Books I's Reads...
Book 7: The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde. Just like I started the book 'challenge' by highly recommending Dread Empire's Fall for sci fi geeks... I'm gonna highly recommend The Fourth Bear for fantasy geeks. Jasper Fforde is a witty and funny Brit author. I will admit 1/2 the time I'm not sure if there is ANYTHING actually approaching reality in his books as they take place in Britian so I'm unfamliar with car types and the like, but it doesn't matter as his books are wonderful.
This is the second book in his Nursery Crime series( which itself was spun off from Thrusday Next- another series I love...)
Our hero( as crime series need to have a hero or two) is Jack Spratt- who besides being head of the NCD- Nusery Crime Divison in Reading, is himself a PDR- Person of Dubious Reality. See in Jack Spratt's world there are fictional characters- such as himself, talking Bears( who want the right to arms), aliens who speak binary, and normal people... oh and gods- as his daughter from his first marriage( his first wife ate only fat and as result died) is marrying Promethus( though THAT seems to happen in the next book).
The characters seems to be semi self aware of the the absurdities of their lives- when Jack is suspended from work( after being eaten off camera by the wolf) his CO, Jack and his assistant( Mary Mary) argue what plot point it is when while he's susspended- he works on the case and solves it anyway. I believe it was #26.
One of my favorite parts is that it answers, why Baby's bear porriage was just right. I mean think about it- science would say it should be the mama bear's that's just right( either because of surface area or volume) with the smallest and largest bowls being the extreme temps.
Book 8: Tyrannosaurus Sue by Steve Fiffer.
I was looking for a Darwin bio, when I came across a whole section devoted to T-rex Sue. I picked up one that looked interesting as it's sub-title was The Extrodinary Saga of the largest, most fought over T. Rex ever found. I was somewhat disappointed. It was about the legal battle AFTER T-Rex was found. I was hoping for more science about what was LEARNT from/about Sue from examining the bones and such... but again it was about the legal ins and outs of fossil hunters. Odds are I should've put it down, but I learnt a bit that was sort of interesting... and I have a bad habit of finishing things that I start. I don't think I've walked out of more then a handful of bad movies( and goodness knows I should've walked out on the Hulk after 30 min. and NO Hulk.).
The story is simple; a comerical fossil hunting crew( brothers Larsons and Sue Hendrickson- for whom Sue is named for), find a T-Rex skeleton. Larson then pays the person he beleives the owner of the land- a Native American- $5,000 for the fossil. The Larsons are later arrested by the feds for ILLEGALY taking Sue from National Lands. Peter Larson is charged with stealing from the Government by taking fossils from National Parks and state owned parks. Then the man who 'sold' the dinosaur to Larson said he did no such thing and claimed the T-rex... as did the federal government and the tribe that the Native American belonged to.
One of the things I found the most interesting was the idea of "leasing" land to Native Americans- General Allotment Act. The idea- in the 19th century was to put Native Americans' lands( such as they were still allowed) in trust- with the U.S. Government as Trustee. Basically the law felt that either A) Indians were too stupid to manage land on their on b) White men are too greedy and will try to trick the indians into give up their lands or c) both a and b.
It appears to me upon reading Tyrannosaurus Sue that while the author has sympathy for Larson, that it's a good thing for the Native American that the government stepped in- because instead of getting the $5,000 Larson offered him- he got like $5 million from a consortium of interests including the Chicago musuem where Sue is displayed, McDonalds and Disney- who displays a cast of Sue's bones.
Next up- for one of the few times in my life, I'm re reading a book... 1984. I figure it has been a LITERAL lifetime since I first read it- in 1984, so I've decided it's worth a re-read.
This is the second book in his Nursery Crime series( which itself was spun off from Thrusday Next- another series I love...)
Our hero( as crime series need to have a hero or two) is Jack Spratt- who besides being head of the NCD- Nusery Crime Divison in Reading, is himself a PDR- Person of Dubious Reality. See in Jack Spratt's world there are fictional characters- such as himself, talking Bears( who want the right to arms), aliens who speak binary, and normal people... oh and gods- as his daughter from his first marriage( his first wife ate only fat and as result died) is marrying Promethus( though THAT seems to happen in the next book).
The characters seems to be semi self aware of the the absurdities of their lives- when Jack is suspended from work( after being eaten off camera by the wolf) his CO, Jack and his assistant( Mary Mary) argue what plot point it is when while he's susspended- he works on the case and solves it anyway. I believe it was #26.
One of my favorite parts is that it answers, why Baby's bear porriage was just right. I mean think about it- science would say it should be the mama bear's that's just right( either because of surface area or volume) with the smallest and largest bowls being the extreme temps.
Book 8: Tyrannosaurus Sue by Steve Fiffer.
I was looking for a Darwin bio, when I came across a whole section devoted to T-rex Sue. I picked up one that looked interesting as it's sub-title was The Extrodinary Saga of the largest, most fought over T. Rex ever found. I was somewhat disappointed. It was about the legal battle AFTER T-Rex was found. I was hoping for more science about what was LEARNT from/about Sue from examining the bones and such... but again it was about the legal ins and outs of fossil hunters. Odds are I should've put it down, but I learnt a bit that was sort of interesting... and I have a bad habit of finishing things that I start. I don't think I've walked out of more then a handful of bad movies( and goodness knows I should've walked out on the Hulk after 30 min. and NO Hulk.).
The story is simple; a comerical fossil hunting crew( brothers Larsons and Sue Hendrickson- for whom Sue is named for), find a T-Rex skeleton. Larson then pays the person he beleives the owner of the land- a Native American- $5,000 for the fossil. The Larsons are later arrested by the feds for ILLEGALY taking Sue from National Lands. Peter Larson is charged with stealing from the Government by taking fossils from National Parks and state owned parks. Then the man who 'sold' the dinosaur to Larson said he did no such thing and claimed the T-rex... as did the federal government and the tribe that the Native American belonged to.
One of the things I found the most interesting was the idea of "leasing" land to Native Americans- General Allotment Act. The idea- in the 19th century was to put Native Americans' lands( such as they were still allowed) in trust- with the U.S. Government as Trustee. Basically the law felt that either A) Indians were too stupid to manage land on their on b) White men are too greedy and will try to trick the indians into give up their lands or c) both a and b.
It appears to me upon reading Tyrannosaurus Sue that while the author has sympathy for Larson, that it's a good thing for the Native American that the government stepped in- because instead of getting the $5,000 Larson offered him- he got like $5 million from a consortium of interests including the Chicago musuem where Sue is displayed, McDonalds and Disney- who displays a cast of Sue's bones.
Next up- for one of the few times in my life, I'm re reading a book... 1984. I figure it has been a LITERAL lifetime since I first read it- in 1984, so I've decided it's worth a re-read.
Labels: 50 book challenge
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