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Here are some more mini reviews of books. I’m going in order of when I read them.

First up: Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan

I have had this book on my shelf for quite a while. Beta liked this book back in early middle school and now he’s in college and I finally read it.

Great book. It’s right in my wheelhouse as far as types of stories go. It was good enough to stand on its own but, like most things these days, it is the first of a series. And not just a trilogy, it has several books. I read this first book – the Ruins of Gorlan – and then read the second.

The first book you could read by itself and probably be content with it. But the second book absolutely does not allow for that, as it has a cliffhanger ending that might as well have “To Be Continued” on the last page.

Next up: How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

I read someone else’s list of books they liked and this was on it. I had already seen the movie and wasn’t planning on reading the book, but that inspired me to try it

It’s a really quick read. It was not my style, the way it was written. It’s a lot more casual in the language and the way the story is told. Maybe what some people would call the voice of the author. It wasn’t bad, just not my cup of tea.

It was also apparent to me that the movie was a loose interpretation of the book. If you like the movie, don’t think to yourself that you’ll automatically like the book.

It wasn’t as different from the movie as The Iron Giant was – that one I think the movie studio just bought the name and ignored most of the book.

Next up: The Green Ember by S.D. Smith

I think the same list of books that inspired me to read How to Train Your Dragon also had this book in it. I haven’t read Watership Down because of its length, so when I saw this one I thought of it as a lightweight alternative to Watership Down. I can’t tell you how it compares to Watership Down because I still haven’t read that one.

But this one was fine – a very rabbity adventure. There are more books in the series, but I didn’t get into it that much that I felt like going on in the series.

Next up: Tripods by John Christopher

A different person mentioned this book in passing, and I looked it up and saw it was the type of book I might like, so I tried it. It was one book, then he wrote two more later to make it a trilogy, then he wrote a prequel.

I read the first book, and I got through it faster than I was expecting. I’m guessing it was written for a slightly younger audience than my usual picks. So then I decided I might as well read the rest of the trilogy. But I decided against the prequel. I’m not ruling it out entirely, but the trilogy is fine without it.

It often gets compared to War of the Worlds, and that’s a fair comparison as far as a one-sentence overview is concerned. The details are different, and the point of view is different, and the plot is different, and the style of writing is different. So don’t judge it too much if you’ve already read War of the Worlds.

Last up: Fawkes by Nadine Brandes

This one took a while to get through, and I’m still trying to figure out why. It was an interesting premise, and there were some slight plot twists that kept it fresh.

I think it was because there was too much angsty questioning by the main character that kept slowing the book down for me. I did get through it, and it did redeem itself by the end. And it did not leave me wondering about a book two or three because it had a strong ending.

The author does have some other books I might try; I’m curious if it’s her writing style in general that got in my way, or just this particular character in this particular story.

That’s it for this review. More book reviews coming up later this year.

This last week, when the nights have gotten much cooler while the daytime temps are still warm, I noticed a change in the various critters around the property. So I decided to take some pictures and share them with you, dear readers.

First up: a snake. Typical garter snake, but I bring it up now because I haven’t seen many snakes all summer but I saw three this last week. I’m assuming the snakes are out now because they need the sun. The nights are getting colder, so the cold-blooded snakes wake up groggy and when they see a sunny patch they go for it so they can absorb some heat.

It reminds me of maple trees in the spring, in that the sap runs when the nights are cool and the days are warm.

Next up: a cricket. I don’t know what caused the crickets to make their appearance recently, but there were a bunch of them. I didn’t get a good picture of them in the grass, but this one posed nicely on a concrete block.

Next up: a frog. Frogs haven’t recently made their appearance after being absent all summer, because I have noticed them since spring when the peepers announce themselves. And after the summer rains when they like to cross the driveway for some reason.

And now: a wasp. I did not get a good photo of this, because it was flying at me and I had been stung by a member of this nest the previous day. It’s the blur in the middle of the photo. The nest is in the ground, under the log. I found it accidentally when I was trying to clean up a log pile. They let me know they were unhappy that I was disturbing their nest. Only one of them stung me. The next day I walked carefully up to the spot and saw where they were flying in and out. They didn’t notice me until I started taking a picture, so just after I snapped this I ran away.

Last photo: a praying mantis. Actually a praying mantis and a wasp, but the wasp doesn’t really count because it is the mantis’ dinner. I was picking blackberries, and heard a buzzing sound to me right. I looked over to see where the wasp was, and I found the wasp in the clutches of the mantis, who was chewing away on the wasp. The wasp was waving his legs, trying to get away, but he was not going anywhere. Smart mantis, hanging out at the food source of his food source.

Honorable mention: hummingbirds. We haven’t noticed them all summer, but now we’ve been seeing them hanging out around our crabapple tree. Maybe just coincidence. I hear them as much as see them, with their loud, low buzzing wings. I don’t even try to get a picture of them, because they’re here and then gone faster than I can get my phone out.

Honorable not-mention: woolly bears. We haven’t seen any woolly bears yet. Should be soon though.

Here are some more mini reviews of books. I’m going in order of when I read them.

First up: Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson

I wanted to try something other than middle-grade fiction for a change, and this book caught my eye at the library.

It was a decent book but it was a little too far-fetched for my tastes. I have no problem with far-fetchedness in general – a lot of the fiction I read is not realistic (see “The Rithmatist” below, or any number of the fantasy/sci-fi stuff). My problem is this book was written to be realistic but it wasn’t.

I’ve seen both the Volcano and Dante’s Peak movies (tip: watch Volcano and skip Dante’s Peak). Same concept, came out at the same time, but I prefer Volcano because it wasn’t as cliche and also didn’t have a romance angle.

Anyway, this book seemed to do too much – it was action plus suspense plus a volcano plus a worldwide health disaster. It could have worked but it seemed generally too shallow. Plus the resolution of the problem was rather abrupt, unlikely, and made it seem like they ran out of ideas and just wanted to end the book.

This was a draft started by Crichton and then completed by Patterson well after Crichton’s death. I wasn’t sure how much of it was Crichton and how much was Patterson so I decided to get a book that was Crichton only – see Pirate Latitudes next.

Next up: Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

Flipping through Crichton books at the library, this was the one that looked most interesting by its cover and blurb inside the cover. I checked it out and read it and only after finishing it did I realize this one was not published during his lifetime. With no one else listed as co-author I have to assume it was all Crichton, not sure if he would have changed anything had it been published while he was alive.

I would say this one is not worth reading, mainly because of the adult content. If you watched the Pirates of the Caribbean movies then you cover most of the plot points of this book. But the book adds a lot more bawdiness.

Next up: Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Disclosure: I didn’t read this book. I am putting its review here so you’ll know why I didn’t read the book. My wife read the book and said I wouldn’t like it.

It apparently has a lot of objectionable material. It sounded like an interesting premise and I would have like to read it, but I didn’t want to read all that other stuff like “romance” and bad words. So I don’t know how well the premise was implemented, but it doesn’t matter because it was marred by so many problems that didn’t have to be there.

And that’s why I stick with middle-grade fiction.

Next up: Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Ok, so I should have said I mostly stick with middle-grade fiction. My wife picked up this book, and I had seen the trailers for the TV show based on it, so I was interested enough to try it.

It started off well. My wife may have looked over at me a couple times to see what I was laughing at. But as the book went on it was no longer funny and more sad. I don’t regret reading the book but my thoughts on it were underwhelming enough that my wife skipped reading it. And much of it is written as a script, so it takes a little getting used to.

Last up: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

I was looking for another Brandon Sanderson book, but our library didn’t have it in stock. Not feeling like putting it on hold and waiting for it to come in, I grabbed one of his books that was on the shelf and that looked interesting to me.

The idea of the book, as portrayed on the opening flap, looked good. Once I started reading it, it was a bit much. I was not a fan after a few pages, I didn’t feel like learning another world setting. I don’t think the author did anything wrong – I just wasn’t in the mood.

But I stuck with it and after a few chapters it was worth it. It ended up being a very good book and I would have recommended it with no qualms, except that it is the first book of a series and no other books exist yet. And it’s been many years so at this point I don’t know that we’ll see the sequel(s).

I still recommend it, just with an asterisk that if you like it then you’ll be disappointed that the story is unfinished. The book is mostly self-contained, but it ends with a major plot point open.

That’s it for this review. More book reviews coming up later this year.

There’s a scene in the movie Wall-E where the guy is explaining that after so many generations in space, human bodies experience loss of bone density – some skeletal changes. If you’re not using something, it wastes away. Like if you’re bedridden for a while, your muscles atrophy.

Here’s a still from the movie. If you’re looking for it, it’s at time 48:17 into the movie, if you’re looking at the progress bar in Disney+.

And each time technology progresses, there’s a study that shows how humans are using their brains less. For example, everyone used to know many phone numbers. Now with cell phones doing all the remembering for you, people don’t know anyone’s phone number anymore. I know my wife’s phone number because she’s had that number before smartphones existed so I had to know it. But I don’t know any of my children’s phone numbers because I never have dialed their numbers. Since phones remember things for people, people are losing their memorization capability.

Phone numbers was an early indicator. Next thing that comes to mind is navigation. People used to be able to read maps. Now they just know how to follow the line and the instructions that come up on the screen. Being the navigator in the car these days means selecting the destination on the nav unit, not actually knowing where you are. So people are losing their navigation/direction/way-finding abilities.

Now with AI doing a lot of things, people are losing those abilities too – writing essays, putting thoughts together, putting lists together, drawing pictures of themselves as Star Wars characters, etc. More skill atrophying. But at least we humans are retaining the ability to identify all stoplights and crosswalks in various photos, thanks to captcha for honing those skills.

I’m sure there are some more examples, but that’s just what I came up with quickly. The point of this blog post is not to make a list of everything that’s atrophying, rather I just wanted to show the results of all such degradation in the style of Wall-E.

Here it is:

That’s all really. Keep using your brain – exercise it – so that you don’t lose functionality.

One of the amusing clips from the Pixar movie Onward had the sight of unicorns rummaging through garbage cans. Sometimes when I see how woodland creatures are portrayed in movies, especially animated movies, where they are whatever the opposite of villainized is – made to look cute and cuddly and harmless – I want to invite the writers over here.

Earlier this week I almost tripped over a muskrat because he ran across the driveway right in front of me. I had groundhogs chewing through my extension cords (no, they were not plugged in at the time) and rabbits eating flowers I planted in my flower bed (begone with you Peter Cottontail). And if a car sits for several days without being driven then the squirrels store walnuts in the engine bay and mice chew throgh wires.

It was amusing though one time when I started down the driveway and the now-disturbed mouse tried to escape by running for the nearest light, which happened to be the cowl so he ended up on the bottom of my windshield and didn’t know where to go next since he couldn’t scale the glass.

I’m not complaining though, I just make sure to plant things like daffodils and marigolds that rabbits and deer don’t like. And garlic and hot pepper on things I don’t want groundhogs and squirrels to touch. I leave the muskrats alone – they’re fun to watch. Deer and Canada geese on the other hand – I actively chase them away. My family doesn’t like it when I chase them while we’re in the car and I’m driving though.

Here are some more mini reviews of books. I’m going in order of when I read them.

First up: Simon Thorn Series by Aimee Carter

This was a good book, but I recommend against reading it, unless you read German. Because it is a 5-book series, but only books 1-3 are in English. I read book 1 then book 2 and liked them. We have book 3 but it was while reading book 2 that I realized I could not get books 4 and 5, so I didn’t bother reading book 3 because then I would have been farther into the story. So I decided to cut my losses.

If you do read the first book, which is the Wolf’s Den, then just stop at that because you get enough to appreciate the story. Save books 2-3 until books 4-5 come out. Or learn German.

Next up: In the Blink of a Screen by Terry Pratchett

I was wondering what Terry Pratchett book to start with to introduce me to his writing, when I saw this book at our library. It’s a collection of short stories, so I figured that was a good way to dip my toes in the water.

For the most part, the stories were engaging and not objectionable. I do remember thinking that one or two of them were inappropriate, but I don’t remember any details of what or why at this time, so maybe they weren’t that bad.

Next up: Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

Our library website shows recommended books to its patrons. I’m not sure if it is personalized based on your reading history, or if it’s just whoever paid to have their books promoted, or just randomized. But we got a thing touting the book Starter Villain by John Scalzi. It looking interesting enough that I looked into John Scalzi a tiny bit, and people seemed to prefer his earlier book Kaiju Preservation Society better, so I thought I’d start with that.

The book had an interesting premise and clever writing and a good story. Everything you would want in a book.

Except it was full of foul language and the characters seemed to have come from a DEI checklist. It wouldn’t have been so bad except the one person who was a “they” but I didn’t realize it so I read a whole chapter thinking it was about a group of people but no, the “they” was one person, so I had to re-read that chapter and then pay extra attention in subsequent chapters.

Anyway, the very many bad words is the reason I recommend against this book. And then I looked up John Scalzi’s other work, and some of the reviews mention the language. Normally sci-fi writers seem to avoid a lot of objectionable content, but that is apparently Scalzi’s calling card that he wants to be known for so, as best I can tell, all his books have foul language and so I will not be reading anything else by him. I returned Starter Villain to the library unopened.

What would be good is if we could get like the TBS or USA Network version of this book. They are famous for editing out bad words when they broadcast a movie – making the movie more family-friendly when they air it. Someone should do that for Scalzi’s work. He might disagree, but I don’t think the story would be harmed at all by replacing bad words with milder words.

Last up: I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle

This one I think I saw in a review by World Magazine. I wish they would have a section on their website with all the books they’ve reviewed. With not much to go on and never hearing of Peter S. Beagle before, I just jumped in.

It was a good story and was very entertaining. My only complaint is that just before the end of the book, he had to put one bad word in there. There was nothing foul before then, and it seemed out of character for the book. Like she could have used the word “dung” instead and that would have fit better, to me. It’s like how for some reason the ratings people decided a PG-13 movie could have one F-word and still be PG-13. How does that make sense – if the word is bad then it’s bad.

Anyway, if one s-word is enough to keep you away the you have been warned. With kids wearing shirts with bad words on them these days, I feel people in general are desensitized to bad words. But that’s another discussion for another day. Overall, I still enjoyed the book.

That’s it for this review. More book reviews coming up later this year.

Our house came with a fireplace. A typical brick chimney and open hearth meant for burning wood. Due to various reasons, we haven’t used it. But earlier this year we got a wood-burning insert, so we will use it, so now I need to stock up on firewood.

The good news is we have a couple acres of trees that I can harvest. So far I’ve been taking already downed trees. Most died and then fell over but a storm took down two live trees so some of this wood needs to age first.

But I thought the stacks of firewood were scenic, so I took some photos of them and am sharing them with you now. I had a plan for two of the stacks but I ended up with more wood so we basically ended up with random stacks of firewood around the yard. My goal is to consolidate them a bit, maybe next year.

That last one is not as pretty as the first or fourth photos, but some may appreciate the rusticness of it. Those are big logs, so it will turn into a huge pile of firewood once it’s cut and split, and I don’t have a spot for it yet, so that’s waiting.