Life and Things

This was a slow sleepy week. I had no appointments for once, and focused on a book in a series I adore.

On the downside, though, our little female kitten ZeeZee has been diagnosed with something called FIP, or feline infectious peritonitis. She’s had to go have fluid drawn out of her abdomen three times already. She’s on steroids and antibiotics, but this is going to be a chronic battle. It is possible she may live several years with it, but it is inevitably terminal. There will come a time when fluid buildup will cause her to have breathing difficulty. Thankfully, right now she seems mostly happy.

 

Books read, reviewed, and posted/scheduled this past week

The Night the Forest Came to Town by Charles Ghigna, 3*

Love is Love by Michael Genhart, illustrated by Ken Min, 4*

Island of the Mad by Laurie R King, 5*

 

Favourite Read(s) of the Week

 

Current Read(s)

 

Next Up (maybe)

Building a Trade Empire by Paul E Horsman

High Merchant by Paul E Horsman

Fascinating New Yorkers by Clifford Browder

Go Home, Afton by Brent Jones

 

Book Haul

‘High-concept science fiction, deeply human characters, and a weirdly wonderful story drive this sequel to the award-winning Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard

Years after the events of Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard, the lonely young outcast and physically-challenged Fant, Pizlo, is now a teenager. He still believes he hears voices from the planet’s moons, imparting secret knowledge to him alone. And so embarks on a dangerous voyage to learn the truth behind the messages. His quest will catapult him offworld for second time is his short life, and reveal things the galaxy isn’t yet ready to know.

Elsewhere, Barsk’s Senator Jorl, who can speak with the dead, navigates galactic politics as Barsk’s unwelcome representative, and digs even deeper into the past than ever before to discover new truths of his own.’

 

‘For much of his thirties, Jesse Bering thought he was probably going to kill himself. He was a successful psychologist and writer, with books to his name and bylines in major magazines. But none of that mattered. The impulse to take his own life remained. At times it felt all but inescapable.

Bering survived. And in addition to relief, the fading of his suicidal thoughts brought curiosity. Where had they come from? Would they return? Is the suicidal impulse found in other animals? Or is our vulnerability to suicide a uniquely human evolutionary development? In Suicidal, Bering answers all these questions and more, taking us through the science and psychology of suicide, revealing its cognitive secrets and the subtle tricks our minds play on us when we’re easy emotional prey. Scientific studies, personal stories, and remarkable cross-species comparisons come together to help readers critically analyze their own doomsday thoughts while gaining broad insight into a problem that, tragically, will most likely touch all of us at some point in our lives. But while the subject is certainly a heavy one, Bering’s touch is light. Having been through this himself, he knows that sometimes the most effective response to our darkest moments is a gentle humor, one that, while not denying the seriousness of suffering, at the same time acknowledges our complicated, flawed, and yet precious existence.

Authoritative, accessible, personal, profound—there’s never been a book on suicide like this. It will help you understand yourself and your loved ones, and it will change the way you think about this most vexing of human problems.’

 

‘You’re not imagining it. People are getting ruder. And this is a serious problem.

The book that inspired the iTunes Top Ten podcast

Did you know that even one rude comment in a life and death situation can decrease a surgeon’s performance by as much as 50%? That we say we don’t want rude politicians, but we vote for them anyway? Or that rude language can sway a jury in a criminal case?

Bestselling writer and broadcaster Danny Wallace (Yes Man, Awkward Situations For Men), is on a mission to understand where we have gone wrong. He travels the world interviewing neuroscientists, psychologists, NASA scientists, barristers, bin men, and bellboys. He joins a Radical Honesty group in Germany, talks to drivers about road rage in LA, and confronts his own online troll in a pub.

And in doing so, he uncovers the latest thinking about how we behave, how rudeness, once unleashed, can spread like a virus – and how even one flippant remark can snowball into disaster.

As insightful and enthralling as it is highly entertaining, F*** You Very Much is an eye-opening exploration into the worst side of human behaviour.

“A cry for human decency… deliciously hilarious. I politely encourage you to read this book. Immediately.” Adam Grant author of Originals, Give and Take, Option B

*This book was originally published under the title, I Can’t Believe You Just Said That. But we decided it just wasn’t rude enough…’