non-fiction

   Since resolving to read more non-fiction I have come across some real stunners, and since I don't want you to miss out, I will share some recommendations with you here.

   Let's get the obvious out of the way first: I recommend Blink / Malcolm Gladwell and Nurtureshock / Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman. Both engaging and informative, with applicable ideas and new ways of looking at things. Bronson, Merryman, and Gladwell are all journalists so their science sometimes gives way to anecdotal evidence, but on the whole their books are worth your time.

   Alone on the Ice / David Roberts. Okay, I know, I love Antarctica and polar exploration and you might not be quite as interested in the subject matter as I am but by Jove, this is a good read. How about we read and learn about real effort and heroism instead of lionizing Robert Falcon Scott's cowardice? Thanks. People I would much rather learn about: Roald Amundsen, Ernest Shackleton, and DOUGLAS MAWSON. There are so many more books about people exploring the far reaches of the south and north; it's a nearly inexhaustible supply and I have zero complaints about that.

   Among my interests that are probably not widely shared is an undying fascination with rabies, and when I saw the cover art for Rabid / Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy, I was powerless to resist. A cultural history of rabies?! Put it in my brain.  Unfortunately for some of my friends my reading of this coincided with a three hour drive, at which time I carried on and on about rabies facts. After I told them about research being done on how the rabies virus crosses the blood-brain barrier, one of them said "I have never met anyone as interested in rabies and Antarctica as you are." A lot of my conversations somehow work their way back to those things and I'm only sort of sorry.

   Another book that I haven't been able to keep to myself while reading is The Poisoner's Handbook / Deborah Blum and I once again apologize for talking about mincing tissue so much. (I just looked up The Poisoner's Handbook on Goodreads and it led me to a book about pin pointing the time of death and one about blood transfusion during the Scientific Revolution. OMGosh.) I learned more about Prohibition from this book than I have from anywhere else, and it is so extremely interesting. Oddly enough, I have now read about the Ruth Snyder/Henry Judd Gray murder case in four different books. They were so spectacularly incompetent that everyone who talks about murder in the 20s talks about them and their sash-weight murder plot. The best-laid schemes of mice and men gang aft agley, am I right?

   And because I love lists: a list of books I haven't read, but I'm not sure why because they are sure to be most excellent:

• In Cold Blood / Truman Capote
• Stiff / Mary Roach
• South / Ernest Shackleton
• What Every Body is Saying / Joe Navarro

explore

   Here is a helpful hint for any conversation you might have with me: if you even vaguely mention something I am interested in and am currently reading about, I will talk your ear off without really meaning to. It is sometimes hard for me to fathom that Antarctic explorers aren't absolutely riveting to everyone I know.What do you mean you don't want to hear about Douglas Mawson? He survived a trek of hundreds of miles in the Antarctic! Alone! With very little food! He cut a sledge in half with a pocket knife! He's a hero is what he is. Let me tell you all about him and some of his expeditions, with some back story on Shackleton thrown in. This may or may not take over an hour.

   Needless to say, while I was reading Alone On The Ice /David Roberts, many of my friends and several members of my family were regaled with tales of the far, far South. Are they still my friends? Only time will tell. The book is based largely on Douglas Mawson's diary, and is one of the best reads on Antarctic exploration and survival that I have yet read.

   One of the best things about books like these is they provide endless fodder for internet research and reading. For example, Frank Hurley (photographer and adventurer) was on the AAE and later on the Endurance expedition with Shakleton. He took some truly amazing photos of Antarctica, including the one at the top of this post, and went on to be a war photographer in WWI. Trust me when I say that it is well worth your time to spend an afternoon reading up on Hurley, not to mention the rest of the men who figure in the book.

   As soon as I finished this book I wanted to pick up another Antarctica-focused tome, but in an effort to spare my remaining friends some exasperation, I've postponed my plans to read up on Shackleton (again).