 If you're a fan of Jim Butcher's the Dresden Files series, you can stop reading. You will like this, just go get it. Hounded is a story about a druid who has been living for a bajillion years, but is currently residing in Arizona and running a tea house / rare book shop. He is basically a geek version of Will Smith in Men in Black. Battling weird creatures along with a twinkling smile and end endless series of off the cuff quips. Whatever kind of fantasy creature you'd like to see him battle - fairies, demons, werewolves, vampires, talking dogs, norse gods - there is a character in here to scratch your niche. There is an overarching plot, but let'd be honest, it is kindof beside the point. This series is about the characters, and they are fun to hang out with. Hearne does make a point of including multiple mythologies in the story. I am far from a mythology expert, but I'm fairly sure they are just inspirations for the characters, not that the story is a reconceptualization of the myths themselves ala Juliet Marillier.
Long Story Short: Fun brain candy if you're into this sort of thing. It would get an extra star in my book if Hearne could have mustered up a single strong, non-psychotic female character.
 I was looking for something a bit lighter than my last read, so what could be better than zombies! I am currently reading Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End by Manel Loureiro. So far, it is pretty good, and definitely a page turner. It reminded me of another zombie book, Allison Hewitt is Trapped. Both books are part of a modern recurrence of the serial novel. Only instead of publishing the chapters in Victorian era Newspapers, the books started as blogs. When the blogs achieved sufficient notoriety, the entire book was eventually published as an ebook. So homework to myself is to figure out how one locates these serial novel blogs to be cool and in the know. But back to Allison Hewitt. The book is darkly funny and keeps the gore to reasonable levels. The story focuses on survival after the zombie apocalypse. Realistic or not, what I liked about this book is that I liked the characters. Roux focuses the story on people who maintain their humanity despite the chaos going on around them. So while a zombie apocalypse may be depressing, the book itself was pleasant to spend time with.
A warning: due to its serial origins, it also subscribes the the Hardy Boys style of writing, so if you need to put it down, make sure to do it mid chapter. Long Story Short: A fun adventure novel with a main character I enjoyed spending time with. It also happens to have zombies.
New Scientist reports on recent research in how the brain interprets words with the same meaning in different languages completed at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. As I am currently attempting to learn Czech (my first attempt at a language other than English), I'm hoping it will suggest something encouraging. The scientists tested a set of people fluent in both Dutch and English. A computer was programmed to recognize the brain signature made when the patients heard certain words in English (bull, horse, shark, and duck). The same algorithm was then used to identify which word the subject heard, only said in Dutch instead of English. And it worked - the brain signature was the same for the same concept in different languages. | | Now if only I could access the algorithm in my own mind so easily to add the Czech words along with the English ones. Photo Credits: MIT
| | Dr. Ahmed is a woman of Pakistani descent born and raised in London. She moves to the US to complete her medical training and spends years in New York. She considers the US her home. When her visa is not renewed in the US, she takes a position in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As she is Muslim, she thinks (hopes), that the cultural transition will not be too challenging. She lived there for two years from about 1999 - 2001. Unsurprisingly, the restrictions placed on a woman's life in Saudi Arabia at the time are tough for a woman from the UK and US to understand and adjust to. The stories of the frustrating moments and the downright scary moments are what an American non-muslim might expect from her account. What made her memoir special to me was the way she revealed the good with the bad and how frequently they are two sides of the same coin. | Dr. Ahmed writes with compassion about the ways that sharia law affect both men and women. The people she meets and describes are also interesting in their own right. I greatly enjoyed the glimpses into dinner parties, coffee dates, and family homes. Life isn't all about fighting for feminism and fleeing the religious police - day to day life does intercede even in a culture so different from my own.
Long story short - Very interesting read. Dr Ahmed is a doctor, not a novelist, so sometimes the writing leaves something to be desired, but overall it is engaging and readable. Take a shot every time she says a woman looks like Jackie Onassis, and you probably won't even notice.
Air pollution in China has been much in the news this month. A great blog post on Washington Post shows two aerial images of China from January 3rd and 14th. The difference is astounding, and by all accounts a respirator sales should probably be increasing. | | Full Face Respirator:
Don't Leave Home Without It! | I lived in Los Angeles for five years, so I like to think I know a little something about air pollution. J and I would joke that since the air temperature is similar year round, the only way you can tell winter from summer is if the air is clear enough to see the San Gabriel mountains to the north or not. But the truth is environmental regulation has done wonders for air pollution in LA in the last few decades. A colleague of mine who grew up there in the 70s related a story of the first time the air was clear enough to see the mountains, he asked his mother where they came from. It had always been so hazy, the mountains couldn't be seen for years, even in winter. For me, the snowcapped mountains in the distance is one of the most resounding images from my time there.
Smog in LA circa 1970 (left) and 2012 (right)
| | Like most things in life, smog is way more complicated than is convenient - a combination of natural processes (wildfires, dust storms, volcanos, etc), human activities, and atmospheric conditions (ie how easy it is for the pollution to move away from the source). It reminded me of this amazing video simulation of how aerosol particles, a main component of smog, move around the globe. Enjoy!
Code Name Verify is a story about two young women in England during WWII written for a young adult audience. Both characters are strong with modern sensibilities. One ends up a pilot within Britain. The other is fluent in German and is involved in prisoner interrogations. Eventually matters take them into France, where one is captured by Nazis, which is where the novel begins. The subject matter is dark, but Wein is able to keep it readable. The overall tone is inspirational more than depressing. It is also surprisingly funny at times, I had a few laugh out loud moments, one even in a torture scene. This is coming from someone who closes her eyes and covers her ears during torture scenes on TV. In the end, it takes you somewhere unexpected, which was a joy, especially in a YA novel. When it comes down to it, this is really a story about the power of (female) friendship, and it was a delight to watch it unfold. | | Long Story Short: A sensational book about a sensational team. It is an enjoyable read, even with the dark subject matter, and may even be better on the second go.
Rice University has some fun science learning games posted on the internet. They are aimed at middle or high school students, but I figure that just makes them more fun! I took the science career quiz and it determined that I might like being an Epidemiologist or a Neural Psychologist. According to the site, epidemiology might be for you if you like working with people (questionable), have good math skills (strong), and enjoy detective work/uncovering mysteries (very strong). According to J, the majority of my pleasure reading is about either a lady detective, a lady wizard, or ideally a lady wizard detective. I didn't see lady, scientist, wizard detective on the careers but I still find this interesting. Neural Psychology is about how the brain affects people's behavior. While I find this very interesting, I'm not sure that I would like working in a clinical environment. As an aside, the games revealing what a neural psychologist does with their day strongly suggest that you don't do drugs, kiddos.
So if your current career doesn't work out, what are you going to be?
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