Deniz Ate Ate từ Windsor, NY 13865, Hoa Kỳ từ Windsor, NY 13865, Hoa Kỳ

This is a great book to read when you're feeling sorry for yourself. I read it about ten years ago at a time when everything in my life was falling apart. Ian Waterman's problem was exotic enough to hold my attention as well as any clever science fiction yarn. But this personal journey is not fiction, and the story certainly offered me a vivid example of courage and tenacity. Deprived of proprioception from the neck down, Waterman learned to use his vision as the only medium of feedback to his muscles. But movement would never again be automatic. If someone turns out a light and leaves him in darkness, or if he becomes distracted, he falls like a ragdoll to the floor. Imagine having to devote a huge portion of your conscious self to monitoring every move you make? The account of Waterman's rehabilitation is not goo-goo preachy as one might expect. I remember this book giving me something I desperately needed at the time: hope.

It was good but lacking. She skims over a lot of interesting questions and conflicts, but don't really explore a lot of other ones because of her feminist agenda (and I'm a feminist). This book also suffers from her white, liberal, and (relatively) rich guilt and blinders. There are quick fleeting mentions of race (the last chapter she talks about the Princess & the Frog, and I was frequenting face-palming and rubbing my temples, esp when she mention her biracial daughter), fat, and sexuality. Actually there is a lot of sexuality but of the heterosexual kind. Since she's a reporter for the New York Times, I googled her other work and her article on Miranda Cosgrove contained entire paragraphs lifted from her chapter "From Wholesome to Whoresome: The Other Disney Princesses", which was about Miley Cyrus, Hilary Duff and the like. This chapter and the superhero chapter suffer because of the lack of detail and nuances, which she either ignored to strengthened her point or she didn't know or care enough to add. For example what about the Disney boys (Justin Timberlake and Shia LaBeuof) in contrast? Or Raven Symone who didn't fit into the neat 'thin, white girl' mold like the other Disney idols? I would have liked further discussion or thought on that. The wealth angle also left me cold because if you can't afford the American Girls dolls or the reason you say no to your child's plea's for Dora, Jasmine and other frilly things is because you simply can't afford it, then the discussion of these items harmful effects seems pretty moot. Her chapters on the Internet and teens was just as rushed, they covered the usual stuff (sexting, nude pics, facebook overuse, branding, Twilight, cyberbullying, etc.), but there wasn't much depth here. She talks about statistics and second hand experiences, but it really didn't add any new understanding to the subject. The best parts are when she talks about raising her daughter and how she deals first hand with these struggles and her own approach to them. I liked the parts about the Princess & the Frog, superheroes, talking with other moms in her neighborhood, and trips to see events and stores she talks about with trepidation and disdain.