On the matter of reading - books that suck.

I have neglected this blog and it's readers, so I apologize for that. However, with this blog in mind, I've been having a lot of discussions about reading. This will probably be the first of many posts on reading. Since I'll be wrapping up school, I've got to enjoy books for pleasure rather than suffer under the tyranny of textbooks.

Here goes. People at the Southfield Public Library are always looking to gobble up books. They call in and ask us to hold books. They're part of book clubs. They suggest books they'd like to see. It's quite wonderful. Well, it is right up until you open some of these books up. Let me cover two groups of books that suck.

Urban Fiction
The people at SPL loooove their Urban Fiction. They devour these books and come back for more. I've promised myself that one day, I'll read through one. Lately, whenever someone calls in and asks for a book entitled, "Is the bitch dead yet or what?" or "Gold Diggers" or any other silly title, I open it to the first page and begin reading before I deposit the book on the elevator, where it will go to the first floor for the patron to retrieve later.

The word "terrible" doesn't even begin to describe some of this stuff. The flow of the story is juvenile at best. The sentence structure is about as smooth as Detroit highways. The character development doesn't exist. In fact, the characters don't develop or change; they're the same character over and over. Newsflash: Sluts are redundent. The worst part about these books is that they glamorize violence, infidelity, gang activity, drugs - all the poop that is ruining urban America.

But people are reading.

Trudeau: fraud, career con, author, millionaire.
One day at the desk, I answered a women's question about a certain Kevin Trudeau. The book was some diet book and I thought nothing of it. After the transaction was done, my colleague sighed and said something to the effect of "God, I wish we could hand out disclaimers when people ask for that book." I didn't understand what she meant. She told me that he was a con artist and fraud and showed me an old Washington Post article.

Today, I went digging a little bit and here's what I found about this pile and the stupid book everyone wants to check out called Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About. The excerpts are from a USA Today story (Aug. 8, 2005) called "Here's what 'They' do want you to know: It's baloney" by writer Liz Szabo.

• "The sun does not cause cancer. Sunblock has been shown to cause cancer."
  That's wrong, says Darrell Rigel, past president of the American Academy of Dermatology and a dermatology professor at New York University. The evidence that ultraviolet radiation from the sun increases the risk of skin cancer is overwhelming, he says.
• "Take digestive enzymes."
  These enzymes are very caustic and could burn the esophagus, Johnson says. They're typically prescribed only for patients with pancreatic problems.
• "Get 15 colonics in 30 days."
  There is no medical reason to have even one of these procedures, which typically involve purging the bowels with enemas, let alone 15 in one month, Johnson says. All that purging could lead to dehydration or electrolyte imbalances, which can disturb heart rhythms, he says.
• "Antiperspirants and deodorants contain deadly poisons" and are "one of the major causes of breast cancer."
  Not true, according to the National Cancer Institute and the Food and Drug Administration. Neither has found any link between antiperspirants, deodorants and breast cancer. The institute has singled out this notion in an online fact sheet of "cancer myths."
• "Take coral calcium."
  The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, has issued a consumer advisory warning that there is no evidence that the product treats cancer, multiple sclerosis, lupus, heart disease or high blood pressure. In the online fact sheet about cancer myths, the National Cancer Institute notes that "marketers have made false claims" about the value of these supplements.
• "Take liquid colloidal minerals daily. You are deficient in minerals."
  Colloidal silver products are made of tiny silver particles suspended in liquid, according to a consumer advisory issued by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. The advisory warns that the FDA doesn't consider these supplements safe or effective. The advisory says colloidal silver can cause serious and irreversible side effects, including argyria, a bluish-gray discoloration of the body for which there is no treatment, and seizures and kidney damage.
• In the book, Trudeau also advises readers to beware of psychiatry, psychology, microwave ovens and electric tumble dryers. He promotes the health benefits of wearing white, sleeping on magnetic mattress pads and products that "neutralize electromagnetic chaos" caused by satellites, cellphones and remote controls. Stephen Barrett, a retired psychiatrist from Allentown, Pa., who operates Quackwatch.org, has one word to describe that advice: "Rubbish."

But people are reading.

Although they both suck, here's the difference:
While I don't like the writing style or the message those urban fiction books portray, they are still fiction. Trudeau is banking on millions of people that don't know any better. He's pretending to be some health guru when actually, he's a lying con. I personally feel that his books have the capability to put people's lives in danger if they follow his (unprofessional) advice.