Book a Week 2016 - BW14: The Voyage of the Beagle

[Stacia]

Happy Belated Birthday, Heather!

 

 

I don't know if anyone besides Stacia and I read Gnarr!, but there was an opinion piece yesterday about how the Panama Papers scandal could possibly lead to a Pirate Party majority in Iceland's Parliament. I can't link to the article because the site is without a doubt political with a specific slant. However, if you're curious about the theory and you know who Markos Moulitsas is, you can go to his site and probably find it with a search for Panama Papers or Iceland, or both. 

 

If you haven't read Gnarr!, it's a quick but interesting read. I've never disliked a book Stacia recommended, even when it was from a genre I don't normally like. :)

 

:blush:  Thanks for the nice compliment, Kathy! (I feel like I just won an Oscar!) I'm going to have to google what you're mentioning when I have a little down time this weekend. I had seen a headline earlier this week re: Iceland's Parliment, but didn't have time to delve further into the article at that time.

[Negin]

If anyone wishes to read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", it's $1.99 on Kindle, at least for today. :)

[mumto2]

Mom ninja, I finished and liked Staked by Kevin Hearne. No spoilers but as Kareni said yesterday regarding Mercy Thompson, the more series history you remember the better this book will be. I was still trying to remember different characters in the last chapters. I would read it sooner.....I definitely liked this one better than a couple of the more recent books in the series.

[Kareni]

I did indeed finish Patricia Briggs' Fire Touched: A Mercy Thompson Novel which I enjoyed in spite of my memory lapses concerning prior events in the series.  It is definitely not a book to read as a standalone; I'd begin with the first book in the series.

 

 

That is the latest one right? I am on the wait list for it. I need to read a couple more books in that series first.

 

Yes, it is.

 

**

 

I've begun Anne Bishop's Marked In Flesh: A Novel of the Others which I'm enjoying thus far.

 

Today I'll be attending the large book sale that the Friends of a nearby library put on each year.  I'm looking forward to it.  Books and bargains?  Sign me up!

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Caroline]

As you all are reading Darwin, I thought I would pop in and mention the book I read this week. Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin is about the evolution of the human body. It's a quick, easy read, but, as a non-biologist scientist, I found it fascinating. It was recommended to my by a paleontologist who was a consultant on Jurassic World. His PhD advisor is the person after whom the paleontologist in Jurassic Park was patterned. I got to spend a morning with him a couple of weeks ago as part of a professional development day.

 

Now I'm working on Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Your Inner Fish is great! And there is a PBS documentary that goes with it, starring the author. I think I listened to the audio version, which was read by the author, and enjoyed it very much.

 

 

[Jane in NC]

As you all are reading Darwin, I thought I would pop in and mention the book I read this week. Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin is about the evolution of the human body. It's a quick, easy read, but, as a non-biologist scientist, I found it fascinating. It was recommended to my by a paleontologist who was a consultant on Jurassic World. His PhD advisor is the person after whom the paleontologist in Jurassic Park was patterned. I got to spend a morning with him a couple of weeks ago as part of a professional development day.

 

Now I'm working on Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner.

 

My son gave me a copy of Your Inner Fish when he was a college student.  It was a book he enjoyed.

 

[marbel]

<snip>

 

He mentions Humboldt.  Last fall, a book entitled The Invention of Nature made an attempt to bring Humboldt back into consciousness.  Darwin thought Humboldt as brilliant.  Perhaps I should add Andrea Wulf's book to my list.

 

<snip>

 

I've been neglecting this thread and trying to catch up before the new thread tomorrow.  Not sure it's possible...

 

Anyway, I love Andrea Wulf!  I am about halfway through her book on Humboldt; I had to set it aside for other reading but should be able to get back to it soon.  I must say that so far it is not as compelling for me as her book Brother Gardeners. I also enjoyed Chasing Venus.   For some reason my laptop won't let me add links, but I'm pretty sure y'all know how to look up books on Amazon and Goodreads.

 

 

I'm nearly done with Anna Karenina which I am reading for a book group, meeting next week.  I set aside pretty much everything else non-essential and did a combination of listening and reading.  I have only a few chapters left but it seems much of that has to do with Levin and religion/philosophy so I am taking a short break and then will get back to it when I can take it more slowly.   

 

I've read very little Darwin but am itching to now.  I love your comment, Jane (which I snipped out of the quote) about illustrations being about seeing.  My daughter is headed for an art major - she was born with a pencil (crayon?) in her hand - and I wanted so for her to be interested in botanical/biological drawing.  So far, no. 

 

Yesterday I rebelled against Tolstoy and read The Girl on the Train.  Fun ride.  Slightly unsatisfying ending.  Too rushed, maybe?  And not on likeable character in the book. Well, maybe one minor character. 

[Lady Florida.]

As you all are reading Darwin, I thought I would pop in and mention the book I read this week. Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin is about the evolution of the human body. It's a quick, easy read, but, as a non-biologist scientist, I found it fascinating. It was recommended to my by a paleontologist who was a consultant on Jurassic World. His PhD advisor is the person after whom the paleontologist in Jurassic Park was patterned. I got to spend a morning with him a couple of weeks ago as part of a professional development day.

 

.

 

 

Your Inner Fish is great! And there is a PBS documentary that goes with it, starring the author. I think I listened to the audio version, which was read by the author, and enjoyed it very much.

 

We watched the documentary and I meant to read the book but just never got around to it. Thanks for the reminder.

 

That's really cool about the paleontologist! 

[Caroline]

Your Inner Fish is great! And there is a PBS documentary that goes with it, starring the author. I think I listened to the audio version, which was read by the author, and enjoyed it very much.

Thanks! I will check that out.

[mumto2]

The Mistress of Alderley by Robert Barnardhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/513840.The_Mistress_of_Alderleywas an entertaining cozy. I liked it and will read more by this pretty prolific author. I also think it can be safely classed as a modern day village cozy.

 

The setting was centered right I the area where I live. The village is made up (doesn't google and while sounding familiar, isn't) but most of everything else is spot on. I was impressed that the Opera North is right, I have been on a backstage tour with a friend who preformed there. That made the story fun for me.

 

The story itself is an old one for mystery lovers in the sense that we have all heard elements of it before. An ageing actress falls in love with a married "in name only" successful man. Since his wife doesn't mind they set up housekeeping in a manor house he "buys" for them. He visits his new family on weekends. Layers are added, but that is the essential story until murder happens.

[6packofun]

Along the lines of this Darwin theme, I just picked up Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley based on a recommendation from somewhere/someone I can't recall.  lol

 

I finished All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage and thought it was good, but very depressing.

 

Starting The Atlantis Gene by A.G. Riddle and so far the writing is a bit amateurish, but we'll see where it goes.  Here is Amazon's description, and funny enough, it also sort of fits in with the month's theme!

 

**70,000 years ago, the human race almost went extinct.

We survived, but no one knows how.
Until now.
The countdown to the next stage of human evolution is about to begin, and humanity might not survive this time.
_____________________________________________________ 

The Immari are good at keeping secrets. For 2,000 years, they've hidden the truth about human evolution. They've also searched for an ancient enemy--a threat that could wipe out the human race. Now the search is over.

Off the coast of Antarctica, a research vessel discovers a mysterious structure buried deep in an iceberg. It has been there for thousands of years, and something is guarding it. As the Immari rush to execute their plan, a brilliant geneticist makes a discovery that could change everything.

Dr. Kate Warner moved to Jakarta, Indonesia to escape her past. She hasn't recovered from what happened to her, but she has made an incredible breakthrough: a cure for autism. Or so she thinks. What she has found is far more dangerous--for her and the entire human race. Her work could be the key to the next stage of human evolution. In the hands of the Immari, it would mean the end of humanity as we know it.

Agent David Vale has spent ten years trying to stop the Immari. Now he's out of time. His informant is dead. His organization has been infiltrated. His enemy is hunting him. But when David receives a coded message related to the Immari attack, he risks everything to save the one person that can help him solve it: Dr. Kate Warner.

Together, Kate and David must race to unravel a global conspiracy and learn the truth about the Atlantis Gene... and human origins. Their journey takes them to the far corners of the globe and into the secrets of their pasts. The Immari are close on their heels and will stop at nothing to obtain Kate's research and force the next stage of human evolution--even if it means killing 99.9% of the world's population. David and Kate can stop them... if they can trust each other. And stay alive.**

[Mom-ninja.]

Mom ninja, I finished and liked Staked by Kevin Hearne. No spoilers but as Kareni said yesterday regarding Mercy Thompson, the more series history you remember the better this book will be. I was still trying to remember different characters in the last chapters. I would read it sooner.....I definitely liked this one better than a couple of the more recent books in the series.

 

I'm still on the wait list at the library. I'm reading his novellas while waiting. I really liked books 1-3 and then 4-6 dragged a bit and I liked 7. 

 

As you all are reading Darwin, I thought I would pop in and mention the book I read this week. Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin is about the evolution of the human body. It's a quick, easy read, but, as a non-biologist scientist, I found it fascinating. It was recommended to my by a paleontologist who was a consultant on Jurassic World. His PhD advisor is the person after whom the paleontologist in Jurassic Park was patterned. I got to spend a morning with him a couple of weeks ago as part of a professional development day.

 

Now I'm working on Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner.

I really liked that book. We also watched the documentary.

 

 

 

I finished Women Without Men and it counts for my translated book. It was not what I expected but I'm glad I read it. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Along the lines of this Darwin theme, I just picked up Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley based on a recommendation from somewhere/someone I can't recall.  lol

 

 

 

Could have been me! I finished reading that book with dd a couple of weeks ago. We liked it a lot.

[Lady Florida.]

I've finished only two chapters of The Voyage of the Beagle, but am really enjoying it.

 

Some thoughts and observations -

 

- Regarding Darwin's writing, I agree that it's beautiful. He made watching bugs sound fascinating.  :lol:  I tried to find out if he had help with the writing, but from what I can find most of the descriptions are his own.

 

- Jane mentioned plate tectonics being unknown at the time and yet Darwin was unkowingly making connections . This early observation stood out as he's talking about beetles in both England and Brazil that are attracted to a particular stinky type of fungus:

 

"We see here in two distant countries a similar relation between plants and insects of the same families, though the species of both are different."

 

- In his observations on slavery in the countries visited it seems like he was conflicted. He didn't outright condemn the practice but he seemed bothered by parts of it. I haven't done any research on his views of slavery and am just going by his journal in Voyage.

 

I'm looking forward to the next chapter, which apparently has the capybaras you all were talking about earlier this week. 

 

I found this blog when I went to look up one of the insects Darwin mentions. It seems the blog author never finished but there's still a lot of good discussion on the chapters he did read.

 

https://beagleproject.wordpress.com/

 

 

[Kathleen.]

I read "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine - a favorite of mine. My 9yo (for not too much longer) read a bunch of different poetry books.

:)

[Negin]

For those who don't want to go back and see the quote - the question asks why choose ebooks over physical books.

One more thing that I forgot to mention: I bought a non-fiction/self-help-style book several months ago and loved it. Kindle/Amazon had a limit on the number of highlights I could make  :cursing:. That drove me nuts. Seriously. I paid for it. It's mine. If I had a regular hard copy, I could do with it as I wish. My dh had to do a gazillion tricks to work around that. I wouldn't have been able to do so myself. I think that's a stupid, stupid policy. 

 

They're also not good when it comes to book sharing. I've always loved sharing books with friends. Apparently now one can share with family members. Whoop de doo.  :lol:

 

Nonetheless, I love my Kindle and e-books for all the reasons that you mentioned, but certainly not for these problems. Lesson learned: If I plan on making many highlights, I'll stick to the hard copy. 

[Ethel Mertz]

I finished three more books in the last few days.

 

1.     The Secret of the Swamp King – Jonathan Rogers 4/6/16 - pre-read for DS. I love this series and so does DS!

2.      The Wild Muir: Twenty-Two of John Muir’s Greatest Adventures 4/8/16 - This has been one of our Morning Time reads this year. We're sad that it's over and plan to continue with more of John Muir's writings.

3.      All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr 4/9/16 I finished this last night. A luminous work, filled with many liminal moments... Highly recommend. "It seems to Werner that in the space between whatever has happened already and whatever is to come hovers an invisible borderland, the known on one side and the unknown on the other."

 

Also, as part of Morning Time this year, we've been reading What Darwin Saw in his Voyage Round the World in the Ship Beagle. We're only doing a bit per week, so I imagine we'll be awhile in finishing.

 

The Anthony Doerr book is still swirling around in my brain. While I wait for more library requests to arrive, I'm reading The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring – Richard Preston and Carter Heyward's Keep Your Courage.

 

 

 

[Lady Florida.]

One more thing that I forgot to mention: I bought a non-fiction/self-help-style book several months ago and loved it. Kindle/Amazon had a limit on the number of highlights I could make  :cursing:. That drove me nuts. Seriously. I paid for it. It's mine. If I had a regular hard copy, I could do with it as I wish. My dh had to do a gazillion tricks to work around that. I wouldn't have been able to do so myself. I think that's a stupid, stupid policy.

That's really weird. I've never had that happen to me. I wonder if it was the publisher? Often it is in cases like that.

 

 

They're also not good when it comes to book sharing. I've always loved sharing books with friends. Apparently now one can share with family members. Whoop de doo.  :lol:

That's definitely the publisher. Whether you have a Kindle, a Nook, a Kobo, or any of the lesser known ereaders, the publishers are the ones who set the lending policy and that policy is the same across all platforms. They also decide whether or not a specific book can be loaned, which is why some books are lending enabled and some are not. Amazon's family sharing is their way of getting around those ridiculous rules, so I have to give them credit for that.

 

Lending/sharing isn't such a big deal for me because I borrow most of my ebooks from the library just like I did with dead tree books before I had my Kindle.

 

Still, some things are better on paper - I can't deny it. Dh has to pass a test at work  - everyone does since the new company took over the contract. He was trying use an electronic study guide and finally realized it would be much easier to have a physical book in front of him. So now he owns both the ebook and paperback study guide.

 

I was at the library yesterday to pick up a copy of The Voyage of the Beagle and see if I liked it any better than my ebook. (I didn't, and ended up returning it right away. I do have the version Rose told us about on hold.). The library clerks remembered me from the days when I practically lived there - we were library homeschoolers for all of ds' early years - and joked with me about the books I was checking out. They know I'm a Kindle convert and were teasing me by saying these books won't just disappear and that I'll actually have to leave the house to return them. :D

[Robin M]

Link to week 15 - please continue conversation in new thread