Parasites by Rosemary Drisdelle

I read this book for RIP. I'm also reading Dracula, so I figured this might introduce me to some smaller and more realistic bloodsucking freaks.
The subtitle of this book, as you can see, is: Tales of Humanity's Most Unwelcome Guests, and thus, the book was almost entirely dedicated to Human Parasitology. There were a few discussions of some of the more dramatic and interesting nonhuman parasites such as the barnacle that feminizes male crabs and turns them into nurturing "mothers" for the parasite. Carl Zimmer's Parasite Rex is a much more fun read and deals with many of these fascinating examples. But Drisdelle's book was mostly about humanoids and their parasites and how their parasites have affected history. This was some of the most interesting stuff in the book. She discussed the role of hookworm in the outcome of the United States Civil War, the role of malaria in the Vietnam War, and the role of Stanley and Livinstone in spreading river blindness. There was some interesting speculations, such as that Captain Cook may have had Ascaris intestinal worms that gave him a Vitamin B deficiency that led to his making bad decisions that led to his being chopped into little pieces by Polynesians. Some of the case studies were fascinating, such as the college student who was thrown out by his roommates and dosed their food with tapeworm eggs before he left. (He was a student of parasitology, after all). Overall, a pretty intersting book, especially the chapter on how parasites affect the behavior of their hosts.
One of the take home points was that our global society is moving our parasites around and bringing joy to new areas of the world. The slave trade, of course, brought yellow fever to many parts of the world. European's took smallpox with them wherever they went. Chagas disease has come to the U.S. through blood transfusions of immigrants. Globalization has many down sides and parasites are one of them.
But parasites are not all bad. We now know that whipworms greatly relieve suffering from Crohn's disease and that Ascaris worms reduce allergy symptoms. Next time you go to the doctor, they just may give you a friendly parasite to make you feel better. Just hopefully not a screwworm larvae or a botfly.

RIP V

I'm happy to be joining Carl's RIP again...actually haven't ever been this excited for this or any other challenge. All around our home, we are amped for RIP. This time, we, a word that here means I, will choose from:

1. Dracula by Bram Stoker
2. Potter's Field by Paul Azaceta (graphic novel)
3. Stephen King's The Stand graphic novel series by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa et al.
4. Already Dead by Charlie Huston
5. Brains by Becker
6. Killer weekend by Ridley Pearson
7. Dracula (graphic novel) by Michael Mucci
8. The graveyard book by Neil Gaiman
9. Publish and Perish: Tales of tenure and terror by Hynes
10. The Passage by Justin Cronin
11. Parasites: Tales of humanities most unwelcome guests by Drisdelle

Read on, brothers and sisters.

You MUST read this

This cover is what attracted me to the book as I was browsing at B&N. Sometimes a great cover is followed by a bummer of read, but not this time. This book is awesome. There is suspense, zombies, humor, satire...something for every reader. I was only sorry that it had to end.

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...