The Law At Randado - Elmore Leonard

This story contains zero surprises, no unnecessary descriptions and is pretty good.  I didn't like it as much as The Hunted which actually was pretty much the same story but transposed from the Mexican border to Israel but it did cheer me right up after the boredom of nursing research and the slightly hard slog of The Savage Detectives.

6.5/10

Making Sense Of Research - Gill Hek And Pam Moule

Really I should be happy because I actually read a nursing book but my god is this dull.  It is not really all that informative more of a dictionary of terms used by research theorists rather than a practical guide.  On the plus side I now know what the tenets of feminist research are and hooray some people argue that you needn't be a women to carry out feminist research.  There is a new edition of this book out so someone must like it, probably someone who writes reading lists and hates their students.

3/10

The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolano

8/10

Disconnected Kids: The Groundbreaking Brain Balance Program For Children With AHD, Autism, Dyslexia, and Other Neurological Conditions - Robert Melillo

The good Doctor Melillo has decided that a whole host of behavioral and learning difficulties are due to an imbalance between the left and the right sides of the brain. He says that by following his simple exercises (spinning on office chair, listening to specially composed music etc) and eating a better diet these can be all but eradicated.  He might be right I don't know but his reluctance to provide any evidence to back up his claims makes me suspect  there isn't too much behind his ideas.  Time and time again studies are said to have proven this and that but without any outlines of the study or even any names of researchers so you have no hope if tracking it down if you are interested.  This is not helped by the writing which can make this blog look impressive!  And it contradicts itself on many occasions.

Basically this book might work but the book itself is terrible.  Dr M's heart might be in the right place since you could pay thousands of dollars to get on his program instead of reading this book but I would not be able to recommend  the brain balance program to anybody on the strength of this book.

3/10