Book reviews: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother | The 52 Seductions | Moonwalking with Einstein

William Leith reviews the pick of the week’s paperback releases

BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER

by Amy Chua

(Bloomsbury, £7.99)

Rating: ***

Amy Chua grew up in the US as the daughter of Chinese parents. She and her sisters had to speak Chinese at home and for every English word they let slip, they’d be hit with chopsticks. They practised music and maths every day. “For us, getting an A-minus was unthinkable.” Was this horrible? No, she says, it gave her strength. Now she is extremely exacting with her own children. Is this a good thing? It depends what you want, of course – but it does make you think about our slack western ways.

THE 52 SEDUCTIONS

by Betty Herbert

(HEADLINE, £8.99)

Rating: **

IN this sex memoir, Betty Herbert recounts how, after 15 years of marriage, she and her husband’s life was no longer eroticised: “It feels, sometimes, as though all my desire has run away.” So she comes up with a plan: every other week she tries to seduce her husband; every other week, he tries to seduce her. Some things work, some don’t. Talking points aplenty.

MOONWALKING WITH EINSTEIN

by Joshua Foer

(Penguin, £9.99)

Rating; ****

Surfing the internet one day, US writer Joshua Foer becomes aware that there is such a thing as a world memory champion. This fascinates him because, he says, he has an average memory. He goes to see memory athletes. He wonders what memory actually is. Remembering is one of the most basic things we do with our brains but it’s selective – a sort of manual rather than an album full of snapshots. And it changes over time, which is spooky. Foer becomes a memory champion. But then he drives somewhere, parks his car, and takes the train back home. Very thoughtful, very good.