Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande has taken a new direction with this book; still exploring what it takes to make our lives - both as a doctor and as a patient - better, this time he looks at the end of our lives. With death both natural and inevitable, what interventions are the most useful? What merely prolongs suffering, and what makes life more worth living- what gives us better, rather than just longer lives?  What interventions actually make things worse?

Aside from the critical, end-of-life stages, what about the later years? At what point is it time to seek assistance, and when do we have to turn over autonomy? Intriguingly, do we ever have to turn over autonomy?  He shares his research about these questions and some answers to them - good answers that are surprising in both what they have in common and what they do not.

Reading this was enlightening for me: Knowing that we all die, and that we all grow old (if we're lucky) - is not the same as thinking about those facts, and knowing how to deal with them.  Thought-provoking and informative, a straightforward read with beautifully clear prose; my favorite kind of non-fiction.

The Eye of Zoltar, by Jasper Fforde

As the impatiently-anticipated third installment in the wonderful and Strange Chronicles of Kazam series, this book did not disappoint. Fforde's cleverness at plotting-- while not neglecting to include a high ratio of random-- made this one of my favorite reads in a long time.

The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism, by Kristine Barnett

Kristine Barnett's son, Jacob, was so affected by autism that his pre-K teacher assumed he would never (re-)learn the letters of the alphabet. Now, he has set the world's record for being the youngest paid researcher in Physics.

Ms. Barnett seems to be one of those rare souls who has an intuitive grasp of what will help little children blossom; this book focuses on how she helped this transformation happen. It is neither a straightforward narrative nor a detailed description of her methods. It seems, instead, to be a best-parts version of both.

Her main takeaway message is that we can't give up on any child, even if the school system has declared them to be in essence unteachable. I was raised believing this-- our version is to say, "genius is as common as dirt"-- and it is therefore small wonder that I was so taken with this book.

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

This book is a fascinating look at the extraordinarily mundane tool, the humble checklist.   From pilots to surgeons to poor households in third world slums, this book talks about the utility of a checklist in helping people do - whatever they're trying to do - well.  Simple, concise, and well written; I cannot recommend it enough.