"The Epic of Gilgamesh" English version with introduction by N. K. Sandars

Publisher:London : Penguin Books, 1972.

Edition:Revised edition, incorporating new material.

Copyright Date:©1972

ISBN: 9780140441000 

Characteristics: 127 pages :,map ;,20 cm.

The Epic of Gilgamesh who was the renowned king of Uruk in Mesopotamia, was discovered in 1839 by Austen Henry Layard when he was travelling in Mesopotamia and was delayed by excavations of the Assyrian mounds. He was there for a number of years and the result was a number of Assyrian sculptures and over twenty-five thousand broken tablets from the Palace at Nineveh being returned to the British Museum. These tablets were all written in cuneiform (wedge shaped characters, on clay tablets). The decipherment of the language took many years and was finally aided by the discovery by Henry Rawlinson of the 'Record of Darius' on the rock of Behistun near Kermanshah in Persia, which was written in cuneiform, Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian languages. The epic of Gilgamesh is typically considered to be the earliest existing work of literature.

Unlike many heroes told of in mythology Gilgamesh is was considered by most scholars to be a real person, a King who lived and reigned in Uruk sometime during the first half of the third millennium. The introduction to this book explains in great length the history of the region, of the story itself, it's discovery, translation etc. The introduction itself is 58 pages long which maybe somewhat daunting to your average reader, but it is extremely fascinating as well and takes the reader on a journey that helps to explain the story itself.

The first half of the story gives background information on Gilgamesh himself and a wild being called Enkidu who was created by the gods to oppose Gilgamesh and stop him from oppressing the people of Uruk. Enkidu becomes human after having sex intercourse with a prostitute. He then travels to Uruk and challenges Gilgamesh to a contest of strength, which Gilgamesh wins. The two men then become fast friends (some say lovers), and undertake a journey to kill Humbaba the Terrible the guardian of the sacred forest and then cut down the sacred cedar. After succeeding in this the goddess Ishtar attempts to punish Gilgamesh for refusing her sexually by sending the Bull of Heaven. The Bull is killed by the two men, and the gods decide to kill Enkidu as a punishment for Gilgamesh as they are the best of friends.

The second part of the story details Gilgamesh's distress over Enkidu's death and his quest for eternal life. He doesn't succeed in his quest because death is man's burden. During his travels however he does hear the tale of the great flood.

It is interesting to note that there are many similarities between the epic of Gilgamesh and the Hebrew Bible such as the story of the Garden of Eden, and the flood. In the first case Enkidu is created from the soil just like the mythological Adam, he lives in a worry free world alongside all the animals, he is tempted by a female (who is created from one of his bones), accepts food from the female, then needs to cover his nakedness, and then must leave, etc. As for the flood similarities the flood narrative in the Hebrew Bible is so close to that from Gilgamesh that they can be considered the same and scholars have all agreed that Gilgamesh influenced the mythology of the genesis flood. There are many other similarities as well that I won't bother detailing here.

All told this is a very good story, and I would recommend it to all.

"Career of Evil" by Robert Galbraith

Publisher:New York : Mulholland Books, 2015.
Edition:First North American edition.
ISBN: 9780316349932
Characteristics: 497 pages.

Career of evil is the third book in the Cormoran Strike series. These books as I've said before are  reminiscent of the hard-boiled detective novels of the early 1900s, but with a flair for today, as is necessary. The stories take you right into the heat of the action, and lay bare what the life of a struggling private detective might really be like.

In this book Strike faces an unknown assailant who is out to get him and ruin his business by pretty much any means possible. This includes targeting his assistant Robin as one of his future victims. In addition to the main plot line, the author also looks briefly into various psychological phenomenon that are interesting, but could be quite disturbing to some at the same time.

During this whole time Robin and Matthew are planning their wedding which gives an interesting background flavour to the entire story. Their assailant, who could possibly any one of four or five different people continuously eludes them, until the very end.

This is a fantastic third novel, in a four volume series -- so far. I do hope the author plans on writing more in the series as I only have one left to read.

"So You Want to Move to CANADA, Eh?: Stuff to know before you go" by Jennifer McCartney

Publisher:Philadelphia : Running Press, 2019.
Edition:First edition.
ISBN: 9780762495078
Characteristics: viii, 179 pages :,illustrations, map ;,21 cm

For anybody who has ever contemplated moving to Canada, especially any of you Americans out there this book is aimed directly at you. That being said just because Canada is America's friendly neighbour that doesn't mean we are an extension of the United States, which unfortunately is how many people seem to see us.

The first section has numerous fun facts, as well as many explanations on why we do things the way we do. It delves into such things as our geography, the metric system, our flag, the Canadian National Anthem, stuff about our government, and explanations of our holidays.

The second section explores how a person goes about immigrating to Canada, not something I have to worry about as it looks like there really is a lot of paperwork to do.

The third section takes us back to the fun stuff and explains our culture, touching on subjects such as our laws on guns, alcohol, and cannabis; our language, cuisine, etc.

Ms. McCartney then goes on to give lists of things a prospective immigrant should consult, to help them along their journey.

I found this to be a very well written, and at times hilarious review of our culture, the country itself, and much more. Read it even if you aren't planning on coming here, if nothing else it might help explain our quirks.

"The Ballad of Cat Ballou" by Roy Chanslor (1899-1964)

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Copyright 1956


"The Ballad of Cat Ballou" is a classic western by an author that researched his work. It tells the tale of Catherine 'Cat' Ballou a young girl who grows up amidst in Wyoming amid ongoing between the Cattleman's Association and her father who was sold a parcel of land in order to keep the cattlemen from using the area as a thoroughfare for their cattle.

The book tells the tale beginning with the courting Cat Ballou's mother (Catherine) who runs away with an outlaw whom she becomes smitten with, even though she promised to consider marriage to an important rancher Adam Field. This begins a life long hatred between Field and Frank Ballou (Cat's father). Eventually Cat is born, and everything is fine until she grows up and a lot of men begin to notice her, including Abe Field (Adam's rather useless son).

There are a host of other characters in this novel which round out the tale very well, and show what a good writer Mr. Chanslor was.

This book was made into a movie in 1965 starring Jane Fonda, and Lee Marvin and was well received. As per usual Hollywood made significant changes and turned it from a well-written, serious western into a musical / comedy. The movie is enjoyable, but is nowhere near as good as the book.

"An Atheist's Guide to Christmas" edited by Robin Harvie and Stephanie Meyers

Publisher:New York : Harper Perennial, 2010.
Edition:First U.S. edition.
ISBN: 9780061997976
Characteristics: xi, 307 pages :,illustrations

"An Atheist's Guide to Christmas" is a collection of essays from noted skeptics, atheists, and others that give the reader an interesting, and refreshingly different outlook on the subject of christmas.

It is likely that many people when they consider christmas and atheism that the first thing that's comes to mind is Charles Dickens' short novel "A Christmas Carol" in which Ebenezer Scrooge is portrayed as an atheist, even though it is not stated as such. Many feel, or at least seem to feel that atheism automatically makes you a bad person, and therefore a threat to them somehow. I'm not sure exactly how they come by this rather odd deduction, but it exists.

These essays however show that the exact opposite is true, and that even if you do not subscribe to the christian version of christmas you can still celebrate the season with your friends and family as it was intended.

Some of the twenty plus authors included in this book are Richard Dawkins, Phil Plait (who runs bad astronomy.com), Neal Pollack, Simon Le Bon (of the band Duran Duran), Simon Singh to name but a few. All of the essays, and stories are insightful, and informative, and some quite humorous as well.

A great read, and highly recommended especially to those people who are unsure as to exactly where they sit on the religious vs. non-religious fence.

"The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller

Publisher:New York : Ecco, [2012]
Edition:First edition.
Copyright Date:©2012
ISBN:9780062060617
Characteristics:378 pages ;,24 cm

The Song of Achilles is Madeline Miller's first novel (I reviewed her second "Circe"back on December 16th, 2019). It tells the story of Achilles and the first part of the Trojan War from the viewpoint of Patroclus, his friend and lover.

To tell a story such as this from the viewpoint of what is typically by most to be considered a secondary character is a great way to immerse the reader into a great story. The book takes us from the first meeting of the two men when they are quite young, and then their second meeting some years later after Patroclus has been exiled by his father for the accidental death of another boy who was bullying him.

We are then treated to a view of what ancient Greek civilisation was like and how the two men grew to be fast friends and soon thereafter lovers. The views of homosexuality in this book are treated very subtlety. What most people fail to realise is that homosexuality in the ancient world was accepted by many (if not most) as perfectly normal and it was quite typical for young boys to have male lovers until they reached puberty or slightly thereafter. There was no such thing as the rampant homophobia that can be encountered in certain places in today's world.

I found this book to be a great read and would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in mythology. I was first introduced to Madeline Miller's work via the podcast "Let's Talk About Myths, Baby" by Liv Albert, and I would definitely recommend that anybody who is even mildly interested in Greek and Roman mythology should check it out, as not only does it give a refreshing viewpoint, but Ms. Albert has a very interesting sense of humour that gives this show a boost.

"Will My Cat Eat My Eye Balls?: Big Questions From Tiny Mortals About Death" by Caitlin Doughty

Publisher:New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company, [2019]
Edition:First edition.
ISBN: 9780393652703
Characteristics: xv, 222 pages :,illustrations ;,22 cm

"Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?" is Ms. Doughty's third book on the subject of death and all the ins and outs of it. Once again she does a wonderful job of bringing a typically unmentionable subject to the forefront. In this book she ventures out a little further and answers questions posed by children, some of which are very eye-opening.

In addition to the title question she answers questions such as "Will my body sit up or speak on its own after I die?", "Can I preserve my dead body in amber like a prehistoric novel?", ""Can we give Grandma a Viking funeral?" and "Can Someone donate blood after they die?" and 29 others.

Her sense of humour in answering these questions should definitely appeal to all young readers, and I'm sure most adults will get a chuckle as well.

For the who don't know Ms. Doughty is the author of two other books entitle "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" & "From Here to Eternity" the latter of which I reviewed previously (the first came out before I started doing reviews, but I will endeavour to add it shortly). She is also the creator of the "Ask a Mortician" web series, the founder of the Order of the Good Death, and she own and runs a funeral home in the Los Angeles area.

Looking forward to her next book, with eager anticipation.

"Ocean-Space" by Allen M. Steele

Publisher: Ace Books, New York, 2000
ISBN: 044100850X

Ocean Space is a book that deals with life in an undersea research facility, and the everyday things they have to put up with in order to survive in this element. The first good thing about this book is that Mr. Steele, gets the science right. He takes things like the requirements for the divers to decompress, the use of special gas mixtures to allow for saturation diving, and even the required close living quarters into account. As a former diver these details were extremely refreshing to see.

In many science-fiction books, the science components such as this are ignored by the authors. Why they do this is anybody's guess. It could be something as simple as them not understanding the concepts (and refusing to do research), or possibly even assuming that their audience won't notice and therefore it won't matter if they skimp on the research. Both are unforgivable in my opinion.

The story opens when one of the characters (in a manned submersible mining manganese nodules on the ocean floor) gets into trouble following an unexplained encounter in the deep ocean. This sets the pace of this novel which is quite fast. The pace gets pushed even higher when a second plot line is introduced about the exploration of deeps hydrothermal vents.

For the younger readers who read this there is a young lady who is on her first visit to the installation, although this isn't where she thought she was heading too, as they just said a vacation in Florida. This adds a fair bit of conflict, and humour to the narration. When you add to this a good dose of espionage, some personal conflicts, and stir you have a first rate story that will keep you reading.