Animosity, Vol. 3: The Swarm by Marguerite Bennett

In the world of Animosity, the animals became sentient one day. In some areas of the world, this transition occurred more smoothly than others. Strangely, all of the bees disappeared.

This issue sheds some light on where they went.

As this series continues to get darker, I can’t help but be reminded of The Walking Dead, Book One. (Especially with the rumors of a “walled city” in this issue.)

You have a world, much like our own, but with unexpected dangers and predators around every corner. Some have adopted in strange ways to survive, sometimes at the great expense of others. Cultures have entirely changed or adopted to embrace different manners of communication and family.

The strong are thriving, but so are the smart. What matters most are your relationships and how you interact with others.

My one criticism of this series is how dark it seems to be turning. If animals became like people, wouldn’t they get some of our most positive characteristics too, instead of mainly or entirely the negative?

It’s still a fascinating premise in that the carnivores still need to eat meat even though they now have the cognitive abilities of a human. There’s a few panels in this issue showing krill having a conversation about the dangers of trying to communicate with the deep ocean creatures shortly before being swallowed by a whale.

How small does the sentience go? To one-celled organisms? We don’t know yet. But it is a mystery the series is working on solving.

Recommended for adult or older teen readers because of some violence, not too graphic, and stressful situations. This issue ends on a cliffhanger so if you can’t handle the uncertainty, you may want to wait to read these until the series is complete.

Thanks for reading!

The Speed Reading Book by Tony Buzan

I did not speed read Tony Buzan’s The Speed Reading Book because I found it to be rather a slog. There is useful information in here about the physical capabilities of your eyes and brain, methods for training your eyes how to move, the benefits of improving your vocabulary, how to recognize patterns in the way paragraphs are structured, and the basics of logic.

However, it’s interspersed with information that I felt was better presented in Use Your Head.

“Quite apart from important improvements in the technique of learning how to read fast which are set forth in this book, what I wish to emphasize in my system is that understanding and remembering factual material is not nearly as important as knowing how to relate new material to what you already know. This is the all-important ‘integrative factor’, or if you will, learning how to learn.” pgs 12-13

He re-hashes the proper way to make a mind-map and the importance of previewing all reading material, even mystery novels, which I felt was silly. I can’t speak for the whole world, but I read mysteries to be entertained, not create a template into which I fit important details as I go along.

“The purpose of the preview is to develop a structure into which the mind can more easily fit the smaller details of that structure. … Previewing should be applied whatever kind of material you are going to read, which it be letters, reports, novels or articles.” pg 115

Though he did backpedal on his “preview everything” stance somewhat in a chapter about reading poetry: “When reading literature and poetry, bring to bear all your knowledge and judgment, and if you feel that it is the kind of writing you wish to treasure forever, forget about speed reading through it and reserve it for those occasions when time is not so pressing.” pgs 167-168

Thank you, I will.

Perhaps part of my problem with this book is that it revealed to me just how slowly I read and assimilate non-fiction, because Buzan offers the reader information about the absolute limitlessness of human capability.

“Theoretically, the human visual system can photograph an entire page of print in one-twentieth of a second, and thus a standard length book in between six and twenty-five seconds, and the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica in less than an hour. Advanced skinning and scanning skills take you on the first step of that incredible and inevitable journey.” pg 70

Let’s say I have much room for improvement.

The book also showed its age somewhat during a chapter on the importance of organizing how you take in information from newspapers: “Newspapers are so much a part of our everyday life that we seldom stop to think that they are a very recent development.” pg 148

But are they still? I’m not so sure.

The book ends on a high note and, of course, I plan to continue practicing and improving my skills: “Your continuing success in all fields of speed reading depends on your personal decision to continue the course you have begun, and on the capacity of your brain to read, assimilate, comprehend, recall, communicate and create, abilities which we know approach the infinite. Your success is therefore guaranteed.” pg 177

But if you’re only going to read one book by Tony Buzan, I recommend Use Your Head.

The Art of Exceptional Living by Jim Rohn

Nearly every house valued over $200,000 has a library in it. Now why do you think that is?

Jim Rohn, motivational speaker and business genius, was a kinder, gentler Tony Robbins. Originally from Iowa, he uses common sense and a storytelling style in an effort to encourage listeners to improve their lives. This audiobook presentation is a mix of live presentations and studio-recorded bits. Personally, I think he was better in front of a live audience, but there was plenty to take away from in both sections.

Here’s some of what he shares in this audiobook:

Read, learn, journal. Write down what works and what doesn’t. Write down your goals and then take a minute to look at the passing days, weeks and months and see what you’ve accomplished.

Eat healthy and take that walk around the block. If you don’t, you may seriously regret it, maybe not today or tomorrow but in the years to come, you’ll wish you took a minute to invest in yourself.

Work hard at your job and you’ll make a living. Work hard on yourself and you’ll make a fortune!

Rohn insists that anyone can be exceptional. He says success in business (and life) comes from small positive steps taken consistently over time. That type of approach really works for most any goal or dream you may have.

Read contracts all the way through, every time. It seems like a simple thing, but it can take you down some dark roads if you don’t read the fine print. He learned that the hard way.

Don’t stop reading and be a lifetime learner. Stay curious. Stay involved.

And take pictures. Part of your legacy to the next generation can be the pictures and documentation you’ve made of your life.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to this audiobook. It’s one of my go-to programs when life has me down. Jim Rohn believed you can accomplish anything that you set your mind to do. He makes listeners believe that too. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn “the art of exceptional living.”

Thanks for reading!

Gone with the Gin: Cocktails with a Hollywood Twist by Tim Federle

“Gone with the Gin” is an effervescent drink guide that pairs cleverly named potables with classic films. It’s a winner!

Last year (or was it the year before), I named Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist, also by Tim Federle, as one of my favorite reads in my annual book review. It’s similar to Gone with the Gin, except that Tequila Mockingbird uses classic literary works instead of film.

Federle has a way with puns and summarizing complex plots in three sentences or less without devolving into the unbearably cheesy. My favorites from Gone with the Gininclude the “Ben-Hurricane” and “The Empire likes Jack”.

And, like Tequila Mockingbird, I think I’m going to have to purchase a copy of this book to keep at the house. Like the majority of my reading material, I borrowed it from the library. But it’s going to be a sad day when I have to give it back…

Lest you think that Federle is a one-note author, please take a moment to consider another of his books: Life Is Like a Musical: How to Live, Love, and Lead Like a Star. It gives some hard-won lessons from Federle’s days dancing and singing his way across the stage. I enjoyed it too.

I think it’s fair to say that I highly recommend most anything Federle has written, so far. Keep ’em coming, Tim!

And thanks for reading!

Earthwalks for Body and Spirit: Exercises to Restore Our Sacred Bond with the Earth by James Endredy

Earthwalks for Body and Spirit is a handbook of sorts for a shamanistic experience of nature. James Endredy, through various exercises for both the solo and group walker, crafts a system through which the reader can get in touch with nature and, he believes, heal the world through this relationship.

It’s an interesting idea.

I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors for its healing aspect. I’m more of a sun bather than an avid walker but I think that the general principle is the same. If you’re in a funk, go outside for awhile. It clears the clouds from your mind so to speak.

Actually, this is one of the first books I’ve ever read that goes into actual shaman practices. It’s worth the read just for that, really.

I read in What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam that most adults from middle class, dual income families spend less than 15 minutes per week outside in their yards. Stats like that make me a little sad for all of us. Time to go read outside! 🙂

If you enjoyed Earthwalks for Body and Spirit, I’d recommend The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz, This Trip Will Change Your Life by Jennifer Monahan, or The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner.

And, as always, thanks for reading!

Hanging the Sheriff: A Biography of Henry Plummer by R.E. Mather, F.E. Boswell

Hanging the Sheriff takes another look at the life of Henry Plummer. Conventional history labels Plummer as the leader of a notorious outlaw gang in the territory that would eventually become Montana. This book suggests that Plummer’s life story was written by the vigilantes who killed him and they had every reason to make him seem worse than perhaps he actually was.

It was kind of funny — the authors assumed everyone reading their book would know exactly who Plummer was. I had no clue: The image of Plummer as the one man responsible for all crime committed in the mining districts east of the Rockies is so firmly ingrained it is nearly impossible for even the most impartial of readers to drop old suspicions and view him with an open mind.” pg 7

Like I said, blank slate here. And the story they revealed was fascinating.

Plummer was born in Maine and migrated West not just for the Gold Rush but also because of his lung disease. He was a successful business owner and prospector. He was a notorious gunslinger, able to fire five bullets in three seconds. He got in trouble with the law, but was elected marshall and sheriff in two different towns. He killed at least half a dozen people.

“Plummer jumped up. ‘I’m tired of this,’ he said, drawing his pistol and firing at the ceiling. A second shot struck Cleveland, who fell to his knees, pleading, ‘You won’t shoot me when I’m down?’ ‘No,’ Plummer said, ‘Get up.’ pg 25

In his defense, the American frontier was wild and untamed with very few courts or lawmen. Everyone had to police themselves: “As Granville Stuart explained, ‘There was no safety for life or property only as far as each individual could, with his trusty rifle, protect his own.'” pg 26

I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been arranged in a linear fashion (it wasn’t) and if they had included some of the other viewpoints about Plummer. They go on and on about Plummer’s bad reputation but give little explanation, for those who haven’t heard of it, exactly what that reputation was.

“She said that she loved Mr. Plummer,” Thompson wrote, “that she knew that he loved her, that she had the upmost faith in him, that the terrible stories of him were told by men not worthy of belief; that she could never be happy unless she married him.” pg 41 What stories!

This book made me wonder about all of the “history” of the Wild West. Who were the heroes and who were the villains? Things weren’t black and white… and, as the authors pointed out, history was written by the men who survived. Was that the truth of what really happened? I guess we’ll never know.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s the History Guy episode I wrote about Henry Plummer:

Scandals of Classic Hollywood by Anne Helen Petersen

Full title: Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema

Scandals of Classic Hollywood is about movie star scandals, obviously, but also shows the development of Hollywood and how public and private forces place tremendous pressure on the stars of film. I think it’s extraordinary than anyone in the business can be normal at all considering what they go through.

The scandals discussed in this book are more than just smut. They’re history lessons…” introduction

The most fascinating piece of this book is the role of fixers and reputation creators. It makes you wonder what’s real and what’s simply fairy tale in celebrity magazines now. In what other profession do we act like we know a person simply because they were doing their job?

“During this period, stars weren’t born; they were made. Scouts would bring in ‘raw’ star material, culled from the vaudeville circuit, the theater, or the soda fountain counter. The potential star would be given a name, a sanitized (and sometimes dramatized) backstory, a makeover, and a contract.” introduction

The other side of Hollywood that this book gives you an inside look at is the creation of film ratings and the history of censorship.

“To save their monopolies, then, they had to figure out a way to appease the calls for censorship, but to do so without actually appointing a government censor. Thus the studios came together and created an organization — the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America — and elected to censor themselves.” pgs 22-23

Each chapter focused on a different person or couple and it seemed like most of the chapters ended in tragedy. Judy Garland, Lombard and Gable, and Fatty Arbuckle are a few who come to mind, but there are a dozen others.

“Whenever a Hollywood star dies young, it’s a tragedy. Whenever a Hollywood star dies young while serving her country, leaving behind her much-beloved husband, with whom she had been very publicly and blissfully happy, the tragedy amplifies into something else entirely.” pg 132

Before TMZ, fans got their gossip through magazines or newspaper columnists, perhaps not with the immediacy that exists now, but there was still tremendous pressure to behave or appear to behave a certain way. The pressure totally messed up some stars.

Like Judy Garland: “Today she remains one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars and the most compelling reminder of what our affection for the idols on the screen, and the machinery that feeds it, does to both body and mind. Her life suggested hope and despair in equal measures, begging you to love her and damning you for doing so.” pg 178

I also loved learning about the eccentricities and bizarre behaviors a few of the stars were known to display. I mean, I always knew Marlon Brando was kind of weird, but this book took it to a whole new level for me…

“He loved to play congas and marimbas, and specialized in playing the recorder with his nose; he owned a pet raccoon; and he was known to make an entire meal out of peanut butter. (When asked why he didn’t fall for Desire costar Jessica Tandy, his answer: ‘She doesn’t like peanut butter.’)” pg 223

Recommended for fans of classic film or those who want to learn more about Hollywood and its stars. Scandals of Classic Hollywood entertains while it educates.

Thanks for reading!

The Chinatown War: Chinese Los Angeles and the Massacre of 1871 by Scott Zesch

The Chinatown War is an outstanding examination of a little remembered event in Los Angeles history. One terrible night in 1871, racial tension boiled over in what was later labeled “the Chinese Massacre” and what the people of Los Angeles at the time called “Black Tuesday” or “the night of horrors”.

Scholars can’t even agree on how many people were murdered that night in October 1871. Scott Zesch, the author of The Chinatown War, believes it was around 18.

“Most Angelenos do not even know what happened that night, for the city’s fathers decided to put the incident behind them shortly after it occurred, and the victims were not people of consequence. They were ordinary immigrants whose American dream ended in a nightmare.” prologue

Public opinion was driven by resentment and distrust of Chinese immigrants. While often portrayed as a working class complaint over jobs, the hatred towards the Chinese was a thinly veiled racism against a people who were hated largely because their ways and culture were different.

“Contrary to popular belief, the earliest Chinese immigrants to America did not come to build the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s. Instead, it was the California Gold Rush of 1849 that brought the first large wave of Chinese to the West Coast.” pg 6

I learned so much from this book.

For example, Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles were often members of social groups called huiguan – commonly called “companies” in the newspapers of the time, although that translation is not exactly correct. Huiguan were social groups formed to help Chinese immigrants in their new lives in America. Members would sign up for the huiguan based on the location they immigrated from in China.

Also, though it is now one of the most populous cities in the U.S., in 1871 Los Angeles only had a population of around 6,000 people. Unfortunately, this massacre is one of the events that brought Los Angeles to the attention of the rest of the world.

“One of the city’s early historians, Charles Dwight Willard, characterized Los Angeles as ‘undoubtedly the toughest town of the entire nation’ during the 1850s and 1860s. He claimed that it had a larger percentage of miscreants than any other American city and, for its size, also had the highest number of fights, murders, and robberies.” pg 23

Policing this rough and tumble western town wasn’t easy. This was compounded by the fact that the police department was too small.

Los Angeles’s early police department was too small, and was staffed by men too inexperienced or indifferent to their responsibilities, to be very effective in keeping order.” pg 53

The riot itself is difficult to read about, even now that nearly 150 years have passed since that night. Innocent people were dragged from their homes, brutalized and murdered.

“One eyewitness reported that the ‘stark, staring corpses hung ghastly in the moonlight,’ while ‘others, mutilated, torn and crushed, lay in our streets.'” pg 150

Not all of the citizens of Los Angeles participated in the massacre. Some tried to shame the mob into stopping or hid the terrified Chinese in their own homes to protect them.

“Baldwin quickly realized that the crowd’s sentiment was very much against him. As he said later, ‘I might as well have spoken to a cyclone.'” pg 145

A man named William H. Gray concealed several people in his home. In the years following the massacre, he received anonymous gifts in thanks for his actions that night.

Zesch examines the whole incident from the beginning to the trials following and how it affected (or didn’t) Los Angeles afterwards. His research and scholarship really is astonishing. He gives context and history not only of the city but also of the Chinese immigrant community at that time.

Highly recommended for anyone who wants to learn about an event in Los Angeles history that should never be forgotten.

Thanks for reading!

Here’s the History Guy episode I wrote about this event:

The Herbal Goddess Guide: Create Radiant Well-Being Every Day with Herb-Inspired Teas, Potions, Salves, Food, Yoga, and More by Amy Jirsa

The Herbal Goddess Guide is a beautiful little reference book in which 12 different herbs are examined for physical, mental and spiritual healing purposes.

Amy Jirsa provides recipes, yoga poses, crafts and more to utilize the healing power of the plants in various ways.

This book may not be for everyone as it has a very new age feel. Jirsa discusses magical traditions, honoring a plant’s spirit and more.

However, if you’re into tapping your inner goddess, this may be the perfect book for you.

If you read it and you enjoy it, you may want to purchase The Herbal Goddess Guide for your personal collection because Jirsa suggests “getting to know” each plant for a month and there is a chapter devoted to each.

It could take you awhile to thoroughly digest the information in these pages. (And to try everything!)

My favorite chapter, probably because it is my favorite herb, is lavender. Did you know it is a member of the mint family?

While lavender is known for being relaxing, it can, in some cases, be stimulating, so be sure to check in with your mind, your mood, and your energy level after each recipe.” pg 131.

Some of the yoga poses Jirsa outlines are rather advanced, but she offers modifications for each. If your flexibility isn’t up to snuff, no worries.

Highly recommended for the open-minded reader and non-traditional healers.

For similar, new age/self help books I’ve reviewed, check out:

How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic’s Guide to Spiritual Happiness by Karen Salmansohn

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz

Trance Dancing with the Jinn by Yasmin Henkesh

And thanks for reading!

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Tag: reader

Animosity, Vol. 3: The Swarm by Marguerite Bennett

The Speed Reading Book by Tony Buzan

The Art of Exceptional Living by Jim Rohn

Earthwalks for Body and Spirit: Exercises to Restore Our Sacred Bond with the Earth by James Endredy

Hanging the Sheriff: A Biography of Henry Plummer by R.E. Mather, F.E. Boswell

Scandals of Classic Hollywood by Anne Helen Petersen

The Chinatown War: Chinese Los Angeles and the Massacre of 1871 by Scott Zesch

The Herbal Goddess Guide: Create Radiant Well-Being Every Day with Herb-Inspired Teas, Potions, Salves, Food, Yoga, and More by Amy Jirsa

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