CNU Library Blog - LibGuides at California Northstate University

Title: Let Me Count the Ways: A Memoir.

Author: Tomás Q. Morín.

Publication info: University of Nebraska Press, 2022. eBook. Memoir, 198 pages.

Location: Academic Search Complete. (eBook available to read instantly.)

Description: "2023 Vulgar Genius Nonfiction Award, 2022 Writer's League of Texas Nonfiction Book Award. Growing up in a small town in South Texas in the eighties and nineties, poverty, machismo, and drug addiction were everywhere for Tomás Q. Morín. He was around four or five years old when he first remembers his father cooking heroin, and he recalls many times he and his mother accompanied his father while he was on the hunt for more, Morín in the back seat keeping an eye out for unmarked cop cars, just as his father taught him. It was on one of these drives that, for the first time, he blinked in a way that evolution hadn’t intended.

Let Me Count the Ways is the memoir of a journey into obsessive-compulsive disorder, a mechanism to survive a childhood filled with pain, violence, and unpredictability. Morín’s compulsions were a way to hold onto his love for his family in uncertain times until OCD became a prison he struggled for decades to escape. Tender, unflinching, and even funny, this vivid portrait of South Texas life challenges our ideas about fatherhood, drug abuse, and mental illness."

Title: Masters of Mathematics: The Problems They Solved, Why These Are Important, and What You Should Know About Them.

Author: Robert A. Nowlan.

Publication info: Rotterdam, The Netherlands : Brill. 2017. eBook.

Location: Academic Search Complete.

Description: The original title for this work was “Mathematical Literacy, What Is It and Why You Need it”. The current title reflects that there can be no real learning in any subject, unless questions of who, what, when, where, why and how are raised in the minds of the learners. The book is not a mathematical text, and there are no assigned exercises or exams. It is written for reasonably intelligent and curious individuals, both those who value mathematics, aware of its many important applications and others who have been inappropriately exposed to mathematics, leading to indifference to the subject, fear and even loathing. These feelings are all consequences of meaningless presentations, drill, rote learning and being lost as the purpose of what is being studied. Mathematics education needs a radical reform. There is more than one way to accomplish this. Here the author presents his approach of wrapping mathematical ideas in a story. To learn one first must develop an interest in a problem and the curiosity to find how masters of mathematics have solved them. What is necessary to be mathematically literate? It's not about solving algebraic equations or even making a geometric proof. These are valuable skills but not evidence of literacy. We often seek answers but learning to ask pertinent questions is the road to mathematical literacy. Here is the good news: new mathematical ideas have a way of finding applications. This is known as “the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics.”

Title: RX: A Graphic Memoir

Author: Rachel Lindsay

Publication info: Grand Central Publishing, 2018. Graphic novel, 256 pages.

Location: Rancho Cordova library shelves. (Physical copy.)

Description: In her early twenties in New York City, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Rachel Lindsay takes a job in advertising in order to secure healthcare coverage for her treatment. But work takes a strange turn when she is promoted onto the Pfizer account and suddenly finds herself on the other side of the curtain, developing ads for an anti-depressant drug. Overwhelmed by her professional life and the self-scrutiny it inspires, her mania takes hold. She quits her job to become an artist, only to be hospitalized by her parents against her will. Over the course of her two weeks in the ward, she tries to find a path out of the hospital and this cycle of treatment. One where she can live the life she wants, finding freedom and autonomy, without sacrificing her dreams in order to stay well.

Sadie's review: Rachel Lindsay has two perspectives on prescriptive medication as both the consumer and the advertiser. I enjoyed one particular panel of this graphic novel where a colleague complimented Rachel for really taking the time to understand the medications they're putting on the market -- this colleague had no idea that Rachel had been prescribed many of the prescription drugs that Pfizer was selling. Rachel's fear that her colleagues would find out about her medication history was particularly compelling to me. She feared that her colleagues wouldn't take her seriously, or worse, that she would lose her job. This book helped me better understand bipolar disorder and how it can affect those with it.

Article-linking websites online can help you find relevant articles from one article's DOI. Scroll through these slides to learn more about LitMaps, Citation Gecko, and Connected Papers.

Academic research is an ongoing conversation between authors. by Sadie Davenport

Let Me Count the Ways: A Memoir, by Tomas Q. Morin.

Leave a comment

Commenting on blog posts requires an account.

Login is required to interact with this comment. Please and try again.

If you do not have an account, Register Now.

Similar Posts