miaone
The Seattle Public Library
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Aloha RodeoAloha Rodeo, BookThree Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and A Hidden History of the American West
by Wolman, David (Journalist)Book - 2019 | First editionBook, 2019. First edition
miaone's rating:
Added Feb 21, 2024
Dark Caves, Bright VisionsDark Caves, Bright Visions, BookLife in Ice Age Europe
by White, RandallBook - 1986 | First American editionBook, 1986. First American edition
miaone's rating:
Added Jan 24, 2024
Comment:
This book is well done, mostly, for reading by non-anthropologists, or very amateur ones, with one big fault: it is hard to discern what the shape of the animal is in so many of the photographs. If just one thing had been done -- added outline of the creatures' photographs so we can understand what the original artist meant, and current viewers can see --for the benefit all of us who will never get to visit the cave where it can be viewed, that is, most of us.
And, as I always do when I peruse books of paleolithic art, I do so wish we could get answers to the age-old (well, +-150-year old, anyway) questions: Why are only these 8-10 species of animals drawn or carved, why no squirrels or rabbits or wildcats, for example? Why are there no trees or lakes or meadows or hills for the animals in the paintings? Why did the style of painting remain consistent across centuries, and across much of Europe? Why were the sites for the artwork so often difficult to access by people who could travel only on their own 2 feet and who had no lanterns? How in the world did the artists get to be so GOOD without years of practice, and if they DID practice, where did they do it? I love the questions; I'd love some answers.This book is well done, mostly, for reading by non-anthropologists, or very amateur ones, with one big fault: it is hard to discern what the shape of the animal is in so many of the photographs. If just one thing had been done -- added outline of…
I'm Glad My Mom DiedI'm Glad My Mom Died, Book
by McCurdy, JennetteBook - 2022 | First Simon & Schuster hardcover editionBook, 2022. First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition
miaone's rating:
Added Jan 17, 2024
Comment:
This is an important book to be read by anyone who thinks their own mother may have been a Narcissist. I wish such a memoir had been around for women my age (eighties) to learn from. Jenette's mother was certainly extreme, but Narcissistic parents ruining their children's lives are living on any street in America and, I guess, the world. They pose as caring parents and fool everyone except their children, who are powerless to object. I honor Jenette for having survived, and for putting her story out there, quite available, for the millions of survivors of Narcissistic parents to read and grow from.This is an important book to be read by anyone who thinks their own mother may have been a Narcissist. I wish such a memoir had been around for women my age (eighties) to learn from. Jenette's mother was certainly extreme, but Narcissistic parents…
The InvadersThe Invaders, BookHow Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction
by Shipman, PatBook - 2015Book, 2015
miaone's rating:
Added Jan 14, 2024
Comment:
I liked the book and am fascinated by Shipman's thesis that we humans are like an invasive species in our effects upon the earth's ecology. I agree. She cites the wonderful quote from Walt Kelly that I well recall loving when it appeared in the cartoon strip "Pogo" in the late '40's or early '50's: "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Shipman's second thesis, that wolf-dogs helping humans to hunt had a major effect on the disappearance of Neanderthals as well as on that of other predatory animals such as cave lions, and scimitar cats, and also on some large prey mammals such as mammoths. I think she defends her hypotheses quite well. The book is well written and understandable by non-anthropologists. Her scholarship is admirable and comprehensible, and she has a sometimes-wry style that I appreciate.I liked the book and am fascinated by Shipman's thesis that we humans are like an invasive species in our effects upon the earth's ecology. I agree. She cites the wonderful quote from Walt Kelly that I well recall loving when it appeared in the…
A God in RuinsA God in Ruins, BookA Novel
by Atkinson, KateBook - 2015 | First United States editionBook, 2015. First United States edition
miaone's rating:
Added Jan 06, 2024
Comment:
I really tried to read this book, but I failed. It was boring from the beginning and never got better. I didn't really like any of the characters, unlike how I viewed the characters in the Jackson Brodie-centered novels by Atkinson. Those I like very much, but not this one.I really tried to read this book, but I failed. It was boring from the beginning and never got better. I didn't really like any of the characters, unlike how I viewed the characters in the Jackson Brodie-centered novels by Atkinson. Those I like…
20 explorateurs extraordinaires qui ont chanǧ le monde20 explorateurs extraordinaires qui ont chanǧ le monde, Book
by Santini, GabriellaBook - 2022 | FrenchBook, 2022. Language: French
miaone's rating:
Added Dec 02, 2023
Comment:
This book is written in French, and if you've had two years of high school French you could make your way through it fairly well. You might want to have a small Larousse on hand, but if you know the present tense as well as the future and two main past tenses, you can understand it even if you have to guess at some of it. Much of the vocabulary is cognates, so that helps. What I found odd was that the stories of the explorers were almost entirely about their lives pre-exploration. I had wondered especially how Columbus would be handled given the current backlash; I wondered if the chapter would deal with some of the negative aspects of the man's work. It did not, simply ending by Columbus' claiming he did not expect to learn he'd been mistaken in what he'd found and that he should've called the indigenous people Americans instead of Indians. Anticlimactic. In another biography, that of Alexander Von Humboldt, there was a long paragraph about a spider eating a butterfly and then a blackbird came along and ate them both. Perhaps this was meant to appeal to child readers; I don't know. Another oddity, I thought, was the account of the life of James Cook. As a previous citizen of Hawai'i, I am familiar with Cook's experiences there, and of his unfortunate end there. His biography in this book does not mention any of that. Pourquoi? Of the 19 real-life explorers, 3 of them are women. Two of those are favorites of mine, Isabella Bird and Nellie Bly. The third is Freya Stark who died at 100 in 1993. I had not previously heard of her. Included are the lives of Jacques Cousteau and Neil Armstrong. Altogether an interesting group, and not a bad introduction to some explorers you probably had not previously heard of. Plus you'll have that good feeling of having read a book from the library that's written in your second language! Cool!This book is written in French, and if you've had two years of high school French you could make your way through it fairly well. You might want to have a small Larousse on hand, but if you know the present tense as well as the future and two main…
Quotations
- (translated by this reader) "I did not imagine that I would have been in error, and that these lands were not the Indies but the Americas."
What the Dead Leave BehindWhat the Dead Leave Behind, Book
by Simpson, RosemaryBook - 2017 | First Kensington hardcover editionBook, 2017. First Kensington hardcover edition
miaone's rating:
Added Nov 19, 2023
Being MortalBeing Mortal, Large PrintMedicine and What Matters in the End
by Gawande, AtulLarge Print - 2015 | Large print editionLarge Print, 2015. Large print edition
miaone's rating:
Added Nov 19, 2023
The Anthropocene ReviewedThe Anthropocene Reviewed, Large PrintEssays on A Human-centered Planet
by Green, JohnLarge Print - 2021 | First large print editionLarge Print, 2021. First large print edition
miaone's rating:
Added Nov 19, 2023
The Empath's Survival GuideThe Empath's Survival Guide, BookLife Strategies for Sensitive People
by Orloff, JudithBook - 2017Book, 2017
miaone's rating:
Added Nov 19, 2023
The Dead Cry JusticeThe Dead Cry Justice, Book
by Simpson, RosemaryBook - 2021 | First Kensington hardcover editionBook, 2021. First Kensington hardcover edition
miaone's rating:
Added Nov 19, 2023
The Last NeanderthalThe Last Neanderthal, BookA Novel
by Cameron, ClaireBook - 2017 | First editionBook, 2017. First edition
miaone's rating:
Added Nov 19, 2023
Comment:
The Neanderthal story was poignant and riveting. The modern story not so much so, but it had to be told to some extent as the reason for the excavation. I find myself musing about the Neanderthal people in the story even now, weeks after I read the book. I wonder if we modern humans can ever know for sure what the Neanderthals were like, what they thought, if they did, indeed, have limited verbal ability. I find myself feeling tender towards the probable 3 or 4% of me that is Neanderthal, hoping we did not kill off the last of them, but helped them to survive as long as they did. Neanderthals were thriving on Earth for probably 200,000 years. Will modern humans thrive for anywhere near that long?The Neanderthal story was poignant and riveting. The modern story not so much so, but it had to be told to some extent as the reason for the excavation. I find myself musing about the Neanderthal people in the story even now, weeks after I read the…
Oh William!Oh William!, Large Print
by Strout, ElizabethLarge Print - 2021 | Center Point Large Print editionLarge Print, 2021. Center Point Large Print edition
miaone's rating:
Added Oct 11, 2023
Lucy by the SeaLucy by the Sea, Large Print
by Strout, ElizabethLarge Print - 2022 | Center Point Large Print editionLarge Print, 2022. Center Point Large Print edition
miaone's rating:
Added Oct 11, 2023
My Name Is Lucy BartonMy Name Is Lucy Barton, Large Print
by Strout, ElizabethLarge Print - 2016 | Center Point Large Print editionLarge Print, 2016. Center Point Large Print edition
miaone's rating:
Added Oct 11, 2023
Comment:
For small towns, these places written about by Elizabeth Strout seem rife with incest of every description. Indeed, it is mainly because I early on got enough of that subject as exposed by Strout that I only skimmed her books. Sure enough, I don't think any of them made it safely to the end without the revelation that some poor child as was, was victimized by somebody -- one parent or the other, or grandparent, a sibling, a member of the clergy, some adult in the child's school -- apparently they lurk everywhere in these small towns. And they probably do. And it is high time authors of supposedly benign memoirs or histories or fictional tales dealt with a topic that dominates and marginalizes way too many kids, and points out that that is maybe why certain strange misfits in the town could never again fit in, having lost their innocence with no one noticing. Strout notices. I'd just recommend that maybe readers shouldn't do what I did and take out half a dozen such books in one borrowing.For small towns, these places written about by Elizabeth Strout seem rife with incest of every description. Indeed, it is mainly because I early on got enough of that subject as exposed by Strout that I only skimmed her books. Sure enough, I don't…
Anything Is PossibleAnything Is Possible, Large Print
by Strout, ElizabethLarge Print - 2017 | Center Point Large Print editionLarge Print, 2017. Center Point Large Print edition
miaone's rating:
Added Oct 11, 2023
The Burgess BoysThe Burgess Boys, Large Print
by Strout, ElizabethLarge Print - 2013 | Center Point large print editionLarge Print, 2013. Center Point large print edition
miaone's rating:
Added Oct 11, 2023
miaone's rating:
Added Oct 11, 2023
Comment:
I thought I might die of boredom before I finished it. I confess that I skimmed about the last 3/4 of the book just to see if it ever got interesting. Alas, no.
Olive, AgainOlive, Again, Large Print
by Strout, ElizabethLarge Print - 2019 | Center Point large print editionLarge Print, 2019. Center Point large print edition
miaone's rating:
Added Sep 27, 2023
Today A Woman Went Mad in the SupermarketToday A Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket, Large PrintStories
by Wolitzer, HilmaLarge Print - 2022 | Large print editionLarge Print, 2022. Large print edition
miaone's rating:
Added Sep 27, 2023
Orphan #8Orphan #8, Large Print
by Alkemade, Kim vanLarge Print - 2016 | Large print editionLarge Print, 2016. Large print edition
miaone's rating:
Added Aug 03, 2023
Comment:
What I learned that I'd known nothing about was what excellent care the Jewish community in New York City, early in the 20th century, took of its orphaned Jewish children. Most of what the care takers accomplished in keeping the kids safe, getting them educated, keeping them fed and clothed and clean, was remarkable. Surely this orphanage would be a model to any others, private or public, of the time. Unfortunately, no one was paying enough attention to what was happening to some of the children being experimented on my one Dr Mildred Solomon, and she caused irreversible and horrific damage to at least one child, our hero, Rachel Rabinowitz. The book takes a very long time to get to the part where -- you know it's coming -- Rachel gets to have Mildred in her care and power. What does she do?
Frankly, I preferred almost all of the rest of the story to that part. As I said, learning about the kind of child care this orphanage gave as opposed to what the public and Catholic orphanages were doing at the time: putting the children on trains to the western United States and allowing any adult at any train station along the way to take a child or two home with them. SERIOUSLY!!!! Orphan trains!? The thought of the kind of abuse many of the children would endure for the rest of their lives is staggering! There they were, alone, out in the country, no idea of where help might be, at the mercy of their "parents" who were perhaps over-strict, narrow Christians, or sadistic sexual predators, or any other kind of inappropriate adult carer of children. No, the Jewish way of doing it was infinitely better. Unfortunately, not everyone escaped abuse even there. Thus, this book.What I learned that I'd known nothing about was what excellent care the Jewish community in New York City, early in the 20th century, took of its orphaned Jewish children. Most of what the care takers accomplished in keeping the kids safe, getting…
Shroud for A NightingaleShroud for A Nightingale, Large Print
by James, P. D.Large Print - 1982Large Print, 1982
miaone's rating:
Added Jul 05, 2023
Wild HopeWild Hope, BookOn the Front Lines of Conservation Success
by Balmford, AndrewBook - 2012Book, 2012
miaone's rating:
Added Jul 05, 2023
A Poetry HandbookA Poetry Handbook, Book
by Oliver, MaryBook - 1994 | First editionBook, 1994. First edition
miaone's rating:
Added Jul 05, 2023
Orphan BachelorsOrphan Bachelors, BookA Memoir : on Being A Confession Baby, Chinatown Daughter, Baa-bai Sister, Caretaker of Exotics, Literary Balloon Peddler, and Grand Historian of A Doomed American Family
by Ng, Fae MyenneBook - 2023 | First Grove Atlantic hardcover editionBook, 2023. First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition
miaone's rating:
Added Jul 05, 2023
Comment: