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A random sampling of current books received at this magazine

Dimitri Hadzi's Omphalos, 1985, in the center of Harvard Square. Cymie Payne

Mad House: Growing Up in the Shadows of Mentally Ill Siblings, by Clea Simon '83 (Doubleday, $23.95) How do the "well" siblings of mentally ill children cope? The author recounts "how my siblings' schizophrenia, my brother's suicide while I was at Harvard, and my own frantic--and ultimately doomed-- attempts to be perfect were all related, and how the trauma that rocked my family has shaped who I am, and how I live." Simon, a freelance journalist, occasionally writes for this magazine.

Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the USA, by Reebee Garofalo, Ed.D. '74 (Allyn and Bacon, $24.95, paper). The author views American popular music through the lens of the social forces that have shaped it from the turn of the century through the present day. Garofalo teaches at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, by day and drums and sings with the Blue Suede Boppers by night.

Land of Rivers: America in Word and Image, edited by Peter C. Mancall, Ph.D. '86 (Cornell University Press, $35). America's rivers described in words by more than 50 people, from Walt Whitman to Oscar Hammerstein, and in 60 illustrations from many hands, among them Albert Bierstadt and Ansel Adams.

Richard Brown's New England, by Richard Brown '67, M.A.T. '69 (Firefly Books, $40). "Mr. Brown is my favorite upcountry artist with a camera," writes poet Maxine Kumin '46. "His photographs have such crisp luminosity, I think I would recognize them anywhere." Here are more than a hundred, both classics and newly published images.

This Is Biology: The Science of the Living World, by Ernst Mayr, S.D. '80, Agassiz professor of zoology emeritus (Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, $29.95). Primatologist Frans de Waal writes, "Who else but the great Ernst Mayr could have written about the rise of biology with such breadth of knowledge and such warmth? Naturalists and biologists will treasure this book for the rich historical context in which it places their field...."

Demand and Get the Best Health Care for You, by Curtis Prout '37, M.D. '41 (Faber and Faber, $24.95). Prout is a senior physician and instructor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School. He undertakes here to tell you what you need to know to make sure your doctor pays more attention to you than to your insurance company.

Dimitri Hadzi, by Debra Bricker Balken, Albert Elsen, Joseph Masheck, and Peter Selz, with an introduction by Seamus Heaney, Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory (Hudson Hills Press, $50). Hadzi, among the most distinguished modernist sculptors of our time, is professor of visual and environmental studies emeritus. This is a handsome survey of his work.

Racing a Ghost Ship: The Incredible Journey of Great American II, by Rich Wilson '72, M.B.A. '82 (Walker, $16.95). Wilson recounts his two attempts to break the old clipper ship sailing record from San Francisco to Boston around Cape Horn. The first time, he capsized and almost died; the second time, he got his trimaran to Boston in record time. His primary goal, also accomplished, was to bring the voyage in real time via cyberspace to school children. This account is written for ages eight and up.

The Schooner Pilgrim's Progress: A Voyage around the World, 1932-1934, by the late Donald C. Starr '22, LL.B. '25 (Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, and Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut, $19.95). On the first day of summer in 1932 Starr and six friends set out in an 85-foot schooner to see the world. They came home safely 28,500 miles later. A reminiscence of an era gone by.

The Printed Catalogues of the Harvard College Library 1723-1790, edited by William H. Bond '37, Ph.D. '41, librarian of the Houghton Library emeritus, and Hugh Amory '52, LL.B. '58, former senior rare book cataloguer at the Harvard College Library (Oak Knoll Press, $75). The authors reproduce and comment on three early catalogs, which include the first public or university library catalog in America and the undergraduate reading list of 1773.

Coming Apart: America and the Harvard Riots of 1969, a memoir by Roger Rosenblatt, Ph.D. '68, will be published by Little, Brown on April 9, anniversary of a big day in Harvard history. A review will appear in the May-June issue.

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