Knights Templar Mysteries #21: The Death Ship of Dartmouth by Michael Jecks

Read: August, 2009

Amidst political turmoil, a man has been found dead in the road and a ghost ship has been found at sea. Meanwhile, the rebel Roger Mortimer has been sending out spies, threatening civil war.

I read this rather quickly while on holidays and the details were quickly forgotten. But I do remember quite enjoying it, despite being a little disconcerted by all the rape (and there truly is a lot of rape!).

Death Ship is a solid mystery with strong characters, and the historical fiction aspect is well executed. The violence, particularly against women, is realistic without being gratuitous.

All in all, a well-written novel and an excellent addition to any historical mystery collection.

Baby Signs by Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn

Read: 22 November, 2011

Much of what is terrible about the "terrible twos" come down to baby brains developing faster than their speech is able to communicate. The frustration of having ideas, needs, observations to communicate but no ability to do so leads to conflict.

Baby Signs proposes a solution. While speech may be difficult for very young children, a modified sign language may help smooth the transition into verbal fluency.

The book is fairly well written and it's a very quick read. It introduces the information at an appropriate pace and in a good order. The illustrations showing the signs themselves are clear and easy to understand. I especially liked that the dictionary at the back noted which signs were official ASL and which are designed specifically for this theory.

I don't know how to evaluate the theory itself, although I did notice a few small pink flags. For example, at one point, the authors recommend purchasing their video tapes, that should be watched by babies to help teach them. To reinforce the legitimacy of this, they mention the Baby Einstein videos, which have been fully debunked. In fact, all research that I've read says that videos are no good for teaching babies.

The theory seems worth trying to avoid frustration for simple and common issues, such as asking for more food, asking for a drink, or complaining about discomfort.

NurtureShock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

Read: 17 November, 2011

Common sense and instinct can tell us a lot of things. For example, it's good to praise our kids, it's good to leave the radio on because babies will learn language better the more words they hear,  and racial desegregation of schools will lead to less racism as kids grow up interacting with peers of different races.

Unfortunately, all of these are wrong.

"NurtureShock" is the feeling a new parent experiences when they discover that the Parental Instincts Fairy has missed their home. It turns out that while the instinct to protect our children is very real, the how of it is up to us to figure out.

NurtureShock is different from the other parenting books I've reviewed in that it isn't an instruction manual. Instead, it simply summarizes some of the recent science in child development. Although the science itself is very interesting and I positively devoured the book, the lack of practical application was frustrating. As a parent, I don't just want to know the science, I want to know how I can use it.

I think that NurtureShock would have done better if each chapter were divided in half. The first part would remain exactly as is, but the second part would provide examples to show how parents might apply the theory to their own parenting.

But that doesn't mean that NurtureShock isn't worth reading. Far from it, I think it should be required reading for every new parent because it fundamentally challenges so many of the assumptions we make about our kids and how they develop.

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Read: 2005

I read I, Robot shortly after seeing the Will Smith movie. I liked the movie, but I had no specific plans to read the book until I was assigned it in my Science Fiction class.

The first thing that struck me is that the book is absolutely nothing like the movie (or perhaps that should be the other way around...). Other than the title and the presence of robots, the two could not be any more different.

The book is divided into a series of short stories, each taking place at a point in time along robots' "evolution" into sentience. Recurring characters tie these little vignettes together, so the reader gets a sense of growth and change.

I've also read Foundation and I found the similarities between it and I, Robot to be quite strong. In both cases, the narrative has a distant feel, like the reader is only allowed glimpses of the characters as they go about their lives. None of the stories in I, Robot are complete; they begin in the middle of people's lives and they end the same way, without the tidy encasing covers that we find in most books. This gives a sense of emotional detachment - the reader is allowed to watch but never to enter or to participate.

It's a strange style that I've only seen in Asimov stories. I've found it quite enjoyable, though perhaps only because of its rarity. It does add a sense of realism to the stories, making characters feel like entire people with rich lives that the reader isn't privy to outside of the constraints of the story.

I very much enjoyed I, Robot. I found it to be thought-provoking, interesting, entertaining, and well-written. The ethical issues raised are important as our technology becomes ever more powerful, so I would urge anyone and everyone to read this book.

No Man's Land by G.M. Ford

Read: 11 August, 2010

It's impossible to escape from Mesa Azul. But, like the majority of stories that open in an impossible-to-escape prison, this is the story of the one person who escaped from it. Well, the three people, actually. Timothy Driver takes fellow inmate Kehoe and author Frank Corso along with him.

I read this last year and had to hurry through it so I could return it before boarding a plane,  so my memory is woefully spotty. I do remember enjoying it, as I do most detective novels, although the fact that I remember very little is perhaps an indication that this one didn't have have that special humph to convince my brain that it was worth remembering.

The story is filled with quirky characters with backstories. I was particularly interested in the journalist who helped create an alternate world Amber Alert after her daughter was killed. The idea of grief mixed in with her desire for public attention was messy and interesting.

I'd say that this is a perfectly good mystery story for fans of that sort of thing.

Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs

Read: 8 August, 2010

I enjoy the show Bones, so I was quite happy to find one of the novels while visiting a friend's summer cottage.

I was struck by the many and profound differences between the show and the book. For one thing, novel Tempe Brennan has a daughter. She's also not the asocial, abrasive nerd we see in the TV series.

There isn't too much to say about Bare Bones. It was a fairly standard detective story, fantastic light reading while sitting out on a lake. The forensic anthropology aspect was interesting, as investigator gimmicks do tend to be. That the stories are written by someone who is actually in the field adds a certain verisimilitude to the story that lifts it above the standard fare.

Overall, I'd say it was an interesting story, solidly written, and perfect for any detective novel enthusiast to take on a plane.