Should I have quit reading?

I became conflicted while reading How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates about halfway through because the news broke about his less than stellar behavior (i.e. scummy) towards his wife and female colleagues. (Don't even get me started on his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.) I even contemplated marking it as DNF and moving on with my life. Additionally, I didn't feel like I was gaining any new information on the topic of climate change and what we can do to mitigate its effects and continuance. This is more the kind of book that newbies to the topic of environmental sciences and climate change would read to get a handle on the situation. It's full of good data (can't fault the man for thorough research) and is written in a straightforward manner that makes it very readable. He offers solutions both achievable and out-of-the-box to turn the tide so that future generations will not be hit with a deluge of irreversible problems. I was particularly interested in Direct Air Capture which is technology engineered to literally suck carbon dioxide out of the air and store it so that it can be used to generate energy and/or goods that would have required carbon anyway. The goal is to move towards zero fossil fuel emissions but we are a long way from that at this point. Practically, our best bet at this time is to pour money into research and development of technologies which will move us towards products and services that are carbon neutral. (I tell you something I didn't know until reading this book: Cement is not carbon neutral and there doesn't yet exist a cement that can be manufactured without carbon. #themoreyouknow) Conclusion: This is a well-researched book on a topic that more people need to educate themselves about but it doesn't lend a particularly new angle to the discussion. 6/10

Source: Penguin Random House

What I'm currently reading: Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women by Renee Engeln, PhD

**If you're interested in buying any of these books or any books really, you can click here. This will re-direct you to AbeBooks which is a site I use all of the time to find used books at an excellent price. A lot of the time I don't even pay for shipping! Full disclosure: I will receive a commission on all sales made through this link. You will not be charged anything additional for my commission. I wouldn't recommend a site that I didn't use and you are under no obligation to purchase anything. :-) **

Mary Poppins was not a particularly nice lady

I hate to spoil your image of Mary Poppins but...well, I'm going to spoil your image of Mary Poppins. The version that P.L. Travers created was very different from the one Disney dreamed up. She was a vain woman who seemed to be more concerned with her own appearance than with how she spoke to the children under her care. I found it almost unsettling how biting and cruel she was toward Jane and Michael (the twins John and Barbara featured in one chapter and were incidental to the rest of the story). However, just as in the movie version the children were in awe of her and loved her very much (her feelings about them were not quite as clear). I do think this is worth a read for anyone who grew up watching the Disney classic especially because it gives new dimensions to Mary Poppins AND details new adventures.

Eaarth: Making a life on a tough new planet by Bill McKibben details the consequences of dragging our feet on the issue of global warming. Changes are already occurring and as a result our once familiar planet has evolved into something entirely different: Eaarth. Now that this is our new reality, McKibben says that the only course of action is to alter our society to confront it head-on. Environmental studies and sustainability are both topics I find fascinating so I'm sure this is going to be a page turner.

Learning ALL the time

As the title suggests, I think it's important that we strive to continue learning new things. If you read Countdown you're sure to do just that. The book's title sounds rather ominous but the topic broached within its pages isn't fictional or even "this is a scenario dreamed up by the author with enough facts to make it sound plausible". No, the notion that there are too many humans jammed onto this planet draining the limited resources is one that most of us are aware of if not actively concerned about. Homo sapiens has fairly swarmed across the globe gobbling up as much arable land as possible and watering that land through any means necessary. The problem is we're stuck in a cycle. We have so many mouths to feed so we need to grow more food which means depleting more resources and using up more space. However, the more food we put in those mouths and the more we advance medically the more bodies there are to take up space and consume more food and create more bodies and...you get where I'm going with this. I have vaguely thought about this before and wondered what the Earth could realistically sustain while we destroy habitats and cause entire species to go extinct. Where is the line? Have we crossed it already? READ THIS BOOK. I was so impressed by Weisman that I've already downloaded The World Without Us  in which he conducts a thought experiment about what would happen to the planet if all of humanity were wiped out. O_O That'll be down the road because I have another title that's practically begging to be read.

The next title that I allude to is The Troop by Nick Cutter. I was drawn in by this because it claimed to scare Stephen King. That sounds like a challenge that I want to take! It's about a Boy Scout troop that camps out on a deserted island and is beset upon by a stranger that infects one of them with some unimaginable horror. Soon there is frightening devastation (or so I'm promised). It's been awhile since I read a propor horror story so I'm pretty excited (and a little apprehensive I'll get nightmares but that won't stop me!). I can't wait to give you my review!

I hope you're all ready to get back into the swing of things now that summer is pretty much over. I especially hope you'll all continue to read even though free time might be shortened and your lives might be busier. Reading is a great way to unwind!! :-D