Book Review: The Firm by John Grisham

This book is very good in terms of character development and the way Grisham moves the story forward.

The story starts with a young law school graduate, Mitch McDeere who is being interviewed for his new job with Bendini, Lambert and Locke, a small tax law firm based in Memphis. He bags a great job offer with loads of perks/bonuses. He moves in with his wife Abby into the new apartment and also gets a flashy new BMW, both provided by his new employer at lower mortgage and on a new lease respectively.

Soon, couple of Mitch's colleagues die in a “mysterious” accident. Mitch is intrigued to learn of a few more unsettling truths about the firm. Mitch hires his own detective, Eddie Lomax to investigate these discrepancies. Shortly, Lomax gets murdered and a FBI agent starts hounding Mitch.

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The plot quickly escalates to a cat-and-mouse chase between Mitch and his employer's goons. Mitch has few confidantes besides Abby: his brother Ray and Lomax's secretary, Tammy.

Grisham paces the story nicely and the reader is sucked into the proceedings, just like Mitch. The only downside is that I found it to be a little bit lengthy.Other than this, the book scores on all fronts.

Recommended for fans of legal thrillers.

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Book Review: A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons by Robert M. Sapolsky

Dr. Sapolsky with one of his favorite baboons 

Easily, one of the best books I have ever read so far.

Dr.Sapolsky is a great writer, in addition to being an extraordinary primatologist and scientist. His book A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life among the Baboons is a class act and should be read by any nature or animal lover. 

Even though Dr.Sapolsky has been a big fan of Mountain Gorillas since his childhood, his academic pursuits forced him to choose a different species as the subject of his studies.

The book chronicles not only his work on baboons, but also his cultural experiences in Africa. He has a sharp sense of humor and is quite liberal in using it while writing this book. The resulting work is one of the funniest books I have ever read. And to top it, one will never find this book in the humor section of any bookstore (online or otherwise).

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Dr. Sapolsky has been spending few months every year (for the past 3 decades) with a group of wild baboons in Africa study the sources of stress among the baboons. He discovered that baboons suffer similar psychological and social tumult created by their own species, very similar to humans.

A baboon's canines are bigger than those of a lion!

But baboons are not the only ones to receive Sapolsky's attention. His assistants, Richard and Samwelly are only a few of the humans Dr. Sapolsky dwells on in great detail in this book.

There are numerous occasions on which the author comes close to getting killed, in his scientific pursuits. He hikes rides on Lorries, vans, jeeps among other types of land transportation and these journeys are some of the most amusing accounts of road trips put on paper. His descriptions of the various scams perpetrated by the corrupt officials on unsuspecting foreigners/tourists are by themselves worth the price of the book.

Finally, the book details the lives of the baboons as only the author can. As one of the world’s foremost authorities on baboons, Dr. Sapolsky’s book is an eye-opener for anyone who has not had the chance to appreciate the complex yet emotionally rich lives of these primates.

Some of Dr. Sapolsky’s favorite baboons include Saul, Joshua and Benjamin. The final scene in the book is that of Dr. Sapolsky, his wife and Joshua eating cookies and enjoying the beauty of nature. Truly a fitting end to a timeless masterpiece from a peerless writer.

Dr.Sapolsky and his work is also featured in the National Geographic Documentary Stress - Portrait of a Killer. Click here to visit the official website for the documentary.

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Image Sources: Beezelbarb, Zimbio

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