Surely You Can't Be Serious (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker)

Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!
David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker
St. Martin's Press
Nonfiction, Autobiography/Media Reference
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Few movies can claim to have changed the entertainment landscape like the 1980 classic Airplane!. From the opening shot of the jet plane tail slicing through the clouds to the menacing chords of the Jaws theme to the final roll of credits riddled with humorous inserts, it redefined what comedy could do and changed the lives of most everyone involved, not to mention numerous fans in the decades since its premiere. But long before Ted Striker developed his drinking problem or Captain Oveur asked a young boy about gladiator movies, the Zucker brothers and their best friend Jim Abrahams were just three Midwestern boys who loved to laugh and make others laugh. This is the story of the long, unlikely journey that took them from Wisconsin to Los Angeles, from improvised stage shows to the silver screen, and from obscurity to international stardom.

REVIEW: Airplane! was a staple of my childhood (as was the criminally short-lived and ahead-of-its-time TV series Police Squad!; I never found the Naked Gun trilogy quite as consistently funny as the series, myself, even before the whole O. J. Simpson thing soured me on rewatches); it's one of those movies where one can watch it a dozen time and catch something new each and every time through. For all the silliness, though, it would've fallen flat on its face if it hadn't been so meticulously and artfully constructed, from the script to the cinematography to the casting choices to the score. This book delves into how the trio learned to work together, hone their sense of humor and writing skills via live theater, and not only survived the culture shock of 1970's Los Angeles but managed to eventually live every creator's dream of landing a studio contract and filming a genre-defining hit. It was not a straightforward road, nor was it one without doubts or setbacks or mistakes.
The story wanders somewhat in the telling; written in something like screenplay format, the book is a dialog, like an interview where the trio are sitting down to tell their story to the audience of the reader. Along the way are extras and interjections from colleagues, cast members, executives, and several people whose lives were influenced by Airplane!. (The audiobook features several guest narrators for these different "parts".) As a result, the story sometimes feels a little scattershot, moving back and forth and wandering on tangents before getting back to the main "plot" of the making of the movie. This lack of focus almost cost it a half-star, but overall it's an interesting examination of the movie that never should've existed, and a lost era when Hollywood still embraced unique, new voices and was willing to take risks. The Zuckers and Abrahams are right that Airplane! couldn't have happened today. (Though I personally always take such assertions with a little grain of salt; no envelope-pushing classic could be "made today", in part because different times have different envelopes and in part because they themselves already pushed that envelope, so any attempt to make the same thing again isn't close enough to the edge anymore to push anything. That doesn't mean today's metaphoric envelopes don't still have edges to be pushed, or that nobody is capable of pushing them, though in today's climate of endless franchises and remakes, it's far less likely a major studio would back such an experiment. But I digress...) The whole is an intriguing glimpse of cinematic lore for anyone who enjoys the film or the history of cinema and comedy.

You Might Also Enjoy:
This Book is Not Yet Rated (Peter Bognanni) - My Review
Young Frankenstein: A Mel Brooks Book: The Story of the Making of the Film (Mel Brooks with Rebecca Keegan) - My Review
Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir (Brent Spiner) - My Review

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou)

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
Ballantine Books
Nonfiction, Autobiography
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Long before she became known internationally for her poetry and civil rights activism (among other accomplishments), Maya Angelou was a young girl sent far away from her mother, to live in the segregated town of Stamps, Alabama with her grandmother and disabled uncle. Here, in Mama's store, with only her brother Bailey as confidant, she would learn lessons that would shape her later life.

REVIEW: I'm sufficiently ignorant and unsophisticated to only have a passing familiarity with Angelou and her works; this audiobook was another part of my admittedly-haphazard effort to patch over the innumerable knowledge holes in my brain. Given the direction of recent events, where books like this are being challenged and removed from too many public spaces (anyone who plays semantics Twister to pretend that's not actually "banning" books or throttling the spread of ideas can kindly find another book review blog to follow, thanks), I figured it was high time to try it. Displaying a poet's ability to deeply and vividly evoke a time and place and life, Angelou weaves stories of her childhood, stretching from Jim Crow Alabama to St. Louis and California as she and her brother move between homes and relatives. Along the way, she has memorable encounters with colorful characters, while also experiencing the dark, twisted legacy of racism and classism (and sexism) in their innumerable guises, plus some personal traumas. Alongside the pain and despair and rage, she also experiences moments of hope and solidarity and beauty, the many threads and experiences coming together as she grows up and begins to build a future for herself that challenges the boundaries others would put around her. It makes for an interesting, inspiring, if sometimes depressing and harsh, read... and the fact that so many in 2025 still actively seek to shut books like this away, along with the questions it forces one to ask of oneself and the things it forces one to see about the world around us, is all one needs to know about how far America has failed to progress since Angelou's youth.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Between the World and Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates) - My Review
How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi) - My Review
Born a Crime (Trevor Noah) - My Review

The Paranormal Ranger (Stanley Milford, Jr.)

The Paranormal Ranger: A Navajo Investigator's Search for the Unexplained
Stanley Milford, Jr.
William Morrow
Nonfiction, Autobiography/Paranormal and Unexplained Phenomena
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: The modern Western world has long dismissed notions of ghosts or curses or other such phenomena, considering them hallucinations or hoaxes or simple misunderstandings. Many cultures, however, still consider such things as real as gravity and electricity... and many people around the world from many cultures, some of which should "know better", still experience unexplained encounters.
Stanley Milford, Jr., son of a Navajo father and Cherokee mother, grew up with a foot in two worlds, that of mainstream white America and that of Native culture. As a boy, he adored the many cop shows on TV and knew he'd love nothing more than to become a law enforcement officer, one of the Navajo Rangers who patrol the vast desert reservation protecting the people, the archaeological sites, and the environment. But he also had more than one unusual occurrence that lent weight to the native tales and legend he learned, enough to make him less dismissive than some would be when people would report unusual activities such as bigfoots harassing their livestock or skinwalkers stalking their land. For many years, he and a partner would explore unusual events, leading to many strange encounters.

REVIEW: I was a long-time X-phile, and this book looked to strike a similar vein to some of the older books on unexplained phenomena that I used to enjoy, with a little different and non-"Western" take on the matter. The author approaches the subject and his experiences with both logic and cultural understanding, an approach that works rather well for events that would seem to defy current scientific consensus of what can be real and what cannot exist. More often than not, he and his partner serve a greater purpose by ensuring that people feel heard and understood, and are not simply dismissed or actively derided for what they experienced; their investigations gather some interesting evidence and even result in some close encounters, but as Milford says more than once, these aren't usually cases where there's a suspect to apprehend or some legal recourse for victims. The author also explores his own life and career beyond the paranormal aspects that were only a small part of his overall job. Throughout runs a strong thread of Native culture and belief and history, including portions of creation (or "emergence") myths, which offer lenses and tools with which to understand aspects of reality that are too readily dismissed by the mainstream/white world. The whole makes for some interesting storytelling. As for how much I believe... I'd call myself agnostic on the matter, though I'm not about to tell someone they did not experience a thing just because I did not experience a thing.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Monsters (John Michael Greer) - My Review
Elatsoe (Darcie Little Badger) - My Review
Unsolved Mysteries: Past and Present (Colin Wilson and Damon Wilson) - My Review

Hallucinations (Oliver Sacks)

Hallucinations
Oliver Sacks
Vintage
Nonfiction, Biography/Medicine/Psychology/Science
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: The first word that pops into most people's heads when someone mentions "hallucinations" is "crazy". After all, only a deeply disturbed mind could conjure images and voices from thin air, and only an equally disturbed person would actually believe these figments of imagination brought to apparent life, right? But hallucinations, of various forms and with various causes, are something most everyone has experienced at some time or another, from the phantom ringing phone at the edge of sleep to the "night terrors" associated with sleep paralysis. Medical doctor Oliver Sacks explores the causes, manifestations, and history of hallucinations through the lenses of medicine, psychology, and popular culture past and present.

REVIEW: This was another random selection via Libby. Like many people, I, too, have experienced what author Sacks would call "hallucinations" a time or two, mostly around the edges of sleep, though never to the extent of needing medical intervention. Referring to historical texts and recent investigations, as well as some personal experiences, Sacks relates the broad range of phenomena that could be called "hallucinations" - covering everything from seeing objects that do not exist to hearing voices to migraine "auras" to the phantom limbs felt by amputee patients and more - and how quite a few people who experience them aren't "crazy" in the least. Brains are tricky, complicated organs, about which quite a bit is still not fully understood, and the fact that we rely totally and utterly on them to interpret input from our senses to understand the world around us (and understand our own thoughts about said world) means that we can't always reliably sort out what's actual sensory input and what is a hiccup or glitch in the wiring or processing units. Historically, many cultures did not attach the stigma that the modern world often places on hallucinations, and sometimes they were deliberately sought out for healing or religious reasons. Likewise, not all hallucinations are necessarily harmful or indicative of major problems. Several of the stories were interesting, though the book as a whole seemed a little scattered, some parts feeling shallow or barely touched on before Sacks moved on, and I thought it could've used a stronger wrap-up at the end to summarize and tie together what it had covered. (Part of the problem may have been that the topic turned out to be too broad to adequately cover in a single volume of any reasonable length.)

You Might Also Enjoy:
The Third Man Factor (John Geiger) - My Review
Other Minds (Peter Godfrey-Smith) - My Review

Written in Bone (Sue Black)

Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind
Sue Black
Arcade
Nonfiction, Anatomy/Autobiography/Science/True Crime
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: The human body has more than two hundred bones, and we are born with more individual bones than we end up with as adults. Though all bones are marvels of engineering and evolution on a macro level (if not without failure points and potential flaws), they also record the story of our individual lives, from before birth until our deaths. Forensic anthropologist Sue Black, among the top experts in her field, offers a guided tour through the human skeleton, along with stories of how the bones have been used to identify remains and shed light on lost lives and possible crimes.

REVIEW: The relatively recent long-running TV series Bones (a highly fictionalized take on the matter) and popular crime novels (such as those the series was based on, by another forensic anthropologist) have raised public awareness of the field, a more specific offshoot of general anatomy and forensics (the latter of which has long been of general popular interest in various media). This is Black's second book, but the first I wandered across and picked up based on the admittedly unscientific method of "there was a multi-book discount sale, I needed one more book to take advantage of it, and this one looked interesting". It happily turned out to actually be interesting, even to a marginally educated and minimally intelligent person like myself. As promised by the cover and opening, she walks the reader through the skeleton from cranium to metatarsal, from initial fetal formation to lifelong changes. Many also come with stories, from her own career and other sources, on what particular purpose they have served in identifying bodies or victims of crimes. Unlike Hollywood or other fiction, these stories don't always tie up in a neat little bow in twenty to forty minutes (plus ad breaks), with a victim and a suspect and a dramatic courtroom presentation that breaks the defense and ensures justice is done (until the writers get desperate for a storyline and decide they need a recurring nemesis character). Black's stories are reality, which is often fragmentary and lacking a dramatic arc or resolution, her involvement with the case limited to her expertise and not the actual tracking down of perpetrators, when there is a perpetrator to be tracked down; many involve simply identifying remains of those who passed from natural or undetermined causes. Some stories are tragic, some are even amusing (more the living people involved than the deaths, of course), and Black's writing can take some witty turns. At several points, she refers the reader to her previous book, All That Remains; not having read that book, I was a little left out of those references, but overall this one stands on its own as an informative, accessible look at the human skeleton and how much information a skilled forensic anthropologist can extract from it.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Dinosaurs Rediscovered (Michael J. Benton) - My Review
Atlas of Anatomy (Giovanni Iazzetti et al.) - My Review
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How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi)

How to Be an Antiracist
Ibram X. Kendi
One World
Nonfiction, Autobiography/History/Politics/Sociology
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: Today's demonstrations in the name of Black Lives Matter are just the latest face of a struggle over racial equity that predates the founding of America. Many people are energized to join the marchers, many call for their dispersal, but a great number still sit on the sidelines as though it's not their problem. "I'm not a racist," they say, or "I don't have a dog in this fight" ... or "it'll die out on its own if we just ignore color altogether." But the story of racism is more than just the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr or Jim Crow South or affirmative action. It's a story that involves everybody, a story on which power in the modern world as a whole has been built on a foundation of racism and inequity - one that's brought us to the literal brink, racially and politically and environmentally. It's not enough to just say one is not racist; to have any hope of actual, lasting change, one must be antiracist. Scholar, author, and activist Ibram X. Kendi traces the history of racism through history and his own life, from the invention of the concept of race through generations of supporters and detractors and the many (often flawed) proposed solutions, to the concept of antiracism as an active voice and movement.

REVIEW: As a lower-income left-leaning white woman, I've been aware that racism existed for some time, though it never quite seemed to touch my life (that I was aware of). Like many, I've been watching recent developments (or degenerations) with increasing concern. It seemed there was a lot I hadn't been told or did not understand, for this much apparent progress - for the "arc of history" I'd been told to trust would inevitably bend toward justice and equality - to backslide this far and this fast, despite apparent widespread objection. So, when the recent spurt of books on racism hit the library system where I worked, I figured it was time to do some self-education to try to understand what was going on, and why, and if there was anything that could be done. After the initial surge, this book was one of the ones that still surfaced regularly in circulation, so I figured it might be one to try. (It was also relatively short; some of those books are bricks, and I'm an undereducated American public school alumnus, so they'd likely be way too much for an introduction.) It turned out to be a very good choice.
Drawing on both deep scholarly research and his personal and family history, Kendi exposes the roots of racism at the start of the European slave trade (and the very capitalistic idea of doing an end-run around the competition, slave-traders from the Middle East... plus advertising to justify their "product" and "brand" by inventing a vision of Africa and Africans with no basis in reality but which rationalized the whole deal - and, not coincidentally, generated enormous profits.) To be sure, humans have long held prejudices against other nations and cultures - a pitfall of a brain evolved to seek mental shortcuts and patterns even when none exist, perhaps, as many prejudices seem to play right into hardwired mental blind spots - but color-based racism was an invention with a verifiable birth date. These ideas were further refined down through the ages, evolving to counter arguments and objections, dehumanizing and othering non-Whites, layering themselves into the fabric of society and policy and classes and popular thinking until even those who wanted to fix the problem too often came at the matter from flawed and racist assumptions, that the Black people needed to be "elevated" (as though they were inherently lower) or "assimilated" (as though their cultures and languages were inherently inferior) or "saved" (as though Europeans were doing their souls a favor.) Nor is racism strictly a problem of White people; many Blacks (and other races) unthinkingly swallow and regurgitate racist ideas against Whites, against Blacks of a different social strata or cultural origin, against other races - even against themselves, as reflected in movements that blame racial inequality on personal failings and laziness rather than institutions and policies designed against them. Kendi again draws on his own life and his often-painful struggle with inherited ideas of race and gender (he ties feminism and LGBTQ+ issues into the greater struggle of racism and inequality; to embrace antiracism is to recognize that any policy dehumanizing or belittling or othering any part of the human race, by skin color or gender or anything, shares the same root and spreads the same poison.) It is a very enlightening and sobering exploration, one that left me astounded at my own short-sighted ignorance.
Toward the end, he explores why antiracism seems to be floundering - an overreliance on ideological "purity" and moral victories over focusing on tangible policy changes that actually create change, plus a strange refusal to admit that flawed tactics are not working even as progress gets steamrolled by the re-energized racists in power. Kendi acknowledges that we're in dire straits, especially with the racist power structure bringing us to the edge of economic, social, and environmental collapse (racism is inextricably tied with capitalism, which is responsible for so much destruction and anti-environmental policies linked to runaway global warming), but insists that hope cannot be abandoned altogether. In the end, I consider myself much more educated on the subject, if much more aware of how deep the problem truly runs and how big and many-headed this Goliath truly is. I may not be able to do much, if anything, about the greater problems, but I can hopefully do something about my own misconceptions.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (Frederick Douglass) - My Review
The Black Count (Tom Reiss) - My Review
 They Called Us Enemy (George Takei et al.) - My Review

They Called Us Enemy (George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven Scott)

They Called Us Enemy
George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven Scott, illustrations by Harmony Becker
Top Shelf Productions
Nonfiction, Autobiography/Graphic Novel/History
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: The world mostly knows George Takei through his iconic role as Sulu on Gene Roddenberry's groundbreaking series Star Trek, a show that embodied a multicultural, optimistic future for humanity. As a boy, he saw the opposite of that, when the attack on Pearl Harbor inflamed anti-Japanese hatred and fear. Almost overnight, assets were frozen, homes were lost, and Japanese Americans were rounded up and placed in "internment" camps. Though he was too young to recognize the true horrors, he watched his father and mother face daunting challenges to their patriotism, citizenship, and very humanity.

REVIEW: As recent politics have made glaringly clear, there seem to be two different Americas: one that strives for equality amid diversity and works to build a better, more inclusive future for all, and one that embraces fear, prejudice, ignorance, and racism to create a future that favors one race, one religion, one creed alone over all others. Mixing personal memories with stories later gleaned from talks with his father, Takei recounts his personal experience staring down the barbed-wire teeth of the latter America, the one that hates. He was too young at the time to understand it all, and parts of those terrible days still seem like boyhood adventures, thrown into stark relief by what his parents were going through (which he learned only after the fact.) Despite everything, his father never lost faith in the idea of America and democracy, though the scars of those days never fully healed, lingering in all who lived through the camps and even in the politics of today. Set clearly in its history, with the actions of politicians and activists both within the Japanese American community and outside the gates, it presents an interesting, heartbreaking, but ultimately inspiring story of what it means to be an American, even when other Americans call you foreigner and enemy. Stories like Takei's need to be recorded and remembered - especially now that we are tumbling once again into the America of hatred and exclusion.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Frederick Douglass) - My Review
Born a Crime (Trevor Noah) - My Review
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Every Tool's a Hammer (Adam Savage)

Every Tool's A Hammer: Life Is What You Make It
Adam Savage
Atria Books
Nonfiction, Autobiography/Creativity
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: Adam Savage became a household name with the hit Discovery Channel show Mythbusters: with co-host Jamie Hyneman and a crew of assistants, they used years of experience in the FX industry to recreate and test various urban legends and Hollywood myths. But long before that, Savage was making things with whatever he had on hand, starting with cardboard and working up to a career that included a stint at Industrial Light and Magic. In this book, he traces his own creative roots and influences through numerous successes and failures, with advice for makers of all kinds.

REVIEW: I always enjoyed watching Savage on Mythbusters; he's one of those people who was doing something he was born to do, something he was so passionate about even on bad builds, that it was a joy to watch in action. With this book, it's clear that wasn't just a persona created for the cameras. He was, and is, enthusiastic about the maker mindset, which to him encompasses everything from model building and set construction through painting or writing or even computer coding: anything creative. The book is broken down roughly by lessons for the current (or aspiring) maker, offering advice and personal anecdotes about topics ranging from general artistic perseverance to shop organization and tool selection. He's a great advocate of sharing and building communities (unlike some who jealously hoard their hard-earned knowledge in the belief that other makers are competition, not collaborators), and freely offers what he's learned over decades of making for fun an profit, with several photographs. It's a fast and enjoyable read, full of inspiration and practical tips. (And it's even formatted well for e-reading; I've read enough poorly formatted e-books to appreciate that.)

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Everything All At Once (Bill Nye)

Everything All At Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap Into Radical Curiosity, and Solve Any Problem
Bill Nye
Rodale Books
Nonfiction, Autobiography/Science
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: To be a nerd is to notice things - to ask questions and determine how to answer them, to see problems and decide how to fix them. Today, with our very future on Earth likely hinging on our ingenuity in facing major human-incited challenges that could change our planet irrevocably and unrecognizably in as little as two decades, we need our nerds more than ever, but too many people are turning their back on the very expertise we need the most. But quitting is not an option. CEO of The Planetary Society, host of popular educational shows, occasional comedy performer, and proud lifelong nerd Bill Nye explains the mindset that allows scientists to tackle problems from car safety to climate change, and how to harness that power yourself to create a better future.

REVIEW: Nye combines an autobiography with an examination of the scientific process and nerd mindset, which he explains isn't just for computer geeks or slide rule-toting men in lab coats: it's an ability everyone can develop, an ability everyone probably needs to develop if we're going to survive, let alone thrive, in the coming decades. He traces his own nerd roots back to his childhood, from his tinkerer father to years in the Boy Scouts and later in science classes, where he caught the "bug" after a massive pendulum experiment allowed him to see with his own eyes mathematics in action. He also discusses how he came to merge the art of comedy and entertainment with his love of science. (I remember him from his days on the local Seattle comedy show Almost Live!, so it was interesting to see how he came to be part of that, and how it helped him transition to the national stage.) From transportation to GMOs to power grids to the link between space exploration and improvement of quality of life here on Earth, even to improving our own sense of responsibility and civic pride, Nye turns his "everything all at once" mind to possible solutions. Naturally, our climate challenges form a central theme, a problem he still sees as surmountable if we start as soon as possible. With events just prior to and after this book's publication in 2017, and the rapidly-increasing rate with which science is being shut out of the conversation altogether in certain world powers, I fear he may be a trifle too optimistic in his claims that a dedicated "nerd" can use reason and logic to convince any regime to set aside tribalism and short-term gains in favor of the longer view... Still, his optimism gives me some (small) hope, and his explanation of how to be a nerd even outside of a science lab hopefully reaches ears who need to hear it.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Unbound (Richard Currier) - My Review
Undeniable (Bill Nye) - My Review
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What Unites Us (Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner)

What Unites Us
Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner
Algonquin Books
Nonfiction, Autobiography/Essays/Politics
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Since its founding, America has been a land of many faiths and ideas, of diverse people and diverse viewpoints, of conflicts and cooperation. In recent years, our nation has been tested in ways it rarely, if ever, has encountered - ways that could permanently alter, perhaps end, the great American experiment. Noted reporter Dan Rather reflects on eight decades of life and six decades of journalism in a series of essays exploring the country he loves and how it has dealt with its own shifting self-image, not to mention how it arrived at the current murky crossroads where it now stands.

REVIEW: Like many Americans, I've spent the last few years struggling to understand what is happening to my country, how things could veer so rapidly off course because of the whims of the few and the apathy of the many. Rather, too, seems to be struggling, though his reflections offer some thin hope for the future as he discusses conflicts the country has weathered before. He draws from the experiences of his long life and notable career to explore many aspects of patriotism as it used to be, as it should be - aspects that stand in sharp contrast to the toxic brand of nationalism being bandied about in the name of "patriotism" today. From a childhood in Houston to the halls of power in Washington, from years of war and scandal to years of peace and prosperity, from personal failures to personal triumphs, Rather paints a picture of troubling trends with long roots in our often-whitewashed (in many ways) past, yet with glimmers of hope around the edges. I do hope his ultimate optimism proves prophetic, though I can't help look at the overall trend and seemingly-deliberate sabotage of key aspects of our historical resiliency - our crumbling educational system, the increasing and overwhelming voice of money over people in government, the assault on science and the very existence of facts, demonization of diversity, and more - and wonder if this appeal to our better selves is ultimately too little, too late.
(Incidentally, for those none of you keeping track, by my calculations this is my 1500th "live" review. Technically, I've written more, but I was set back when I culled reviews of no-longer-available books.)

You Might Also Enjoy:
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The Girl With No Name (Marina Chapman)

The Girl With No Name: The Incredible Story of a Child Raised by Monkeys
Marina Chapman, Vanessa James, and Lynne Barrett-Lee
Pegasus Books
Nonfiction, Autobiography
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Mid-1950's Colombia was a land of little law, where murder, kidnapping, and child abductions were commonplace. In a small mountain village, a girl eagerly awaiting her fifth birthday sneaks out of the house to steal pea pods from the garden. Before she knows what's happening, a hand grabs her, and a cloth is pressed over her face.
She would never see her home or her family again.
Abandoned by her abductors deep in the jungle, the girl would soon forget almost everything about her past - her parents, her language, even her own name - as she struggles to survive. Her only teachers and companions for years are a troop of capuchin monkeys. Inevitably, she eventually returns to the human world to be among her own kind... but lessons learned in the wilderness would mean the difference between life and death, even far from the jungle.

REVIEW: This is one of those stories that seems almost impossible, like something out of Kipling, but which apparently actually happened; the tales were pieced together from Marina's memories by her children, with some research help from a ghostwriter, who confirmed what points could be confirmed. (Marina never does recall her birth name or family, and even her exact age is a matter of speculation.) It avoids overly anthropomorphizing the monkeys who proved so instrumental to her survival. While individuals take on distinct personalities, they still remain animals, and there's still an unbreachable barrier between species; they accept the girl's presence and associate with her, but never seem to truly consider her one of their own, and even when Marina learns their "language" and the ways of their troop she's always an outsider. Somewhere deep down she knows she's human and belongs with other humans, though her own species turns out to be the greatest danger she faces in her wild life (her return to civilization finds her sold as an essential slave to a mentally unstable brothel owner, and her prospects scarcely improve after that.) The story moves fairly fast, painting a vivid picture of the green, living jungle and bleak, filthy cities where she must survive before finding true freedom and belonging. Marina's is an interesting story, with more chapters - such as how she wound up married and living in England - still to be told.

You Might Also Enjoy:
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Frederick Douglass)

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Frederick Douglass
Open Road Media
Nonfiction, Autobiography
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Written in 1845, this is a true account of slavery by Frederick Douglass, a half-black man born into bondage on American soil who would go on to become one of the great voices of his generation in the cause of abolition.

REVIEW: This is one of those books I know I should have read as an American, but hadn't gotten around to yet. The preface made me wary; written by a supporter of Douglass, its over-the-top rallying cry hinted at a sledgehammer-subtle writing style, as did a follow-up letter. Fortunately, when Douglass himself takes up the story, his writing is much cleaner and more relatable, almost modern in comparison with its lack of excess or flowery tangents - a simple style that magnifies the stark horrors of his life.
This is an unflinching look at a dark chapter of American history, when a patchwork of state laws allowed some to own other humans, and others to freely capture and sell escaped slaves back to their masters despite slavery ostensibly being illegal within their borders. Frederick Douglass was a slave in northern territories, which were generally considered "good" places to be enslaved compared to the South; this narrative lays bare the rank hypocrisy of ever referring to slavery or slaveholders as "good" in any context. The institution beat down the slave and corrupted the slaveholder, rendering both poorer and meaner in spirit, a process involving both physical and psychological bindings. He himself watched a formerly good woman with no slave-owning history degenerate into a nasty, spiteful wielder of the whip when presented with the opportunity... and saw how religious "salvation" almost invariably led to a worsening of the lot of the saved man's slaves, with whippings bookended by Bible quotes justifying the brutality. (Indeed, in an appendix, Douglass addresses directly how too many American churches had twisted their faith backwards, upside down, and inside out to accommodate the horrific practice until it scarcely resembled its roots or the teachings of the man for whom the church had been named - a warped religion that continues to plague the nation by offering Biblical justification for all manner of evils.)
Taken all together, it's both a frank condemnation of the institution of slavery and a remarkably relevant look at how wrongs do not become right just because they are legal or condoned by religious leaders, not to mention how humans persist in dehumanizing other humans - dehumanizing themselves in the process.

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All Things Bright and Beautiful (James Herriot)

All Things Bright and Beautiful
James Herriot
Open Road Media
Nonfiction, Animals/Autobiography
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Yorkshire country veterinarian James Herriot collects more tales of his life and practice. Now a newlywed and a full partner, his life is still filled with eccentric farmers, peculiar cases, and other adventures.

REVIEW: Like Herriot's first volume, All Creatures Great and Small, this collection captures a lost time and place, a world on the cusp of great change and revolution that would eventually remake even small farm towns like "Darrowby," the author's somewhat-fictionalized recrafting of the small Yorkshire communities where he practiced. (Other details are altered as well.) He himself would soon depart to serve in World War II's Royal Air Force. More stories, some charming and some sad, unfold, including a few more flashbacks to his often-disastrous courtship of Helen. Brothers Siegfried and Tristan are less prominent here, as Herriot proved himself in the first volume and is now more a colleague than a wet-eared student. The harshness and beauty of the Yorkshire landscape and the farming life come through clearly in every story, as do the changes slowly remaking not only his practice (such as his first experiences with antibiotics) but the rest of the community (the waning of the draft horse, among other things.) It's an enjoyable collection of memories.

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West with the Night (Beryl Markham)

West with the Night
Beryl Markham
Open Road Media
Nonfiction, Autobiography
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: Raised in British East Africa in the early twentieth century, Beryl Markham already pushed gender boundaries when she joined native Nandi tribesmen in boar hunts as a child (in which their own girls and women were forbidden), then joined the elite ranks of racehorse trainers as a young woman. Then she heard the call of the skies, becoming one of the first bush pilots of Kenya - and, later, the first solo lady pilot to cross the Atlantic from England nonstop. In this book, she relates tales of her life and the many peculiar characters and incidents that led her to that moment in the international spotlight.

REVIEW: My family has ties with the world of aviation, through my grandfather and my father, so I grew up listening to tales of airplanes and pilots - hence, me giving this title a try when I saw the eBook version at a discount. It does indeed concern a lady pilot, but at least half of the book isn't about airplanes, instead talking about early twentieth-century East Africa and Beryl's unconventional life there. Was I disappointed? Not in the least. Her tale has a poetic, philosophical overtone, describing the unknowable mysteries of ever-changing Africa and the numerous instances that shaped her life and destiny with an almost lyrical style and reverence for the land, the people, the animals, the planes, and Fate itself. Hers is (or was, as Markham passed in 1986) a life that, in retrospect, hails from another era, or at least a mindset that seems increasingly rare, a life lived not for the thrill of adventure or greed for fame but one arising naturally out of embracing the necessity of constant motion, of letting go what needs to be released and embracing whatever new star beckons. Almost as remarkable as what she includes is what she chooses to omit: unlike some works, particularly more recent stories, she skips over scandalous tales of marriages and affairs and other low-brow fodder that even in the 1940's, when the book was first released, would've likely boosted sales in a voyeuristic market, omissions that perhaps speak to more class than many modern autobiographies can claim. She also doesn't dwell overlong on colonial inequalities, racism, or other such issues, though these are very much part of the tapestry of the world she lives in; she remarks upon them, but sees them as things that may be unhappy but simply are a part of life and beyond her power to justify or correct. It's an interesting little gem, even if it once again reminds me how small and sheltered a life I've lived myself.

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All Creatures Great and Small (James Herriot)

All Creatures Great and Small
James Herriot
Open Road Media
Nonfiction, Animals/Autobiography
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: In the late 1930's, an eager young vet leaves school with a new degree and a dream of practicing small animal medicine in some nice city or town... only to end up treating farm animals in Yorkshire. Here, he recounts his first two years of practice alongside senior vet Siegfried Farnon, Siegfried's slacker brother Tristan, and the many peculiar characters (two- and four-legged) of the countryside.

REVIEW: Growing up in an animal-loving household, it's amazing that I missed reading these books myself before now, but a recent e-book reissue of the first three titles allowed me to correct this oversight. Herriot's tale remains a classic, doubtless launching countless careers (or attempted careers - veterinary medicine's not the easiest path) even as it captures a fleeting time precariously balanced between the old ways and the new, in medicine and the world at large. James starts out a wet-eared city boy who never intended to stay in the countryside, up to his armpit in the wrong end of a cow in the wee hours or dealing with stubborn Yorkshire farmers clinging to old lore (such as the oft-repeated rumor of a "worm in the tail" that's to blame for all manner of cattle ailments.) Had jobs not been notoriously scarce for new graduates, he never would've even made the drive out to Siegfried Farnon's practice. Through the course of the book, the countryside's charms, not to mention the unexpected challenges and rewards of the job, slowly work their magic, a fascination that shines clearly in Herriot's writing even in the most frustrating cases. No small part of those frustrations stem from Siegfried, a competent and cheerful fellow with oddly convenient memory lapses, and Tristan, who dedicates himself to a playboy bachelor lifestyle with almost maddening single-mindedness, not to mention other characters. Despite hints that the "omnibus" American edition has been trimmed (disappointing, if true), I enjoyed this, and will undoubtedly be reading more of Herriot's work soon.

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10% Happier (Dan Harris)

10% Happier
Dan Harris
HarperCollins
Nonfiction, Autobiography/Self-Help
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: "The price of security is insecurity." So Dan Harris's father told him when he was a young boy, and so he believed. Pursuing a career in journalism, he constantly pushed himself to be better, to dig deeper, to get more airtime. It seemed to be paying off: first a jump to the big leagues of national TV in his 20's, then attracting the attention of the demigod of televised journalism Peter Jennings, leading to numerous high-profile stories around the world and in the middle of active war zones. Throughout his success, though, his personal life was in shambles, insecurities and instabilities eating him alive inside. It came to a head when he experienced a major panic attack - on live TV, in front of millions of of American viewers. Clearly, something wasn't working. Thus began Harris's search for peace of mind, a search leading through the fringes of evangelism, to the books and workshops of modern New Age gurus such as Eckhart Tolle and Deepak Chopra, even to the modern-day laboratories of scientists studying the measurable, practical benefits of ancient meditation practices. Here, he reveals his own experiences with meditation, and how he learned to be "10% happier" and more mindful without losing himself in mysticism.

REVIEW: I don't watch much TV these days, and even less televised news (I soured on it a few elections ago), but the name rung a vague bell, and the premise looked intriguing - particularly his promise to explain meditation and mindfulness without the often-circular talk so often attached to it. The book starts on a somewhat Americentric note, saying that meditation has a serious PR problem with so much New Age and mystic baggage, and that more people would be likely to try it but for that stuff... a statement that ignores the fact that, outside of white America, many people and cultures have long embraced meditation as part of daily life. Still, with self-appointed gurus raking in remarkable incomes off their meditation retreats, books, lectures, and refrigerator magnets, I understood what he was going for: to those of us not exposed to meditation outside of such images, it can be off-putting, especially when our first attempts at meditation are anything but the transcendental experience we're conditioned to expect. Here, Harris shares his personal story - which includes several down points and detours and U-turns, including a stint of drug abuse and moments of disillusionment - as he moves from meditation skeptic to believer, learning that mindfulness doesn't mean sacrificing one's competitive edge. Harris isn't alone in discovering (or, rather, re-discovering) the benefits of mindfulness; the trend is sweeping the corporate and scientific worlds, and even being used by the military to help soldiers deal with the stresses and unpredictability of the battlefield. Yet this popularity is bringing its own jargon and clutter to meditation, turning it into another fad full of catchphrases... threatening to create a new kind of backlash, setting up new levels of insecurity as people fail to meet those catchphrase promises and therefore reject the whole notion altogether. Coming from a more-or-less average guy, not a guru or a scientist or other lofty figure, the information seems more practical and common sense, without some of the high-level technicalities or mystic obscurity. Meditation isn't a cure-all for neuroses or depression, nor is it a gateway to the divine realms, but it helps one cope with life's stresses and the often-unhelpful impulses, the nagging little voices and negative scenarios and draining thought patterns that waste too much of our time and energy. By pairing his meditation experiences with his own story, Harris bypasses those catchphrases and promises, creating a more accessible path. Overall, I found it an interesting book, both as an autobiography and an introduction to meditation.

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AVIATRIX: First Woman Pilot for Hughes Airwest (Mary Bush Shipko)

AVIATRIX: First Woman Pilot for Hughes Airwest
Mary Bush Shipko
CreateSpace
Nonfiction, Autobiography
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Growing up among the surplussed war planes in Miami's "Corrosion Corner," Mary Bush took to flying from an early age. She fought prejudice and sexism to become an accomplished pilot out of Florida, but set her sights even higher: a coveted job as a commercial airline pilot, still very much a men's-only profession despite equal opportunity laws. She finally got her chance with Hughes Airwest - but the Good Ol' Boy network had no intention of letting the upstart little lady succeed.

REVIEW: I downloaded this not only because it looked interesting on its own, but because my late grandfather worked for Airwest (not as a pilot.) Reading this book reminded me of listening to stories, from him and other relatives, about airplanes and pilots... though, being men, they never faced the sort of problems Shipko encountered, problems that eventually led to physical symptoms. Though occasionally disorganized, this is an interesting look at one woman's life on wings - and how dreams can be crushed by living nightmares, especially in the days before the law even acknowledged sexual harassment as a real thing. (Given her experiences, I have to wonder about the possible hidden meaning of Hughes Airwest's ads, which I dimly recall from childhood, touting themselves as "the Top Banana in the West.") Pioneers like Shipko helped clear the path for future generations, even if it remains rough today. By turns amusing, inspiring, and depressing, I found it an overall interesting read - though I admit that part of my enjoyment likely stemmed from nostalgia.

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Letters of a Woman Homesteader (Elinore Pruitt Stewart)

Letters of a Woman Homesteader
Elinore Pruitt Stewart
Public Domain Books
Nonfiction, Autobiography
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: In 1909, widow Elinore Pruitt and her young daughter Jerrine head to the Wyoming frontier to try their hands at homesteading. In a series of letters to her former employer, Elinore describes the hardships and wonders of her new life.

REVIEW: These letters serve as a window on a lost world, the American frontier of the early twentieth century. Elinore is everything a pioneer should be: resourceful, resilient, independent, outspoken, and blessed with a fair helping of raw luck. Some of her ideas seem remarkably modern - such as her oft-repeated declaration that women shouldn't be afraid to make their own fortune, instead of living at the whim of employers - while others root her firmly in her era. She describes many interesting characters, most of whom would be right at home in Hollywood Westerns. Being merely selections from a much larger body of work, there are some jumps in time and events, glossing over large sections of her life and work. It also ends randomly, with little sense of conclusion. Still, I found it intriguing and educational.

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Donkey Heart Monkey Mind (Djaffur Chetouane and Rachel Jackson)

Donkey Heart Monkey Mind
Djaffur Chetouane and Rachel Jackson
CPC
Nonfiction?, Autobiography/True Life
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: In 1980's Algeria, surviving amid corruption and scarcity takes strength and wits, not to mention choosing friends and enemies with care. For the Berbers, native North Africans suppressed and marginalized by centuries of invaders, life is even more precarious - even their native language is outlawed. Like many young men, Djaffur chafes under these restrictions. He joins fellow Berbers at his university in speaking out against their oppression, and finds himself on the wrong end of a deeply corrupt political machine that thinks nothing of torturing or even murdering its own citizens. Seeing nothing for himself but a future of dirt-poor living and prejudice in his native Algeria, Djaffur determines to flee the country... an escape fraught with false starts, close calls, setbacks, and missteps that nearly cost him his life.

REVIEW: I grabbed this during a freebie Kindle download window; it seemed like a change of pace, and North Africa is one of the many parts of the world I hear mentioned in the news but don't really know that much about. Chetouane paints a grim picture of a world sunk so far into its own corruption that true liberty and reform seem impossible, with attitudes too deeply ingrained in their society to ever be rooted out. Even here, though, one can find glimmers of kindness and even hope if one looks hard enough. His own journey from oppression to freedom sees him on the wrong side of the law more often than not, mostly as a matter of raw survival. I wound up clipping it a half-point because of occasionally thick politics (integral to understanding the full extent of the forces aligned against the Berbers, and the majority of North Africans in general, but still dense enough to trip up the narrative), plus some irritating formatting issues in the Kindle edition. Overall, Chetouane's tale reads like something out of a movie, a story of desperation and depravation and even personal enlightenment, made all the more incredible by the fact that it actually happened.

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