aspects of his own life.

Likewise, Natalia, as a doctor, can’t help but think superstitiously about her grandfather’s demise. Despite her formal training in science and reason, her mind wanders toward items of belief when considering the last moments of her grandfather. While discussing a character in the grandfather’s past, Obreht ponders why death holds us so comprehensively.

“Young boys are fascinated with animals, but for Dariša the hysterical dream of the golden labyrinth, coupled with the silent sanctuary of the trophy room, amounted to a much simpler notion: absence, solitude, and then, at the end of it all, Death in thousands of forms, standing in that hall with frankness and clarity — Death had size and color and shape, texture and grace. There was something concrete to it. In that room, Death had come and gone, swept by, and left behind a mirage of life — it was possible, he realized, to find life in Death” (248).

A False Dichotomy

Of course, from a philosophical perspective, the dichotomy between faith and reason is nonexistent. Faith is the bedrock of human activity. People framing faith and reason in conflict merely need to ask why they believe that reason provides the right answers. In truth, the only answer to such a question is that they have faith that reason gives them the right answers.

My enjoyment of this novel finds its focus under this principle. As an individual who values education and reason, my personal beliefs can often seem in conflict with my educational pursuits. Yet, I understand that I possess as much faith in reason as I have in less tangible beliefs. With The Tiger’s Wife, I find parallels in these characters as they ponder the superstitious and mystical beside the calculated and the rational.

In The Tiger’s Wife, Téa Obreht explores the death of a family member and how the scientific mind of a doctor resorts to folk belief in order find meaning. A complex but rewarding read, The Tiger's Wife is a book highly recommend for anyone who enjoys literary fiction, Balkan folklore, and/or the dichotomy between faith and reason.

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5

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Posted by: Donovan Richards

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