Nonfiction Book Reviews

So I’ve been running my first ever contest here at Nonfiction Book Reviews over the last couple of weeks, and yesterday was the last day for said contest.  Which means that today, we get to have the fun of announcing the winners!

::drumroll:: Here are the winners, in the order they were chosen:

Lynne from Life After Work
Deb from Story Beader
Jo from Fantasy Book Reviews
Anne from Permissions Please
Jennifer from Travel and Adventure Books

Very cool, eh? Congrats to everyone on the list!!

Again, the prizes were:

** 3,000 EntreCard credits Chosen by Deb
** Simplexity by Jeffrey Kluger (a book review: Simplexity)
** Before the Scalpel by Panchali Dhar, MD (my book review: Before the Scalpel)
** $5 gift card to Starbucks Chosen by Lynne
** $5 gift card to Barnes and Noble

A couple things to keep in mind: I am offering the prizes one at a time, going down through the list, so Lynne has first choice, Deb has second, etc, until I run out of people and prizes.

If I get towards the end of the list and someone doesn’t want anything left on the list (which I totally understand - perhaps you did this in hopes of winning the Simplexity book, but it’s chosen, and you really don’t want anything else) then I will simply do a second drawing and pull out another name. At that point, this new person has the choice of accepting or turning down the prize. I will continue to draw names until I run out of prizes or run out of names.

Last thing: If you live in another country, then you would have to pay for the shipping costs of either of the books in order to receive it as your prize. I’m a poor college student, what can I say?  So if you’re overseas, I’d probably suggest sticking to either the gift cards or the EC credits, unless you’re really in love with one of those books.

Oh, and please note that I am marking the prizes off the list as they are chosen, so you guys can keep track of the prizes left throughout the day.

Congratulations all!! I really appreciate everyone’s entries; I had a lot of fun with this!!! I am already planning my next giveaway.

Hugs,

Hava

Today’s post is part of my Tuesday Talks series, where I interview other book bloggers around the web.  This interview is a little different because Carrie not only writes fiction book reviews (complete with reading challenges) but she also does movie reviews.  To top it all off, she also a part of that elite blogging company called Today.com.  That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, she is a fellow Today.com blogger.  Makes you love her already, right?  Because if Today could produce an amazingly cool, sophisticated and yet stunningly humble blogger like me, then you know it’s doing something right.

Let’s get to the interview before someone takes it upon themselves to throw rotten tomatoes at me, shall we?  Here’s the interview in all its glory:

Please tell us about your blog: What kinds of books do you like to review?

I love to read - and I read almost everything: classics, modern lit, YA fiction, juvenile fiction, poetry, short stories, essays, history, mysteries, fantasy, some sci-fi, and historical novels. The only genres I don’t read are self-help books and horror.

I’d love to hear about a favorite book or author that you’ve read recently and why it was your favorite.

I’ve read some really great books in the past few months - it’s hard to limit it to only a few! Here are some titles that stand out:

The Observations by Jane Harris

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler

Testimony by Anita Shreve

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

If you really want an idea of the kinds of books I like, then check out my list of 55 must-read novels.

Tell me a little about yourself.

I’ve been a voracious reader since my mother taught me when I was three-and-a-half years old. My nose has been in a book ever since. I firmly believe that education doesn’t end when you leave school, and I read not only for entertainment but to educate myself. I’m a homeschooling mom of four, and one of my favorite parts of homeschooling is reading aloud to my kids - which is why I often review juvenile fiction. My daughter is 12, and has started to give me book recommendations - which accounts for a lot of the YA titles I read.

How long have you been reviewing books and why did you start - what was your motivation?

I’ve been blogging about books since I started blogging in January of 2005. It wasn’t really reviewing, though - more just posting my thoughts on what I was reading, and passages that I wanted to remember. As I found more and more book blogs and loved the content I was finding, I started to post reviews - and have been ever since.

If you do not like a book, do you still post about it or do you only post positive reviews?

If I really hate a book, I don’t bother to finish it. If I finish it, I will most likely review it - and I will be honest without being snarky or brutal. As a freelance writer, I understand that the authors behind the books I’m reading have poured their lives into them, and therefore, they deserve to be treated with respect. That said, I will be honest about what I think of a book - otherwise my readers wouldn’t be able to trust me. I simply try to write an honest review without being savage or disparaging the author.

Do you try to review the same kinds of books consistently, or are you eclectic in your choices?

My choices are extremely eclectic. I don’t really have a “niche” in the book blogging world - I review what I read, and I read just about everything.

Are you one to do a lot of reading challenges?  What is a book challenge that you have especially enjoyed?

Until this year, I have only participated in seasonal challenges. Then this year, I went challenge crazy and joined eleven! For the first time, I’m even hosting a challenge - the Essay Reading Challenge, which lasts until the end of the year.

One challenge I’m really enjoying this year is the Outlander Challenge. The object is to read (or re-read) the first seven books in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series before the next one comes out in September. I’ve read them all before, so this time I’m listening to them on audio book, and the reader, Davina Porter, is absolutely fantastic.

Do you ever do author interviews? and/or Do you receive books from the publishing companies/authors and review them on your site or do you check out from the library/buy all of your books?

I have done a couple of author interviews, and really enjoyed them. The only hard part is when you’re set to interview an author, and you didn’t enjoy their book very much - it can be a bit awkward. I do receive review copies and ARCs from publishers and authors. I also buy (too many of) my own books, and make frequent use of our local public library. I especially use the library for audio books, because the unabridged versions (which are the only ones I’ll listen to) are so expensive to purchase.

I have seen a lot of different styles when it comes to rating a book. Do you rate your book reviews, and if so, what is the point system and how do you determine what you give?

I do rate my books - here’s the system I use:

1 star - If I finished it, shame on me.
2 stars - I wanted to see how it ended, but it was just okay.
3 stars - I liked it.
4 stars - I loved it.
5 stars - It was brilliant and you should read it immediately - in fact, everyone should.

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One of the coolest things about doing these interviews is seeing the wide variety of tastes when it comes to the bloggers.  I do all nonfiction book reviews (obviously) and yet Carrie doesn’t even touch that genre.  It also looks like there are a lot of book bloggers who have really gotten into the young adult world, which is a marked difference from 10 years ago, when the best you could hope to find there was the Sweet Valley High series.

Anyway, if you enjoy poetry, young adult books, and the more serious adult fiction books, then look no further than Books and Movies.  Thanks Carrie - it was fun to have you here!

Havs

This morning, I went downstairs and started doing outside check-in.  As is common, there was a stack of books already sitting on the counter that fellow employees were giving to me to check in.  I started doing check-in, not paying a whole lot of attention to the titles of the books, when I saw a book that needed a new barcode.

I quickly pulled up the book in the computer to “send it to mending” (that’s what we call it when we tell the computer program that the book is being fixed and/or mended, so that we know where in the library it is at) when I happened to see the name of the person who checked the book out on the screen.  It was a fellow coworker of mine at the library.  I then did a double take and stared at the title of the book.

It was a book on saving your marriage.  I looked at the next book in the pile - another book about trying to stave off divorce.  With a feeling of dread, I checked it in and checked the patron portion of the computer - yes, it was the same employee.

I felt sick to my stomach.  I had no idea that this person was struggling with their marriage.  I felt like some sort of interloper, that I would know something this huge and significant without meaning to, and certainly without wanting to.

I completed check-in this morning like normal, but inside, I was just sick.  It wasn’t as if I could walk up to this person and say, “Hey, so I see that you’re on the edge of divorce.  My condolences.”  This person has no idea that I know.  And quite frankly, I didn’t want to know.  At the same time, I’m sad and I want to hug this person and tell them that I feel for them.

There are some days that I learn more than I really wanted to know about my fellow men.  Working at a library seems to bring that to the forefront.  When you check out 15 books to someone about being pregnant, there’s a pretty good chance the patron is going to have a baby.  Same thing with books on advanced cancer; books on dealing with a new medical diagnosis; and yes, books on dealing with divorce.  The titles tell me, whether I really wanted to know or not, the inner thoughts and lives of the person checking those books out.

And there are some things I just didn’t want to know.

Sad today…

Hava

PS Before I forget, two important things: First off, tomorrow at midnight is the end of my first contest here at Nonfiction Book Reviews.  So if you haven’t entered that yet, be sure to get your entry in soon.  The other thing is another contest, this one happening over at Book N Around.  She has a massive book give away that you don’t want to miss.

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I was discussing books with a coworker the other day (hi, Corrine!) and she told me that she has tried time and again to read nonfiction books because she feels like she should.  After all, you learn so much more from nonfiction than you do fiction, and she wants to learn.

But she says that she can’t get through any nonfiction books because they are all so boor-ring!!!  She said (and I quote), “I start reading, and within minutes, my head is down on my chest, and I’m sleeping.  I just can’t stay awake through those books!”

I used to have that perception of nonfiction books too.  Nonfiction?  No way.  That’s boring, dry stuff!  Let’s read some fiction, where there’s action and storylines and FUN stuff.  Right?  Yeah, I see you nodding your head.  It’s true - fiction is almost universally thought of as the interesting books, and nonfiction as the dry tomes that only desperately dull people read.

Leaving aside the debate of whether I am desperately dull or not (no comments from the peanut gallery!) I think that there are a lot of nonfiction books that do not deserve the title of dull, and that anyone could enjoy reading.  I figured that it was about time I put together a list of my top ten favorite nonfiction books.  None of these books are academic treatises on a subject, I give you my solemn oath.

Most of these books I’ve written reviews of on here; in those cases, I have linked to the reviews.  Also, I am trying to link to a variety of books, so that if you’re not interested in biographies, for example, you might want to read a book about finances or relationships.  So it isn’t that I have ADHD or something (although that is possible…)

Let’s get going, shall we?

1. Marley and Me by John Grogan: If you do not laugh while reading this book, there is a good chance you are dead.  I just thought you should be aware of that.  There could be some sort of freaky sixth sense thing going on here.  I have not watched Marley and Me the movie, so I have zero input on that (although here’s a great review of Marley and Me the movie from another site).  Marley and Me the book is actually the book I ended up recommending to my coworker.  We’ll see if she enjoys it as much as I think she will.
2. Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand: No top ten list of mine would be complete without including my other favorite animal nonfiction book, Seabiscuit.  There is a lot more to this book than just Seabiscuit the horse, which at times can seem overwhelming, but it really helps set the stage for horse racing, which makes the racing portions of the book come alive.  Again, I have not watched the movie.  Anyone seeing a trend here?  Hmmm…
3. John Adams by David McCullough: This is one I have not written a review of yet, but it was one of the first nonfiction books that I ever read, and absolutely turned me on to biographies of historical figures, and especially biographies written by David McCullough.  He is a fantastic writer; at the end of John Adams, I actually cried because, you know, John Adams died.  (Hope I didn’t just ruin it for anyone.)  But that’s how strongly McCullough makes you care about his subjects of his books.  I did write a review of his masterpiece, 1776: Illustrated Edition, so check that out.  And no, I did not watch the John Adams movie either, in case you were wondering.
4. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson: There is no way to walk away from this book without feeling inspired, uplifted, and full of the can-do spirit.  Well, I guess you could if you were dead, but didn’t we already go over that?  Anyway, when I read a fiction book of how someone works hard to overcome incredible odds, I nod and smile and think, “Well of course he did!  It’s easy to do that in the fiction world.”  But when I read nonfiction book about a homeless mountain climber building hundreds of schools in the Middle East and doing his part to bring peace to the world…Well, it’s just hard to argue with that, you know?  And even harder to not want to do something yourself to help.
5. Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls: If you’re up for a depressing but touching and truly wonderful memoir, then this is just the book for you.  There is a reason this book was on the New York Bestseller’s list for ages.  If you have not read it before, go forth and read.  I guarantee your complete satisfaction, or your…well, sorry, you’re just screwed.  But really, you should be satisfied.  Most likely.
6. Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall: If you’re into polygamy books, then you absolutely must check out Stolen Innocence.  I’ve read most of the polygamy books out there, and I enjoyed this one the most.  Elissa manages to tell her depressing story without being completely depressing and/or bitter to the bitter end.  It is also the best edited out of the polygamy books; some of the other ones could have stood to have a little better editing job done.  If you read one polygamy book, make it this one.
7. The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman: In the crowded books-about-relationships field, Five Love Languages is consistently rated one of the top books of the genre.  There is a reason for this: The book plain makes sense.  If you’re in the market for a great book to help you out with your relationship with your loved one, then you must buy this book.  Between Five Love Languages and Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, you honestly cannot go wrong.
8. Hands of My Father by Myron Uhlberg: This is a fantastic memoir of a boy growing up during the Depression, son of two deaf parents.  I will be posting my review of it soon, but suffice it to say that I LOVED it.  Really and truly.  Check it out on Amazon in the meanwhile.  You won’t be sorry.
9. Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey: If you’re looking for a book on personal finances (how to manage your money) then this it.  Look no further.  Ramsey manages to make the book not only chockful of interesting information, but also interesting, inspiring, and easy to read.
10. Hubble: The Mirror on the Universe by Robin Kerrod and Carole Stott: Of course I couldn’t put together a list of my favorite nonfiction books without listing an astronomy book.  There are a lot of books that offer collections of space pictures, but I have to say that this the best one I’ve ever come across.  Gorgeous pictures, quality printing job, insightful info…You really can’t get any better than this book for space pictures.

So, did I miss any?  What is your favorite nonfiction book?  And if you say you don’t have one, then get reading!  I’d suggest starting with one the above books.  All are guaranteed to be snore free.

Or something like that…

Hava

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This is part of my Fun Fridays series. If you’re interested, be sure to check out my other children’s book reviews.

My brother-in-law and his partner live in Norway, so when I saw How to Draw Norway’s Sights and Symbols by Melody S. Mis, I immediately decided to check it out. I wanted to learn more about this beautiful country.

How to Draw Norway’s Sights and Symbols, despite the title of the book, did focus on quite a bit more than just how to draw a particular item. It started out by outlining the history of Norway from 10,000 BC to present day. The first “how to draw” section did not appear until page 15. Far from being disappointed by this, I thought this added a lot to the book. What is the point of learning how to draw something that you don’t know anything about?

As for the drawing portion of the book, I have to say that I am conflicted about it. When I think of a kid’s book on drawing, I think in terms of more simplistic items being drawn. Some of the items to be drawn were simple (like the national flag of Norway) but some of the items to be drawn would have absolutely killed me off, and I’m an adult. Granted, not an especially talented adult when it comes to artistic abilities, but I have considerably more hand-eye coordination than your typical 7 year old. At least I hope so.

On the other hand, I’m not entirely sure I can fault the author, Melody Mis, for this, considering the fact that she was not in charge of creating the coastline for Norway (click on the thumbnail to your left for a larger version so you can see exactly how difficult the Norway coastline is.)  Some of the other challenging items that you are shown how to draw: The purple heather flower, the Borgund Stavkirke, and more.

I enjoyed the book and certainly learned a lot from it.  The ages it is appropriate for is 9 - 12 years old, and I would suggest sticking with that unless your children are especially talented readers and artists.

This is part of a large series that includes other countries like Italy, Thailand, Japan, Pakistan, and more.  More than countries, however, the series has also branched off to include a book on each state in the United States, so you can find a book on Ohio, New York, Michigan, Idaho, and of course the rest of the states.  Pretty cool, eh?

When looking through those books, it looks as if part of the series is geared at 4 - 8 year olds, and part of the series is geared at 9 - 12 year olds.  That seemed rather strange to me, but I wasn’t able to personally look at those books to verify this.

Overall, I give How to Draw Norway’s Sights and Symbols 4.5 stars.  The illustrations to show the kids how to draw various items are a little small, and again some of the items are overly complicated, but other than that, I thought the book was well-done, full of interesting information, and a nice take on the “normal” series that you see about different countries around the world.

Hava

PS If you’re into children’s books, there is another terrific site here at Today you should check out.  Laura writes children’s book reviews exclusively, and has a fun site going.  Happy readings!

Hey everyone, it’s time for another installment of Tuesday Talks! I am interviewing book bloggers around the web, and this week, we have Jo who writes terrific reviews of fantasy books.  She’s from London, so if you want to be a geek like I am, imagine her saying her answers below in a cool British accent.  There’s that saying, “Everything’s better with butter,” right?  Well, the same thing holds true of words - they are just that much cooler when they’re said with a high-brow English accent.

Okay, let’s get this party started!

To start us off, please tell us about your blog: What kinds of books do you like to review?

On Ink and Paper, I mainly review fantasy novels, whether it’s high fantasy, urban fantasy, or paranormal romance, both YA and adult. Every now and then a review of another genre may creep in, when I’m recommended books outside the fantasy genre, or it’s a book I had to read for a class. I’ve been a major fantasy fan ever since I can remember, so it will always be my main focus of reviewing.

I’d love to hear about a favorite book or author that you’ve read recently and why it was your favorite.

Oh, that’s difficult! I have read so many good books lately! I think I would have to say the books in the Night Huntress Series by Jeaniene Frost (the first book is Halfway to the Grave.) Frost’s books are so full of twists and turns, and she brings something new to each novel that you would never expect. You can’t help but want to know how Cat and Bones’ relationship progresses, and I love how Frost balances the romance with the individual storylines of each book, the danger that Cat and Bones always find themselves in. I’m never left wanting more of one or the other.

How long have you been reviewing books and why did you start - what was your motivation?

Not long at all. I started blogging a little before Christmas in 2008. When it comes to high fantasy, most of the books I’ve read have belonged to my Dad, and we have very similar taste, so we have spent hours in the past talking about books, like The Belgariad series by David Eddings. However, he isn’t really a fan of urban fantasy and I had been reading a lot of them recently. I missed having someone to talk to about books, so I decided to start blogging about what I read. I also wanted somewhere to talk about the my different creative writing lessons – which I still do, but less so now.

I didn’t know I had started a book blog until I came across some other bloggers on the communities on LiveJournal - where I used to do my blogging. From there I found Book Blogs on Ning, and then Presenting Lenore’s New Book Blogger FAQ and The Story Siren’s Blog Tips, and started trying to make Ink and Paper a better book blog. I found them so helpful, it’s mainly because of their advice that my blog can now be called “book blog.” It was nothing compared to what it is now.

If you do not like a book, do you still post about it or do you only post positive reviews?

I’ve always thought I would review books I didn’t like, but this is something I’m having to learn to do. Nine times out of ten, my reviews are positive. I had written one review about a book I didn’t like that I had to read for a class and had no problem. Recently I received an ARC to review, my first ARC, and although I didn’t completely dislike the book, there were some things about it that I didn’t like. I didn’t give the book a negative review altogether, but I wasn’t completely positive.

Is it bad that I felt guilty? I just felt that I had been sent this book to read for free with the request of sending them a review, and here I am writing about its faults; how could I possibly do that when I didn’t even have to pay for it?

However, it’s the readers I have a duty to here, they’re the ones who expect an honest review, it’s what they deserve. As long as my reviews are fair, there’s no real problem I can see. I’ll just have to either get used to feeling guilty, or get a back bone.

How do you decide what goes into your To Be Read pile?

I don’t really have a To Be Read pile, it’s more of a To Buy list. Being fairly new to book blogging, I don’t receive many books to review; the ARC mentioned previously is the only one I’ve received so far. Mainly, I go by Amazon recommendations, and “save for later,” though I make a note of them for my blog. I then just work my way through from bottom to top.

I follow Wicked Lovely author Melissa Marr’s blog and recently, I’ve been liking the sound of the books she suggests, as well as a fair number of the reviews on book blogs that I follow. And so the list grows.

I don’t tend to use my library because they never seem to have anything I want, and never manage to order them in. I think I would be at my library CONSTANTLY if it was just better stocked.

What book (or books) got you hooked on reading as a child?

I was bought the first three Harry Potter books for Christmas from Mum and Dad when I was around 11. I wasn’t much of a reader then, and wasn’t particularly thrilled to have received books, but after a few months, I felt guilty for not having read them; they were a present after all (yeah, the guilt thing can happen quite easily for me). So I picked them up, and, funnily enough, I loved them! Best decision Mum and Dad had that year!

To be honest though, if it wasn’t for my Dad, I would have just stuck to the Harry Potter books, and that’s it. I liked those books, but I was still averse to reading anything else. My Dad insisted in talking to me about books though from that point on, and tried suggesting different books from his shelves for me to try out. I gave in reluctantly just to stop him going on.

I picked up The Pawn of Prophecy, the first book in The Belgariad Series by David Eddings, and have not looked back since. I was entranced by the world and its characters; Garion, the young boy always getting into trouble; Polgara, the beautiful, motherly aunt; Old Wolf, the mischievous old man; Silk, the witty and sarcastic spy, and everyone else. I loved them all, and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next in the series. It wasn’t long until I had finished all the David Eddings books my Dad owned, and I was thirsty for more.

My thirst has never really been satiated.

Tell me something even your readers may not know about you!

I took Drama for GCSE and A-Level at secondary school. Just like books, it was a form of escapism, but one I could actually be a part of. I lived for my Drama lessons and becoming someone completely different, someone cool.

I can’t count how many times I have had to fall over in plays I’ve done over the years. My most memorable fall was when I played Madam Arcarti, a medium, in a production of Blithe Spirit. I had to collapse in the middle of a trance, and I hadn’t been shown how to fall properly. Having your head bounce off the hard floor isn’t fun! But I loved acting so much, it was liberating. You wouldn’t catch me doing public speaking in a hurry though. I’m not playing a part then.

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Very cool.  I now have this insane British person inside of my head, hanging out and repeating everything I think in a cool British accent, but other than that, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks for braving my interview, Jo - come back and hang out with us again sometime soon.  And for any of my dear readers who are also fans of fantasy, be sure to check out some fantastic fantasy book reviews.

Hava

Okay, all of you germophobes, you can’t leave yet!! Why Dirt is Good: 5 Ways to Make Germs Your Friends by Mary Ruebush is especially important reading for the Clorox Sanitizing Wipes/Purell gel sanitizer type people, which germophobes usually are.  Yeah, you know who you are.

Why Dirt is Good was written by a doctor who is a microbiology and immunology instructor at Kaplan Medical and has taught about immunology, infectious disease, and pathology in medical schools for 30+ years.  So she isn’t some quack who is spouting of her own ideas of what she thinks we ought to do - she has years and years of experience backing her (and her admittedly insane ideas).

So here’s the book in a nutshell:

Our immune system is like anything else - it gets better and stronger the more it is used.  An immune system has to learn how to fight off bugs, and it has to do it regularly to stay in good shape (just like an Olympic gold medalist couldn’t take off an entire year from training and then still compete in an event.)  When a child is not exposed to dirt and germs at a young age, then the immune system doesn’t learn how to fight the viruses and bacteria, and the child will actually be more prone to illnesses when they get older than a child who was exposed to a lot of dirt n’ germs.

In other words, those parents who are clean freaks who sterilize everything that goes into their child’s mouth in order to “keep them from getting sick” is setting that child up for a lifetime of sickness.  Ironic, is it not?

But having said that, this doesn’t mean that the author was advocating that you have your child never wash their hands or send your child outside with specific instructions to eat a cup of dirt every day, but she was saying that you as the parent should not freak out when your child does the things that children do (eat mud pies, eat food dropped on the floor, share their food with others, etc).  Don’t sterilize the binky/pacifier every time it drops on the ground.  Wipe it off on your pants and plug it back in!  Your child will thank you later.

Ruebush also spent a lot of time talking about the anti-bacterial and anti-microbial hand sanitizers that you see all over the place.  She said something that probably won’t be trumpeted in the next Purell ad you see on TV: These sanitizers work really well in the laboratory but have shown virtually zero effect in real life.

From page 111:

The primary ingredient in the hundreds of liquid antibacterial soaps on the market today is triclosan.  In much higher concentrations, triclosan is used in hospital settings - by surgeons scrubbing before an operation, for example.  At those concentrations and in that setting, triclosan kills bacteria across the board.  At the much lower concentrations in soap made for the consumer use (usually 0.15 percent), the amount of triclosan is just right for creating resistance to it.

What the story there is: Bacteria and viruses are some of the best organisms at evolving out of anything residing on this planet.  They can literally evolve within a couple of hours.  You cannot possibly keep ahead of them by producing a new anti-bacterial in the lab every time something evolves.

And the bacteria do it by adapting to the agents trying to kill them.  There is the phrase, “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” right?  Well, that phrase is absolutely applicable to bacteria.  When you use a low level anti-bacteria on bacteria, it kills off the weak strains of bacteria and leaves the more advanced and potentially deadlier bacteria alive, and now resistant to whatever it was that you used to try to kill it.  The more you use anti-bacterial soap, the more deadly the bacteria gets, and the less effective that soap is.

Seriously, it’s just frustrating isn’t it?

To find out lots more than you ever really wanted to know about bacteria and viruses, you need to read Why Dirt is Good.  It opened my eyes to a lot of things that I had thought I had known but now know is false.

Well, now for the negatives.  The margins are huge, and the book is short (roughly 170 pages without counting the glossary at the back) so there really isn’t much to it.  At times, it felt like an overblown magazine article, where the author just tried to take a topic and stretch it out as far as possible.  There were some things that were repeated too much in my ever so humble opinion.

If they had shrunk the margins down to normal size, resized the dimensions of the book itself into the “normal” (and bigger) size for a book, and had taken out all of the repeated stuff, this would have been a very short book indeed.

Does that mean that I don’t think it’s worth it to buy?  At retail ($19.95) probably not.  But if you can find it on discount, then I’d go for it.  There really is a lot packed into these pages, much more than what I’ve covered above.  Or just do like I did and check it out of the library.

I give Why Dirt is Good: 5 Ways to Make Germs Your Friends 4.25 out of 5 stars.  If you’re a germophobe who uses every sanitizing product under the sun, then run, don’t walk, to the bookstore and buy it.  Or order it online.  It will change your way of thinking, guaranteed.

Hava

I have a wide variety of announcements to make, so I figured I would throw together one post and make them all here.

First >> Don’t forget that I have a contest going on until April 14th.  To enter, just link to my site using my keywords, and you can win gift cards, books, or EntreCard credits.  Check out that post for more info!

Second >> I am backed up on my book blogger interviews, so if you have sent me your answers and I haven’t responded yet, don’t take it personally.  It’s been crazy trying to get caught up.  I am getting quite a bit done today though, so you should hear from me soon.  If you are a book blogger who is interested in being interviewed and spotlighted on my site, check out the link above for more info.

Third >> EntreCard is doing some funky stuff on their end right now with this new ads thing they’re rolling out.  I honestly don’t know how much longer I’ll stick with them.  If you come to my site using EntreCard, I’d suggest either bookmarking my site, signing up for my RSS feed or email notifications, or following me on Twitter.  I’m not positive what’s going to happen on that front yet, but there’s a good chance that EC will be dropped from my site.

Fourth >> I am going to do a Medieval Week here on my blog in the next month or so (I haven’t figured out the exact dates yet) and one of the posts is going to be linking to other sites and their medieval-related posts. I am very excited about this!

Examples of the types of medieval posts I am looking to highlight:

• If you have written a book review about a romance novel that takes place in the medieval period, send that to me.
• If you are a costume maker and you wrote up a post about a beautiful medieval costume that you made, send that to me.
• If your whole blog is focused on medieval stuff, send me the link to your blog.

The above is just examples - there is a whole lot more that would qualify.  If in doubt, send away!  Please send me an email through my Contact Page, so I can keep track of this - please DO NOT just post a link below.

Fifth >> I have put up a new poll in the left side bar so be sure to check that out.

Sixth >> Because of great demand, I have put together another SEO post, this one telling you how to optimize your site.  If you have not read SEO for Book Blogs yet, go check it out now.  And then continue your SEO education by reading Part Two.  Whether you run a blog for fun or for profit, you will benefit from these tips, I promise.

I think that’s finally it!!  I’ll be back tomorrow with another book review.  Have a great day, all!

Havs

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For my honors class in college, a speaker came in and talked to the class about something you don’t normally hear about much: Slavery right here and now, in the year 2009.

Unfortunately, I missed class that day, so I didn’t get to hear him speak. As make-up work for missing the class, I was assigned a video to watch on this global pandemic. I have posted the video below for all of you to watch.

WARNING: This video will make you sick to your stomach, not so much because of the graphic pictures in the video (although there is a little of that) but because of the realization that all of this has been happening, and you have done nothing to stop it.  At just over 5 minutes, it is well worth your time to watch.

After watching that video, I wanted to know what I could do. I also wanted to find more information on the subject, since this was literally the first time I had heard about this. Slavery? Here in America? C’mon, what are you talking about? Slavery was abolished! President Lincoln? Emancipation Proclamation? Doesn’t any of that ring a bell?

Yeah, that was me. I was shocked and disturbed to the tips of my toes that this was still happening today. I went to Amazon to see if I could find a book with more information on modern-day human slavery, and I found Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade - and How We Can Fight It by David Batstone.  I just finished reading it today.  Batstone is the head of a website, Not For Sale Campaign, and now does tours around the United States speaking about human trafficking.

The book Not for Sale was an eye-opening look at all the forms of human slavery, from women being forced to serve as sex slaves in a brothel, to whole families being locked inside of a rice factory for years, to children being forced to fight as soldiers in rebel armies in Africa.  There doesn’t seem to be a corner of the world that is not affected in some shape or form by this.

The book did have some ADD tendencies to it, however.  The author would start out a chapter talking about sex slavery in Asian countries, and throughout the chapter would jump from the story of someone who was forced into slavery, to a person who is fighting it as an abolitionist however they can (by providing aid to those who escape, by helping people escape, by providing legal representation to those who escaped, etc), and then on to the general landscape of the problem - why it is thriving, what has made it hard to fight, etc.

Each new section within the chapter meant a jump to a new point of view on the problem, and he regularly jumped back and forth between the different point of views until wrapping up the chapter (usually) with the escape and freedom of the slave.

When I first started reading, I thought, “Who is this?  What is he talking about?  What happened to the person whose story he just left?”  After I read through several chapters and got more used to this writing style, it didn’t bother me as much, but I still cannot say it’s my favorite writing style, and I wish he had done it differently.

Despite this minor flaw, the book was still excellent.  If you want a broad overview of the worldwide problem of human trafficking, then this is the book for you.  If you are outraged by the video above and you want more information and you especially want to know what you can do to make a difference, then you need to read this book.  This is an excellent introduction into the world of slavery, and will help you better understand the global dynamics of it.

At the end of the book, he has a listing of the various agencies fighting this problem along with their websites so you can find a group nearby that you can join to help fight this.  Don’t think this problem exists in your backyard?  Check out Slavery Map, where you can search the globe and see where the various incidents have happened.  I had two in my state alone.

There are books that make you laugh, there are books that teach you stuff.  There are books that broaden your horizons.  But Not For Sale will change your life.  Buy it today.  After you’re done reading, pass it on to a friend or neighbor, and encourage them to continue passing it on when they’re done.  The more we know about this problem, the better we can fight it.  Knowledge is everything.

If you don’t see it, then you aren’t looking for it.
~ modern slavery in a nutshell

Havs

PS My hometown is going to get a visit from David Batstone and his entourage very soon.  If any of you who are reading this are from my hometown and want more information, call me or send me an email and I’ll gladly give you the info.  I’d love to post it here but for privacy reasons will not.

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Note: The following is part of my intermittent Fun Friday series where I write reviews of children’s books.

I love children’s books because they take incredibly complicated subjects and distill them down into bite size pieces that you can understand and learn from without having to have a Masters degree in the subject.

Ox, House, Stick: The History of our Alphabet by Don Robb is just such a children’s book. It is about how our alphabet came into being, something I was discussing with someone just the other day. Why, I wondered, is our alphabet in the order it is in?  Why doesn’t our alphabet read as A, C, Y, W, F, Z…

You get the picture.

According to Ox, House, Stick page 19:

No one knows why the letters of the alphabet appear in the order they do.  They’ve kept pretty much the same order since Phoenician times.

Well, at least I’m not the only one who doesn’t know the answer to that question.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book because it took a fairly complicated subject (the history of written language) and broke it down into understandable and interesting chunks.  I enjoyed looking at all of the colorful and well-drawn illustrations scattered throughout the book too.

The picture below is actually the back cover for the book, and shows the first two letters of the alphabet (A and B) in a variety of languages: Hebrew, Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian.  It’s interesting to see the similarities and differences between the alphabets.

Does it make me a real geek that I think lists like that are interesting?

Don’t answer that.

This would be a great book for a teacher in a classroom (geared for ages 8 - 12), a homeschooling mom, or just someone like me who loves to learn about a variety of subjects without having to invest months or years of my time to learning every nook and cranny.

I give Ox, House, Stick: The History of Our Alphabet 4.75 out of 5 stars.

Havs

Alrighty, this is the first of my book blogger interview series!! ::trumpets blaring::

Andrea is my first victim participant, and she runs her own book blog review at So Many Books, So Little Time, a blog that she just started on January 10th of this year.  And yet, she has managed to write up twice as many posts as I have in the last ten months!

In other words, she’s even more verbose than I am.  Way to go Andrea.  I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

To start us off, please tell us about your blog: What kinds of books do you like to review?

My blog is a mix of book reviews, as well as weekly events that have to do with books (Mailbox Mondays, Musing Mondays, Teaser Tuesdays, It’s Tuesday, Where are You?, Waiting on Wednesday, Wednesday Wordle, Booking Through Thursday, Thursday Thoughts, Friday Finds, Friday Fill-In, Weekly Geeks, and The Sunday Salon). I also participate in book challenges and those are on my blog as well.

Recently I’ve been into a big paranormal kick. Mostly the light-hearted, humorous kind, almost paranormal chick-lit if you will, and YA paranormal. I also love chick-lit and will review general fiction and kids books (I teach kindergarten so my students will help me review these books)

I’d love to hear about a favorite book or author that you’ve read recently and why it was your favorite.

I love the House of Night series by P.C. & Kristin Cast.  The books just have the right balance of everything…great characters, a little humor, a little suspense, and a great plot!

Tell me a little about yourself.

I have been reading since I was two (at least that’s what my mom tells me). Growing up,my mom always bought me books and I would devour them. Now I love to cuddle up on the couch while my boyfriend is watching TV and devour a book. Whenever someone asks me my hobbies, I say emphatically “Reading and being a Gator fan!”

Do you do a lot of reading challenges?  What is a book challenge that you have especially enjoyed?

I do some reading challenges: The Paranormal 999 Challenge, The A to Z Reading Challenge, The Chick-Lit Challenge, The Chick-Lit Challenge 2, What’s In A Name Challenge, and Read Your Name Challenge.

What’s the main source of books for you: Publishing companies, contests online, B&N/Amazon/other bookstores, or the library?

I am pretty new to book reviewing, so for now I most get my books from trading websites. But recently I have been getting a few books from publishers. I would LOVE to get more books from publishing companies and authors to review and I am open to doing author reviews.

How do you keep track of your To Be Read (TBR) pile?

I have a bunch of books that I’d love to read at some time (500ish). They are all in 3 bookcases in my office (it’s a good thing I have such an understanding boyfriend!) But the books that I have to read for book reviews, or book rings, I have in a pile on the bookcase my room. Whenever I get a new book to review, I put it at the bottom of the pile unless there is a certain date that it is needed to be reviewed for.

Do you rate your book reviews, and if so, what is the point system and how do you determine what you give?

I do rate the books that I review. I know that when I go to other blogs, I look for for a rating of each book. It helps to know what I might really be interested in. My rating system is out of 5:

1. Hated the book
2. Didn’t enjoy the book
3. Book was okay - average
4. Really enjoyed the book
5. Loved the book - a favorite

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That’s it from Andrea at So Many Books, So Little Time.  If you’re in the mood for some paranormal or YA books, be sure to check her out!  Thanks for hanging out with us today, Andrea!

Havs

PS Do you have a book review blog?  Would you be interested in being interviewed by none other than the Great and Mighty Hava?  Send me an email through my contact page and we’ll chat.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I first heard about Schuyler’s Monster: A Father’s Journey With His Wordless Daughter by Robert Rummel-Hudson from a patron who was returning the book. He said that his wife read it, and thought it was excellent. Intrigued, I checked it out and brought it home, only to promptly forget about it.

It sat on my shelf for a while, until a couple of days ago, when I finally decided that I needed to either read it or return it. I figured I’d give it the first chapter to prove its worth, or it was going back to the return bin.

Well, I read it and fell in love with it.

Schuyler (pronounced “Sky-ler”) is a beautiful little girl (yes, that is her on the front cover of the book) who was born with an extremely rare disease that robs her of the ability to speak coherently. It also causes her to have only partial small muscle control, which means that it’s difficult for her to use sign language.  She does it, but it’s hard and some of the more difficult signs are out of her reach. And in the other cases of people afflicted with this disease, there is usually mental retardation, although they aren’t positive that’s something Schuyler has been afflicted with.

But up until Schuyler’s 18-month birthday, nobody realized anything was wrong with her. She was a smiley, happy baby who won the hearts of everyone around her; she was able to walk and eat like other babies, and she did make noises. During a routine check-up with the doctor, however, the doctor started to probe deeper and they started to realize that not all was right in the land of Oz. It took several years and many, many tests to finally receive a correct diagnosis.

The eventual result of the testing and diagnosis was that they realized that Schuyler was never going to be able to speak like “a normal person.”  Up to that point, they had been hoping that with enough therapy and work, Schuyler would eventually be able to speak clearly.  So they started looking at options that would provide Schuyler a way to communicate with the rest of the world.

Like I said before, sign language is something she can do, but not well, so they went after a high-tech option that if Schuyler would have been born 20 years earlier, never would have been available to her.  It was an “alternative augmentative communication device” or an AAC device.

An AAC in its most basic form allows the person to push buttons and then the device says the sentence outloud.  The picture I have posted is of the latest and most high tech version yet, the Vantage Lite, but at $7,295 it isn’t cheap.  The funding would normally come from a school district, but the majority of Schuyler’s Monster is spent chronicling their fight to get an AAC for Schuyler, and to get the teacher support needed for this type of device to work.

So that’s the story in a nutshell. Although it’s a sad story, on the surface there isn’t much there to grab you and hold your attention. But it’s the writing that really does it for me. Rummel is a blogger (check out Schuyler’s Monster blog) and in fact this book grew out of that blog, not the other way around. His writing style causes this to be one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read this year. I cried, I laughed, and everything in between.

I cannot tell you how thoroughly I enjoyed Schuyler’s Monster.  It is rare to find an author who is willing to be so open about his life and his feelings.  Life wasn’t hunky-dory.  The family went through a lot, and they almost didn’t make it.  I appreciated Rummel being willing to tell it exactly how it was, and to tell it so well, I cared about them through out it all.

For a darling video of Schuyler using her very first AAC (or “box of words” as Rummel calls it) check out the following.  Keep in mind, she’s 5 years old in this video.

I give Schuyler’s Monster 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Good luck, Schuyler - I know you’re going places, girl.

Havs

~~~~~~~~~~~

I first heard about Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing “Hoax” by Philip Plait at the local planetarium when my husband and I went to watch a movie called (you guessed it!) “Bad Astronomy.” It was a movie made to show in a planetarium, so as you might imagine, it was not exactly on par with Hollywood blockbusters. But still, it was enjoyable, and I learned a lot from it. It also made me want to read the book.

The premise of Phil Plait’s book, movie, and website (Bad Astronomy at Discover Magazine,) is the fact that there are a lot of flat-out wrong ideas when it comes science, and more especially astronomy.  Plait is working hard to debunk the conspiracy theories that surround things like the moon landing, and to help people realize that there are common myths (like you can only balance an egg on the spring equinox) that are completely untrue.

In short, he’s a skeptic and a debunker of pseudo-science.

Since I enjoy that kind of thing, I really enjoyed the book and the movie.  There were certain things that he covered that I had honestly never thought about.  Take, for example, ships flying around in space.  Watch any famous movie or TV series (like Star Wars or Stargate) and you’ll see ships flying, then slowing down and stopping next to the mother ship (or whatever).  Notice when you watch those scenes that as far as you can see, there is nothing to slow the ship down!

In space, in order for a shuttle to slow down, it has to fire thrusters at the front of the ship in order to produce force that would send them backwards.  Or in the case of them already going forward, a backwards thrust would cause them to slow down and eventually stop.  But in all of the Hollywood movies, the ships simply stop, as if the pilot stepped on the breaks or something.

After Plait pointed this out to me, I have to admit that it’s been bugging me ever since.  If you like sci-fi movies or TV shows, do know that reading this book may take away some of that joy.  Just a head’s up in case this sort of thing would annoy you instead of provoking humor (ha-ha!  This movie is so stupid - it breaks every natural law in the book! kind of humor.)

Some of the other bad science that Plait tackles: UFO’s, naming stars after yourself, the supposed “fake” moon landing, and a whole lot more.  I will say that there was hard-core science in the book in some spots, and since I have a hard time following that sort of thing (science is interesting to me but science doesn’t always make sense to me) I will admit that I skipped some paragraphs.  Anyone who is more of a science geek than me won’t have any problems with it.  For the most part, it was written so that anyone could understand, even the non-science geeks of the world.

And, speaking of science, there are some great science blogs here in the Today.com network that you might want to check out - both Science Fun and Rocket Scientist are well-written and educational blogs in the science field.  Also, I have read and reviewed other astronomy related books here on Nonfiction Lover, like Hubble: The Mirror on the Universe and Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking that you might want to check out if science and astronomy are a passion of yours.

Overall, I give Bad Astronomy 4.5 out of 5 stars.  Whether you’re a science teacher, debunking fiend, or just enjoy astronomy, you’ll love Bad Astronomy.

Havs

~~~~~~~~~~~

The combination of working at a library plus reviewing nonfiction books in my spare time meant only one thing - Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron was a must read for me.

It is about Dewey, a stray cat found in the return bin at the library one morning after a terribly cold night in Spencer, Iowa. Someone had dropped the cat down the return bin shoot, and the library director, Vicki Myron, found him in there, clinging to life.

The Spencer Public Library adopted the cat and made him their own. In this autobiography, Myron chronicles not only Dewey’s life but her own, and also the background and history of Iowa, family farms, and libraries.  She discusses going to school to get her masters in library science,  Carnegie libraries, and remodeling libraries, all items that were especially interesting to me as a librarian.

But much more than that, it was a touching memoir of what it means to love a cat wholeheartedly, not only in good times (Dewey brought a lot of fame and attention to this small corner of the world) but in bad - when Dewey started to age and his coat wasn’t as shiny and youthful as it was before.  (Yes, believe it or not, the library board actually discussed what to do with Dewey “now that he was old” and didn’t look as good.  Apparently, we Americans are not only obsessed with human youthfulness but cat youthfulness too.)

If you love cats, libraries, or the small town life, then you’ll adore Dewey. There are pictures of Dewey throughout the book but all of them are printed in black and white, which for an orange tabby means you lose something in the process. But the Spencer Public Library has put together a web page dedicated to only pictures of Dewey with great captions underneath.  After finishing the book, I enjoyed looking through all of the pictures.

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat touched my heart - it made me think, it made me grateful, and it made me cry.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Havs

Well, I know that this will come as a surprise to all of you, but I have heard a rumor that there are more books in this world than just nonfiction books.

Sit and let that soak in for a moment.  That means that there might be other book reviewers than just me!

No!

Yes!

Really?

Okay, fine, so there are a LOT more bloggers than just me out there.  And in an effort to help introduce all of my lovely readers to that great big world of Other Book Bloggers that does in fact exist (this is like The Others from the TV show Lost although not as creepy), I thought I’d start a new series on my site.  From here until the day I run out of people to interview, I will post an interview with a fellow book blogger every Tuesday.

I was trying to come up with a cool title for it like “Tuesdays Bloggers” but then realized that Tuesdays Bloggers is in fact not a cool title, and so I gave up trying to be creative and cool and stuff.

Then I realized that DUH!, I have creative and cool and stuff readers!  So I’m opening this up to you guys - if one of you can come up with a catchy or fun title for this new series, then you’ve just won yourself a nice permanent backlink in my sidebar.  Leave your ideas in the comment section below.

And if you don’t have a blog for me to link to, then you will win a permanent place in my Top Ten Coolest People Ever list.  So if I ever put together another list like that again, you’d totally come in at number one.  And if I don’t, well…ummm….

Moving on now…

I also have to ask: Are you one of those Other Book Bloggers?  And if so, are you interested in being interviewed by moi, and being spotlighted on my blog?  Drop me a link through my Nonfiction contact page and we’ll chat.  I have had quite a few people respond already, so you wouldn’t be highlighted, say, tomorrow, but it would happen eventually and it would totally be worth your while.  I think.

Last but not least, before I sign off for the night, I wanted to thank DreadPirateRose of the ultra-cool Convention Fans blog here at Today.com for my new header.  I will be messing with my colors in my blog to match my new spiffy header which is always fun for me.  I like messing with that kind of thing.  It’s like all the fun of painting your home without all of the work that comes along with!

Thanks again Dread - you rock!

Havs

PS The book bloggers that I interview will have their link added to my sidebar under the “Book Bloggers I Interviewed” heading.  —-> The most recent five bloggers will be highlighted there.  As you can see, I’ve already got one up - Andrea from So Many Books, So Little Time will be the first in the series - her interview will show up Tuesday morning.  Be sure to check it out then!