Teddy G. Goetz has written a wonderful, valuable book about the vagaries of gender classification. Gender classification, and TNG identities, are a biTeddy G. Goetz has written a wonderful, valuable book about the vagaries of gender classification. Gender classification, and TNG identities, are a bit of a minefield to traverse right now, but Goetz has laid out the information - including all of the latest science - in an easy to understand way. There is no judgment in the writing, and even gentle words to help someone begin to see what gender means to them and how they might identify in this ever-changing world.
Goetz has also done an excellent job of including non-white cultures and communities in this book. Often indigenous communities accounted for more than two genders and held special roles for figures who identified as something other than their birth sex - Goetz has many examples of this in the book, and even places where people can learn about more.
This is a great introduction to just how complicated identities can be. The information is presented succinctly and gently, while thorough notations in the back allow for more learning along with other recommended reading throughout. This is a valuable book that could help a great deal of younger people, and it frightens me how easily I can imagine it being challenged....more
My review of this book for The Folklore Podcast will be available soon - I'll update with a link to it as soon as it's live.My review of this book for The Folklore Podcast will be available soon - I'll update with a link to it as soon as it's live....more
My review of this book will be available soon on The Folklore Podcast website. I'll be updating with a link as soon as it is live.My review of this book will be available soon on The Folklore Podcast website. I'll be updating with a link as soon as it is live....more
My review of this book will be available soon on The Folklore Podcast website. I'll be updating with a link as soon as it is live.My review of this book will be available soon on The Folklore Podcast website. I'll be updating with a link as soon as it is live....more
My review of this book was originally published on The Folklore Podcast and my interview with the author should be posted there soon as well.
Church ofMy review of this book was originally published on The Folklore Podcast and my interview with the author should be posted there soon as well.
Church of Birds: An Eco-History of Myth and Religion releases this year courtesy of Moon Books. This is award-winning journalist, documentary producer, and novelist Ben H. Gagnon’s first non-fiction book. Gagnon’s enthusiasm for the subject abounds, and the amount of research done for the book is thoroughly impressive. While the book has been meticulously researched, the information is laid out in an accessible manner. It is difficult to imagine readers not coming away from the book sharing his reverence for birds’ proper place in history.
Gagnon takes the reader on a journey from the dawn of human history to modern day. He explains the intriguing connections found between modern humans, Neanderthals, and the mysterious Denisovans. While it is easy to imagine such history getting into some questionable territory, he shuts down speculation before it can arise – quick to highlight the problems with the Ancient Alien Theory, as well as common beliefs about widespread interspecies violence between ancient hominins.
Gagnon is on the cutting edge of modern research, taking new findings and tracing them to their logical conclusion: birds had a far greater effect upon human development than previously realized. With increasing focus on the field of ornithology, evidence for the theory that human language developed through exposure to birdsong continues to mount, as does evidence that birdsong itself conforms to strict grammatical rules. Human settlements are almost always found where bird flyways converge, and are also often alongside important religious sites. Where birds go, life follows in the form of wetlands, rich soil, and unrivalled biodiversity.
The Wheel of the Year provides further support for Gagnon’s theory. Festivals coincide with bird migrations, and human migrations follow the same aforementioned flyways. Moreover, none of these discoveries were especially hidden – just take a look at the way birds were depicted in folklore and religious texts. Gagnon offers sources from across the globe, painting a picture of birds as a pure symbol of regeneration and daring to propose a prehistoric religion that could have been a point of contact between ancient hominins.
Church of Birds is an important text that deserves widespread praise, readership, and scholarly discussion. At a time when bird populations across the globe are experiencing sharp decline, it is important to recognize the impact that they have had upon humanity, and to learn what we can do in turn to ensure their continued existence. Protecting birds protects the Earth’s ecosystem which in turn protects us. By recognizing and respecting birds’ place within our folklore, religion, and history, perhaps we can ensure their continued existence well into the future....more
My review of this book, and subsequent interview with the author, will be available on The Folklore Podcast website. I'll add links here as soon as thMy review of this book, and subsequent interview with the author, will be available on The Folklore Podcast website. I'll add links here as soon as they are live....more
I've been a long-time follower of his blog, and can't really get enough of his insight when it comes tSo, I'm normally a massive fan of Karl Shuker.
I've been a long-time follower of his blog, and can't really get enough of his insight when it comes to zoology, and unusual creatures. While he is open-minded, and given to speculative biology, the writing normally has enough fascinating grounding to be a good read. This book, while slightly out of date, is nonetheless a fun and informative read.
I took issue with his nods to the Young Earth Creationists when it came to certain beliefs - namely dinosaurs having survived. The mapinguari, however, is great. I'd love to read more of Shuker and to see some of the other, better books, that he's released over the years...
I heard about this book through Leigh Cowart's interview regarding it on NPR. While many have referred to this as simply "that sadomasochism book" thI heard about this book through Leigh Cowart's interview regarding it on NPR. While many have referred to this as simply "that sadomasochism book" that is ignoring many of the deeper things happening within it. This is a study of masochism, yes, and sexual behavior does come into play. But... why do people enjoy pain on purpose? And what of the far more prevalent non-sexual pain?
Cowart studiously digs into just how the brain processes pain, and what pain it is that we engage in often without thinking about it. Why is it that we are drawn to rub our sore muscles, or exercise to the point of exhaustion? Why is it that we eat food so spicy it makes our eyes water, or pursue hobbies like kickboxing and ballet? What of people who run ultramarathons or participate in polar plunges? What about hot saunas? All of these are uncomfortable, often to the point of pain, but still we do them and we love them - why?
In search of an answer to these questions Cowart either participates in or witnesses these events herself. She attends an ultramarathon as an observer - a last man standing race with no actual finish line and jeerleaders. She participates in an NYE polar plunge, eats the spiciest pepper in the world, and watches people get suspended through piercings in their spine. She delves into her own experiences with masochism, and how the word came to be used. How long as has this been going on? Why?
At the end of the book there are inklings of answers - at the very least to the why of it. She interviews top scientists looking at pain research, and professional dommes. It's a fascinating read, and look at just what our bodies go through. Nature or nurture? Both likely draw those who participate in high-sensation seeking behaviors to do what they do. There are benefits from it, when engaged in properly, and Cowart is exceptionally careful to designate between masochism and self-harm.
I picked this book up from the library not knowing very much about it. It was a new release and looked interesting, so I dove right on in...
The Quiet I picked this book up from the library not knowing very much about it. It was a new release and looked interesting, so I dove right on in...
The Quiet Zone itself exists very close to where a friend of mine lives. She's been to it a number of times, and when the pandemic is through we're planning on visiting the Road Kill Cook-Off together. The book began to be a study of the Quiet Zone itself, the Green Banks Observatory and its impact upon the town. It ended up being a kind of... gossipy look into the people living in the town itself before going pretty far off the rails.
The author interviews a white supremacist organization on its last legs and electrosensitives, people frustrated with the restrictions put upon WIFI in the town itself, and those who have grown up there and aren't terribly interested in it. Very quickly he begins to lose interest in the people working at the observatory, and he begins to dig into some old murders that took place in the town. He even interviews Patch Adams, who started to build a hospital there before he just... never... finished...
The book is interesting in a gawking kind of way, and I can't say that it really comes off as being poverty porn at any point. I also just didn't fully understand the why of him getting into the town's business. It seemed more like snooping than him wanting to settle into the town, and it seemed disrespectful with him talking about being concerned about getting killed by one member of the town he was talking to, or his fear of the White Supremacists that he had spent so much time getting to know. It just seemed false. Especially with his boasting about not owning a cell phone peppered throughout.
I will say that I finished the book and didn't hate it. I enjoyed learning about the town. It was just the... tone that I took issue with. Better organized, and with another leafing through the draft and a bit less casual a tone, I think it could've been a good book. It just rubbed me a bit the wrong way in its current state....more
My review of this book originally appeared on The Folklore Podcast website and can still be found there.
Celtic Myth in the 21st Century: The Gods and My review of this book originally appeared on The Folklore Podcast website and can still be found there.
Celtic Myth in the 21st Century: The Gods and Their Stories in a Global Perspective is a 2018 book from the University of Wales's New Approaches to Celtic Religion and Mythology Series. The series is dedicated to providing accessible, cutting-edge scholarship on the contemporary issues facing Celtic Studies. In particular, the series focuses upon the early and medieval period of Celtic history and how to accurately reconstruct pre-Christian Celtic beliefs.
Celtic Myth in the 21st Century, edited by Emily Lyle, collects 12 essays on a wide range of topics on the early to medieval period of Celtic history. Did entheogenic mushrooms contribute to the imbas of poets? How did time pass in the otherworld and can that be understood as a metaphor rather than reality? How was the dragon a metaphor of the nature of oral storytelling? And how was The Second Battle of Mag Tuired intertwined with the very geography of Ireland itself?
The throughline of all of these essays is Emily Lyle’s Eightfold Theory of textual analysis. To truly understand an oral culture, Lyle posits, it is necessary to approach it within the context through which the culture conceived of their world. This is achieved through understanding the relatively short time period through which they judged history (going back no further than four generations, and often including a god within the pantheon of their sovereignty) and applying a new mental map to the structure of their myths.
The Eightfold Model of mental mapping involves identifying structural oppositions (e.g. social cohesion/social antagonism) and then applying them to the central and secondary characters within the story. This model has not been applied in any widespread way yet, but is done very evocatively to the Táin Bó Cuailnge by James Carney. Carney makes a convincing argument that increased application of his and Lyle’s Eightfold Method could allow better study of the more challenging oral mythologies in the coming years.
Celtic Studies has long stagnated as a scholarly field for a number of reasons, the bulk of which are well-enumerated within the opening essay of this book. This collection of essays makes a sound argument as to how the field of study can improve and even flourish in the 21st Century. Through better examination of the pre-Christian Celtic past, other Indo-European traditions can be better understood, and indeed, celebrated. The Eightfold Technique mentioned in this book could be applied to any oral culture, and the parallels drawn between earlier Indo-European pantheons and the Celtic gods is eye-opening. I eagerly await what future revelations come from this series, and look forward to seeing the Celtic Studies field come into its own....more
Sy Montgomery is a longtime favorite of mine. Her nature writing never ceases to enthrall me, and the way in which she views human/animal relationshi Sy Montgomery is a longtime favorite of mine. Her nature writing never ceases to enthrall me, and the way in which she views human/animal relationships is similar to my own. She views the world with such a sense of awe and wonder that for a moment it turns the everyday into magic. The hummingbird outside your window hovers; no other species of bird can manage that hover. That little creature is all enormous heart, feather, skin, and air. A translucent bubble that fights fiercely for its source of nectar. The fight is often chasing a rival so far away that the rival starves. Fierce, yet beautiful. Tenacious. How can something so small fly so many thousands of miles each year?
This book, a scant 90 pages, focuses upon time she spent working with a hummingbird rehabber and what is involved in rehabilitating these small creatures. It is full of interesting insights into the world of the hummingbird. Their nests are woven from spider silk so that they expand as the bird grows, so rapidly it grows. The spider silk that is harvested is dangerous to harvest - hummingbirds will be trapped in spider webs, that's how light they are, and predated on by spiders and praying mantises. It's a wonder these species survive. They're so delicate as babies if you feed them too much they will literally pop like a bubble.
This is a glorious work, and one that will forever change how you view these flying jewels. Read this, and be inspired....more
I really wanted to like this book more than I did.
It wasn't a bad book, not exactly. My trouble with it was that the content in it seemed better suiteI really wanted to like this book more than I did.
It wasn't a bad book, not exactly. My trouble with it was that the content in it seemed better suited for an article rather than a full length book. Every time they served up a bit of fascinating information, it never seemed to be fully explained or elaborated on to my liking. I would love to read deeper into the research that they only mentioned in passing to better gain an understanding of precisely what they advocated within the book itself.
All of that having been said, there were a number of interesting things to take away from the book itself. Women's brains work differently from men's in a variety of ways, and from my limited vantage point it seems that this isn't something that has really been talked about or addressed enough. Beyond that, there is a genetic component to confidence and whether or not one is more prone to emotional overthinking/anxiety or simply brash charging ahead. Luckily, one isn't doomed forever towards being limited due to genetics. Upbringing, and simple practice, can alter a lot courtesy of neuroplasticity.
My biggest take away from the book was that the biggest way to gain confidence is essentially to attain mastery of something. So, you do it. In spite of your nerves you do it and you keep doing it... and that's all there really is. Other things come into play, sure, but the basic tenets of it all remain true. Be well prepared, and fail fast. Just keep working....more
This book is nestled somewhere between 2 and 3 stars for me.
Animal cognition is a topic that I am deeply interested in, and it's something that I readThis book is nestled somewhere between 2 and 3 stars for me.
Animal cognition is a topic that I am deeply interested in, and it's something that I read about a fairly great deal. Any of you who follow me on GoodReads know that, and those of you who know me in real life have likely endured me talking about this topic more often than you'd care to hear. I was excited to pick up Dog is Love as a result of that interest. Yeah, we all know that even Charles Darwin believed that animals are capable of emotion - yet the topic still remains somewhat verboten to science nowadays. Clive D.L. Wynne seems to believe it's partially discouraged and understudied due to what it would mean for how we treat animals moving forward, and once you start thinking about that's... difficult to not see.
The book is full of extremely interesting insight and studies. It overturns some previously believed facts (wolves can in fact follow where humans point, for instance, and not all dogs innately do it) and raises some really interesting questions about nature vs. nurture when it comes to animals. How much of the dog is dog and how much is wolf? Can wolves ever be as socialized as dogs are? Some personal experience in those areas had answered those questions for me to a satisfactory degree, but it's interesting to see the questions put to the scientific test and what the results were.
The really interesting bit of the book for me was when it came to dog genetic markers and what it tells us about them. There were some revelations to be found in this book when it came to autism and Williams Syndrome in dogs that I really wasn't expecting, in spite of what Temple Grandin has been saying for all of these years. The book was worth it for those sections alone, and I am extremely excited to hear more about these findings in the years to come. It makes so much sense, and it opens up a whole new understanding of canines in general.
The final sections of the book were good, and particularly interesting when it came to advertising dog adoptions based upon personality traits rather than guesses as to breeds. The idea of sorting dogs into Hogwarts Houses was hilarious to me.
All in all, my gripes with the book just came to not enjoying the authors writing style and finding the book to be overwritten. The contents of the book were fascinating to me in the extreme and I really enjoyed all that I learned from it and still think about it often. In spite of disliking the writing, I would be happy to pick up more books by the author and continue to follow his research.
Target 100 is a really well-put together self-help book.
If you ignore the clickbait title and the packaging in general, the book holds a wealth of in Target 100 is a really well-put together self-help book.
If you ignore the clickbait title and the packaging in general, the book holds a wealth of information about the science of habit forming. How do we form habits? How can we replace unhelpful habits with helpful ones? What should we focus on to live a healthier life?
Target 100 is a really interesting program. Rather than formulating a definitive diet plan it formulates an easy to understand plan to change your lifestyle at your own pace, on your own time. It focuses on six simple areas and sets easily attainable goals for those areas. Rather than "Drink more water" it focuses on "get 100 oz of water into yourself each day and see how you feel." Hey, I can do that.
I liked this book. It was easy to digest and it helped me plot a way forward for changing my own life. So far? Well. I've made some great changes thanks to the plans within it and I can't wait to make more. Would highly recommend it for anyone looking to change any kinds of habits within their own life - not just weight loss and formulating better diet plans....more
This is a delightful beginner's book to mushrooming.
The book is very short, and very simple to use. It's small enough to fit in a pocket, but chock fuThis is a delightful beginner's book to mushrooming.
The book is very short, and very simple to use. It's small enough to fit in a pocket, but chock full of a ton of great information for anyone new to mushrooming. The book begins with an introduction to mushrooming that contains a list of everything you need to bring with you out into the field. After that, the book delves into seven very easy to identify and safe mushrooms to get to picking. Each mushroom has a couple of pages dedicated to describing its attributes, where to find it, how to positively ID it, and what seasons it grows in. After the in-depth overview, there is a page that has a quick checklist that can be gone over after picking the mushroom to ensure you got the right fruitbody before you set about cooking it - a pretty important thing. After that, the book has recipes for each and every mushroom it listed, as well as little reviews of the recipes themselves.
This isn't the best introductory book I've read on mushrooming, but it is definitely a rather good one. It should provide everything a beginner needs to get out into the field and begin collecting with confidence. Particularly useful were the indicators as to where/when one is likely to be able to find a particular mushroom. I've yet to see any other guide provide that information quite as obviously as this one did. However, I do think this book would have been well-served by a small bit of tree identification information as well - since trees are so vital a part to successful foraging. Perhaps in an updated edition?
One of my favorite bits of the book were the sentimental asides scattered throughout. The book began with some poetry about mushrooms and it all just continued on from there. Who doesn't feel intense emotion surrounding mushrooms after all, right?...more
The Obesity Code is a book that I had seen mentioned a ton in the past couple of years. I've heard it praised, only heard it denounced once, and deci The Obesity Code is a book that I had seen mentioned a ton in the past couple of years. I've heard it praised, only heard it denounced once, and decided I should at least read it since the weight loss method I'm currently employing is the one the book espouses. What is the key to cracking the obesity code, my husband kept asking me every time he saw me reading the book? Well, curious husband, let me lay it out for you.
The main thing making us fat is not necessarily carbohydrate consumption but rather our body's reaction to the sugar that we're eating. Obesity is a hormonal disease, one that is caused through insulin resistance. So - while Calories In, Calories Out is not to be totally dismissed it isn't particularly helpful when the cause of weight gain is insulin spiking which food consumption in general causes. So, how do you become more insulin sensitive and ultimately lose weight?
Easy, stop eating. Period.
Intermittent Fasting, according this book, is the most important thing to healing the disease of obesity. During fasting you're giving your body more time to repair, more time for insulin to return back to normal, and not consuming calories. Fasting, it turns out, is rather good for you. Yes, you should be lowering your consumption of processed foods in general as well, but fasting is ultimately the key to everything so.
Fast. Eat whole foods. Lower stress. Practice good sleep hygiene (i.e. get between 7-9 hours of sleep a night)
That doesn't sound like terrible advice to me. The book is an interesting read, and I personally find myself feeling better when I'm fasting so... I suppose I'll keep trying it and see what happens....more
It's a reference book, and very much a beginner's guide for anyone interested in mushrooming. Rather than going into This is a very handy little book.
It's a reference book, and very much a beginner's guide for anyone interested in mushrooming. Rather than going into the heavy duty task of identifying all the edible mushrooms in a given region, this book focuses upon a few choice mushrooms and how to definitively ID those. When it comes to mushrooming, that is not a bad approach.
The book says outright not to pick any gilled mushrooms, which isn't a bad idea when you consider how many gilled mushrooms are liable to kill you. Instead, it focuses primarily upon porous mushrooms and the 'mavericks' (chanterelles, puffballs, etc.) which are all choice edibles and very easy to definitively ID. At the end of each mushroom description is a color variation band to match the cap to along with a checklist to determine you've found just the right fruitbody.
This is a cool book for beginner's. Also of note, and utterly brilliant, is the small section in the back to help you ID 5 trees that will guarantee you find particular mushrooms. IDing trees is vitally important to finding certain mushrooms, considering the relationship many trees/mushrooms share.
Cool book, good find, great pick from the library if you're curious to start your own mushroaming adventure.
I keep thinking that I need to read more Michael Pollan and then... not. I'm not sure why that is.
This is a very short audio special on the history oI keep thinking that I need to read more Michael Pollan and then... not. I'm not sure why that is.
This is a very short audio special on the history of caffeine, more or less. Where it came from, how it affected society in the past and how it affects it now. Is caffeine good? Is it bad? Is it neutral? Why isn't it regarded as the drug it is? How is it affecting the places where it is produced, where it is imported? Why is caffeine withdrawal so terrible? All of that, and more.
It's an interesting history, and a fascinating study. It's a little bit hilarious to listen to him detail the experience of caffeine withdrawal, if only because I had gone through the same thing a number of times before. I was wincing in sympathy in spots, and questioning my own choices in others. Caffeine is, well, a drug. It's a drug you become inured to, and one that loses its efficacy quickly and then demands you take more. This is a plant that has coopted us to better spread, and man, is it working.
I genuinely wonder if this has made others change their caffeine intake. I know I've slowed mine slightly, decreased to a single cup a day where before I would take more. I might decrease it further, try to up that efficacy one more time... ...more
Nicholas P. Money is a very celebrated mycologist, and with good reason. He's written a good number of books about mHey, look, another mushroom book.
Nicholas P. Money is a very celebrated mycologist, and with good reason. He's written a good number of books about mushrooms, and his book about yeast is one that I'm particularly excited to read. Unfortunately, my library doesn't carry all of Money's books on the subject so I had to get what they got... and that book, unfortunately, did not thoroughly impress me. That having been said, there was still a vast amount of good information within it, so it isn't as if I regret reading the book from cove to cover.
Mushroom is a slim book, and exactly what the title implies. It's a book about mushrooms. The biology of mushrooms, and the history of mycology. Mushrooms as a source of food, poison, recreational drugs, and income for many nations. Also, of note, is the chapter about mushroom conservation and what is and is not appropriate when collecting mushrooms - a topic of more contention within the mycology community than I ever expected.
The problem I had with the book is not the information within it. I learned a lot, and am excited to continue learning and give Money's other books a read. What bothered me was more the tone taken within the book. It veers from being incredibly dense to rather barbed asides and digs at different groups. Money does not come off particularly well in the bulk of these jokes, and they seem in poor taste and ill-placed throughout the book. The sections on psychedelic mushrooms and medicinal mushrooms also came off a bit odd, seeing how he largely dismissed the therapeutic aspects of mushrooms out of hand rather than appreciating the experiences people have had with psychedelic mushrooms helping them with depression or palliative care. Likewise, he acknowledges medicinal mushrooms have a whole host of proven benefits... but still labels them as largely a Fad Drug rather than something to be optimistic about as further studies take place.
So, all in all a bit odd.
Nevertheless, there was a lot of interesting information and it opened my eyes to the darker side of mushroom gathering on commercial sales and the dangers trampeling can cause to ecosystems. So, an interesting, if dry and strange at times, read....more
Hilary "Fox"
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