The Day the World Came to Town

 

by Jim Defede

July 25, 2024

 

 

This book was published in 2002 and is about the town of Gander,  Newfoundland.   Gander (population just under 12,000 in 2021) hosted more than 6,000 stranded passengers after their planes were diverted to the town when airspace in the United States closed after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Some thoughts after reading this book:

* It's an easy-to-read piece of cultural history. Defede reports the events that happened that terrible day but most of the book concerns what happened in the days after in the small Canadian city.   

*I've read disaster novels and end-of-the-world fiction that paint a depressing and scary picture of how people would act after a catastrophic event.  I'm specifically thinking of books like Ashfall by Mike Mullin.  Society quickly divided itself into groups or gangs. Surviving the devastation of the volcano was nothing compared to surviving the danger posed by other people.   I was happy to have a true story of a town that happily and generously embraced the stranded passengers.  It's probably apples and oranges to compare a post-volcano apocalypse to a travel crisis.  But it still gives me such hope to know that people actually did open their hearts that week in 2001.

*People use the term "9/12" or "September 12" as a way to refer to the unity and love that was on display in New York and around the world after the devastating day of September 11.  Fred Rogers' "Look for the helpers" is another phrase that comes to mind.  I have a fascination of looking at photos of people helping people in the aftermath of the attacks.  "Where was God?" is another phrase or question I have heard people ask about evil and 9/11.  I answer if you want to know where God was on that day look at the strangers helping each other .  One of the passengers quoted by author Defede says, "Can we have some of that unity without the pain that caused the unity?  I don't think that's too much to ask."

 

 *Would we still be able to have a "September 12" today?  The above quote continues: "...But evidently it is. We've lost the ability to come together in America and I'm worried about the future. I don't know how we move forward in any kind of harmony."

Another passenger is quoted: "I'm back to feeling like it is a miracle what those people did, the way they trusted people and the way they took us in...I just can't imagine it would be as easy to do that today.  Newfoundlanders probably haven't changed a bit, but I've been beaten back a little bit in the last few years, you know, with politics and the meanness of things."

 

*I had a similar hopeful feeling in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and shut-down.  Small stories of people creating a mini-parade of cars past the house of a quarantined birthday boy; lunches served in communities for out-of-school children; free online concerts to help distract us.... just a few minor examples of ways that people reached out to each other.  There was a sense of community in 2020 that helped bring us closer. But, in 2020 there was also lots of division: people fighting mask-mandates; anti-vax and anti-science sentiments; election year chaos and racial hate.  Is it apples and oranges again to compare treatment over a few days of stranded passengers during a scary time to a whole year of uncertainty?   Maybe it's instant communication that makes the difference?  Social media allows everyone to share their opinions, no matter how stupid or hateful.  I was interested to learn that there were anti-maskers and pandemic deniers during the 1917 flu epidemic.  Was it worse in 2020?  Maybe it was more easily reported because of instant communication.

*"Try That In A Small Town" is the name of a 2023 song by Jason Aldean.   

"Well, try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own....full of good ol' boys raised up right / If you're looking for a fight / Try that in a small town."

What Aldean promises of his small town is the opposite of what happened in the small town of Gander. I don't think any of the stranded passengers were looking for a fight. They weren't there to "sucker punch somebody on a sidewalk" or "carjack an old lady at a red light".  The "Plane People", as they were called, were needy and hurting.  The small town of Gander responded with love.  

Is that the difference?  A community response to those in need versus a community response to someone bringing violence?   Aldean believes that in a small town, "we take care of our own"   but in Gander, they took care of their neighbors no matter who they were or where they were from.

Apple and oranges because of the players involved or because of the atmosphere of the time? The events in Gander took place in 2001. Jason Aldean is writing in 2023.   Are people still capable of kindness to strangers?

*One more note...  among other animals on board the planes were a few bonobos that were being transported to Ohio.  Author Jim Defede refers to these apes as monkeys at least 12 times! He usually calls them "bonobo monkeys".  That alone made me deduct a star from my rating of the book! 😤

Additonally (although not the fault of Defede), the audiobook narrator kept pronouncing the word as BONE-uh-bo instead of bo-NO-bo.  😬

 

I highly recommend this book.  It's not a literary masterpiece, but the events of the book are worth reading about.

The Pot and How to Use It

The Mystery and Romance of the Rice Cooker
by Roger Ebert
July 9, 2014

Roger Ebert published this book in 2010, long after he was forced to quit eating solid food because of his cancer.  He may not have been eating, but he was certainly cooking and thinking and writing about food.

He had always liked cooking and, as most of his early photos attest, he liked eating.  But he lost a lot of weight after going to a Pritikin based health spa.  He adopted very healthy eating habits and was always irked, later, when people thought that he had lost weight because of his health problems.

This book apparently began with a blog post about cooking with a rice cooker.  Ebert explains that you can cook almost anything with this one pot.  The pot doesn't even have to be very fancy - just one with a single knob that sets to "Cook" and "Warm."

Ebert has cooked many meals with a rice cooker and took it along with him to the Sundance Film Festival since it was easy to pack and could be used in a hotel room.  He recommends rice cooker cooking to singles, monks, students, film critics, etc as an easy, cheap and convenient way to make a meal.

When I first heard about the book and after reading the first few chapters, I thought that I'd try it for myself. But there's too much guess work.  Too much "that's about right" type cooking.  Still, it was a very entertaining book.  It does contain a few recipes sent in by some of the readers of his blog.
The rest of the book reads like a conversation.  It's as if Roger Ebert is in your kitchen (or you are in his) and he's explaining why he loves cooking this way and how you can get in on the fun, too.

I will stick to my slow cooker - advice that he gives to one of his readers who says that she'd like to try a rice cooker but she is dedicated to her slow cooker.  The main message of his book is do what you want to.  It seems to be what rice cooker cooking is all about.

Brain on Fire

by Susannah Cahalan
January 2013

I love reading books about brains and the strange ways that our brains can make us behave.

I saw Susannah Cahalan on the Today Show talking about the strange disease that make her seem that she was insane.   It's a remarkable story because just as her illness seemed to come out of nowhere, so did the cure.

If it hadn't been for Dr. Souhel Najjar (whom Cahalan nicknames "Dr. House," she would never have received the correct diagnosis and wouldn't know that she was suffering from a rare autoimmune disorder that caused the body to attack the brain.

Other doctors had been telling her and her family that she might be suffering from schizophrenia. Another doctor insisted that she was simply exhibiting symptoms of alcoholism and lack of sleep.  

Luckily, Susannah Cahalan has parents that would not give up. They and Susannah's boyfriend kept the faith and persisted in getting the right answers.

It's a very interesting story and a little scary to think that there are probably people past and present who have been misdiagnosed and have been labeled insane or schizophrenic or posessed when some medication and therapy could have cured them.

By the way, the disease that Susannah had is called anti-NMDA-receptor autoimmune encephalitis.
It is usually caused by ovarian teratomas, although Susannah did not have a tumor. Teratomas are made up of tissue that is similar to brain tissue (or other types of tissue). The antibodies that attack the tumor go on to attack the brain.
I saw an episode of The Monster Inside Me (one of my favorite Animal Planet shows) that featured a woman who had a teratoma. She, too, was exhibiting scary, insane behavior. On that show they explained that because teratoma tumors are made up of other kinds of body tissue, the tumors can have hair or teeth.

Yikes!

The Man Who Invented Christmas

How Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits
by Les Standiford
December 2012

Reading Dodger made me want to read this book. Its subtitle explains its premise. The first part of the book is about Charles Dickens' career and how he rose to fame with his serialized novels. It goes on to tell about the decline of his popularity and what led to the writing of his most famous and widely read work, A Christmas Carol.

The argument about "inventing Christmas" is not very well made. Standiford does acknowledge that celebrations of Christmas already existed and he tries to explain how Dickens set certain traditions in people's minds and hearts. But his book kind of fizzles out like a leaking balloon.  I don't disagree that Christmas as we know it owes a lot to Dickens (and Clement Clark Moore and Coca-Cola) but Standiford really has written a book about Dickens, not about Christmas.  There are probably better books about the invention of our Merry Christmas mythos.

Still, I enjoyed the book.

Giving Up The Ghost

by Eric Nuzum
October 28, 2012

I heard the author of this book being interviewed on public radio.  I only caught a small part of the interview, but  it hooked me.  I was interested in the story of the ghost that Eric Nuzum said haunted him throughout his life. It obsessed him so much that he began to visit haunted places throughout the country.

But that's not what this story is really about. The subtitle actually describes is in a nutshell: "friendship, 80's rock, what it means to be haunted". 

This is a memoir - a true story. Eric Nuzum now works for NPR, but as a teenager, he was a misfit. At least, that's how he felt. He dealt with a terrible depression but didn't get the right kind of help.  Drugs and alcohol didn't help. But one thing that did help was his friendship with an enigmatic, unusual girl named Laura. She was Eric's one true friend.

He really was haunted throughout his life by the ghost of a little girl in a blue dress. Whether she was a "real ghost" or a ghost of the mind is not clear. It doesn't really matter, though, because the fact that Eric was haunted by her was real enough.

I love memoirs and this one didn't disappoint. It wasn't an easy story to read because it dealt with the sad and troubling depression that the author lived through.  But knowing that Eric Nuzum is now working and seems to be doing well helps to find hope in the book.  This would be a good memoir for older teenagers, along the lines of The Burn Journals by Brent Runyon.

Drama

An Actor's Education
By John Lithgow
May 2012

I almost forgot about this one.  I listened to this memoir because of a friend's recommendation. She especially liked Lithgow's story of how reading aloud to his critically ill father helped the healing and recovery process.  I agree. That was an excellent story.  The rest of the book is just as good.  It is really Lithgow's account of his journey from childhood to his present career.  In fact, the book really ends when his movie career takes off.

I didn't know that John Lithgow began as purely a theater actor. He may have remained in the theater and been perfectly happy, but Hollywood called and the rest is history. 

I loved the accounts of his early life. His father was a theater producer and director, working primarily in summer theater and college theater.  John, who always wanted to be an artist, found his true calling by working in his father's productions.

I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Lithgow himself.  It was a little strange, at first. He read the book as if he was reading anyone else's book. But as the recording progressed, it became more and more conversational.

Very very good.

Hole In My Life

by Jack Gantos
May 2012

I've been seeing this book on the library shelves for years. It never appealed to me. You can't judge a book by its cover, but I did just that.
It wasn't until I listened to Dead End in Norvelt  written and narrated by Gantos that I took another look at it. A friend told me about it.

This is a memoir about the time Jack Gantos spent in jail for smuggling drugs.  He was just out of high school and fell in with the wrong people. Gantos wanted to be a writer, but he had no money and his parents were near financial ruin.  In 1972 he was offered $10,000 to help sail a boat into New York and help sell the cargo of hash.  It was one of those "just this once" deals.  Then he'd take the money and get into a good writing program.
Well, we know the rest of the story. That's prisoner Gantos on the front cover of the book.  We also know the rest of the rest of the story. He's now a successful author and not a drug dealer. So there's a lesson to be learned from this book. As a matter of fact, the first time I heard of this book it was when a teacher wanted to check out every copy the library had in order to get his students to read it.
It's about making mistakes, regrets, remorse, forgiveness, and moving on.  I enjoyed reading (listening to) it.  You can't judge a book by its cover after all.

Devastated

A Daughter's Journey Through Tribulation
by Cherie Morgan
March 2012

So I was in an airplane flying to Philadelphia for a library conference. As the stewardess walked through the cabin, she began chatting with me and my traveling companions. It came out that we were librarians. The stewardess said, "Oh, wait just a second. I have something you might like to see."  She came back with this book.
Of course the stewardess was Cherie Morgan and the book was Devastated.  She gave one to each of us, hoping that we'd read a little and give our opinions.  I was the only one of us three who kept reading it. I actually bought a copy.

The plot grabbed my attention immediately.  What would you do if you found out that your father had been arrested for possessing child pornography?   That's the plot and it's a true story.  It happened to Cherie Morgan.

This book is self published and is badly in need of an editor. Ms. Morgan sometimes gives way too much back story on her own life. It's interesting, in a way, but not always pertinent to the plot.  In fact, the book really ends up being the story of Cherie Morgan's life rather than the story of how she dealt with the issue of her father's crime and arrest.  I wanted to know more about how she dealt with it. I wanted to know more about the investigation and the trial. I wanted to know how she felt about having left her children in the custody of this pedophile for so long. How did her children feel about it?

Cherie Morgan is a pretty interesting person and certainly had an interesting life.  I'd like to see her re-write this memoir and make it more about dealing with her family crisis. Or I'd like to see her write a memoir about her travels and her many adventures and occupations.  Either - or.

Wish You Were Here

by Amy Welborn
March 2012

Amy was my best friend in college. I've watched her writing career and kept up with her life through her blogs and books.  It was with such great sadness that I learned of her husband's death in 2009.  Amy had three older children from her first marriage and two very young boys from her marriage to Michael Dubruiel.

Amy and her family had just recently moved to Birmingham when Michael died. What do you do when "home" isn't really home anymore?  You might as well travel far far away.
Amy makes it clear that she wasn't really running away from anything. Michael's absence couldn't be avoided. Maybe in order to make sense of something, one has to get away and look at it from a distance.

Anyway, I have a hard time saying I enjoyed this book because I felt sadness for my friend. But I did love reading about her journey through Sicily and through the "shadow of death."   It also gave me a lot to think about regarding my own confrontation of loss through the death of Mama.

This is an enjoyable book. It's a travelogue of a single mother and her three children through rural and small town Sicily and it's the journey of  a soul.

Very worthwhile reading.

Witches!

The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem
by Rosalyn Schanzer
January 11, 2012

This is a non-fiction book from National Geographic publishing.  The book is small and illustrated with black, white and red drawings, similar to what's seen on the cover.  In judging this book by its cover, I thought I was going to read a narrative of the Salem witch trials.  Instead of a interesting true-life story, Schanzer presents a series of facts and anecdotes.   The book was written for a much younger audience than it appears to target.  I expected a book for upper elmentary, if not middle school.  The writing style makes this suitable for 3rd grade and up. However, I am not sure that most 3rd graders would be ready to hear about the confusing and inexplicable behavior of the Puritans who tortured others because they feared witchcraft.

Update:  This book was named a Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal Honor Book  for 2012.  I am not too sure it deserved that.

We Bought a Zoo

by Benjamin Mee
November 2011

This book kept catching my eye in catalogs and magazines, even though the book is a couple of years old.  I found out that there's a  movie based on the book coming out in a few weeks. Matt Damon and Scarlett Johannson will play the couple who decided to buy a small, failing zoo.

The movie is set in southern California, while the book is set in England.  Benjamin Mee and his wife Kathrine had been renovating a barn in southern France. Benjamin was a DIY columnist and Katherine was a graphic designer.  When his sister sends him an advertisement for a zoo-for-sale, Benjamin starts dreaming.  His whole family gets on board, with the exception of  a bothersome brother, because they have some inheritance money available from their recently deceased father. Benjamin's mother will need to sell her house anyway, so she could easily come to live at the zoo's on site director's house along with her son, his wife and two children.

In the middle of all of this upheaval, Benjamin's wife learns she has a brain tumor.  She is treated and recovers well, but sadly, the recovery doesn't last for long.  Still, Benjamin continues with his dream. With the help of friends, colleagues and original staff of the zoo, he begins to re-build the Dartmoor Zoological Park.

The real Mee family

The movie Benjamin Mee and Scarlett.

Most of the book concerns Benjamin learning the ropes not only of zoo management, but of animal care. It's an interesting look at what it takes to make a zoo work.
The movie seems to make its main character more of a novice than Benjamin Mee actually was. He started with some knowledge of animals.  He also didn't fall in love (at least not in the book) with a Scarlett Johannson. And he did need lots of expert advice and help in getting the zoo going, in spite of what the movie trailer implies.  Still, it might be a good movie.

Dreaming in Chinese

by Deborah Fallows
June 2011

This is the second book I read this summer about someone from America living in China. Unlike Susan Conley, author of The Foremost Good Fortune, Deborah Fallows embraced China and tried to enter into the culture and language as fully as she could. Susan Conley resisted and remained a stranger in a strange land even before her diagnosis of breast cancer. Deborah Fallows found everything in China an opportunity for learning and growth.

The main point of the book is the Chinese language. Through the story of her language quest we learn a lot about the Chinese people (the Laobaixing) and their culture.

The Laobaixing are quite different from "The Chinese" - the government and the societal leaders. She tries to explain the difference, but I feel that it can be compared to the idea of "the people" from the movie The Grapes of Wrath: "They can't lick us. And we'll go on forever, Pa... 'cause... we're the people."

The Chinese language (Mandarin dialect) fascinated me. In some ways, it seems to be a very simple language. Words are usually small and made up of one or two syllables. Longer words are just a combination of those short words. (lao=old, bai=hundred, xing=names....kaixin=hai(open) + xin(heart) = joyous...Fangxin=fang(put in place) + xin(heart)=set your mind at ease....)

The sentence structure doesn't seem to be very complicated either. It seems to leave things to the speaker's body language, inflection and the context of the speach. But, it's one of the things that makes Chinese a difficult language - that and the sounds. The way a word is said can change the meaning of the word. For example, the word shi can be pronounced several ways. I don't have the right diacritical marks here, so I can't show the difference in inflection. Depending up on the rise or fall of the voice, shi can mean lion, or ten, or to make or to be...

There was a writer named Chao Yuen Ren who designed an early version of a way to render Chinese in the Roman alphabet. He wrote a story about a lion-eating poet that consisted of 92 Chinese characters, all pronounced "shi". Deborah Fallows says that "shi" sounds like "sure". I imagine it's probably "sher" not "shyoor".

"The Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den is the story of a poet (shi) named Shi who loves to eat lions (shi shi) goes to the market (shi) to buy ten (shi) of them, takes them home to eat (shi) and discovers they are made (shi) of stone (shi). Such language play works because the Chinese sound system usus only about 400 syllables, like shi that have multiple meanings."

This book was so fascinating to me. I'd love to learn more about the Chinese language. I don't think I'd ever be able to pronounce it - I wouldn't be that good at the subtle nuances of the sounds.

It was an interesting experience to read the two books about China this summer. I'd love to continue with more books. I'm glad I did read these because they gave me an appreciation of the Chinese people. I get so upset with China, but know I know that I can respect the Laobaixing.
This is the cover of another edition of the book. I thought it was interesting.

The Foremost Good Fortune

a memoir
by Susan Conley

I was looking for something to read, specifically something to read on my Nook. After browsing through the library's ebook offerings, this caught my eye (along with It's All Relative by Wade Rouse).

Susan Conley's husband, after a longtime interest in China, gets a temporary job in his favorite country and moves his wife and two children to Beijing. Susan is excited about the move but is not as enamored of the country as her husband. Her two boys, Aiden and Thorne, have trouble adjusting at first but like most children, soon learn to quit worrying and embrace their new land.

I'd like to read another memoir from the perspective of someone who really enjoyed being in China. I suppose Susan Conley did enjoy many things about her adopted country, but she struggled for the most part. To be fair, she didn't get much of a chance to experience a normal life there. Partway through their stay she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The memoir is not only about her struggles in a strange land called China, but her struggles in the land of Cancer as well. While she spent quite a long time going through the healing process, both in mind and body, this isn't fully portrayed in the book. She goes through a depression after her treatment and mastectomy, but she doesn't seem to recognize it as depression. At least, she doesn't give it that name. Perhaps she couldn't tell the difference between depression and just the disorientation she experience upon first arriving in China.

The book was very interesting and worthwhile reading. It gave me a view of China that I had never had before. Actually, I have not read anything about China outside of school assignments. Its not a country I'd like to live or one I'd like to visit, mainly because of the ridiculous Communist government and its strange laws.

But still, I'd like to read another book about someone's experience in China. I'm willing to change my mind. But I still don't think I'd ever live there.

It's All Relative

Two Families, Three Dogs, 34 Holidays, and 50 Boxes of Wine
by Wade Rouse

I love memoirs. I don't mean biographies. Those are ok, if I'm interested in the person. But memoirs can be about and by anyone, known or unknown. In fact, the memoirs of unknown people are better because they really don't have anything to lose by telling their stories. I've read some criticism of memoirs that complained that memoirs are usually not completely true. I don't really care about that. I like memoirs because they often read like novels. Anyone with a life interesting enough to have their story published, has to have an interesting life. Either that, or they are talented enough of a writer to many an ordinary life story worth reading.

Wade Rouse is a writer of memoirs. That's what he does. In former professions, he was a journalist and a publicist, I think. But his career since his first book, America's Boy, in 2007, has been memoirist. Is that a word?

He's comparable to David Sedaris. He's got that modern sense of humor. In this book he writes about his childhood and his current life with his partner and soul mate Gary. Each chapter centers around a different holiday, including such obscure commemorations as "Swedish Day".

This is a hilarious book. I laughed out loud many times while reading it. But there are also some very tender and touching parts as well. Family life is the theme of this book: Wade's family, Gary's family and the Wade-and-Gary family.

Wade Rouse is the author of four, critically-acclaimed memoirs, including America's Boy (Dutton/2006), Confessions of A Prep School Mommy Handler (Harmony/2007), and the bestsellers, At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream: Misadventures in Search of the Simple Life (Harmony/2009), and It's All Relative: A Memoir of Two Families, Three Dogs, 34 Holidays and 50 Boxes of Wine (Crown/2011). He is also the creator and editor of the upcoming, humorous dog anthology, I'm Not the Biggest Bitch in This Relationship: Hilarious, Heartwarming Tales about Man's Best Friends by America's Favorite Humorists.

Left to Tell

by Imaculee Ilibagiza
Finished April 2011

I've been hearing about this book for a long time. Immculee Ilibagiza is Catholic, so I hear about her on the Catholic radio station and on the blogs I read. This is a true story of her life in Rwanda and her escape from the genocide there.

Ilibagiza is a Tutsi and, at this time in the history of Rwanda, Tutsis were considered second class citizens. Of course, for the most part, no one can tell a Hutu from a Tutsi from anyone else. There are physical characteristics that tend to run through the two tribes, but they are unreliable indicators. The people of Rwanda must carry identification cards to prove whether they are Hutu or Tutsi.

How in the world can a community of friends and neighbors turn into mindless monsters, hunting each other down and killing each other in the most terrible ways? The government of the dominant Hutus spread propaganda to their tribe members, convincing them that the Tutsis were evil and should be eliminated.

Immaculee had great faith in God to begin with, but her faith was tested time and time again through her ordeal. She got separated from her family, not knowing whether they survived the Hutu killers. She ended up hiding with at least seven other women in a small bathroom in the house of a village pastor. They hid for months because revealing themselves would be sure death.

Time and again God saved Immaculaee through miraculous, or at least providential, events. She could have been killed a number of times, but always escaped.

So now Immaculee is spreading the good news of Jesus Christ by telling her story. She hopes to bring people to Christ and to end violence through her message.

This is an amazing story. I am so glad I read it. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get through it (after having read of the Rwandan genocide in the book Bonobo Handshake), but it wasn't so bad. Immaculee doesn't shield her readers from anything, but the hope and faith that she expresses in this book is the thing that will get you through the book.
I loved Immaculee's story of her early life and of her strong Catholic family.

I recommend that everyone read Immaculee's story.

Bonobo Handshake

A memoir of love and adventure in the Congo
by Vanessa Woods
Finished September 2010

I was without the internet at home for a while, so I'm just getting around to writing about this book. It's too bad, because I had a lot to say about it when I just finished reading it. Now I've kind of forgotten all of the details of what I wanted to say.

I picked this book up after browsing the new book shelf at the library. I wanted to read about bonobos. That's what the book is about, but I learned so much more.

Vanessa Woods is a research scientist and journalist. After graduating from college she began volunteering for the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. While there she heard about a "chimp island" for orphan chimpanzees.

"My job was to lead a team of Ugandans on a census, for which I had zero qualifications. Debby hired me only because the real primatologist got malaria and pulled out at the last minute."

She became enamored of a chimp named Baluku. She also fell in love with a real primatologist named Brian Hare. They married and she became more involved in primate research through her husband's activities.

Then they went to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to study Bonobos and to work on answering the question, "What makes us human?" Vanessa wasn't thrilled. She was more interested in going back to Uganda to study chimpanzees. What she learned while in the DRC about humans, bonobos and chimpanzees would change her life.

This book made a big impact on me. When the author arrived in the DRC she wasn't very aware of the political history nor of the current events of the Congo. She arrived during a very violent and politically unstable time. The stories she heard about the violence inflicted upon people are horrible. To think that people can be capable of doing such terrible things to other people is inconceivable. What makes this interesting and worth enduring the stories of war is the contrast between people and the chimps and bonobos. The chimps are also capable of inflicting violence on their own kind. Bonobos, however, are peace-loving. This isn't to say that they don't have squabbles with each other or that they don't treat each other badly. But squabbles and bad behavior are much different from true violence and cruelty.

We share 98.7% of our DNA with bonobos. We share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees (a recent National Geographic article says 96%). We can see so much of ourselves in both. Woods' book is as much about humans as it is about the apes she studied.

This is such a fascinating book. It certainly gave me so much more than I expected. It made me sad, happy, horrified, amused and enlightened.
Bonobo Handshake official site
Your Inner Bonobo - Vanessa Woods Psychology Today blog
Friends of Bonobos - the support site for Lola Ya Bonobo, the world's only bonobo sanctuary.

Other People's Rejection Letters

edited by Bill Shapiro
Finished September 2010


This is a collection of real letters, emails and notes to and from executives, writers, actors, boyfriends, girlfriends, teachers, students and so on. They are formal rejection letters, pink slips, dear john letters, angry notes and text messages. We can see actual photos of some of the letters. How did Shapiro get these letters?

"I hit up my friends and then friends of friends, and then I enlisted a
team of clever reporters from across the country to help with the hunt."

Some of the letters are funny and others are sad. There are some that are really historically interesting.

• There's a 1956 letter from the Museum of Modern Art to Andy Warhol informing him that they would not be accepting his gift of a "drawing called Shoe."
• There is a photo of the letter of discharge from the U.S. Army for Jimi Hendrix.
• There's a photo of a letter on "Chock full 'O Nuts letterhead from Jackie Robinson to the President of the United States (1958) regarding civil rights of negro citizens of the U.S.
• My favorite is the photo of a draft of the letter of resignation Eleanor Roosevelt sent to the Daughters of the American Revolution after they refused to let Marian Anderson sing in Constitution Hall.

There are also very ordinary letters:

• A note on that wide ruled manila primary paper from Naomi to her Grandma: "I got your letter. But I can't come because I have other plans"
• A slip of paper that says, "Sometime I think you are a big jack ass but I love you - Mommie"
• A handwritten note from a very young child: "I hat you fram PhoeBe"
• A note written on the back of a slip of receipt paper: "In case you did not notice this is employee parking. That means you Don't park here. Next time you will be towed. We know your car. Thanks - OTP."
• And the reply, written on the other side of the receipt paper: "In case you did not notice I was in your restaurant with 4 clients which will never happen again. I know who you are too!"

A fun book. There's a website as well.

Fast Food Nation

by Eric Schlosser
Finished September 2010


My doctor suggested that I read this book after I told her that I eat a lot of fast food. It didn't deter me from eating it.

Some people say that the descriptions of slaughterhouses will put you off fast food. The part that made a biggest impact on me was the explanation of how the corporatization (is that a word) of America happened. It's pretty amazing that almost all of the large fast food chains were started by men with no college education. They all began as very small operations. It's kind of an inspiring story - the American Dream. But the small operations grew into huge corporations that squelch the little man. The exploitation of workers is more appalling to me than any bloody images of cows being slaughtered.

I wish I had the gumption to take a stand and eat local, fresh foods.

The book was good and very worth reading. About midway through, however, I became a little tired of the author's agenda. He made good and valid points, but I am sure he was selective with the presentation of the facts. The book has a definite liberal bias, which is to be expected. But I don't think that it was a necessary point of view. The corporate culture, the increase in processed food, the exploitation of workers have happened in liberal and conservative government administrations.

I don't know if Eric Schlosser has plans to update the book, but I think he should. It was written in 2002. I'd be interested in knowing if any of the statistics he gives have changed in eight years.

I Have Heard You Calling in the Night

by Thomas Healy

Finished August 2010

This book was a pre-publication paperback that I found in the breakroom at work. The title caught my eye as well as the drawing of a dog on the cover. The description helped sell me:

Thomas Healy was a drunk, a fighter, sometimes a writer, often unemployed, no stranger to the police. His life was going nowhere but downhill. Then one day he bought a pup - a Doberman. He called him Martin. Gradually man and dog became unshakable allies, the closest of comrades, the best of friends. Martin, in more ways than one, saved Thomas Healy's life.

I love stories about dogs anyway, especially stories about the bond betweeen dog and human. But I held onto this book for a while before I finally read it.

It's an unusual book. The author's writing style is very colloquial and not very polished. Healy has written a book called The Hurting Business (about boxing) and two novels - Rolling and It Might Have Been Jerusalem. I haven't seen these other books, don't really know who published them, and don't know if they were ever widely read. If I didn't see the publisher name Harcourt on the back of the book, I'd have thought it was a self-published memoir.

This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the book. It was interesting and touching. Thomas Healy, as the back cover blurb says, was a drunk and a trouble maker. On a pure drunken whim he bought a Doberman pup from an unscrupulous man and named him Martin. Healy saved Martin's life and Martin returned the favor. For some reason, having this dog was just the impetus he needed to stop his drinking. He would drink again, on occasion, and realistically remained an alcoholic. But, he wasn't an active drunk.

This isn't really a dog book. Martin is the miracle that changed the diretion of Healy's life, but the

one who was "calling in the night" is God. This is more the spiritual memoir of someone searching for something deep and lasting. Healy may not be a deeply religious person, even now. But the reader can see God working throughout his life in so many ways, calling him patiently.

I'm glad I finally picked the book up after having it on my shelf for at least two years.

Humanism, What's That?

A Book for Curious Kids

by Helen Bennett

Finished June 12, 2010

I bought this book for the library's collection to add depth to our religion/philosphy section. It's unfortunate that there isn't more written on the subject for children because this is only just good enough to be a placeholder. It simply fills an immediate need.

The book is written in a question and answer format. It begins by telling us that the classmate of a group of children (of undetermined age) has been in an auto accident and is now in a coma.

One of the children says, "Let's all pray for Amanda. I bet God will make her well if He hears our prayers." Mrs. Green answers by saying, "I'm sorry, Jesse, but we can't do that as a class. If you wish, you may pray on your own, silently, or pray at home or after school." The children are surprised by her answer and wonder why they don't have a right to pray together. Mrs. Green explains that the Constitution of the United States assures a separation of church and state and by having the whole class pray together might force someone who doesn't believe in God to do something that makes them uncomfortable. The children express surprise that someone wouldn't believe in God.

Instead of leaving it at that or suggesting to the children that they talk to their parents about it, Mrs. Green says, "If you are really curious about a different view, we can meet as a group about it after class if you will get your parent to sign a permission slip. We'll talke about Humanism, an ancient philosphy that many good people follow."

Now, in my mind, the children were simply asking why they couldn't pray together and whether someone who doesn't believe in God can be a good person. Mrs. Green's answer to this is a little like the old story abou the kid who asked his mother where his baby sister came from. She gives him an entire sex education lesson when all he wanted to know was which hosptial she was born in.

Six of the thirty two children bring back permission slips and have an after school discussion with Mrs. Green about Humanism.

The book should have been called "Why Humanism is Better than Religion." It reads more like an argument against religion than an explanation of Humanism. The children ask questions or make comments like, "My minister says that my church knows the truth, and all other churches are wrong. Is he right?" The questions the children ask come from a fundamentalist viewpoint. Since the book ended up being a religion vs Humanism debate, I was aching for more challenging comments from the religion side.

One child asks, "Who created nature and the world, if not God?" Mrs. Green answers, "Many people believe that our world didn't develop over time but was created by God - you know, the way you create trees and animals and people out of clay during art class. Humanists do not believe that the world was 'created' by anyone. The earth and all things on it developed or 'evolved' over billions of years." None of the children challenge this by asking - but where did it all begin? Everything has to have a beginning.

But that's the problem. Mrs. Green is debating with children. Her answers aren't challenged at all. Of course, that's not the point of the book. It's supposed to be an introduction to Humanism. However, it's a cheap shot, in my opinion, to present counter arguments to issues raised by children.

In Mrs. Green's version, "all" humanists are highly ethical. Yes, she said all humanists are highly ethical. "They believe in doing good because it is the right thing to do, not because they are afraid of God's punishment." I've seen this line used in other children's books about athiesm or humanism. Have they not heard of the Great Commandment? (Matthew 22:36-40). Of course, the bible is an unreliable source, for Mrs. Green. God is not that great of a guy because he's pretty mean and unfair in the Old Testament. She knows a lot about the OT God of Wrath but not very much about the God of Love and Mercy.