Though a fan of science in its many forms, I am much more familiar with the early days of Christian Biblical history than with scientific history of the human species. I have studied it, but the ground seems to be slowly shifting in this realm. Böhme details these shifts in this work as he summarizes the evidence over the last 20-30 years. She does so through a lucid, suspenseful, and engaging manner. She questions many…
J.R.R. Tolkien is most well known as the author behind the famed series The Lord of the Rings. He was also an Oxford don (in the field of Anglo-Saxon literature) and a family man who was widely adored for his overactive imagination. He wrote little publicized letters to his children every year at Christmastime by posing as Father Christmas (the equivalent of Santa Claus), replete with this trademark imagination and with drawings and paintings. His…
This novel, originally composed in Dutch, profiles two famous English-language poets. Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes romanced, married, and had two children together. While the children were extremely young, Plath committed suicide after Hughes had an affair. This tale, written from Hughes’ perspective (apparently later in life), imagines how his inner life was haunted by her downfall. It accurately captures human nature and the depths of two poets’ struggle with the unfolding of life and…
The surgery of organ transplantation has taken off in the past fifty years. However, the ability to apply these gains to the nervous system has lagged behind due to the limitations of nerve regeneration. As told in this book, during this time, Robert White, MD/PhD, sought to pioneer head transplantation onto a new body. He was successful in transplanting a monkey’s head onto another’s body. However, he retired and died before his dream could come…
This book was billed as a “father-daughter memoir,” and my daughter expressed interest in reading it. Thus, we decided to read it together. Multiple narrators give voice in this work, and authors are cycled in chapters between Cylin (the daughter) and John (the father). This is no normal father-daughter relationship, however. The father John, a police officer in Massachusetts, was targeted in a shooting by a crime family. Over decades, he had his face surgically…
Find a book for the holidays for someone else or even yourself! (Links take you to my full review.) Fiction The Silent Patient – A murder mystery that excites to the last page. An impassioned read for those who love psychological thrillers. Kids The Odyssey – A graphic novel on the classic Homeric text. Exposes kids to a classic plot while enhancing their imaginations through pictures. Biography His Truth is Marching On – A biography…
“You should read this.” Those simple words ran across my mind as I finished page 126 of this wonderful book. I am no political scientist though I follow current events tightly. This book, written in 2017 in the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump, reminds us how fragile history can be. By looking at the challenges of the present, it looks at how democracy was subverted by tyranny in the twentieth century. Snyder provides…
In the 1960s, McLuhan presaged the communications age through his studies of “electronic media.” His thoughts shone light on the way forward and are now standards of understanding today. For instance, he coined the term “global village” in showing the ways of globalization. This work consists of much more than text. Published in black-and-white, it portrays a series of images that move the reader through the contention that media – particularly electronic media – “massages”…
Software developers are typically bright people but possess few social contacts who approach the world like them. Such loneliness is famously parodied by stereotypes. Even the most social among us have a difficult time relating to others what programming is like. In this work, Seibel provides interviews with 15 accomplished programmers and alleviates some of that alone-ness. In so doing, he explains to the English-speaking world how computer programming has grown and is currently practiced.…
Recent events remind us that America – especially the South – is still haunted by the oft-unspoken tale of the Civil War. This tale, Scott’s first novel, shows us why. It reminds us of the myriad of lives forever altered by this event and that simple narratives of good-versus-evil fall short. It showcases decency of many Southerners, the hideousness of slavery, and lives caught in a tale of lost-and-found. Apparently, the author received in the…