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Dematerializing: Taming the Power of Possessions by Jane Hammerslough ’78 PERSEUS PUBLISHING, 2001. $25
Dematerializing is the book for the person who has everything—and for whom everything is not enough. This is not, however, a book about cutting material
things out of your life, or about how living simply will lead to happiness. Rather, Hammerslough suggests— through examples, research, and her own experiences—that we take control over our complicated relationship with what we own and what we want to possess. “It’s a process of deciding what objects can and can’t do for our lives,” she writes. “We may not expect possessions to perform magic, but we sure hear about the magic of owning something. We hear that possessions promise to deliver all sorts of feelings and qualities such as love, belonging, control, authenticity. It’s easy to believe that objects can transform situations, turning 䉳 Dematerializing is a personal process, Hammerslough tells us, with no “right” answers. Ask yourself why you’re acquiring something—out of boredom, frustration, or some other feeling—and see if there’s a better way to meet that need. See www.dematerializing.com for more information.
so the doctors could cut her open and bring our babies into the world too early.” The birth of the twins later that week—each weighing less than a pound and a half—marked the start of a monthlong roller coaster ride that reminded the parents and everyone around them how fragile and how precious life can be. This is a gripping account of the day-to-day struggles facing the thousands of families every year whose pregnancies end far too soon and whose babies have to fight to survive. It offers a firsthand view of the anger, grief, hope, and the joy that can follow in the wake of a too-early birth.
“And it proves,” says Woodwell, “that the smallest human beings can teach us the biggest lessons we will ever learn.” Woodwell, an independent writer and editor, is also the author of Choosing the President: The Citizen’s Guide to the 2000 Election. His work has also appeared in the Washington Post. To read an excerpt from Coming to Term, visit www.upress.state.ms.us or www.amazon.com. 䉴 Kirkus Reviews calls the book “an absorbing blow-by-blow account of life and death in the NICU” that is “told with emotional honesty and couched in suspense.”
things from bad to good, from good to better. Rationally, we know that they can only do so much, but we hear about the magic so often we begin to believe it to some extent.” Hammerslough encourages us to ask ourselves what we expect from our objects, and shows how we can work to retrieve that power from possessions in order to find what we value most. An award-winning journalist and college writing instructor, Hammerslough has worked as a columnist for the New York Post and other newspapers. Her feature stories and essays have appeared in Parenting, Child, Saveur, Travel & Leisure, Country Living, and other national magazines. She lives with her husband and two sons in Westport, Connecticut.