"Everyone is African: How Science Explodes the Myth of Race" by Daniel J. Fairbanks

Publisher:Amherst, New York : Prometheus Books, 2015.
ISBN: 9781633880184
Characteristics: 191 pages : ,illustrations ;,23 cm

Having taken quite a number of anthropology and biology courses during my university training, I already knew that racism as a constructed concept that was based on the supposed superiority of certain groups of people. Dr. Fairbanks however was not writing his book for me, but was doing so for the rather large percentage of the population that hasn't already grasped this concept.

Dr. Fairbanks goes into great detail, but in a very readable way that explores the genetic, historical, and various other aspects of racism and hopefully puts them to bed for good. His discussion of topics such as: What is Race, African Origins, Ancestry versus Race, Skin Colour, Diversity and Health and Intelligence, and finally the Perception of Race covers this topic in a thorough manner that really should convince even the diehards, and leave everyone more enlightened.

Unfortunately, as is typically the case when dealing with humans there will always be certain factions (primarily religious, or other insular group) that will refute his explanations. There is likely nothing that intelligent individuals can do about these types of people except pity them in their ignorance, and help them as best we can in doing simple tasks like wiping their noses.

Yes, I know the above sounds very condescending - it was meant to be. I have no tolerance for racism, and even though I was exposed to it rather frequently as a child, I try to combat it as best I can in my daily life. Hopefully I'm succeeding.

"God is Not Great" by Christopher Hitchens

Publisher:Toronto, Ont. : McClelland & Steward, [2007]
Copyright Date:©2007
ISBN: 9780771041433
Characteristics: 307 pages ;,25 cm

This book was extremely well written and researched, but when you consider that Christopher Hitchens (1949-2011) was an award winning journalist then this is to be expected. In this book he took on the subject of religion, and defends the secular viewpoint with well chosen arguments, numerous facts that support his viewpoints with clarity and that are historically accurate.

Mr. Hitchens gives numerous example of how one religion has borrowed from another, and that one borrowed from earlier ones simply to perpetuate the belief system that they wanted people to subscribe to. He does not pull any punches, and this in itself makes the book worth reading.

With examples from history of how the Catholic church supported fascism, and assisted in smuggling members of the Nazi party out of Germany to South America (as well as supporting them in other ways, including such things as celebrating Hitler's birthday). He also goes into a lot of detail that looks at historical reports that expose the Islam, Judism, as well as others.

It doesn't matter whether you consider yourself to be religious or not. I believe that this book is one that everyone should read.

"One Brother Shy" by Terry Fallis

Publisher:Toronto : McClelland & Stewart, [2017]
Copyright Date:©2017
ISBN: 9780771050725
Characteristics: 394 pages

Mr. Fallis has done it again! His latest book is another great story.

Although "One Brother Shy" deals with the serious subject cyber-bullying as a sub-plot it is done in a way that makes it readable by all. The main story focuses on the search for a long lost sibling, and eventually a father as well, and this along with a good dose of hockey memorabilia rounds out a very enjoyable story.

I didn't find this book to be as funny as some of his earlier works but then again with a sub-plot of cyber bullying and the consequences of this it is somewhat difficult to make jokes. As always the characters are likeable, and very real. In some cases, such as Simone too real!

"The Female Eunuch" by Germaine Greer

Publisher:New York : HarperCollins, 2008.
Edition:First Harper Perennial modern classics edition.
Copyright Date:©2006
ISBN: 9780061579530

I had been meaning to read this book for some time, but never quite got around to it. I finally took the plunge a couple of weeks ago and was very sorry that I'd waited so long, as it definitely is one of the most important (if not the most important) books on feminism to ever be written.

Even though it has been 48 years since it was originally published the information in it is still as relevant as it was back then. Dr. Greer's examination of the way women have been, and still are treated and oppressed forms an important historical record for all of humanity.

Some of the references may be considered by modern readers to be very dated. But when the facts presented are examined in a modern context it will easily be seen that very little has changed to any appreciable degree in today's world. In most cases it is just harder in some instances to see the oppression as the oppressors have become more skilled at hiding it, and people today have become so used to it that they tend ignore it.

This is a book that everyone should read - especially by men!

"Every Day is an Atheist Holiday!" by Penn Jillette

Publisher:New York : Blue Rider Press, [2012]
Copyright Date:©2012
ISBN:9780399161568
Characteristics: 285 pages :,illustrations, portraits ;,24 cm

This is Penn Jillettes second book dealing with atheism, and it's even better than "God, No!" which I wrote about couple of weeks ago. In this book he isn't constrained by the idea of rewriting the christian ten commandments, and instead follows the idea of the various christian holidays. What results is a free-flow of stories from throughout his life that both confirms his atheism, and gives a compelling case for it to be accepted throughout the world. One thing that struck me while reading both this book and his previous one is the extent to which Mr. Jillette's moral character has been aptly demonstrated pretty much throughout his life.

As you can tell by the publication date, this was written prior to the election of Donald Trump as president of the US. It is fairly safe to say that Mr. Jillette, has no use for Donald Trump and he gives good example of way as he was once a contestant on Trump's Celebrity Apprentice pseudo-reality show.

I would recommend that everyone read this book (but read God, No! first) and make up your own opinion. Mr. Jillette is a very talented writers, very funny, and has had a lot of strange things happen to him during his life, but they have all contributed to making him the man he is.

"52 More Things You Should Know About Palaeontology" by Alex Callum & Allard Martinius

Publisher:[Mahone Bay] Nova Scotia : Agile Libre, 2017.
ISBN: 9780987959478
0987959476
Characteristics: 135 pages :,illustrations, map.
Additional Contributors: Cullum, Alex 1969-
Martinius, Allard W. 1963-

The book as the title suggests is the second volume of a series of scientific papers that explain the world of palaeontology. As I wrote in my review of the first volume I came across these books by shear chance when I was looking for books about palaeontology for young people - a quest I'm still on by the way.

Once again in this volume we have 52 papers, but in this case they explore the science by going on a journey through time and looking at the animal kingdom and how palaeogeography has given people insight on what the world was like, and how these facts were discovered. In addition they deal with topics such as conservation, curation, laboratory work, and much more. All of the contributors to this volume are outstanding authors with the ability to explain difficult concepts in easy to understand terms.

Here's hoping the editors consider doing another 52 reasons!

As I mentioned before I work in the field of palaeontology myself and give tours of our lab at the University of Alberta (in Edmonton) to school groups and other visitors. It is a shame that the educational curriculum in Alberta doesn't support the teaching palaeontology past about 5th grade. Why this is I've never found out, even though I've asked numerous people in the profession. You would think that considering that Alberta has the riches fossil collections in Canada that this would be something to consider.

"God, No!" by Penn Jillette

Publisher:New York : Simon & Schuster, 2011.
Edition:First Simon & Schuster hc edition.
ISBN:9781451610369
Characteristics: xix, 231 pages ;,25 cm

I don't really remember my first introduction to the duo of Penn & Teller, but sometime after this I stumbled across their show "Penn & Teller: Bullshit" which is a good introduction for pretty much anybody to the skeptics view of the world as it is and how the worlds scam artists pull the wool over the eyes of the willing public by telling them what they want.

This book while it mentions their show and a other things that the duo has done over the years, is primarily focused on the opinions and life of Penn Jillette. I found the book itself to very interesting, not only has Mr. Jillette led an interesting life, but his outlook on that life is very concise and well thought out.

The book itself is based on a reworking of the christian ten commandments, and how they could be interpreted by an atheist. Mr. Teller's sense of humour is outstanding, and entertaining. Mr. Jillette is a confirmed family man, and as both this book and the show mentioned above demonstrate a defender of common sense. In the world as it is today the one thing that everybody needs is common sense, we have been living under an umbrella of superstition and pseudoscience for centuries, and it is time for all people in the world to give their collective heads a shake and open their eyes to what's really going on in this world.

"The Forgotten Flapper - A Novel of Olive Thomas" by Laini Giles

Publisher:[United States] : Sepia Stories Publishing, [2015]
Edition:First edition.
Copyright Date:©2015
ISBN: 9780994734907
Characteristics: 412 pages

This novel is a definite departure from the books I normally read and review, but I had been meaning to read it for quite some time as I thought I knew how much work Laini Giles put into writing it (she is a local author). I however sadly underestimated the scope of this work, as the research alone would likely be equivalent to what some students do for a Master's thesis. I'm not sure if she kept an account of the number of hours research she did, but I'm sure it is easily in the hundreds of hours. Laini wrote this novel in such a way that you can easily believe that this is Olive's actual auto-biography, and once you start it is an extremely difficult story to put down.

The novel itself examines and recounts the life of Olive Thomas one of the original silent movies stars from her childhood in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, her being chosen as the Most Beautiful Girl in New York City, her time in the Zeigfield Follies, her modelling career, her forays into directing and screen writing, through to her untimely death in 1920 in Neuilly-Our-Seine, France when she was 25. Woven throughout this is the life she lived being related by marriage to the Pickford clan which was tumultuous to say the least. We are also given glimpses of other famous actors and actresses such as W. C. Fields, Mary Pickford, Jack Pickford, to name but a few and how they interacted with Olive, and the rest of Hollywood.

Since 2015 Laini has released another book entitled "The IT Girl and Me" which tells of the life of Clara Bow, and is currently working on her third "Bathing Beauty" about Marie Prevost.