Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man
Emmanuel Acho
Flatiron Books
Nonfiction, History/Memoir/Politics
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Is racism really a problem in modern times? Can Black people to be racist? What about "reverse racism" against whites? Why can't we all just stop seeing color - won't that make the problem go away? Former football player and current sports commentator and podcast host Emmanuel Acho answers questions about race that many white people hesitate to ask.
REVIEW: If nothing else has become glaringly apparent in the decade since Barack Obama's presidency, it's that American racism is not only alive and well, it's become emboldened enough to step from the shadows and openly feast on whatever progress has been made since at least the 1960's. Acho does not pretend to speak to the experience of all Black Americans, but he does honestly and thoroughly explore a number of topics related to racism, from the personal prejudices and biases that seep into daily life and color decisions to the systemic racism built into the institutions that govern all aspects of our public existence, going all the way back to the nation's founding and persisting to the present day. He even addresses "that" word, its volatile history and if it's ever okay for someone outside the community to use it. It makes for an interesting, candid, and frequently depressing and infuriating look at the many faces, many forms, vexingly persistence, and adaptive mutability of a problem that underlies so many of today's challenges, challenges that threaten everyone but that share common roots.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race? (Keith Boykin) - My Review
Between the World and Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates) - My Review
How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi) - My Review
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Thursday, July 24, 2025
Friday, December 13, 2024
Let This Radicalize You (Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba)
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care (Abolitionist Papers)
Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba
Haymarket Books
Nonfiction, Essays/History/Politics
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: It's no secret that we're living in turbulent times. The rolling back of rights, the gutting of environmental regulations just as climate change approaches a dangerous tipping point, the removal of any and all guardrails on greed, the rise of state violence, the stripping of viable venues and options for protest and dissent... not just in America, but around the world, it seems that cruelty, regression, greed, and authoritarianism are on the rise. But giving up has never been an option. In this book, two experienced leaders and organizers explore how to effectively resist in a time that seems openly hostile to resistance.
REVIEW: Since November this year (2024), I've been struggling to find anything resembling hope for the future of the country I live in and coming up with little to nothing, not helped by the fact that I'm not in a position to do much, if anything, about any of the innumerable dangers looming in the new year and beyond (dangers that are already here in some form or another). Don't give up, fight back, is the rallying cry on social media and elsewhere. Where? How? I ask, only to be told once more that if I don't do something and just give up They win. I was hoping this title would help answer those questions, or at least give me some ideas... or hope. Did it manage any of that? A little.
From the outset, it's clear that this book isn't quite targeting me. It's targeting current and would-be leaders and activists, offering advice not just on how to effectively recruit and organize people but on how to avoid burnout, mission creep, losing focus, and other risks, as well as some advice on dealing with the inevitable pushback one will encounter when challenging the status quo, legal and otherwise. A fair bit of word count is devoted to the importance of community and mutual support, not just for political or activism purposes but basic life needs. A vital community, one not reliant on social media (which is useful, to be sure, but, as has been illustrated all too clearly with "X" and others, not something one can rely on for privacy or even safe and neutral discussion), is the essential heart of any remotely successful activism group. The authors address the need to learn social skills and patient listening (skills that have fallen out of common practice in today's age of instant digital gratification and intentionally fractured attention spans), finding ways to meet people where they are and seek common cause for mutual benefit. They also emphasize the need to avoid the creep of dread and cynicism that can paralyze us and end resistance before it begins, essentially complying in advance. That's one heck of an ask, especially in 2024, but necessary just for basic survival.
For people better positioned to start or join activism and resistance efforts, this book offers plenty of information and moral support, plus appendices with practical links (such as how to deal with chemical weapons that police commonly unleash on rallies, and how to resist unlawful law enforcement action). That person may not be me for various reasons of life circumstances (plus me being me; there's a reason the number one advice I was given growing up was that the best way I could help was to stay out of the way, as I'm both congenitally invisible and basically useless), but it was still interesting to get an inside look at how more effective people can rally and organize and, every once in a while, actually succeed. That's hopeful, at least.
You Might Also Enjoy:
I'm Not Dying With You Tonight (Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal) - My Review
What Unites Us (Dan Rather and Elias Kirshner) - My Review
The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas) - My Review
Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba
Haymarket Books
Nonfiction, Essays/History/Politics
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: It's no secret that we're living in turbulent times. The rolling back of rights, the gutting of environmental regulations just as climate change approaches a dangerous tipping point, the removal of any and all guardrails on greed, the rise of state violence, the stripping of viable venues and options for protest and dissent... not just in America, but around the world, it seems that cruelty, regression, greed, and authoritarianism are on the rise. But giving up has never been an option. In this book, two experienced leaders and organizers explore how to effectively resist in a time that seems openly hostile to resistance.
REVIEW: Since November this year (2024), I've been struggling to find anything resembling hope for the future of the country I live in and coming up with little to nothing, not helped by the fact that I'm not in a position to do much, if anything, about any of the innumerable dangers looming in the new year and beyond (dangers that are already here in some form or another). Don't give up, fight back, is the rallying cry on social media and elsewhere. Where? How? I ask, only to be told once more that if I don't do something and just give up They win. I was hoping this title would help answer those questions, or at least give me some ideas... or hope. Did it manage any of that? A little.
From the outset, it's clear that this book isn't quite targeting me. It's targeting current and would-be leaders and activists, offering advice not just on how to effectively recruit and organize people but on how to avoid burnout, mission creep, losing focus, and other risks, as well as some advice on dealing with the inevitable pushback one will encounter when challenging the status quo, legal and otherwise. A fair bit of word count is devoted to the importance of community and mutual support, not just for political or activism purposes but basic life needs. A vital community, one not reliant on social media (which is useful, to be sure, but, as has been illustrated all too clearly with "X" and others, not something one can rely on for privacy or even safe and neutral discussion), is the essential heart of any remotely successful activism group. The authors address the need to learn social skills and patient listening (skills that have fallen out of common practice in today's age of instant digital gratification and intentionally fractured attention spans), finding ways to meet people where they are and seek common cause for mutual benefit. They also emphasize the need to avoid the creep of dread and cynicism that can paralyze us and end resistance before it begins, essentially complying in advance. That's one heck of an ask, especially in 2024, but necessary just for basic survival.
For people better positioned to start or join activism and resistance efforts, this book offers plenty of information and moral support, plus appendices with practical links (such as how to deal with chemical weapons that police commonly unleash on rallies, and how to resist unlawful law enforcement action). That person may not be me for various reasons of life circumstances (plus me being me; there's a reason the number one advice I was given growing up was that the best way I could help was to stay out of the way, as I'm both congenitally invisible and basically useless), but it was still interesting to get an inside look at how more effective people can rally and organize and, every once in a while, actually succeed. That's hopeful, at least.
You Might Also Enjoy:
I'm Not Dying With You Tonight (Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal) - My Review
What Unites Us (Dan Rather and Elias Kirshner) - My Review
The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas) - My Review
Sunday, December 8, 2024
The Age of Wood (Roland Ennos)
The Age of Wood: Our Most Useful Material and the Construction of Civilization
Roland Ennos
Scribner
Nonfiction, Anthropology/History/Nature
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Computer Age... looking back, one might think that our history began when we started shaping rocks to tame the world, and our future lies in silicon chips and electricity. But long before the first axes and arrowheads, long before Homo sapiens itself came to be, our ancestors were relying on another natural material with amazingly useful properties, one that continues to underpin our modern world, one so ubiquitous it's often overlooked: wood. Author Roland Ennos explores how trees and wood helped transform us from arboreal apes to space-age humans, and how rediscovering the versatility of timber products might help create a sustainable future.
REVIEW: Due to its generally poor preservation compared to stone artifacts, the importance of wood in our own species's prehistory and the development of civilization has often been glossed over. It's only relatively recently that anthropologists have paid more attention to wooden tool making, a process whose roots can be seen in other great apes today (shaping branches to access food sources like insects or honey, even weaving nests for protection from the elements). When one realizes that wood was essential for mastering fire, an immensely pivotal development, it seems a glaring oversight, but Ennos demonstrates how wood has always been such a common part of our world that we almost don't even see it... and, he argues, we haven't paid enough attention as it has disappeared from more and more of our environment, both artificial and natural. Without mastering wood, our species never would've developed pretty much anything we take for granted now. Even the materials many of us think of as replacing wood - iron, concrete, and the like - depended on wood in some form or another, even just as the charcoal and coke to smelt it. Have we outgrown the need for natural materials like wood, in our age of plastics and synthetics? Not at all; there are still many places where wood and wood products are as good as, even potentially superior to, the often-polluting materials we've created to replace it, not to mention the planetary benefits of growing more (and more diverse, not just monoculture plantations) woodlands and the psychological benefits of reconnecting with forests.
For the most part, this book makes for an interesting tour of wood's uses (and limitations) through prehistory and history, generally centered around "Western" cultures but also looking into other places around the world, such as China and the Americas. There are a few parts where I felt Ennos could've dug a bit deeper - his European roots and perspective seem very much evident throughout, and he also waits until near the very end to even mention issues with biodiversity loss that come with overexploitation of woodlands even before modern machinery made logging so much more devastating to the environment - but overall I found it intriguing.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Ancient One (T. A. Barron) - My Review
Unbound (Richard L. Currier) - My Review
The Hidden Life of Trees (Peter Wohlleben) - My Review
Roland Ennos
Scribner
Nonfiction, Anthropology/History/Nature
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Computer Age... looking back, one might think that our history began when we started shaping rocks to tame the world, and our future lies in silicon chips and electricity. But long before the first axes and arrowheads, long before Homo sapiens itself came to be, our ancestors were relying on another natural material with amazingly useful properties, one that continues to underpin our modern world, one so ubiquitous it's often overlooked: wood. Author Roland Ennos explores how trees and wood helped transform us from arboreal apes to space-age humans, and how rediscovering the versatility of timber products might help create a sustainable future.
REVIEW: Due to its generally poor preservation compared to stone artifacts, the importance of wood in our own species's prehistory and the development of civilization has often been glossed over. It's only relatively recently that anthropologists have paid more attention to wooden tool making, a process whose roots can be seen in other great apes today (shaping branches to access food sources like insects or honey, even weaving nests for protection from the elements). When one realizes that wood was essential for mastering fire, an immensely pivotal development, it seems a glaring oversight, but Ennos demonstrates how wood has always been such a common part of our world that we almost don't even see it... and, he argues, we haven't paid enough attention as it has disappeared from more and more of our environment, both artificial and natural. Without mastering wood, our species never would've developed pretty much anything we take for granted now. Even the materials many of us think of as replacing wood - iron, concrete, and the like - depended on wood in some form or another, even just as the charcoal and coke to smelt it. Have we outgrown the need for natural materials like wood, in our age of plastics and synthetics? Not at all; there are still many places where wood and wood products are as good as, even potentially superior to, the often-polluting materials we've created to replace it, not to mention the planetary benefits of growing more (and more diverse, not just monoculture plantations) woodlands and the psychological benefits of reconnecting with forests.
For the most part, this book makes for an interesting tour of wood's uses (and limitations) through prehistory and history, generally centered around "Western" cultures but also looking into other places around the world, such as China and the Americas. There are a few parts where I felt Ennos could've dug a bit deeper - his European roots and perspective seem very much evident throughout, and he also waits until near the very end to even mention issues with biodiversity loss that come with overexploitation of woodlands even before modern machinery made logging so much more devastating to the environment - but overall I found it intriguing.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Ancient One (T. A. Barron) - My Review
Unbound (Richard L. Currier) - My Review
The Hidden Life of Trees (Peter Wohlleben) - My Review
Friday, November 15, 2024
Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race? (Keith Boykin)
Why Does Everything Have to Be About Race?: 25 Arguments That Won't Go Away
Keith Boykin
Bold Type Books
Nonfiction, History/Law/Politics/Sociology
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Slavery's been over for ages - why keep bringing up the past? Isn't "equal opportunity" just reverse racism against whites? Why can't we just ignore race altogether? Don't all lives matter? Every time someone mentions racial discrimination and inequality, these and more arguments inevitably pop up, shutting down discussions and derailing progress and demanding time and energy to answer questions that have quite definitively been answered innumerable times (just not the way that those who benefit from ongoing racial inequality would like). In this book, writer Keith Boykin dissects 25 common arguments that have been used to prevent real progress on issues of race, racism, and equity from history to modern times.
REVIEW: Reading this after the election of November 2024 - when a significant portion of the American public deliberately and definitively rejected progress on race (and pretty much every other front), setting the stage for a near-inevitable rapid race backwards on a scale I doubt I'll see recovered in my lifetime - puts a certain painful spin on this book, which deftly explores America's history of racial injustice and its often haphazard and temporary attempts to correct a problem of its own making. Boykin draws on history, personal experience, and current events to demonstrate how racism infiltrates every aspect of policy and life; the reason "everything has to be about race" is because there's no way for any remotely meaningful discussion on any problems facing the country today to occur without acknowledging how race has skewed America and its ostensible promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness since before the founding documents were drafted. It would be like trying to discuss forestry without talking about all that pesky woody plant life everyone keeps dragging into the conversation. The fact that these policies rooted in historic and ongoing racism also tangibly hurt other demographics makes it all the more urgent that they be addressed, but arguments like the ones presented here are designed to keep the topic muddled and turn those demographics against each other, tiring themselves out with explanations and infighting and semantics.
By turns informative, inspiring, and depressing, it makes for interesting reading, though I sadly can't help but suspect that a nation that hasn't apparently learned a thing in over two hundred years of existence - that apparently would rather slit its own throat and throw itself into the grasp of an avowed and proud traitor and authoritarian, potentially abandoning democracy altogether, in a pivotal election where race was very much a factor - is unlikely to ever actually address the problems of race and racism and systemic inequality without near-complete self immolation first... and maybe not even then.
You Might Also Enjoy:
How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi) - My Review
Born a Crime (Trevor Noah) - My Review
They Called Us Enemy (George Takei) - My Review
Keith Boykin
Bold Type Books
Nonfiction, History/Law/Politics/Sociology
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Slavery's been over for ages - why keep bringing up the past? Isn't "equal opportunity" just reverse racism against whites? Why can't we just ignore race altogether? Don't all lives matter? Every time someone mentions racial discrimination and inequality, these and more arguments inevitably pop up, shutting down discussions and derailing progress and demanding time and energy to answer questions that have quite definitively been answered innumerable times (just not the way that those who benefit from ongoing racial inequality would like). In this book, writer Keith Boykin dissects 25 common arguments that have been used to prevent real progress on issues of race, racism, and equity from history to modern times.
REVIEW: Reading this after the election of November 2024 - when a significant portion of the American public deliberately and definitively rejected progress on race (and pretty much every other front), setting the stage for a near-inevitable rapid race backwards on a scale I doubt I'll see recovered in my lifetime - puts a certain painful spin on this book, which deftly explores America's history of racial injustice and its often haphazard and temporary attempts to correct a problem of its own making. Boykin draws on history, personal experience, and current events to demonstrate how racism infiltrates every aspect of policy and life; the reason "everything has to be about race" is because there's no way for any remotely meaningful discussion on any problems facing the country today to occur without acknowledging how race has skewed America and its ostensible promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness since before the founding documents were drafted. It would be like trying to discuss forestry without talking about all that pesky woody plant life everyone keeps dragging into the conversation. The fact that these policies rooted in historic and ongoing racism also tangibly hurt other demographics makes it all the more urgent that they be addressed, but arguments like the ones presented here are designed to keep the topic muddled and turn those demographics against each other, tiring themselves out with explanations and infighting and semantics.
By turns informative, inspiring, and depressing, it makes for interesting reading, though I sadly can't help but suspect that a nation that hasn't apparently learned a thing in over two hundred years of existence - that apparently would rather slit its own throat and throw itself into the grasp of an avowed and proud traitor and authoritarian, potentially abandoning democracy altogether, in a pivotal election where race was very much a factor - is unlikely to ever actually address the problems of race and racism and systemic inequality without near-complete self immolation first... and maybe not even then.
You Might Also Enjoy:
How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi) - My Review
Born a Crime (Trevor Noah) - My Review
They Called Us Enemy (George Takei) - My Review
Friday, October 25, 2024
The Truth About Animals (Lucy Cooke)
The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife
Lucy Cooke
Basic Books
Nonfiction, Animals/History/Science
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since humans first began noticing the natural world, misconceptions have abounded - not just in folklore or myths, but in the works of apparent experts and theoretically learned people... and not just in ancient times. It's not all just harmless ignorance, either; bad press and flawed understanding can substantially harm conservation efforts and the future of our planet. Zoologist and author Lucy Cooke examines several species that have borne the brunt of our species's seeming inability to separate fact from fiction and superstition from science, from bats to storks and eels to hippos, even the venerated panda.
REVIEW: Anthropomorphizing nature is one of the oldest human traits, turning them into supernatural agents or morality lessons or embodiments of our own aspirations or failings or plain old wishful thinking. Unfortunately, this idealized thinking can prove a serious problem when one is trying to understand the truth, as demonstrated in this examination of several key species. One would think that we'd be over that by now as a species, or at least science would be over that as a discipline, with our advanced understanding of so many fields and our increasing awareness of our own faults, but, as Cooke demonstrates, even in modern times myths and mysteries persist, with many secrets the natural world is still reluctant to offer up for our edification.
With a focus on the "Western" world's views of nature and how the roots of science and understanding were so hopelessly entangled with ideas that appear quite ridiculous now (but at the time were often implicitly believed to be true), Cooke explores the history of natural science and the people who both advanced and regressed the field. From the notion that eels spontaneously generated in river mud to beavers having hidden human-like communities complete with law enforcement, many false notions were rooted in the ancient classical world, where armchair experts repeated travelers tales as gospel truth, often with a dash of moralizing that would be raised to an art form in medieval bestiaries. Animals like the sloth were dismissed and denigrated by Europeans as "useless", when in fact their slow-motion lifestyle is such a successful way to survive in their native habitat that it evolved twice, while bats were treated as agents of evil in much of the world because theoretically intelligent H. sapiens brains apparently could not wrap their minds around something that couldn't be neatly defined as "beast" or "bird", and hyenas were considered cowardly and nasty because they just plain look less noble than a lion (who, it turns out, scavenge hyena kills more often than hyenas scavenge lion kills, despite popular media depictions). Even scientists in "enlightened" ages often skewed data based on their own religious or moral assumptions, even deliberately burying observations they deemed "unsuitable" for general knowledge (such as the sex lives of penguins - especially ironic, given how the nature documentary March of the Penguins was embraced in conservative circles as depicting an ideal monogamous family). Politics also invariably come into play; for many years, it was a commonly understood "fact" that North American animals (and, of course, natives) were inferior to their European counterparts in every conceivable way... a notion that was difficult to dislodge when most of the "experts" penning natural science resided in Europe. Even today, politics warps popular perceptions: for instance, "panda diplomacy" has created a highly artificial image of the panda as a cutesy but clumsy and naturally deficient "teddy bear" in desperate need of human intervention to even reproduce, when in fact human interference and captive breeding has created an entire population of animals so divorced from their very capable wild cousins that reintroductions almost invariably end in disaster. (As for the notion they can't even breed competently, that's yet another result of humans projecting human ideas and moralities onto wild animals; pandas breed just fine outside of captivity, just not very well in monogamous pairings that are forced on them in zoos.) The only thing they need from people is to be left alone with sufficient natural habitat to survive... but that's something nobody seems particularly interested in hearing, let alone doing, even in their native country. And then there's how people have used/abused animals through the ages, where even the best intentions often go awry; the African clawed frog, once a boon in the days before simple chemical strip pregnancy tests, is responsible for the worldwide spread of a toxic fungus devastating global amphibian populations after they escaped or were released into nonnative environments.
As part of her research, Cooke talked with many working conservationists and scientists who are doing their level best to dispel old myths and bad press before time runs out on the conservation clock, as it has for too many species. Misunderstandings and mysteries still plague the field, despite modern technology being brought to bear on matters such as eel reproduction (a reverse-salmon situation, where adults breed in the ocean and the young swim upriver to live for years until returning to the Sargasso Sea to breed... though, as of the book's writing, apparently even now nobody has witnessed the act). There is still so much to learn (and unlearn), even as a fresh tide of intentional ignorance seems to be rising globally in the form of authoritarian governments and would-be theocrats gaining traction.
At times, I'd hoped for a little less focus on the "Western" perception of animals, and maybe a little more on how native populations considered the creatures they lived beside for countless generations (though even they were not above anthropomorphizing and other misunderstandings). The whole is a plea for humans to step off our pedestal and actually look at the world around us, that we are part of (little as many seem willing to admit it). Seen on their own terms, even the "lowest" and "ugliest" animal is valuable and wonderful, with much to teach us if we're willing to learn... which we can't do until we stop insisting we're the pinnacle to which all others should kneel in subservience.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (Frans de Waal) - My Review
Being a Beast (Charles Foster) - My Review
Animal Wise (Virginia Morell) - My Review
Lucy Cooke
Basic Books
Nonfiction, Animals/History/Science
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since humans first began noticing the natural world, misconceptions have abounded - not just in folklore or myths, but in the works of apparent experts and theoretically learned people... and not just in ancient times. It's not all just harmless ignorance, either; bad press and flawed understanding can substantially harm conservation efforts and the future of our planet. Zoologist and author Lucy Cooke examines several species that have borne the brunt of our species's seeming inability to separate fact from fiction and superstition from science, from bats to storks and eels to hippos, even the venerated panda.
REVIEW: Anthropomorphizing nature is one of the oldest human traits, turning them into supernatural agents or morality lessons or embodiments of our own aspirations or failings or plain old wishful thinking. Unfortunately, this idealized thinking can prove a serious problem when one is trying to understand the truth, as demonstrated in this examination of several key species. One would think that we'd be over that by now as a species, or at least science would be over that as a discipline, with our advanced understanding of so many fields and our increasing awareness of our own faults, but, as Cooke demonstrates, even in modern times myths and mysteries persist, with many secrets the natural world is still reluctant to offer up for our edification.
With a focus on the "Western" world's views of nature and how the roots of science and understanding were so hopelessly entangled with ideas that appear quite ridiculous now (but at the time were often implicitly believed to be true), Cooke explores the history of natural science and the people who both advanced and regressed the field. From the notion that eels spontaneously generated in river mud to beavers having hidden human-like communities complete with law enforcement, many false notions were rooted in the ancient classical world, where armchair experts repeated travelers tales as gospel truth, often with a dash of moralizing that would be raised to an art form in medieval bestiaries. Animals like the sloth were dismissed and denigrated by Europeans as "useless", when in fact their slow-motion lifestyle is such a successful way to survive in their native habitat that it evolved twice, while bats were treated as agents of evil in much of the world because theoretically intelligent H. sapiens brains apparently could not wrap their minds around something that couldn't be neatly defined as "beast" or "bird", and hyenas were considered cowardly and nasty because they just plain look less noble than a lion (who, it turns out, scavenge hyena kills more often than hyenas scavenge lion kills, despite popular media depictions). Even scientists in "enlightened" ages often skewed data based on their own religious or moral assumptions, even deliberately burying observations they deemed "unsuitable" for general knowledge (such as the sex lives of penguins - especially ironic, given how the nature documentary March of the Penguins was embraced in conservative circles as depicting an ideal monogamous family). Politics also invariably come into play; for many years, it was a commonly understood "fact" that North American animals (and, of course, natives) were inferior to their European counterparts in every conceivable way... a notion that was difficult to dislodge when most of the "experts" penning natural science resided in Europe. Even today, politics warps popular perceptions: for instance, "panda diplomacy" has created a highly artificial image of the panda as a cutesy but clumsy and naturally deficient "teddy bear" in desperate need of human intervention to even reproduce, when in fact human interference and captive breeding has created an entire population of animals so divorced from their very capable wild cousins that reintroductions almost invariably end in disaster. (As for the notion they can't even breed competently, that's yet another result of humans projecting human ideas and moralities onto wild animals; pandas breed just fine outside of captivity, just not very well in monogamous pairings that are forced on them in zoos.) The only thing they need from people is to be left alone with sufficient natural habitat to survive... but that's something nobody seems particularly interested in hearing, let alone doing, even in their native country. And then there's how people have used/abused animals through the ages, where even the best intentions often go awry; the African clawed frog, once a boon in the days before simple chemical strip pregnancy tests, is responsible for the worldwide spread of a toxic fungus devastating global amphibian populations after they escaped or were released into nonnative environments.
As part of her research, Cooke talked with many working conservationists and scientists who are doing their level best to dispel old myths and bad press before time runs out on the conservation clock, as it has for too many species. Misunderstandings and mysteries still plague the field, despite modern technology being brought to bear on matters such as eel reproduction (a reverse-salmon situation, where adults breed in the ocean and the young swim upriver to live for years until returning to the Sargasso Sea to breed... though, as of the book's writing, apparently even now nobody has witnessed the act). There is still so much to learn (and unlearn), even as a fresh tide of intentional ignorance seems to be rising globally in the form of authoritarian governments and would-be theocrats gaining traction.
At times, I'd hoped for a little less focus on the "Western" perception of animals, and maybe a little more on how native populations considered the creatures they lived beside for countless generations (though even they were not above anthropomorphizing and other misunderstandings). The whole is a plea for humans to step off our pedestal and actually look at the world around us, that we are part of (little as many seem willing to admit it). Seen on their own terms, even the "lowest" and "ugliest" animal is valuable and wonderful, with much to teach us if we're willing to learn... which we can't do until we stop insisting we're the pinnacle to which all others should kneel in subservience.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (Frans de Waal) - My Review
Being a Beast (Charles Foster) - My Review
Animal Wise (Virginia Morell) - My Review
Friday, October 11, 2024
How to Survive History (Cody Cassidy)
How to Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History's Deadliest Catastrophes
Cody Cassidy
Penguin Books
Nonfiction, History/Humor/Science
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: History is a dangerous place, but it also has some excellent sight-seeing. After all, where else are you going to witness herds of woolly mammoths or the splendor of 1400's Constantinople? If you managed to obtain a time machine, and avoided the pesky causality paradoxes that might erase your own existence, you could experience the vacation of a lifetime... but it's not much of a vacation if you don't make it home safely to share your photos on social media. If a Tyrannosaurus Rex crashes your Cretaceous-era picnic, could you get away? If your working vacation takes you to the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, how would you blend in? What if your trip to long-ago London coincides with the arrival of the Black Plague, or your around-the-world cruise drops you into Magellan's ships, or your Old West adventure lands you in the notorious Donner Party? Find out in this handy guide to some of the world's greatest disasters, and learn from those who survived.
REVIEW: As the description implies, this is a nice, light "popcorn history" book. Using records, archaeology, speculation, and some science, as well as numerous interviews with experts (not all of whom agree on the best courses of action to, say, survive the Titanic or escape Pompeii), Cassidy brings big ideas and moments down to a human scale. From facing off against giants of Earth's prehistory to surviving the darkest years of the Dark Ages to escaping the ravages of the worst tornado ever recorded in America and more, he whisks the reader/time traveler through highlights (or lowlights) of the past and offers survival tips for the savvy time tourist. Each entry is fairly short and contains interesting details, though a few gloss over what felt like important points and end a little abruptly. Overall, though, it's an intriguing little book of historical facts and factoids and speculations.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A SURVIVAL GUIDE: Living with Dinosaurs in the Jurassic Period (Dougal Dixon) - My Review
Terry Jones' Barbarians (Terry Jones and Alan Ereira) - My Review
Where's My Jetpack? (Daniel H. Wilson) - My Review
Cody Cassidy
Penguin Books
Nonfiction, History/Humor/Science
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: History is a dangerous place, but it also has some excellent sight-seeing. After all, where else are you going to witness herds of woolly mammoths or the splendor of 1400's Constantinople? If you managed to obtain a time machine, and avoided the pesky causality paradoxes that might erase your own existence, you could experience the vacation of a lifetime... but it's not much of a vacation if you don't make it home safely to share your photos on social media. If a Tyrannosaurus Rex crashes your Cretaceous-era picnic, could you get away? If your working vacation takes you to the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, how would you blend in? What if your trip to long-ago London coincides with the arrival of the Black Plague, or your around-the-world cruise drops you into Magellan's ships, or your Old West adventure lands you in the notorious Donner Party? Find out in this handy guide to some of the world's greatest disasters, and learn from those who survived.
REVIEW: As the description implies, this is a nice, light "popcorn history" book. Using records, archaeology, speculation, and some science, as well as numerous interviews with experts (not all of whom agree on the best courses of action to, say, survive the Titanic or escape Pompeii), Cassidy brings big ideas and moments down to a human scale. From facing off against giants of Earth's prehistory to surviving the darkest years of the Dark Ages to escaping the ravages of the worst tornado ever recorded in America and more, he whisks the reader/time traveler through highlights (or lowlights) of the past and offers survival tips for the savvy time tourist. Each entry is fairly short and contains interesting details, though a few gloss over what felt like important points and end a little abruptly. Overall, though, it's an intriguing little book of historical facts and factoids and speculations.
You Might Also Enjoy:
A SURVIVAL GUIDE: Living with Dinosaurs in the Jurassic Period (Dougal Dixon) - My Review
Terry Jones' Barbarians (Terry Jones and Alan Ereira) - My Review
Where's My Jetpack? (Daniel H. Wilson) - My Review
Thursday, September 19, 2024
The Wager (David Grann)
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
David Grann
Doubleday
Nonfiction, History/True Stories
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: In 1740, a small fleet of British vessels set sail on a mission of great national importance: to capture a Spanish galleon loaded with treasure from their New World conquests sailing the Pacific Ocean. They were to make the treacherous crossing around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America and proceed up the coast to intercept the vessel, claiming a rare prize and blackening the eye of a bitter enemy. With them sailed the Wager, a retrofitted merchant ship on its first major military operation. But a black star hung over the entire mission from the start, and after a disastrous rounding of the Horn, the fleet lost sight of the Wager.
Two years later, a raft of castaways drifted into port on the Brazilian coast, claiming to be survivors of the shipwrecked Wager. Most of the crew and the captain were lost, they claimed... until years later, when another small craft of survivors was found off Chile's coast, including Captain David Cheap - who accused the previous group of being murderous mutineers who had left him and a handful of others to die. The story would rock England, raising questions that linger to this day. What really happened to the Wager in their long exile on a deserted island? Was the captain to blame for the misfortune, or the so-called mutineers? And why was the whole thing eventually covered up?
REVIEW: In its time, the story of the Wager was top news, inspiring numerous writers such as Lord Byron, but today few recall it. Grann digs into the conflicting accounts - by Captain Cheap, by the young midshipman John Byron (grandfather of the well-known poet Lord Byron), the leader of the possible-mutineers, gunner John Bulkeley, among other eyewitnesses and background material - to try to unravel the truth, unearthing along the way a tragedy that was almost inevitable from before the ships left the Thames.
The War of Jenkins' Ear, as it came to be known, was just the latest in a string of largely-contrived excuses for the English and the Spaniards to throw countless lives and copious amounts of money at their empire-building rivals. To that end, the English admiralty concocted a daring and rather foolhardy plan to surprise a Spanish treasure ship - not in the Atlantic, but in the Pacific. As usual, the people who sat in their war rooms concocting such plans seemed not to know or care about the logistics of such an endeavor, starting with ill-maintained ships with press-ganged crews (including several dragged from retirement homes for old sailors just to fill berths) and continuing through the immense difficulties of navigating Cape Horn, with perhaps the most treacherous waters of the world. The fact that it was many years before a system to correctly calculate a ship's longitudinal location made it all the more dangerous. Even before then, the Wager's crew had been disrupted by sickness (typhoid and scurvy; in the days before disease vectors were understood, both were commonly death sentences) and not one but two changes in their captain. This was how David Cheap finally got his coveted commission, and his determination to prove himself to the commodore in charge of the fleet (and the greater admiralty, not to mention himself) may be part of what led to the disaster.
Damaged in the deadly seas off the Horn, the Wager fell behind, ultimately finding its grave off an island surrounded by treacherous shoals and harboring minimal food. Here, by his own accounting, Cheap tried to create some sort of order along the strict lines dictated in the British naval code, meeting almost immediate resistance from a few obstinate men and only growing more authoritarian as their situation grew more grim. Bulkeley, a religious man but also a commoner, kept rigorous records of his own, and the tale he recorded contradicted the captain's at several points: from his point of view, the captain was at least partly to blame for their wreck, and once on the island lost control of the situation and himself, to the point of literal murder. Mindful that he might well be hanged for mutiny, the gunner actually took the unprecedented step of publishing his journals, among the first commoners to do so, thus capturing the public's imagination long before anyone else could get home... but the public, as always, could be fickle in their loyalties. Midshipman Byron, meanwhile, has yet another perspective, though his are more clearly colored by his privileged upbringing (and a childhood spent binging fanciful tales of maritime adventures) and his ultimate loyalty to the captain (and his own social class); even he does not always corroborate Cheap's account. The fact that anyone survived at all is little short of miraculous, let alone multiple parties - all of whom eventually end up before their superiors in England, in a trial that ultimately is more about show than uncovering the truth.
As the story unfolds, Grann does a decent job establishing the people, the times, and the world of 18th century sailing and naval battles, as well as the horrific conditions and psychological collapse as things go from barely tolerable to far, far worse. Once again, I'm amazed that anyone actually survived those voyages, even without shipwrecks involved. Grann also notes how much of what happens ultimately lies at the feet of the power structures at the time and their determination to press their imperial claims and cultural superiority (and grab all the wealth and resources and land), no matter the cost in lives to their own subjects (or the indigenous cultures, who were potential slaves at best and inconveniences to be eliminated at worst). Even among themselves, concerns over classism ultimately determined whose story was most respected and remembered. The whole "war" that sent so many sailors and officers on the Wager to their dooms was almost literally over nothing, and gained nothing tangible for either side. There are some places where Grann loses the thread of the story in the weeds of extraneous detail and tangents, and others where he glosses over points or doesn't seem to follow up earlier hints of trouble (the way official logs were deliberately sabotaged long before mutiny was on the table, for instance, spoke to other secrets of the voyage that were never explored or even speculated on). Taken all together, though, this is a solid tale of a maritime disaster that deserves to be remembered.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex (Owen Chase et al.) - My Review
The Cay (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
The Survivors of the Chancellor (Jules Verne) - My Review
David Grann
Doubleday
Nonfiction, History/True Stories
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: In 1740, a small fleet of British vessels set sail on a mission of great national importance: to capture a Spanish galleon loaded with treasure from their New World conquests sailing the Pacific Ocean. They were to make the treacherous crossing around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America and proceed up the coast to intercept the vessel, claiming a rare prize and blackening the eye of a bitter enemy. With them sailed the Wager, a retrofitted merchant ship on its first major military operation. But a black star hung over the entire mission from the start, and after a disastrous rounding of the Horn, the fleet lost sight of the Wager.
Two years later, a raft of castaways drifted into port on the Brazilian coast, claiming to be survivors of the shipwrecked Wager. Most of the crew and the captain were lost, they claimed... until years later, when another small craft of survivors was found off Chile's coast, including Captain David Cheap - who accused the previous group of being murderous mutineers who had left him and a handful of others to die. The story would rock England, raising questions that linger to this day. What really happened to the Wager in their long exile on a deserted island? Was the captain to blame for the misfortune, or the so-called mutineers? And why was the whole thing eventually covered up?
REVIEW: In its time, the story of the Wager was top news, inspiring numerous writers such as Lord Byron, but today few recall it. Grann digs into the conflicting accounts - by Captain Cheap, by the young midshipman John Byron (grandfather of the well-known poet Lord Byron), the leader of the possible-mutineers, gunner John Bulkeley, among other eyewitnesses and background material - to try to unravel the truth, unearthing along the way a tragedy that was almost inevitable from before the ships left the Thames.
The War of Jenkins' Ear, as it came to be known, was just the latest in a string of largely-contrived excuses for the English and the Spaniards to throw countless lives and copious amounts of money at their empire-building rivals. To that end, the English admiralty concocted a daring and rather foolhardy plan to surprise a Spanish treasure ship - not in the Atlantic, but in the Pacific. As usual, the people who sat in their war rooms concocting such plans seemed not to know or care about the logistics of such an endeavor, starting with ill-maintained ships with press-ganged crews (including several dragged from retirement homes for old sailors just to fill berths) and continuing through the immense difficulties of navigating Cape Horn, with perhaps the most treacherous waters of the world. The fact that it was many years before a system to correctly calculate a ship's longitudinal location made it all the more dangerous. Even before then, the Wager's crew had been disrupted by sickness (typhoid and scurvy; in the days before disease vectors were understood, both were commonly death sentences) and not one but two changes in their captain. This was how David Cheap finally got his coveted commission, and his determination to prove himself to the commodore in charge of the fleet (and the greater admiralty, not to mention himself) may be part of what led to the disaster.
Damaged in the deadly seas off the Horn, the Wager fell behind, ultimately finding its grave off an island surrounded by treacherous shoals and harboring minimal food. Here, by his own accounting, Cheap tried to create some sort of order along the strict lines dictated in the British naval code, meeting almost immediate resistance from a few obstinate men and only growing more authoritarian as their situation grew more grim. Bulkeley, a religious man but also a commoner, kept rigorous records of his own, and the tale he recorded contradicted the captain's at several points: from his point of view, the captain was at least partly to blame for their wreck, and once on the island lost control of the situation and himself, to the point of literal murder. Mindful that he might well be hanged for mutiny, the gunner actually took the unprecedented step of publishing his journals, among the first commoners to do so, thus capturing the public's imagination long before anyone else could get home... but the public, as always, could be fickle in their loyalties. Midshipman Byron, meanwhile, has yet another perspective, though his are more clearly colored by his privileged upbringing (and a childhood spent binging fanciful tales of maritime adventures) and his ultimate loyalty to the captain (and his own social class); even he does not always corroborate Cheap's account. The fact that anyone survived at all is little short of miraculous, let alone multiple parties - all of whom eventually end up before their superiors in England, in a trial that ultimately is more about show than uncovering the truth.
As the story unfolds, Grann does a decent job establishing the people, the times, and the world of 18th century sailing and naval battles, as well as the horrific conditions and psychological collapse as things go from barely tolerable to far, far worse. Once again, I'm amazed that anyone actually survived those voyages, even without shipwrecks involved. Grann also notes how much of what happens ultimately lies at the feet of the power structures at the time and their determination to press their imperial claims and cultural superiority (and grab all the wealth and resources and land), no matter the cost in lives to their own subjects (or the indigenous cultures, who were potential slaves at best and inconveniences to be eliminated at worst). Even among themselves, concerns over classism ultimately determined whose story was most respected and remembered. The whole "war" that sent so many sailors and officers on the Wager to their dooms was almost literally over nothing, and gained nothing tangible for either side. There are some places where Grann loses the thread of the story in the weeds of extraneous detail and tangents, and others where he glosses over points or doesn't seem to follow up earlier hints of trouble (the way official logs were deliberately sabotaged long before mutiny was on the table, for instance, spoke to other secrets of the voyage that were never explored or even speculated on). Taken all together, though, this is a solid tale of a maritime disaster that deserves to be remembered.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Wreck of the Whale Ship Essex (Owen Chase et al.) - My Review
The Cay (Theodore Taylor) - My Review
The Survivors of the Chancellor (Jules Verne) - My Review
Thursday, July 11, 2024
Same as Ever (Morgan Housel)
Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes
Morgan Housel
Portfolio
Nonfiction, Business/History/Human Psychology
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: It's not hard to find evidence that the world is going crazy lately. Political strife, income disparity, pandemics, floods of lies drowning truth and facts... the list goes on an on. While these are doubtless perilous times, they are far from entirely unprecedented. Business writer Morgan Housel digs into the past to put the present in perspective, finding a surprising number of basic ideas and truths that never seem to change.
REVIEW: With so much bombarding us with fear and gloom, this book seemed like a possible antidote for, or at least partial check on, the downward spiral. By looking back on other "unprecedented" times, Housel does indeed offer a bit of comfort (if mildly cold comfort; as much as pure pessimism is unwarranted, pure optimism's at least as self-deceptive) that what we're going through now isn't completely dissimilar to what humanity has gone through before. As the saying goes (often attributed to Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens), history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes. While the details and specifics vary, society's reactions and human psychology remain the same. Greed and innovation, ambition and caution, selflessness and selfishness, the attractiveness of a compelling but potentially misleading story over solid but uninteresting or intimidating truths, all these and more have followed our species since long before prehistory, and will almost certainly continue with us as long as our species persists; indeed, the author uses evolution to demonstrate several concepts he presents in this book, such as how generalism often beats out specialization and how niches are constantly in flux, no life form guaranteed a perpetual pass from needing to adapt or die.
Housel does not offer specific predictions, as there are too many variables and too many times major events have hinged on the unanticipated and unquantifiable, but offers ways to reframe one's viewpoint to a more rational and less reactionary stance. Yes, there are plenty of things to worry about, but there is also some valid cause for cautious optimism. The focus tends to be on the business and financial side of things, which does lend itself to a few potential blind spots (in particular, I think he glossed over the potential problems of environmental and climate shifts, not to mention future competition for fresh water on a scale I don't think our species has faced), plus he has a way of glossing over the very real pitfalls and long-term costs of poverty. Overall, though, Housel presents an interesting and well-researched call for, if not complete calm, at least some hesitation before chalking our world and civilization up as a lost cause.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Scatter, Adapt, and Remember (Annalee Newitz) - My Review
Cities (Monica L. Smith) - My Review
Soonish (Kelly and Zach Weinersmith) - My Review
Morgan Housel
Portfolio
Nonfiction, Business/History/Human Psychology
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: It's not hard to find evidence that the world is going crazy lately. Political strife, income disparity, pandemics, floods of lies drowning truth and facts... the list goes on an on. While these are doubtless perilous times, they are far from entirely unprecedented. Business writer Morgan Housel digs into the past to put the present in perspective, finding a surprising number of basic ideas and truths that never seem to change.
REVIEW: With so much bombarding us with fear and gloom, this book seemed like a possible antidote for, or at least partial check on, the downward spiral. By looking back on other "unprecedented" times, Housel does indeed offer a bit of comfort (if mildly cold comfort; as much as pure pessimism is unwarranted, pure optimism's at least as self-deceptive) that what we're going through now isn't completely dissimilar to what humanity has gone through before. As the saying goes (often attributed to Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens), history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes. While the details and specifics vary, society's reactions and human psychology remain the same. Greed and innovation, ambition and caution, selflessness and selfishness, the attractiveness of a compelling but potentially misleading story over solid but uninteresting or intimidating truths, all these and more have followed our species since long before prehistory, and will almost certainly continue with us as long as our species persists; indeed, the author uses evolution to demonstrate several concepts he presents in this book, such as how generalism often beats out specialization and how niches are constantly in flux, no life form guaranteed a perpetual pass from needing to adapt or die.
Housel does not offer specific predictions, as there are too many variables and too many times major events have hinged on the unanticipated and unquantifiable, but offers ways to reframe one's viewpoint to a more rational and less reactionary stance. Yes, there are plenty of things to worry about, but there is also some valid cause for cautious optimism. The focus tends to be on the business and financial side of things, which does lend itself to a few potential blind spots (in particular, I think he glossed over the potential problems of environmental and climate shifts, not to mention future competition for fresh water on a scale I don't think our species has faced), plus he has a way of glossing over the very real pitfalls and long-term costs of poverty. Overall, though, Housel presents an interesting and well-researched call for, if not complete calm, at least some hesitation before chalking our world and civilization up as a lost cause.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Scatter, Adapt, and Remember (Annalee Newitz) - My Review
Cities (Monica L. Smith) - My Review
Soonish (Kelly and Zach Weinersmith) - My Review
Friday, April 19, 2024
The Lost Tomb (Douglas Preston)
The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burial, and Murder
Douglas Preston
Grand Central Publishing
Nonfiction, Archaeology/True Crime/History/Sociology/True Stories
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: A string of grisly murders in Florence, Italy and an investigation hijacked by politics and personal agendas... An ancient Egyptian tomb of unrivaled size and scope unearthed after long being dismissed as insignificant... One of the longest-running and most expensive treasure hunts in history on a small Canadian island... The possible evolutionary roots of online vitriol run amok... These and more stories, drawn from the articles and research of author and journalist Douglas Preston, are gathered in this volume.
REVIEW: One of the great things about books is the ability to vicariously experience a bigger, bolder, wider life that is remotely possible for an unremarkable, broke lardlump like myself. Here, Douglas Preston republishes (with updates and annotations) articles from his long history of journalism and related research on all manner of topics, proving yet again that if reality may not always be stranger than fiction, it can sure give fiction a run for its money. He manages to bring the subjects, the people, the controversies, and more to life in his words, and generally writes complete enough articles that one isn't unduly frustrated by omissions or obvious blind spots (as in some article-based books I've read). The updates are also fairly up to date, as the book was published in December 2023 and I'm reviewing this audiobook in April 2024. From the amateur paleontologist who discovered a once-in-a-lifetime window into the day that ended the dinosaurs to investigations into why so many online communities seem to build themselves around hate and punishment of the perceived Other, from the Oak Island "money pit" to the deserts of the American Southwest and the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, Preston's tales take the reader around the world and across time to encounter all manner of mysteries, controversies, and colorful characters. It made for an enjoyable read (or listen, this being another audiobook selection), and a reminder of how very small and pointless my own particular existence has been, is, and doubtless will continue to be until it ceases.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs (Riley Black) - My Review
Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws (Adrienne Mayor) - My Review
The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston) - My Review
Douglas Preston
Grand Central Publishing
Nonfiction, Archaeology/True Crime/History/Sociology/True Stories
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: A string of grisly murders in Florence, Italy and an investigation hijacked by politics and personal agendas... An ancient Egyptian tomb of unrivaled size and scope unearthed after long being dismissed as insignificant... One of the longest-running and most expensive treasure hunts in history on a small Canadian island... The possible evolutionary roots of online vitriol run amok... These and more stories, drawn from the articles and research of author and journalist Douglas Preston, are gathered in this volume.
REVIEW: One of the great things about books is the ability to vicariously experience a bigger, bolder, wider life that is remotely possible for an unremarkable, broke lardlump like myself. Here, Douglas Preston republishes (with updates and annotations) articles from his long history of journalism and related research on all manner of topics, proving yet again that if reality may not always be stranger than fiction, it can sure give fiction a run for its money. He manages to bring the subjects, the people, the controversies, and more to life in his words, and generally writes complete enough articles that one isn't unduly frustrated by omissions or obvious blind spots (as in some article-based books I've read). The updates are also fairly up to date, as the book was published in December 2023 and I'm reviewing this audiobook in April 2024. From the amateur paleontologist who discovered a once-in-a-lifetime window into the day that ended the dinosaurs to investigations into why so many online communities seem to build themselves around hate and punishment of the perceived Other, from the Oak Island "money pit" to the deserts of the American Southwest and the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, Preston's tales take the reader around the world and across time to encounter all manner of mysteries, controversies, and colorful characters. It made for an enjoyable read (or listen, this being another audiobook selection), and a reminder of how very small and pointless my own particular existence has been, is, and doubtless will continue to be until it ceases.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs (Riley Black) - My Review
Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws (Adrienne Mayor) - My Review
The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston) - My Review
Friday, November 17, 2023
The Lady from the Black Lagoon (Mallory O'Meara)
The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
Mallory O'Meara
Hanover Square Press
Nonfiction, Biography/History/Media Reference
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When she was a little kid, sitting in front of the TV at her grandparents' house, Mallory was entranced by the demon lord Chernabog in Disney's iconic animated feature Fantasia. Thus began a lifelong love affair with movies in general and horror in particular. The Universal classic monster pantheon held a special place in her heart, particularly the iconic Creature from the Black Lagoon. The costume, a stunning melding of man and fish, was officially credited to makeup master Bud Westmore, but it was not until the advent of the internet that most modern fans learned who really designed it: a woman named Milicent Patrick, whose identity and legacy others tried to erase. To rectify this injustice, O'Meara sets out to uncover the truth about Patrick, an enigmatic woman whose life and struggles in Tinsel Town seemed at times to parallel her own journey.
REVIEW: The story of Milicent Patrick is a story that should be relegated to the history books: a woman struggles to break in to an industry where her talent shines through, but instead of a brilliant future finds herself shut out by men who cannot stand a girl in their clubhouse or "stealing" the limelight they think should be theirs alone, where legacy names and money and soothing a tyrant's ego matter more than justice and truth. Unfortunately, it's a story that has played out numerous times before and since, up through today. O'Meara does not paint her subject as a superheroine or flawless icon, or as a relentless fighter who pushed back against the patriarchy at every turn, but as a human whose only extraordinary gift was staying true to herself no matter what happened. From a childhood under an iron-fisted father (an architect and structural engineer whose work kept the family traveling for years, eventually contributing to Hearst's massive California estate) and conservative mother, Milicent grew up to study art and land a job with Disney's animation studio - then one of the best places for a woman artist to be, for all that Disney was no saint or savior himself - while also pursuing acting work to capitalize on her striking looks, though she never moved much beyond bit parts. Eventually, her on-set sketches caught the attention of Bud Westmore, but the man's notorious cruelty, petty jealousy, and fragile ego would eventually cut her down just when she stood on the threshold of movie immortality. Even at the time, many people knew just how wrong it was, but not a one managed to stop it from happening, nor did they do anything to mitigate the aftereffects.
O'Meara intercuts the story of Milicent Patrick with her own efforts to research a woman who proved remarkably hard to track; she had a habit of changing her name and reinventing her own backstory over the years, making it that much harder to figure out her movements. She was also estranged from her family from an early age, which further limited the potential pool of resources. Add to that the way that women are still generally overlooked and undervalued in the entertainment industry, their contributions conveniently swept into the corner and forgotten, and the task became that much harder. Still, even though she's primarily a film producer and not a researcher, O'Meara pushed onward, finding more reasons to admire Milicent Patrick even as she acknowledges the woman's faults... and more reasons to be incensed that, since Patrick's day, the needle on industry misogyny and under-representation of women and nonwhites and other minorities has still not moved much, despite moments like the #MeToo movement shining spotlights on the ugly secrets of Hollywood. There are several incidents in Patrick's life that directly resonate with O'Meara's, and doubtless others who push their way into spaces and industries that have traditionally been dominated by white cishet males. The way in which someone who created such an important movie icon can be nearly forgotten - when she was the subject of numerous public interviews and served as a major face of Universal's promotion of The Creature from the Black Lagoon - all because one monster of a man couldn't stand seeing a woman outshine him and a studio decided appeasing him was more important than cultivating the talent so obviously visible in her is unsettling. One is left wondering how many other people have been erased through the decades, and are being erased right now, because the same dynamics that led to Milicent Patrick's removal from movie history are still very much evident. (And that's not counting the ones who are cut down long before they got in the door in the first place.) Will anything ever change? Can anything ever change? I honestly don't know, but that's why we need more Milicent Patricks... and more Mallory O'Mearas to make sure the Milicent Patricks aren't left on history's cutting room floor.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Never Say You Can't Survive (Charlie Jane Anders) - My Review
AVIATRIX: First Woman Pilot for Hughes Airwest (Mary Bush Shipko) - My Review
Mallory O'Meara
Hanover Square Press
Nonfiction, Biography/History/Media Reference
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: When she was a little kid, sitting in front of the TV at her grandparents' house, Mallory was entranced by the demon lord Chernabog in Disney's iconic animated feature Fantasia. Thus began a lifelong love affair with movies in general and horror in particular. The Universal classic monster pantheon held a special place in her heart, particularly the iconic Creature from the Black Lagoon. The costume, a stunning melding of man and fish, was officially credited to makeup master Bud Westmore, but it was not until the advent of the internet that most modern fans learned who really designed it: a woman named Milicent Patrick, whose identity and legacy others tried to erase. To rectify this injustice, O'Meara sets out to uncover the truth about Patrick, an enigmatic woman whose life and struggles in Tinsel Town seemed at times to parallel her own journey.
REVIEW: The story of Milicent Patrick is a story that should be relegated to the history books: a woman struggles to break in to an industry where her talent shines through, but instead of a brilliant future finds herself shut out by men who cannot stand a girl in their clubhouse or "stealing" the limelight they think should be theirs alone, where legacy names and money and soothing a tyrant's ego matter more than justice and truth. Unfortunately, it's a story that has played out numerous times before and since, up through today. O'Meara does not paint her subject as a superheroine or flawless icon, or as a relentless fighter who pushed back against the patriarchy at every turn, but as a human whose only extraordinary gift was staying true to herself no matter what happened. From a childhood under an iron-fisted father (an architect and structural engineer whose work kept the family traveling for years, eventually contributing to Hearst's massive California estate) and conservative mother, Milicent grew up to study art and land a job with Disney's animation studio - then one of the best places for a woman artist to be, for all that Disney was no saint or savior himself - while also pursuing acting work to capitalize on her striking looks, though she never moved much beyond bit parts. Eventually, her on-set sketches caught the attention of Bud Westmore, but the man's notorious cruelty, petty jealousy, and fragile ego would eventually cut her down just when she stood on the threshold of movie immortality. Even at the time, many people knew just how wrong it was, but not a one managed to stop it from happening, nor did they do anything to mitigate the aftereffects.
O'Meara intercuts the story of Milicent Patrick with her own efforts to research a woman who proved remarkably hard to track; she had a habit of changing her name and reinventing her own backstory over the years, making it that much harder to figure out her movements. She was also estranged from her family from an early age, which further limited the potential pool of resources. Add to that the way that women are still generally overlooked and undervalued in the entertainment industry, their contributions conveniently swept into the corner and forgotten, and the task became that much harder. Still, even though she's primarily a film producer and not a researcher, O'Meara pushed onward, finding more reasons to admire Milicent Patrick even as she acknowledges the woman's faults... and more reasons to be incensed that, since Patrick's day, the needle on industry misogyny and under-representation of women and nonwhites and other minorities has still not moved much, despite moments like the #MeToo movement shining spotlights on the ugly secrets of Hollywood. There are several incidents in Patrick's life that directly resonate with O'Meara's, and doubtless others who push their way into spaces and industries that have traditionally been dominated by white cishet males. The way in which someone who created such an important movie icon can be nearly forgotten - when she was the subject of numerous public interviews and served as a major face of Universal's promotion of The Creature from the Black Lagoon - all because one monster of a man couldn't stand seeing a woman outshine him and a studio decided appeasing him was more important than cultivating the talent so obviously visible in her is unsettling. One is left wondering how many other people have been erased through the decades, and are being erased right now, because the same dynamics that led to Milicent Patrick's removal from movie history are still very much evident. (And that's not counting the ones who are cut down long before they got in the door in the first place.) Will anything ever change? Can anything ever change? I honestly don't know, but that's why we need more Milicent Patricks... and more Mallory O'Mearas to make sure the Milicent Patricks aren't left on history's cutting room floor.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Never Say You Can't Survive (Charlie Jane Anders) - My Review
AVIATRIX: First Woman Pilot for Hughes Airwest (Mary Bush Shipko) - My Review
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Lost in Shangri-La (Mitchell Zuckoff)
Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II
Mitchell Zuckoff
Harper Perennial
Nonfiction, History
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: In 1945, as the Second World War neared its end, an incredible news story grabbed headlines across America and around the world: a plane crash in the unexplored depths of Papau New Guinea, leaving the three survivors stranded in a "lost world" of primitive, possibly cannibalistic headhunting tribes and inhospitable terrain. How the Americans got there, how they survived, and how the military mounted an audacious rescue kept the public riveted for weeks, but today the tale is nearly forgotten. Using original articles and records and interviews with the few survivors who experienced the events firsthand, the author recounts the story as it unfolded, a story filled with danger, bravery, despair, and larger-than-life characters.
REVIEW: Another random Libby audiobook to make work somewhat less tedious, Lost in Shangri-La delivers just what it promises, a true-life story that rivals fiction. From the rough-sketch history of the region and the war and what Americans were doing there in the first place to the "discovery" of the lost valley - technically for the second time in "civilized" history, but the pilots didn't know that at the time - through the crash, the rescue, and the fates of the various people involved, Zuckoff spins a decent yarn. He even includes commentary and interviews with the natives (or their descendants), offering the "other side" viewpoint and how cultural misunderstandings almost made things so much worse. From the start, the Americans viewed the locals as Eurocentric cultures so often do, with a mix of condescension and vague revulsion. Projecting their own ideas onto a people they only ever glimpsed from airplanes until the crash, they decided it looked like a peaceful primitive paradise and dubbed the "lost" valley Shangri-La, after the fictional isolated utopia that had evolved beyond war - a truly ironic name, given that the natives of the valley were essentially in a perpetual state of intertribal combat, if one often lacking the devastating vitriol and sheer scale of atrocities practiced by "civilized" nations. Treating another culture as a tourist attraction, a day trip to relieve the tedium of military base life, is what led to the tragedy to begin with, costing the lives of almost everyone on board the plane save three... and even their survival is a near thing, with serious injuries and the onset of infection and gangrene in the jungle environment. Back at the base, rescue efforts are hampered by the remoteness and high altitude of the crash site, plus the risk of complications from both natives and enemy soldiers (Japanese soldiers were known to be scattered across the islands in the jungle), with luck both good and bad eventually leading to an audacious, risky rescue plan. Along the way, the survivors and rescuers end up reassessing their opinions of the locals; while they never did truly understand the native language or culture, they did come to see them as real people, not stereotypes or subhumans. In the epilogue, Zuckoff tells what happened to all the players after the rescue and later in their lives... even, sadly, what happened to the native tribes. There was a local legend about "sky spirits" whose return would herald the end times, and unfortunately that prediction came all too true, as the modern "Shangri-La" is nothing at all like the paradise first encountered by outsiders in the 1940's.
Given the time since the events occurred, there are some gaps now and again, and a few parts felt glossed over or thin. Still, it tells a decent story.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Gone to the Woods (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
Nation (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston) - My Review
Mitchell Zuckoff
Harper Perennial
Nonfiction, History
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: In 1945, as the Second World War neared its end, an incredible news story grabbed headlines across America and around the world: a plane crash in the unexplored depths of Papau New Guinea, leaving the three survivors stranded in a "lost world" of primitive, possibly cannibalistic headhunting tribes and inhospitable terrain. How the Americans got there, how they survived, and how the military mounted an audacious rescue kept the public riveted for weeks, but today the tale is nearly forgotten. Using original articles and records and interviews with the few survivors who experienced the events firsthand, the author recounts the story as it unfolded, a story filled with danger, bravery, despair, and larger-than-life characters.
REVIEW: Another random Libby audiobook to make work somewhat less tedious, Lost in Shangri-La delivers just what it promises, a true-life story that rivals fiction. From the rough-sketch history of the region and the war and what Americans were doing there in the first place to the "discovery" of the lost valley - technically for the second time in "civilized" history, but the pilots didn't know that at the time - through the crash, the rescue, and the fates of the various people involved, Zuckoff spins a decent yarn. He even includes commentary and interviews with the natives (or their descendants), offering the "other side" viewpoint and how cultural misunderstandings almost made things so much worse. From the start, the Americans viewed the locals as Eurocentric cultures so often do, with a mix of condescension and vague revulsion. Projecting their own ideas onto a people they only ever glimpsed from airplanes until the crash, they decided it looked like a peaceful primitive paradise and dubbed the "lost" valley Shangri-La, after the fictional isolated utopia that had evolved beyond war - a truly ironic name, given that the natives of the valley were essentially in a perpetual state of intertribal combat, if one often lacking the devastating vitriol and sheer scale of atrocities practiced by "civilized" nations. Treating another culture as a tourist attraction, a day trip to relieve the tedium of military base life, is what led to the tragedy to begin with, costing the lives of almost everyone on board the plane save three... and even their survival is a near thing, with serious injuries and the onset of infection and gangrene in the jungle environment. Back at the base, rescue efforts are hampered by the remoteness and high altitude of the crash site, plus the risk of complications from both natives and enemy soldiers (Japanese soldiers were known to be scattered across the islands in the jungle), with luck both good and bad eventually leading to an audacious, risky rescue plan. Along the way, the survivors and rescuers end up reassessing their opinions of the locals; while they never did truly understand the native language or culture, they did come to see them as real people, not stereotypes or subhumans. In the epilogue, Zuckoff tells what happened to all the players after the rescue and later in their lives... even, sadly, what happened to the native tribes. There was a local legend about "sky spirits" whose return would herald the end times, and unfortunately that prediction came all too true, as the modern "Shangri-La" is nothing at all like the paradise first encountered by outsiders in the 1940's.
Given the time since the events occurred, there are some gaps now and again, and a few parts felt glossed over or thin. Still, it tells a decent story.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Gone to the Woods (Gary Paulsen) - My Review
Nation (Terry Pratchett) - My Review
The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston) - My Review
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws (Adrienne Mayor)
Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws: And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities
Adrienne Mayor
Princeton University Press
Nonfiction, Folklore/History
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: For all the copious amount of studies dedicated to history, there are still plenty of things that have fallen through the cracks, things that are either dismissed as falsehoods or misinterpretations or simply lack sufficient interest to tempt researchers. Author Adrienne Mayor shines a light into some of these overlooked nooks and crannies, unearthing a treasure trove of oddities and wonders and peculiar moments and factoids, from the often-forgotten roles of Native Americans and enslaved Africans in early American fossil hunting to possible explanations for persistent reports of "flying snakes" in Middle Eastern deserts, from tales of ancient poisons to "mad honey", even to the long histories of such peculiar human recreations as tourism, mountain climbing, and faking fossils.
REVIEW: There's a tendency to dismiss previous generations and cultures as lessers: less sophisticated, less able to discern truth from fiction or reality from illusion, less intelligent or worthy. Previous generations may not have been splitting atoms or launching interplanetary probes or live-streaming their pet cats being spooked by cucumbers, but they had the same basic brain structure as modern humans, and were at least as capable of understanding the world around them, as well as wondering how it worked and where they fit into it. Yet for too long, the idea that Ancient Greeks may have recovered fossils and attempted to reconstruct extinct animals, for instance, was dismissed out of hand. Other references fell by the wayside as being too inconsequential or vague to be worth pursuing, such as the possible identity of those "flying snakes" in places where true gliding snakes couldn't live, or the truth hidden in traveler's tales of tiny orange "birds" highly prized for their toxicity. Author Mayor digs into these little factoid nuggets with varying degrees of depth and success, from the ancient world to more recent times, touching on topics such as the domestication of ferrets (the chosen pet for rodent control before cats spread from Ancient Egypt), the classical personalities of the winds, tales of ancient "giants", the mysterious origin of the mammoth foot examined by famed naturalist Cuvier, early anti-vaxxers, and more. There are some odd omissions and numerous places where I wish there were more information presented, and some of the essays just seem of drift or end without seeming to make much of a point or reaching a conclusion. And there were places where it felt like she'd lost track of the main theme of the book, which was supposed to be classical and historical oddities and not waxing nostalgic about pets. Also - and this is not the fault of the author - the audiobook was supposed to have a PDF file I could download with images from the printed edition, but searching Libby has yielded no such addendum (I've seen them on other audiobooks, so I don't know what's going on with this one; I even checked with my tablet and my PC).
If someone is looking for in-depth explorations of the subjects mentioned here, then this book is only going to serve as a starting point; an extensive bibliography cites Mayor's sources for further investigation. If someone is just looking for a quick glimpse of unusual, often overlooked or forgotten or dismissed bits of history and folklore, then this is just what they're after. I wavered a bit, but wound up landing on the side of the full fourth star for the breadth of unusual topics covered, even if the depth could be lacking (sometimes frustratingly so).
You Might Also Enjoy:
Mythic Creatures (Richard Ellis, Laurel Kendall, and Mark A. Norell) - My Review
The United States of Cryptids (J. W. Ocker) - My Review
The Evolution of the Dragon (G. Elliot Smith) - My Review
Adrienne Mayor
Princeton University Press
Nonfiction, Folklore/History
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: For all the copious amount of studies dedicated to history, there are still plenty of things that have fallen through the cracks, things that are either dismissed as falsehoods or misinterpretations or simply lack sufficient interest to tempt researchers. Author Adrienne Mayor shines a light into some of these overlooked nooks and crannies, unearthing a treasure trove of oddities and wonders and peculiar moments and factoids, from the often-forgotten roles of Native Americans and enslaved Africans in early American fossil hunting to possible explanations for persistent reports of "flying snakes" in Middle Eastern deserts, from tales of ancient poisons to "mad honey", even to the long histories of such peculiar human recreations as tourism, mountain climbing, and faking fossils.
REVIEW: There's a tendency to dismiss previous generations and cultures as lessers: less sophisticated, less able to discern truth from fiction or reality from illusion, less intelligent or worthy. Previous generations may not have been splitting atoms or launching interplanetary probes or live-streaming their pet cats being spooked by cucumbers, but they had the same basic brain structure as modern humans, and were at least as capable of understanding the world around them, as well as wondering how it worked and where they fit into it. Yet for too long, the idea that Ancient Greeks may have recovered fossils and attempted to reconstruct extinct animals, for instance, was dismissed out of hand. Other references fell by the wayside as being too inconsequential or vague to be worth pursuing, such as the possible identity of those "flying snakes" in places where true gliding snakes couldn't live, or the truth hidden in traveler's tales of tiny orange "birds" highly prized for their toxicity. Author Mayor digs into these little factoid nuggets with varying degrees of depth and success, from the ancient world to more recent times, touching on topics such as the domestication of ferrets (the chosen pet for rodent control before cats spread from Ancient Egypt), the classical personalities of the winds, tales of ancient "giants", the mysterious origin of the mammoth foot examined by famed naturalist Cuvier, early anti-vaxxers, and more. There are some odd omissions and numerous places where I wish there were more information presented, and some of the essays just seem of drift or end without seeming to make much of a point or reaching a conclusion. And there were places where it felt like she'd lost track of the main theme of the book, which was supposed to be classical and historical oddities and not waxing nostalgic about pets. Also - and this is not the fault of the author - the audiobook was supposed to have a PDF file I could download with images from the printed edition, but searching Libby has yielded no such addendum (I've seen them on other audiobooks, so I don't know what's going on with this one; I even checked with my tablet and my PC).
If someone is looking for in-depth explorations of the subjects mentioned here, then this book is only going to serve as a starting point; an extensive bibliography cites Mayor's sources for further investigation. If someone is just looking for a quick glimpse of unusual, often overlooked or forgotten or dismissed bits of history and folklore, then this is just what they're after. I wavered a bit, but wound up landing on the side of the full fourth star for the breadth of unusual topics covered, even if the depth could be lacking (sometimes frustratingly so).
You Might Also Enjoy:
Mythic Creatures (Richard Ellis, Laurel Kendall, and Mark A. Norell) - My Review
The United States of Cryptids (J. W. Ocker) - My Review
The Evolution of the Dragon (G. Elliot Smith) - My Review
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Cities (Monica L. Smith)
Cities: The First 6,000 Years
Monica L. Smith
Viking
Nonfiction, Cultures/Geography/History
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Few things exemplify modern life quite like a city, but even the newest, brightest, most advanced city can trace the roots of nearly everything that keeps it running back to the very beginning, to the first (known) cities in the Middle East, in Asia, in Central and South America even. Archaeologist Monica L. Smith takes a look at what prompts humans to develop urban lifestyles, so very different from our long evolutionary history of hunting and gathering and even agricultural village existence, and how many innovations and technologies go into making them survive and thrive, sometimes outlasting the cultures that founded them.
REVIEW: I was looking for something different for the day's audiobook selection at work, so I hit the Random function on Libby and scrolled until something looked vaguely interesting. I've played a few city builder games in my time, and many of my favorite books involve cities past, present, future, and imagined, so I decided to give this one a try.
As promised, it's a nice introduction to the subject, outlining what defines a city, how similar they often are even across vast geographic and cultural (and temporal) distances, and why it's highly unlikely (save massive population and/or climate collapse) that we'll ever abandon the idea altogether; they seem to take on lives of their own, once founded, and even when cities are abandoned the survivors tend to be absorbed by other cities. She views cities as an inevitable outgrowth of our species's inherent tendencies toward innovation and cooperative ventures, and the massive efforts that we're apparently willing to undertake to keep them running seem to argue in favor of their benefits outweighing their costs. Smith doesn't just draw from the "usual suspects" of Middle Eastern and European examples, citing cities around the globe that all ultimately have quite a lot in common, enough that distant explorers could, with minimal trial and error, generally navigate city life and recognize the basics of organization no matter where they traveled. Of course, there are some drawbacks to cities and city life, but Smith focuses more on the benefits, and the innovations that go into overcoming the drawbacks (while acknowledging that some, such as inequalities in opportunity and quality of life, seem to be persistent bugs). She even praises "conspicuous consumption", particularly in the middle class, as part of what makes cities so great. (I'm not entirely sure that an argument that boils roughly down to "we've always had conspicuous consumption and massive waste so we shouldn't be worried about continuing the trend" is a completely convincing argument in its favor, especially as we're staring down increasing scarcity and the unprecedented disruptions of catastrophic climate change that are no longer just over the horizon but standing right outside the metaphoric city gates, but I'm not the archaeologist...)
It's a book aimed at us undereducated lay readers, so it's not an in-depth examination (which would take far, far more than one book to tackle anyway), but it's still an intriguing look at a feature of civilization that many of us take for granted, and how far back "modern" city features like fast food and night life and middle management bureaucracies can be traced in the archaeological record.
On a closing note, one downside: it does fire up the ol' itch to replay my classic city builder games... I was so, so close to reaching the rank of pharaoh in Pharaoh/Cleopatra, and I was just about getting the hang of Children of the Nile...
You Might Also Enjoy:
Abandoned Places (Lesley and Roy Adkins) - My Review
Unbound (Richard L. Currier) - My Review
The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston) - My Review
Monica L. Smith
Viking
Nonfiction, Cultures/Geography/History
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Few things exemplify modern life quite like a city, but even the newest, brightest, most advanced city can trace the roots of nearly everything that keeps it running back to the very beginning, to the first (known) cities in the Middle East, in Asia, in Central and South America even. Archaeologist Monica L. Smith takes a look at what prompts humans to develop urban lifestyles, so very different from our long evolutionary history of hunting and gathering and even agricultural village existence, and how many innovations and technologies go into making them survive and thrive, sometimes outlasting the cultures that founded them.
REVIEW: I was looking for something different for the day's audiobook selection at work, so I hit the Random function on Libby and scrolled until something looked vaguely interesting. I've played a few city builder games in my time, and many of my favorite books involve cities past, present, future, and imagined, so I decided to give this one a try.
As promised, it's a nice introduction to the subject, outlining what defines a city, how similar they often are even across vast geographic and cultural (and temporal) distances, and why it's highly unlikely (save massive population and/or climate collapse) that we'll ever abandon the idea altogether; they seem to take on lives of their own, once founded, and even when cities are abandoned the survivors tend to be absorbed by other cities. She views cities as an inevitable outgrowth of our species's inherent tendencies toward innovation and cooperative ventures, and the massive efforts that we're apparently willing to undertake to keep them running seem to argue in favor of their benefits outweighing their costs. Smith doesn't just draw from the "usual suspects" of Middle Eastern and European examples, citing cities around the globe that all ultimately have quite a lot in common, enough that distant explorers could, with minimal trial and error, generally navigate city life and recognize the basics of organization no matter where they traveled. Of course, there are some drawbacks to cities and city life, but Smith focuses more on the benefits, and the innovations that go into overcoming the drawbacks (while acknowledging that some, such as inequalities in opportunity and quality of life, seem to be persistent bugs). She even praises "conspicuous consumption", particularly in the middle class, as part of what makes cities so great. (I'm not entirely sure that an argument that boils roughly down to "we've always had conspicuous consumption and massive waste so we shouldn't be worried about continuing the trend" is a completely convincing argument in its favor, especially as we're staring down increasing scarcity and the unprecedented disruptions of catastrophic climate change that are no longer just over the horizon but standing right outside the metaphoric city gates, but I'm not the archaeologist...)
It's a book aimed at us undereducated lay readers, so it's not an in-depth examination (which would take far, far more than one book to tackle anyway), but it's still an intriguing look at a feature of civilization that many of us take for granted, and how far back "modern" city features like fast food and night life and middle management bureaucracies can be traced in the archaeological record.
On a closing note, one downside: it does fire up the ol' itch to replay my classic city builder games... I was so, so close to reaching the rank of pharaoh in Pharaoh/Cleopatra, and I was just about getting the hang of Children of the Nile...
You Might Also Enjoy:
Abandoned Places (Lesley and Roy Adkins) - My Review
Unbound (Richard L. Currier) - My Review
The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston) - My Review
Friday, March 3, 2023
The Lost City of the Monkey God (Douglas Preston)
The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story
Douglas Preston
Grand Central Publishing
Nonfiction, Cultures/History/True Stories
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since the days of Cortes, when conquerors came to the New World with dreams of riches and empires and first set eyes on the alien-seeming cultures of Central and South America, stories have trickled back to Western civilization about lost cities, from the well-known tale of El Dorado to the mystery of Machu Picchu. Among these were enigmatic references to a white-walled city deep in the forbidding mountains and rain forests of what is now Honduras, glimpsed now and again by the odd traveler and referred to in numerous local stories. For a long time, these were dismissed as the tall tales of travelers, or possibly wishful thinking and mistaken identity, but in every generation were adventurers and believers who risked everything in the search. In this book, writer Douglas Preston relates the history and prehistory of the American civilizations and the search for the so-called "lost city of the monkey god"... and his own involvement in the expedition that finally unearthed the possible truth behind the legend, a truth grander and more unbelievable than any tall tale.
REVIEW: Sometimes truth really does seem stranger than fiction. Here, Preston relates the story of a groundbreaking expedition deep into one of the few pristine wildernesses left in the world, in pursuit of a mystery that many experts had long dismissed as mere fancy but which turns out to have some basis in reality after all (no spoiler for saying they actually do find something - more than just one thing, actually). From the perils of snakes and ants and disease to the unfathomable difficulty of even getting around in the rain forest, plus the perils of politics in perhaps one of the most volatile regions of the Americas (and the related politics of archaeology in general), it seems utterly incredible that not only did the explorers survive, but accomplished so much. Along the way, Preston discusses the history and prehistory of the region and the search, the allure and romance of "lost cities" in the Western world (and how the notions are inextricably tied with colonialism and a sense of cultural superiority, the "right" to claim and plunder whatever one sets one's eyes upon regardless of whose property, or story, it truly is), even how expeditions like the one he becomes involved with play into national and international politics. The people involved sometimes seem larger than life, and the search takes twists and turns aplenty as it wends through history and various obstacles and setbacks, not to mention the fallout of success. Along the way, the grandeur and dangerous beauty of the remote Honduras wilderness comes to life, as well as the awe-inspiring accomplishments of the city's builders and the incalculable tragedy of their collapse. The chapters on the unimaginably devastating effects of European diseases on the Americas and the risks of disease today (as the author and other expedition members discover the hard way) take on new significance after the height of the recent pandemic that shows how vulnerable even our "superior" global civilization is to illness, and how (to be blunt) screwed we're going to be if we don't take the lessons of the past - distant and recent - seriously as the changing climate allows "exotic" tropical illnesses and parasites to spread to new populations. Once in a while the names can run together a bit, but overall this is an interesting account of an incredible find and its impact on the explorers involved, expanding our understanding of a fascinating region and period of history.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The X-Files: Ruins (Kevin J. Anderson) - My Review
The Encyclopedia of the Ancient Americas (Jim Green et al.) - My Review
The Maya (Timothy Laughton) - My Review
Douglas Preston
Grand Central Publishing
Nonfiction, Cultures/History/True Stories
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since the days of Cortes, when conquerors came to the New World with dreams of riches and empires and first set eyes on the alien-seeming cultures of Central and South America, stories have trickled back to Western civilization about lost cities, from the well-known tale of El Dorado to the mystery of Machu Picchu. Among these were enigmatic references to a white-walled city deep in the forbidding mountains and rain forests of what is now Honduras, glimpsed now and again by the odd traveler and referred to in numerous local stories. For a long time, these were dismissed as the tall tales of travelers, or possibly wishful thinking and mistaken identity, but in every generation were adventurers and believers who risked everything in the search. In this book, writer Douglas Preston relates the history and prehistory of the American civilizations and the search for the so-called "lost city of the monkey god"... and his own involvement in the expedition that finally unearthed the possible truth behind the legend, a truth grander and more unbelievable than any tall tale.
REVIEW: Sometimes truth really does seem stranger than fiction. Here, Preston relates the story of a groundbreaking expedition deep into one of the few pristine wildernesses left in the world, in pursuit of a mystery that many experts had long dismissed as mere fancy but which turns out to have some basis in reality after all (no spoiler for saying they actually do find something - more than just one thing, actually). From the perils of snakes and ants and disease to the unfathomable difficulty of even getting around in the rain forest, plus the perils of politics in perhaps one of the most volatile regions of the Americas (and the related politics of archaeology in general), it seems utterly incredible that not only did the explorers survive, but accomplished so much. Along the way, Preston discusses the history and prehistory of the region and the search, the allure and romance of "lost cities" in the Western world (and how the notions are inextricably tied with colonialism and a sense of cultural superiority, the "right" to claim and plunder whatever one sets one's eyes upon regardless of whose property, or story, it truly is), even how expeditions like the one he becomes involved with play into national and international politics. The people involved sometimes seem larger than life, and the search takes twists and turns aplenty as it wends through history and various obstacles and setbacks, not to mention the fallout of success. Along the way, the grandeur and dangerous beauty of the remote Honduras wilderness comes to life, as well as the awe-inspiring accomplishments of the city's builders and the incalculable tragedy of their collapse. The chapters on the unimaginably devastating effects of European diseases on the Americas and the risks of disease today (as the author and other expedition members discover the hard way) take on new significance after the height of the recent pandemic that shows how vulnerable even our "superior" global civilization is to illness, and how (to be blunt) screwed we're going to be if we don't take the lessons of the past - distant and recent - seriously as the changing climate allows "exotic" tropical illnesses and parasites to spread to new populations. Once in a while the names can run together a bit, but overall this is an interesting account of an incredible find and its impact on the explorers involved, expanding our understanding of a fascinating region and period of history.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The X-Files: Ruins (Kevin J. Anderson) - My Review
The Encyclopedia of the Ancient Americas (Jim Green et al.) - My Review
The Maya (Timothy Laughton) - My Review
Sunday, April 4, 2021
The Red Canary (Tim Birkhead)
The Red Canary: The Story of the First Genetically Engineered Animal
Tim Birkhead
Bloomsbury USA
Nonfiction, Animals/Biography/History/Science
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since its discovery by Europeans, the canary had fascinated the western world with its enchanting song, if not its original drab greenish coloring. Captive breeding became a booming industry, and soon gave rise to both brighter colors and greater song variations, but it wasn't until the early 20th century, in the canary breeding hotbed of Germany, that anyone thought to turn the fledgling concept of genetic inheritance to the matter of deliberately creating a canary not seen in nature or any domestic random mutation: a red canary. To do this, one would need to introduce genes from a related species and somehow get the hybrids to breed true without otherwise compromising the basic canary makeup: selective genetic introduction. The idea sent shockwaves through the highly competitive world of canary fanciers and breeders around the world. But even as amateur scientist Hans Dunckler turned his prodigious intellect to the task, aided by local Bremen fanciers, Germany was developing another, far less wholesome interest in the matter of genetics, one that would derail the experiment and bury its originator under a generation of scandal.
REVIEW: I obtained this as an e-book some time ago when it was discounted (possibly even free), and finally got around to clearing it from the backlog. Birkhead touts the long-unsung contributions of amateur scientists and domestic bird keepers and even medieval bird-catchers to modern ornithology (while glossing over the destruction to wild populations and somewhat questionable birdkeeping practices of the not-so-distant past, such as blinding birds so they'd sing more), as well as the long-besmirched contributions of Dunckler to canary breeding in particular and bird genetics in general. The author's opinions show fairly clearly beneath the research and retelling, occasionally compromising objectivity to the point where even I, a notoriously unobservant reader, noticed. He does, however, present a mostly interesting history of singing birds in captivity and the canary breeding craze that was, for a time, a very lucrative cottage industry in various parts of the world. Dunckler was indeed revolutionary in his way, seeing the potential for genetic transfer between species in a time when Darwin was still somewhat controversial. Politics, though, have a way of warping everything and everyone; Dunckler was swept up in the eugenics fervor of the Nazi party, not particularly against his will, and whatever his later rationalizations, a lot of harm was done by him and others like him. Because of that association, much of his work was swept under the rug of history, but his canary breeding experiments led to later breakthroughs, even as they showed that he was overlooking some key ingredients to success. (They also, sadly, likely helped contribute to the near-extinction of the tropical red siskin, the species chosen for the cross-breeding, which remains critically endangered and a target of bird smugglers to this day.) In any event, while the author's ideas and preconceptions had a way of coloring the narrative, overall it's not a bad exploration of its subject.
You Might Also Enjoy:
On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition (Charles Darwin) - My Review
How to Build a Dinosaur (Jack Horner and James Gorman) - My Review
The Invention of Nature (Andrea Wulf) - My Review
Tim Birkhead
Bloomsbury USA
Nonfiction, Animals/Biography/History/Science
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since its discovery by Europeans, the canary had fascinated the western world with its enchanting song, if not its original drab greenish coloring. Captive breeding became a booming industry, and soon gave rise to both brighter colors and greater song variations, but it wasn't until the early 20th century, in the canary breeding hotbed of Germany, that anyone thought to turn the fledgling concept of genetic inheritance to the matter of deliberately creating a canary not seen in nature or any domestic random mutation: a red canary. To do this, one would need to introduce genes from a related species and somehow get the hybrids to breed true without otherwise compromising the basic canary makeup: selective genetic introduction. The idea sent shockwaves through the highly competitive world of canary fanciers and breeders around the world. But even as amateur scientist Hans Dunckler turned his prodigious intellect to the task, aided by local Bremen fanciers, Germany was developing another, far less wholesome interest in the matter of genetics, one that would derail the experiment and bury its originator under a generation of scandal.
REVIEW: I obtained this as an e-book some time ago when it was discounted (possibly even free), and finally got around to clearing it from the backlog. Birkhead touts the long-unsung contributions of amateur scientists and domestic bird keepers and even medieval bird-catchers to modern ornithology (while glossing over the destruction to wild populations and somewhat questionable birdkeeping practices of the not-so-distant past, such as blinding birds so they'd sing more), as well as the long-besmirched contributions of Dunckler to canary breeding in particular and bird genetics in general. The author's opinions show fairly clearly beneath the research and retelling, occasionally compromising objectivity to the point where even I, a notoriously unobservant reader, noticed. He does, however, present a mostly interesting history of singing birds in captivity and the canary breeding craze that was, for a time, a very lucrative cottage industry in various parts of the world. Dunckler was indeed revolutionary in his way, seeing the potential for genetic transfer between species in a time when Darwin was still somewhat controversial. Politics, though, have a way of warping everything and everyone; Dunckler was swept up in the eugenics fervor of the Nazi party, not particularly against his will, and whatever his later rationalizations, a lot of harm was done by him and others like him. Because of that association, much of his work was swept under the rug of history, but his canary breeding experiments led to later breakthroughs, even as they showed that he was overlooking some key ingredients to success. (They also, sadly, likely helped contribute to the near-extinction of the tropical red siskin, the species chosen for the cross-breeding, which remains critically endangered and a target of bird smugglers to this day.) In any event, while the author's ideas and preconceptions had a way of coloring the narrative, overall it's not a bad exploration of its subject.
You Might Also Enjoy:
On the Origin of Species, 6th Edition (Charles Darwin) - My Review
How to Build a Dinosaur (Jack Horner and James Gorman) - My Review
The Invention of Nature (Andrea Wulf) - My Review
Saturday, August 8, 2020
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
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
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
What Unites Us (Dan Rather) - My Review
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
What Unites Us (Dan Rather) - My Review
Thursday, October 4, 2018
She Persisted Around the World (Chelsea Clinton)
She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History
Chelsea Clinton, illustrations by Alexandra Boiger
Philomel Books
Nonfiction, CH Biography/History/Picture Book
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Throughout history and around the world, societies have placed limits on girls... but some persisted against the odds. Thirteen profiles in courage and determination show what women can do.
REVIEW: Given recent national events (and their less-than-subtle message to my gender, that we are to shut up and not make waves because we will not be believed even when we cry out in rage and pain), this is both a timely and timeless reminder that obstructions can be overcome and barriers broken down. Here, Clinton offers an international selection of brave girls and women, along with inspiring quotes. It's both absurd and depressing that the message must be repeated over and over again about women being human beings capable of the same levels of greatness as men, but apparently it must be, because those in power (and the powerless masses) seem to forget at the earliest convenient opportunity. I can only hope that, for all the efforts to repress (even here in the "Land of Opportunity"), strong women persist in breaking through.
You Might Also Enjoy:
She Persisted (Chelsea Clinton) - My Review
Meet the Dullards (Sara Pennypacker) - My Review
I Am a Story (Dan Yaccarino) - My Review
Chelsea Clinton, illustrations by Alexandra Boiger
Philomel Books
Nonfiction, CH Biography/History/Picture Book
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: Throughout history and around the world, societies have placed limits on girls... but some persisted against the odds. Thirteen profiles in courage and determination show what women can do.
REVIEW: Given recent national events (and their less-than-subtle message to my gender, that we are to shut up and not make waves because we will not be believed even when we cry out in rage and pain), this is both a timely and timeless reminder that obstructions can be overcome and barriers broken down. Here, Clinton offers an international selection of brave girls and women, along with inspiring quotes. It's both absurd and depressing that the message must be repeated over and over again about women being human beings capable of the same levels of greatness as men, but apparently it must be, because those in power (and the powerless masses) seem to forget at the earliest convenient opportunity. I can only hope that, for all the efforts to repress (even here in the "Land of Opportunity"), strong women persist in breaking through.
You Might Also Enjoy:
She Persisted (Chelsea Clinton) - My Review
Meet the Dullards (Sara Pennypacker) - My Review
I Am a Story (Dan Yaccarino) - My Review
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
She Persisted (Chelsea Clinton)
She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World
Chelsea Clinton, illustrations by Alexandra Boiger
Philomel Books
Nonfiction, CH Biography/History/Picture Book
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: A dancer, a senator, a doctor, a judge... thirteen profiles in courage show how strong women can be.
REVIEW: A direct challenge to recent efforts to roll back women's rights and diversity, She Persisted showcases women who refused to let the status quo hold them back. Each entry has a brief description of how they took charge of their lives and changed the world, along with a quote. One can only hope the girls who grow up reading this are strong enough to step up to the obstacles that current events seem determined to place before them...
You Might Also Enjoy:
Cinder Edna (Ellen Jackson) - My Review
The Paper Bag Princess (Robert N. Munsch) - My Review
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters (Barack Obama) - My Review
Chelsea Clinton, illustrations by Alexandra Boiger
Philomel Books
Nonfiction, CH Biography/History/Picture Book
***** (Great)
DESCRIPTION: A dancer, a senator, a doctor, a judge... thirteen profiles in courage show how strong women can be.
REVIEW: A direct challenge to recent efforts to roll back women's rights and diversity, She Persisted showcases women who refused to let the status quo hold them back. Each entry has a brief description of how they took charge of their lives and changed the world, along with a quote. One can only hope the girls who grow up reading this are strong enough to step up to the obstacles that current events seem determined to place before them...
You Might Also Enjoy:
Cinder Edna (Ellen Jackson) - My Review
The Paper Bag Princess (Robert N. Munsch) - My Review
Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters (Barack Obama) - My Review
Monday, June 25, 2018
Dirigible Dreams (C. Michael Hiam)
Dirigible Dreams: The Age of the Airship
C. Michael Hiam
ForeEdge
Nonfiction, History
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: From our earliest days, humans have dreamed of flight, but only in the late nineteenth century did powered, controlled flight become a possibility. Innovations soon transformed primitive balloons into semi-rigid and rigid dirigibles, used for everything from war to luxury global cruises to polar exploration. For a brief, shining moment, it seemed these lighter-than-air ships might conquer the skies... until the tragic wreck of the Hindenburg spelled the end of commercial dirigible dreams. Or did it? Author Hiam explores the rise, heyday, and fall of these popular airships.
REVIEW: Dirigibles are more often found in steampunk tales than the skies these days, but at one time they were the bleeding edge of aeronautical technology, combining powered flight with lighter-than-air transport. Hiam's book looks back at the earliest pioneers of this inherently dangerous mode of travel, examining the often-eccentric people who popularized the dirigible airship, often through audacious stunts that were at least as likely to be disasters as successes. The ships themselves almost take on personalities as described here, each with their assets and liabilities, prone to spectacular failure. When they worked, they worked well - but they often seemed plagued by technology issues, capricious weather, or just plain bad luck. Hiam bookends his account with the legendary Hindenburg inferno of May 1937, which encapsulated in the public mind all that was to be feared about dirigible travel and pretty much put the nail in the coffin of widespread commercial investment in rigid airships... but they are not dead yet, and many still are convinced that the drawbacks to the mode of transportation can be overcome with advances in technology and sheer human ingenuity, convinced they can still answer many needs of today and tomorrow.
As someone who reads the odd steampunk tale and is somewhat curious, I consider this not a bad account of the airship's real-world history, though it runs a little dry at times, with names tending to jumble. That, plus a lack of information on the possible future of airships (merely hinted at in the closing lines), cost it a solid Good rating, though it's still worth a read if you're interested in the history of airships... or interested in writing about them.
You Might Also Enjoy:
With the Night Mail (Rudyard Kipling) - My Review
Airborn (Kenneth Oppel) - My Review
Leviathan (Scott Westerfield) - My Review
C. Michael Hiam
ForeEdge
Nonfiction, History
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: From our earliest days, humans have dreamed of flight, but only in the late nineteenth century did powered, controlled flight become a possibility. Innovations soon transformed primitive balloons into semi-rigid and rigid dirigibles, used for everything from war to luxury global cruises to polar exploration. For a brief, shining moment, it seemed these lighter-than-air ships might conquer the skies... until the tragic wreck of the Hindenburg spelled the end of commercial dirigible dreams. Or did it? Author Hiam explores the rise, heyday, and fall of these popular airships.
REVIEW: Dirigibles are more often found in steampunk tales than the skies these days, but at one time they were the bleeding edge of aeronautical technology, combining powered flight with lighter-than-air transport. Hiam's book looks back at the earliest pioneers of this inherently dangerous mode of travel, examining the often-eccentric people who popularized the dirigible airship, often through audacious stunts that were at least as likely to be disasters as successes. The ships themselves almost take on personalities as described here, each with their assets and liabilities, prone to spectacular failure. When they worked, they worked well - but they often seemed plagued by technology issues, capricious weather, or just plain bad luck. Hiam bookends his account with the legendary Hindenburg inferno of May 1937, which encapsulated in the public mind all that was to be feared about dirigible travel and pretty much put the nail in the coffin of widespread commercial investment in rigid airships... but they are not dead yet, and many still are convinced that the drawbacks to the mode of transportation can be overcome with advances in technology and sheer human ingenuity, convinced they can still answer many needs of today and tomorrow.
As someone who reads the odd steampunk tale and is somewhat curious, I consider this not a bad account of the airship's real-world history, though it runs a little dry at times, with names tending to jumble. That, plus a lack of information on the possible future of airships (merely hinted at in the closing lines), cost it a solid Good rating, though it's still worth a read if you're interested in the history of airships... or interested in writing about them.
You Might Also Enjoy:
With the Night Mail (Rudyard Kipling) - My Review
Airborn (Kenneth Oppel) - My Review
Leviathan (Scott Westerfield) - My Review
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