Mastery

April 29, 2013
Syracuse University social scientist Bogdon (Freak Show) examines historical pictures of people with disabilities, situating his subjects within a cultural history and examining the "visual rhetoric" employed to capture them. He describes his approach and research techniques, encouraging the reader to engage the images with specific textual interjectionsâan approach complicated by the pictures not always appearing on the same page as Bogdon's assessment. The chapters are organized by category of disability: freak portraits, asylums, clinical photographs, and others. This structure allows Bogdon to address larger issues at play during multiple eras of his study. In the category of freak photography, for example, subjects were portrayed as important and financially well-to-doâa source of entertainment rather than pity. Strangely, considering his structural choices, Bogdon is unwilling to closely examine social and political forces behind these imagesâa fact that he readily admits in the conclusion. 223 b&w illus.

November 14, 2011
Philosophy professor Mercier’s second novel, originally published in Germany in 1995, explores depression and the desperation born of procrastination. Philipp Perlmann, a prominent professor and linguist, is in charge of a monthlong academic conference at a retreat outside the seaside town of Rapallo, Italy. Each participant must debut a new theory, and Philipp—paralyzed with ennui and writer’s block—relies on sleeping pills, a local trattoria, and his memories as means of escape. Then, after translating a Russian colleague’s manuscript, Philipp decides to pass it off as his own to meet the conference deadline. When the colleague unexpectedly decides to join the group, Philipp takes extraordinary measures to protect his secret. Unfortunately, as readers journey through his cowardice and deteriorating mental state—and the novel’s endless exposition—Philipp proves both unreliable and unlikable. Even more introspective than Night Train to Lisbon, Mercier has allowed his protagonist’s rumination to bury the novel’s other elements.

August 20, 2012
We are born masters but sometimes, especially during the trials of adulthood, we need external guidance to reach our potential, says bestselling author Greene (The 48 Laws of Power). His description of mastery is reminiscent of what positive psychologists describe as "flow": a state that feels effortless once achieved. Yet mastery requires work. Greene outlines the process in nearly 50 steps, with several overarching themes: retaining a child's sense of wonder, learning from other masters, and avoiding financially motivated goals. The steps are interspersed with the stories of people who have famously achieved success: the Wright Brothers, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Mozart, Temple Grandin, and many more. Relatively few of these examples are contemporary, which poses the question of whether such mastery is possible in our current economic and profit-driven environment. And 48 steps are a little much for even the mastery-oriented mind, and Greene's presentation is disjointed and occasionally confusing. But what this book lacks in clarity it makes up for in its stories and persistent encouragementâthe inspiration that is essential for anybody who strives to live a full, mastered life. Agent: Michael Carlisle, Inkwell Management.