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189. The Girl with all the Gifts

Rating:  ☆☆☆☆

Recommended by:

Author:   M.R. Carey

Genre:  Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Horror

460 pages, published June 19, 2014

Reading Format:  Audio Book

 

Summary

The Girl with all the Gifts is set in a bleak future after most of humanity has succumbed to a pathogenic fungus that has turned most people into “hungries” who have an insatiable desire to eat what is left of the human race and pass along the disease.  Dr. Caldwell believes that a group of hungry children who are kept bound to their chairs at all times, especially the incredibly intelligent Melanie, hold the key to combating the deadly pandemic.  However, Melanie is much more than a test subject, especially in the view of Miss Justineau, her favorite teacher with whom she has bonded.

 

Quotes 

“The truth is the truth, the only prize worth having. If you deny it, you’re only showing that you’re unworthy of it.”

 

“No amount of expertly choreographed PR could prevail, in the end, against Armageddon. It strolled over the barricades and took its pleasure.”

 

“This gauntlet, flung down by a bullying, contemptuous universe that allowed human beings to grope their way to sentience just so it could put them in their place that bit more painfully.”

 

“And then like Pandora, opening the great big box of the world and not being afraid, not even caring whether what’s inside is good or bad. Because it’s both. Everything is always both. But you have to open it to find that out.”

 

“It’s not just Pandora who had that inescapable flaw. It seems like everyone has been built in a way that sometimes makes them do wrong and stupid things.”

 

“the horror of the unknown is more frightening than any horror you can understand”

 

“may we live as long as we want, and never want as long as we live,”

 

“And the sun comes out, like a kiss on the cheek from God.”

 

“It’s a little bit like a cow listening to a recipe for beef stew.”

 

“It’s like before the Breakdown people used to spend their whole lives making cocoons for themselves out of furniture and ornaments and books and toys and pictures and any kind of shit they could find. As though they hoped they’d be born out of the cocoon as something else.”

 

“It’s equinox, with the world balanced between winter and summer, life and death, like a spinning ball balanced on the tip of someone’s finger.”

 

“It doesn’t matter,” she explains to Miss J. “I want to be where you are. And I don’t know the way back to wherever I was before, anyway. I don’t even remember it. All I remember is the block, and you. You’re…” Now it’s Melanie’s turn to hesitate. She doesn’t know the words for this. “You’re my bread,” she says at last. “When I’m hungry. I don’t mean that I want to eat you, Miss Justineau! I really don’t! I’d rather die than do that. I just mean… you fill me up the way the bread does to the man in the song. You make me feel like I don’t need anything else.”

 

My Take

It didn’t take long for me to be drawn into the bleak, post-Apocalyptic world created by M.R. Carey in The Girl with All the Gifts.  A big reason was the two main characters, Melanie (a young girl who is incredibly sympathetic despite who constant urge to eat human flesh) and Miss Justineau, Melanie’s teacher and protector who grapples with a world gone mad and her own past demons.  While the subject matter is a big-time downer, I was captivated by the storytelling and held in suspense until the climactic end.  If you like the dystopia genre, you should definitely check out this book.

 

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188. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes

Rating:  ☆☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:   Darla Schueth

Author:   Dan Egan

Genre:  Non-Fiction, Science, History, Environment, Animals

321 pages, published March 7, 2017

Reading Format:  Book

 

Summary

In The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, author Dan Egan recounts the history of the Great Lakes which amazingly hold 20 percent of the world’s freshwater.  Like the American Bison which were hunted to near extinction, we learn how the formerly pristine, enormous bodies of water have been maltreated after the colonization of America.  The mistreatment of the lakes got so bad that they on the verge of becoming dead seas.  Multiple species of fish were wiped out when invasive predators were inadvertently introduced which caused huge, thick algae blooms to appear.  However, all is not lost.  Egan ends the book on a promising note, showing how the Great Lakes can be restored and preserved for future generations.

 

Quotes 

 

 

My Take

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed a book about the history of the Great Lakes.  The credit has to go to author Dan Egan who knows how to take a historical narrative and spin it into a tale of intrigue and suspense.  I was not surprised at all to learn that this book was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.  After finishing The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, I want to take a trip to the Upper Midwest and Canada so I can check them out for myself.  Highly recommended.

 

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187. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Rating:  ☆☆☆

Recommended by:

Author:   Neil deGrasse Tyson

Genre:  Non-Fiction, Science

222 pages, published May 2, 2017

Reading Format:  Audio Book on Hoopla

 

Summary

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is a series of essays written by well known Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.  Some of the fascinating topics covered are:  What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us?  What is the impact of the Big Bang?  How do black holes work?  What are anti-matter, quarks and quantum mechanics?  Will we find other planets with intelligent life in the universe? Are there multi-verses?

 

Quotes 

“The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.”

 

“Matter tells space how to curve; space tells matter how to move.”

 

“For reasons I have yet to understand, many people don’t like chemicals, which might explain the perennial movement to rid foods of them. <…> Personally, I am quite comfortable with chemicals, anywhere in the universe. My favorite stars, as well as my best friends, are all made of them.”

 

“We do not simply live in this universe. The universe lives within us.”

 

“Every cup that passes through a single person and eventually rejoins the world’s water supply holds enough molecules to mix 1,500 of them into every other cup of water in the world. No way around it: some of the water you just drank passed through the kidneys of Socrates, Genghis Khan, and Joan of Arc.  How about air? Also vital. A single breathful draws in more air molecules than there are breathfuls of air in Earth’s entire atmosphere. That means some of the air you just breathed passed through the lungs of Napoleon, Beethoven, Lincoln, and Billy the Kid.”

 

““What we do know, and what we can assert without further hesitation, is that the universe had a beginning. The universe continues to evolve. And yes, every one of our body’s atoms is traceable to the big bang and to the thermonuclear furnaces within high-mass stars that exploded more than five billion years ago.  We are stardust brought to life, then empowered by the universe to figure itself out—and we have only just begun.”

 

“For reasons I have yet to understand, many people don’t like chemicals, which might explain the perennial movement to rid foods of them.  Personally, I am quite comfortable with chemicals, anywhere in the universe. My favorite stars, as well as my best friends, are all made of them.”

 

“The power and beauty of physical laws is that they apply everywhere, whether or not you choose to believe in them. In other words, after the laws of physics, everything else is opinion.”

 

“But what if the universe was always there, in a state or condition we have yet to identify—a multiverse, for instance, that continually births universes? Or what if the universe just popped into existence from nothing? Or what if everything we know and love were just a computer simulation rendered for entertainment by a superintelligent alien species? These philosophically fun ideas usually satisfy nobody. Nonetheless, they remind us that ignorance is the natural state of mind for a research scientist. People who believe they are ignorant of nothing have neither looked for, nor stumbled upon, the boundary between what is known and unknown in the universe.”

 

“The cosmic perspective shows Earth to be a mote. But it’s a precious mote and, for the moment, it’s the only home we have.”

 

“Earth’s Moon is about 1/ 400th the diameter of the Sun, but it is also 1/ 400th as far from us, making the Sun and the Moon the same size on the sky—a coincidence not shared by any other planet–moon combination in the solar system, allowing for uniquely photogenic total solar eclipses.”

 

“At least once a week, if not once a day, we might each ponder what cosmic truths lie undiscovered before us, perhaps awaiting the arrival of a clever thinker, an ingenious experiment, or an innovative space mission to reveal them. We might further ponder how those discoveries may one day transform life on Earth.  Absent such curiosity, we are no different from the provincial farmer who expresses no need to venture beyond the county line, because his forty acres meet all his needs. Yet if all our predecessors had felt that way, the farmer would instead be a cave dweller, chasing down his dinner with a stick and a rock.”

 

My Take

I liked, but did not love, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.   A collection of essays by famous Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, there are some very interesting ideas in the book, but it felt a little disjointed to read.  I preferred Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli, a short book that I read earlier this year.  I’m not sure what it is about astrophysicists, but they tend to write short books.

 

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186. Getting to Yes: Negotiating an Agreement Without Giving In

Rating:  ☆☆☆☆

Recommended by:

Author:   Roger Fisher, William Ury, Bruce Patton

Genre:  Non-Fiction, Psychology, Business, Self-Improvement

200 pages, published December 1, 1991

Reading Format:  Book

 

Summary

Getting to Yes is all about negotiation and how to improve your negotiating skills.  The book is based on the work of the Harvard Negotiation Project, a group that deals with all levels of negotiation and conflict resolution.  Getting to Yes details a step-by-step approach for coming to mutually acceptable agreements in every sort of conflict. The authors describe a method of negotiation that isolates problems, focuses on interests, creates new options, and uses objective criteria to help two parties reach an agreement.

Quotes 

“Any method of negotiation may be fairly judged by three criteria: It should produce a wise agreement if agreement is possible. It should be efficient. And it should improve or at least not damage the relationship between the parties.”

 

“THE METHOD 2. Separate the People from the Problem 3. Focus on Interests, Not Positions 4. Invent Options for Mutual Gain 5. Insist on Using Objective Criteria.”

“People listen better if they feel that you have understood them. They tend to think that those who understand them are intelligent and sympathetic people whose own opinions may be worth listening to. So if you want the other side to appreciate your interests, begin by demonstrating that you appreciate theirs.”

 

“The ability to see the situation as the other side sees it, as difficult as it may be, is one of the most important skills a negotiator can possess.”

 

“As useful as looking for objective reality can be, it is ultimately the reality as each side sees it that constitutes the problem in a negotiation and opens the way to a solution.”

 

“The more extreme the opening positions and the smaller the concessions, the more time and effort it will take to discover whether or not agreement is possible.”

 

“If you want someone to listen and understand your reasoning, give your interests and reasoning first and your conclusions or proposals later.”

 

“The most powerful interests are basic human needs. In searching for the basic interests behind a declared position, look particularly for those bedrock concerns that motivate all people. If you can take care of such basic needs, you increase the chance both of reaching agreement and, if an agreement is reached, of the other side’s keeping to it. Basic human needs include: security, economic well-being, a sense of belonging, recognition, control over one’s life.  As fundamental as they are, basic human needs are easy to overlook. In many negotiations, we tend to think that the only interest involved is money. Yet even in a negotiation over a monetary figure, such as the amount of alimony to be specified in a separation agreement, much more can be involved.”

 

My Take

Many years ago, when I was practicing law at a big Los Angeles law firm, I joined the other litigation attorneys from my firm for a one day seminar on negotiating at Pepperdine University.  The skills that I learned that day were not only useful in my legal practice, but they were also invaluable in my personal life.  We enter into negotiations all the time, whether it is buying a house or deciding where to have dinner or take a vacation.  Getting to Yes was a very nice complement to the Pepperdine negotiating seminar.  Not only do the authors show you how to negotiate, but they also explain why their proposed style is apt to work.  I learned some new methods for negotiating and also reinforced some of the skills I learned at the seminar.  A very useful book that I can unreservedly recommend.

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