What a fascinating book Sy Montgomery's The Soul of an Octopus - A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness (#804) is! It's not quite a straight nature book, (even though she makes octopuses downright appealing!), and it's not a dry text on philosophy either, but rather an amalgam of the two as she meditates on the souls and personalities of the octopuses she's met.
After reading Ms. Montgomery's book even the most skeptical of critics would have to concede that the creatures profiled here do, indeed, have distinct and separate personalities. Most of her encounters took place at the New England Aquarium in Boston, a place familiar to me from my days of student teaching there. Octavia and Kali, Karma and Athena all come to life on the pages and in photos. Their ability to camouflage themselves in changing color displays, their skills as escape artists and their intelligence in solving puzzles are all so interesting that I know the next time I visit an aquarium with octopuses on display, I will be spending a lot more time in front of their tanks.
But the bond Ms. Montgomery formed with these sea creatures led her to wonder what they think of us; how do they perceive us? Can they tell through their chemo receptors what we are feeling emotionally or physically? Her observations have led her to believe that they do, on some level. That in fact, they may have more in common with us than previously believed, especially considering their appearance in many cultures' ancient mythology. It's certainly worth pondering.
Thursday, January 31, 2019
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Garlic and Sapphires
Ruth Reichl's memoir of her time as the New York Times Food Critic, Garlic and Sapphires (#803) has traveled with me to Asia, Australia, and a number of times to Europe as on each trip I think "This time I'll get to read it!" In the end, it turns out it was my book club that provided the excuse.
Reading about how the upper 1% dines was certainly entertaining; oh, to be one of Ruth's dining companions/guests on her professional visits! But even more interesting was the way she adopted different characters to do her work, so that she could visit the restaurants being reviewed in the guise of an ordinary person. She inhabited the disguise, and in many cases, her friends, family and colleagues did not like the person she became, adding yet another intriguing layer to this memoir.
If you've ever dreamt about being a restaurant critic yourself, this book might change your mind. It isn't as easy as it appears on the surface. Ruth Reichl has provided a peephole into that rarefied atmosphere. At least you won't gain any weight reading her descriptions of the rich meals!
Reading about how the upper 1% dines was certainly entertaining; oh, to be one of Ruth's dining companions/guests on her professional visits! But even more interesting was the way she adopted different characters to do her work, so that she could visit the restaurants being reviewed in the guise of an ordinary person. She inhabited the disguise, and in many cases, her friends, family and colleagues did not like the person she became, adding yet another intriguing layer to this memoir.
If you've ever dreamt about being a restaurant critic yourself, this book might change your mind. It isn't as easy as it appears on the surface. Ruth Reichl has provided a peephole into that rarefied atmosphere. At least you won't gain any weight reading her descriptions of the rich meals!
Monday, January 28, 2019
Cry of the Kalahari
After we read Where the Crawdads Sing (See my post of 12/30/18.) by Delia Owens, one of my book club friends talked about a book that had made a huge impression on her a number of years ago: Cry of the Kalahari - An American Couple's Seven Years in Africa's Last Great Wilderness (#802) by Mark and Delia Owens. She had lived in Africa for a number of years serving in the Peace Corps and was familiar with their work. Our local library doesn't own a copy, but I was able to obtain one through inter library loan.
Although I found this book interesting, by the end I found myself anxious to be done with it. I even skipped reading the acknowledgements and Appendices at the end of the book, a rarity for me; I generally read everything. I can't quite put my finger on why this was so. Although both Mark and Delia contribute chapters, the preponderance of the book was written by Mark. Maybe I don't find his voice as appealing as Delia's, or perhaps, towards the end, the narrative veered away from anecdotes about the Owens' time in Botswana towards a more clinical scientific observational style of animal behaviors. That was certainly an outgrowth of their time spent in the wilderness on their own, but to a casual reader like me, considerably less interesting, even if the results of their observations are horrifying, spelling the end of a centuries-old way of life.
It was really a wonder to me, reading this memoir, that either of them managed to survive for seven years in the Kalahari Desert, with no resources to speak of, on a starvation diet with no hope initially of even getting funding for their projects. Their encounters with assorted predators - jackals, brown hyenas, leopards, wild dogs and lions among them- are astounding to read. Life in the wild ultimately outshone anything they could hope for in "civilization". Yet even the Owens could read the future in the blue plastic mineral prospector's ribbons tied to the trees in Deception Valley, and it did not bode well for the animals around them. It's a sobering read.
Although I found this book interesting, by the end I found myself anxious to be done with it. I even skipped reading the acknowledgements and Appendices at the end of the book, a rarity for me; I generally read everything. I can't quite put my finger on why this was so. Although both Mark and Delia contribute chapters, the preponderance of the book was written by Mark. Maybe I don't find his voice as appealing as Delia's, or perhaps, towards the end, the narrative veered away from anecdotes about the Owens' time in Botswana towards a more clinical scientific observational style of animal behaviors. That was certainly an outgrowth of their time spent in the wilderness on their own, but to a casual reader like me, considerably less interesting, even if the results of their observations are horrifying, spelling the end of a centuries-old way of life.
It was really a wonder to me, reading this memoir, that either of them managed to survive for seven years in the Kalahari Desert, with no resources to speak of, on a starvation diet with no hope initially of even getting funding for their projects. Their encounters with assorted predators - jackals, brown hyenas, leopards, wild dogs and lions among them- are astounding to read. Life in the wild ultimately outshone anything they could hope for in "civilization". Yet even the Owens could read the future in the blue plastic mineral prospector's ribbons tied to the trees in Deception Valley, and it did not bode well for the animals around them. It's a sobering read.
Monday, January 21, 2019
No Sunscreen For The Dead
I always look forward to cracking open a Serge A. Storm adventure from the creative pen of Tim Dorsey. In No Sunscreen For The Dead, (#801) Serge's focus is on Florida's many retirement communities. He starts off with a visit to the mother of them all, The Villages. I was ready to go with that, since I personally think The Villages is like The Stepford Wives for Seniors. The one time I went to visit friends there, I couldn't get out fast enough! But Serge, in pursuit of the knowledge and living history Seniors hold in their memories, is soon off to the Tampa area, and the fictitious Boca Shores Retirement Community.
While Serge and his sidekick Coleman are teasing amazing stories from their new found friends, the local news is reporting on a rash of senior citizen murder-suicides throughout Florida. It doesn't seem relevant until it happens at Boca Shores. Serge is on the job, after proving himself by getting massive refunds for residents who have been scammed, persuading park ownership to change ridiculous rules and leading the Boca residents on fun-filled field trips. When he tracks down what is really behind these murders for his friends, the government owes him big time.
This outing contained a really good mystery while, as usual, showcasing some unique Florida history and historic spots. And rather than making the senior citizens featured in this book the butt of his jokes, Mr. Dorsey, like Serge A. Storms, shows his genuine affection for these elders living among us. They have a lot to share, and in No Sunscreen For The Dead, they are given a chance to shine. Thanks, Tim Dorsey!
While Serge and his sidekick Coleman are teasing amazing stories from their new found friends, the local news is reporting on a rash of senior citizen murder-suicides throughout Florida. It doesn't seem relevant until it happens at Boca Shores. Serge is on the job, after proving himself by getting massive refunds for residents who have been scammed, persuading park ownership to change ridiculous rules and leading the Boca residents on fun-filled field trips. When he tracks down what is really behind these murders for his friends, the government owes him big time.
This outing contained a really good mystery while, as usual, showcasing some unique Florida history and historic spots. And rather than making the senior citizens featured in this book the butt of his jokes, Mr. Dorsey, like Serge A. Storms, shows his genuine affection for these elders living among us. They have a lot to share, and in No Sunscreen For The Dead, they are given a chance to shine. Thanks, Tim Dorsey!
Thursday, January 17, 2019
The Hello Girls - America's First Women Soldiers
I first heard about The Hello Girls - America's First Women Soldiers (#800) while listening to NPR, and requested our library system purchase a copy of Elizabeth Cobbs' non-fiction book. During World War I when General Black Jack Pershing desperately needed experienced and skilled switchboard operators for his vital battlefield communications, he had the brilliant idea of recruiting the female telephone operators who were running the myriad of switchboards all over the United States. What Pershing wanted for the War effort, Pershing got.
This book tells the story of how that thought became a reality against all odds, and of the brave women who volunteered to serve their country in uniform and overseas in combat conditions, winning the respect of those with whom they served, and whose very lives they held in their hands as they asked (bilingually in French and English!) "Number, please." Time was of the essence in making these connections, and the Hello Girls were conspicuously faster and more efficient in making them happen than their male counterparts.
Since these daring women took an oath to serve in the Army Signal Corps, once Armistice was declared in November, 1918, many were retained overseas for further service. The last Hello Girl would not be discharged until 1920.
For many, that is when their problems began, as the War Department refused to recognize their military status. That meant they were denied the honors and medals, medical services, bonuses and military burials which were granted to other returning veterans. Their fight for recognition as military personnel and official discharges would last almost a century.
Ms. Cobbs has placed the Hello Girls' story in the context of the times; the fight for woman suffrage and women's equality in general. These issues are inextricably linked, and these female soldiers' story could not be adequately told without understanding the background and social issues of the times. Though many of these Signal Corps Girls could not yet vote during their term of service overseas, they and other female war workers helped pave the way for the changes to come that we now take for granted.
It's an amazing and eye-opening story of a brave, patriotic cadre of women who led the vanguard for the valued role of today's female service members.
This book tells the story of how that thought became a reality against all odds, and of the brave women who volunteered to serve their country in uniform and overseas in combat conditions, winning the respect of those with whom they served, and whose very lives they held in their hands as they asked (bilingually in French and English!) "Number, please." Time was of the essence in making these connections, and the Hello Girls were conspicuously faster and more efficient in making them happen than their male counterparts.
Since these daring women took an oath to serve in the Army Signal Corps, once Armistice was declared in November, 1918, many were retained overseas for further service. The last Hello Girl would not be discharged until 1920.
For many, that is when their problems began, as the War Department refused to recognize their military status. That meant they were denied the honors and medals, medical services, bonuses and military burials which were granted to other returning veterans. Their fight for recognition as military personnel and official discharges would last almost a century.
Ms. Cobbs has placed the Hello Girls' story in the context of the times; the fight for woman suffrage and women's equality in general. These issues are inextricably linked, and these female soldiers' story could not be adequately told without understanding the background and social issues of the times. Though many of these Signal Corps Girls could not yet vote during their term of service overseas, they and other female war workers helped pave the way for the changes to come that we now take for granted.
It's an amazing and eye-opening story of a brave, patriotic cadre of women who led the vanguard for the valued role of today's female service members.
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Indianapolis - The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man
In Indianapolis (#799) co-authors Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic do the seemingly impossible; they lay out the facts of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis just before the end of World War II, the hideous ordeal suffered by the survivors of the ship, and the subsequent Navy court martial of its commander, Captain Charles McVay while simultaneously making the modern reader care about events and injustices that occurred more than seventy years ago and just recently at long last, put to rights.
I must admit, I was not familiar with the fate of the USS Indianapolis and its crew before hearing the buzz about this book, but her story is utterly absorbing, tragic, heroic and a travesty, all at the same time. On July 30, 1945, after delivering a highly secret cargo to the remote Pacific island of Tinian, the Indianapolis was given orders to sail to Guam, where she was expected to join in the Naval forces preparing an assault on the Japanese home islands to bring an end to the war. Despite intel available to Naval routing staff there of creditable reports of Japanese subs near the route the Indy was given, Captain McVay was told there was "nothing to worry about" and sent off to Guam without even an escort vessel, which would have been the norm. When she was torpedoed and sunk by Japanese sub I-58, no-one reported that she never made port on her expected arrival date. If her oil slick had not been accidentally spotted by an American pilot, its crew of nearly twelve hundred men would never have been rescued because no one was looking for her. As it was, only 316 of her crew survived after five days of dehydration, starvation, shark attacks and blistering sun during the day and hypothermia at night.
A few days after the rescue, the Navy convened an Inquiry into the incident in Guam. Higher ups decided to recommend Captain McVay for court martial. For that court martial, the prosecuting Naval JAG officer called Mochitsura Hashimoto, captain of the I-58, to Washington to testify against McVay, an action that outraged most Americans. Yet the ultimate decision of the court martial placed a black mark on McVay's record despite the backing of the crew of the Indianapolis. It took the efforts of the Indy Survivor's Group, Captain William Toti, the captain of the USS Indianapolis, the nuclear sub namesake of the sunken battle cruiser, a determined schoolboy from Florida with the backing of Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire and a surprising letter to Senator Mark Warner of Virginia to tip the balance in McVay's favor and redress the injustices that had been committed. Captain McVay was assigned sole blame for the loss of his ship; yet plenty of responsibility for the fiasco of the crew's non-rescue lies squarely on the shoulders of many in the Navy brass, none of whom were ever held accountable. It's an astonishing story.
How serendipitous to see that a documentary about the underwater discovery of the USS Indianapolis in 2017 was being aired on our local PBS station just after my husband and I finished reading this book! It truly is fascinating to see how well-preserved the vessel is in her grave three and half miles below the surface. Since it is the tomb of so many sailors and marines, it is undisturbed as a grave site. Remarkably, some of the survivors of that night are still alive, and were shown footage of the Indy in her final resting place to help bring closure to them and their families. It's very moving to watch, if you have the opportunity.
I wasn't kidding about this book being weighty, though; literally! Although I prefer reading a paper copy of non-fiction books like this so I can page back and forth to photos, maps, etc., this book may be difficult for some readers to hold comfortably. But whether you read it in paper or e-book format, this is a piece of American history that deserves to be read.
I must admit, I was not familiar with the fate of the USS Indianapolis and its crew before hearing the buzz about this book, but her story is utterly absorbing, tragic, heroic and a travesty, all at the same time. On July 30, 1945, after delivering a highly secret cargo to the remote Pacific island of Tinian, the Indianapolis was given orders to sail to Guam, where she was expected to join in the Naval forces preparing an assault on the Japanese home islands to bring an end to the war. Despite intel available to Naval routing staff there of creditable reports of Japanese subs near the route the Indy was given, Captain McVay was told there was "nothing to worry about" and sent off to Guam without even an escort vessel, which would have been the norm. When she was torpedoed and sunk by Japanese sub I-58, no-one reported that she never made port on her expected arrival date. If her oil slick had not been accidentally spotted by an American pilot, its crew of nearly twelve hundred men would never have been rescued because no one was looking for her. As it was, only 316 of her crew survived after five days of dehydration, starvation, shark attacks and blistering sun during the day and hypothermia at night.
A few days after the rescue, the Navy convened an Inquiry into the incident in Guam. Higher ups decided to recommend Captain McVay for court martial. For that court martial, the prosecuting Naval JAG officer called Mochitsura Hashimoto, captain of the I-58, to Washington to testify against McVay, an action that outraged most Americans. Yet the ultimate decision of the court martial placed a black mark on McVay's record despite the backing of the crew of the Indianapolis. It took the efforts of the Indy Survivor's Group, Captain William Toti, the captain of the USS Indianapolis, the nuclear sub namesake of the sunken battle cruiser, a determined schoolboy from Florida with the backing of Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire and a surprising letter to Senator Mark Warner of Virginia to tip the balance in McVay's favor and redress the injustices that had been committed. Captain McVay was assigned sole blame for the loss of his ship; yet plenty of responsibility for the fiasco of the crew's non-rescue lies squarely on the shoulders of many in the Navy brass, none of whom were ever held accountable. It's an astonishing story.
How serendipitous to see that a documentary about the underwater discovery of the USS Indianapolis in 2017 was being aired on our local PBS station just after my husband and I finished reading this book! It truly is fascinating to see how well-preserved the vessel is in her grave three and half miles below the surface. Since it is the tomb of so many sailors and marines, it is undisturbed as a grave site. Remarkably, some of the survivors of that night are still alive, and were shown footage of the Indy in her final resting place to help bring closure to them and their families. It's very moving to watch, if you have the opportunity.
I wasn't kidding about this book being weighty, though; literally! Although I prefer reading a paper copy of non-fiction books like this so I can page back and forth to photos, maps, etc., this book may be difficult for some readers to hold comfortably. But whether you read it in paper or e-book format, this is a piece of American history that deserves to be read.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Deck the Hounds
This is the holiday that just keeps on giving Christmas reading pleasures! On a post-Christmas visit to the library, I discovered that one of my favorite authors, David Rosenfelt, had written a second Yule-themed Andy Carpenter mystery - Deck the Hounds (#798). Frankly, he is so much like his curmudgeonly character Andy that I was surprised Rosenfelt came out with a first one - The Twelve Dogs of Christmas (See my post of 12/27/2016.) - let alone a second one. Both are intricately plotted, but this one kept me up into the wee hours of the morning to find out the motivation behind the murders.
According to Andy's wife, Laurie, Christmas officially begins with Thanksgiving dinner and stretches until sometime at the end of February. Their adopted son Ricky is onboard with this view; Andy, not so much. However he does try to do his bit to make life a little easier for the homeless men and women he encounters on the street, especially if they happen to have a dog with them. In fact, he even carries a wad of PetSmart gift cards in his wallet specifically for that purpose. So when he comes across a man and his dog outside a pawn shop, he gives them some financial aid.
When the guy running the county animal shelter calls Andy about a dog brought in by the police for biting the man who attacked his homeless owner on the street, Andy is surprised to see that it's the same pair he helped out earlier. No good deed ever goes unpunished, so when the local newspaper does a human interest story on them for the holidays, which includes the name of the homeless man, it sets in motion a train of events leading to Don Carrigan's arrest for murder; a murder he claims he did not commit.
Once again, Andy finds himself reluctantly involved in a baffling case, but as he becomes convinced of Don's innocence, it will be a race to find enough evidence to point to another person as the perpetrator who framed him for a truly disturbing series of crimes.
A great read, and there are puppies!
According to Andy's wife, Laurie, Christmas officially begins with Thanksgiving dinner and stretches until sometime at the end of February. Their adopted son Ricky is onboard with this view; Andy, not so much. However he does try to do his bit to make life a little easier for the homeless men and women he encounters on the street, especially if they happen to have a dog with them. In fact, he even carries a wad of PetSmart gift cards in his wallet specifically for that purpose. So when he comes across a man and his dog outside a pawn shop, he gives them some financial aid.
When the guy running the county animal shelter calls Andy about a dog brought in by the police for biting the man who attacked his homeless owner on the street, Andy is surprised to see that it's the same pair he helped out earlier. No good deed ever goes unpunished, so when the local newspaper does a human interest story on them for the holidays, which includes the name of the homeless man, it sets in motion a train of events leading to Don Carrigan's arrest for murder; a murder he claims he did not commit.
Once again, Andy finds himself reluctantly involved in a baffling case, but as he becomes convinced of Don's innocence, it will be a race to find enough evidence to point to another person as the perpetrator who framed him for a truly disturbing series of crimes.
A great read, and there are puppies!
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