The New Northern Rambler

2023-05-22

"Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes" by Rob Wilkins

Publisher: Doubleday

ISBN: 9780857526632

I purposely do not read a lot of biographies and especially autobiographies primarily because for the most part they're boring.

This book about the life of Terry Pratchett the author of all the Discworld novels, and many others by Rob Wilkins is the exact opposite. It is interesting well written, and essentially keeps you wanting more. Yes, I know that's another way of saying interesting but I'm treating it as two different things because a story should keep you wanting to read more just to find out what happens whereas to be interesting and wanting to keep you reading is more of a challenge.

To say that Sir Terry Pratchett had a interesting life is an understatement. He started his writing career as a journalist, and quickly moved on to be the best selling author of many books. Mr. Wilkins, who was Sir Terry's personal assistant for over 20 years gives fans a detailed insight into his life, one that I'm sure all will want to read.

Highly recommended.

2023-05-15

"One for the Money" by Janet Evanovich

Publisher: Harper Collins

ISBN: 9780684196398

This is the first novel in the Stephanie plum series. Stephanie is a bounty hunter, A job she fell into when she was in rather desperate circumstances. She works for her cousin Vinny who runs a bail bond company and he takes her on as a fledgeling agent.

Her first case turns out to be quite complicated, but very rewarding in the end even though she put herself in a fair bit of danger throughout the novel.

This is an excellent book, And I wish I had read it years ago when it first came out. It is very well written, and holds your attention throughout the entire book which is full of plot twists, interesting characters, and realistic situations.

This first novel was made into a movie in 2011, but no other ones were ever made, which I thing is a shame as it was very well done.

The only real drawback to both the book and the movie is that it tends to reinforce the stereotype that all Americans carry guns. Now whether this is actually true or not I don't know as I haven't been in the United States for close to 34 years.

Well worth the read, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. Although this will take a while as Ms. Evanovich just released book 30 in the series. Before you ask though, no I won't be reviewing them all, but might do them in batches if there is an ongoing theme.

2023-05-08

"Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Publisher: Scribner

ISBN: 9781982117351

This is a very detailed but also extremely interesting history of medicine, and disease and how the discovery of the cell, antibodies, and many other things have been discovered. Dr. Mukherjee tells the story in six main sections and in each gives a historical account of how things were believed to be, and the discoveries that were made. He also includes his own experiences as a graduate students, doctor, and researcher that gives the reader a very good grounding on the subject.

This book while relatively long, is extremely interesting to read as it gives the reader so much information. It is also very engrossing and you will find that the time spent reading passes very quickly.

This is the type of book that I would think would make an excellent read for anybody interested in the history of medicine, and especially for any first year biological science or medicine students as the information is very relevant to their studies.

2023-05-01

"The Ink Black Heart" by Robert Galbraith

Publisher: Mulholland Books
ISBN: 9780316413039
Copyright: 2022

This novel is the sixth book in the Cormoran Strike detective series by Robert Galbraith, and once again the author provides the reader with a well crafted story that keeps you glued to the page throughout the entire novel, all 1012 pages.

The Cormoran Strike series is one in which the characters develop over time, and it therefore necessitates being read in the correct order (primarily to avoid confusion regarding the underlying plots). In this instalment, the duo of Strike & Ellacot are on the trail of a what at first seems to be a random act of violence against the developer of an animated show, but this soon turns out to only be the beginning.

The plot is intricately woven, and character-driven which lends authenticity to the events portrayed. The real world details of London where this story is primarily set (as are the others) adds to the story even more. Both the lead characters have their flaws, but this makes them seem so real that you'd almost expect to see them doing their jobs if you visited London.

A fantastic mystery, that is the work of a master storyteller.

2023-04-24

"Sexy Origins and Intimate Things: The Rites and rituals of straights, gays, bi's, drags, trans, virgins, and others" by Charles Panati

Publisher: Penguin Books

ISBN: 0140271449

I was introduced to the existence of the this book by Dr. Lindsay Doe the host of the YouTube channel "Sexplanations" which has been a fantastic resources for sexually curious people for many years.

At first I wasn't really too sure what the books would be about, but found it to be a fascinating review of how words came to sexually charged, and their real origins, various rituals that are common (and some that are not so common) throughout the world's different cultures both today and historically. He also looks at courtship, history of pin-ups and how that morphed into what we commonly term pornography today, prostitution, and so much more.

This books was a real eyeopener, and I think it should be on most peoples read me list especially in today's world where many people have little or no understanding of how the world really works when dealing with people who don't fit into their microscopically narrow viewpoints.

Mr. Panati is a former physicist and was science editor for Newsweek for six years. He is the author of a number of other books, and I will be reviewing a couple more of these in the future.

Highly recommended

2023-04-17

"The annual migration of clouds" by Premee Mohamed

Publisher: ECW Press

ISBN: 9781770415935

This book was recommended to me by a member of a group that I frequent and I was interested in reading it because I happen to work at the University of Alberta in the building where the story takes place. In this case of Biological Sciences Building.

The Biological Sciences Building does have a bit of a reputation on campus as being very strange, however that doesn't really come into the story at all.

I found this to be an interesting story, however it was slightly difficult to read in that it is written in first person and there wasn't a whole lot of background / world building information supplied to the reader. It is mentioned that there is no power, and people are cooking over open fires, etc. but that's about it.

The story takes place in a post apocalyptic time in the city of Edmonton and the survivors, or at least one group of them live on the university campus (or what's left of it). The population of the Earth has been decimated, and climate change has made a great deal of the surface of the Earth uninhabitable, or at least that's the way I understand it. In addition there is some disease known as CAD, however what it is etc. is not really explained, but it is referred to as a fungal of infection of some kind, and it eventually kills its host.

The protagonist Reid, is a young girl in her teens who has been given the chance to leave campus/Edmonton for what seems to be a domed city where the hardships in the regular world have been eradicated, or less that's what is believed by most. But is it real, how will her mother survive, etc. are all questions she must ask herself and hopefully find answers for.

While this was an interesting book to read, it isn't the type of book I normally read. Because of this I will end my review of it here.

2023-04-10

"Good Arguments" by Bo Seo

Publisher: Penguin Press

ISBN: 9780593299517

This was a very interesting book, as well as a look into the life of a professional debater. Which is not something I had ever read about before, making it doubly interesting as it explained the debate procedure in great detail, and makes me wish that I had been exposed this when I was in junior high school and high school etc. as it sounds like something I would've really liked doing.

The story unfolds and traces the authors introduction to professional debating and how he progressed through the various levels until he got through University, by which time he had won many awards.

After we explore this the tone of the book changed to one where the author examines debating in today's society and how it could benefit people in general as well as corporations and so on. It was quite interesting to read about the number of public figures who started out or participated in debating which in most cases helped them achieve the goals they had set for themselves. Figures such as Barack Obama, Malcolm X, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and many more.

Bo Seo then goes on to talk briefly about the IBM computer based debating machine and how it fared against live opponents.

I would highly recommend it to anybody who has any aspirations for public office, those dealing with clients, as well as university students etc.

2023-04-03

"The Map of Chaos" by Felix J. Palma

This novel is like the first two in the series is also very detailed, and meticulously plotted. In combination with the first two this series this is one that should be in any science fiction or fantasy readers collection. There are even more plot twists than before, to once again make it a good combination of mystery and science fiction.

The third book in the series wraps things up quite nicely and brings everything to a good conclusion and in it the reader meets the Invisible Man, Charles Babbage, Alice Little, and a few more rather famous people.

It is true these novels are quite long, and as mentioned above the plotting is very detailed, so you will have to pay attention to what's going on in order to grasp what Mr. Palma is telling you about, but it is well worth the read.

Very highly recommended.