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Best known for his Border Trilogy, hailed in the San Francisco Chronicle as "an American classic to stand with the finest literary achievements of the century," Cormac McCarthy has written ten rich and often brutal novels, including the bestselling No Country for Old Men, and The Road. Profoundly dark, told in spare, searing prose, The Road is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece, one of the best books we've read this year, but in case you need a second (and expert) opinion, we asked Dennis Lehane, author of equally rich, occasionally bleak and brutal novels, to read it and give us his take. Read his glowing review below. --Daphne Durham
Guest Reviewer: Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane, master of the hard-boiled thriller, generated a cult following with his series about private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, wowed readers with the intense and gut-wrenching Mystic River, blew fans all away with the mind-bending Shutter Island, and switches gears with Coronado, his new collection of gritty short stories (and one play).
Cormac McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh stuck between their teeth. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is. McCarthy may have just set to paper the definitive vision of the world after nuclear war, and in this recent age of relentless saber-rattling by the global powers, it's not much of a leap to feel his vision could be not far off the mark nor, sadly, right around the corner. Stealing across this horrific (and that's the only word for it) landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son, a boy probably around the age of ten. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy's previous work. McCarthy's Gnostic impressions of mankind have left very little place for love. In fact that greatest love affair in any of his novels, I would argue, occurs between the Billy Parham and the wolf in The Crossing. But here the love of a desperate father for his sickly son transcends all else. McCarthy has always written about the battle between light and darkness; the darkness usually comprises 99.9% of the world, while any illumination is the weak shaft thrown by a penlight running low on batteries. In The Road, those batteries are almost out--the entire world is, quite literally, dying--so the final affirmation of hope in the novel's closing pages is all the more shocking and maybe all the more enduring as the boy takes all of his father's (and McCarthy's) rage at the hopeless folly of man and lays it down, lifting up, in its place, the oddest of all things: faith. --Dennis Lehane
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER
National Book Critic's Circle Award Finalist
A New York Times Notable Book
One of the Best Books of the Year
The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Denver Post, The Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, New York, People, Rocky Mountain News, Time, The Village Voice, The Washington Post
The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
Customer Reviews:
Couldn't get into it........2007-10-19
I tried my best but I couldn't get part the first twenty pages. When I read the synopsis I thought that I would like it. I didn't. It just seem to take forever to start and the suspense was so long winded that it became dull. Perhaps I've got a short attention span.
The Road.......2007-10-19
I read this book for my book group and it was not a good read at all.
"Magnificent Desolation".......2007-10-19
Wow.
The Road is one of the most stunning, disturbing yet hauntingly beautiful books I've ever read. Buzz Aldrin's description of the moon as "magnificent desolation" comes to mind, yet even that has some glimmer of beauty to it. The world Cormac McCarthy has painted is devoid of ALL beauty except that of the love between a father and his son.
Was truly captured me was McCarthy's use of the language - somehow he manages to conjure up a complete world of sights, smells, sounds, tastes and touch yet the writing is so austere as if it was itself placed on the same starvation diet as the man and boy and reduced down to the bare, yet absolute, minimum.
Because the book envelopes you in a world of grey as you turn the pages, it was almost a joyous experience to finish and return to the real world of color and leaving me appreciating the abundance around us.
Disturbing, Troubling, but a wonderful read.......2007-10-18
I have never read a book like this. I can see why it won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. While it's very troubling and disturbing, I couldn't put it down. And it's an easy read.
Deeply moving.......2007-10-17
I read this book in one night. Near the end tears were streaming down my face from the poignancy with which the relationship between the father and son are crafted. The next day I was so haunted by the characters I started reading the book again, something I haven't done in decades.
Book Description
Soon to be a major motion picture starring Will Smith, THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS is the inspiring, rags–to–riches story of the charismatic Chris Gardner –– a once homeless father who rasied and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street
At the age of twenty, Milwaukee native Chris Gardner, just out of the Navy, arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. Considered a prodigy in scientific research, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry level position at a prestigious firm, Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him homeless with his toddler son. Instead of giving in to despair, the two spent almost a year moving from shelters, "HO–tels", and soup–lines, even sleeping in the public restroom of a subway station – ultimately making an astonishing transformation from the bathroom to the boardroom.
Part "Finding Fish," part "The Pact," THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS is a mythic, triumphant, and unstintingly honest memoir whose hero will appeal to every American.
Customer Reviews:
The Motivations of Negative Influences.......2007-10-08
This is a great inspirational story. It was a bit graphic for my personal taste and the book focuses tremendously on Chris Gardner's youth, which is where he derived his burning desire to excel through a number of horrific events. I bought this book after watching the movie. While the movie focuses on his life post-separation from his wife, the book only gets to this point at the end. Although I am only rating the book 4-stars, I could hardly put it down while I was reading it.
Meaningful Inspiration.......2007-09-11
Mr. Gardner's story is more than another story about having to pull oneself up by their own bootstraps, it is a mantra for Urban Americans who are dealing with cyclical social issues. Poor Education, Poverty and Single Parent household stories are no longer acceptable reasons for not achieving, unfortunately they are too common place. The Pursuit of Happyness is a great example of the saying "In order to be it, one must see it"!
Heartwarming.......2007-09-08
I've read one of the most touching and heartwarming book of one's life. It is a story that spreads open past hurts, the need for bottom-line respect that should come from the people who should give it (family) and speaks of success despite of...
The Pursuit of the Imagined.......2007-08-28
Chris Gardner says in the Acknowledgments, "Quincy Troupe [co-author] once paid me a backhand compliment by telling me that I was as crazy as his previous subject, Miles Davis. I'll definitely take that as a compliment!" Gardner's imaginings, that he could possibly become anything other than a replica of the hardworking poor men who enveloped his childhood, define him as crazy. His success is crazy. How he managed it defies sanity.
Gardner imagined a future bright enough to deflect the piercing influences of his childhood--violence, an alcoholic stepfather, a jailed mother, rape--and was able to grow up to be a man possessing little, if any, humility (refreshingly different than most memoirs). Good for him. That Gardner was once homeless and is now wealthy is interesting; that he had no reason to expect to succeed but succeeded anyway, is inspiring.
I should be so crazy.
Note: The movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" deals only with Gardner after he has lived in San Francisco for a while. My only complaint with the movie is its depiction of Gardner's wife. She is shown as an uneducated woman only capable of working in restaurants; she's actually quite educated, a dental school graduate who is waiting to sit for her dental boards. Tsk, tsk.
Engaging and Entertaining.......2007-08-23
I haven't seen the film, so I have nothing to compare it with. I found this book to be inspiring. It was a quick and easy read. It was entertaining and realistic. The language is colorful and his life is graphic. It's not a story for the faint of heart, but his experience is a wonderful read. Some of the other reviews have taken exception with the way he lives his life, but his account is genuine. His life is real in all its glory and its shortcomings. It's a wonderful read.
Book Description
Be it "Pinocchio's Mom," who thinks her child never lies, the "Caped Crusader," who will stop at nothing to have a book eliminated from the curriculum, or the "Helicopter Mom," who hovers and swoops in to protect her child from disappointment, this humorous handbook helps educators deal with impossible parents. Each chapter features a hilarious caricature that illuminates common parent anxieties followed by specific, practical methods for addressing the problem. Easily implemented advice on face-to-face confrontations helps teachers approach each conflict with the confidence to get their point across and the composure to keep their professional principles intact.
Customer Reviews:
I want this author as my supervisor.......2007-09-08
This delightful book has such useful analysis and ideas in it. It is easy reading, and the author's suggestions are easy to take.
Tingley is an educator who became an administrator, and she knows her problem parents. She first gives vignettes with the teacher saying what we would REALLY like to say. Then she rewinds the interaction, showing us much more effective things to say.
I appreciate Tingley's compassion for both us teachers and the parents. School has just started again this fall, and I am off to a MUCH better start with a girl in my home room whose "hovering" mom was ready to slug me last year.
Very helpful.......2007-09-03
I found this book to be a really humorous way to help guide interactions with parents on a daily basis. I will absolutely be using advice from this book to help me with conferences this school year.
Parent-Teacher Association as it really is.......2007-07-10
Tingley gives an excellent overview of how educational objectives have evolved from instilling self-esteem to achieving high scores on standardized tests and what a problem that has created in dealing with today's parents. She acknowledges the frustrations teachers feel and frequently complain about, then skillfully uses humor along with sound advice to get beyond the griping and deal with the problems unreasonable parents can present. The book would be very helpful as a basis for role playing sessions for teachers-in-training in order to master the skills of being in control, getting parents on their side and most importantly, handling themselves as professionals. Even veteran teachers could benefit from reflecting on the amusing, yet accurate parent stereotypes Tingley has captured through her years of experience.
This is a great book for new teachers............2007-06-01
I bought this book for my daughter who is in her first year of teaching. When it arrived, I took a peek at the text, and probably read 1/2 the book before I even gave it too her! It is very easy, informative, reading. The former teacher who authored the book, has succinctly catergorized "parent types" and how each can be handled by the teacher when necessary. This survival guide's advice is excellent, and the points it makes are easily remembered by the reader. I think this will save my daughter lots of trial and error in her new career....(she really could have used it this year, with 29 students, and 58 parents to contend with!)
Illuminating for both new teachers and veterans, alike.......2007-06-01
As a veteran teacher-librarian, I can say that I have probably met most of the types of parents that Suzanne Tingley highlights in her book. As a parent, I can say that I may have had tendencies toward a few of the actions described. What is remarkable about this book is the down to earth advice for teachers, young and old, in how to diffuse and handle situations that will most definitely occur in the school setting at one time or another. The different scenarios illustrated by the presence of Caped Crusaders, Helicopter Moms, or Uncivil Libertarians are ones in which we have all had a part. Mrs. Tingley has clearly thought about how differently those scenarios could be played out so that a teacher can maintain his or her principles while allowing the parent to retain his or her dignity as the problem is resolved. She does this with humor, but also with a great deal of insight and intelligence. In order for schools to be effective in educating students, teachers and parents must communicate reasonably and civily with each other. This book opens the door to such communication. I am glad the book was recommended to me and I recommend it to all teachers who seek well-reasoned advice or reinforcement in validating responses to difficult situations and parents.
Book Description
The
Zombie Survival Guide is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.
Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack
1. Organize before they rise!
2. They feel no fear, why should you?
3. Use your head: cut off theirs.
4. Blades don’t need reloading.
5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.
6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it.
7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.
8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!
9. No place is safe, only safer.
10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on.
Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.
Customer Reviews:
Well, now I'm prepared!.......2007-09-24
I bought this book after flipping through it a little, mainly for the humor value. I didn't think it would consist of much more than that. How wrong I was. I started reading it, and ended up reading the whole book cover to cover. The way the author presents everything, it really makes you believe that a zombie outbreak could happen at any time. The subject is treated as seriously as any other survival manual would be (which actually adds to the humor). So many great tips are offered, such as what types of buildings make the best strongholds, what weapons are best (and worst), and what types of environment offers the best protection. The "real life accounts" section adds to the realism of the book, and is actually quite creepy in some places. After reading this manual, you will have all the knowledge you will need to get yourself prepared for a zombie outbreak.
Zombies cool down.......2007-09-21
I'm nuts about Zombies and suggest that anyone who can't get enough of these books should read World War Z and The Zen of Zombie. You won't be disappointed.
Very good........2007-09-14
This Zombie Survival guide is fun to read and is very entertaining. It explains how to survive a zombie outbreak, how to fortify your home, what kind of weapons to use, and a lot more! I highly recommend this book. It's good for zombie lovers, and those who'd like to get a thrill. Buy this book- it's good.
Interesting Read.......2007-09-07
I would highly recommend this "survival guide" for the like minded individuals. It will truly expand your imagination.
Cool Coffee Table Book.......2007-09-06
Cool book for your coffee table. Book is written very seriously though. If you are into zombie movies, the author has had alot of time to think out every zombie tatic to help you survive. Don't take it to seriously though.
Book Description
Meet Denver, a man raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana in the 1960s; a man who escaped, hopping a train to wander, homeless, for eighteen years on the streets of Dallas, Texas. No longer a slave, Denver's life was still hopeless-until God moved. First came a godly woman who prayed, listened, and obeyed. And then came her husband, Ron, an international arts dealer at home in a world of Armani-suited millionaires. And then they all came together.
But slavery takes many forms. Deborah discovers that she has cancer. In the face of possible death, she charges her husband to rescue Denver. Who will be saved, and who will be lost? What is the future for these unlikely three? What is God doing?
Same Kind of Different As Me is the emotional tale of their story: a telling of pain and laughter, doubt and tears, dug out between the bondages of this earth and the free possibility of heaven. No reader or listener will ever forget it.
Customer Reviews:
What a Great Read!.......2007-10-10
This book was recommended by a colleague and I could not find it here in Key West. I ordered two copies from Amazon and gave them both to friends (after reading). I was moved to tears by parts of the book. If anybody has any concerns about homeless issues, this book will renew one's faith in what can be done. It is one of the finest books on homeless issues that I have read in many years.
Very touching.......2007-10-01
This is a very readable book. It is also extremely touching. Several times as I read,I found tears streaming down my face. It will restore your faith in mankind and that there is more to a person than meets the eye.
A must read book.......2007-09-29
I don't have proper words to express this "amazing" book.
I can now better understand how it used to be in Slave times,
and feel a better understanding of my own faith and life after death.
I cried at moments of revealation! Would help anyone become a believer.
This book changed my life!.......2007-09-25
It's very easy to forget that this is a true story - it is such an amazing story that it could be fiction! It's a beautiful, poignant, touching book and it changed the way I view the homeless and how I share my resources with others. LOVED IT and I've been telling everyone I know to read it too!!
book.......2007-09-18
I ordered this book for my husband who had heard it was wonderful. He thought it was the best book he had ever read and he highly recommends it!!
Book Description
Read it.
You're already living it.
Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Will a visit to the tanning salon help lower your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on -- or off?
Joining the ranks of modern myth busters, Dr. Sharon Moalem turns our current understanding of illness on its head and challenges us to fundamentally change the way we think about our bodies, our health, and our relationship to just about every other living thing on earth, from plants and animals to insects and bacteria.
Through a fresh and engaging examination of our evolutionary history, Dr. Moalem reveals how many of the conditions that are diseases today actually gave our ancestors a leg up in the survival sweepstakes. When the option is a long life with a disease or a short one without it, evolution opts for disease almost every time.
Everything from the climate our ancestors lived in to the crops they planted and ate to their beverage of choice can be seen in our genetic inheritance. But Survival of the Sickest doesn't stop there. It goes on to demonstrate just how little modern medicine really understands about human health, and offers a new way of thinking that can help all of us live longer, healthier lives.
Survival of the Sickest is filled with fascinating insights and cutting-edge research, presented in a way that is both accessible and utterly absorbing. This is a book about the interconnectedness of all life on earth -- and, especially, what that means for us.
Customer Reviews:
A book well worth reading.......2007-10-18
This is a very good book, a very good book indeed. Well written and full of "Hmmmm, that's interesting."; "Gee, I didn't know that.", and "I'd like to read more about this." moments.
One of those books that when I finished it, I, at once, started reading it again.
Engaging but Sometimes Misleading.......2007-10-17
If Moalem and Prince were more careful with their facts, and pointed their readers to other works in this field, I would rate this book 5 stars. It is lively and readable, and will please many light readers.
On the other hand ... while there is a reference in the notes to a Scientific American review article by Nesse and Williams, there are no mentions of their excellent books "Why We Get Sick" and "Evolution and Healing". While a light reader may find those books a bit dry, a more scientifically minded reader will find much food for thought. Moalem and Prince are not trying to be scholarly, but they should acknowledge their scholarly antecedents. There are echos of Nesse and William's "Evolution ... " in the structure and style of Moalem and Price's "Sickest ...", and that should be noted.
The material on human cryonic suspension (page 42 of the first hard cover edition) should either be properly researched or left out of future editions. Wood frogs cannot depend on external interventions to recover from freezing - humans have more options. Whether cryonics will eventually work or not, cryonics practitioners focus on the minimization of freezing damage to cellular structure, and perfuse their subjects with high concentrations of ice-thwarting chemicals. Research in this area is already improving preservation for transplants. There is still massive cell damage, of course, and the cryonic subjects beginning the process are already "dead", so there will be a lot to repair. However, the structural, chemical, and genetic information necessary to make those repairs and replacements is preserved by the modified freezing process. Molecular scale nanomachines and external computation and direction will be essential to repair the damage, but high-tech external manipulation is needed now to cure many diseases. The necessary technology is under development. Check the Alcor (www.alcor.org) and Foresight Institute (www.foresight.org) websites for pointers to these fascinating subjects. They, too, can be a little purple in their prose, but they usually acknowledge the speculative nature of their work, and the long road ahead of them.
I hope the other unreferenced material in "Survival ..." is more firmly grounded. While the "on the one hand, on the other hand" style of many scientific works is aggravating to readers who want blinding certainty, it does help careful readers understand the actual state of knowledge. Even if banished to the notes, such "weasel wording" can keep the authors of review books such as this from being tagged as exemplars of error, as they note happened to Lamark. Moalem can write a better book than this, and I hope he gets the opportunity.
Very,very, interesting.......2007-09-21
This is one of those books that is a delightful read, educating, interesting, and entertaining. The author puts forth his theories that many modern diseases are variations of evolutionary traits that were held by our ancestors that enabled them to survive the ice age and bubonic plague. He goes on to describe how viruses cause certain behavior in their carriers to help the viruses survival. The common cold leaves you well enough to stay moving and go to work so you can spread the virus to others, while the parasitic malaria wants you immobile and in bed because mosquitos can continue to carry it even better with you immobile.
The author also presents a case currently making head way in evolutionary science that is challenging the savannah theory. He proposes that we are evolved form aquatic apes as opposed to grassland dwellers, which would explain our hairlessness like other aquatic mammals and being bipedal. We also have fat stored at the skin like water dwellers and our infants have swimming instincts at birth that have been proven by water birthing that is very successful.
And finally I was really fascinated by the finding that what scientists have believed were "junk DNA" is slowly being shown to actually be a creative force that causes mutations in DNA for the benefit of survival of the species. I have always had trouble believing in the evolutionary theory because no mechanism could be created with causing it outside of God, and God would not need it. I also believed that the key was in DNA. Now I have a cause, the DNA itself creates and casues beneficial mutations.
I really can not do this book justice in a review with out making it far to long so buy the book if the above sounds interesting. The book presents an excellent case and has made me a believer.
Evolution in a way you never knew!.......2007-09-08
Everything out there is influencing the evolution of everything else. The bacteria and viruses and parasites that cause disease in us have affected our evolution as we have adapted in ways to cope with their effects. In response they have evolved in turn, and keep on doing so.
There are many dietary diseases that have had an evolutionary advantage in our ancestors but that today do more harm than good. In a person with hemochromatosis, for example, the body always thinks that it doesn't have enough iron and continues to absorb iron unabated. The excess iron can lead to liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, and even cancer.
Why would a disease so deadly be bred into our genetic code? Remember how natural selection works. If a given genetic trait makes you stronger--especially if it makes you stronger before you have children--then you're more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass that trait on. People with hemochromatosis have therefore an evolutionary advantage--protection against the bubonic plague!
On one set of experiments, macrophages from people who had hemochromatosis and macrophages from people who did not were matched against bacteria in separate dishes to test their killing ability. The hemochromatic macrophages crushed the bacteria. They are thought to be significantly better at combating bacteria by limiting the availability of iron than the nonhemochromatic macrophages. So though hemochromatosis will kill those inflicted with it decades later, they are much more likely than people without hemochromatosis to survive plagues, reproduce, and pass the mutation on to their children.
Diabetes also provided an evolutionary advantage to our ancestors by providing superior ability to withstand the cold by eliminating water and driving up sugar levels (like alcohol, sugar is a natural antifreeze). As a theory, it's hotly controversial, but diabetes may have helped our European ancestors survive the sudden cold, including the ice-age.
Malaria is an infectious disease that infects as many as 500 million people every year, killing more than 1 million of them. But not everyone who gets bit by malaria-carrying mosquitoes gets infected. And not everybody who gets infected dies. So what's helping the malaria survivors? People with a genetic tendency for sickle-cell anemia, another inherited blood disorder, had better natural resistance to malaria.
As you've seen with hemochromatosis, diabetes, and sickle-cell anemia, one generation's evolutionary solution is another generation's evolutionary problem.
At the end of the day, every living thing shares two hardwired imperatives: Survive. Reproduce. To achieve this, some organisms have inherited ingenious techniques to manipulate their hosts--the phenomenon that occurs when a parasite provokes its host to behave in a way that helps the parasite to survive and reproduce.
Orb weavers are a family of spiders that experience host manipulation. A wasp bites the spider, temporarily paralyzing it, then deposits its egg in its abdomen. The spider then goes on with his life oblivious to the egg in him. The egg then hatches, and the larva slowly feeds off the blood of the spider. When it is ready to cocoon, it injects chemicals into the spider's bloodstream to manipulate the spider into building a special web for it--instead of building circular webs, it goes back and forth building a rectangular web. Once the web is completed, the larva kills the spider by sucking off all its blood, and then throwing its carcass to the jungle floor below. It then uses the specially built web for it to cocoon by hanging on it.
A worm that infects ants is a classic example of another host manipulator. As the worms being carried by the ant develop, one of them makes its way to the ant's brain where it manipulates the ant's nervous system. Suddenly, the ant behaves in completely uncharacteristic fashion. At night, it leaves its colony and hangs on the tip of a grass, waiting to be eaten by a sheep. If it does not, it returns to its colony only to resume again its journey at night to the tip of a grass waiting to be eaten. Once eaten by a sheep, the worm would have succeeded in its manipulation, and would grow inside the sheep's stomach, its intended host.
The rabies Virus is another interesting host manipulator. It manipulates its host into becoming aggressive, which will make its host bite others and thus also infecting others.
Here is one amazing example of host manipulation: One researcher has discovered that women infected with T. gondii spend more money on clothes and are consistently rated as beings more attractive than women without the infection. Infected women were more easy-going, more warm-hearted, had more friends, and cared more about how they looked. However, they were also less trustworthy and had more relationships with men. Infected men, on the other hand, were less well groomed, more likely to be loners, and more willing to fight. They were also more likely to be suspicious and jealous and less willing to follow rules.
A normal sneeze occurs when the body's self-defense system senses a foreign invader trying to get in through your nasal passages and acts to repel the invasion by expelling it with a sneeze. But sneezing when you've got a cold? There's obviously no way to expel the cold virus which is already lodged in you. The cold virus has learned this reflex so it can infect your colleagues, family and your friends. Your body is actually being manipulated by the virus into sneezing!
The herpes virus may heighten sexual feeling, which will increase the probability of transmission. In other words, sometimes the herpes virus may want you to get some action in order for it to spread to other hosts.
So what if we made it easier for a given type of bacteria to survive in a healthy human than to survive in a sick human? Would this create evolutionary pressure against behavior that harms us? In fact there is an evolutionary advantage for the malaria parasite to push its hosts toward the brink of death. The more parasites swarming through our blood, the more parasites the mosquito is likely to ingest; the more parasites the mosquito ingests, the more likely it will cause an infection when it bites someone else. Cholera is similar--it doesn't need us moving around to find new hosts, so there's no reason for the bacteria to select against virulence. The bottom line is that if an infectious client has allies (such as mosquitoes) or good delivery systems (such as unprotected water supplies), peaceful coexistence with its host becomes a lot less important. In those cases evolution is likely to favor versions of the parasite that best exploit its host's resources, allowing the parasite to multiply as much as possible. Some researchers believe that we can use this understanding to influence the evolution of parasites away from virulence. The basic theory is this: shut down the modes of transmission that don't require human participation and suddenly all the evolutionary pressure is directed at allowing the human host to get up and get out. According to this theory, the virulence of a cholera outbreak in a given population should be directly related to the quality and safety of that population's water supply. If sewage flows easily into rivers that people wash in or drink from, then the cholera strain would evolve toward virulence--it can multiply freely, essentially using up its hosts, relying on its access to the water supply for transmission. But if the water supply is well protected, the organism should evolve away from virulence--the longer it remains in a more mobile host, the better its chance of transmission.
A series of cholera outbreaks that began in Peru in 1991 and spread across South and Central America over the next few years provide compelling evidence that this theory might actually work. The water supply systems from country to country ranged from relatively advanced to seriously rudimentary. Sure enough, when the bacteria invaded nations with poorly protected water supplies, such as Ecuador, the virus became more harmful as it spread. But in countries with safe water supplies, such as Chile, the bacteria evolved downward in virulence and killed fewer people. The implications of this are huge. Instead of challenging bacteria to become stronger and more dangerous through an antibiotic arms race (which we are currently losing), we could essentially challenge them to get along. If mosquitoes didn't have access to bedridden malaria patients, the microbe would be under evolutionary pressure to evolve in a way that allowed the infected person to remain mobile, increasing the opportunity for it to spread.
A series of groundbreaking research has shown that certain compounds can attach themselves to specific genes and suppress their expression. Let's take a look at a few examples. Depending upon the time of year the vole (a type of mouse) is due to give birth, baby voles are born with either a thick coat or a thin coat. The gene for a thick coat is always there--it's just turned on or off depending on the level of light the mother senses in her environment around the time of conception.
One species of lizard is born with a long tail and large body or a small tail and small body depending on one thing only--whether their mother smelled a lizard-eating snake while pregnant. When her babies are entering a snake-filled world, they are born with a long tail and big body, making them less likely to be snake food.
This is a fascinating book and I highly recommend it. I truly enjoyed reading it and I have learnt things I never imagined! Now that's what I call precious reading!
Understanding genetic disease from an evolutionary point of view.......2007-09-01
We really don't "need" disease. This is a bit misleading. It just so happens that some genetic disorders, such as sickle-cell anemia, favism, diabetes, hemochromatosis, the tendency to obesity, etc., confer on the afflicted compensatory advantages. Thus a predilection for getting fat is adaptive if a drought or a long winter beckons, or a person with a genetic tendency toward sickle-cell anemia is less likely to get malaria, and so on. Note that it is only diseases caused by genetic mutations that Dr. Moalem is talking about.
One of the techniques our bodies use when fighting infection is to reduce the amount of iron available to the invaders. Bacteria need iron to reproduce. If there is a lot of it available their numbers can grow quickly. Without iron they can't reproduce at all. Iron is a limiting factor for many kinds of life. Vast stretches of ocean support little in the way of life because the microorganisms that begin the food chain can't grow where there is so little iron. As Dr. Moalem reports in this wide-ranging and eyebrow-lifting book, sprinkle some iron onto those patches of ocean and they will quickly turn green with microorganisms.
So it is a bit of an irony that people who have hemochromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes them to retain large amounts of iron in their bodies, are able to survival infections like the plague. This is because they starve the invading microbes through "iron locking." They have a lot of iron in their bodies, but they keep it away from the bacteria. Other people who have low levels of iron in their bodies are able to withstand bacterial attacks because they also keep what little iron they have away from the germs. In fact, one of the body's initial responses to microbial invasion is to limit the amount of free iron in the system.
Genetic coding for levels of iron in the body is an example of evolutionary adaptation, part of the ongoing arms race between us and the microbes that live in and on our bodies. This is just one of several interesting and new ideas coming from the growing science of evolutionary medicine that I found in Survival of the Sickest. Incidentally, one way to manage hemochromatosis is through donating blood on a regular basis, which explains in part why physicians of old were sometimes successful when they bled their patients.
This got me to thinking about "only women bleed" which led me to think about hemorrhoids (which prove that it isn't only women who bleed). Perhaps bleeding instead of retaining blood, which seems like the more natural thing for our bodies to do, has adaptive value in some people in some environments.
Another interesting idea is this from page 58: "ACHOO syndrome--its full name is autosomal dominant compelling heliopthalmic outburst syndrome." It is a "disorder that causes uncontrolled sneezing when someone is exposed to bright light, usually sunlight, after being in the dark." Dr. Moalem suggests that "way back when our ancestors spent more time in caves, this reflex helped them to clear out any molds or microbes that might have lodged in their noses or upper respiratory tract." Now this may sound a bit far fetched, but I have suffered from low grade allergies all my life, and used to have asthmatic attacks. I came to believe that the buildup in my lungs and the sneezing were signals to me to move on! Of course now I clean and vacuum like a germaphobe, but the idea is the same. My symptoms were adaptive. They more or less forced me to reduce the level of potential irritants and microbes in my environment.
But there is more. I noticed long ago that sometimes the sun in the morning would cause me to sneeze. I never figured out why until I read the above from Dr. Moalem. I am just the kind of person who would need to sneeze those molds out.
Later on in the book Moalem returns to an evolutionary idea that has been kicking around for decades. Beginning with the work of Elaine Morgan from the 1970s the public became aware of the notion that we humans had an aquatic past. She got the idea from marine biologist Alister Hardy. Through such books as The Descent of Woman (1972) and The Aquatic Ape: A Theory of Human Evolution (1982) Morgan argued that some of our unusual adaptations came about because we had an aquatic past. Taking up the idea, Moalem writes, "Every hairless mammal is aquatic or at least plays in the mud--think of hippos, elephants and the African warthog. But there aren't any hairless primates." (p. 198) Furthermore we have fat directly under our skin to help keep us warm just as aquatic mammals do. Also, Moalem notes, "the ability to survive on land and sea" gives us adaptive flexibility. If "chased by a leopard, the semiaquatic ape could dive into the water; chased by a crocodile, it could run into the forest." (p. 199)
These ideas are familiar but what I didn't know was that an aquatic past could have figured in our evolution toward bipedalism. "[S]tanding upright in water allowed...[aquatic apes] to venture into deeper water and still breathe, and the water helped to support their upper bodies, making it easier to support them on two feet." (p. 199)
This is an easy to read book, aimed at a general readership. An earlier, slightly more technical book that covers some of the same territory is Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine (1994) by Randolph M. Nesse and George C. Williams, which I also recommend.
Average customer rating:
- ONE MORE THING...
- Amazingly Detailed
- Terrifying (but sometimes tedious)
- Not Simmons' best
- Absolutely Amazing!
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The Terror: A Novel
Dan Simmons
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ASIN: 0316017442 |
Book Description
The bestselling author of Ilium and Olympos transforms thetrue story of a legendary Arctic expedition into a thriller worthy ofStephen King or Patrick O'Brian. Their captain's insane vision of a Northwest Passage has kept the crewmenof The Terror trapped in Arctic ice for two years without a thaw. But thereal threat to their survival isn't the ever-shifting landscape of white,the provisions that have turned to poison before they open them, or theship slowly buckling in the grip of the frozen ocean. The real threat iswhatever is out in the frigid darkness, stalking their ship, snatching oneseaman at a time or whole crews, leaving bodies mangled horribly or missingforever. Captain Crozier takes over the expedition after the creature kills itsoriginal leader, Sir John Franklin. Drawing equally on his own strengths asa seaman and the mystical beliefs of the Eskimo woman he's rescued, Croziersets a course on foot out of the Arctic and away from the insatiable beast.But every day the dwindling crew becomes more deranged and mutinous, untilCrozier begins to fear there is no escape from an ever-more-inconceivablenightmare.
Customer Reviews:
ONE MORE THING..........2007-10-08
I agree 100% with the 5-star reviews already submitted but would like to add one thing that seems to have been played down a bit: this book is bloody TERRIFYING!
Amazingly Detailed.......2007-10-03
You have to admire the sheer amount of research that went into this novel, because after reading this book I guarantee that Dan Simmons knows every bit of maritime trivia, every conceivable thing about living in the arctic, and enough Esquimaux mythology to boggle the mind. The story is that of Captain Crozier, who commands one of two ships on a doomed mission to find the northwest passage. Early in the expedition, the ships become frozen into pack ice, stranding the captain and crew. This leads to many problems, including the inevitable accidents, starvation, disease, mutanies, etc. In and of itself, that would be enough to doom any expedition. However, it gets much worse than that -- there's this monster out there on the ice that has an unstoppable desire to kill Crozier's crew in the most sadistic ways possible. The story isn't so much about the creature as it is about the crew's ability (or inability) to deal with the situation. I have to warn you though, this story is long. There are more than a few times when I was hoping it would simply hurry up and get on with it.
Terrifying (but sometimes tedious).......2007-09-30
I enjoyed both the horror and the historical aspects of this book. Unlike some reviewers, I thought Simmons melded those styles and approaches together well. And there were so many characters, so well developed. Half of the enjoyment here, for me, was in learning about the characters and wondering what they would do next, how they would react in the various situations that confronted them. Also, it was just straight-out terrifying to imagine being in some of those situations.
All of that said, occasionally I thought the writing was a little slow and tedious and I probably even skimmed parts. But then, I'm impatient.
Not Simmons' best.......2007-09-27
After the sun-lit world of Olympos, Simmons plunges his readers into his darkest material at least since Carrion Comfort. That in itself is not necessarily a problem, but there is an issue with the way the novel is being billed.
It is NOT a historical novel with a metaphorical element of horror. It is a HORROR novel that happens to have a historical setting.
Again, not in itself a problem. But Simmons himself seems to have difficulty deciding which kind of a novel he's writing, so the historical elements place constraints on the story that keep it from having a fully satisfying plot, while the horror elements introduce things that are historically ridiculous.
After Olympos, Terror's Hobbesian theme is stunningly bleak. But then, life WOULD be nasty, brutish, short, etc. if one were on an early 19th-century Arctic expedition whose captain made astonishingly bad decisions based on an irrational faith that God would see them through--or if one were an Inuit of that time. So the final Rousseau-like chapters romanticizing the "noble Inuit" are particularly strange. Simmons is inordinately impressed with the only two things the Inuit could do: build igloos, which really isn't that hard (I did it as a boy scout at age thirteen or so, though mine no doubt lacked the mathematical symmetry of those Simmons describes, though it's not as if the Inuit, lacking a system of writing, could actually have grasped the higher mathematics of what they were supposedly doing); and hunting seal, which, well, they'd pretty much HAVE to be good at. (None of this is meant to belittle or morally criticize the Inuit of the time, as given their circumstances, it would have been near impossible for them to advance much beyond that.)
Also, Simmons has already done the "what if their primitive mythology were true?" bit in Fires of Eden, with the much more entertaining Hawaiian mythology, and unhampered by claims of historicity.
Still, Simmons' style here is beautiful, and many of the characters are among the best he's created, so it's certainly worth a read, like everything else he's written.
Absolutely Amazing!.......2007-09-26
Quite honestly, I bought this book as a gift for my son in law, but, being momentarily out of reading material, decided to tackle the volume myself. And I was gob-smacked. The amount of research that had to have gone into this book is simply unimaginable. And, Dan Simmons has somehow managed to turn blank historical figures into real people with real problems. He has breathed life and depth into an expedition that still remains enigmatic. And, boy, did he do his homework. Real history is so much more interesting than fiction. We are talking here about an expedition into the arctic some 160 years ago, fuelled by coal and tinned foods and not much more. These guys definitely didn't know what they were getting into and suffered greatly for that lack of knowledge. I trust Dan Simmons. Well, I've read his other books. I trust that his search for the facts has been rigorous and absolute, and that he has endeavoured, and very successfully, to interweave those facts with the ficticious personas of his characters. In doing this, he has written an absolutely incredible book, extremely readable and continuously fascinating. He has kept, without any judgement, within the mores, the cultural values of that time, and that is also fascinating.
I greatly applaud this book and the man who wrote it. To have been able to create such a tale, interwoven with a cumbersome amount of detail and enhanced true characters is indeed a feat worth applause. And, man, it is just really interesting. Not since The Swarm has a book captivated me to this extent.
Customer Reviews:
Why buy what you can get for free!?.......2007-07-03
I would recommend, as another poster has, to download this book for free just by using google and inserting Fm 21-76, then print in out. Don't waste your money.
Excellent Information and Presentation BUT Needs To Be Updated!.......2007-07-01
This book is very interesting. I started out planning to give it a quick look and ended up reading it almost cover to cover. It contains a lot of very useful information; however, it has a 1970's copyright date and some of the information seems to be outdated. For instance, with respect to snake bites, it still recommends cutting the bite to suck out the venom and applying a tourniquet. Most authorities now indicate that these practices are not only no longer recommended but are actually now considered to be the cause of most of the serious injuries (at least from the venomous snakes in my area).
With a simple update to insure that all information reflects current knowledge, I would feel comfortable giving this book 5 stars and recommending it to everyone. That said, it is still chock full of valuable and potentially life saving information and at the price, it is still a good investment.
If Your GPS Broke, Would You Be Able To Find Your Way?.......2007-06-10
This manual is very extensive. Its range of topics include survival medicine, to creating emergency shelter in the field, to foretelling weather and how to find direction. It includes full color images of poisonous snakes and edible as well as poisonous plants to avoid.
While I haven't been in situations that tested virtually most of these methods, as many are geared toward survival in extreme circumstances, I always take this with me when I hike. I have, however, needed the info on tying knots, have used the pictures to identify snakes, and I often peruse the descriptions of first aid to keep familiar with it.
---*** THE BOTTOM LINE ***---
If you are someone who regularly spends time outdoors, even if it's just a dayhike or camping close to other people, you should really have this book that could help in many situations.
BEST BOOK!.......2007-05-30
This is by far the best book I have seen on this topic. It covers all necessary areas without being too wordy. Don't go camping without it!
Most important for Survival.......2007-04-22
As you can tell from the reviews, this book is a must for anyone who never have thought of what it takes to survive away from societal businesses.
How do you get water when water sources are polluted?
How long will you survive without water?
Prepare for accidents, because they will happen, more often than not.
And, more importantly, you may never know when you'll need to have this highly important manual to rely on.
Buy it, and read it, don't let it sit there without first becoming familiar to it's content. Don't wait until its absolutely necessary to use it first. It just may be a situation that you don't have time or much energy left to absorb the knowledge it contains.
Book Description
A complete guide to emergency preparedness for our uncertain times. Virtually an encyclopedia of food storage and personal preparedness, it covers topics from exactly how to design a food storage program tailored for your particular family to growing and preserving food, storing fuel, alternate energy, emergency evacuation kits, medical and dental, surviving biological, chemical and nuclear terrorism, communications, selection of firearms and other survival tools, and preparing for earthquakes.
Dozens of detailed, expert checklists and tables with photographs and index. Extensive book and resource lists with regular and Internet addresses. An absolute must for those serious about preparing for and surviving during our dangerous times.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent resource for preparedness.......2007-10-01
I found this book to be extremeley helpful in its content and uses. It was the most informative book out there and was very detailed. There were many ideas presented that I hadn't even thought of, and I found that it was easily readable. I am so much more prepared in my home for any emergency and I am so much safer after reading this book. This book presents a step by step guide that saves you from hours of research and headache. I wish I had found this book sooner.
Interesting book, but unconvincing and poorly written.......2007-09-27
I hate to be too critical of this book, because I did enjoy reading it and I think it is well worth the money, but I hope Spigarelli reads the customer reviews and hires a good editor before turning out his second edition. There are many, many careless errors in the book that make me believe that some of the instructions may be just as careless. For instance, "approximate" and "proximate" are not interchangeable. The information regarding food storage, particularly the sources of information (e.g., researchers at BYU) reveal the Mormon origins of much of the information. The medical information seems to me (as a layman) to be just plain absurd. For instance, he recommends storing 200 Phenergan tablets (that's a lot of nausea), but only 100 tablets of "acetamine" (??), a couple vials of Pitocin (I suppose we'll be inducing labor at home) and 50 Valium tablets (including two vials of the stuff for injection). I could imagine going to my doctor and asking for a prescription for all those little goodies. My guess is that he'd prescribe something else for me (i.e., a good anti-psychotic). Of course, there's also a recommended arsenal of various types of guns and thousands of rounds of ammo (probably for guarding all the prescription drugs...). Nope, maybe I should be giving it two stars instead.
Great Book.......2007-09-25
I thought the book gave a lot of excellent information. I am an old Boy Scout so there is a lot of information in there. I have supplimented the book with a Survival training book that talks about plants, shelters, general survival type of information.
I liked the book.
Disorganized and unrealistic.......2007-09-01
I bought this book on the strenght of other reviews, and that was a mistake. It is disorganized and unrealistic.
Realistically speaking, we should all aim to prepare for a Katrina-type disaster: one that affects a wide region, with the severe effects of total lack of services lasting 2-4 weeks. This book wants me to prepare a year's worth of stored food. To fulfill this plan, I'd have to move to a farm so I could grow food, raise animals, and have enough room to store the amount he reccomends. It sure isn't going to work in my one-bedroom aparment.
The overall organization of the book is awful - no planning involved in the order of chapters. The first 2/3 of the book are food storage and preparation. If you really want to learn how to grow crops, raise animals, grind your own flour, make your own leather, can/pickle/smoke/preserve your own food - you're better off buying books on those specific subjects. This one goes over them in enough detail (and bad writing) to be boring, but not enough to actually teach you how. Even more ridiculous, he details so many preparations that require electricity. If we have roads and electricity and whatnto, probably I'm not living off my stored foods anyway - and how many of us can set up our own solar power grid sufficient to run the freezer, household appliances, water heater, well pump, whatever?
And then the final 1/3 glosses over preparations for a 2-4 week disaster when it should be focusing on them. If we have a Katrina-type problem, I need to be able to take care of myself until services are reasonably restored enough to either live reasonably, or get out of the area. And if the disaster affects the whole country and there is nowhere to go.... Aside from buying your own farm/ranch in the wilds, living off solar power, etc, you're out of luck.
So, long story short, if you're like me - if you want to be prepared for an act of terrorism, a flood, a fire, a hurricane or tornado, that sort of thing, buy the books below instead.
Organize for Disaster: Prepare Your Family and Your Home for Any Natural Or Unnatural Disaster
PREPAREDNESS NOW!: An Emergency Survival Guide for Civilians and Their Families
Overall Good: Beware the Dietary Advise!.......2007-08-02
Spigarelli has put together a great how-to book and I recommend it highly. Where he falls short is supporting an out-dated food pyramid. A healthy diet becomes even more important after a catastrophe.
As a master's degree candidate in nutrition, I found glaringly inaccurate statements regarding animal proteins (meat and dairy) as they relate to a "proper diet". The book has been updated since its original date of publish, but the chapters on food choices seem to have been left untouched. I recommend tweaking his recommendations away from the large amounts of animal proteins and plus up the grains/legumes/vegetables and enhance the supplementation to boost B12 and D. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is leading us to death/disease/discomfort/ailments at very young ages so why continue that diet after a crisis when you may very well have no access to medical assistance? That simply does not compute.
I shared the dietary chapters with doctors, teachers and colleagues and they reacted just as I did. "What year was THAT written?" was said quite a bit. One of the many roads that have brought us to the precipice of crisis is the misuse of land and water toward keeping animals and the pollution derived therefrom, not to mention the negative effect of animal proteins to the human body. Even after a crisis, I cannot imagine the giving of precious land and water over to livestock when crops will sustain us.
Again, this is a very good book and Spigarelli should be commended on a job well done. I would just like to stress the fact that you should inspect the food recommendations more closely as the "conventional wisdom" regarding the food pyramid over the years is off base.
Book Description
The SAS Survival Handbook is the Special Air Service's complete course in being prepared for any type of emergency. John 'Lofty' Wiseman presents real strategies for surviving in any type of situation, from accidents and escape procedures, including chemical and nuclear to successfully adapting to various climates (polar, tropical, desert), to identifying edible plants and creating fire. The book is extremely practical and is illustrated throughout with easy-to-understand line art and diagrams.
Customer Reviews:
Good if you are not in a megalopolis.......2007-10-12
I think this book is very good for certain situations, but I feel that it does not meet the needs of most average folks in case of major catastrophy.
I would recommend Ron Foster's practical guide for all scenarios. Since he works in the field of emergency response, he has the most up to date and useful methods of urban and rural survival.
If you seriously want to learn more than "how to live off the land" short term, I would highly recommend Mr. Foster's publication, "The Rural Ranger: A Suburban Manual & Field Guide of Traps and Snares for Food and Survival".
I know how to live off the land if one can even get to such a ideal location, but hunger, thirst and the elements will wear out the millions of people trying to vacate their huge cities all at once.
This book gives one a fighting chance no matter what your skills are or where you live.
Seriously,
David Highum
Amazing survival book - Incredable - Can't stop reading it!.......2007-10-10
This book is gold. If you decide to donate money to homeless people STOP. Donate this book instead. They will be able to live forever with the helpful survival tips in this book. It sits on my coffee table and has been a talking point with everyone who sees it. It has everything in it - including 'Emergency Child Birth in the Bush'. The trapping and food sections are amazing. This book was everything and much more than I thought it would be. Easily the best few dollars I ever spent on a book. Thanks to the sling traps I have no more stray cats claiming my yard as their own! Then using this book I was able to skin, prepare and cook these cats. I was also able to discard the offal that was not nutrient dense. Note: No cats have really been caught or cooked yet - but I could if I wanted to.
SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea.......2007-09-27
With the new tv shows showing actual survival skills in the wild my family and I have developed a real interest in this topic. I am enjoying the book. It was written in a very easy and understandable way. I feel confident that with this book by my side that I could survive quite well in a variety of situations.
What about cabin avalanche?.......2007-09-19
I found this book to thoroughly take me through the fundamentals of survival, however, I am always thinking of some very particular situations that I could find myself in that weren't addressed.
For instance, what about the "trapped in a cabin by avalance" that we're all fearful of? I play it over and over in my head. Most likely it would be 3 or 4 of us on a weekend ski trip. I've always felt that it would be best to go ahead and turn on the others very early on in the event of an avalance instead of waiting for starvation to decimate the group.
For one, each day trapped in that cabin means that everyone will be burning calories, making themselves thinner and thinner, not leaving much of a meal if natural course is left to do the dirty work of finishing them off. Not to mention, you might be too weak for a death match days later.
Also, turning on them early will almost assuredly be unexpected, since ditching ethical behavior at first opportunity is not the norm and especially with so much food still in the fridge. You're going to need that element of surprise, b/c let's face it, when you start helicoptering that timber axe over your head, the line will clearly be drawn in the sand and its 1 versus 3 at that point. You'll need to mow them all down very quickly. Don't worry that you aren't hungry yet, as there should be plenty of snow at the windows that can be used to keep the bodies from spoiling.
But I definitely liked the informative chapter on which leaves are ok to eat and which are poisonous.
Great!.......2007-09-14
Contains just about anything you would want to know about survival. I am reading the whole thing, and it is quite interesting!
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