Review: Baby-led Weaning: Helping Your Baby to Love Good Food

Baby-led Weaning: Helping Your Baby to Love Good Food by Gill Rapley

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Meh.

I liked a lot of the ideas in this book - feed a baby what adults are eating, let them decide when to feed themselves, let them choose from several options at mealtimes. The ideas behind these things were to raise a child who was not picky and was confident.

Well, the problem with the book is that it is not based on any sort of science. It's completely anecdotal and frankly some of the anecdotes seem kind of forced. There's no evidence that feeding babies purees is in any way bad, and in fact I was fed that way, and I'm the most secure, adventurous eater I know.

It has influenced me to give Sasha pieces of food now and then to see what she does with them - like turkey cold cut in the grocery store, piece of cantaloupe, green bean from my plate at dinner. That's fun and I think it's good for her to experiment. But if the book were more rigorously researched, I'd have better reason to omit cereals and purees - which for now I am not.



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Review: Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book was pretty good. I read it to help solve some conflict in my personal life, and though these techniques and ideas were geared more towards business and politics, some of the concepts were helpful. It's from people who worked on Harvard's Negotiation Project.

The two things that I remember most are first, separate the people from the problem. The authors advise sitting on the same side of the table - literally - and listing out interests rather than positions. That is, what are the things that are important to you in this negotiation, not where you are in the negotiation. There are a lot of good examples that illustrate the difference between the two and I came to really appreciate it.

The second thing that I remember the most was to list out a huge brainstorm of solutions before negotiating. Just come up with every possible idea and solution and make a big list of them and don't eliminate anything to start. Very helpful.

Interesting read.



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Review: Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran

Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran by Azadeh Moaveni

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book made my list from the New York Times, and I read it in the Adirondacks this summer. It's another one I wish I could give 3.5 stars to - pretty good, but not great.

Moaveni is am Iranian-American journalist who returns to Iran to cover the rise of the new president, Ahmadinejad. While there, she meets another Iranian-American, falls and love, gets pregnant, and gets married (in that order). This book is a combination of a memoir and a journalist's view of what was going on in Iran during the early 2000's.

I enjoyed the parts of the book that were memoir more than those that were historical or journalistic. I was most interested in learning about the political climate in Iran though Moaveni's experiences, rather than through the dryer journalistic sections. Iran once again became extremely conservative and ruled by strong religious leaders, and her depiction of her own personal civil liberties lost on a daily basis was far better reporting than any of the other sections she wrote.



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Review: Defending Jacob

Defending Jacob by William Landay

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Meredith recommended this book to me and it came up on my library queue. I wish I could choose 3.5 stars...it was pretty good but not great.

The story follows Andy Barber, assistant DA in Boston, whose son is accused of murdering one of his classmates. Andy believes his son is innocent, but all the evidence starts to point to the boy. The story is told through a combination of narrative and court documents, which was a nice touch.

I thought the characters were pretty compelling - the love Andy had for his son, and the relationship between Andy and his wife in particular. The story read quickly and was a good mystery. However, there is a major twist at the end that really made the book. Without it, it would have been just another murder mystery. I appreciated the twist but didn't think it raised the book to an amazing level.



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