Books

A pioneer in brain and memory research, Dr. Daniel Alkon has written a new book, called "Memory's Voice: Deciphering the Mind-Brain Code." He uses the example of one disturbed person to look at how the brain remembers -- a childhood friend who was abused by her father and emotionally scarred. Alton suggests that people like his friend never complely unlearn behavior brought upon by such traumas, and that the impressions made on a child's memory will permanently linger in the complexes of the brain.

Book critic John Leonard reviews "Moorish Spain," by British scholar Richard Fletcher, about the often violent culture clash in Medieval times.

Wall Street Journal correspondent Erik Larson is interested in how companies know the intimate details of our lives. His new book, The Naked Consumer, is an investigation into direct marketing techniques--how corporations collect the vast network of data they use to market their products.

Critic Maureen Corrigan recommends two books that you might want to give as holiday presents. First, a children's book called Emily, by Michael Bedard, about a young girl who meets Emily Dickinson. Second: The Open Door, a new paperback collection of writers writing about what made them love to read books when they were young.

Author Aljean Harmetz's new book, Round Up the Usual Suspects, tells the inside story of the making of the film Casablanca. Harmetz is also the author of The Making of the Wizard of Oz. She was the Hollywood film correspondent for The New York Times for 12 years, and is now a contributing editor for Esquire.

Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the novel Regeneration, about a British poet wounded in World War I who tries to make his anti-war views known. It's based on the life of poet Siegfried Sassoon.

Book critic John Leonard reviews Marguerite Duras' novel "North China Lover," a more explicit version of her earlier novel "The Lover," which has been made into a movie.

Retired Major General Jeanne Holm was the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. She worked her way up the to become a major general and in 1976 was appointed Special Assistant for Women to the President. She also served on DACOWITS, the Defense Advisory committee on Women in the Services. Holm has written a book, "Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution." She says that though discrimination against women in the military still exists, it's impossible for America to engage in a war without women.

Critic Maureen Corrigan says the best she can say about Barnes's "Porcupine," about deposed communist leaders on trial in Eastern Europe, is that she "didn't not like it."

Book critic John Leonard reviews the new literary biography by Carol Brightman, which weaves together an exhaustive amount of material collected up to the day of McCarthy's death.