The Bees

I was very lucky to win this in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. As in other cases, I may not have read this book otherwise, and I feel really fortunate to have come across such a cool book! I received an advance reading copy, so it had its share of typos and errors, and I didn't realize at first that the author is English, so some words are different, but not by much. That out of the way, this is a really cool book, and, I think, a great accomplishment.

Seedtime

I couldn’t finish this, so I hope that what I have to say isn’t too biased. Think of this post as a sort of open letter. I hate to write a bad review, but if I’m going to keep up with this, there’s always the chance that not everything I read will be good. Right from the prologue, it seemed to me like the author was a bit impressed with himself as a writer, but I tried to give the book a chance, and made it through the first four chapters. I hoped his experience as a ‘sower’ would support it all, and I was expecting more natural history, but it’s more like random poetry, which was disappointing. I had a hard time thinking of just seeds, and not the plants they grow into, and it was never really clear to me what they mean by “seedtime”. The author’s own experience as a farmer would have been more interesting – I’m sorry if I missed that in the other chapters, but what I did read felt like it wasn’t saying much, and couldn’t hold my interest or patience. I do read a lot of this kind of writing; maybe I was getting tired of seeing some patterns (or even clichés) emerge again and again. I might have enjoyed it more at another time; or, someone who doesn’t read as much nature writing as I do might prefer it. 

The Science of Shakespeare

A hypothetical conversation between a young (“almost nine”) William and his father opens this book. The two comment on what may or may not be a new star in the sky, with the father asking his son to speak in Latin. This helps set the tone with regards to the science and the language of the day. Shakespeare lived in interesting times; surely the breakthroughs in scientific thought interested him? Dan Falk addresses this question to great effect, drawing from the work of other researchers but synthesizing it all under a new light.

The Word Exchange

The last fiction I reviewed was a short story collection; this time it’s a novel. This allows the reader to get a better sense of the characters’ personalities, though a strength of the book is that you are never quite sure what their role is in all of this. I will try to avoid spoilers! This book, especially towards the end when the pieces may be coming into place, even shows the power of love in desperate times and what (some) people may do under extreme circumstances. Some of the chapters are from one character’s diaries, and really are like a journal – trying to jot down ideas for the sake of memory, and the sidetracked conversation one often has with pen and paper – or whatever technology was used in that world. The vocabulary and wide reading (references to obscure authors or philosophers) are sometimes a bit much, but keep in mind that they work for a Dictionary. Presenting things as a definition has almost become a cliché, but the chapter titles here are clever. The use of newspaper clippings, letters, pamphlets and other printed(?) forms are well-done. Footnotes play an especially interesting role, and are handy on an e-reader. Beyond the diary entries, the author did seem to put in perhaps too many details of her own life. It is important for a writer to do so – what else do we write about? – but it threatened to distract from the main plot, which is exciting enough on its own. Please remember, too, that the copy I read was an advance reading proof.

The Homing Instinct

Finally! It took me a while to get through this, but I was distracted, between big life events and many of the other books I want to read, have started to read, or finished reading since my last post. This is the first Bernd Heinrich book for me to read; I had been wanting to read something by him for a while. At first I wasn’t sure, but I think this was a good one to start with. It is a collection of loosely related pieces. About half of the book is about the science of migration, and the other approximate half is personal memoir, pertaining to the author’s own homing instinct. The timing proved to be appropriate for me, in a symbolic way: the day I began reading, and the day I finished, I was away from home, but in between, and for over a year now I have been at home and wanting to move on. However, I love my home, and understand Heinrich’s feelings about the Maine woods he grew up in.

The Frangipani Hotel

Wow! This is something different. Not just because this is my first review of a work of fiction – that’s not really important. I do not usually read this kind of book, so I hope my reviewing is fair. These are brilliant stories, with a strong sense of setting, yet at the same time they are universal. I had a clear picture in my mind not only of the location but also the characters and their behavior. The closest style I can compare it to is magical realism, but I am far from an expert on any of this. I don’t want to say too much about the contents of the book. The stories are succinct, and capture so much in a little space; there is no excess. The twists and turns the plots take are perhaps the most impressive aspect. These are not exactly ghosts stories in the “traditional” sense – not the wailing bed sheet, but something much less defined, and therefore much more sinister. A few of the stories feel like the protagonist is caught in a deal with a devil, the danger of having one’s soul and/or life stolen.

Re-posting from Goodreads - First Reads

This is my first review on Goodreads. I was very lucky to win a copy of “iWoz” as part of the First Reads giveaways. I may not have read this otherwise, but I really enjoyed it and am glad I won! Perhaps my biggest impression, what I remember most, is that I learned a lot about electrical engineering and how computers are put together and function. Wozniak presents a very logical layout of the development of electronics, and how he met technological needs – often in an overnight marathon (though after writing out or printing on paper beforehand, until it was all memorized). He had the vision to anticipate what people would want to use in the future. His sense of humor is always present, though some of his pranks did not seem to be such good ideas. The dial-a-joke and other phone-related hacks were amusing, though these are probably not going to be around much longer. He is an example of what one might do when they have more money than they know what to do with, like creating a music festival from scratch, but also giving to other philanthropic causes.
The Apple I and especially the Apple II computers seemed to be his biggest accomplishment, and he explains why these were a success, while other products (like the Apple III) were not. He also tells what it was like to work for different companies (such as HP), and to start one (for making a universal remote control). His experience with anterograde amnesia was interesting, as a biological rather than technological problem. I thought he made it clear that he is very honest, yet still with human flaws, like not being able to keep a marriage together. He seems like a very good person in any case, and has used his knowledge and production for good. Now, too, the record may be set straight on a few legends surrounding Apple and the Home Brew Computer Group. This was an easy-to-follow book (at one point the reader is reminded this is a “family” book), and it is well-paced, probably thanks in large part to Gina Smith. It is always interesting to hear people tell their stories, and this gives a solid background on the foundations of much of the technology we use today.

Latin for Bird Lovers

Now that I want to learn all of my local birds not only by their common names but also their Genus species, I have been a little frustrated that the bird books and field guides from my youth don’t match up - and I'm not that old! Thus I have to turn to up-to-date sources, this being one.

The Death and Life of Monterey Bay

This is an excellent book, a remarkable story about a remarkable place. The Monterey Bay, before the Europeans moved in, was incredibly rich in natural resources. One by one these were exploited, but through innovative and dedicated citizens, it has made an exemplary turnaround.

Thinking like a Mountain

This is my first review here, let’s see how I do! Now that I am reviewing, I wonder how many other people are writing the same (or similar) things as I am. Before starting this brief text, one probably wonders: what does a mountain think like? This could be an example of why books have subtitles; this one’s is “an ecological perspective on earth” as you can read in the picture I copied above. The idea is that mountains are around much longer than humans (on an individual basis), and thus witness environmental change on a far greater scale. It’s up to humans to appreciate this, and conservation biology is one way of addressing related issues.