Membaca

--> Nonfiction Diverse fauna down under WALKER’S MAMMALS OF THE WORLD: Monotremes, Marsupials, Afrotherians, Xenarthrans, and Sundatherians By Ronald M. Nowak 757 pp. Johns Hopkins University Press Reviewed by David E. Hoekenga, M. D. Walker’s First Edition of Mammals of the World has been a treasured possession of mine since it was published in 1964. Two volumes with black and white illustrations in a black slipcase followed me as a zoology student and then later in medical school as an amateur naturalist. With over five thousand mammals alive in the world today, keeping track of them on seven continents is no easy task. I hoped to be able to compare the new volume at 750-plus pages to the first volume of my old Walker’s , but the new volume works differently. It is based on the oldest evolutionary clades or groupings, starting with the echidnas and platypuses – egg-layers all. Then come Tasmanian devils and bandicoots. None of these creatures are terribly familiar, but the ne...

--> Fiction Racing’s dark underbelly A STONE’S THROW An Ellie Stone Mystery By James W. Ziskin 299 pp. Seventh Street Books Reviewed by Eric Petersen Mystery writer James W. Ziskin is back with the sixth entry (previous entries are also reviewed on this site) in his popular mystery series set in an unusual time and place – upstate New York in the early 1960s – and featuring an unusual lady sleuth. Unusual for her time, that is. At a time when career opportunities for most young women were limited by society to housewife, teacher, or secretary, Eleonora “Ellie” Stone works as an investigative reporter for the New Holland Republic , her hometown newspaper. But then, Ellie Stone isn't like most young women. In her mid-twenties, she’s a tough-talking, hard-drinking dame with brains, guts, and wit, all of which she uses to get her story – and solve bizarre and brutal murders while she's at it. She takes no crap from men. Artie Short, the owner and senior editor of the New Ho...

--> Nonfiction First to fight THE FLYING TIGERS: The Untold Story of the American Pilots Who Waged a Secret War against Japan By Sam Kleiner 239 pp. Viking Reviewed by Diane Diekman Three years before the United States entered World War II, American pilots were already flying in a covert operation to defend China against Japan. Retired U.S. Army pilot Claire Chennault organized and led the group officially designated the American Volunteer Group (AVG)—better known as the Flying Tigers. The Flying Tigers is an excellent portrayal of this short-lived unit. It also provides a biography of Chennault, concluding with his death in 1958. Author Sam Kleiner has done a masterful job of research and storytelling. Now an attorney in New York City, he grew up in a family that nurtured his love of history; his grandfather regaled him with stories of navigating a B-25 in the Pacific during World War II. The book opens with a scene in which the news of the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl H...

FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE. When Fi Lawson arrives home to find strangers moving into her house, she is plunged into terror and confusion. She and her husband Bram have owned their home on Trinity Avenue for years and have no intention of selling. How can this other family possibly think the house is theirs? And why has Bram disappeared when she needs him most? FOR RICHER, FOR POORER. Bram has made a catastrophic mistake and now he is paying. Unable to see his wife, his children or his home, he has nothing left but to settle scores. As the nightmare takes grip, both Bram and Fi try to make sense of the events that led to a devastating crime. What has he hidden from her – and what has  she  hidden from  him ? And will either survive the chilling truth – that there are far worse things you can lose than your house?  TILL DEATH US DO PART. I had seen so many reviews, comments and beautiful displays for Our House by Louise Candlish I was very intrigued by the book wondering...

--> Nonfiction What we humans do to ourselves UNBOUND: How Eight Technologies Made Us Human, Transformed Society, and Brought the World to the Brink By Richard Currier 376 pp. Arcade Publishing   Reviewed by David E. Hoekenga, M.D. While used occasionally before the last two hundred years, the term technology has been widely applied to human effort since then. In Currier’s book it is used to describe events that in some cases occurred millions of years ago and to eight different eras of human development critical to human progress. In his first section the author describes the primate baseline and how unique monogamy is in humans occurring in only three percent of mammals. He finds that monogamy while not perfect promotes “social stability.” Then drawing on very early man out of Africa such as “Lucy,” Currier describes how standing fully upright, forging fire-hardening sticks, and especially a bigger brain benefitted the early hominids in their ascent . Making clever use o...