Canals of Mars

<DIV><P><I>The Canals of Mars</I> is a memoir that explores and ponders &quot;weakness,&quot; which in Gary Fincke's family was the catch-all term for every possible human flaw-physical, psychological, or spiritual. Fincke grew up near Pittsburgh during the 1950s and 1960s, raised by blue-collar parents for whom the problems that beset people-from alcoholism to nearsightedness to asthma to fear of heights-were nothing but weaknesses.<BR>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; In a highly engaging style, Fincke meditates on the disappointments he suffered-in his body, his mind, his work-because he was convinced that he had to be &quot;perfect.&quot; Anything less than perfection was weakness and no one, he understood from an early age, wants to be weak.<BR>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Six of the chapters in the book have been cited in Best American Essays. The chapter that provides the book's title, <I>The Canals of Mars</I>, won a Pushcart Prize and was included in <I>The Pushcart Book of Essays: The Best Essays from a Quarter Century of the Pushcart Prize</I>.</P></DIV>