"Mathematics" Margaret Ball

 

Publisher: Baen Books

Copyright: 1996

ISBN: 0671877550

This novel is a lot of fun to read. It concerns a former warrior woman Riva Konneva, who has taken refuge on Earth (or the Planet of the Paper-pushers as it is referred to) to help educate her daughter, and to stay away from the magician/wizard who is the father of her daughter, and not a nice person.

In the alternate reality that they came from magic is performed through the use of mathematics. This may seem a little odd to diehard fantasy readers, but it actually works very well in the way the novel is structured. It also doesn't hurt that Margaret Ball is a mathematician and computer scientist.

This novel is the second in a series, however there is no indication of this in the beginning of the book. It is listed on the cover as "A Chicks in Chainmail Novel" which does support this idea. Upon consulting the Internet Science fiction Data Base it turns out that the first book in the series is called "Career Day", well the third is called "Tales from the Slush Pile", and the fourth "Fun with Hieroglyphics". Unfortunately I haven't read any of these other three, but will definitely be keeping an eye out for them.

A very good read, With lots of humour and interesting sub-plots outside of the main one.

"Shut Up and Write the Book: A Step-by-step Guide to Crafting Your Novel from Plan to Print" by Jenna Moreci

 

Publisher:  Jenna Moreci

Copyright:  2023

ISBN: 978-0-9997352-8-2 (paperback)

           978-0-9997352-7-5 (hardback) 

           978-0-9997352-9-9 (ebook) 

I had the good fortune to be chosen to review an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of Ms. Moreci's new book and found it to be absolutely full of valuable information for both first time authors and well as those who may have been around a while, but who were quite never satisfied with how their novel turned out.

Ms. Moreci takes the future author's hand from the very beginning and guides them through the process of deciding what to write, basic structure, planning, character creation, world-building, outlining, the various things you need to have in your novel and so much more. It is a step-by-step guide from the very beginning to the completion of the manuscript.

For those of you who follow her YouTube channel her funny, and at times sarcastic wit is replicated in this book. Her no-nonsense way of telling the future writer how things really work is, In my opinion, something that is sorely needed. Most people have no concept of how much work needs to into a novel as this is not something that is routinely taught. There are so many potential authors out there that want to tell their stories, but are unable to do so, as they never learned the basics. This book should, I hope, solve this dilemma for them.

It is hoped that she will consider writing a sequel to this book which deals with the next multitude of steps in getting the manuscript published.

Highly recommended.

"Rough Cut" by Derek Lambert (1929-2001)

 

Publisher: Bantam Books

Copyright: 1975 as "Touch the Lion's Paw"

ISBN: 0553027891

This novel was originally published as "Touch the Lion's Paw" but was rereleased as "Rough Cut" when the 1980 movie of that name was made starring Burt Reynolds, Leslie Ann Down, and David Niven.

The book is much darker than the movie is, and details the execution of the robbery of Hatton Garden in London of $13 million worth of uncut diamonds, during its transfer to Antwerp for cutting. The overall plot of movie does pretty much the same thing with the exception is much more lighthearted, as is typical with the majority of Burt Reynolds movies, and there is very little violence unlike the book. 

Unlike the most of reviews I do where I compare a movie and a book in this case I very much prefer the movie over the book. Unfortunately, the movie is next to impossible to find as a DVD or Blu-ray (and may not have ever even been released on anything other than VHS).

There were a fair number of changes with regard to the characters when comparing the book and the movie, but for the most part the book itself is very well written and the author obviously did a lot of research on the subject matter, which considering the subject could possibly have been quite difficult.

Both the book and movie are well worth reading/viewing. Enjoy them both.

"First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human" by Jeremy DeSilva

 

Publisher: Harper Collins

Copyright: 2021

ISBN: 9780062938497

Dr. De Silvia's book is a well researched trip through time that looks at the development of the foot on various bipedal organisms, e.g., Us, as well as the great apes and a few other assorted beasties who walk on two legs (typically for short periods of time). It is easy to read and will be of great interest to both the layperson and high school as well as first year university students.

There have been many many changes since I graduated with an anthropology degree in the early 90s, and in fact some of the more fascinating things have happened in the last 10 to 15 years. If I was able, I would seriously consider going back and doing my masters so I can catch up on what's going on.

Dr. De Silva traces the development of the human, and other members of the genus Homo and its predecessors through the examination of fossil evidence, as wells as extent species of animals.

Well worth the read, highly recommended.

"Troubled Blood" by Robert Galbraith

 

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company

Copyright: 2020

ISBN: 9780316498937

This is the fifth book in the Cormoran Strike series, and they keep getting better each time. It is very easy to get carried away reading this book, and allow the time to pass until you almost miss your bus stop, or realise it's getting pretty late and you'd better get some sleep before work in the morning.

Galbraith's characters are so well  conceived that they just jump right off the page. In addition the plotting is very intricate, but in such a way that if you want to try and figure out the puzzle before the detective you'll definitely have to pay attention.

The story itself revolves around a cold case from forty years earlier, and a young lady who wants to find out what really happened to her mother, a doctor, when she disappeared after leaving the clinic she worked at on a rainy night. This story also treats us to the developing relationship between Cormoran Strike & Robin Eldacott who are partners in the detective firm, along with the various other who work with them.

Excellent story. But for best enjoyment read the series in order, as the characters do change over the course of the novels. Looking forward to the next instalment.

"Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity, and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions" by Todd Rose

 

Publisher: Hachette Books

Copyright: 2022

ISBN: 9780306925689

I found this book "collective illusions" to be extremely interesting to read, and a bit of an eye-opener as to how people perceive each other in every day situations (and some not-so-everyday situation as well).

I first came across Dr. Rose on a YouTube video published by Big Think, in which he spoke about the various illusions that humans are susceptible to in every day life. His video is actually one of many published by this organization, all of which are quite illuminating.

The fact that humans are suffering (and that's virtually the only word you can use to accurately describe what we're facing) collective illusions in pretty much all aspects of every day life makes this book an indispensable resource on how to navigate what we experience daily.

The book is clearly written, and very informative. I would highly recommend it to anybody who is interested in the way the world works, or who is a participant in all the various social media platforms that are currently invading our life.

"Mark One: The Dummy" by John Ball (1911-1988)

 

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Copyright: 1974

ISBN: 0316079502

This is the second book of Mr. Ball's that I read, and it was just as enjoyable as the first one. In fact is now so good that I have to go and actually buy a copy because I know I'll want to read it again.

The story revolves around a very successful espionage writer who's writing is so authentic and true to life that he is mistaken for one of his characters, Mark Day, whom because of the detail everyone believes is actually patterned after his own life because they think he is in fact a secret agent for some division of the American government.

He doesn't really help his case in denying this, because he does somewhat resemble his lead character, and having lived with the character for so long he has the ability to slip into his mindset and perform just as if he was the agent. When A woman shows up claiming to be his agents love interest, things get very interesting in that he knows very well that she's a fictional character, but she too acts just like the character he designed.

Based solely on the title I assume that Mr. Ball was planning on writing more in this series, unfortunately he never did.

This is a very interesting and fun to read book. I think it would make a very good movie, as long as Hollywood didn't present it as a "James Bondish" style of movie.

In Order to Live: A North Korean Girl's Journey to Freedom" by Yeonmi Park

 

Publisher: Penguin Books

Copyright: 2015

ISBN: 978159-206795

For the second or third time I have broken my rule about reading autobiographies and commenting on them, but in this instance it was well worth the read as Ms. Park's story is utterly amazing.

I first heard about Yeonmi Park when I stumbled across one of her videos on YouTube. At first I found it quite difficult to believe what she was talking about in her videos as I knew very little about North Korea. However after doing a little research and watching more of her Videos I've been convinced (not that it was difficult) that the Kims (Kim Jong-un is the third generation of this dictatorial family) will do virtually anything to hold onto their power, regardless of what outsiders think of them.

Unfortunately, the majority of the world seems to have turned a blind eye towards the disgraceful, and inhuman treatment of the population of North Korea by this family. The sanctions imposed on North Korea for the most part seem only to be hurting the civilians, and do not seem to be affecting the Kim regime at all.

But why is this?

Granted, as I write this the Russian invasion of Ukraine is taking centre stage in the world news, but this war is only a few months old. The brutality and essentially concentration camp style of rule in North Korea has been going on for over 60 years. Once again why has this been allowed to happen?

"In Order To Live" is an excellent story, that I would recommend everyone read.

"Two Faces of Tomorrow" by James P. Hogan (1941-2010)

 

Publisher: Del Rey Books

Copyright: 1979

ISBN: 0345296605

This novel portrays a future in which civilization itself is now so complex that a worldwide computer net work is essential, and in which a partial system is currently in operation. As a premise, most people today can probably see this as something that will be coming in their lifetime after all many people nowadays use computers extensively. However today's computers, are unlikely to be able to handle a worldwide civilization.

This then brings up the topic of artificial intelligence, adaptive learning, and a whole host of other speculations with regard to computers. It is determined both by trial and error that what is needed is a universal self-aware, and self programming computer system. One that could make decisions without consulting humans for every routine operation.

Enter Raymond Dyer and his computer team who are experimenting with very rudimentary self-aware computer systems. They are essentially drafted into designing a computer system capable of running the earth, and testing it out in a controlled environment.

This book has some very good characters, that are well developed. I believe the world building however is the more important part of the novel itself as we see what happened to cause this new idea to come to pass as well as logically what might need to be done to test such a program if it were ever to happen.

Once again Mr. Hogan gives us an extremely interesting and thought-provoking book.

"Literature Suppressed on Political Grounds" by Nicholas J. Karolides

 

Publisher: Facts of File
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 9780816082315

Like the first two titles in this series (Social Grounds & Sexual Grounds), both of which I already reviewed, this one was also very interesting book. When you consider that the United States is supposed to be this beacon of democracy, it seems rather odd that they would suppress political viewpoints. With all the different worldviews in existence today it would seem more logical (at least to me) that these books shouldn't be suppressed, but should be readily available and this material should be critically analysed.

A total of 118 books are examined in this book. A short summary of the contents of each book is given, and then the censorship history is examined. Some of the objections came from parents who were offended when their children were assigned books to read, and school boards as well. A rather odd occurrence through was publishers themselves who refused to publish books due to their own political viewpoints.

There is one final book in this series that deals with religious censorship and I am looking forward to reading those as well. They were all written in 2011, and I believe it is time to update them with new editions.

"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" by John Le Carré (1931-2020)

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Copyright: 1974

ISBN: 0394492196

This novel is considered by many to be the gold standard for espionage novels, and I feel this honour is well deserved.

Some may find the novel hard to get into, but this is primarily the way that Mr.  Le Carré wrote as his goal (at least in my opinion) is to make the reader think about what they're reading. This is a typical writing standard for mysteries, and to a certain point some other genres as well, but compared to these genres doing so in an espionage novels is much rarer, and therefore many people are not used to this form of writing. Mr. Le Carré however excelled at this.

The story for those of you who do not know it revolves around the investigation of a mole that has been planted in British Secret Service by the Russians. The mole has been in place for sometime, and his existence just came to light. The person in charge of what I assume is actually MI-6 but it's called "The Circus" has discovered the existence of the mole but does not know who it is. This leads him to dispatch an agent to acquire this information, however the information he was to require was a plant itself. The plot develops from this premise but I don't want to give anymore away.

The characterization in this novel is excellent, as are the settings. This book is not the first to feature the character of George Smiley, but it is definitely one of the most well known ones.

There have been two movie adaptions made of this book the first from 1979 which starred Sir Alec Guinness as Smiley, and it is by far the best of the two, as it is the closest to the book and is actually a 5 hour miniseries. The second (from 2011) starred Gary Oldman as Smiley is only two hours long and while it has the same general gist as the book they had to leave out a lot of detail. Also, as is typical for Hollywood today they added bits that we're not really necessary to the story.

An excellent read, highly recommended.

Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds by Dawn B. Sofa

 

Publisher: Facts of File
Copyright: 2011
ISBN: 9780816082292

Like the first title in this series (Social Grounds), which I already reviewed, this one was also very interesting book. With the rather cloistered outlook that a large portion of the United States has towards sex it is sort of understandable that these books would be challenged. However, it also gives the reader/researcher a rather disturbing insight into what people can be offended by (remember this was written 11 years ago too). Once again I found most of the objections quite narrow-minded and in some cases just plain silly.

A total of 128 books are examined in this book. A short summary of the contents of each book is given, and then the censorship history is examined. Many of the objections seemed to come from parents who were offended when their children were assigned books to read, and a large portion from religious leaders, and school boards as well.

There are two more books in this series that deal with Political, and religious censorship and I am looking forward to reading those as well. They were all written in 2011, and I believe it is time to update them with new editions.

"Captain Nemo: the fantastic history of a dark genius" by Kevin J. Anderson

 

Publisher: pocket books

Copyright: 2002

ISBN: 07434440 6X

This novel is rather unique in its method of telling the story as well as the way it is constructed (for lack of a better term).

The story follows the life of Andrei Nemo who will eventually become captain Nemo of the Nautilis. In the beginning we see him and Jules Verne as young boys who have grown up together. Verne's father is a lawyer, and Verne being the eldest child is expected to take up that profession even though he would much rather write. On the other hand Nemo's father is a shipwright who intrigues and influences both Nemo and Verne with his stories.

Throughout the story we are meet numerous people who will eventually be represented in name at least by characters in Verne's novels. Some of these are Phileas Fogg, Arne Saknussemm, Ned Land, Cedric Harding, Conceil, and many others.

In both of Jules Verne's (1828-1905) stories where we actually meet Captain Nemo ("20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island") we aren't given a whole lot background information about his past life, so Kevin Anderson had a lot of leeway in how he constructed the history of Captain Nemo, and I believe he did an excellent job as it is quite believable within the world Verne has created for his characters. In addition the way he wove the real life of Jules Verne into the story was extremely well done.

Literature Suppressed on Social Grounds by Dawn B. Sova

 

Publisher: Facts of File

Copyright: 2011

ISBN: 9780816082285

This was a very interesting book, that gives the reader/researcher a rather disturbing insight into what people (primarily in the United States) are offended by. I'm not going to pretend to say I understand the rather silly objections that led to some of these bans (most luckily were temporary), but in some cases it was rather humorous to say the least.

A total of 125 books are examined in this book. A short summary of the contents of each book is given, and then the censorship history is examined. Most of the objections seemed to come from parents who were offended when their children were assigned books to read, but a few stemmed from other sources as well.

There are three other books in this series that deal with Political, religious, and sexual censorship and I am looking forward to reading those as well. They were all written in 2011, and I believe it is time to update them with new editions.

The First Team by John Ball (1911-1988)

 

Publisher: Little, Brown and Co.

Copyright: 1971

ISBN: ?

I first read this book many years ago, and since this time have read it a few more times, as I find the characterization and plot to be very well structured. The author did a fair bit of research into the workings of various parts of the United States government, as well as the US Navy.

The story deals with the essentially bloodless takeover and occupation of the United States by Russian forces. While this may seem somewhat impossible to many people the events depicted in the story leading up to the successful takeover are quite plausible, although today somewhat dated as it has been 51 years since this book was first published.

When you consider recent political events in the United States I find it quite likely that something like this could've happened. In the book and outgoing president foresees the future and the dangers coming towards the country when the president-elect takes power and creates an underground to forestall any problems. An intelligent act like this seems to me something that President Obama would've done. When you take into account the idiot who succeeded him, and who is portrayed in the book as a totally ineffectual president then this becomes even more realistic.

At the time I'm writing this review Russian forces are still in the Ukraine after having invaded six months ago. There are massive casualties on both sides, due primarily (in my humble opinion) to the egotistical stupidity of Vladimir Putin, and his attempt to make a name for himself. Unfortunately it's quite likely this name will be warmonger, or something possibly even worse.

While the premise might seem a little unlikely, the novel is well written and for those fans of intrigue and espionage novels is a must read.

"Evolution: The Human Story" by Dr. Alice Roberts

 

Publisher: DK Publishing

Copyright: 2018

ISBN: 9781465474018

Dr. Alice Roberts is the Professor of Public Engagement at the University of Birmingham in England, and a Biological Anthropologist, and host of "Digging for Britain", and is the is the author of a number of books.

This book is a great explanation of the evolutionary process as it applies to the human species. It takes the reader from a time about 8 million years in a past up to modern times in very well written sections that explain the origins of life in general, and then break down the individual stages of human evolution.

It would I believe be suitable for any young person who is interested in the subject, and make a fantastic addition to any school classroom, as it is very well written and easy to understand. It is full of pictures that explain the concepts of evolution, how facial reconstruction works, and much more.

While even though a book as well written as this one is will still likely not convince those people who are adamant that evolution isn't true, it should I believe go a long way towards convincing those who are on the fence.

Highly recommended.

"Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne (1828-1905)

 

Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc.

Copyright: 1983

ISBN: 0517413736

This book is another classic in what would come to be known as science-fiction. It was originally written in 1869, and illustrates Verne's fascination with science. It is true that the science depicted in this and other of Verne's stories does not match what we consider to be science today, but for the most part it is accurate as far as the scientific knowledge of the time is concerned.

This is essentially a story of discovery, in that Professor Arronax is taken on a voyage under the sea, and being a naturalist is enamoured with the things he sees. It is true that the book is quite long, but the detail Verne goes into is excellent. He is one of a number of authors that I would have loved to have met.

I recently rewatched the Disney version of this book which came out in 1954. As is typical the director once again took huge liberties with Verne's story.  However, considering the year this was made they weren't all that bad as the movie would've had to be quite a bit longer to encompass the entire story. One major change they made however was to hint that Captain Nemo had discovered nuclear energy, and that the Nautilus was powered by it, this was also reinforced when at the end of the movie Nemo's base was destroyed, and a telltale mushroom cloud was evident. Neither of these things were part of Verne's story, and considering that the story is set in 1866, it seems rather silly to contemplate as atomic theory was definitely in its infancy, and Albert Einstein wouldn't be born for 13 years. Add to this that the nature of the atom was formulated in 1911, that electron surrounded the nucleus was discovered in 1897, etc. and we are once again confronted with age old puzzle of why Hollywood can't do basic research.

It would be nice to see some studio take on this and many other classic stories and do them as a miniseries, as the author intended.

"The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of reason" by Sam Harris

 

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Copyright: 2004

ISBN: 9780743268097

This book was an extremely interesting one to read, not only because of the information provided but because of the stance that the author takes on the subject of religion and especially faith and what it can make normally rational people do in its name.

The opening chapter briefly recounts the events leading up to when a suicide bomber sets off his charge in a bus. And then goes on to examine how this one act is influenced pretty much solely by what the person has been told about their religion.

Now, before you think that Mr. Harris focuses solely on terrorism that is perpetrated by Muslims, he doesn't. He also goes after the other Abrahamic Religions (Christianity and Judaism - Yes, in case you were wondering all three have the same roots). He also exposes the atrocities performed by Christians, e.g., The Inquisition, Witch burnings, and much more. He also points out a rarely admitted / known fact that the Catholic Church was culpable in their condemnation of the Jews, and their support of Adolf Hitler and his cronies. 

Mr. Harris does a wonderful job of telling the facts as they are, and with the addition of footnotes, and a fantastic bibliography to back up his claims he proves without a doubt that faith it's simply a very dangerous thing to have. He does tend to get somewhat philosophical towards the end of the book, but considering the topic I think this is quite acceptable, as it tends to calm readers down after reading the first parts and finding out how inhumane, humans can be to each other when certain philosophies are followed without the person first thinking. 

Highly recommended, especially for those who are on the fence about religion. Any religion.

"The Lord of the Rings" by JRR Tolkien (1892-1973)

 

Publisher: George Allen & Unwin

Copyright: 1966

ISBN: 0048230871

Unlike the hobbit which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago I don't remember exactly when I first read this book, but it was approximately 30 years ago and since then I have read it probably a good five or six times. 

It is without a doubt the seminal work of high fantasy, and one which has influenced numerous Fantasy authors since. Unfortunately many of these authors want to attempt to replicate professor Tolkien's works. Rather than come up with something new. This in fact is taken to some odd levels in that most fantasy novels now seem to have three parts (or more) even if they aren't required.

In any case this is a fantastic novel, and even though it is written as three separate books I will be treating it as one as that's always the way I read it. For those who do not know the three books are "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King".

All three novels feature likely the greatest examples of world building in fantasy, as well as some of the best character design. There are many who will dispute these facts by saying the story is slow, and goes into too much detail, but Professor Tolkien was a linguist, historian and this was his forte.

In the event you are one of the people who has only seen the movies by Peter Jackson you will be in for a treat by reading these books as Mr. Jackson made a number of changes, which I believe altered the overall storyline sufficiently to corrupt Professor Tolkien's overall intent. Still, with this in mind his version of "The Lord of the Rings" is much better than his version of "The Hobbit.

Enjoy.

"Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark" by Cassandra Peterson

Publisher: Hachette Books

Copyright: 2021

ISBN: 9780306874352

I don't read a lot of biographies or autobiographies (in fact it even says this in my blog notes). However, I am extremely glad that I chose to read this book. While I can't say It grew up with Elvira, I do remember seeing her on TV occasionally but this was primarily because I was not a horror movie buff. After reading this book though I definitely wished I had been introduced to these great movies years earlier.

An interesting coincidence is that the first movie that Elvira introduced was "The House on Haunted Hill" with Vincent Price, and this is one of my favourite horror movies of all time, even though I came to it many years later.

Without a doubt Ms. Peterson has had a very interesting and troubling life, but she has managed to persevere, succeed and win. This in and of itself should be an inspiration to all young women throughout the world. Her ongoing fight against what I consider to be the built-in misogynistic culture of Hollywood shows that it is a fight that can be won, although it will likely take time.

I would recommend that you read this book and take the messages Ms. Peterson shares to heart. These messages show that you can overcome pretty much anything in your life with sufficient perseverance, friendship and the courage to stand up for your ideals. I found her honesty and courage to out some of the people in Hollywood, and sports was commendable to say the least.

Finally in the event you have never watched the movie "Elvira: Mistress of the Dark" or "Elvira's Haunted Hills" I would seriously recommend you check them out as they are great movies.

"The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again" by JRR Tolkien (1892-1973)

 

Publisher: George Allen & Unwin

Copyright: 1937

ISBN: 0048231479

This is one of the classics of all high fantasy novels. And has been read by millions of people. I'm not overly sure how many times I've read the book, but over the years probably around ten times as a guess. I can remember exactly when I first heard of the book, and that was when my parents were having a garage sale, and it happened to be one of the books they had for sale. This was in the early 1980s, so yes, I'm a late starter. 

Prior to this I can't clearly recall a time when I even heard of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. I cannot recall anyone mentioning it when I was in school. In hindsight, I would've thought that a book of this quality would've been hard to miss but I guess it was, either that or it just wasn't discussed.

For those of you who are unaware of the story as I was it tells the tale of Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, and his adventures with 12 dwarves and Gandalf the wizard who set out to reclaim the dwarfs stolen treasure from the lonely mountain, and if necessary fight the dragon Smaug. Bilbo goes along as he he's purported to be a master thief.

During the first part of this adventure Bilbo encounters Gollum, and finds a certain little golden ring that changes his life from that moment on. If you haven't read the story yet I'm not gonna go any farther and tell you what happened, so read it!

In the event you are one of the people who has only seen the movies by Peter Jackson you will be in for a treat by reading these books as Mr. Jackson made a number of what I consider to be rather drastic changes, and which I believe corrupted the story so much that I refused to even watch the third movie.

Happy reading,

"Morals Without Religion and other essays" by Margaret K. Knight (1903-1983)

 

Publisher: Dennis Dobson

Copyright: 1954

ISBN: None

Dr. Margaret Knight, a psychologist, is likely remembered in some certain circles as the person who created a fervour when she was finally permitted to broadcast two humanist programs on the BBC in the 1950s.

She did this in response to the standard education curriculum in Britain at the time which required students to be trained or better yet indoctrinated into the Christian belief system as put forward by the church of England. As I understand it parents who objected to this training had little to no choice if they wished their child to be educated.

This is an extremely interesting book to read given the current climate with regard to religion as a whole. The topics of humanism, culture, politics etc. are also dealt with to a certain point. 

As could be expected the information is somewhat dated being that the broadcast was 70 years ago. Even though the Christian religion is the only one actually mentioned in this book (other religions were rarely ever mentioned that long ago), it would be interesting to see what the reaction to a rebroadcast -- or better yet an updated broadcast that took into account the many different religions that are seen today. I'm sure somewhat the same response wold be garnered today, but I'm sure a number of them would be quite a bit stronger than simply writing letters. 

Well worth the read for both it's historical value, as well as an insight into how some people behave towards each other, especially when they feel long established boundaries have been crossed.

"The Black Witch" by Laurie Forest

 

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Copyright: 2017

ISBN: 9780373212316

The Black Witch was a very interesting book to read. When I started it, I at first I thought it was going to be a Harry Potter-ish style a book with a teenager figuring out they have magic powers, going to school, and then finally saving the world. However, I was pleasantly surprised approximately a quarter way into the book when I realized it was more of a study of cultural norms, politics, and racism.

There is of course magic, wands, elves, etc. after all it is a fantasy novel, but while they do play major parts in the story, we thankfully aren't treated to exhaustive descriptions of what elves are etc. as Ms. Forest treats her readers as if this isn't the first fantasy book they ever read. There is teen romance, but while it does play a significant part int he plot, it also looks at things such as arranged marriages (called wand-fasting in the book), and so on.

This is the first book in a trilogy, so it looks as if things are off to a good start, and I look forward to reading the next instalment.

"Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human" by Richard Wrangham

 

Publisher: Basic Books

Copyright: 2009

ISBN: 9780465020416

Even though this book shares the first part of its title with one of a relatively popular series of novels, this book has absolutely nothing to do with "The Hunger Games", although cooking does typically satisfy hunger. It is in fact an anthropological investigation into the revolutionary history of humans and how we possibly might have teamed fire, and thereby learned to cook food, allowing us to evolve into what we have today.

The book starts off by examining the theories behind eating raw food, which at the time of writing was somewhat of a fad. Following this Dr. Wrangham looks into amongst other things the energy theory of cooking, how cooking began, what foods best affect brain development, the social structure of hunter-gatherers, how we differ from the great apes in both social structure and feeding habits, how domestication possibly influenced the male role in life, and much more.

In one chapter Dr. Wrangham looks at the social inequity between males and females, and it is rather surprising to see how much that parallels the inequality seen even today in certain cultures.

This book has 46 pages of reference notes, and a 30 page bibliography. Both of which are extremely valuable in understanding this topic. For the most part when I was taking my anthropology courses ideas such as this were not part of the curriculum but then again this was many years before this book was published.

An extremely book that is well worth reading.

"Sleipnir" by Linda Evans

 

Publisher: Baen Books

Copyright: 1994

ISBN: 0671875949

Sleipnir is I believe Linda Evans first book, and it is an extremely interesting one to say the least. We first meet the protagonist Randy Barnes when he is in the process of negotiating a Norwegian cave on his way to confront Odin, whom he intends on challenging to a duel and hopefully killing.

So why you might ask is Barnes looking to challenge Oden? Well Barnes himself is an ex-soldier who was recently discharged shortly after the death of his best friend Gary in a traffic accident. However, very shortly after his death he witnessed Sleipnir retrieving the body and taking it to Valhalla. Now for those of you who do not know Norse mythology, Sleipnir does not collect bodies of people who die accidentally, nor are they welcome in Valhalla, as this is where warriors who are killed in battle are taken, accident victims etc. go to Niflheim to serve the goddess Hel.

So what is going on? Well, you'll have to read the book to find out as I don't want to spoil it for you. But suffice it to say the story is well written, and well researched too. I reviewed another of Ms. Evans' books a while ago "The Far Edge of Darkness" which I thoroughly enjoyed as well. Unfortunately Ms. Evans hasn't published any books recently, but we can always hope she'll return to writing soon.

"Paleofantasy: what evolution really tells us about sex, diet, and how we live" by Marlene Zuk

 

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Copyright: 2013

ISBN: 9780393081374

Paleofantasy is a very interesting book that goes into the great detail debunking the Paleo diet and other such pseudo scientific silliness. Dr. Zuk is a professor of ecology evolution and behaviour at the University of Minnesota, and she has researched this topic extremely well.

She uses the disciplines of anthropology, physiology, psychology, medicine and history to explain why the Paleo diet is not what proponents believe it is or promote it as i.e., a cure-all for societies ills, weight loss, etc.

In this book she examines the lifestyles that proponents of the Paleo lifestyle follow, and examines how actual science debunks this system of nutrition, and living. She gives a good overview on evolution, and how it works and then examines other concepts of the Paleo lifestyle such as exercising, love, sickness and health and much more.

Dr. Zuk's writing is clear and comprehensive, and the examples she uses are easily understandable by anyone. Or at least anyone who wants to understand them, as I am sure there are many paleo-fans out there who will dispute her findings as they have little or no scientific training.

Highly recommended

"West of Eden" by Harry Harrison (1925-2012)

 

Publisher: Bantam Books

Copyright: 1984

ISBN: None listed

I hadn't read this book for many years (actually probably closer to a few decades), and found it to be extremely interesting especially with regard to the world building that Mr. Harrison did.

The overall premise of the book is that the comet that struck the earth 65 million years or so ago and that established the end of the Cretaceous Period did not hit the Earth. Because of this the dinosaurs evolved intelligence, and the mammals also evolved in parallel (but somewhat slower as they hadn't had as long). The dinosaur evolutionary track produced a race of beings that were essentially lizard like in their overall appearance, while the humans were likely to be about the level of something like Homo erectus.

The dinosaurs developed a technology based on genetics, well the "humans" were still at the hunter gatherer stage.

Due to the advancing ice and glaciation the dinosaurs were being forced to move westward and colonize new lands. This is where they met the humans for the first time, and where ultimately war was declared between the two forces for the same land.

There are two other books in the series "Winter in Eden" and "Return to Eden", but I haven't read either of these to date.

With regard to the world-building, I felt that the humans were were portrayed quite well with regard to their hunter gatherer skills, language etc. however, I found the dinosaurs to be a little too advanced, in their ability to manipulate genetic materials and creatures to serve their purposes.

All in all, this was a very interesting book and I hope to be able to read the next two in the series sometime in the near future.

"My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and our favourite dinosaurs" by Brian Switek

 

Publisher: Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Copyright: 2013

ISBN: 9780374135065

An interesting book that traces the history of the dinosaur formerly known as the Brontosaurus, that was renamed Apatosaurus, and then renamed Brontosaurus in 2015, and now has I believe three species. This happened two years after this book was published, which I'm rather sure Mr. Switek is happy about.

This book does an extremely good job of both the history of palaeontology, and that of the Brontosaurus itself. It goes into the details of discovery, the people involved, and the naming controversy. The naming of species of dinosaur is a complicated process that was unfortunately not too well regulated in the past, as it was common for different names to be given by different discoverers to what turned out to be the same species. This was due in part to lack of communications, pride, and many other things. Now-a-days things are much more established and many of the previous errors have been corrected.

As I work in the field of palaeontology myself I found it to be an interesting read, and quite enlightening as I haven't looked into the history as much as I likely should. I am grateful however that our lab is primarily concerned with cretaceous dinosaurs, as it is nowhere near big enough to have to deal with something the size of brontosaurus (but then again we didn't have these guys around here anyway).

A well written and researched book. However, I differ with Mr. Switek's opinion as I believe Styracosaurus is definitely the better dinosaur.

"Lethal White" by Robert Galbraith

 

Publisher: Mulholland Books

Copyright: 2018

ISBN: 9780316422734

Lethal white is the fourth installment in the Cormoran Strike detective series by Robert Galbraith the synonym for JK Rowling. As with the other three books this one is excellent. The development of the two main characters of Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott continues, with new challenges for the two of them both professionally and privately. Robin is now a partner is the detective agency, and proves invaluable to Strike, but her fiancee still is not happy that she works there, which causes some tension to say the least.

This instalment takes place a short time following the third novel "Career of Evil" which details the investigation of the Shacklewell Ripper. Robin is recovering from the wounds she received during the investigation, but is still experiencing PTSD from the attack, and Strike wants her back with him at the agency but finds it difficult to ask her to return.

Their new case begins with an extremely distressed and mentally ill young man visiting Strike and describing a murder he witnessed as a young boy. This one thing leads Cormoran and Robin into a maze of intrigue with twists and turns that involve government officials and their families, and over twenty years of history to be searched to find out the truth, a truth that nobody wants anyone to find out about.

An excellent addition to the series, looking forward to reading number five.

"Dinosaurs: A Field Guide" by Gregory S. Paul

 

Publisher: A. & C. Black

Copyright: 2010

ISBN: 9781408130742

This was a very well written book that gives a lot of valuable information to the reader, unfortunately it is also extremely difficult to find and I had to obtain it through interlibrary loan.

Mr. Paul takes you on a very informative journey through pretty much all aspects of the science of palaeontology, and provides the reader with lots of information. This area of science however is constantly changing, so I sincerely hope that he will consider doing an update to this book as many of the books on palaeontology are either too technical for the layperson, or are primarily geared towards younger enthusiasts. These younger enthusiasts are our future palaeontologists  and this book spans the gap in material.

Highly recommended, but be prepared to have to hunt for it.

"Far Edge of Darkness" by Linda Evans

 

Publisher: Baen Books

Copyright: 1996

ISBN: 0671877358

Historical time travel novels are likely one of the more difficult stories to write (at least in my opinion), as the author needs to do something called research. In "Far Edge of Darkness" Linda Evans comes through as a star in the field as her research is impeccable.

The story revolves around three main characters:

Sibyl, a PhD student in Classical Archaeology who had recently discovered a something while digging in Pompeii that shouldn't have been there. This one little thing changed her life dramatically as we next see her in ancient Rome where she is being sold as a slave. 

The second, is Charlie a Miami Vice cop who was deep under cover, and is now a slave in the house of a cruel Roman master, after spending a few years in the Circus Maximus fighting for his life.

The third is Logan a psychiatric patient on day leave who disappears in a monstrous lightning storm in Florida and reappears five years later in Alaska.

These three characters, and many secondary ones interact in a truly believable way and I believe this is mainly due to the great job the author did in setting the stage, and painting the world of ancient Rome in a detail that will delight virtually all readers.

Ms. Evans has written a number of other books as well, which I will review, but this was the first of her I read (a number of years ago), and it is well worth it. She unfortunately hasn't written much lately, but hopefully this will be corrected in the near future.

Highly recommended.

"The Simple Living Handbook: Discover the Joy of a De-cluttered Life" by Lorilee Lippincott

 

Publisher:  Skyhorse Publishing

Copyright:  2013

ISBN:  9781620876299

This was an interesting book to read, however it wasn't what I expected. This title itself is somewhat misleading, as the subtitle is more accurately describes what the book is about. I was under the impression that it was a book on living simply, but it turned out to essentially a book on how to get rid of stuff you no longer want to keep.

While the information is valuable especially to those people in the world who have a lot of stuff, I think for the most part the information presented is what I would consider common-sense. For course if you are one of those people with a lot of stuff that you don't want to get rid of etc., then this is quite likely the book you need, but I don't fit into that category.

Still even with this drawback it was well written, and I'm sure will be quite helpful to many people out there.

"Piranesi" by Susanna Clarke

 

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Copyright: 2021

ISBN: 9781635575637

This was a rather different book than I typically read. It is classified as "fantasy" however it is not like any other fantasy novel I've read, so I believe it would have been more accurate to list it as something like a psychological mystery, but that is my opinion.

"Piranesi" is the name given to a young man, who is the protagonist of the story, by the only other human he knows of, and whom he refers to as "The Other". 

Piranesi lives in what turns out to be a labyrinth, and with the exceptions of the semi-regular visits by "The Other" is by himself. He is surrounded in the hundreds of rooms that make up the labyrinth by thousands of statues of various sizes and themes that all represent at least to him scenes from the world he lives in.

Piranesi has lived in this labyrinth for many years, And has documented his life in a series of journals. The book is formatted as if you're reading his journals, and this makes it a rather unique read.

It was definitely an interesting story, but not one that I would normally have read. I cannot remember how I heard about the story, but I'm quite glad I read it.

I hope you enjoy it.

"End Times: A Brief Guide t the End of the World" by Bryan Walsh

 

Publisher: Hachete Books

Copyright: 2019

ISBN: 9780316449601

This books was an extremely interesting read, that covered a lot of territory and gives the reader a lot to think about. The author is a former correspondents, reporter and editor for Time Magazine. He reported on from over 20 countries on science and environmentally focused stories such as SARS, global warming, extinction and other topics.

The book itself takes a look at eight different scenarios that could end the world, or at least the world as we know it. The first is an asteroid collision such as what wiped out the dinosaurs, and which will happen again eventually. The second is the supereruption of a volcano such as the explosion of what is now the island of Sumatra when the mountain called Toba exploded some 74 thousand years ago and essentially turned day into night for many parts of the world. The ash of Toba was found in areas such as the Indian Ocean, China Sea, Arabian Sea, Lake Malawi in Africa.

The third potential disaster is from nuclear armaments and how some rather unstable world leaders could easily be poised to commit horrendous acts. (Looking at you Putin!) Climate change is the next topic discussed, and even though a significant number of people in the world turn a blind-eye towards the facts, it seems pretty obvious to most that it is. Disease is the next topic, and discusses world-wide epidemics. It seems rather ominous that when this book predicts an epidemic of some kind in the near future when it was written, and that the world is now recovering from one. This topic merges quite well into the next one which is biotechnology, and discusses the possibility that a disease could actually be engineered.

Chapter five deals with Artificial Intelligence and what we could experience in the future if we keep increasing our computer capacity etc. at its current rates. It speculates on what would need to happen, and what the consequences might be, even though it likely won't be anything like "The Terminator" franchise. Personally I believe a better comparison would be the 1970 movie "Colossus: The Forbin Project".

Chapter six deals with Aliens, and while it doesn't deal too much with what might happen if they were to show up, it does go into a fair amount of detail with regard to our searching for them, including the history of SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) and it's off-shoot METI (Messaging Extra Terrestrial Intelligence). 

The final chapter deals with the aftermath of a potential catastrophe and how we might recover. It too goes into a fair bit of detail with regard to how people believe things will unfold and the measures they take to prepare for them. I (and most others) have heard about the survivalist movement, but I wasn't aware there was such a thing as "Doomsday Preppers" who actively plan their lives around the end of the world.

This book, while it was somewhat depressing a couple of times, is a definite eye-opener to how fragile the existence of humans, and all other life on Earth actually is. The fact that asteroids have collided with this planet, super eruptions have occurred, that we have been close to a possible nuclear confrontation in the past and might be again if certain world leaders don't wake up. That we are going through climate change right now, and are hopefully coming close to the end of a world-wide epidemic doesn't bode too well for the survival of our species. After all this only leaves AI and Aliens, which is kind of worrisome.

This is the type of book we need to see more of. Highly recommended.