Preston, David.  The Lost Tomb and Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder.  New 

         York: Grand Central Publishing, 2023.  ISBN: 9781538741221

Douglas Preston is half of the duo that writes the Agent Pendergast series (Lee child is the other half). When he is not writing thrillers, Preston writes non-fiction books and articles. This tome is a collection of articles he has written on murders, unexplained deaths, unsolved mysteries, curious crimes, and old bones (those were how he categorized the articles).

 

 Douglas Preston opens with him discovering the murder of a middle school friend who had moved away; another murder explains why he can no longer visit Italy. The unexplained deaths happened in the Himalayas, the Ural Mountains, and Kennewick , Washington. The mysteries involve Oak Island, Sandia Cave (NM), and Hell Creek (MT). The crimes involves a con that was thought impossible by experts, and the ire and blow-back caused by Amanda Knox haters (interesting link back to the 2nd murder story). The final section (Old Bones) discuss the human remains held by museums, the possibility of cannibalism in the American Southwest, and a visit by Preston to KV5 - the "lost" tomb of Ramesses II's sons. All of the articles have updates after the original article and have listed the original publication dates and journals. 

 

If you enjoy the topics or have enjoyed other non-fiction titles by Preston, pick up this book and read!

Blazing a Trail from World War II to Vietnam!

Rinehart, Lorissa.  First to the Front: The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female 

        War Correspondent.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 2023.  ISBN: 9781250276575

 

How many war correspondents can you name?  Okay, now for a even trickier question - How many female war correspondents can you name?  If you can name any, it might all be due to the path Georgette "Dickey" Meyer Chapelle created for all who came after her.  In First to the Front, Lorissa Rinehart seeks to tell the whole story of Dickey Chapelle.  

Georgette "Dickey" Meyer was born and raised in Wisconsin, In 1935 she flunked out of MIT, and ended up in Coral Gables (FL) as the city editor for the Miami Airshow at $15 a week.She wrangled her way into an assignment for the New York Times covering the Havana Air Show.  This led her to a job as assistant publicity chief for Howard Hughes's airline - TWA.  There she met Anthony "Tony" Chapelle who was teaching photography.  Dickey became a photojournalist after she married Tony.  After December 7, 1941, Dickey Chapelle got a job with Look to cover the 14th Infantry Regiment training in the jungles of Panama.  Then she got a break - she was accredited as a photographer in the Pacific Theater of Operations..  On board the USS Samaritan, she took photos of blood drive that the Red Cross used for a decade at blood drives.  She also captured the faces and stories of soldiers and Marines loaded on board the hospital ship.  She spent time on Iwo Jima and then Okinawa managing to endear herself to Marines while ticking off the higher brass who arrested her and revoked her credentials. Seventeen was the one magazine who would still employee her.  

After the war, Dickey and Tony traveled around Europe for the Quakers bringing in supplies and photographing conditions in Poland, Yugoslavia, Germany, Austria, and  France.  After several trips through Europe, the duo made a sweep through Iraq, Iran and India for the US State Department's Point Four program documenting their work.  Dickey managed to get articles in National Geographic, World Magazine and Reader's Digest along with the documentaries for the State Department.  After finally divoracing Tony, Dickey returned to Europe to cover the Hungarian Revolution which lead to a stint in Hungarian prison.  Next, she traveled to Algeria to cover the Algerian Liberation Front's fight against French colonialism.  She covered Castro's fight with Batista in Cuba.  Then she went to cover the conflict in Laos.  She wrote a primer on guerrilla war for the Marines before covering the conflict in South Vietnam.  She spent time with the Sea Swallows, Marines in helicopters, and the Vietnamese Marines.  Then on November 2, 1965, while on patrol with U.S. Marines, a booby trap tripped by a Marine killed her.  She died doing what she enjoyed most - taking photos.

The bare details given above does not cover the depth of detail that Lorissa Rinehart provides in this well-written biography of Dickey Chappelle, who that deserves far greater recognition than she has received.  If you are interested in female journalists, especially photojournalists, First to the Front is a title to read!

Screens-R-Us

Hickey, Walt.  You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything.  New York: 

        Workman Publishing, 2023.  ISBN: 9781523515899

Pop culture - how much do you consume in a day?   Walt Hickey knows.  Well he knows the amount of time the "typical" American spends watching television/movies/reading/writing - about 3 hours and 22 minutes a day.  If you want to find out what all our media consumption does for and to us not to mention the world, dive in with Walt and find out!

In You Are What You Watch, Walt Hickey does several deep dives into pop culture.  He opens with a chapter on how movies, television and other parts of pop culture affects our bodies and shapes what we do. the next chapter looks at how social media, movies, television and books capture our attention and keep us coming back for more.  Two chapters guides us into the twisted mirror-scape where movies, television, and other aspects of pop culture reflect us as we are and how we change ourselves to reflect what we see in pop culture.  Of course there is a chapter on the role money plays in shaping pop culture and how pop culture shapes money making opportunities.  The final three chapters examine the empires created by pop culture (yes, Disney is part of the focus, but so is the United Kingdom!), what culture does to survive and thrive, and how stories and the creation of stories shape their creators.

So, if you ready to find out how pop culture has shaped the world in the past (can you name which movie led to a world-wide decline in sharks) and into the future, pick up Walt Hickey's You Are What You Watch, read it, and explore the whole spectrum of pop culture!

What is the Body's Biggest Organ?

Lyman, Monty.  The Remarkable Life of the Skin: An Intimate Journey Across Our Largest 

       Organ.  New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2020.  ISBN: 9780802129406

So you think you know all about anatomy?  Can you name the largest and one of the most important organs in the body?  If you called out anything other than skin, you need to go and listen to John Lithgow crooning "You Gotta Have Skin!"  As Monty Lyman makes very clear in this interesting tome, your skin does so much more than just keep your insides in!

In ten informative chapters, Monty Lyman takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of skin.  He starts off with a look at instances when the skin fails, and then dives into all the intricate layers of your skin.  He looks at how your skin reflects what is going on in your gut, how skin deals with light and sun exposure, and how it ages.  Skin plays a key role in your sense of touch, for both good an ill. How our skin looks and feels affects us psychologically while what we ink on our skin can affect us socially.  And then skin plays a part in our impression of others and their impression of us.  Finally Monty Lyman discusses how skin shapes our thinking in regard to religion, philosophy, and language.

Skin is so much more than just a container for bones and guts.  The Remarkable Life of the Skin provides the reader a readable entrance into the world of skin!

Beware the Spade!

McDowell, Marta.  Gardening Can Be Murder: How Poisonous Poppies, Sinister Shovels, and Grim  

          Gardens Have Inspired Mystery Writers.  Portland, OR: Timber Press, 2023  

          ISBN: 9781643261126

Do you read mysteries?  Do you garden?  If your answer to either is yes, then Marta McDowell has a book for you!  She has taken time out from her gardening to indulge in her other passion -  murder mysteries!  In Gardening Can Be Murder, she combines both by looking at how these two passions intersect.

 

McDowell opens with a chapter on detectives known for their gardening starting with Willkie Collins' Sergeant Cuff, meanders to Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple, darts back in time to Ellis Peters's Brother Cadfael, Heads into the present with Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe and his orchids, and finishes with Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles, 

Besides individuals, McDowell provides a look at various mysteries that are set in a garden; use  garden tools or objects for the murder; plants as means of the murder, gardens/plants as clues in the murder and an interesting look at mystery writers who garden.  Another nice feature is the list of all the authors and titles she mention through the book along with various source material used.

So if you are interested in mysteries and or gardens, do check out Gardening Can Be Murder for your enjoyment and enlightenment!

The Final Chapter - U.S. Army vs Japan

McManus, John C.  To the End of the Earth: The U.S. Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945.  

         New York: Caliber, 2023.  ISBN: 9780593186886

 

In January 1945, no one knew what would happen.  There was no notion that the war would finally be over.  Instead there was a resolve to continue the grind of the war until victory could be obtained.  In To the End of the Earth, John McManus finishes the tale of the U.S. Army in the Pacific that he started in Fire and Fortitude.  

 

McManus opens with General McArthur's invasion  Luzon in the Philippines and the march across the island to liberate Manila and the POWs on the island while keeping Japanese forces pinned in the mountains.  Next up is changes in China with General Wedemeyer replacing General Stilwell and the completion of the Burma Road that provided a narrow land route for supplies to reach China from India.  The third major front was Okinawa where the U.S. Army and Marines faced a determined enemy who had a plan to bleed American forces as much as they possibly could.  The final act has McManus taking a last look at American POWs located in Japan, Korea, and elsewhere as Truman takes over and decides to use weapons rather than blood to end the war.  McManus closes the book by following some of the well-known names into their lives after the end of the war. 

In To the End of the Earth, John McManus brings his trilogy to a fitting close.  Throughout these three books, McManus provides the broad scope of the battles while using individual stories to highlight often overlooked details.  All too often, the U.S. Marines get the glory when talking about World War II in the Pacific.  But the Marines could never have succeeded without the help of the U.S. Army.  In this trilogy, the U.S. Army gets its due!

Chance and Your Doctor

Jena, Anupam B., and Christopher Worsham.  Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That

        Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health.  New York: Doubleday, 2023.

        ISBN: 978-0-385-54881-6

 

How much does chance, luck, or other random factors influence your medical care?  Does it matter what doctor you get when you visit the ER or your Family Medicine provider?  Does having a marathon in town put you at risk?  These and many other questions are what Dr. Jena and Dr. Worsham seek to discover in Random Acts of Medicine.

 

Jena and Worsham start a discussion on chance and random events in relation to our lives.  This discussion segues into them defining a concept of natural experiments which they will use in the later chapters.  The first natural experiment they discuss involves birthdays, and flu shots (and, yes, it does matter when your kid is born)   The next experiment involves Tom Brady, birth months, sports, and  ADHD diagnosis - actually several experiments regarding relative age effect.  Next, the duo asked the question, "Are marathons hazardous to your health?"  And the answer is maybe, but not necessarily why you might think they are.  Semi-related to the marathon study, is the examination of what role medical conferences may have on your health - specifically when many doctors are out of town.  You might actually get better care, or live longer!  Another study looked at all the data being gathered and whether this information actually helps or hinders your medical care. They also studied the role of left-digit bias in regard to medical situations (a patient's age being one of possible bias).  In the next to last chapter, they worked on how to define what a "good" doctor was.  The final chapter looked at politics at the bedside, i.e. does the political persuasion of your doctor influence the advice and care he or she gives to their patients?  

 

In Random Acts of Medicine, Jena and Worsham use naturally occurring experiments to delve into the multiple ways that chance and luck play in healthcare.  If you have an interest in these topics, or are fans of Freakencomics podcasts/books, you will want to read this title!