Quantcast

Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc

Source: Public Library
Paperback, 251 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc, which was my next pick for my work’s book club, is a series of essays examining the myths, fables, and the comic book universe through the lens of disability exclusion and how some of the characters in these stories are often disfigured or disabled in some way and must embark on a quest or journey that transforms them into an able-bodied, perfect version of themselves in order to obtain their happily ever after.

“But it is never society that changes, no matter how many half-animals or scullery maids are out there arguing for their place at the table. It is almost always the protagonists themselves who transform in some way — becoming more palatable, more beautiful, more easily able to fit into the mould of society already in place.” (pg. 41)

“For many able-bodied people in the world today, the idea of disability comes shrouded in darkness. It is inconceivable to so many that someone could be disabled and also happy, because we as social beings have been taught, through the books we read and the films and television we watch and the music we listen to, the stories we tell one another, that to be disabled is to be at a disadvantage: to be a lesser body, to be a body that cannot function at the same level as other bodies in society.” (pg. 48-9)

While the Beast in Beauty and the Beast is under a spell to look unpleasing and Ariel in The Little Mermaid wants to have legs like humans to meet her prince, these characters are disabled because they do not fit into society’s version of who they should be, according to Leduc. But, they can be their best selves as they are, even without societal approval and achieve happiness to a certain degree, like all of us. She reminds us, “I was never there in fairy tales. I never saw myself.” (pg. 89) Representation matters.

The text, however, gets a bit dry in some parts, which forced me to skim over some of the historical details that I don’t think made her points any more poignant than they were in the first place. I wasn’t sure why she included her medical notes from her surgeon and doctors, except to provider her own background. I think for me, it interrupted the flow of her essays. I would have preferred her to parse out the relevant parts and included them in the narrative of each chapter rather than add-ons.

Leduc raises a number of points through her essays on disability as seen in fables and other stories, including Disney interpretations of those princess stories. Her parallels are solid, and she admits that charity is a societal way of excluding the disabled because it focuses too much on helping individuals, rather than embarking on larger societal change. “Fairy tales and fables are never only stories: they are the scaffolding by which we understand crucial things. Fairness, hierarchy, patterns of behaviour; who deserves a happy ending and who doesn’t. What it means to deserve something in the first place; what happy endings mean in both the imagination and the world.” (pg. 233-4) On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc provides a great deal to think about, particularly as we continue to expose our children to fables and fairy tales. We need to think how these stories will skew their worldview.

RATING: Tercet

About the Author:

Amanda Leduc is the author of the novel THE CENTAUR’S WIFE (Random House Canada, 2021) and the non-fiction book DISFIGURED: ON FAIRY TALES, DISABILITY, AND MAKING SPACE (Coach House Books, 2020), which was shortlisted for the 2020 Governor General’s Award in Nonfiction and long-listed for the 2020 Barbellion Prize. She is also the author of an earlier novel, THE MIRACLES OF ORDINARY MEN (ECW Press, 2013). She has cerebral palsy and lives in Hamilton, Ontario, where she serves as the Communications Coordinator for the Festival of Literary Diversity (FOLD), Canada’s first festival for diverse authors and stories

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 320 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear, which I found through The Book Connection, is something I needed at the right time. As a poet, rejection is part of the publishing wheel, and like everyone, it gets me down. Clear points out that when we want to make behavioral changes, it takes a Herculean effort or it really takes a shift in our focus. It is not will power that will sustain the adoption of new habits or some bottomless pit of passion, it takes practice and hard work every day. Showing up for the good habits and making the bad habits unattractive to ourselves.

“True behavior change is identity change. You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you’ll stick with one is that it becomes part of your identity. … Improvements are only temporary until they become part of who you are.” (pg. 34)

“Your behaviors are usually a reflection of your identity. What you do is an indication of they type of person you believe that you are …” (pg. 34)

I think many of us believe our identities are merely our family or our occupation. Some even view their status as a winning athlete as their identity, but we are more than those items. What happens when those criteria no longer exist? Do we cease to have an identity? If you are no longer a professional athlete, who are you? Behaviors and values are other criteria we can look to as we characterize ourselves.

What’s important about Clear’s book is that it is not about setting goals, such as “I will write 25 pages per day on my novel?” It is about changing the processes behind goal setting to make behavior change more successful and achievable. We should all strive to do 1% better in our attempts to change behavior every day and through this long-term practice, we can achieve behavior changes over time. Our intentions should be clear and attractive to us, such as “I will write 1 new page of my novel at 12 p.m. in my office on Mondays.” These intentions will make it doable and with minimal pressure and provide a time and location.

Clear also discusses the idea of habit stacking in which you start new habits right after ones that you wish to continue and can signal to you that it is time for the new habit. For instance, if you grab a cup of coffee early in the morning, you can stack it with the habit of meditating for 1 minute with the cup in your hands, if your goal is to meditate more. There are lots of ways that habits can be stacked to make achieving change easier. Inserting habits where you can can ensure that a new habit becomes more automatic. Clear says, “The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-forming.” (pg. 104) This is something the advertising industry knows well, which is why we consume new products, social media applications, and other items so easily.

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear is definitely a great book if you are looking to ditch bad habits or form new ones. Want to hike more, this book can help you start and maintain the habit. Want to write more, same thing. He does warn that “when preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something. You don’t want to merely be planning. You want to be practicing.” (pg. 143) But remember, “the human brain loves a challenge, but only if it is within an optimal zone of difficulty.” (pg. 231).

RATING: Cinquain

About the Author:

James Clear is a writer and speaker. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Atomic Habits and the popular 3-2-1 newsletter.

Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 352 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell, my final book for the 12 books recommended by 12 friends reading challenge, is part biography and part critique of his work as a sermon writer and poet. Donne was considered to be one of the most romantic poets of the time period, which also included William Shakespeare and others. Much of what Rundell pieces together from Donne’s life is from fragmented time lines and very few complete documents, as he liked to destroy documents written from his friends after they had died. He also often wrote fragments of poems on napkins or other scraps, which were given to others or thrown away or lost.

In one section of the book, Rundell points to a copyrighted book called “Amours” by J.D., with other sonnets by W.S., but it is unclear if it is even Donne’s work or that of Shakespeare. The author admits it is impossible to know who wrote the work or the sonnets inside.

Rundell is clearly a lover of Donne’s work, and she admires his intimacy with his subject, and while she does humanize rather than exalt Donne, with very few documents to demonstrate his movements, etc., she’s piecing together his life from scraps. What is known of Donne is that he did indeed love his young wife and family, despite the hardship of family life and earning a living at a time when Catholics were persecuted, killed, and shunned/snubbed. His brother died in jail after being found to have hidden a priest in his home. Donne also lost two of his 12 children in childbirth, including the twelfth and then lost his wife. His life was hard, somewhat of his own doing and decisions, but also because of the political and religious landscape at the time.

I will be honest there were parts of this book that got too academic and I skimmed them. I was disappointed that there was not more about the poems and the actual life that could be verified, but that is not the author’s doing. Her writing style was a bit dry at times, even as she seemed to talk directly to the reader. Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne by Katherine Rundell does its best to pay homage to the man, including his faults, while highlighting his contributions to poetry and religion. I will leave you with a poem I memorized in school:

Death, be not proud
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

RATING: Tercet

About the Author:

Katherine Rundell is a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, where she works on Renaissance literature. Her bestselling books for children have been translated into more than thirty languages and have won multiple awards. Rundell is also the author of a book for adults, Why You Should Read Children’s Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise. She has written for, among others, the London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Review of Books, and The New York Times, largely about books, though sometimes about animals, night climbing, and tightrope walking.

Click the image below to see all of my reviews for this challenge and maybe add some to your own reading lists.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

Source: Public Library
Hardcover, 256 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

*** trigger warning***

If you’ve ever lost a parent or had a parent who passed away after a cancer diagnosis, this book may resurface some trauma.

****

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, which is the selection for my work’s book club, is at times funny, but deeply sad. Her details about food and shopping trips with her Korean mother can be a bit overwhelming, but they serve to explain their connection. They connected over food, particularly Korean food, and trips to the H Mart. Zauner begins her memoir telling us up front that her mother has died, so it is not a surprise later on, which is a credit to her thinking about her audience in advance. “Ever since my mom died, I cry in H Mart.” (pg.3) “Food was how my mother expressed her love. No matter how critical or cruel she could seem — constantly pushing me to meet her intractable expectations — I could always feel her affection radiating from lunches she packed and the meals she prepared for me just the way I liked them.” (pg. 4)

Zauner moves through her grief in a haphazard way through this memoir, but it’s not really a self-help book about grief. She does blame strangers she sees in H Mart for still having their mothers or grandmothers, but it is this irrationality that endears her to us as a reader. She’s in the depths of her grief and trying to hold onto the good in spite of the struggle.

She recounts her teen years, mental health issues, her struggle with identity (being half Korean and half American), and her need to be an artist, which runs contrary to her mother’s aspirations. Zauner also does a lot of internalizing. She fails to see how her mother cared for her when she was young, but her mother’s cancer diagnosis certainly puts that in better perspective.

“I had spent my adolescence trying to blend in with my peers in suburban America, and had come of age feeling like my belonging was something to prove. Something that was always in the hands of other people to be given and never my own to take, to decide which side I was on, whom I was allowed to align with. I could never be of both worlds, only half in and half out, waiting to be ejected at will by someone with greater claim than me. Someone full. Someone whole.” (pg. 107)

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner is a memoir focused on an immigrant daughter’s struggle of losing her mother when she still needs her guidance, but it’s also a story of balancing heritage from both sides of the family and maintaining the connections that are important to us. One drawback for me was the separation between Michelle and her father, while she touches on how her perspective of him and his rebel life as a young man changes and his care for her mother further changes her view, she does little to explore that disconnect. It’s as if he has vanished from her life and story. I hope she revisits this relationship in another memoir.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Michelle Chongmi Zauner is a Korean-American musician and author, best known as the lead vocalist of the alternative pop band Japanese Breakfast.

Spare by Prince Harry (audio)

Source: Purchased
Audible, 15+ hrs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, who narrates his own memoir, is one man’s struggle with his role in life (one he was born into), the death of his mother (which he avoided grieving for far too many years), and who loves his wife and his family (all of his family). How do you deal with the death of a mother, particularly in such a sensational and horrific way that Princess Diana died? How do you navigate a privileged life as a spare who isn’t exactly expected to carry the royal name into the future? How do you protect your family from a press that is allowed to run free and do as it pleases and is often fueled by petty family jealousies and informants?

No matter what you think about the royal family or how the press works, etc., it is clear that the horrific death of Princess Diana profoundly shaped Prince Harry and how he viewed the British press from the start. He was a young boy when he lost his mother, and reading about how the family reacted and did little to help him adjust and mourn is heartbreaking. The love his mother had for him and his brother also nurtured his love of family and the belief in family loyalty and protection, much to his detriment. He assumed many things about his own family and its priorities. There are many instances where he gives them the benefit of the doubt in how they treated him and his wife, but that benefit of the doubt was clearly misplaced time and time again.

The drawbacks for me were the unexamined privilege he has and didn’t acknowledge, and what seemed to me a glossing over of how the British press and its close relationship with the Royals helped him. Overall, Prince Harry was clearly adrift and in need of direction, which he found in the military despite the obstacles (including the Royal family and his brother). Does he have more self-examination to do? Yes, but don’t we all.

Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is a page-turner, and definitely an emotional read. It’s a sad look at a young man without enough support from his family. Family here is focused on preserving the monarchy and little else. The relationship between the brothers was not that solid to start with and it is clear that becoming the heir further fractured the relationship between Harry and his brother. If anything, right or wrong, this is a memoir of a broken family and a man who will protect his wife and children first.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex is a husband, father, humanitarian, military veteran, mental wellness advocate, environmentalist, and bestselling author. He resides in Santa Barbara, California, with his family and three dogs. His memoir, Spare, was published on January 10, 2023.

The Art of Revision: The Last Word by Peter Ho Davies

Source: Purchased
Paperback, 175 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Art of Revision: The Last Word by Peter Ho Davies examines revision holistically through examples from published literature and revised stories over time from writers like Raymond Carver and his editor Gordon Lish, Frank O’Connor, Ernest Hemingway, and others, as well as a look at popular cinema, such as Terminator, and its revisions.

The crux of this craft book is: “The truth is that while our own ability to make new stories, and remake old ones, ends with us, life continues to revise us. Life in some sense is revision, and revision a measure of how alive a story continues to be. (pg. 171) Throughout, Davies examines his own work on The Welsh Girl and a story from his own past in which his father intervenes to save a Sikh boy from being beaten.

While this reference book is focused on short stories and novels, it’s takeaways regarding revision and our “darlings” can be applied to poetry. “Revision is very much a process of close reading ourselves and our work,” he says. (pg. 14) In a way it is not about the cutting or the reduction of the text all of the time, but the expansion and contraction of text to find the meat of the story and the truth of it. “I suspect a guiding principle of early drafts might be better phrased as ‘Write to know,‘ and of revision, ‘Revise to know more,” and of a final draft, ‘I’ve written what I now know.'” (pg. 36)

I’ve always loved the possibility of revision, but I’ve also cut poems down into enigmas and missed the points the poems were making entirely. I’ve played with words, phrasing, line breaks, and more to a point where the poem is even confused about itself. This book has helped me see that revision needs to be a little more focused, not targeted, but shining a light on the meaning/truth of the poem.

The Art of Revision: The Last Word by Peter Ho Davies is a nonfiction craft book I would highly recommend for poets, short story writers, novelists, and others. Davies is frank in his advice and his own limitations, but he also demonstrates that revision is a skill that can be learned, enjoyed, and even provide us with our own truth about ourselves and the stories that we are drawn to and must write on the page.

***Thanks to Melanie Figg for the recommendation.***

RATING: Cinquain

About the Author:

Peter Ho Davies‘s most recent books are the novel A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself, long-listed for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and The Art of Revision: The Last Word, his first work of non-fiction. His previous novel, The Fortunes, a New York Times Notable Book, won the Anisfield-Wolf Award and the Chautauqua Prize, and was a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His first novel, The Welsh Girl, a London Times Best Seller, was long-listed for the Booker Prize. He has also published two short story collections, The Ugliest House in the World (winner of the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize, and the Oregon Book Award) and Equal Love (finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and a New York Times Notable Book).

Davies’ work has appeared in Harpers, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, The Guardian, The Washington Post and TLS among others, and been anthologized in Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. In 2003 Granta magazine named him among its “Best of Young British Novelists.”

Davies is a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts and a winner of the PEN/Malamud and PEN/Macmillan Awards.

Born in Britain to Welsh and Chinese parents, he now makes his home in the US. He has taught at the University of Oregon, Northwestern and Emory University, and is currently on faculty at the University of Michigan.

A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human by Matt Forrest Esenwine, illustrated by Andre Ceolin

Source: Media Masters Publicity
Hardcover, 32 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human by Matt Forrest Esenwine, illustrated by Andre Ceolin is a book for ages 4-8, but I bet there are some adults who could use this lesson in empathy and compassion. I loved that this picture book opens with a discussion of what it means to be human. It also explains what family means and that it doesn’t necessarily have to mean you are only related by blood. This opens the door to children, allowing them to see that adopted children and more are families, too.

Esenwine offers “pro tips” throughout the book to help kids navigate their emotions and social situations in which they normally would just react on instinct. He demonstrates how sometimes situations arise because of emotion and that we have to be able to recognize it and adapt to help others when we can. This ability to empathize will enable kids to show compassion for others. Compassion is something every child should learn at a young age, and some adults should be re-taught the concept.

The illustrations show a diverse group of students, which is another fantastic way to bring home the diversity of humanity. The Golden Rule is mentioned about mid-way through the book, but it does seem to come out of nowhere. So a little more contest or a child talking to a family member or a teacher about it, might have been less awkward in the narrative.

Overall, the illustrations where the kids are working out differences or situations themselves after learning these terms are the most effective. A Beginner’s Guide to Being Human by Matt Forrest Esenwine, illustrated by Andre Ceolin, definitely provides young kids, their parents, and teachers with tools they will need to help children navigate social interactions and other situations.

RATING: Quatrain

**Be sure to enter the author’s giveaway***

About the Author:

Matt Forrest Esenwine is an author and poet from Warner, New Hampshire. His debut picture book, Flashlight Night (Boyds Mills Press, 2017) was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the Best Books for Kids of 2017. His picture book Once Upon Another Time (Beaming Books, 2021), co-authored with Charles Ghigna, was deemed “a necessary addition to picture book collections” by ALA’s Booklist. His poetry can be found in numerous anthologies including The National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry (National Geographic Children’s Books, 2015) and Construction People (Wordsong, 2020).

About the Illustrator:
André Ceolin studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He has illustrated over twenty books for children. André lives in Brazil with his family.

Run (Book One) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, L. Fury, and Nate Powell

Source: Purchased
Hardcover, 160 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

RUN (Book One) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, L. Fury, and Nate Powell, the Eisner Award-Winner for Best Graphic Memoir, is the continuation of Rep. John Lewis‘ (D-Ga.) life after the Selma voting rights campaign and the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. It was clear that even after the law was passed, segregation was not going to vanish, people were going to still kill Blacks with impunity, and Lewis’ work and that of other activists was far from finished.

“But we knew Sammy would not be the last innocent Black person murdered for trying to live his life with a sense of dignity.” (pg. 59)

Lewis was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and wholeheartedly believed in Dr. King’s philosophy of non-violence and was against war of any kind. However, not all of the members of the group felt the same, and this eventually caused a huge rift and the creation of the Black Panther party.

Lewis is taking it back to the use of comics by the Black Panther party to help readers visualize and feel the emotional tension and injustice of this time in history. It is clear that these books are still needed and can communicate events and movements to readers in a more visceral way than history books or courses could.

If you are unaware of the systemic racism in government institutions, you really need to read this book. It is clear from these stories, that the system was stacked against Black people even after civil rights were passed. One prime example is the refusal to seat an elected official who was voted into office.

“‘The moral ARC of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice,’ Dr. King said.

And sometimes it begins and ends int he same place.” (pg. 73)

RUN (Book One) by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, L. Fury, and Nate Powell should be essential reading for students and adults alike. If you’ve read the March series, you will love this graphic novel. This book was excellent from cover-to-cover from the story to the illustrations. I read it in one day, including the additional information about the people in the movement.

RATING: Cinquain

I Am Coco: The Life of Coco Chanel by Isabel Pin

Source: Media Masters Publicity
Hardcover, 96 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

I Am Coco: The Life of Coco Chanel by Isabel Pin takes a brief look at the amazing life of an independent woman, Gabrielle Chanel, a young girl left at an orphanage by a wandering father after her mother’s death. Chanel’s life took a positive turn in the convent when she learned how to sew.

In the section on her life in the orphanage, we found the gray background a little too dark for the black type to show well. We struggled to read that section in a dimmer lit room. Overall, the illustrations are fun, colorful, and characteristic of an artist finding her way in the world as an independent woman at a time when women were not necessarily encouraged to be businesswomen.

When Chanel worked in Moulins and joined the cabaret, one of her songs about a missing dog became her signature and ultimately led to her name change from Gabrielle to Coco. Chanel received a lot of support from men in her life but it was her innovative ideas and focus on comfort for women that really made her fashion work popular.

I Am Coco: The Life of Coco Chanel by Isabel Pin is a quick look at her fashion evolution and the growth of her business. I wanted a little more about her WWII years, but the focus of the book was on fashion and its evolution. Pin definitely provides children with enough information to get them intrigued about Chanel and her life, possibly leading to further interest in her life.

RATING: Quatrain

The Power of Architecture by Annette Roeder, illustrated by Pamela Baron

Source: Media Masters Publicity
Hardcover, 64 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

The Power of Architecture: 25 Modern Buildings from Around the World by Annette Roeder, illustrated by Pamela Baron, offers a taste of what modern architecture looks like and can do. From a small city contained in a beehive-shaped apartment building to airport terminals shaped like birds, Roeder wants to explore the oddities and beauty of modern architecture.

The book opens with a map and key depicting where here 25 selected buildings are located, and she says right in the introduction that it was hard to choose just 25, but reminds readers that they are in no particular order of importance or favoritism. Surprisingly, my dad picked up this book first and leafed through it, which means it will likely appeal to more than one level of reader.

One thing I wish had been included in the book is a pronunciation key for some of the terms and building names because they are from different parts of the world and I would like to know how to pronounce them correctly.

I do love that Roeder provides information on what the architect was inspired by or thinking about when they created their structures, and each of them is beautifully rendered in water color. It would have have interesting to see a side-by-side of the water color depiction and an actual photo of each building or even just photos in the back of the book to provide readers with a sense of them being in a real place.

The Power of Architecture: 25 Modern Buildings from Around the World by Annette Roeder, illustrated by Pamela Baron, definitely showcases the infinite possibilities of architecture and the ability of the human mind to create something with a purpose in mind — whether that is reducing carbon emissions or incorporating the land or paying homage to a culture.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Annette Roeder, born in Munich in 1968, is an author, illustrator and architect. She has been writing picture books and children’s books, as well as novels for adults for over 20 years. Her 10-book series Die Krumpflinge (‘The Crumplings’) is much loved by children aged 6+, and she won the Kalbacher Klapperschlange prize for her book Vacations in the Closet.

About the Illustrator:

Pamela Baron is a watercolor illustrator who has a special love of architecture. She lives in a breezy town outside of San Francisco with her husband and twenty-one miniature fruit trees.

HAIR: From Moptops to Mohicans, Afros to Cornrows by Katja Spitzer

Source: Media Masters Publicity
Hardcover, 40 pgs.
I am an Amazon Affiliate

HAIR: From Moptops to Mohicans, Afros to Cornrows by Katja Spitzer is a look at hairstyle from as long ago as 300 years or more. In the opening pages, there are images that look like noodles, but they also could be clipped pieces of hair before you get to the title page. What’s clear from the start of the book is that humanity has been obsessed with self-expression through hair since the dawn of time.

I loved that the book started with information about why hair grows and what cells make up the color of our hair and why our hair grows gray as we age. From the tall hairstyles of the Rococo period to the Ancient Egyptians, readers will learn about hair and why certain styles became fashionable. The background about the Afro, however, focuses too much on why Blacks straightened their hair, which is important, but doesn’t really explain the hairstyle itself. Some sections are more detailed about how the style is created than this one.  One of the best parts of the book is that there’s a final page that kids can use to draw their own favorite hairstyle.

For a quick history lesson on hair styles, HAIR: From Moptops to Mohicans, Afros to Cornrows by Katja Spitzer can help young kids learn about the past, present, and future of hair, including beards and man-buns.

RATING: Tercet

Kill It With Fire by Marianne Bellotti (audio)

Source: Purchased
Audible, 7+ hrs.
I am an Amazon affiliate

Kill It With Fire: Manage Aging Computer Systems (and Future Proof Modern Ones) by Marianne Bellotti, narrated by Katie Koster, is an audiobook I read to prepare for an interview with the author for work. So this review will be a bit unusual. Bellotti’s book is about modernizing technology, but not for the sake of getting the latest and greatest. Her book is about enterprises taking a careful look at their current operational systems, which are the backbones of many businesses today, and determining how best to maintain, upgrade, or modernize them for current business needs and the future of the business.

I found this audio to be at times engaging and circular. There are arguments made early on that are reiterated later in the book, which makes sense when you consider this is a business focused book making an argument for interdisciplinary teamwork in the world of technology that focuses on ensuring technology is not only maintained but evolved over time to meet future business needs.

Bellotti offers a lot of wonderful advice on how to work to modernize systems without burning down the entire place and starting over from scratch. Like she says, technology that is doing the job most effectively is the best option for the business, but for that technology to be at its best, it also needs to be updated and maintained.

Kill It With Fire: Manage Aging Computer Systems (and Future Proof Modern Ones) by Marianne Bellotti, narrated by Katie Koster, is a good resource for businesses trying to get a handle on the latest systems and options out there while still ensuring their business hums along as effectively as it can.

RATING: Quatrain

About the Author:

Marianne Bellotti is a software engineer and relapsed anthropologist. Her work focuses on how culture influences the implementation and development of software. She runs engineering teams and teaches other people how to tackle complex systems. Most of her work has focused on restoring old systems to operational excellence, but she also works on the safety of cutting edge systems and artificial intelligence.