The Secret History of Bigfoot / John O'Connor

 

4 out of 5 stars 

Halloween Bingo 2024

The author describes himself as a “journalist and self-diagnosed skeptic.” He has a decent sense of humour and an entertaining writing style. I was thankful for all of these things. Why, you might ask, would I choose to read a book about a supposed ape-man roaming the North American wilderness? It got its start during the height of Covid, when my massage therapist of the time suddenly started spouting antivax propaganda. We had a history of chatting during my appointments but this became a source of irritation. She was a skilled therapist, so I felt around for less divisive topics to discuss. That was when I learned that she was a Sasquatch true-believer. She talked about them in a gossipy way, as if she had tea with the “local population” regularly. Nor did she limit herself to Bigfoot. We discussed UFOs and the Loch Ness monster, among other odd topics. I had to laugh to myself when she told me that she knew I had a science background and could I give her my opinion of the Loch Ness monster? She didn't believe me about vaccines, but was willing to trust me on cryptozoology!

I learned while reading this book that her intersection of beliefs isn't unusual. If you created a Venn diagram with three circles of paranormal investigators, white supremacists, and conspiracy theorists, Bigfoot true-believers would be in the centre overlap. And it's like The X-Files--people want to believe. Perhaps because of the secular society we live in, leaning into unlikely theories may scratch the same itch that religion used to (although some religious sects seem to be getting steadily weirder too). Replace the church congregation with your Bigfooting buddies, and voila, you have found your tribe.

"Here was a creature that...could live without civilization, that was self-reliant and strong," Joshua Blu Buhs has written, and that, to Bigfoot's demographic--largely male, conservative, working-class whites whose lives were shackled to Hobbesian market forces--"was authentic and genuine, a repudiation of the society around them, a society that often did not value them or their opinions."

I think that most people are willing to entertain the idea of Bigfoot being out there, but aren't too motivated to go out hunting for them. I'm attracted to the idea that there's enough wilderness out there to support and conceal them. Just like my rational brain tells me that ghosts are fictional, but my ape brain makes me put down the ghost story as the shadows lengthen and the sun sets. Is it that vestigial fear of being a prey animal from our very early history? Is this why so many of us are afraid of the dark? Or, as someone pointed out, we're scared of not being alone in the dark. What's out there that we can't see?

The idea of unspoiled nature and the monsters it contains is so far-fetched that it's intoxicating to those who choose to believe in it. And there's the nut. We want to believe. So badly do we want to believe in something that we're willing to believe in almost anything, against much evidence to the contrary. Being hardwired for narrative, we ascribe meaning to things when there isn't any, invent mythological systems that render abstractions as concrete realities.

As a lifelong birder, I thought O'Connor's chapter comparing Bigfooting to the search for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was genius. We know that the Ivory Bill existed and where its range was. But there have been no accepted sightings of the bird since 1944. Claiming to have seen one nowadays ruins academic careers and professional reputations, but people continue to search hopefully, cameras in hand, through the difficult terrain suitable to this woodpecker. If there are birds (fingers crossed) they are few in number, shy, and widely spaced. Still, folks claim to have sighted them fairly regularly. How many of these are Pileated Woodpeckers? Who knows? But it certainly shows the enormous difficulty of finding elusive wildlife.

Read for the Monsters square of my Bingo card.

Rumors of Existence / Matthew A. Bille

 

3 out of 5 stars 

Book 15 of the 2024 Read Your Hoard Challenge

I have utterly forgotten where I bought this slim volume of cautious cryptozoology. It is nearly 30 years old at this point (1995) so some of the mysterious creatures referenced have been figured out (the Giant and Colossal Squids, for example).

The author takes pains to remind us how little is known about life in the ocean, especially the deep abyss. It is difficult and dangerous to access, so little time gets spent there. Additionally, the vast volume means that animals can be spread out widely. Scientists definitely have new discoveries awaiting them in the deep. Both the coelocanth and crinoids (sea lilies) were presumed extinct until living specimens were dredged up.

The large mammals that are discovered certainly dominate press coverage of such matters. Fewer people care about new species of bats, shrews, mice, or invertebrates. Birds get more attention because of enthusiastic birders who truly want to see each new one.

Bille tries very hard not to get into the weeds of lake monsters or giant apes. It's a difficult needle to thread, as that's what the general public thinks of when cryptozoology is broached. I know I have read his second book, although I don't own it. If I remember correctly, it addresses some of the more questionable critters. I would be very interested in an updated version, but I shan't hold my breath waiting for one.

The Backyard Bird Chronicles / Amy Tan

 

4 out of 5 stars 

My best friend and birding buddy brought this book to my attention. She has rarely steered me astray and this book was no exception. It is exactly what it says on the tin: chronicles of Amy Tan's backyard birds. It is the nature journal of a very obsessed woman.

I admire people who keep nature journals. I have intermittently kept a personal journal but have had only a couple of abortive attempts at a birding journal. I just didn't have enough bandwidth for anything like what Ms. Tan has produced. My attempts ended up being mere lists of birds seen on a particular day or trip. Tan, being a professional writer, produces a vastly superior product.

I envy Tan's talent for drawing her backyard birds, as well as the backyard that supports her endeavors. California has much different birds and climate than Calgary. Her illustrations are beautiful and she tells us that drawing birds made sure that she really noticed their details. It was a pleasure to see her progress from the beginner state to more experienced birder. We are none of us born knowing these things, so we are familiar with the learning process. Most birders think fondly of those early years and the excitement of each new bird, what Tan calls New Bird Tachycardia.

I was dismayed by her tale of being talked down to by someone that she refers to as a Poobah. We've all run across one—someone who has forgotten what it's like to be an enthusiastic neophyte or who is insecure and needs to feel superior to others. Tan seems to shrug this off and continues her joyous bird studies. There are probably more poobahs out there who would critique her for anthropomorphism and/or for bird feeding (I've observed both). Tan is aware of her tendency to think up stories about the birds' lives, but I found her concern for them to be charming. (She says a couple of times that she's glad she's not a scientist.) She also is finicky about the cleanliness of her feeders and bird baths. If she sees a sick bird, she takes down all the feeders for cleaning until it's safe to reopen the restaurant. She admits to spending extravagantly on feed, especially mealworms. It sounds to me like she is hurting no birds and derives a great deal of pleasure from her hobby. Having spent a fair amount of cash on sunflower seeds myself, I would never criticize.

In short, Ms. Tan makes me wish for a yard where I could study my own local birds in depth every day. It has allowed her to get a feel for behaviour and for the rhythm of the seasons of which I am quite jealous. It is a beautiful book, which I recommend to those who also love their yard birds and/or journaling about their observations.

Becoming Earth / Ferris Jabr

 

4 out of 5 stars 

If you consider deep-earth microbes, soil organisms, plankton, seaweeds/algae, and plants to be humble parts of our world, Ferris Jabr may change your mind! Microbes provided the grease that got plate tectonics moving and continents growing. Without the complex orchestra of soil organisms, nothing would grow and those continents would be barren wastelands. The amazing bulk of plankton in our oceans provide the majority of the oxygen we breathe and influence our weather in addition to feeding a plethora of creatures up to the size of baleen whales.

“[T]he vast majority of chalk and limestone formations on Earth, including large sections of the Alps, are the remains of plankton, corals, shellfish, and other calcereous creatures. Every impossible edifice that humans have constructed with limestone, including the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Colosseum, Notre Dame, and the Empire State Building, is a secret monument to ancient ocean life.”

We are used to centering the narrative on humans (we're hubristic that way) and we have definitely made a mark on our planet, not in dreadfully positive ways. Unfortunately, we have thrown the carbon cycle of the planet way out of whack. One of the best things we could do at this point would be to break our addiction to plastics. Micro- and nano-plastics are found everywhere on Earth now. Eventually there will be a natural process to deal with them, but probably not until we are as extinct as Australopithecus.

If the plastic situation was dismal, I gained encouragement from Jabr's discussions of soil management and fire regimes. Healthy soils and forests are fabulous at sequestering carbon, exactly what we need. I could wish that we could get everyone moving in the same direction, but these things never seem to be easy. People are resistant to change, even sensible changes. At least we have some options. Preservation of grasslands, forests, bogs, swamps, bayous, and peatlands looks like one of our best paths forward. Here in Western Canada, we have lived through several catastrophic fire seasons now, and I hope that our governments can finally admit that fire suppression sets us up for these major events. Controlled burning, using the expertise of our aboriginal peoples, would seem to be a good future path. As a bonus, healthy oceans and forests can create beneficial weather, a good cycle to get going.

We need to readjust our focus—quit only considering ourselves and look to the health of microbes, plankton, algae, fungi, and plants. Invest in renewables, sequester carbon dioxide, plant trees, protect land, farm smarter. Everyone will benefit. So, the meek shall certainly inherit the Earth. In fact, they seem to have orchestrated Earth as we know it and will be around to rehabilitate it when we quit making a mess of it.

Bush Runner / Mark Bourrie

4 out of 5 stars

Murderer. Salesman. Pirate. Adventurer. Cannibal. Co-founder of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Known to some as the first European to explore the upper Mississippi, and widely as the namesake of ships and hotel chains, Pierre-Esprit Radisson is perhaps best described, writes Mark Bourrie, as “an eager hustler with no known scruples.” Kidnapped by Mohawk warriors at the age of fifteen, Radisson assimilated and was adopted by a powerful family, only to escape to New York City after less than a year. After being recaptured, he defected from a raiding party to the Dutch and crossed the Atlantic to Holland—thus beginning a lifetime of seized opportunities and frustrated ambitions.

A guest among First Nations communities, French fur traders, and royal courts; witness to London’s Great Plague and Great Fire; and unwitting agent of the Jesuits’ corporate espionage, Radisson double-crossed the English, French, Dutch, and his adoptive Mohawk family alike, found himself marooned by pirates in Spain, and lived through shipwreck on the reefs of Venezuela. His most lasting venture as an Artic fur trader led to the founding of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which operates today, 350 years later, as North America’s oldest corporation.

I remember first hearing about Radisson and Groseilliers in about Grade 5, when I think they were called “explorers” or “fur traders.” I also recall my mother calling them Radishes and Gooseberries. Imagine my surprise to find that Groseilliers actually does mean gooseberries!

In many ways, Pierre-Esprit Radisson is a better and a worse man than you would expect from the few facts that I encountered in grade school. He seems to have been able to roll along with whatever situation he encountered, looking for an upside or an opportunity. He also seems to have had a natural aptitude for languages which stood him in good stead. On the poor side, he seemed to be motivated almost entirely by profit and was willing to abandon or double-cross his friends and business partners whenever it was convenient for him.

Why should we be interested in the man? As the author states in his introduction: He’s living with Indigenous people in North America. He’s with Charles II of England and his court of scoundrels, traitors, and ex-pirates. He’s in England during the Great Plague. He’s in London during the Great Fire. He’s set upon by spies. He’s in the Arctic. Then he’s with pirates in the Caribbean. After that, he’s at Versailles. And then the Arctic again. Along the way, he crosses paths with the most interesting people of his day. He’s the Forrest Gump of his time.

I can’t help but think that Radisson could have achieved a lot more if he hadn’t been quite so fixated on the fur trade. He could have lived a good life among the Iroquois or the Mohawk, but his restless nature wouldn’t let him settle. A bit of a conman, he couldn’t happily just live a normal life.

The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve / Stephen Greenblatt

3 out of 5 stars

Bolder, even, than the ambitious books for which Stephen Greenblatt is already renowned, The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve explores the enduring story of humanity’s first parents. Comprising only a few ancient verses, the story of Adam and Eve has served as a mirror in which we seem to glimpse the whole, long history of our fears and desires, as both a hymn to human responsibility and a dark fable about human wretchedness.

Tracking the tale into the deep past, Greenblatt uncovers the tremendous theological, artistic, and cultural investment over centuries that made these fictional figures so profoundly resonant in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim worlds and, finally, so very “real” to millions of people even in the present. With the uncanny brilliance he previously brought to his depictions of William Shakespeare and Poggio Bracciolini (the humanist monk who is the protagonist of The Swerve), Greenblatt explores the intensely personal engagement of Augustine, Dürer, and Milton in this mammoth project of collective creation, while he also limns the diversity of the story’s offspring: rich allegory, vicious misogyny, deep moral insight, and some of the greatest triumphs of art and literature.

The biblical origin story, Greenblatt argues, is a model for what the humanities still have to offer: not the scientific nature of things, but rather a deep encounter with problems that have gripped our species for as long as we can recall and that continue to fascinate and trouble us today.

My many hours spent listening to CBC radio tend to expand my TBR list beyond what I would usually choose for reading material. This book is but one example of that phenomenon, as I heard the author interviewed and became curious about this book.

It was interesting, although not quite as riveting as I could have hoped. Nevertheless, I learned a number of things that I found intriguing. I wasn’t fully aware of the creation myths of cultures surrounding the ancient Hebrews (Sumerians,Assyrians, Babylonians, etc.) but now I have some desire to learn more about all of those cultures.

I also learned more about St. Augustine and John Milton than I expected to (especially their sex lives!).

The Genesis story is so brief that it practically cries out for people to embellish it with fiction. I know that, as a child, I asked a lot of the same questions that Greenblatt explores in this book. I’m sure that this lack of detail has caused major headaches for Sunday School teachers for as long as there has been Sunday School. The tale has certainly inspired a lot of art work and it may be the ultimate tale of the “good old days,” referencing a gone-but-not-forgotten Golden Age.

Because Internet / Gretchen McCulloch

4 out of 5 stars

Language is humanity's most spectacular open-source project, and the internet is making our language change faster and in more interesting ways than ever before. Internet conversations are structured by the shape of our apps and platforms, from the grammar of status updates to the protocols of comments and @replies. Linguistically inventive online communities spread new slang and jargon with dizzying speed. What's more, social media is a vast laboratory of unedited, unfiltered words where we can watch language evolve in real time.

Even the most absurd-looking slang has genuine patterns behind it. Internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch explores the deep forces that shape human language and influence the way we communicate with one another. She explains how your first social internet experience influences whether you prefer "LOL" or "lol," why ~sparkly tildes~ succeeded where centuries of proposals for irony punctuation had failed, what emoji have in common with physical gestures, and how the artfully disarrayed language of animal memes like lolcats and doggo made them more likely to spread.

Because Internet is essential reading for anyone who's ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message or wondered where memes come from. It's the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that's a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are.

I found this author’s joy in her research to be contagious. She obviously loves linguistics and her interactions on the internet. In these days when there is so much contention and negativity on the interwebz, this is great to read.

As she points out, the use of slang presupposes that the writer knows the correct usage that they are deviating from and therefore is enjoying the process. And there have been panics about telephone use, among other technologies. Language evolves and someday in the not too distant future, people will look back at the situation today the way we look back at WWII terms entering the lexicon.

I loved how she traced the origins of certain internetisms or ways of expressing oneself, treating them as issues worthy of research. I also found her classification of people interesting, as I’m a Post Internet Person (I didn’t really engage in the world of the internet until after such sites as Facebook became things). My horizons were certainly expanded as I learned about facets of the net that I wasn’t aware of before.

If you are a closet linguistic like myself and you enjoy your playtime on the internet, you may find this book to be quite entertaining.

We Are the Weather

2.5 stars out of 5

Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming because of human activity. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act on what we know. Will future generations distinguish between those who didn’t believe in the science of global warming and those who said they accepted the science but failed to change their lives in response?

In We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central global dilemma of our time in a surprising, deeply personal, and urgent new way. The task of saving the planet will involve a great reckoning with ourselves—with our all-too-human reluctance to sacrifice immediate comfort for the sake of the future. We have, he reveals, turned our planet into a farm for growing animal products, and the consequences are catastrophic. Only collective action will save our home and way of life. And it all starts with what we eat—and don’t eat—for breakfast.

This is not a bad book--it is just not what I thought I was getting. I heard the author interviewed on CBC radio, which prompted me to put a hold on it at the public library and I had to wait for quite a while to get a hold of it. I hadn’t realized that it was mostly a memoir, detailing the author’s struggle to adhere to his own beliefs about what he could personally do about climate change.

I struggle with knowing what I can do about such a huge issue and I was hoping for advice. Most recommendations are either nebulous or on a higher level (i.e. governmental) than I am capable of influencing. This sounded like it had practical strategies.

I don’t disagree with the author, I will try to reduce my dietary impact on the environment. I just felt that he had already covered this in a previous book and that the contents of this book could have been expressed in an essay, rather than an entire hardcover book.

My disappointment is my own and your experience of the book may be entirely different. In fact, I hope your experience is entirely different.

Making Space, Clutter Free / Tracy McCubbin

3 out of 5 stars

Discover the freedom of a beautiful home, personal purpose, and joyful inner confidence

Decluttering expert Tracy McCubbin offers revolutionary help to anyone who has repeatedly tried to break their clutter's mysterious hold. Her powerful answer lies in the 7 Emotional Clutter Blocks, unconscious obstacles that stood between thousands of her clients and financial freedom, healthy relationships, and positive outlooks.

Once a Clutter Block is revealed--and healed--true transformation of home and life is possible. Her empowering techniques and strategies help you:


Recognize and overcome your Clutter Block(s) to liberate your home.
Lighten and purge without the rigidity of the other methods.
Use your home to attain life goals like health, wealth and love.
It's time to break through your Clutter Blocks and discover the lasting happiness waiting for you on the other side!

A pretty average offering in the decluttering genre. I usually read a book like this early each year as inspirational literature to help me motivate myself to do the things that need to be done to keep my household under control. I didn’t find this one as motivational as I could have hoped.

Part of the problem for me was a lack of useful advice for my Emotional Clutter Block. I’m correctly diagnosed--I’m an Avoider. However, her hint for dealing with this block was pretty much “Just do it.” Give yourself a reward after. My feeling is “why not reward myself and skip the work part?” It’s a perennial problem for me and I’ll continue to struggle with my avoidance behaviour.

So people with the other Emotional Clutter Blocks may find the book more relevant than I do. Plus people who haven’t read many books in this genre. At least I got started on my worst problem: paper & filing. I’ve done a pile of shredding and I’ve planned my attack on the paper piles, so I guess I have got moving toward my goal. My best trick so far is to leave something out in an annoying location when I’m done for the day, to encourage me to return to the task the next day. (The shredder is still sitting out in my livingroom, asking me to finish the task).

Your mileage may vary.

Chase Darkness With Me / Billy Jensen

3 to 3.5 stars out of 5 

Journalist Billy Jensen spent fifteen years investigating unsolved murders, fighting for the families of victims. Every story he wrote had one thing in common―they didn't have an ending. The killer was still out there.

But after the sudden death of a friend, crime writer and author of I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara, Billy became fed up. Following a dark night, he came up with a plan. A plan to investigate past the point when the cops had given up. A plan to solve the murders himself.

You'll ride shotgun as Billy identifies the Halloween Mask Murderer, finds a missing girl in the California Redwoods, and investigates the only other murder in New York City on 9/11. You'll hear intimate details of the hunts for two of the most terrifying serial killers in history: his friend Michelle McNamara's pursuit of the Golden State Killer and his own quest to find the murderer of the Allenstown Four. And Billy gives you the tools―and the rules―to help solve murders yourself.

I’m very conflicted about this book. On the one hand, I read it cover to cover as quickly as I could. On the other hand, there were a bunch of things that bothered me about it. The author was one of the people responsible for getting Michelle McNamara’s book I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer finished and ready for publication. And I appreciate that, because I loved that book. Jensen admits that he’s not the writer that McNamara was and I’d agree with him on that assessment.

Here’s one of my issues--he tries to keep so many balls in the air, juggling a variety of crimes, like some ADD true crime addict. I can’t help but speculate that he would do more conspicuous good if he’d limit himself a bit and concentrate on one or two cases at a time.

Another thing that bugs me: what his wife and family have to put up with, i.e. what seems like a lot of absence and neglect. They must be very forgiving people, because I don’t think I’d put up with it. I don’t think that this is someone to be taking life advice from, not if you value your relationships anyway.

There’s absolutely no doubt that there are a plethora of true crime podcasts, radio shows, and books in the market right now and that more and more people are attempting to make their mark by solving cold cases. What I truly did appreciate was the chapter on how to conduct yourself should you choose to follow in their footsteps. Advice to be professional, not using people’s names in public forums like Facebook and Twitter when they are leads or suspects, not doxxing your competitors, and in general being polite and staying as neutral as possible. If you are going to do this, do it the right way and don’t be an internet troll. Think carefully about it, as this isn’t just a hobby, it has the potential to ruin people’s lives if you come to the wrong conclusions.

Although I can’t say that I’m not intrigued by this phenomenon, I do recognize that I don’t have the obsessive nature required to do a good job of these tasks. I think I will stick to family genealogy research and leave crime to those better suited to that pursuit.

In the meanwhile, I’m enjoying the modern take on the true crime book. If you enjoyed this book, I would highly recommend I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer and True Crime Addict: How I Lost Myself in the Mysterious Disappearance of Maura Murray.

The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes / Andrew Lycett

4 out of 5 stars

***2019 The Summer of Sherlock*** 

Reading a biography of Arthur Conan Doyle seemed like a necessary thing during my Summer of Sherlock. Last summer, I read Andrew Lycett’s bio of Ian Fleming during my Summer of Spies and found that it greatly enhanced my enjoyment of Fleming’s Bond novels. Perhaps I should have tackled this biography earlier in my summer and it might have given me more insight into the man’s writing. 

ACD was born in the Victorian era and lived until the British Interwar period. He saw a lot of change during his lifetime, some of which he could embrace and some of which made him angry. So really, just like most of us! In many ways, he was a man of contradictions: a man with scientific training who was fascinated with mysticism; a deeply conservative man who nevertheless held some very progressive opinions; a Victorian gentleman who strove to become modern.

According to his eldest daughter, Mary, “He didn’t concur with the Victorian view that women should marry at all costs--for he thought the un-married woman, with her freedom, was a whole lot happier than a woman married to the wrong man and, he added, ‘The worst of it is, the poor things can never tell till they have married the chap!’” This is somewhat ironic, as he obviously considered himself one of the good ones, which might have been disputed by Mary’s mother, his first wife Louise. ACD spent the last 6-8 years of her life cavorting around with the woman who became his second wife one year after Louise finally expired of tuberculosis. He then proceeded to be absolutely abominable to his two children from his first marriage, until his son’s death after WWI from the Spanish flu, when he seemed to become a little more sympathetic to Mary and the two were reconciled. Until then, he seemed like the worst sort of child support avoiding cad. In all fairness, his letters & papers appear to have been pruned by the children of the second family, who seem to have wanted Mary & Kingsley to disappear from history, so who knows what the true state of affairs was?

It can’t have helped that Mary looked very much like her mother (at least from the photos included in the book, there is no mistaking their relationship to my eyes). But it does speak volumes that Mary had to arrange the funeral and burial of her brother, a task better suited to their well-to-do father. 

By contrast, his 3 children from his marriage to Jean seem to have been spoiled rotten. ACD made his own good fortune by working hard, first as a doctor, then as an author, all the while being very careful of his finances. And he can’t be said to be miserly, as he assisted and supported a whole fleet of family members and frequently contributed to causes and campaigns that he valued. It must have been rather frustrating to him to see his younger children behaving in irresponsible and spendthrift ways.

ACD seems to have been an extroverted person, a real networker before networking was a thing. He knew a tremendous number of authors: Oscar Wilde, J.M. Barrie, H. Rider Haggard, H.G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, among others. He couldn’t always maintain cordial relationships with all of them, but he was aware of them and probably read their works, as they seemed to read his. He was also very much a sportsman, enjoying cricket, golf, billiards and car racing. In those ways, he was very much a man of his time.

Would he be disappointed that the 21st century knows him almost exclusively for his Sherlock Holmes stories? Would he be surprised at the number of modern authors who have made use of Holmes and Watson to spin more stories of their own? It’s funny how we are too close to our own output to realize which aspects of it are the best--he seems to have always viewed Holmes as a distraction from his more “substantive” writing and as a way to make some quick money when it was needed. Another irony here, when a man who devoted his last years to spiritualism used the ultra-rational Sherlock Holmes to raise a few bucks to support that cause! 

Its too bad that his estate, especially the letters and manuscripts, got divided up like some kind of pie between his youngest 3 children and then the early deaths of the sons left some of it to daughters-in-law. One observer noted that they were glad not to be involved in the debacle, as all of the people involved were decidedly unpleasant to deal with. As a result, ACD’s papers are scattered between quite a large number of institutions, making the life of the researcher more difficult. Lycett in his afterword describes his trials and tribulations in trying to access, utilize and obtain permission to quote ACD. Lycett may the the first biographer to be able to use these documents, but someone else undoubtedly will take another stab at it when the dust (and the estates) are settled.

Speaking in Cod Tongues / Lenore Newman

4 out of 5 stars 

Speaking in Cod Tongues explores the centers of Canadian cuisine, from ocean to prairie, and from the height of urban dining to picnics in the wilderness. From bakeapples to fiddleheads, from maple syrup to k'aaw, Speaking in Cod Tongues celebrates a young and vibrant cuisine.

When I was a child, I had a pen-pal in Korea. He asked me what should have been an easy question: what is the national dish of Canada? My mother and I talked it over, but really couldn’t come to any conclusion--Canada is so regionalized that you really can’t use any one recipe to represent all of us.

What we do have (to some extent) are Canadian ingredients: maple syrup, wild berries of several types, maybe salmon. We claim two sweet desserts: the butter tart and Nanaimo bars. We have some of our very own junk food: Cheezies, Smarties, ketchup chips, among others.

This author points out that Canadian cuisine features many wild foods: berries, fiddleheads, mushrooms, wild rice, bison, fish, dulse. My maternal grandmother came from New Brunswick, and through her I was introduced to fiddleheads (young, curled fern shoots) and dulse (dried seaweed). I can’t say that I enjoy either of those foods. Through my paternal grandmother, I was introduced to Danish delicacies--I especially remember the heavy, dark rye bread that she produced in her kitchen. 

Growing up on a farm, I remember the seasonality of our food, back in the day. I’m still a scrounger for the first rhubarb of the season and I was thrilled when my sister gave me some fresh spinach and a head of lettuce out of her garden on the weekend. Vegetables were limited by the end of winter and we were always excited for the new garden produce. It turns out that Canadian cuisine was local and seasonal before that was cool. We have made Farmers Markets a very popular item throughout the country. 

Another popular Canadian pastime is taking the food outdoors. Summer is short and we believe in going on picnics, hosting outdoor barbeques, and eating in the backyard or the camp-site as often as possible. I live in Calgary, the epicentre of pancake breakfasts. People set up the outdoor pancake griddle for virtually any occasion.

I had never realized before that J.L. Kraft was from Ontario, but left to the United States to “perfect” his cheese-preserving technology. And Canadians have certainly embrace what we call Kraft Dinner or KD. You know that neon orange cheese and macaroni? “Canadians buy 1.7 million of the 7 million boxes sold globally each week” according to Wikipedia. Not sure we should be proud of that….

The other national obsession seems to be the Tim Horton’s chain, where Canadians gather to swill coffee, and eat doughnuts and Timbits (supposedly the doughnut holes, but actually made with a completely different dough formulation). The double-double is a Canadian thing (a coffee with two creams and two sugars). While we can’t claim to have invented the doughnut, we have certainly embraced it.

The cooking of our immigrants has also become a permanent part of the Canadian scene. See Ann Hui’s book Chop Suey Nation: The Legion Cafe and Other Stories from Canada’s Chinese Restaurants for the saga of the Chinese cafe and restaurant in Canada. The talent of the Chinese immigrants was to take fresh local ingredients and use their own cooking techniques to create food for their communities. Speaking as a Calgarian, I love our local “Chinese” dish, ginger beef. Other regions have their own beloved creations.

I have to also say that I was delighted to find reference in this book to my favourite history professor at University of Calgary, Henry Klassen. Dr. Klassen was a methodical lecturer and a meticulous researcher. I loved the courses that I took from him and he was always ready with a smile when I met him on campus, even many years later. I was saddened when I learned of his death in 2005. This reference to his work means that he lives on and for that I am glad. 

All in all, I could have used this book back when I had that Korean pen-pal, but I am glad to have read it now.

Hell and Damnation / Marq de Villiers

3 out of 5 stars

In Hell and Damnation, bestselling author Marq de Villiers takes readers on a journey into the strange richness of the human imaginings of hell, deep into time and across many faiths, back into early Egypt and the 5,000-year-old Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh. This urbane, funny, and deeply researched guide ventures well beyond the Nine Circles of Dante's Hell and the many medieval Christian visions into the hellish descriptions in Islam, Buddhism, Jewish legend, Japanese traditions, and more.

My enjoyment of this book probably suffered from the fact that I finally got it through my library during the summer months. Some subjects don’t lend themselves to summertime reading and Hell and damnation are two of those subjects. Nevertheless, it was an interesting read (especially since I’m reading Terry Goodkind’s Stone of Tears at the same time and it seems that he was reading the section on the tortures of Hell to provide the plot for his novel.)

It is remarkable how several religions have come up with the same kinds of ideas about the afterlife. The Buddhists have lots of different hells for lots of different sins, but they are pretty much self-service establishments--no one is overseeing your punishment. Christianity and Islam don’t much trust sinner to administer their own penalties and have awarded that role to Satan otherwise known as the Devil.

The history of Hell and the Devil are also fascinating, as scholars sort out how many of those details are cribbed from the Ancient Greeks & Romans, not to mention the Caananites who rivaled the early Jews. Most of the details which have come to be accepted by fundamentalists seem to come from literature external to the Bible, which I am willing to bet that not many of them realize.

Strangely, humans don’t seem to have much imagination when it comes to Heaven, as witnessed by the final chapter of the book. The descriptions of life and activities in Heaven are quite lacklustre verging on downright boring. 

An interesting partner to a book that I recently read, Rag and Bone: A Journey Among the World's Holy Dead, about saintly relics. Both books are written with scholarly interest, although both authors display a sense of humour towards their subjects.

Rag and Bone / Peter Manseau

4 out of 5 stars

By examining relics—the bits and pieces of long-dead saints at the heart of nearly all religious traditions—Peter Manseau delivers a book about life, and about faith and how it is sustained. The result of wide travel and the author’s own deep curiosity, filled with true tales of the living and dubious legends of the dead, Rag and Bone tells of a California seeker who ended up in a Jerusalem convent because of a nun’s disembodied hand; a French forensics expert who travels on the metro with the rib of a saint; two young brothers who collect tickets at a Syrian mosque, studying English beside a hair from the Prophet Muhammad’s beard; and many other stories, myths, and peculiar histories.

With these, and an array of other digits, limbs, and bones, Manseau provides a respectful, witty, informed, inquisitive, thoughtful, and fascinating look into the "primordial strangeness that is at the heart of belief," and the place where the abstractions of faith meet the realities of physical objects, of rags and bones.

I often find myself reading somewhat odd books because I have heard their authors interviewed on CBC radio. This is one of those books. Where else would I have heard about a book featuring the bits and pieces of long dead religious people? Truth be told, I was puzzled last year, when I heard that my city (Calgary) was to receive a visit in the form of the severed arm of St. Francis Xavier. I knew that such things were important in the Middle Ages (read Ellis Peters’ excellent mystery story, A Morbid Taste for Bones, as an illustration of this), but I was unaware that religious relics were still a thing in the 21st century.

In preparation for this odd visitation, the author of this book was interviewed by our public radio station. I don’t remember the details of that interview, but I was intrigued enough to put this book on my TBR list and I’m glad that I read it, even if just for the quirk factor.

Poor old Saint F-X, he wasn’t the most successful proselytizer of the Christian faith, but in death he managed to find more fame and sainthood (he is featured early in the book). It’s these stories of the people behind the relics that are interesting, as well as finding out that Buddhists and Muslims also have treasured relics. It seems to be a bizarre human tendency, perhaps starting when the Neanderthals buried their dead in the caves that they inhabited.

The author is a religion scholar, but this offering is not a scholarly tome. It is sometimes humerous and very informative, without being overwhelming. If you are looking for something a little different in your reading docket, you could definitely do worse than Rag and Bone.

Birds of Stone / Luis Chiappe, Meng Quingjin

4 out of 5 stars

When fossils of birds from China's Jehol region first appeared in scientific circles, the world took notice. These Mesozoic masterpieces are between 120 and 131 million years old and reveal incredible details that capture the diversity of ancient bird life. Paleontologists all over the world began to collaborate with Chinese colleagues as new and wondrous fossil-related discoveries became regular events. The pages of National Geographic and major scientific journals described the intricate views of feathers as well as food still visible in the guts of these ancient birds. Now, for the first time, a sweeping collection of the most interesting of Jehol's avian fossils is on display in this beautiful book.

Birds of Stone makes visible the unexpected avian diversity that blanketed the earth just a short time (geologically speaking) after a dinosaur lineage gave rise to the first birds. Our visual journey through these fossils is guided by Luis M. Chiappe, a world expert on early birds, and Meng Qingjin, a leading figure in China's natural history museum community. Together, they help us understand the "meaning" of each fossil by providing straightforward narratives that accompany the full-page photographs of the Jehol discoveries.

If you are interested in dinosaurs, birds, and the relationship between these two groups, this is a book you should have a look at. It was larger than I had anticipated (over 30 cm tall), but that meant that the illustrations were large enough to truly appreciate. There were many full colour photographs of museum specimens, showing off the many fossil birds or the Jehol Biota, found in the Liaoning Province of China. The book collects photos of fossils from fourteen museums, thirteen of which are located in China and not easily accessible to the average North American fossil enthusiast. Finding all of them in one volume is fabulous.

The fossils themselves are marvels of preservation. Often, feathers and fleshy structures are also present in these beautiful fossils, proving that this Cretaceous Lagerstatten in China is a priceless resource. Sometimes stomach or gizzard contents are present, providing important information about the food habits of some of these creatures as well. And of course, not only birds and bird-like dinosaurs are preserved. The second half of the book also illustrates some plants and small animals that are represented in the sediments.

The second half of the book, giving more information on the current state of research on the evolution of birds, was informative, but rather repetitive. If the pygostyle (the short fleshy tail of modern birds, the pope’s or parson’s nose) was explained once, it was explained ten times. There were other details were which similarly repeated, maybe not quite so often or annoyingly. 

Still, if is definitely worth borrowing from your local library if you are a bird and dinosaur nerd, such as myself.

Run Hide Repeat / Pauline Dakin

4 out of 5 stars

Pauline Dakin spent her childhood on the run. Without warning, her mother twice uprooted her and her brother, moving thousands of miles away from family and friends. Disturbing events interrupt their outwardly normal life: break-ins, car thefts, even physical attacks on a family friend. Many years later, her mother finally revealed they'd been running from the Mafia and were receiving protection from a covert anti-organized crime task force.
  But the truth was even more bizarre. Gradually, Dakin's fears give way to suspicion. She puts her journalistic training to work and discovers that the Mafia threat was actually an elaborate web of lies.  As she revisits her past, Dakin uncovers the human capacity for betrayal and deception, and the power of love to forgive.
    Run, Hide, Repeat is a memoir of a childhood steeped in unexplained fear and menace. Gripping and suspenseful, it moves from Dakin's uneasy acceptance of her family's dire situation to bewildered anger. As compelling and twisted as a thriller, Run Hide Repeat is an unforgettable portrait of a family under threat, and the resilience of family bonds.

Sometimes, when I read memoirs, I have to wonder what motivated the author to share a slice of their life in book form. With this volume, I have no doubt what the author’s motivation was--this is easiest way to explain the weirdness of her life to the people that she has encountered along her journey.

What if the major assumptions of your life, ones that determined major things like where you lived and who you associated with, were based on someone else’s delusion? This is what Pauline Dakin describes in this fascinating memoir of life on the run with her mother and the man that they all trusted.

Dakin is a journalist, having worked for the CBC as a medical and health reporter. She is now an instructor, teaching future journalists. With this background, it is no surprise that this is a well-written account and it is obvious that she has spent a lot of time reflecting on her experiences and trying to make sense of all that happened during her childhood and young adulthood.

I heard her interviewed on CBC radio, which put this book on my radar. I’m a sucker for memoirs, enjoying being a voyeur into someone else’s existence I guess. I’m surprised that the author’s husband and her brother’s wife were drawn into the whole delusion for as long as they were, but their spouses had been involved since childhood & were predisposed to believe Stan Sears and his complicated delusional assumptions about the world.

If nothing else, Dakin has given Delusional Disorder a little more exposure, which may be a help to others who are attached to someone with these issues.

Stranger in the Woods / Michael Finkel

4 out of 5 stars

Many people dream of escaping modern life, but most will never act on it. This is the remarkable true story of a man who lived alone in the woods of Maine for 27 years, making this dream a reality--not out of anger at the world, but simply because he preferred to live on his own.

In 1986, a shy and intelligent twenty-year-old named Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the forest. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later, when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even through brutal winters, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store edibles and water, and to avoid freezing to death. He broke into nearby cottages for food, clothing, reading material, and other provisions, taking only what he needed but terrifying a community never able to solve the mysterious burglaries. Based on extensive interviews with Knight himself, this is a vividly detailed account of his secluded life--why did he leave? what did he learn?--as well as the challenges he has faced since returning to the world. It is a gripping story of survival that asks fundamental questions about solitude, community, and what makes a good life, and a deeply moving portrait of a man who was determined to live his own way, and succeeded. 

What an oddly fascinating little book! Even though I am very definitely an introvert, I cannot imagine existing in the way that Chris Knight chose to live for nearly three decades. He wandered off into the wilds of Maine in 1986 with next to no planning and next to no supplies. He managed to find himself a sheltered campsite, right alongside civilization, where he existed in a tent even during the cold of Maine winters. Mind you, he could never have achieved it without pilfering supplies from nearly all of his civilized neighbours.

Mr. Knight might still be out there, still not speaking to other humans, if he had found a way to support himself without specializing in home break-ins. I can’t conceive of not letting my family know where I am and that I’m okay. I may withhold details of my holiday locations to prevent the more neurotic from pestering my tour company unnecessarily, but I generally try to email or Facebook if I think there will be any concern. Chris Knight just wandered out into the landscape without letting anyone know anything. He also abandoned a partially paid for truck that his brother (who had co-signed the loan) was stuck paying for without the benefit of being able to drive it.

It seems like there is a tendency among a certain segment of humanity to seek solitude. The author, Michael Finkel, provides just enough history of religious hermits, recluses, and other people seeking seclusion to be interesting without being overwhelming. It rapidly becomes clear, however, that it is very difficult to avoid human interaction even under those circumstances. And most of us don’t want to completely avoid other humans.

Mr. Knight’s whole family seems to be rather taciturn and isolationist, so in some ways his behaviour is no surprise. I do feel rather sorry for him, now that he has been returned to society and must deal with people again. It is obvious from Finkel’s observations that it is a great hardship for him. In this regard, he is certainly not neural-normative. I hope he can find some way to exist somewhat happily in the world.

A Serial Killer's Daughter / Kerri Rawson

3 out of 5 stars

What is it like to learn that your ordinary, loving father is a serial killer? 
 
In 2005, Kerri Rawson heard a knock on the door of her apartment. When she opened it, an FBI agent informed her that her father had been arrested for murdering ten people, including two children. It was then that she learned her father was the notorious serial killer known as BTK, a name he’d given himself that described the horrific way he committed his crimes: bind, torture, kill. As news of his capture spread, Wichita celebrated the end of a thirty-one-year nightmare.

For Kerri Rawson, another was just beginning. She was plunged into a black hole of horror and disbelief. The same man who had been a loving father, a devoted husband, church president, Boy Scout leader, and a public servant had been using their family as a cover for his heinous crimes since before she was born. Everything she had believed about her life had been a lie.

I wouldn’t have requested this book from the library if I hadn’t heard the author interviewed on the radio. She sounded somewhat exasperated and I wondered why, driving me to look for her book. Now that I’ve read it, I understand some of her indignation.

First, it seems that many people don’t read the title or don’t believe it. This is NOT a book about her father, this is HER story. Yes, her father appears in her account as a major player because he is her father, but the story is hers. It focuses on her life and her beliefs. I can see why she’s ticked that people read it only as a way to view her dad.

Secondly, it has obviously been written as what the evangelical Christians call “a witness.” She is professing her Christian faith and it is the most important part of the work to her. The discount of that by secular reviewers must drive her mad.

Truth be told, she could have used a good ghostwriter to assist her. There are several chapters dealing with one hiking trip to the Grand Canyon, where there should probably only be one. It was a good idea to use this trip as a way to illustrate her relationship with her father and to highlight his idiosyncrasies. It just drags on far too long and has too much religious reference in it.

It quickly becomes obvious to the reader that Dennis Rader was a volatile man and a challenge to live with. His daughter, having known no other way of life, didn’t realize the extent of his abusiveness until long after his arrest. She has fought a life-long struggle with anxiety and depression and that is unsurprising, given her family situation. Interestingly, it seems that she and her mother are the ones who are depended on to “manage” Rader. Funny how it’s always up to the women in the family to handle the volatile man! 

The important aspect of this book, to my mind, is the fact that we tend to forget the families of serial killers when we are thinking about their victims. Rawson shows us in no uncertain terms the difficulties encountered by her family and their attempts to put their lives back together. Dennis Rader may be BTK to the world, but he was still a husband and father, uncle, neighbour, and working man. Those who shared his life were shocked by his arrest and confession and had hard work to do to put all of this behind them to some extent. We need to extend to them the same compassion that is offered to the murder victims’ families, as they have been betrayed and damaged too.