Book Blitz! Volume 4 - Ancient Ruins

If there's one thing Richard Ellis can be counted on to do it's write an interesting book about the ocean. The Atlantic seems to particularly fascinate him, so I suppose it's no surprise that he'd get around to writing about Atlantis sooner or later.  I wasn't particularly interested in the mythical vanished continent before picking up Imagining Atlantis. His books such as The Search for the Giant Squid and Deep Atlantic are more up my zoological alley. In fact, I'd always thought of Atlantis as something of a joke, lumping it in with ufology and the Sasquatch. I'll even go a step further. I bought this book based mostly on the exceptionally cool cover and the fact that I like Richard Ellis. Truth be told, I felt a little embarrassed carrying it around. I wanted a giant sticker on it that said "Hey! I'm a skeptical book! My owner is not into psychic surgery or crystal healing!"

But, you know what? No one should be embarrassed to carry this book. A book like this should be carried proudly. As it turns out my knowledge about all things Atlantean was very... wait for it... shallow. Yes, that's a horrible pun, but it's also true. As Ellis points out, the myth of Atlantis has real staying power. Why has it persisted for thousands of years? It's not even attached to any religion or cohesive story cycle. It seems to be an invention of Plato's, but why has this, of all things, become so ingrained in our culture? Ellis surveys the literature starting with Plato's Timaeus and Critias, passes briefly over some of the more outlandish ideas of what sunk Atlantis, continues on to actual scholarship, then to the history of catastrophe in the Mediterranean, and lastly surveys Atlantis as it's depicted in films, comics, and novels. Was Atlantis based at all in fact? Ellis tells you what he thinks. Then he gives the facts so you can form your own opinion.

What, you may ask, does The Tooth have to do with Atlantis? Not a whole hell of a lot, except that it too has an irresistible origin story. And, like Imagining Atlantis, the cover made me want to buy the book. What's inside is a joyous romp from start to finish. The gags are suitably over-the-top while the subtle expressions on the Tooth's "face" are priceless. I typically cringe at anything dental, but somehow here the idea losing a tooth over and over, only to have it come crawling back covered in gore from its latest battle made me giggle instead of gag.

My recommendation? Buy Imagining Atlantis AND The Tooth. Then book a vacation to some Greek isle and read them back to back.

Book Blitz! Volume 3 - Ghost Stories

Ghost stories! What's not to like? I'm a sucker for any sort of atmospheric horror tale. Creeping dread? Yes please! If you're a fan too, read on. Today I'm offering my opinion on two very different spooky tales. Don't agree with me? Please let me know in the comments. I'm quite curious to know what other folks thought of these.

First up is The Man in the Picture, by Susan Hill. I found this at The Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle when we visited during the Emerald City Comicon. It's my very favorite place to shop for books, and I had high hopes for this one. It was billed as an update of the classic gothic ghost tale, complete with family secrets, chills up the spine, and an elderly academic with deep regrets, all placed in the modern era. Well, it did deliver on those things, and it was indeed much like a Victorian ghost story, but for me it somehow fell flat. The story felt a bit airless, even, dare I say, stuffy. It was an entertaining read and I don't at all regret picking it up, but I think it hued a bit too close to convention for my tastes. That said, the book itself is a thing of beauty. Palm-sized, hardbound, nicely printed, and tastefully produced: a real little gem. I hope books like these are never completely replaced by digital copies.

At the other end of the spectrum is Volume One of Joe Harris and Steve Rolston's Ghost Projekt. I have to admit, I picked this up at House of Secrets in Burbank based only on its cover. Sure, there's some sort of ghost horse on there. But even better, holding the book is a tactile experience. There's a swirly, sandy veneer to it that kind of glows in the dark. I'm usually not such a push-over for that kind of thing, but c'mon, how could I resist?

What's inside, you may ask? Well, I don't want to give anything away but I will say that it's a real romp through post-soviet Russia, if such a thing is possible. There are scary ghost-things, a possibly trustworthy cat, high stakes for the American that gets himself involved, and some quite creepy disease-like killings. I say give this one a go if you aren't afraid of touching the cover. I can't promise that it's not feeding off your soul through your fingertips.

And please, feel free to suggest some of your favorite ghost stories. I'm always on the lookout for creeping dread!

Book Blitz! Volume 2

The one constant of my life lately is busy, busy, busy. Too busy to read? Never! It was nice to have the plane ride up and back from Seattle though, during which I indulged in some quality time with the written word. If you, like me, enjoy reading about particle physics or possibly-crazy women living in Portland, I've got some books to recommend...

I've been wanting to read Massive ever since I finished Lisa Ranall's Warped Passages. As the subtitle says, it's about  The Missing Particle that Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science. What particle is this? Why, the Higgs boson, of course! The very beast that is the focus of so much press and the target of the huge particle colliders. It's been called the "God particle", a dreadful shorthand which I gather is much despised by most physicists.

Author Ian Sample does a fine job of explaining what this particle probably is and how it might work. Allow me to emphasize might, since we haven't actually proven its existence yet. But if it does exist it's what gives things mass. Let that sink in for a moment: your atoms weigh something. Photons of light do not. That's why photons travel at, well, the speed of light... And why you have to work to travel at all. Why do some particles have mass while others don't? It's a fundamental mystery. It probably has to do with something called the Higgs field, and probably also with symmetry breaking in the very early moments of the universe. Sample walks one through these difficult concepts but doesn't let them bog the narrative down.

The real fun in this book is found when Sample delves into the politics and personalities involved in the construction of the huge particle colliders. It's a wonder that any of them were ever built at all! His biographical sketches of the main players are great too, especially the introduction of the young Peter Higgs. And don't be fooled by the title. No equations needed to parse this tome! A healthy curiosity about the way things work is all the author requires of you.

Now, for something completely different. Well, sort of. Actually, I'm not entirely sure... And that's a very good thing. Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover's Gingerbread Girl isn't available in stores yet. But it is being serialized online over at Top Shelf. You can pre-order a copy now and have the book in your hands in May, but seriously, check it out now!

Coover's art is amazing, and Tobin's story really has to be read to be appreciated. All I know is that it's about Annah, a terrible, lovable tease who may or may not have a sister made out of a piece of her brain. Or she may be crazy. Many bystanders weigh in with bits of information, including her dates, a clerk, a passing pigeon... And if telling you this makes you think you know what this book is like, I promise that it isn't that way at all. Or is it? I don't know, since I've only read as much as is available so far. But I do know that I'll be happily buying the book as soon as I can!

Book Blitz! Volume 1

I don't know about the rest of the world, but in this house the New Year always starts off with a lot of new books. Christmas here is definitely book-giving season, and so is my birthday. I'm something of a book pack rat: if I don't have a backlog of reading material several months long I feel insecure. What if our bank account was hacked and emptied and I couldn't buy books? Better have several dozen waiting to read just in case...

One book that I only just got around to is Swimming in Stone: The Amazing Gogo Fossils of the Kimberley by John Long. My husband and I saw Dr. Long speak at Cal Tech University several months back and I was impressed enough to pick it up.

Although "Gogo fossil" sounds like some sort of 70's slang it in fact refers to amazingly well preserved Devonian era reef remains in Western Australia. This area was once covered in a shallow warm sea, and, lucky for us, many of the details of the ecosystem that thrived here have been preserved. Unlike many sites where long-dead animals have only left impressions in the rocks, here whole skeletons still exist. This is important because it was during this time that fish were making many of the evolutionary steps that would someday lead to us. Steps like jaws, for instance. Not to mention limbs, and lungs.

Dr. Long does a nice job of outlining the importance of the fossils, the infighting that can stymie research, and the personalities of the major players. I find myself awed by the shear weight of the ages that separate us from these amazing animals and amazed that we can still learn so much from them. It must caution you, though: if you have no interest in fossils, fish, or evolution you may find the going a bit dry. Dr. Long does not shy away from technical terms or latin labels.

A completely different reading experience can be found in the pages of Jason Little's Motel Art Improvement Service. It's the rare graphic novel that isn't afraid to depict banal settings, trusting that the protagonists will make the story interesting. And here they do. Motels both cheap and slickly corporate are imbued with suspense and pathos through Little's clean art and masterful narrative structure.

I should issue a warning here too: this is not a kiddie comic. Anyone too young to understand the menstrual cycle as a plot device should definitely stay away: if they persist they will only be met with sex, drugs, and complex ideas about the role of art in society. Folks old enough to enjoy coffee should find it a definite lark though.

So, that's what I've read so far this year. What's on your bedside table?