conditions

Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions: Self-Management of Heart Disease, Fatigue, Arthritis, Worry, Diabetes, Frustration, Asthma, Pain, Emphysema, and Others
$18.95
My father is 88 years old and tends to hate going to the doctor. He felt no different even after going to the hospital for congestive heart failure and then having a stroke. I bought him this book and he thanked me profusely saying that it will help him to manage his condition. Obviously the approach in the book was non-threatening and appealed to him.

The Human Condition (2nd Edition)
$19.00
Arendt begins her opus magnum with a proposal: she states that the launch of Sputnik in 1957 (similar to Vaclav Havel's proposal of the moon landing) has hearkened in a new age of humanity. Following this proposal is one of the most mysterious but rewarding books of the 20th century, in my humble opinion.
I first encountered "The Human Condition" in an undergraduate class regarding the post-modern community. To this day, I still have not completely digested this work. Her objective, in her own words, is to determine "... what it is that we are doing", and her choice of a goal is challenging considering what is to follow. Situating herself between a Greek model of society and a Marxist interpretation of labor, Arendt calls into question our ideas of progress, technology, and even forgiveness, and aims a withering critique at the subjective personality of the post-modern world.
I won't go into a broad summary of her points to convince you to read it, but instead implore the reader of this review to see for themselves what Arendt is doing. Some will give up on this book after a few pages, calling it semantical nonsense. Yet for those who forge a path through Arendt's intelligent interpretation of history will come out on the other side with a new appreciation for the way in which they live their lives, participate in this thing we call "work", and interact with the human community. I can't stress enough how much this book means to me.

The Condition: A Novel (P.S.)
$14.99
I thought the book started off really well. I liked the continual change of perspective at first; however, later I did think that this was an excuse to have almost nothing happen and spend the majority of the book indulging in individual character development.
I got bored.

Nervous Conditions
$17.95
TsiTsi Dangarembga has crafted a superb narrative of a family in the midst of sorting through the trials of colonial life in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Telling the story from the point of view of the young Tambudzai gives her free reign to express a range of emotions and genres of experience, such as fear, guilt, pride, resentment, confusion, and acceptance. As Tambu she sometimes makes sharp political commentary in a tongue and cheek sort of way, but the sting is there nonetheless. The characterizations all convey layered symbolic meanings in terms of the larger issues of female entrapment with its corresponding male entrapment, as seen for example in the relationship of Babamukuru and his wife Maiguru. Nervous Conditions' universality lies in the realization that we all have "nervous conditions" in our lives based on not just the immediate family situation, but on larger hegemonically enacted ones as well.