The marsupials trekked from the tip of South America (when South America formed a part of the unified continent Gondwana) to the connected landmass that became Australia. There they became the dominant form of animal life in country that had drifted away from their original home. This is a beautiful example of “We have the fossils – you lose.”
Category: Non fiction reviews
A review of Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place by Janet Browne
Janet Browne shows him to be not only great but huggable. She also as a side benefit gives us an extraordinarily vivid picture of England in the nineteenth century. This is a book of wide appeal and reaches easily across boundaries to celebrate a man of genius who made a major change in our lives and was modest and unassuming in ways that are touching and memorable.
A review of Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven by Susan Jane Gilman
Besides the obvious obstacles—an extreme communication barrier, a culture so completely opposite of Western values and practices, and hoping to not get on your traveling companion’s nerves—these two innocent, naïve college girls were walking in utterly unknown territory. But in the end, mental anguish turns out to be the biggest danger of the trip.
A review of Stricken: The 5,000 Stages of Grief by Spike Gillespie & Katherine Tanney (Eds)
Stricken is filled with honest and heartfelt stories from a collection of very good, mostly Texas-based writers who possess the life experience and courage to share their stories with others. The next time someone I care about is in need of comfort and solace in the face of loss, I’ll be certain to pass on this worthy and life-affirming book.
A review of A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
A Brief History of Time is far more than a science book. It’s one of the renaissance books that is so seminal to the notion of who we are, and where we might be in the next fifty years, that it should be required reading for every person from high school on. If that seems like a big ask you’ve got the wrong idea about this book.
A review of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights illustrated by Michel Streich
Though it’s only small, this book packs a powerful punch in terms of its striking prose which is no less relevant today than it was 60 years ago, its apt illustrations, and its applicability to the way we choose to live our lives.
A review of Three of the Best: The Modern Woman’s Guide to Everything by Candace Lewis & Margaret O’Sullivan
All in all, Lewis and O’Sullivan have done a very clever job of distilling just about everything you need to know about life into seven key areas, and then providing three things that you need to know on that topic. If you need more than that, well you probably are too serious a person anyway.
A review of One Pot French: More than 100 Easy, Authentic Recipes by By Jean-Pierre Challet
All in all, this is a nice offering for the beginning or intermediate cook looking to take on the world of French cuisine in a non-pretentious, easy to learn form. You might need more than one pot, but not many more, and the overall results will certainly be worth it.
A review of Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson
This is an exquisite book, which manages to combine the most outrageous frivolity (it’s kind of like the Manolo Blahnik of cookbooks with its green ribbon, sumptuous pictures, and the big hardcover red and greenness of it) with absolute practicality in terms of the useability of its recipes, the practicality of its suggestions, and the tempting nature of the items chosen.
A review of Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write by Mark David Gerson
There is a warmth and an affirmative coaching quality to this book, but it isn’t only about urging you on. There are also some useful suggestions and exercises designed to help you work through your fears, and find out exactly what you need to write. There are exercises for overcoming block, even when it seems overwhelming, ways of coping with distraction and transition, and ideas you can use to deepen your characters, enrich your settings, and extend your plot.