It has been a looooong time since I have done one of these posts!  Travel has slowed down – I’ve actually been home the entire month of April – and I’ve got a little spare time to devote to writing more for the blog.  So, let’s start with the two books that showed up today and maybe I’ll have time to catch up on the others later…or maybe I’ll spend the time reading instead.

First, The Healers by Thomas Heric, a dismal view of the future of medicine.  From the publisher:

The Healers begins in the year 2021, when medicine has become corporatized and proprietary treatments are closely guarded secrets.  Recent medical school graduate Wesley Anderson is approached to become part of a mysterious medical clan known as the Aesculapian Healers, who cure most illnesses with a money-back guarantee.  Their fees are so steep, however, that they have earned the reputation as medical pirates.

Now, I hate to think this is really our future, but I can see some leaning in that direction.  After all, right now there is a huge controversy over patent rights to a product called Plumpy’nut, an amazingly successful treatment for malnutrition.  It is working miracles for starving children around the world and I think it would be a big mistake to let Big Pharma in on the production.  I can easily imagine one of the big US drug companies stealing it out from under the French inventors and charging a bundle for it.  I am looking forward to seeing how Heric imagines our medical future.

And from a completely different shelf, The Handy Law Answer Book by David L. Hudson, Jr.  This should be an interesting one to skim through — it’s got legal terminology, history, case law and an exhaustive description of the legal system and its twists and turns.  Even if you never need a lawyer, the law is part of our everyday lives.  This should make a handy reference guide.

Be sure to stop back soon for the reviews!