Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 7, 2003|Volume 32, Number 10

"Take a Deep Breath" is designed to help readers achieve tranquility in everyday life through meditation and reading haiku.

Yale Books in Brief

The following is a list of books recently or soon-to-be published by members of the Yale community. Descriptions are based on material provided by the publishers.

To submit information about books for this column, send e-mail to opa@yale.edu.

Take a Deep Breath: The Haiku Way to Inner Peace
Sylvia Forges-Ryan and Edward Ryan, associate clinical professor of psychiatry
(Kodansha International)

"Take A Deep Breath" leads readers through four seasons of haiku and meditations designed to evoke emotions and memories and provide readers with the tools necessary to find tranquility in everyday life. The authors contend that spirituality can be found everywhere and in everything -- in a single lily, the changing colors of autumn leaves and memories -- and they argue that individuals can tap into a deeper awareness by slowing down and contemplating the world around them. Through the use of haiku, readers are encouraged to follow the chain of thoughts that each passage evokes. Meditation is then used to help readers elaborate on their chain of thoughts by focusing on something in particular: a memory, a thought or a person. Through this process, the authors say, inner peace can be achieved.

Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space
Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles, lecturer in history
(Basic Books)

Bettyann Kevles traces the role of American women in space from the early 1960s, when 13 American women tried, in vain, to become astronauts, through NASA's acceptance of women as mission specialists -- scientists, engineers and physicians -- in 1978 and finally, in 1990, as pilots. She describes their struggle as part of the Cold War and the American women's movement, and contrasts the efforts of the Soviet women who worked within a different set of limitations to become cosmonauts. A history of the individual women who won entry into what Kevles describes as "the most exclusive men's club in the world," her book is also a social history of changing attitudes toward gender, including the variables of nationality, ethnicity, race and profession -- including military-civilian differences.

City: Urbanism and Its End
Douglas W. Rae, the Ely Professor of Management and professor of political science
(Yale University Press)

Combining stories from the city's past with factual research, Douglas Rae presents a portrait of New Haven in a period of centralized manufacturing, civic vitality and mixed-use neighborhoods. As social and economic conditions changed, the city confronted a host of challenges that embodied the decline of urbanism, beginning with the Depression. He describes the stresses and limitations of city governments -- making the distinction between governments and governance -- as he explores the forces that nurture or threaten the "trust of a city street" that, he believes, is essential to urban success. He argues that strategies for the urban future must focus on nurturing the unplanned civil engagements that make mixed-use city life appealing and civilized, suggesting that small-scale retailing, neighborhood clubs, informal enforcement of sidewalk civility and new urbanist design may offer keys to the future.

Marc Chagall and His Times: A Documentary Narrative
Benjamin Harshav, the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature
(Stanford University Press)

Benjamin Harshav presents a new and comprehensive biography of one of the most prominent artists of the 20th century in this book, which includes hundreds of private letters and documents written by Chagall and his contemporaries in Russian, Yiddish, French, English and other languages. The narrative encompasses Chagall's long life (98 years) in various settings: Russia, France and the United States, as well as in Germany and Israel. Harshav explores the artist's deep roots in folk culture, his personal relationships and loves, and his involvement with the art of the Russian Revolution, Surrealism, Communism, Zionism, Yiddish literature and the State of Israel. In addition, Harshav exposes the complex relationships between Chagall's three cultural identities -- Jewish, Russian and French -- and explores issues related to his art and the relationships between an artist's art and his personal biography.

Overcoming Dyslexia
Sally Shaywitz, professor of pediatrics and neurology and at the Child Study Center
(Alfred A. Knopf)

In her new book, Sally Shaywitz seeks to dispel popular misconceptions about dyslexia. She translates groundbreaking resarch on the reading disorder -- including brain imaging studies -- into practical methods and programs that can be used by parents and teachers with dyslexic children, pointing out the clues to look for to determine whether a child has dyslexia. Noting that the signs of dyslexia are apparent as early as the pre-school age, Shaywitz emphasizes that the key to helping children and adults with dyslexia is to uncover reading problems early and then help them connect sounds to letters. To demonstrate that highly intelligent people have dyslexia, Shaywitz also notes that such successful people as investment expert Charles Schwab, author John Grisham, scientist Graeme Hammond and entertainer Jay Leno, among others, have the common reading disorder.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Harold Koh is appointed as next Law School dean

Clinton asserts 'shared responsibilities' among nations . . .

'Women Mentoring Women' program launched

Budget plans for the coming year

Event to explore ethics of media coverage in wartime

Colleges' sustainable dining initiatives are focus of conference

Women astronauts will talk about their 'Place in Space'

Computer scientists to develop ways to protect privacy online

Exhibit looks at Robert Damora's '70 Years of Total Architecture'

Yale Rep show explores collision of politics and culture in America

Her native landscape inspires Irish writer's 'desperate themes'

DeStefano hopes 'game plan' will bring him to Olympics

Study: Recovery rates from childhood leukemia . . .

Memory-enhancing drugs may actually worsen . . .

Dr. Robert Arnstein, counselor to generations of students, dies

World-renowned oncologist Dr. Paul Calabresi passes away

Rare form of obsessive compulsive disorder linked to gene mutation

Older patients may not be prepared to receive diagnosis, study says

Symposium will examine 'American Literary Globalism' . . .

Koerner Center to showcase emeritus faculty member's works

Researchers sequence and analyze the DNA of an ancient parasite

Two books on slavery are winners of the Douglass Prize

United Way Campaign nears halfway mark in meeting its goal

Yale Books in Brief

Campus Notes