Drabble Geeks

Geeks…Being Total Geeks.

Tag: books

An Entirely New World Pt 7

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I have officially done it; I have finished a series that I guess I could technically say that I’ve been reading since I was a child. That’s right, I have officially finished the Chronicles of Narnia. I honestly believe that this last book, The Last Battle, is one of the best books of this series and does not hold back with the religious allegory. If you weren’t sure before, well, you’re sure now.

Overall, I think the series is… okay. Some books are definitely more memorable than others, while some I sometimes feel were not worth my time. And because I don’t want you to waste your time, I’ll tell you the ones I think are worth it. You may disagree, but you’re allowed to. My top books of the series are the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, followed by the Magician’s Nephew and the Last Battle. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a great introduction to the world and the magic that surrounds it. The Magician’s Nephew is a wonderful prologue that delves deeper into the creation of the. Finally, The Last Battle is a fantastic ending. Yes, if you are only reading those books, you are going to miss some information on some characters, but I think it’s worth it if you just want the main sense of what Narnia is. There are some interesting series of events that occur across the other books, but I think those three are “the books” to read in this series.

While I may not have enjoyed some of the plots, I loved the world development and the thoughtfulness Lewis put into everything. I had to go back through some of my religious knowledge to catch on to everything. Also, because I read the series in publication order, there were some call-backs that would make me gasp as I remembered the stuff from the previous books and put some of the pieces together. Maybe some fans will disagree with the order I have read everything in, but I definitely enjoyed my travels into this new world.

Graveyard Journal

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Often, when people are writing on their deathbed, they are usually old and are speaking on the decades of life that they’ve experienced. It’s not usual that the deathbed is actually the jail cell two days before an expected execution. It’s also not usual for so much life to have in a decade or two. The book that does this is The Life and Times of Persimmon Wilson by Nancy Peacock, following the writings of Persimmon as he waits to hang for murdering his former master and bedding the woman whom the world thought to be white.

Peacock did such a wonderful job reimaging a world that is about a century and a half past. The characters were realistic and were gripping, especially as we follow Percy’s retelling of his life story to the love of his life, Chloe. While sections of this book were hard to read, it was real. The things discussed really did happen, and Peacock does not sugarcoat a single thing. I read an early edition of the book, from which I do not remember getting it, so things may have changed, but I hope not too much did, other than some grammatical errors. Take care when reading this deeply emotional text; there are many discussions about how brutal humanity can truly get.

The New Extinction

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As I was reading, I thought it was quite timely that news about the “re-emergence” of an extinct species was announced: the dire wolf. I will go a bit into that later; however, I want to discuss The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert first. One of the draws that led me to this book was our current understanding of extinction. It was just amazing that there was a universal belief that no species ever died out, up until the 1700s, when people would find fossils and bones that did not match any species that were alive at the time. We also didn’t have the meteoroid hypothesis about what killed off the dinosaurs until the 80s. It just blew my mind how recent it was. Next, the author covered the more modern extinctions and how the migration of Homo sapiens aligns with the extinction of several species, and how to current activities may lead to the next mass extinction without a random catastrophe.

Now, onto the subject of making a species come back from extinction. As it may not be such a surprise with the dire wolves, we have not brought a species from extinction. As far as I know, science has not gone that far yet. The dire wolves are just grey wolves with some genes edited, but they are very cute, nonetheless. Even if they did come back from extinction, the species would still be considered functionally extinct, since the scientists are not trying to breed the wolves together. Also, as was brought up with Jurassic Park, I’m not sure that we should consider bringing species back, as cool as it would be. Evolution has continued without the existence of these species, so there would be no natural protections, unless you consider humans poaching them, which, I believe, would inevitably happen. Any de-extinct species would, in my opinion, be a glorified invasive species. In this example, wolves are considered top predators in their environment and would probably have no natural failsafe to keep the ecosystems aligned. I personally believe that we should focus on keeping the species that are still alive alive, rather than trying to create new species for us to protect or protect against. (But that might be none of my business.)

Math IRL

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Alright, guys… I’m an absolute nerd. You know this; I know this. I found a book about math in the real world and how we may or may not use it correctly, and I had to read it. I couldn’t help myself. It also had no reason being as interesting as it was. The book was The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow.

The title refers to the mathematical principle of calculating the random path a drunk person would walk. (I told you this was going to be really nerdy from the start.) Part of my studies included learning some statistics, but even then, hearing some of the concepts in an everyday context had me answering questions incorrectly. The wording of math problems will always be confusing. Another interesting aspect was learning when many of the principles we take for granted came to be. Hilariously, it was from people trying to constantly win at gambling. It made statistics interesting, although I might be a bit biased because I watched shows about math and had the time of my life.

The Mysterious Process

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There is apparently a very secret world that I knew little about even though I am part of the community. What community am I talking about? The uterus-having community. I read Period: The Real Story of Menstruation by Kate Clancy to see if there were any secrets that I could uncover. Although, in all seriousness, I did learn a lot about a process that happens to me. I did grow up in an “I don’t want to hear about it” household. Now that I’m older, I’ve taken the position of “it’s something that happens to about 50% of the population, so get over yourself.” Even with that perspective, I never took the time to learn about it until now.

This book takes the story of menstruation from a cultural perspective. It was interesting to hear about cultures where periods are something to revere rather than a shameful action and how that view has shaped gynecology. Next, the book covers the biology of why. Humans are one of the very few species that menstruate, so it’s interesting to listen to the theories of how humans have evolved. Another interesting thing I learned was that the “normal period” isn’t quite normal. People are placed into boxes that never made sense to begin with and can move in and out of said boxes. For anyone interested in the topic, I highly recommend this book.

Also, because I am an equal-opportunity reader, I would also love to read a book on male reproduction. I spent my doctorate studying parts of it, but I genuinely believe I could always learn more. Period was suggested to me as a good read, so it went on my list.

How Does It Hold Up: Nancy Drew

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One of my goals in life is the read the entirety of the Nancy Drew series. All 175 books. Why was this a goal in my life? I have no clue. Anyway, I have finally got to the end of my library’s catalog of Nancy Drew books, I figure now is a better time than any. To start, the original books were initially published in 1930. That becomes super important as you continue with these books. Payphones. What are those? Strange words that you look up that end up being considered slurs now? It’s just the time.

That stuff out of the way, I’ve been enjoying myself reading the books. Some times I’m flipping through past chapters trying to figure out if there was something I missed. Others, I pretty confident in who the criminal is from the first couple of chapters, but unsure as to how we are going to get our evidence. Whelp, no need to hard proof when everyone confesses, so I guess we can move on. One the the things that got me every time was Nancy not calling someone to tell her where she was going. Excuse me, shouldn’t you be calling your dad? Oh, there’s literally no phone around. Could you leave a message, at least? Oh, no answering machines. The only thing that made this better was that after the initial publications, I once read, that they turned Nancy into an eighteen year old instead of the thirteen year old she was originally published as. I think I would have more problems had she not been a legal adult. Also, the boyfriend plot lines would have been even more awkward. Yes, that becomes an entire thing, but at least boyfriends are just the help and not the main sleuth.

Unfortunately, I have yet to read of the books, and I still feel the need to questions all of these characters questionable life choices while trying to figure out the criminal before anyone else. (I mean, what else am I supposed to do.) If anyone can find me more sources to find the books, I would be eternally gratefully. It shouldn’t be this hard to get my children’s mystery fix.

Let Me Teach You How to Lie

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Well, lie is a really strong word for what I’m going to discuss. A better word would be to deceive with facts and logic. I recently read How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff. This book goes into all of the ways in which a glorified “statistic” can be used to sway and mislead the people who see it. With fun illustrations, we are taught how exactly looking at different axes and altering study design, you can get some really interesting conclusions, whether justly or not. At the end, we are at least taught who to dig deeper into what we are seeing to draw our own conclusions that may be different from the conclusions we are being led to.

One of the funny things about this book is how money works. Being that this book was written in 1954 and read by me in 2025, let’s just say that inflation has not hit these numbers. Having super “wealthy” Yale graduates making an annual salary of $25,000 or the outrage of the price of bread doubling to a single dollar was hilarious. If only the author knew and could update these numbers for the modern day. Hilarity aside, this book is a great way to learn how people may inadvertently lie to you, because they are 95 percent of the time*.

* Source: Because I said so…

An Entirely New World Pt 6

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I’m almost done with the Chronicles of Narnia: a series I technically started when I was a child. I don’t even remember when the first movie came out, but that was how long it has been. This time, because I’m reading in publication order, I read The Magician’s Nephew, and what a wild ride it was.

If you didn’t understand that Aslan is an allegory for Jesus yet, there is so much Christian imagery in this iteration. It was a bit funny how I could guess the next plot point because I grew up in the church. I was in fact internally giggling. No matter how predictable the plot was, I was surprised by how good it was. If you read the last couple of my reviews, you know that I felt like I was dragging my way through the content. Insert random characters I didn’t care about. Insert literally nothing happening as we just listen to people talk. Insert absolutely no imagery, of which I could barely imagine what was going on, even with the included illustrations.

No, this story engaged me, and I practically read it from beginning to end in one sitting. There was just so much happening and so many questions I had as I reading. There was an entire chapter of which a landscape was being described, and I loved every second of it. The imagery was vivid and drew me further into the world of Narnia, something the few previous books had not done. This was a journey to Narnia that was unforgettable and should be read again and again.

Just Off the Railroad Tracks

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If you can, people-watching while riding along the train can be fun. Honestly, half the time, it’s too dark to see and go through the woods, but if you’re going through a town, people-watching is fun. Honestly, that’s what I thought this book was from the first couple of pages: a people-watching simulator. I was quickly proven wrong as I got deeper into The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

I honestly didn’t know much about this book except the movie trailer made it sound like a thriller. Because of that, it went straight on my to-read list, only to be read now. Now, in the end, I loved the book. It kept me engaged the entire time. There was a bit of mental whiplash from the changing points of view. I was just wrapping my head around all the new information that was thrown at me, trying to fit all of the puzzle pieces together. It was also interesting in the fact that I’m pretty sure that you are not supposed to like any of the characters. As soon as I think I might like them, they would do something I would deem to be completely shady, but I suppose that was to keep you on your toes. And on my toes, I was up until the final moments.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who loves thrillers and mysteries. Some serious topics do come up, but I think it fleshes out the characters and makes them more well-rounded. No one in this book is perfect and flaws are thoroughly on display. Just make sure to get really cozy while watching everything unravel.

Along That Yellow Brick Road Pt 8

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I’m back again to the fairytale land of Oz, and once again am wondering why. Why did I want to read all of the books of this series? Why did I make this a goal in my life? I don’t know, but I’m still going. This time I read Tik-Tok of Oz to read a story that I swear that I read before. A random girl and animal fall into the land of Oz, meets a bunch of random people and creatures, and then tries to defeat a great evil. Yeah, there is nothing new about this book. Except the random animal is a mule and the great evil is the exact same great evil from Book 3. The only thing useful in this book is the slightly more fleshed out nature of Oz, but half the time I feel that it is once again they author trying to make money off of his child audience who would have been obsessed with this series. Luckily for me, all these books are in the public domain, so I’ve paid nothing for them, or I would have gotten them from the library. I forget what book I said that you could have stopped at before, but there is no reason the read this book unless you are a completionist like me. Nothing interesting here.