"Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War" by Peter Maass

I have a confession to make - I am guilty of ignorance.

While in 1992 I was taking my first trip to Europe, falling in love for the first time, getting my introduction to Pentecostalism and learning to live, people were being exterminated only several hundred miles away from me.
While I was going into my fourth year of high school education in Bulgaria, boys and girls my age were being raped and tortured and murdered and it took me 15 years to find that out. How is it that I knew nothing about that war? How is it I never paid attention to the news, never took interest in what was happing in Bosnia? How? How come I turned a blind eye to the grizzly events occurring in a land where people spoke Slavic language similar to my own, had features similar to mine, shared with history similar to the one of my county? How can I have been so blind to the genocide in Bosnia?

Then, in the winter of 1992 I came to the United States and looking back now I find I wasn’t the only one guilty. For three years (1992-1995) the United Nations, countries like Britain, France, Russia and of course, the USA, looked to resolved the conflict by ignoring the direct problem in the region. Peaceful solution is what everyone was talking about and looking for, and all the while men, women, and children died by torture, by fire, by knives to their throats. Over 200,000 people. 200,000 died in this conflict and having read Peter Maass’ book I feel disgusted with myself, with humanity in general.

I suspect there were hundreds of other conflicts that occurred and I missed. I know there were many more that history sheltered away from humanity and perhaps I’ll never learn about their victims, but having read this book and having learned of the dangerous games politicians and people with power played, I’m left with a nauseating feeling of shame. Shame for being a human and possessing the realization that evil is something people grow inside, something they cultivate and feed from. For all of our 100,000 years of civilization we have nothing to show except death, destruction and deceit. Is this what we should be proud of?

I recommend this book to everyone. It’s hard to find stories out there that are so open, so raw, so real in their context to make readers seriously wonder what society, civilization, morality and ethics really mean. Mr. Maass, thank you for being so honest.

-by Simon Cleveland

"The Stalking of Kristin: A Father Investigates the Murder of His Daughter" by George Lardner

What can I father do when his daughter has already perished from the hands of a brutal murderer? Fight the ghost of someone who’s long gone? Fight the parents of this ghost? No. He must fight the system that failed him, that failed countless others and that if it isn’t changed would continue to fail until one day you and I find ourselves in the same inescapable situation - loosing our children due to the negligence of those who are getting paid to protect us.

This is a truly sad book. It recounts the story of a young college girl in Boston, who falls in love with a man only to find out that he is an abuser and a control freak. Over the course of the story, the reader finds out what it truly means to mess up a boy, as one follows the failure of his family to build a safe and loving atmosphere for him and as the justice system allows him, now an abuser, to go free again and again he commits his final crime, taking the life of another in particularly bone chilling matter.

This book should be a reminder of what we can expect if we don’t pay attention to the misfortunes we hear about on TV, or the stories we hear from our neighbors and family members. In my opinion, every father and mother should read this story and make up their minds on how to communicate openly with their children, how to foresee outcomes of deadly relationships well in advance. True, the system fails us often, but we, as parents, can fail our children more often when we make the mistake of distancing ourselves too much, when we assume that growing up is the same as getting old. This story should remind us of when our children need us the most.

- by Simon Cleveland

"The Shining" by Stephen King

What makes a book scary? Is it a story of demons, or ghosts, or a few murders? Or is it the inexplicable madness that could taunt the mind of a reader long after the story is over and the book is closed and returned to the book shelf? The Shining is one such story. It's the account of a family, their battles with their own demons in a hotel that somehow feeds on their fears and emotions.

Often, the case is made that a book is scary because it unexpectedly freaked a reader with a sudden twist, a ghostly encounter, or a creepy voice. In `The Shining' there is something different. There is suspense, ever so slowly building, until the trickle becomes a river that pulls one toward a vortex of twisting horrors, of something evil that has been molded and cooked and stored until the one to be fed stumbles on it unexpectedly and then its so horrifying that he is left stunned, numbed, petrified.

King is a king in the world of literary terror. He is a king of his own domain, of the masterful horror story, of a universe where hedge animals stalk, hotels share emotions and people communicate via their minds. Oh, and `The Shining' can not be told via a word of mouth, or seen as an interpretation by Kubric or any other director for that matter. `The Shining' must be experienced only through the words, because only words can make alive that which is too dreadful to share, or show. For all fans of the horror genre believe me when I say:`The Shining' makes one heck of a memorable experience.

-by Simon Cleveland

"Recovered, Not Cured : A Journey Through Schizophrenia" by Richard McLean

I stumbled accidentally on this book. Running a search through the online database at a local library branch, the title popped up on the screen. I cross-referenced it with the opinions of other readers from Amazon.com and decided it'd be an interesting overview of this incredible disease - schizophrenia.

I found out after checking the book out that it won the Australian Book of the Year for 2004, which intrigued me further. Having read it, I am also of the opinion that it deserves the award. The book is short and easy to read (in terms of narrative), but it reveals the complexities of the disease. The author narrates his experiences from the moments the symptoms appeared to the medication phase that restored order in his daily existence.

The book is written in snippets of experiences and often the reader is hurled one story after another of the patient's psychosis, paranoia, search for codes or deciphering of codes and secret messages, the delusions of voices the author heard and his reactions to them. In addition to these experiences, he inserts numerous e-mails from other schizophrenia patients he'd received or read on mental illness-online boards, as well as messages from family members of mental patients and how they coped with them. Since he is a graphics designer by trade, he'd added plenty of visual representations of his internal torments.

I recommend this book to all readers interested in learning about the symptoms of schizophrenia, how to seek treatment and how to learn to cope with the disease.

-by Simon Cleveland

"The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed" by John Vaillant

In my opinion John Valliant’s book is improperly equated to Krakauer’s works. I believe this is done as a marketing effort. The considerable difference is in the main subject of the work - in Krakauer’s it’s the man, in Valliant’s it’s the Nature.

This book is a manifesto, a cry for worldwide attention of the destruction forces of human nature, against the mindless consumerism that exterminates the landmarks of the natural world.

I loved this book. I enjoyed reading about the intricacies of a profession, which claims more lives each year than many other high risk jobs. I was captured in the narrative on the delicate nature of this very complex organism – the tree. I was amazed to learn of another miracle of the Earth – the Golden Spruce, this landmark of biology that survived despite all odds. I was saddened to find out of yet another disappearing Indian nation, that of the Haidas.

Beautifully written, containing a wealth of information on an industry I knew little about, it narrates a story about the act of a sick man and his effort to attract worldwide attention to the right issue via the wrong deed. But in the end, the story begs the question – Is sometimes the sword mightier than the pen? You decide, reader.

This book is wonderful and should be on the reading list of all high schools. Young adults must learn about the consequences of logging, the result of defaced lands and their effect on the world’s environment.

- by Simon Cleveland

"The Middle East - A Brief History Of The Last 2000 Years" by Bernard Lewis

After reading `What Went Wrong? : The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East', I was impressed with Mr. Lewis' level of detail and clarity of writing on topics such as religion and modernity. Now, after completing `The Middle East', I'm reminded yet again of his talent to construct detailed historical account of the political, religious and socio-economic aspects of life in that region. In this latest book, Mr. Lewis examines the major factors leading to the complexity of issues plaguing the Middle East today.

Beginning with the rise of Islam in the 6th century and it subsequent spread to all neighboring kingdoms, the author examines the impact of a religion on the core structure of society, its influence over culture, art, the rationale behind the rivalry of Eastern states (then Persian now Iran) and the West (Syria, Egypt, then Anatolia- now Turkey), military conquests and the resulted political reforms. Readers will learn about the causes behind the low economic growth of the entire region (despite its rich oil reserves), about the 8-year war between Iran and Iraq, about the formation of the Jewish state and subsequently the country of Israel, about the numerous military conflicts in the region since 1949 and a host of other historical facts.

This book is complex in nature and requires a complex reader with deeper interests and even an advanced set of thought. It's great for history enthusiasts, students of the Middle Eastern societies, diplomats and/or businessmen planning to live and work in that part of the world.

- by Simon Cleveland