Friday, May 30, 2014

Milkweeds and Monarchs

Milkweed and Monarchs
A lot of people don't know that monarch butterflies need milkweed plants to survive. That's because the only food monarch caterpillars eat is milkweed. Without milkweed, there wouldn't be any monarchs; without butterflies and other insects that are pollinators, there wouldn't be any plants. The problem is that milkweed is quickly disappearing in the United States. It's being destroyed by farmers seeking to use their land for crops. 

So what do we do? Concerned gardeners to the rescue! Small scale gardeners in cities, suburbs, and rural areas are taking up the cause of monarch protection by planting milkweed in their home gardens. Milkweed is a pretty flower that's easy to grow. Its genus is asclepias, and it can be found in either seed or plant form at garden centers. Some people create monarch gardens that that include milkweed and other plants that are beneficial to butterflies, like catnip and coneflower.
If there's a child in your life who enjoys nature and science, the picture book Monarch and Butterfly might make the perfect gift. Illustrations and details follow the migration and reproduction of the monarch butterfly to teach children about the symbiotic relationship between these beautiful creatures and the plants they need to survive.

Monday, May 26, 2014

Review: Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East by Benjamin Law

Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East by Benjamin Law

Link to buy

ISBN-10: 162778036X
ISBN-13: 978-1627780360

Story Rating: 4 out of 5

Blurb:

Benjamin Law spent nearly a year skipping between seven Asian countries, sitting backstage with Bangkok ladyboys before their beauty pageants, talking to Tokyo’s superstar drag queens, marching in the heat with Mumbai’s fierce queer rights activists, listening to Melaka preachers who claim they can heal homosexuality and hanging out with Bali’s moneyboys and the foreigners who hire them. At once entertaining and moving, Gaysia is a wild ride and a fascinating quest by a leading travel writer. See Indonesia, Thailand, China, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar and India as never before through the eyes of gonzo anthropologist and journalist Benjamin Law.

Review:

“Gaysia” offers an interesting, if highly selective, portrait of gay life across the vast stretch of Asia, home to 60% of the world's population. This was clearly a personal journey for Chinese-Australian Law, but he manages to maintain a very journalistic approach throughout, allowing the people he meets to tell their own stories, with minimal editorializing. Sometimes what comes out is surprising, sometimes funny, and often poignant.

While the book covers a lot of ground and offers a lot of insight into the lives of some gay men and lesbians, it is by no means an exhaustive study of LGBT issues in Asia. That would take a lifetime to write and would probably not be as readable as this entertaining little tome. Instead, the author shines a light on very specific groups or issues in each country. Like a stereotypical Australian, Law ignores the other 15,000+ islands of Indonesia and zeros in on the tiny speck of Bali. With the small Hindu enclave practically over-run with tourists, it's only natural that there are men willing to satisfy the more carnal desires of some of the island's visitors. We get some rather surprising answers as to why these men do what they do.

In Thailand, Law becomes part of the press corps covering the Miss Tiffany pageant, a beauty contest exclusively for ‘ladies’ who were born men, regardless of whether they've had full gender reassignment surgery or not. The final judging extravaganza is one of the most watched television programs in Thailand. The author interviews several of the contestants to get their stories, almost all of which involve fighting hard, even against their own families, to express what they feel inside. Law comes close, but never quite connects the dots to help us understand that there's a big gulf between tolerance and acceptance. These “ladyboys”, as they're often referred to (katoey in Thai), are tolerated in society, and can even be quite popular as entertainers, but they're never really accepted for who they are.

It's a similar story in Japan, where ‘funny’ gay characters are a mainstay on television, but real gay men are practically invisible in real life. Meanwhile, in China invisibility is the name of the game. Web sites helping gays connect have to carefully fly under the government radar, and Law talks to gay couples where one or both partners have entered into sham marriages to avoid family pressure resulting from decades of the one-child policy.

One of the biggest surprises from Law comes in Malaysia, where he talks to a couple of religious organizations that offer some form of conversion therapy. While clearly in no mood to change his ways, Law is surprisingly non-judgmental about the people he meets who both run and use these services. He is a little more outraged at the sad state of HIV care in Myanmar (Burma). The supply of anti-retroviral drugs is so limited that those most likely to benefit from them can't get them. As in much of Asia, those who suffer most are the ones at the very bottom of the socio-economic ladder, gay and trans prostitutes. What seems to surprise Law the most is that sometimes these people are apparently victimized by the very aid workers who are supposed to be helping them.

Law ends his journey in India, in the heady aftermath of the court ruling declaring the country's sodomy laws unconstitutional (a ruling that was recently overturned, making sex between men illegal again). The author meets with some of the key figures in the court battle, many of whom were, to Law's surprise, straight. Again, there are surprising answers to the questions about why these people took on a controversial issue that didn't really affect them personally. It's an exuberant end to a journey that is enlightening for what it reveals about the author and the cultures he visits, but this book should probably be read mostly for entertainment rather than for any serious insight into any of these countries.

Reviewed by Michael Joseph

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Gef the talking mongoose... real or hoax?

We humans like to flatter ourselves that through our understanding of science, we can unlock the mysteries of the natural world. Mysteries that our ancestors once attributed to supernatural phenomena can now be explained away by the moon's orbit or movement of tectonic plates deep underground or the action of microorganisms that are invisible to the naked eye. Of course, despite our increasing mastery of science, many mysteries continue to elude us. Gef the Talking Mongoose is one example. 


In 1931, a wild mongoose turned up at the home of a poor English family. He was reciting nursery rhymes. Apparently this is unusual behavior for a mongoose, or any other small carnivorous mammal, for that matter. The family began feeding him, and he stayed. He also expanded his repertoire beyond nursery rhymes to include normal conversation and, when he was in a bad mood, swearing. The family called him Gef.

There were some witnesses to Gef and his verbal outbursts, including one research who claimed that Gef communicated with him. There were many more people who visited Gef's alleged home but didn't see or hear the mongoose. Paranormal researchers also visited, which perpetuated the idea that the voice wasn't actually coming from a talking mongoose but from a ghost.

Today, nearly a century later, those fascinated by Gef continue to speculate about the talking mongoose. Was he the real deal – an animal that somehow managed to learn and repeat human speech? Or was he nothing but a hoax? Alternatively, as some have suggested, was he the product of the imagination of the family's young daughter? Of course, there are still those who insist that Gef was a supernatural phenomenon caused by the possession of an animal or a ghost.


If you're interested in Gef and other tales of the unexplained, you might want to check out Ghosts, Apparitions, and Poltergeists: An Exploration of the Supernatural through History or if you're looking for a perfect gift for the child in your life who can't get enough of the spooky stuff, try There's Something Under the Bed: Children's Experiences with the Paranormal. If Gef were alive today, he'd probably tell you that truth is stranger than fiction.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Review: Turning This Thing Around by Keith Maginn

Turning This Thing Around by Keith Maginn
Link to buy
ISBN-10: 1481276182
ISBN-13: 978-1481276184
Story Rating: 4 out of 5

Review:
This is a very complicated book. It talks about so many different topics that the book is constantly changing. When I first started reading it I thought it was going to be about one thing and turned into something completely different. This happened a few times throughout the course of the book.

I think the biggest issue that I as a reviewer have with this book is I couldn't relate with any of the problems the author has encountered. There was a combination of feelings I experienced while reading. I felt bad for the guy and the crazy amount of crap he has gone through in his life. I also wanted to have a sit down with him and explain how no one is guaranteed an easy life and yes, life can be hard. Problems do not mean the universe is out to get you. It's just how life goes.

All in all this is definitely an interesting read and the author clearly has talent as a writer. It would be interesting to see him attempt fiction. If you are looking for a book that is inspirational than you should check this out.

Reviewed by Catherine

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Author Spotlight: Jenny McCarthy

We here at NonfictionReads love a good Chicago success story, so we were thrilled to see that hometown girl Jenny McCarthy has released a new book.
  Stirring the Pot: My Recipe for Getting What You Want Out of Life is a self-help book that offers readers a peek at the techniques that spurred McCarthy's career and helped her secure the man of her dreams (actor and New Kids on the Block member Donnie Wahlberg).
 
McCarthy's not a newcomer to the Barnes & Noble near you. Her previous books include Bad Habits: A Book of Confessions about Confession and Baby Laughs: The Naked Truth about the First Year of Mommyhood. McCarthy's list of accomplishments is long, including actor, comedienne, Playboy Playmate of the Year, TV show host, and, of course, author. So pick up a copy of her new book and see if you can put Jenny McCarthy's secrets of success to work for you.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Stranger than fiction

Truth is stranger – and more hazardous – than fiction.
Nonfiction can be dangerous for those writers who are obsessed with learning the truth and sharing it with the world. Journalists, for instance, often confront a variety of threats in the course of their work, including natural disasters and military conflicts. That point was demonstrated recently when VICE News reporter Simon Ostrovsky was taken prisoner by pro-Russian militants. He was in eastern Ukraine reporting on the crisis when he was pulled out of his vehicle and taken away at gunpoint. 

After several nail-biting days during which Ostrovsky was not heard from and all requests for information from the militants were met by conflicting responses, he was finally released unharmed. While Ostrovsky's story has a happy ending, there are still many journalists being held prisoner by militants in Ukraine, including a number of Ukrainian journalists.
If you're interested in reading about the exploits of famous journalists, there are plenty of books to choose from, including Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation. Or if being taken prisoner by militants sounds like a good day at the office for you, and you want to make investigative journalism your new career, Investigative Reporter's Handbook: A Guide to Documents, Databases, and Techniques is a popular book that's commonly found in newsrooms and journalism classrooms. Finally, if you want to take a break from reading, check out the HBO show VICE that follows the intrepid VICE News reporters as they travel the globe in search of true stories that are often stranger and more fascinating than any fiction. Just be careful out there.