Not So Quick End-of-2021 Update...

I don't have much of an excuse other than life really got away from me starting in October with the death of my father-in-law...whew. I kept my head above water just by doing what needed doing and unfortunately writing on my blog fell by the wayside. I am slowly crawling my way back into it! Yay me. 

But I have to pare down. I enjoy my Cat Thursday posts so I'll try to keep those going each week and then an end of week post...which may be every other week depending on the week. Something doable for a little while and then hopefully I'll get my groove back! lol.

We are looking forward to G's 13th birthday! What? I can't believe how time flies. He wants money to get a new game for his VR, something to physically open, and sushi for dinner. Can't complain about that. I even asked him if he wanted me to bake him a cake and he told me he'd rather have an ice cream cake...so I don't even have to do that! He is going to have a friend over for a sleepover and pizza. So I will bake him some birthday cupcakes!

Now onto my end of 2021 update...

I read 119 books in 2021. 

39 were children's/middle/young adult books. 

35 non-fiction books.

11 were classics (as well as modern).

39 were by non-white authors.

Over half were by women. 

I had a great reading year. I don't know if I'll read as much as I did last year. Only time will tell. 

Favorite reads: These are the ones that just stood out as I looked back over my list.

• The End of Everything: Astrophysically Speaking by Katie Mack. Her down-to-earth style of how the universe could literally end was fun and so fascinating. I love to get a few astronomy books in a year and this one was top.
• The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey. Just what I needed for one of my first reads of the year. A haunting yet beautiful tale in the Alaskan frontier.
• The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James. The way she blended two time lines and how they finally meet was really quite something. Her bits of magic throughout are also haunting. 
• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. A beautiful and lyrical memoir and combining all of this knowledge together to connect ourselves to each other, the earth, and everything else.
• Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell. I loved everything about this book from the big cults to the little ones...I'm looking at you CrossFit and Peleton...it combined my love of language and cults all in one.
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I loved this book so much. So much heart and humanity and sciencing the shit out of everything.
• The Memory Thief and the Secrets Behind How We Remember: A Medical Mystery by Lauren Aguirre. This one opened my mind up on how certain type of drugs can affect our memories and also philosophically memories literally make us who we are and without them who are we? Loved how she combined science and a real medical mystery to discuss it all.
• My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Grahame Jones. This was brutal, poignant, and so lovely. His sequel comes out this fall! Eeek!
• The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis. An open wound on how we didn't respond to the pandemic and he exposes the system and how it really is setup for failure. Brutal but needed.
• The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward. I've been telling everyone to listen to this mind-blowing novel! Do it. The less you know the better.

Favorite Movies and TV shows: This one is really hard but I'll do my best...

• Free Guy: I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was...lots of philosophical stuff on free will and destiny and love.
• Black Widow: Loved everything. Funny and full of action.
• The Night House: Can Rebecca Hall do wrong? Well, maybe but this one was a knockout. Layers of grief, horror, all the stuff of nightmares.
• Midnight Mass on Netflix. So so creepy and quite the philosophical reversal. Loved it. It's one I'll rewatch yearly or close to it.
• Loki on Disney+. Disney is killing it with their TV shows from the marvel world.
• Luca. Hands down one of the best movies all year.
• Mare of Easttown on HBO was sooooo good.
• A Quiet Place II. Fantastic sequel. Can't wait for the final instalment!
• The Investigation: HBO docudrama on the investigation of Kim Wall's murder. Brilliant.
• Promising Young Woman: Brutal but I couldn't look away.
• Nomadland: Raw and just so human and beautiful. It's a must-see.
• Wolfwalkers: I lied this one is at the top or just under Luca.
• Sound of Metal. Brilliant performance by Riz Ahmed.
• Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised): Best documentary. It's on Hulu. Go watch it now.
• Mayday. Such a great film. Beautiful and haunting Indie.
• Ted Lasso on Apple. That is the feel-good TV series of a life-time.

That was a mouthful!

We all had a great Solstice, Christmas, and New Year's Eve. We met up with our friends in an Air Bnb for a few days to celebrate and see each other! It's been two years! They moved up to Washington a few years ago and so we've made an effort to get together at least once a year but then the pandemic... So it was great to see them again. The weather was terrible and the drive even worse but it was worth it. I think we'll try Spring or Fall instead next time!

Our snowed in status all week!
Playing games and getting crazy
Teenagers, anyone? lol

Books read in January:

Where the Dead Go to Die by Aaron Dries and Mark Allan Gunnells/ 2016/ 197 pages/ Kindle
Goodreads Summary:
There are monsters in this world. And they used to be us. Now it's time to euthanize to survive in a hospice where Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible.

Post-infection Chicago. Christmas.

Inside The Hospice, Emily and her fellow nurses do their rounds. Here, men and women live out their final days in comfort, segregated from society, and are then humanely terminated before fate turns them into marrow-craving monsters known as ‘Smilers.’ Outside these imposing walls, rabid protesters swarm with signs, caught up in the heat of their hatred.

Emily, a woman haunted by her past, only wants to do her job and be the best mother possible. But in a world where mortality means nothing, where guns are drawn in fear and nobody seems safe anymore – at what cost will this pursuit come? And through it all, the soon to be dead remain silent, ever smiling. Such is their curse.

This emotional, political novel comes from two of horror’s freshest voices, and puts a new spin on an eternal topic: the undead. In the spirit of George A Romero meets Jack Ketchum, Where the Dead Go to Die it is an unforgettable epilogue to the zombie genre, one that will leave you shaken and questioning right from wrong…even when it’s the only right left.

It won't be long before that snow-speckled ground will be salted by blood.
My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this take on the zombie genre...what if the incubation time took a really long time to "turn" people into actual brain-eating/wanna-eat-your-flesh creatures? This world it took them a little bit of time to realize this so a lot of almost-zombies died in the process, which upset their families, which in turn upset the politicians, etc. 
We join this world through Emily and her daughter and a special hospice facility where the turned go to live out their last days before they are "humanely killed" before they turn into the zombies we all know and "love." Lots of questions get brought up about what happens if we get too complacent about the monsters under our beds...? 
My only complaints are it was just too short. It really was a small slice into this world and I wanted more, more, and more. Also, the story takes place in the U.S. but the terms were British soooo...that also threw me out of the story. So I was left a bit disappointed overall. But I would still recommend it to anyone who loves a good zombie story. 

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey /2011/ 561 pages/ Paperback
Goodreads Summary:
Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach.

Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.

Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.

Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.
My Thoughts:
This is my third reading. And it is still as good as the other two times. Great start to space opera that is the world of The Expanse. The TV show on Prime is really great as well and the series and the books are both great and different in their own ways. So if you love sci-fi that is more on the dramatic side this one is for you.

Serafina and the Splintered Heart by Robert Beatty/ 2017/ 357 pages/ library
Goodreads Summary:
The storms are coming....

Something has happened to Serafina. She has awoken into a darkness she does not understand, scarred from a terrible battle, only to find that life at Biltmore Estate has changed in unimaginable ways. Old friends do unthinkable things and enemies seem all around.

A mysterious threat moves towards Biltmore, a force without a name, bringing with it violent storms and flooding that stands to uproot everything in its path. Serafina must uncover the truth about what has happened to her and find a way to harness her strange new powers before it's too late.

With only days to achieve the impossible, Serafina fights to reclaim herself as the Guardian of Biltmore, friend of Braeden, daughter of her Pa, and heroine of the Blue Ridge Mountains and all the folk and creatures that call it home.
My Thoughts:
This is the third book in the Serafina series. G and I have been reading them together and we both love them! Serafina and friend Braeden get into all sorts of troubles and this book is no different. Serafina's soul and body have been ripped into pieces by black magic and it's up to her, Braeden, and new friends and old foes to get her back together again and defeat the evil sorcerer. Beatty provides a haunting and beautiful background in the Blue Mountains at the turn of the 20th century. Great characters and mysteries abound. 

T: The Story of Testosterone and How it Dominates and Divides Us by Carole Hooven/ 2021/ 357 pages/ Scribd
Goodreads Summary:
Testosterone: Misunderstood. Mythologized. Controversial.

A Harvard evolutionary biologist debunks the myths and cultural stereotypes surrounding testosterone and reveals its far-reaching effects on gender and sexuality, sports, relationships, and many more aspects of our everyday lives.

The biological source of virility and masculinity has inspired fascination, investigation, and controversy since antiquity. From the eunuchs in the royal courts of ancient China to the booming market for “elixirs” of youth in nineteenth-century Europe, humans have been obsessed with identifying and manipulating what we now know as testosterone. And the trends show no signs of slowing down—the modern market for testosterone supplements is booming. Thanks to this history and the methods of modern science, today we have a rich body of research about testosterone’s effects in both men and women.

The science is clear: testosterone is a major, invisible player in our relationships, sex lives, athletic abilities, childhood play, gender transitions, parenting roles, violent crime, and so much more. But there is still a lot of pushback to the idea that it does, in fact, cause sex differences and significantly influence behavior.

Carole Hooven argues in T that acknowledging testosterone as a potent force in society doesn’t reinforce stifling gender norms or patriarchal values. Testosterone and evolution work together to produce a huge variety of human behavior, and that includes a multitude of ways to be masculine or feminine. Understanding the science sheds light on how we work and relate to one another, how we express anger and love, and how we can fight bias and problematic behavior to build a more fair society.
My Thoughts:
Loved this book. She's very clear and concise. She provides tons of science and the stories behind them. She doesn't have all the answers nor does she try to. But it's an open discussion with the science to begin. One of my favorite science books I've read in a long time.

Pride and Prejudice: An Annotated Edition by Jane Austen and edited by Patricia Meyer Spacks/ 2010/ 442 pages/ Hardcover
Goodreads Summary:
'Vanity, not love, has been my folly'

When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy, she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane, she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows, Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships, gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.
My Thoughts:
Reading an annotated edition of Pride and Prejudice was pure joy! So many little insights into the culture and archaic words. And insight into what Austen might have meant with certain phrases or reasons why certain characters may have said or done certain things. Pure joy. This is one that will be reread time and again!
Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey/ 2012/ 595 pages/ Paperback

Goodreads Summary:
We are not alone.

On Ganymede, breadbasket of the outer planets, a Martian marine watches as her platoon is slaughtered by a monstrous supersoldier. On Earth, a high-level politician struggles to prevent interplanetary war from reigniting. And on Venus, an alien protomolecule has overrun the planet, wreaking massive, mysterious changes and threatening to spread out into the solar system.

In the vast wilderness of space, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante have been keeping the peace for the Outer Planets Alliance. When they agree to help a scientist search war-torn Ganymede for a missing child, the future of humanity rests on whether a single ship can prevent an alien invasion that may have already begun . . .
My Thoughts:
This is the second book in The Expanse series and it's almost as good as the first! Lots of action and two new characters that I love! Yes.

Joining up with Deb from Readerbuzz and her Sunday Salon.

Book Review: The Memory Thief and the Secrets Behind How We Remember by Lauren Aguirre

The Memory Thief and the Secrets Behind How We Remember by Lauren Aguirre

Published: June 1st, 2021 by Pegasus Books

Genre: Nonfiction, Science

Format: Hardcover, 336 pages, library

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

The remarkable true story of a team of doctors who – through years of scientific sleuthing and observant care—discover a surprising connection between opioids and memory, one that holds promise and peril for any one of us.

How could you lose your memory overnight, and what would it mean? The day neurologist Jed Barash sees the baffling brain scan of a young patient with devastating amnesia marks the beginning of a quest to answer those questions. First detected in a cluster of stigmatized opioid overdose victims in Massachusetts with severe damage to the hippocampus—the brain’s memory center—this rare syndrome reveals how the tragic plight of the unfortunate few can open the door to advances in medical science.

After overcoming initial skepticism that investigating the syndrome is worth the effort—and that fentanyl is the likely culprit—Barash and a growing team of dedicated doctors explore the threat that people who take opioids chronically as prescribed to treat severe pain may gradually put their memories at risk. At the same time, they begin to grasp the potential for this syndrome to shed light on the most elusive memory thief of all—Alzheimer’s disease.

Through the prism of this fascinating story, Aguirre goes on to examine how researchers tease out the fundamental nature of memory and the many mysteries still to be solved. Where do memories live? Why do we forget most of what happens in a day but remember some events with stunning clarity years later? How real are our memories? And what purpose do they actually serve?

Perhaps the greatest mystery in The Memory Thief is why Alzheimer’s has evaded capture for a century even though it afflicts tens of millions around the world and lies in wait for millions more. Aguirre deftly explores this question and reveals promising new strategies and developments that may finally break the long stalemate in the fight against this dreaded disease.

But at its core, Aguirre’s genre-bending and deeply-reported book is about paying attention to the things that initially don’t make sense—like the amnestic syndrome—and how these mysteries can move science closer to an ever-evolving version of the truth.

My Thoughts:

Lauren Aguirre weaves the story of how a group of doctors look into a connection between opioid use and abuse and memory loss. We follow along with each and every doctor who saw something wasn't right and started to make connections and reach out. We also follow along with Owen, a man who'd life has been completely upended because of his amnesia.

It's also a crash course into how how brain makes memories and what happens when our brains don't do that anymore...the tale takes us to degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia and the possible genetic predispositions they may be there. And why are some brains more susceptible to hippocampus damage on opioids and not others?

To me it's also a story on the ingenuity of science, our brains, and scientists and doctors who keep it all going.

I really enjoyed following along with each doctor as they came to new insights and shared it with others. The science behind what they're doing and where it still needs to go. Also, Owen. Man. I cannot even imagine what he has to deal with every minute of every day. We get to see what he does to function without a brain able to hold onto memories!

Aguirre, even provides a few tips from the doctors to keep our brains healthy...sleep, consistent exercise, and eternal optimism and gratitude for the little things. I mean, we know this but it's backed by science! Science is good. Science is wise. Follow science.

Nonfiction Book Reviews: Braiding Sweetgrass...

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Published: October 15th, 2013 by Milkweed Editions

Genre: Nonfiction, Science

Format: Paperback, 391 Pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return. 

My Thoughts:

I loved everything about this book! She asks some tough questions about what it means to be apart of nature. How can we take what science has to offer and what her ancestors' wisdom has to offer us about how to take care Mother Earth? She weaves her own background, her ancestors' stories, science, and what plants can teach in how to do this.

Her first story is about Skywoman. She's fallen from the sky and immediately receives help from a goose, a turtle, until they realize she needs land to rest upon permanently. But no animal can make it all the way down to the bottom of the water to bring her some land...except for the muskrat, who sacrifices itself for her and brings up some mud only to lose its own life.

"Skywoman bent and spread the mud with her hands across the shell of the turtle. Moved by the extraordinary gifts of the animals, she sang in thanksgiving and then began to dance, her feet caressing the earth. The land grew and grew as she danced her thanks, form the dab of mud on Turtle's back until the whole earth was made. Not by Skywoman alone, but from the alchemy of all the animals' gifts coupled with her deep gratitude. Together they formed what we know today as Turtle Island, our home."

She compares this with another story from across the waters...a woman with a garden and a tree...

"But for tasting its fruit, she was banished from the garden and the gates clanged shut behind her. That mother of men was made to wander in the wilderness and earn her bread by the sweat of her brow, not by filling her mouth with the sweet juicy fruits that bend the branches low. In order to eat, she was instructed to subdue the wilderness into which she was cast."

"One story leads to the generous embrace of the living world, the other to banishment. One woman is our ancestral gardener, a cocreator of the good green world that would be the home of her descendants. The other was an exile, just passing through an alien world on a rough road to her real home in heaven...And then they met--the offspring of Skywoman and the children of Eve--and the land around us bears the scars of that meeting, the echoes of our stories."

Stories are powerful. This sets up the rest of the book. How do Westerners with creation stories like these respond to a land that our ancestors have taken? Do we listen to those who've cultivated for centuries and millennia or do we assume we know best because we take and never give back? How do we treat the earth like we are truly indigenous to it?

Each section and each essay within that section dissects exactly this. This is one I'll be going to again and again. I can't recommend it highly enough!

Source: Goodreads

Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes edited by David Roessel

Published: January 1st, 2006 by Sterling

Genre: Nonfiction, Poetry, Juvenile

Format: Hardcover, 48 Pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

My Thoughts:

I read this one aloud with G for Poetry month in April. We really enjoyed learning more about Langston Hughes and his poetry. The Illustrations were also vivid and dynamic. They really brought the poems to life. I love this Poetry for Young People series. I've never been a big poetry reader except for high school and a bit in college so I really love diving in this way.

Cosmic Queries by Neil deGrasse Tyson and James Trefil

Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going by James Trefil and Neil deGrasse Tyson

Published: March 2nd, 2021 by National Geographic

Genre: Nonfiction, Science, Astronomy

Format: Hardcover, 312 Pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

In this thought-provoking follow-up to his acclaimed StarTalk book, uber astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson tackles the world''s most important philosophical questions about the universe with wit, wisdom, and cutting-edge science.


For science geeks, space and physics nerds, and all who want to understand their place in the universe, this enlightening new book from Neil deGrasse Tyson offers a unique take on the mysteries and curiosities of the cosmos, building on rich material from his beloved StarTalk podcast.


In these illuminating pages, illustrated with dazzling photos and revealing graphics, Tyson and co-author James Trefil, a renowned physicist and science popularizer, take on the big questions that humanity has been posing for millennia--How did life begin? What is our place in the universe? Are we alone?--and provide answers based on the most current data, observations, and theories.


Populated with paradigm-shifting discoveries that help explain the building blocks of astrophysics, this relatable and entertaining book will engage and inspire readers of all ages, bring sophisticated concepts within reach, and offer a window into the complexities of the cosmos.


For all who loved National Geographic''s StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos: Possible Worlds, and Space Atlas, this new book will take them on more journeys into the wonders of the universe and beyond.

My Thoughts:

This is another great science book on our Universe! Tyson and his co-author are humorous and informative. There are a lot of beautiful pics throughout each chapter along with gorgeous paintings and art recreations of things in our Universe.

The chapters are broken down into easily digestible chunks. We get a sense of our place in the Universe, some history on how we know that. They talk about the fundamental building blocks of everything as well. I think I can safely say what Dark Matter acts like in relation to Dark Energy. DM is like gravity; it pulls. DE is the opposite and things are flung out instead of being drawn in. Boom. I feel smart.

It's also part history lesson on really cool people doing the hard things and helping us understand our world better through science!

And every book on space needs a little space for the end of the Universes stuff.

I had a lot of fun reading it. And I'm putting it on my coffee table for future reference and to look at those pics again. I highly recommend it if you at all interested in how the Universe works and space and science.

I read this for my 2021 Nonfiction Reading Challenge in the published in 2021 prompt.

Non-fiction Mini Book Reviews: Wow, No Thank You

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

Published: March 31st, 2020 by Vintage

Genre: Nonfiction, Essays

Format: Audiobook, 10 hours and 3 minutes, Audible

Rating: 3.5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

A new essay collection from Samantha Irby about aging, marriage, settling down with step-children in white, small-town America.

Irby is turning forty, and increasingly uncomfortable in her own skin. She has left her job as a receptionist at a veterinary clinic, has published successful books and is courted by Hollywood, left Chicago, and moved into a house with a garden that requires repairs and know-how with her wife and two step-children in a small white, Republican town in Michigan where she now hosts book clubs. This is the bourgeois life of dreams. She goes on bad dates with new friends, spends weeks in Los Angeles taking meetings with "skinny, luminous peoples" while being a "cheese fry-eating slightly damp Midwest person," "with neck pain and no cartilage in [her] knees," and hides Entenmann's cookies under her bed and unopened bills under her pillow.

My Thoughts:

Irby's essays are a breath of fresh air. We're also the same age so her thoughts about the 90s and aging are very relevant to me! Her essays on relationships and her work on Shrill were spot on. I do think her essays from her last book were overall, a bit better but I still enjoyed most of them. Always a great time.

Read this for my 2021 Nonfiction Challenge essay prompt

Stay Curious! A Brief History of Stephen Hawking by Kathleen Krull

Published: September 22nd, 2020 by Crown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Nonfiction, Children, Biography, Science

Format: Hardcover, 40 Pages, Library

Rating: 4 stars

My Thoughts:

This is a great children's book on the life of Stephen Hawking and his contributions to science. I enjoyed the illustrations and the easy-to-understand ideas.

The Great Courses: The Life and Works of Jane Austen by Devoney Looser (2021)

My Thoughts:

I love the Great Courses. They are easy-to-understand ideas about all sorts of things. One of their recent courses is Looser's course on Jane Austen. It is fantastic! If you love anything about Jane Austen and her works, this is a must watch/listen. She breaks down each work, her juvenilia, her novella, and unfinished works, and letters. She talks about history, manners, her present-day authors, customs, and manners of her time. I already want to listen again to keep up this knowledge. It made me want reread all of her works this year and branch out into some of her unfinished works...

The Great Courses: Myths, Lies, and Half-truths of Language Usage by John McWhorter (2012)

My Thoughts:

McWhorter entertains us with all sorts of ideas about language and how it has been used, how it changes, and how it's being used today. I always enjoy all his courses and books on language.

Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier by Jim Ottaviani

Published: February 4th, 2020 by First Second

Genre: Nonfiction, Graphic Novel, Juvenile, Science, Biography

Format: Paperback, 176 Pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

In the graphic novel Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier, Jim Ottaviani and illustrator Maris Wicks capture the great humor and incredible drive of Mary Cleave, Valentina Tereshkova, and the first women in space.

The U.S. may have put the first man on the moon, but it was the Soviet space program that made Valentina Tereshkova the first woman in space. It took years to catch up, but soon NASA’s first female astronauts were racing past milestones of their own. The trail-blazing women of Group 9, NASA’s first mixed gender class, had the challenging task of convincing the powers that be that a woman’s place is in space, but they discovered that NASA had plenty to learn about how to make space travel possible for everyone.

My Thoughts:

This is a fantastic graphic novel history on the first American women astronauts. He shares lots of different stories, and the history of space flight in general, even throwing in Russia and their space program. It's interesting, has fun illustrations, and also is an entertaining history on real women. And it really highlights why having diversity and men and women both at the table is an absolute must. It's really hard to imagine something outside of your experience. The engineers and scientists had no clue about how to handle women in space. And it's just pure pleasure to see how these amazing women handle it all. Highly recommended!

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks

Published: April 2nd, 1998 (originally published 1985) by Touchstone

Genre: Nonfiction, Science

Format: Paperback, 243 Pages, Own

Rating: 2.5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it. Dr. Oliver Sacks recounts the stories of patients struggling to adapt to often bizarre worlds of neurological disorder. Here are people who can no longer recognize everyday objects or those they love; who are stricken with violent tics or shout involuntary obscenities; who have been dismissed as autistic or retarded, yet are gifted with uncanny artistic or mathematical talents. If inconceivably strange, these brilliant tales illuminate what it means to be human. 

My Thoughts:

While I truly appreciate what Sacks was trying to do here...I think this was one of the first books of this kind of nature, at least in this format and being super readable for the lay-person...but his style was off-putting for me. He waxes philosophical on his patients and his patients end up being fodder for his musings. I do not assume that was what he meant to do. But it is how it came off for me and it was very off-putting. His patients all suffered from some very serious conditions and his descriptions came off a bit trite and "no big deal" but look what I learned about being human! Like I said, I think it's a tone thing. Plus it was originally written in the late 70s and early 80s so there are a lot of references to insensitive to our modern-day thinking about people with disabilities...Which I can overlook, but the style...it was a rough read for me. I've hear his other clinical tale books are a lot better. So I'll try him one more time...

Read this for my 2021 Nonfiction Challenge disease prompt

Mars Rover Perseverance Lands Today!

I have some work to do but once 12:15 MST hits today, I will be watching with baited breath! Check out all the resources for the rover from Nasa!

Here's a look at the tests they ran to help ensure a smooth landing today for Perseverance! 

Mini Book Reviews: Nonfiction: Freedom Is a Constant Struggle, Invincible Microbe, Spillover...

Here's the nonfiction I've read over the last couple of months...

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis

Published: August 17th, 2015 by Haymarket Books

Genre: Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir

Format: Audible, 5 Hours and 47 minutes, Own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world.

Reflecting on the importance of black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's struggles, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles, from the Black Freedom Movement to the South African anti-Apartheid movement. She highlights connections and analyzes today's struggles against state terror, from Ferguson to Palestine.

Facing a world of outrageous injustice, Davis challenges us to imagine and build the movement for human liberation. And in doing so, she reminds us that "Freedom is a constant struggle."

My Thoughts:

Excellent. I loved listening to Ms. Davis. I saw her do a lecture/Q&A at a local university a few years ago when this came out. I loved hearing her story. We have a long way to go. The main thing I got besides freedom is a constant struggle, was how we need to understand the global perspective and how it all affects us. Global movements are our movements. Our circle of empathy needs to stretch globally.

My only complaint with the audio book version is it was hard to follow Ms. Davis in the interview transcripts. She read both the interviewer and herself and it was very difficult to figure out who and what while listening.

And there is nuance with the Israeli and Palestinian conflict that she didn't discuss. But I understand that wasn't the focus of the essay or speech she used.

Overall, a fantastic collection of her thoughts and ideas. She's very inspiring.

Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-ending Search for a Cure by Jim Murphy

Published: July 12th, 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Genre: Nonfiction, Science, History, Medicine

Format: Paperback, 160 Pages, Own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

This is the story of a killer that has been striking people down for thousands of years: tuberculosis. After centuries of ineffective treatments, the microorganism that causes TB was identified, and the cure was thought to be within reach—but drug-resistant varieties continue to plague and panic the human race.

The “biography” of this deadly germ, an account of the diagnosis, treatment, and “cure” of the disease over time,and the social history of an illness that could strike anywhere but was most prevalent among the poor are woven together in an engrossing, carefully researched narrative. Bibliography, source notes, index.

My Thoughts:

I read this out loud with G. I wanted to learn with him more about germs and how tuberculosis was brought under control with antibiotics. But I did not know that tuberculosis was still a force to be reckoned with. There are super resistant strains that need to be killed with ever-more powerful antibiotics. It's a devastating disease. It was a great summary for kids and teens and people in general who don't know a lot about tuberculosis and its lasting devastation.

Spillover: Animal Infections and the Human Pandemic by David Quammen

Published: September 24th, 2012 by W.W. Norton Company

Genre: Nonfiction, Science, Medicine

Format: Kindle, 592 Pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

Ebola, SARS, Hendra, AIDS, and countless other deadly viruses all have one thing in common: the bugs that transmit these diseases all originate in wild animals and pass to humans by a process called spillover. In this gripping account, David Quammen takes the reader along on this astonishing quest to learn how, where from, and why these diseases emerge and asks the terrifying question: What might the next big one be? 

My Thoughts:

Well, we know what the next one is... a coronavirus SARS-COV-2 and its disease Covid-19. He talks about SARS in the early portions of the book. I actually started this one the weekend we started quarantining. Talk about surreal.

Quammen is a fantastic science writer. He actually travels around the world and talks to the scientists and epidemiologists involved with each of these diseases. He talks about his experiences and uses those to talk about the topic at-hand. I learned so much about AIDS and HIV and where it probably first made spillover in the early 1900s and where and why.

"Zoonosis is an animal infection transmissible to humans. Pondering them as a group tends to reaffirm the old Darwinian truth (the darkest of his truths, well known and persistently forgotten) that humanity is a kind of animal, inextricably connected with other animals: in origin and in descent, in sickness and in health."

"Make no mistake, they are connected, these disease outbreaks coming one after another. And they are not simply happening to us; they represent the unintended results of things we are doing. They reflect the convergence of two forms of crisis on our planet... first crisis is ecological, the second is medical.

Human-caused ecological pressures and disruptions are bringing animal pathogens ever more into contact with human populations, while human technology and behavior are spreading those pathogens ever more widely and quickly."

The rest of the book delves into detail how and why we are doing this and how we are our own worst enemies if we don't do more to change our ways.

Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World by Laura Spinney

Published: June 1st, 2017 by PublicAffairs

Genre: Nonfiction, Science, Medicine, History

Format: Paperback, 352 Pages, Own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

In 1918, the Italian-Americans of New York, the Yupik of Alaska and the Persians of Mashed had almost nothing in common except for a virus--one that triggered the worst pandemic of modern times and had a decisive effect on the history of the twentieth century.
The Spanish flu of 1918-1920 was one of the greatest human disasters of all time. It infected a third of the people on Earth--from the poorest immigrants of New York City to the king of Spain, Franz Kafka, Mahatma Gandhi and Woodrow Wilson. But despite a death toll of between 50 and 100 million people, it exists in our memory as an afterthought to World War I.
In this gripping narrative history, Laura Spinney traces the overlooked pandemic to reveal how the virus travelled across the globe, exposing mankind's vulnerability and putting our ingenuity to the test. As socially significant as both world wars, the Spanish flu dramatically disrupted--and often permanently altered--global politics, race relations and family structures, while spurring innovation in medicine, religion and the arts. It was partly responsible, Spinney argues, for pushing India to independence, South Africa to apartheid and Switzerland to the brink of civil war. It also created the true "lost generation." Drawing on the latest research in history, virology, epidemiology, psychology and economics, Pale Rider masterfully recounts the little-known catastrophe that forever changed humanity.

My Thoughts:

This just touches on the history of the Spanish Flu through various parts around the world that dealt with it. We get the U.S., the frontlines of war in France, China, Brazil, etc. She talks about three or four possible scenarios of where the spillover happened and how it could have spread and why. The last section focuses on how it changed the world culturally. How did artists and writers and architects change after surviving and experiencing this devastating pandemic?

It's very short on the ground. It doesn't focus on any one country but just small parts everywhere. But I appreciated the jump from place to place and a story or two to humanize it. There are so many books on the Spanish Flu that I'm sure I'll find one to go into more detail.

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English by John McWhorter

Published: October 1st, 2008 by Gotham Books

Genre: Nonfiction, Language, History

Format: Kindle, 230 Pages, Own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

A survey of the quirks and quandaries of the English language, focusing on our strange and wonderful grammar

Why do we say "I am reading a catalog" instead of "I read a catalog"? Why do we say "do" at all? Is the way we speak a reflection of our cultural values? Delving into these provocative topics and more, Our Magnificent Bastard Language distills hundreds of years of fascinating lore into one lively history.

Covering such turning points as the little-known Celtic and Welsh influences on English, the impact of the Viking raids and the Norman Conquest, and the Germanic invasions that started it all during the fifth century ad, John McWhorter narrates this colorful evolution with vigor. Drawing on revolutionary genetic and linguistic research as well as a cache of remarkable trivia about the origins of English words and syntax patterns, Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue ultimately demonstrates the arbitrary, maddening nature of English--and its ironic simplicity due to its role as a streamlined lingua franca during the early formation of Britain. This is the book that language aficionados worldwide have been waiting for (and no, it's not a sin to end a sentence with a preposition). 

My Thoughts:

I am a huge fan of John McWhorter. I've read one of his books before this and I've enjoyed his Great Courses series on all-things linguistics. I got my Bachelor's in Linguistics so I love me some language stuff. I've taken two courses on English language history and his two main ideas he focuses on in this book, I'd never ever heard before! He blew my mind. Things that were weird about English now kind of make sense. I recommend reading this with another book on the history of English, one that gives a more detailed history and then his book just adds another layer.

He also has such a dry and funny humor; he just made me laugh out loud a few times. He's got dad jokes all throughout....

Mini Book Reviews: Non-fiction Edition

Letters from an Astrophysicist by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Published: October 8th, 2019 by W.W. Norton Company

Genre: Nonfiction, Essays, Memoir/biography

Format: Audiobook, 5 hours, 35 minutes, Own

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

The natural follow-up to the phenomenal bestseller Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has attracted one of the world’s largest online followings with his fascinating, widely accessible insights into science and our universe. Now, Tyson invites us to go behind the scenes of his public fame by unveiling his candid correspondence with people across the globe who have sought him out in search of answers. In this hand-picked collection of one hundred letters, Tyson draws upon cosmic perspectives to address a vast array of questions about science, faith, philosophy, life, and of course, Pluto. His succinct, opinionated, passionate, and often funny responses reflect his popularity and standing as a leading educator.

Tyson’s 2017 bestseller Astrophysics for People in a Hurry offered more than one million readers an insightful and accessible understanding of the universe. Now, revealing Tyson’s most candid and heartfelt writing yet, Letters from an Astrophysicist introduces us to a newly personal dimension of Tyson’s quest to understand our place in the cosmos.

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this one so much, I listened to it twice. The second time was with the family while driving up and back from Boise over New Year's. Neil deGrasse Tyson narrates his own book and it's just lovely. He breaks up the letters into categories, and they span all the way back before 9/11 to a year or two ago. His letter to his father and his description of his experience of 9/11 while in New York were especially touching. His love of science and people is inspiring and one I will probably listen to yearly!

Source

Avoiding Clickbait by Kristin Thiel

Published: January 15th, 2019 by Cavendish Square Company

Genre: Nonfiction, Juvenile, Critical Thinking

Format: Hardback, 64 pages, Library

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

As digital natives attempt to navigate news sources, media literacy is more important than ever. Understanding who is behind different forms of clickbait like posts, articles, and ads, and the motivation behind this content, is a critical part of distinguishing reputable sources of information from distorted or false information. This must-have volume examines the roots of modern clickbait in the sensationalism of yellow journalism, while guiding readers through the process of recognizing clickbait and reacting to it in savvy ways.

My Thoughts:

I read this one aloud with G. We were able to talk about online safety and how to spot clickbait and why it happens. They go into a bit about the psychology behind it and why it happens. There is a whole series devoted to media literacy and we are on the second book. It's a great series for kids and has lots of resources to check out and learn more as well.

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Bomb: The Race to Build--And Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

Published: September 4th, 2012 by Flash Point

Genre: Nonfiction, Young Adult, History

Format: Hardback, 266 pages, Library

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: When placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned 3 continents. In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy-water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at a remote site at Los Alamos. This is the story of the plotting, the risk-taking, the deceit, and genius that created the world's most formidable weapon. This is the story of the atomic bomb.

Bomb is a 2012 National Book Awards finalist for Young People's Literature.
Bomb is a 2012 Washington Post Best Kids Books of the Year title.

Bomb is a 2013 Newbery Honor book.

My Thoughts:

I read this for Battle of the Books for G's school. I was thoroughly engaged! I enjoy getting my history from middle grade and young adult books. They know how to get the best stories and to tell the facts in an interesting way.

I had no idea about how the Russians stole the plans for the atomic bomb. We learned why people got involved with the bomb project and how the Germans were sabotaged so they couldn't make the bomb first. So many fascinating tidbits. There are some great photos inside too.

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Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death by Caitlin Doughty

Published: September 10th, 2019 by W.W. Norton Company

Genre: Nonfiction, Science, Essays, Biology

Format: Kindle, 222 pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

Best-selling author and mortician Caitlin Doughty answers real questions from kids about death, dead bodies, and decomposition.

Every day, funeral director Caitlin Doughty receives dozens of questions about death. What would happen to an astronaut’s body if it were pushed out of a space shuttle? Do people poop when they die? Can Grandma have a Viking funeral?

In Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, Doughty blends her mortician’s knowledge of the body and the intriguing history behind common misconceptions about corpses to offer factual, hilarious, and candid answers to thirty-five distinctive questions posed by her youngest fans. In her inimitable voice, Doughty details lore and science of what happens to, and inside, our bodies after we die. Why do corpses groan? What causes bodies to turn colors during decomposition? And why do hair and nails appear longer after death? Readers will learn the best soil for mummifying your body, whether you can preserve your best friend’s skull as a keepsake, and what happens when you die on a plane. Beautifully illustrated by Dianné Ruz, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? shows us that death is science and art, and only by asking questions can we begin to embrace it.

My Thoughts:

I read this one aloud with G last month. It was a hoot. It does go into some technical detail about the processes of death. Putrefaction. Can you put your parents' skull on your desk after they die? What about the cat?! Will she eat my eyeballs? The questions are fun and Ms. Doughty answers with clarity and humor. There are even fun illustrations throughout each chapter. This was definitely one of my favorite science books last year and one of my faves reading with G.

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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb

Published: April 2nd, 2019 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Self-help

Format: Kindle, 432 pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

From a New York Times best-selling author, psychotherapist, and national advice columnist, a hilarious, thought-provoking, and surprising new book that takes us behind the scenes of a therapist's world--where her patients are looking for answers (and so is she).

One day, Lori Gottlieb is a therapist who helps patients in her Los Angeles practice. The next, a crisis causes her world to come crashing down. Enter Wendell, the quirky but seasoned therapist in whose office she suddenly lands. With his balding head, cardigan, and khakis, he seems to have come straight from Therapist Central Casting. Yet he will turn out to be anything but.

As Gottlieb explores the inner chambers of her patients' lives -- a self-absorbed Hollywood producer, a young newlywed diagnosed with a terminal illness, a senior citizen threatening to end her life on her birthday if nothing gets better, and a twenty-something who can't stop hooking up with the wrong guys -- she finds that the questions they are struggling with are the very ones she is now bringing to Wendell.

With startling wisdom and humor, Gottlieb invites us into her world as both clinician and patient, examining the truths and fictions we tell ourselves and others as we teeter on the tightrope between love and desire, meaning and mortality, guilt and redemption, terror and courage, hope and change.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone is revolutionary in its candor, offering a deeply personal yet universal tour of our hearts and minds and providing the rarest of gifts: a boldly revealing portrait of what it means to be human, and a disarmingly funny and illuminating account of our own mysterious lives and our power to transform them.

My Thoughts:

I loved getting inside a therapist's head. What's the training? How can I use this in my own life? How can I use this with my own therapist?! I loved how she intertwined her story, along with her own therapist, and the stories of her clients. So much info and things to think about. This is one I'll be returning to. I also want to know which show her client wrote for! OMG! It's killing me.

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They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, Justing Eisinger, and Steve Scott 

Published: July 16th, 2019 by Top Shelf Productions

Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, History, Graphic Novel

Format: Kindle, 208 pages, Own

Rating: 5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

A graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei's childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon -- and America itself.

Long before George Takei braved new frontiers in Star Trek, he woke up as a four-year-old boy to find his own birth country at war with his father's -- and their entire family forced from their home into an uncertain future.

In 1942, at the order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, every person of Japanese descent on the west coast was rounded up and shipped to one of ten "relocation centers," hundreds or thousands of miles from home, where they would be held for years under armed guard.

They Called Us Enemy is Takei's firsthand account of those years behind barbed wire, the joys and terrors of growing up under legalized racism, his mother's hard choices, his father's faith in democracy, and the way those experiences planted the seeds for his astonishing future.

My Thoughts:

This was such a beautiful book. Gorgeously illustrated and written. George Takei knocks it out of the park with his graphic memoir. I read this one aloud with G as well over the holidays. He couldn't get enough of it and we read it until it was done over the course of just a few nights. I felt it was important to talk about the illegal detainment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. And having a first-hand experience to read and talk about made it powerful. This should be a must-read in schools.