"Caliban's War" by James S. A. Corey

Publisher:New York : Orbit, [2012]
Edition:First edition.
Copyright Date:©2012
ISBN: 9780316129060
Characteristics: 611 pages ;,24 cm

"Caliban's War" is the second book in The Expanse series. It takes place approximately one year after "Leviathan Wakes" which I reviewed a few weeks ago.

During that year the phenomenon on Venus has grown considerably and is under investigation by a number of ships from Mars and Earth. As yet they have not been able to ascertain what it is though.

The characters in this novel are once again very well drawn out and developed. We meet a few new characters, two which stand out are Marine Sergeant Bobbie Draper, the U.N's. Assistant to the Undersecretary of Executive Administration Chrisjen Avasarala, and Botanist Praxidike Meng, amongst others.

The television series in its second season follows the events in this book quite well however there are some differences as to be expected, but for the most part they are very minor. For those of you who have read my column before you know that I tend to dump on Hollywood pretty good, but in this case I am still quite impressed with the job they are doing. Mind you at this point in time it isn't actually Hollywood that's wholly responsible for the series, it is the SyFy Channel, and I'm not certain how they are connected to Hollywood.

I am definitely looking forward to reading the third book in the series, however with the ongoing COVID-19 issues that may have to wait for a while as quite a number of book stores are closed as well as the library system. If however it proves to be as good as the first two books, then it will be well worth the wait.

"I, Mammal: The Story Of What Makes Us Mammals" by Liam Drew

Publisher:London, UK : Bloomsbury Sigma, 2017.
Copyright Date:©2017
ISBN: 9781472922892
Characteristics: 336 pages :,illustrations.

This book was recommended to me by one of the staff at the University of Alberta, and after reading it I can confirm two things: 1) Platypuses are definitely out there on the weird end of the evolutionary tree. 2) Mammals are extremely interesting beasts, and I am quite glad the circumstances that brought the author to write this book happened, but at the same time I'm sorry that it did happen to him - that's gotta hurt!

Dr. Drew essentially takes the reader on quest to discover what makes a mammal, a mammal. In this book he deals with subjects such as why the male gonads are outside the body, the early investigations about what is a mammal, the  role of the 'Y' chromosome in being male, sex in the mammal kingdom, the function of the placenta, nursing, how mammals learn to be caregivers, the mammalian family tree, and much more.

Now while some may consider this to be a very dry subject, Dr. Drew makes it well worth the read as he intersperses numerous examples, real life events, and a good deal spot-on humour to make it an enjoyable read.

I believe this book would make a wonderful supplementary text for any 1st year comparative anatomy course (at least one dealing with mammals), and would suggest that even if you aren't in school, you are a mammal (at least I assume you are), and this is the story of how you came to be what you are.

A great read!

"The Fresco" by Sheri S. Tepper (1929-2016)

Publisher:  Harper Collins
Edition:     First edition.
Copyright: 2000
ISBN:        9780380978792

This is I believe the first book of Ms. Tepper's that I read, and it's been a number of years since I read it the first time. With every subsequent reading it gives you a new insight on how today's world actually works. Her characterization is absolutely wonderful, the interplay between the various characters is also the sign of an excellent writer.

The story tells the tale of first contact with an advanced civilization who have come to Earth to give us the opportunity to join their confederation. To be eligible for a membership however, humans must conform to certain rules the major one being that we have to be able to get along with each other.

Unfortunately humans are an odd species of mammal. I say this because we humans seem to like to fight one another for no apparent reason, we also like to kill each other, and for the most simply cause trouble for each other. The majority of this conflict has had and continues to have its basis in politics, religion, and ethnicity.

Ms. Tepper's book brings a lot of these typically taboo subjects to light, and I believe if only we had the technology to do the things her alien emissaries did, along with the wherewithal to do it, we would probably be able to solve a lot if not all of our world's problems.

I would definitely recommend this book to any person who is looking for not only a feel good book, but one that actually portrays first contact in a positive manner.

"Bad Food Bible: How and Why to Eat Sinfully" by Aaron Carroll MD

Publisher:Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.
ISBN: 9780544952560
Characteristics: xxxiv, 234 pages :,illustrations

The title of this book is something of a misnomer, as there are really no such thing as bad foods. However as everybody pretty much in the world is aware there are hundreds of books, websites, articles, and who knows at else that love to give you advice on things that are bad for you. Or at least are supposedly bad for you based on their convoluted idea of what science is.

Dr. Carroll takes a totally different approach in that he examines the science behind nutrition. I say a different approach because a lot of books, websites etc. have nothing to base the claims and recommendations they make to consumers, and Dr. Carroll tells it like it is.

In this book he deals with topics such as butter, meat, eggs, salt, gluten, GMO's, alcohol, coffee, diet soda, MSG, and non-organic foods. He explains these topics very well and anybody who is even slightly concerned about any of these subjects, will I'm sure have their eyes opened wide.

Having seen a few nutritionists in the years previous to this I can definitely understand where he's coming from in the way he presents his material. Pretty much every nutritionist I've seen has given me a different story. I'm not sure if this is because they just simply are not keeping up with literature, but it is extremely frustrating and it makes it seem that they don't know what they're talking about.

In any case--to step down off my soapbox--I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in nutrition and the controversies surrounding it.

"Leviathian Wakes" by James S. A. Corey

Publisher:New York : Orbit, 2011.
Edition:First edition.
Copyright Date:©2011
ISBN: 9780316129084
Characteristics: 582 pages ;,24 cm.

The review this week is one of those rare book & television show combinations. This is something quite rare for me, as readers of this blog typically notice that for the most part I dump on Hollywood a fair bit. Not that I really ever expect someone from Hollywood to ever read this blog, but who knows maybe they will and realise that the public at large  is able to read, and when they buy the rights to a book that they kinda sort of expect that the screen writer is also able to read, and will translate the author's ideas faithfully. Unfortunately this rarely happens, hence my dumping on them.

In this case however, I want to congratulate the screen writers of the SyFy series "The Expanse" for doing an absolutely wonderful job of translating Corey's novel to the screen. For those people who have not had the opportunity to watch "The Expanse" it is a great adaption, and well worth the time. It doesn't really matter if you want to read the book first, or watch the show, as it is that faithful.

This story is the first in the series, and revolves around two characters James Holden the executive officer of a ship that mines the rings of Saturn bringing loads of ice to mining colonies in the Asteroid Belt. Holden and his crew receive a distress call from a ship called "The Scopuli", and when they go to investigate they get more than they bargained for.

The second character is a police officer - Detective Miller who is searching for a missing girl. His assignment is to find the girl, and when his trail leads to "The Scopuli" too, then things get interesting.

The science in this series is well researched, and while there are some things that defy our current understanding of how things work, they are explained well.

Both the book and series are highly recommended. I'll be reviewing the others in the series as I get a chance to read them, but this could take a while as this book was 582 pages.

"Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" by Daniel C. Dennett

Published: New York: Penguin
Year: 2007, c2006.
Physical Details: xvi, 448 p. ; 23 cm
ISBN: 9780143038337

This books an extremely interesting read that examines the concept of religion essentially from the ground up. Dennett investigates the various controversial subjects of religion, such as why do we believe in a god or gods, how these beliefs frame and control our lives, how our societies are effected by the beliefs, and much more. Many people allow their lives to be controlled by these phenomena, and have for hundreds if not thousands of years. It affects how people see other cultures, how they raise their children, treat their elders, interact with a community, and many more aspects of human life.

The big question in this book is why do we have religion. Why do people from totally different cultures that have never met feel a bond when they meet based on these beliefs? On the other hand why do the beliefs of certain groups cause them to go to war?

The discussion ranges through the fields of anthropology, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and many more ologies.

While I found this book extremely interesting it did read quite slowly at times, but once you began to think about what was said, then you realised that this was essentially the only way that the concept could be explained. This is definitely a book that every humanist, anthropologist, and philosopher should have on their shelf (hopefully after they've read it), as it provides many insights into human culture and belief.

"The House of Silk" by Anthony Horowitz

Publisher:New York : Mulholland Books, 2011.
Edition:First edition.
ISBN:9780316196994
Characteristics: 294 pages ;,25 cm

"The House of Silk" is a wonderful novel, that brings the world's most loved detective back to life. The author Anthony Horowitz is most famous for his Alex Rider series (which I have not read), but he easily manages to capture the style of writing of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle very well.

The story is set a few years before Holmes dies, and it is explained in the Preface that the story is so sensational that Dr. Watson was obliged to require his heirs not to publish the story until 100 years after his death. This in itself should intrigue any Holmes fan, and does indeed set the stage for a truly monstrous tale.

If found the novel to be very well written, and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

When I was done I was curious as to whether it was a one-off novel, or whether Mr. Horowitz had written any others about Holmes. I found that he did write another back in 2014 entitle "Moriarty" which I had read a few years ago before I started this blog in its current form. Unfortunately I was not impressed with this book due to the way the character of Moriarty was portrayed which I believed then (and still do today) makes him into a sadistic murdering psychopath rather than the criminal mastermind that he is portrayed as in all the other books.

I do however highly recommend House of Silk, and hope that Mr. Horowitz continues to write further Sherlock Holmes novels.

"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.