Can You Argue With a Racist?

Rutherford, Adam.  How to Argue With a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don't) Say About

        Human Difference. New York: The Experiment, 2020.  ISBN: 978-1-61519-671-5 

 

What works to win an argument?   Can facts actually overcome feelings?  Adam Rutherford, a British geneticist,  seeks to do just that in How to Argue With a Racist.

Adam Rutherford opens with a Note on language and then a discussion for why he wrote this title -- to show how science, genetics in particular, is no friend of racism, but should instead be a tool against it.  After an Introduction that covered the intersection of science and racism along with his personal stake in this tale, he flows into four parts.  

 

Part One  - Skin in the Game - looks at how pigmentation determined by our genes shape our views of those around us.  And is not just skin, but hair, eyes, and blood types that are affected by our genes.  Yet everyone has the same genes, just expressed differently to provide the spectrum of the human race. 

Part Two - Your Ancestors Are My Ancestors - looks at how genes and genealogy participate in arguments with racists' beliefs about who really is white/black of "pure stock" and the like.  But many racists are surprised regarding the so-called race of their ancestors when they send off their 23and Me sample.  Everyone is related to everyone else via their ancestors.  

Part Three - Black Power - looks at sports and the perceived role that "race" seems to play in who finishes first in sprinting and long distance running.  Does the success of an athlete depend solely on their ancestry or are other factors in play?  Does success depend upon opportunity, perhaps, or national attention to a sport?  These and other questions are examined in this section 

Part Four - White Matter - looks at race and intelligence.  Rutherford is rightly aware that there are pitfalls and no easy answers when examining this topic.  Cognitive abilities do vary among individuals and groups.  But the question has to be asked - what do we mean when describing cognitive abilities?  And is it determined solely by genetics?  Does society and opportunities play a part in a person's abilities?  

In summary, Adam Rutherford works hard to make the point that facts are needed to build an argument, but you need to communicate with someone, not at someone to have a chance of changing their mind.  Listen to the Monty Python Argument Clinic sketch for an example of someone trying to wear down their opponent.  Rutherford, instead, works on proving his point without denigrating his opponent, i.e. trying to make an enemy an ally instead.

The Flip-Side of a Bridge Too Far

Tucker-Jones, Anthony.  The Devil's Bridge: The German Victory at Arnhem, 1944.  Oxford:
          Osprey Publishing, 2020.  ISBN: 9781472839862

 Every battle has at least two sides and Operation Market Garden is no exception.  You are not familiar with this battle dreamed up by Marshall Montgomery?  Ah, you are in for a treat.  Sit down and read A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan, then watch the movie by the same name.  Now you are ready for The Devil's Bridge.

Tucker-Jones mined and scoured the German archives and military records to put together the German side of Operation Market Garden.  He opens with the situation in early September when the German Army was in retreat all along the front lines.  Antwerp has fallen to the Brits, but they had not gained the river ways leading into Antwerp.   Scratch forces were in place at the Albert Canal under General Student.  Model had recently moved his headquarters to Arnhem when the Brits and Americans dropped out of the skies and almost nabbed him.  All the local forces were turned out, no matter their ability, bodies were needed to stem the Allied tide.  And they managed, barely, time and time again.  They could not prevail and turn back the British and American forces, but they slowed their advance enough that the Allied armies never got over the Arnhem bridge until 1945.  It was a heroic action on both sides, but gained the Allied armies little useful ground and continued the whittling of German forces in the West.

If you are looking for the flip-side of A Bridge Too Far, you have the right book in hand!

Not All Roads Are Fun, But Byways Can Be!

Topps, Tim, and Alan Broad.  Yes, Lad, But Byways: A Life Memoir.  Leicestershire, UK:
        Troubador Publishing, Ltd., 2020.

Everyone has a story to tell.  Unfortunately, not everyone can tell a good story.  And even rarer is someone who can make their own life interesting even if they were not a movie star, a politician, or a general.  Tim Topps (born Alan John Broad in 1920s England) is one of those rare folks.  And Yes, Lad, But Byways is most of that tale.

Tim Topps opens his tale with him in his pram in Wimbledon Park, then follows his parents to Africa since his father was in the Civil Service.  So he spent several formative years in Kenya and other postings, acquiring a love of stamp collecting and starting to do a bit of writing.  In 1937, the Broad family returned to England in time for the Coronation of George VI, and Alan to go to Bedford School while his parents returned to Africa.  World War II intervened before they could meet again.  Alan stayed busy in school avoiding sports, doing some writing which included getting a radio drama done on the BBC (it involved a pub and several pickpockets).  After the war and his graduation (he got the Essay Prize handed to him by Field Marshall Montgomery), he spent a stint in the Army, and then off to college.  There he got an idea for selling insurance to students that turned into a national business and kept giving him headaches for most of the rest of his life.  Well, that, and his wandering eye.  In the end, he has managed to be satisfied and reasonably happy at the age of 92.

The charm of Yes, Lad, But Byways is Tim Topps deft way of writing as though he was in conversation with you.  He wanders about the topic, returning to his main story line, but as he mentions in the opening, this is a book about his wanderings in life, not a straightforward biography.  And it is the strange twists, the rants, the asides that really bring the book to life for the reader.

Definetely a Florida Story!

Pitman, Craig.  Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther.  Toronto: Hanover
          Square Press, 2020.  ISBN: 978-1-335-93880-0

Cougar, mountain lion, catamount, puma, and panther - different names for basically the same beast - an agile, wily, ambush hunter who roams where he or she wants.  Or at least that used to be the case until humans built homes, stores, farms, and especially roads in the panther territory.  And kept on building until panthers were squeezed into swamps, and few remained alive.  That was the situation at the beginning of Cat Tale, but the book tells the rest of the panther's story.

Craig Pittman brings the reader along on a ride through the recent history of the Florida panther, its downfall, almost extinction, and finally its rebirth.  This being Florida, of course weirdness comes along for the ride.  The Skunk Ape makes an appearance, greedy land developers play a part, noble hunters, intense scientists, whistle blowers who expose phony science, and then of course the panthers themselves.  Not all the villains are nasty and not all the heroes are true, but they all can be entertaining in their own way.

So if you want to read a tale of fortitude (on the part of the panthers and some humans), dastardly deeds done in the name of science, and a roaring good tale, pick up Cat Tale, sit back, and enjoy reading a true tale of how the Florida panthers not only survived but are now thriving and spreading!

Music Trivia

Dever, Tamara.  I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie: Old-School Rock-and-Roll Like You've Never   
          Read Before!  Austin, TX: Narrow Gate Books, 2020.

So you like music!  And you like books?  What happens if someone molded/mashed/melted everything together in a book?  Would you buy it?  Well here is your chance with I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie.

Tamara Dever takes her love of 1970s and 1980s rock-and-roll music and combines that with her love of literature (small l) to create a fun book filled with trivia, quizzes, brainteasers, crossword puzzles, and more things to fill up your time.  And the fun thing is that you can do this on your own or you can invite friends over to help your memory along.  For example, did you know that Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Start the Fire" mentions ten book titles or author's names?  Plus you have the opportunity to sing new lyrics to familiar songs.  Here is a link that has sample pages - https://tlcbookdesign.com/i-like-big-books/ . 

So if you have time to fill or to kill, why not invest that time in I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie!  See you in the stacks!

Mystery Writers' Mysteries!

Zackhelm, Victoria.  Private Investigations: Mystery Writers on the Secrets, Riddles, and Wonders
         in Their Lives.  New York: Seal, 2020.

Mystery writers writing about their own personal mysteries, how meta can you get?  Victoria Zackhelm set out to find out just that by recruiting twenty authors (some well-known, some not so well-known) to write about mysteries in their own lives, i.e. what intrigues, baffles, dismays, and intrigues them.  Each author brings their own take on what makes a mystery, so be prepared to ricochet about this concept!

Sulari Gentill writes about her discovery of an unknown relative.  Hallie Ephron dives into ghosts and mediums.  Jeffrey Deaver brings the reader along on his quest to be a writer.  For Cara Black, the mystery is Paris. Connie May Fowler riffs on motherhood.  Martin Limon contemplates the U. S. Army and Korea.  William Kent Krueger whispers about mothers and expectations.  Asuma Zehanat Khan reminisces about origins.  Kristen Lepionka is startled with a haunted apartment in Columbus (OH).  Lynn Cahoon explores the mysteries of love and relationships.  Rhys Bowen conflates World War II and her writings.  Rachel Howzell Hall wanders through the surprises her body has for her.  Steph Cha encounters stalkers!  Jacqueline Winspear remembers war and her family.  Tasha Alexander philosophizes on what attracts readers to mysteries.  Carole Nelson Douglas winds cat smuggling and Nancy Drew into a career.  Caroline Leavitt has the case of the missing voice.  Charles Todd immerses himself in the milieu of the Great War.  Robert Dugoni muses on how to reach the reader's heart.  Anne Perry closes the book with why she wishes to be a writer.

So what does the reader get out of these varied essays?  A small sense of what makes these particular writers put pen to paper and write!

A Few Monsters, Martians, and Weird Things in Flyover Country

Hollars, B. J.  Midwestern Strange: Hunting Monsters, Martians, and the Weird in Flyover
         Country.  Lincoln, NE: U of Nebraska Press, 2019.  ISBN: 978-1-4962-1560-4

Do you enjoy hunting for "The Truth [that] is out there?"  Or maybe you watched Haunted Indiana on PBS like I did in the 1980s.  Or maybe you read Chariots of the Gods and others of that ilk growing up.  If so, you would likely be interested in Midwestern Strange where beasts roam, saucers fly, and the "weird" wanders about.

B. J. Hollars, an English professor at a Midwestern university, took a year to explore his childhood desire to understand Bigfoot and other creatures of myths and wonders.  As a result of his odyssey around the Midwest, he compiled this  book of nine cases divided in "Monsters," Martians," and "The Weird."  Monsters include The Beast of Bray Road (Elkhorn, WI), Oscar the Turtle (Churubusco, IN), and The Mothman (Point Plesant, WV).  Martians include Joe Simonton's Space Pancakes (Eagle River, WI), The Minot Air Force Base Sightings (Minot, ND), and The Val Johnson Incident (Marshall County, MN).  The Weird includes The Hodag (Rhinelander, WI), Project ELF (Clam Lake, WI), and The Kensington Runestone (Kensington, MN).

B.J. Hollars makes no claims on solving any of these mysteries, instead he seeks to document each case to the best of his ability with the sources (interviews, documents, radar images, etc.) he has.  And he is willing to live with the fact that these mysteries are unsolved, are you?  Read Midwestern Strange and decide for your self.