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FINISHED:
**Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?, by Frans de Waal**
A fascinating take on animal cognition and what separates human intelligence from that of other animals. It’s incredible how obvious some of these ideas were, yet it really does take one stepping outside of their anthropocentric box (and preconditioned academic frameworks) to be able to grasp the intricacies of these arguments and their implications.
**The Polar Adventures of a Rich American Dame: A Life of Louise Arner Boyd, by Joanna Kafarowski**
I’ve previously read another book by this author, which was interesting in terms of providing some background information on female polar pioneers but a little bit lacklustre when it came to its choice subject. This one on the other hand was much more compelling. What a life. What an undaunted spirit! If only I could have an ounce of this dame’s will power and drive for knowledge and experience. I particularly appreciated Boyd’s scorched earth approach after some bright minds tried (and subsequently failed) to rename a polar landmark bearing her name, a welcome outcome after reading about Jackie Ronne’s stripped honour.
**In the Shadow of Man, by Jane Goodall**
I was browsing some nature videos on YouTube and came across a playlist of Jane Goodall reading the first 11 chapters of this book. The videos, accompanied by archival footage, kept me glued to the screen way longer than I had planned. When the playlist finished, I just had to get the rest of the book. Would I have been as transfixed by it had I not had the pleasure of her live reading, comments, and photographs first? Probably not. To begin with, the text was a bit dry and the writing relatively minimalistic but once you’re absorbed in the lives of the chimp tribe, my god, it really is something. I was dying to tell my friends about the polio chapter, but, every time I tried, I got a knot in my throat and mist in my eyes that I just couldn’t control. Even writing this I’m welling up at the thoughts of old McGregor, Merlin, and David Graybeard. I can’t see this being the best of Goodall’s writing but I bloody loved it.
**Oomphel in the Sky, by H. Beam Piper**
Just a short little novella about superstition and how it can be manipulated for gain.
**Mechanical Failure, by Joe Zieja**
Argh, aside from Oomphel above, I’ve had a bit of a disastrous sci-fi streak lately. What few books I’ve tried after Vinge, just utterly failed to grasp my imagination. Gotta find something better.
STARTED:
**The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates, by Frans de Waal** Another one of Waal’s books on my list. I seem to be on a nature books streak, so might as well make the best of it.
**Slimer, by Harry Adam Knight** Mmmmm… horror. It has been way too long. And this too from the authors of *The Fungus*, so I’m expecting plenty of gross and stomach-churning fun.