I admit it...buying books is a disease...and I'm afflicted!
Absolutely. I can't help it. Perhaps I need a "twelve-step" for bibliophiles. Anyway, this day I've added three more to my pile of "must reads." The 4% Universe, by Richard Panek, The Star-Crossed Stone, by Kenneth J. McNamara, and Blood Bound, by Patricia Briggs. The Briggs book is pure mind-flush...something light but enjoyable. I've read all of her "Mercy Thompson" novels and have enjoyed them all. They're all about the supernatural creatures I most enjoy...vampires and werewolves, although the protagonist in this series is a shape-changer that can become a coyote! Ms. Briggs is a fine story-teller and I can recommend all of this series as well as the Alpha and Omega novels. She has many more that I've not yet gotten to, and I expect I will enjoy all of her work eventually.
The other two are non-fiction, the reading I generally prefer. The 4% Universe is about the discovery of the "missing mass" of the universe, and the search for dark matter and dark energy. I've been reading about modern cosmology for some time...and it usually leaves me completely in awe. I'm no physicist and must depend upon the skills of experts who are willing to translate their esoteric expertise into layman's terms. I've only read a few pages so far, and I'm feeling confident that science writer Panek is going to be a skillful translator. The Star-Crossed Stone is a completely different sort of book. I picked it up because it had an echinoderm fossil on the cover, thinking it was about the paleontology. Instead it is a meditation on the role that fossil sea urchins have played in human history. The subtitle "The Secret Life, Myths and History of a Fascinating Fossil," gives some hint of the story, and skimming through the book shows that it is clearly not a paleontological treatise, but something much more about people, particularly ancient peoples and their need to collect and their need to imbue objects with sacred and mythological meaning.
Looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of late-night reading. And that's just fine with me.
The other two are non-fiction, the reading I generally prefer. The 4% Universe is about the discovery of the "missing mass" of the universe, and the search for dark matter and dark energy. I've been reading about modern cosmology for some time...and it usually leaves me completely in awe. I'm no physicist and must depend upon the skills of experts who are willing to translate their esoteric expertise into layman's terms. I've only read a few pages so far, and I'm feeling confident that science writer Panek is going to be a skillful translator. The Star-Crossed Stone is a completely different sort of book. I picked it up because it had an echinoderm fossil on the cover, thinking it was about the paleontology. Instead it is a meditation on the role that fossil sea urchins have played in human history. The subtitle "The Secret Life, Myths and History of a Fascinating Fossil," gives some hint of the story, and skimming through the book shows that it is clearly not a paleontological treatise, but something much more about people, particularly ancient peoples and their need to collect and their need to imbue objects with sacred and mythological meaning.
Looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of late-night reading. And that's just fine with me.
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