Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
ORIGIN UNTHINKABLE, HELEN THOMSON, 9781473611757 (BANTAM), BD7.300 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
IMAGINE getting lost in a one-room flat, seeing auras, never forgetting a moment, a permanent orchestra in your head, turning into a tiger, life as an out-of-body experience, feeling other people’s pain, being convinced you are dead or becoming a different person overnight.
Our brains are far stranger than we think. We take it for granted that we can remember, feel emotion, navigate, empathise and understand the world around us, but how would our lives change if these abilities were dramatically enhanced - or disappeared overnight?
Award-winning science writer Helen Thomson has spent years travelling the world tracking down incredibly rare brain disorders.
In Unthinkable she tells the stories of nine extraordinary people.
From the man who thinks he’s a tiger to the doctor who feels the pain of others just by looking at them, their experiences illustrate how the brain can shape our lives in unexpected and, in some cases, brilliant and alarming ways.
Delving into the rich histories of these conditions, exploring the very latest research and cutting-edge medical techniques, Thomson explains the workings of our consciousness, our emotions, our creativity and even the mechanisms that allow us to understand our own existence.
Story by remarkable story, Unthinkable takes us on an unforgettable journey through the human brain.
Discover how to forge memories that never disappear, how to grow an alien limb and how to make better decisions. Learn how to hallucinate and how to make yourself happier in a split second. Find out how to avoid getting lost, how to see more of your reality, even how exactly you can confirm you are alive.
Think the unthinkable.
READ IT NOW IN PAPERBACK
THIRTEEN, STEVE CAVANAGH
9781409170662 (ORION)
BD6.800 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
‘To your knowledge, is there anything that would preclude you from serving on this jury?’
Murder wasn’t the hard part. It was just the start of the game.
Joshua Kane has been preparing for this moment his whole life. He’s done it before. But this is the big one. This is the murder trial of the century. And Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house.
But there’s someone on his tail. Someone who suspects that the killer isn’t the man on trial. Kane knows time is running out - he just needs to get to the conviction without being discovered.
For the only way to guarantee a guilty verdict is to get a seat on the jury.
MY FAVOURITE
BOOK OF THE WEEK
SAVAGES (THE SAINT-ETIENNE QUARTET, VOL 1) THE WEDDING, SABRI LOUATAH
9781472153227 (CORSAIR)
BD6.400 for Gulf Weekly Book Club members
A Saturday in May. Paris. It’s the eve of the French presidential elections. ‘The Election of the Century’ say the newspaper headlines - and Chaouch, the nation’s first Arab candidate, has victory in his sights. It has been a long campaign, and with his wife Esther and daughter Jasmine by his side, he spends the remaining hours with close advisors in a hotel in Nimes.
Much of the dinner table chatter revolves around Jasmine’s boyfriend; Fouad Nerrouche, a well-known actor with the same Algerian origins as her father, who has just publicly-endorsed Chaouch’s candidacy. However shallow it may seem, it’s difficult to ignore the influence of celebrity support in this complex and unpredictable race.
The same day in Saint-Etienne, the Nerrouche family is frantically preparing for a grand wedding and Fouad himself is there to help out. But younger cousin Krim, who has recently lost his job, is becoming increasingly agitated, and no one knows why.
As the day goes on, it becomes clear that the cousin’s problems go far deeper than unemployment. Krim has been stealing from a local gang leader and after being discovered, found himself indebted to his powerful cousin, Nazir, Fouad’s brother.
Nazir is a very shady figure, and is heavily involved in a dark underworld of crime. Together, their plans will cause Fouad’s two very different worlds to meet in a way no one would have dared to imagine.
Within a few hours, the threads start to unravel and the collision between the destiny of a family and the hopes of a country becomes inevitable.
With the pacing of a thriller, Louatah melds the tense atmosphere of a family saga with the gripping suspense of a political drama into one breath-taking read.
