It really should be another country...

Today, I want to drop Texas from the union and perhaps adopt Australia. Or maybe The Maldives. Anything but Texas. I want Texas to really be another country. Now, I know there are millions of fine Texans. But, they need to move, as soon as humanly possible, at least if they want their children to get an education. Seems the Republican lead Texas State Board of Education wasn't happy with history, so they've decided to rewrite it. They felt that conservative issues and the conservatives who espouse them were not painted in a favorable light in traditional existing textbooks, so they are makin' their own textbooks. They want to downplay things like separation of church and state and civil rights. “I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said one member of the board. And they want play up the free enterprise system and how it "thrives best absent excessive government intervention" (April Castro, AP). Sounds a little right wing...perhaps...What I find amusing is the amendment to paint Joe McCarthy in a more favorable light! Why hasn't anyone thought of that before?
And we in the U.S. wonder why our students don't fare so well compared to other students in industrialized nations. We New Yorkers have the most corrupt and venal politicians in the world, but I'll take them any day over the idiots on the Texas State Board of Education. I feel bad for all of intelligent Texans who have to swallow this bitter pill. I know they will fight this ludicrous, egregious, insidious, and obnoxious crap. Unfortunately, in their present environment, they appear to be outnumbered.

Sleepless by Charlie Huston

I heard about it on NPR one day as I was driving home from work. The reviewer said it was a great book to help pass the long, cold winter nights. And damn was he ever right. Debi and I went to the bookstore that night and bought this book and I have no regrets.
It is about an infectious disease that makes the afflicted unable to sleep. A major drug company has a drug that can help symptoms, but not the underlying disease. Of course, supply can't meet demand. As more and more people become sleepless, culture changes dramatically and civilization falls apart. The cause of the infectious agent is truly fascinating. I love the science underlying this book. I have now become a science fiction fan. And I just bought another book by Charlie Huston.

The Vietnam War: A graphic history

1. I read bought this book after my wife mentioned that it existed as I have long wanted to know more about the Vietnam War. I was only 8 years old when Saigon fell and don't remember much about the War other than the aftermath. This book was a nice introduction. I learned much. It is a pretty concise book, only 138 pages, and left me with a strong desire to learn more and read more; it would have been impossible to give a thorough discussion of the war in a short book. One of the things I liked about the book was that it put the war in perspective. It did not simply discuss the tactical details of the war but discussed public sentiment toward the war, the political situation as the war progressed in the U.S. and in Vietnam, etc.
   
2. The art is pretty good. I really liked most of the drawings. The battle scenes were the weakest part I thought. The art was in black and white; not that I minded at all, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
   
3. A few days after I finished this book, Debi and I were in Barnes and Noble and I bought "The soldiers' story: Vietnam in their own words" by Ron Steinman. I definitely am in the spirit to learn more about this war after reading this graphic novel.
   
4. I have no earthly idea why my post has become numbered. I can't get it to stop. Why do older folks like me have problems getting computers and other technological devices to behave? Maybe someone can do a Ph.D. dissertation on that.
   
5. I highly recommend this graphic novel, which was written by Dwight Jon Zimmerman and illustrated by Wayne Vansant by the way, especially if you are like me: Highly interested in learning more about the Vietnam War but currently lacking in almost any knowledge about the details.
   
6. Have a nice weekend everybody.
   

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett

Damn, what a great book! I can't believe this book was written in 1992 and I didn't get to it until 2009/2010. This book had all of my favorite things in a novel (all the things I love about my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut): dark humor, satire, irony, and fun poking at authority.

The authority that gets poked fun at here is organized religion and its hypocrisy. We meet Om, a "small god" in the form of a turtle. He isn't very nice. Omnia is a pretty fundamentalist religious state where there is a sort of "religious police" (sounds like Iran and other fundamentalist states) that basically feel that if you are suspected of something then you must have done it...after all, there must have been some reason you were suspected of evil-doing or evil thinking or unpure thinking, etc. A really not-nice guy named Vorbis runs the "religious police". Finally, we have our hero, Brutha, who shows small gods and religious zealots the error of their ways. Brutha tells his god that "You could have helped people. But all you did was stamp around and roar and try to make people afraid". Om is a fan of smiting...

As a confirmed atheist who can't stand the hypocrisy of organized religion and who despises religious zealotry (and most forms of zealotry for that matter), this book spoke to me. A few of my favorite quotes:

"You should do things because they are right. Not because gods say so" - Brutha

"Don't put your faith in gods. But you can believe in turtles" - Terry Pratchett

Believe me. This is a great book!

Another Damn Reading Challenge...Not exactly

I'm going to continue my current reign of terror by joining yet another reading challenge...and probably not the last one I'm going to join this month. This one is a bit different than my usual reading challenge and thus, I'm excited about it. It is the GLBT Challenge. I've got a few books in mind and will be relying on my incredibly well read and helpful wife for more. I'd better get a few of the many books I'm currently reading done so I can get on with some of these new challenges. Off I go to read some.

Graphic Novels Challenge

I'm overjoyed to be joining this challenge. I only began reading graphic novels a few months ago and I love them. I am indebted to my wife for getting me started on these. I'm going to try for the intermediate level. I've got a few in the library already, most notably The Vietnam War: a graphic history by Zimmerman and Vansant and a graphic novelization of Dracula.
Can't wait to begin reading...

A Wiseass for a Daughter

A little over a week ago, my 12 year old daughter and I were driving in the car to her flute lesson. She asked me, "Dad, what's your new years resolution?". I said, without really thinking, "To be less of an asshole". Absolutely deadpan, my daughter says, "Dad, what's your realistic resolution?".

My wife thinks she gets being a wiseass from me...no matter where she gets it she is a master.

Many thanks to the various Santa Clauses that made the above pile of loot possible! I've got a lot of reading to do...but I've already got a head start. I began Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett on Christmas night, and although I'm only a few pages in, it is very enjoyable! A nice combination of silly and strange. I began A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd on Christmas Eve and read the first (and only Christmas based) story of the 5 in the book. It is very similar to the outstanding movie (in fact, the best Christmas movie ever made in my opinion). And finally, I couldn't resist starting Every Patient Tells a Story by Lisa Sanders. Dr. Sanders is the medical advisor to House, M.D., and this book is a list of patient case studies that discuss how doctor's solved the case and the various mistakes they make along the way and why they make them. I'm 45 or so pages in and loving it. To help me keep up with all of these books, I got a great bookmark made by my son, Gray, that's sticking out of Small Gods and some very cool page markers (in front of the books) to mark my pages and reduce my habit of dog-earing pages. I've also got a gift card or two to some very cool bookstores that I can't wait to get to. Only a week until it's back to the salt mine, so I'd better get my reading done while I still can. Thanks to my many Santa Clauses. You've made a little boy very happy this Christmas season!

Women Unbound Challenge

I am delighted to become a philogynist. If I was a smarter man, I would look that word up before I used it in such a sentence, but I'm going to live dangerously today. I'm joining the Women Unbound Challenge at the philogynist level and thus, I solemnly vow to read at least two of the following as soon as I can without unduely straining myself. I don't have a long list, but it may include:

- The tangled field: Barbara McClintock and the search for patterns of genetic control by Nathaniel Comfort
- Woman: An intimate geography by Natalie Angiers
- The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd
- Social behaviour of monkeys by Thelma Rowell (wtf, you say...she is supposedly a true renegade in primatology. Read about her in "Rebels, mavericks, and heretics in biology" by Harman and Deitrich)
- The complete persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (thanks, Debi!)

Now all I need is some time to read. And some time to finish all of the other books I've gotten started. Just too many good books and too little time, don't you think?

Two Evolution Books for You

This year has seen many fine new evolution books to celebrate Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publishing of The Origin of Species. In the last month or so, I've had the distinct pleasure of reading two of these great new books. I just finished one: Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species: A graphic adaptation by Michael Keller and illustrated by Nicolle Rager Fuller. This is an awesome book that should be read by everyone, especially in my home country, The United States, where understanding of evolutionary principles is disgustingly low. There are 3 parts to the book. The first part is a general background about Darwin and evolutionary theory. The second, and largest part is the actual graphic adaptation of The Origin. This is the part I loved the most. The artwork is excellent and the words are mostly Darwin's own. Michael Keller has hit the high points of the book for those without the time or energy to read the real deal. There are updates and editor's notes about things where Darwin wasn't quite on track. The third and final part was a short update on developments on the theory since Darwin's death. I think that this book is an excellent way to get Darwin's message to the masses. As an educator, I can vouch for the great confusion and misunderstanding of Darwin and his theory that is out there. Now, people can get a brief and accurate idea of what he really said...and again, much of it in Darwin's actual words. Please read it if you have an interest in learning a bit about a fascinating theory. I may have students in my evolution course read this.
The second book I recommend is: The greatest show on Earth by Richard Dawkins. The author's motivation for this book is to illustrate the overwhelming evidence for the theory of evolution. I'm pretty well versed in the theory of evolution and I learned quite a few new and interesting things. But the main "target audience" for this book will be people who are open to the theory of evolution but don't know a whole lot about it and want to know more. As I mentioned earlier, in the U.S., where over 40% of people reject evolution outright and 32% of people think that modern humans lived side by side with dinosaurs (not the bird kind, the Velociraptor kind), we need this book. I'm afraid that most of those 40% who just reject the idea of evolution because of primarily religious grounds will be unconvinced. Not that this book doesn't provide all the evidence a logical person needs, but simply that I don' think that any amount of logic and evidence will convince these deliberately ignorant people (as Aldous Huxley said, facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored). I hope that I am wrong, however, and that this book makes a difference. I do salute Richard Dawkins, Ken Miller, Neil Shubin, and the others who keep trying to convince a skeptical public of the obvious.
I've got to admit that I really like all of Richard Dawkins' books and that I'm a big fan. Maybe that is biasing my opinion, but my opinion nonetheless is that this is a great and important book that you should be reading.

Read-a-Thon Wrap Up!

Well, it's almost over. After an extended nap, I woke up and finished Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene. So that makes a grand total of TWO books finished. Rather pathetic, especially compared to many of you. But it was indeed fun...
I did start The Origin, a fictionalized account of Charles Darwin's life last night in the wee hours. Didn't get too far, however. Annie told me that she knew I'd read some big Darwin book.
Many thanks to those of you who commented and offered words of encouragement! I hope you are all getting ready for a calm, quiet day of rest and relaxation.

Falling Asleep Story

I fell asleep, albeit briefly, when Debi was in labor with Max. Staying awake has never been my forte. And now, reading is getting more difficult for some unforseen reason...maybe that beer wasn't the best idea I've ever had, but it did seem like a good idea at the time. I think it may be time to take a page out of my cat's playbook and take a nap...

First Update on the Readathon...

I've been holding out to post until I finished The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I simply had to finish this book. It has been hard to put down. Once I finished it, I had to take the dog for a very long walk in an attempt to recover. If I had to describe it in one word, it might be: Intense. In two words: Damned intense. I told Debi after it was done that it was a book that required one to go out and immediately buy the sequel even if it meant paying retail. Debi does have the sequel, but she ain't done it yet. And I don't think I could take any more of this series right at this moment. It is somewhat emotionally draining. I don't think I've ever read a book that just has such sustained intensity. Wow.
I think now, I'm going to read a biography of Stephen Jay Gould from Rebels, Mavericks, etc in Biology, and then maybe a bit more of The Selfish Gene.
Many of you do such a great job of keeping tabs on pages read, time read, etc. But, being somewhat shifty, lazy, and disorganized, all I can say is that I have read, in the immortal and eloquent words spoken by Keannu Reeves' character in the wonderful movie I Love You to Death: "Fuck...a bunch".

My reading pile for the next 24 hours. I just realized that I did forget one: The selfish gene by Richard Dawkins. I'm 76% of the way through and will be starting with that today.

Happy Reading Everyone!

I'm so sad...

I finished my second trip through Harry Potter's world. The trip is over. It was a wonderful and amazing voyage and I miss it terribly now that it is over. I read all seven of them this summer. It all began after I took Annie and her friend to see Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince. How could I NOT read them all again? It was simply inconceivable. Now that it is over, I miss it so much. I want to go back...I love the world of Muggles, squibs, Hogwarts, Harry and his friends, and my hero, Albus Dumbledore. It is, as anyone who has been there knows, a wonderful world. There is some pretty serious evil in that world, and the last of the books, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is full of evil and tragedy. I won't spoil the ending because I know one of the readers of this blog hasn't been there yet. (Lucky girl...you have so much to look forward to, Debi!). But I loved to take time every day to get lost in the wonderful world of magic. This may be the best series of books ever written. At the moment, I certainly can think of none I love better than these.

I took a bit of liberty and read Prisoner of Azkaban for Annie's What's in a Name challenge. Because, as we all know, Azkaban is a building! When I read them the first time through, Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire were my favorites. This time, perhaps Half Blood Prince, in spite of the horrific ending.

I know this ain't much of a review. Please forgive me because I am heartbroken. The one good thing about being an idiot who can't remember anything is that I can go back and read them again soon...as if it was the second time all over again. I really can't wait. I'm sure after the next movie comes out, we'll start this series again. If I can wait that long that is!

The Pirates! in an adventure with scientists

This book is a must read for boys...of any age. I read it with my 6 and 8 year olds (now 7 and almost 9) and they loved it. A group of pirates are sailing looking for booty and meet Charles Darwin and Captain FitzRoy aboard the HMS Beagle. The pirates rather deliberately sink FitzRoy's Beagle with a cannonball shot that blows the head clean off of a lady that both Darwin and FitzRoy fancied. At the time of her decapitation, this lady had driven Darwin and FitzRoy to duel for the "right" to her companionship. When she is no longer available, the boys become friends again. Darwin and FitzRoy then accompany the pirates on a journey back to England to rescue Darwin's brother who has been kidnapped by the evil Bishop of Oxford. This book is seriously silly. And it does have interesting tidbits of science here and there that my older son, Gray, really enjoyed, such as when the pirate captain and the Bishop were throwing minerals at each other, and each kept trying to throw a mineral of a higher molecular weight than the other. As I mentioned, this book is seriously silly.
I won't tell you what happened to Darwin's brother. You'll just have to read it to find out. Many thanks to Carl for recommending this book. Our next joint boy read is The Pirates! in an adventure with Communists. I can hardly wait.

RIP and Me

I hearby vow to join The RIP Challenge (RIP IV) and readeth the following:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
2. Dracula - The graphic novel version adapted by: Michael Mucci (writer), Ben Caldwell (Penciller/ Colorist), and Bill Hilliar (inker).

Before I get started, I must finish Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which I get to begin tonight. I love the Potter books and will be so very sad to be finished with them for the second time. But there is much more to read...and life is so damned short. More philosophy to come...

Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks

It may have been stretching it a bit to use this book for Annie's What's in a Name 2 Challenge for a "medical condition", but I did it anyway. I've read two of Oliver Sack's books and have been itching to read this one. I bought it shortly after it was published but it kept getting pushed down the to-read list.

The subtitle of this book says it all: Tales of music and the brain. Each chapter discusses a medical condition related to music. For example, there was a chapter on epilepsy and how certain people have seizures when listening to music. One of Dr. Sack's patients wore ear plugs for fear of hearing music on an elevator or in a store and having a seizure. One patient had seizures caused by Neopolitan music, but no other music. (Neopolitan music was her favorite).

One of the more dramatic tales from the book was of a cardiac surgeon who was talking on a pay phone during a thunderstorm and got a severe shock over the line. Upon recovery he became an extreme musicophile and spent every waking moment away from surgery playing the piano and composing. He had previously been a rather half-assed piano player, but had never written anything. He became so obsessed with music that he ignored his family. His wife left him for a less musicophilic man.

Another fascinating chapter was on music hallucinations. We all get songs stuck in our heads, but these people hear orchestras playing LOUD nonstop to them; it is as if they are really listening to a CD or the radio, but only they can hear it. Many of these patients can be helped somewhat with medicine, but many have to simply suck it up. The author described a time he thought he was enjoying one of his favorite pieces of music on a CD and was really rocking out. It was only after it was over that he realized he had never actually started the CD and must have "hallucinated" the entire piece.

I wish I could remember more of the strange stories at the moment, but you'll have to trust me when I say that there are plenty. It served to remind me of how tenuous our grasp on reality is and how one small blood clot or thwack on the head can change our personality dramatically...not a lovely thought. But a fascinating read.

This book is best enjoyed by those who know their music theory. Several times the author mentioned different types of scales or legato and staccato, etc. It wasn't essential that you understand these terms to get the gist, but it won't hurt.

I highly recommend this book and am anxious to read more of his books and to reread The man who mistook his wife for a hat.

Describing the Indescribable

How can I possibly "review" American Gods by Neil Gaiman? It is indescribable. It fits no known genre. It is bizarre. It is strange. It is wonderful.
It took about 150 pages before I had any clue as to what was going on. Then, very quickly, it is apparent that the book is actually about American Gods. Immigrants that have come to North America, from Native Americans, that came over the Bering land bridge 15,000 years ago, to the European immigrants that arrived in droves from the 1600s to the present day (and including so many other ethnic groups), brought their gods with them in their beliefs. These gods, largely abandoned by their believers, are alive and kicking in this book. The main character turns out to be a biological son of one of these gods.
This is a complex story. It is unlike anything I have ever read. But now that I have read this book (as well as Coraline), I can see why my cousin Jean and her son waited in line for over 3 hours to meet Neil Gaiman and get their books signed. (Jean, who is amazingly nice, got a book signed for Annie). It would be a special thing to get to exchange a few words with this author.
There were several highlights of this book. One is a sex scene that is indescribable...and weird. Gotta read it to appreciate it. The other is a murder mystery that is woven into the tapestry of the plot. The murder mystery was solved at the end of the book.
Before I give up in my feeble attempt at describing and reviewing this book, I want to thank my wife, Debi, for encouraging me to read this book. It really is an amazing and magical book. I am definitely going to read this one again. I'm sure I missed little nuances, etc. This one is destined to become a classic.

The Joy of Reading Lucy's Legacy

It was indeed a pleasure to read Lucy's Legacy by Donald Johanson and Kate Wong for Annie's What's in a Name Challenge and the Science Challenge. Annie may feel that I'm stretching things by using this as a book with a relative in the title, but Lucy is a relative, and I feel very certain that Donald Johanson would agree with me on this point. I thought I might get to meet Dr. Johanson this month, as Philadelphia is celebrating the year of evolution in 2008-2009, and Dr. Johanson was slated to speak in April. It was, however, April of 2008 and not 2009. Such is my luck.
This very well written and easy to read book has three parts. The first part is basically a history of the discovery of Lucy (the famous Austalopithecus afarensis skeleton found in 1974) and a travelogue of Dr. Johanson's work in Ethiopia in the intervening years. This part of the book gives us a good idea of the political problems paleontologists face when working in foreign countries, especially ones with unstable governments that are prone to being overthrown. It also gives us a good idea of what it's like being on an expedition to such a place. This is the longest section of the book, and it basically discusses what Dr. Johanson has been up to since discovering Lucy. He and his team have discovered hundreds of A. afarensis fossils so that now this is one of the best known and understood species of hominid. One of the things I like about this book is that the authors prefer the term hominid to hominin. I am so totally with them on this point.
The second section of the book is about Lucy's ancestors. The inside cover of the book has a very nice hominid family tree (phylogeny for us nerds) and the authors walk us through the earliest of the hominids. We learn about their discovery, what is known about their biology, and of course, the controversies concerning their biology. Paleoanthropologists are well known to disagree about all aspects of the biology of fossil hominids and we gain a nice insiders view of some of the debates. I like to think I have a pretty good grasp on hominids, but I learned quite a bit from this section.
The final section was about Lucy's descendants. We learn about Homo habilis, erectus, ergaster, neanderthalensis, and a bit about our own species Homo sapiens. As with the previous section, this section has a lot of information about discoveries and debates among researchers.
Overall, this is a very quick read. It is written for mostly general readers as opposed to specialists in the field of paleoanthropology. The only regret I have after reading it is that I won't be able to go back in time to 2008 and get my copy signed. I will have to keep an eye out for Dr. Johanson. He is a man that I would definitely like to meet and have a beer with. I highly recommend this book.