Book of Ages: 30 - Joshua Albertson, Lockhart Steele, Jonathan Van Gieson

Summary:  Welcome to your thirties.  Are you rich, poor, single, married, divorced, straight, gay, crazy in love, happy, in good health, insured, employed, in school, falling apart?  On the brink of fame, like Ford, Emeril, Napoleon, Nonan, Couric?  Do you have problems, dreams, house, job, money, kids, car, gun?  Do you exude sex like Clooney, Berry, Stallone, Madonna, Elvis, Cher?  Feeling promiscuous, monogamous, dumped, living in sin, virginal, pregnant?  What's next?  Layoff, promotion, power, new career, wedding, debt, divorce, degree, death?  Are you in danger like Welles, Plath,Alexander Ringwald, Murphy?  Struggling like Bush, Tan, Gandolfini, Kafka, Rowling, Mr. T?  How do you stack up?  Are you a visionary like Oprah, Bono, Gates, Edison, Franklin, Eminem?  Will you change the world like Shakespeare, Mandela, Mao, Lennon, Gorbachev, Kennedy?  31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39...What's Next?  (Image from https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ and summary from back of the book.)

My Review:  Yes, I am thirty.  I'm actually fine with that number, but I was given a book to remind me that time is ticking and maybe to shame me into being more aware of how I'm using my time.  This little coffee table book is set up visually appealing with black letters on white pages with red thrown in for emphasis and lots of fun pictures. Easy and fast to read is an understatement.  Whether the information in the book is really all that important is debatable.  Much of what you learn is about famous people and what they were doing at that the age of thirty.  Sometimes this was interesting, sometimes it was worthless.  When you spend your time comparing yourself to people that are such a small percentage of the population it can never be realistic.  I'm afraid some readers might be discouraged after learning all these minute details.

The other aspect to the book I wasn't so thrilled about was how much emphasis was put on a person's sex life and how much money he or she makes.  As if those are the greatest indicator of how happy you truly are at the age of thirty.   Maybe that's a representation of the authors?  Or is that really what Americans really care about?  I'd wager it isn't, but I could be wrong.

If you're not taking it too seriously and enjoy frivolous facts, feel free to pick up this book.  Otherwise, it's more or less forgettable.

Rating:  2.5 stars

Sum it up:  Random facts about anonymous people and famous people alike while they lived the years called their thirties.

All My Friends Are Dead - Avery Monsen & Jory John

Today's review comes from my delinquent brother, Matthew Irving.   He fights fires seasonally, takes amazing pictures, and travels the world for the sole purpose of making me exceedingly jealous.  He's very good at all of it.   However, when he contacted me the other day about a book that he wanted to review, I was hesitant.  I mean, I've read his blog and so my conscience forced me to give him a few guidelines. 1) Punctuate and capitalize.  2) Do not use any form of the word "effing".  If any of our readers gravitate toward the sporadically punctuated, intentionally un-capitalized, effing-laden prose, then feel free to head on over to Matt's Blog of Negativity where sarcasm reigns supreme, snickering is second-nature, and you can read his thoughts on such diverse topics as Sarah Palin's new reality show, Sun chips, and sperm shoes, just to name a few. 

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Summary:  If you're a dinosaur, all of your friends are dead. If you're a pirate, all of your friends have scurvy. If you're a tree, all of your friends are end tables. Each page of this laugh-out-loud illustrated humor book showcases the downside of being everything from a clown to a cassette tape to a zombie. Cute and dark all at once, this hilarious children's book for adults teaches valuable lessons about life while exploring each cartoon character's unique grievance and wide-eyed predicament. From the sock whose only friends have gone missing to the houseplant whose friends are being slowly killed by irresponsible plant owners (like you), All My Friends Are Dead presents a delightful primer for laughing at the inevitable.  (Summary and Image from borders.com)

My Review: All My Friends are Dead is a pseudo-children's book that is incredibly difficult to summarize, but apparently Borders (see above) did a pretty good job of it. Unfortunately, I'm a busy man (not really) and I'm sure the person who summarized the book spent hours wracking their brain in order to come up with it (they probably didn't). This awesome book is a book about life, death and other things dying, but its overlying aim is to make you laugh, more than anything. What makes it so funny is its blatant sarcasm, as well as its illustrations. For some reason, they hit the funny nerve right where it needs to be hit. It uses the illustrations in order to create an atmosphere of awkward pauses. It is very much my type of sarcasm and the awkward pauses are priceless.

All My Friends Are Dead is definitely a book worth owning and a steal at $10.00, but if you're too cheap or you have different priorities, like children, driving to the library to rent it would be a worthwhile trip.  On that note, it's $10.00!  Don't eat at McDonald's for lunch -- buy the book instead.  Or sell plasma.  Do what you have to in order to get your mitts on this book. Here's another book review that probably does a better job of describing it, or you can visit the book website where you can read the first few pages of the book.  Hopefully, you'll see why it's nearly impossible to describe.
 
My Rating:  I'd give it 5 Stars, but know that my sense of humor is probably a little morbid, so maybe a 4.5 for "normal" people.
 
Sum it up: If you love sarcastic humor and awkward pauses as well as a few dozen excellently illustrated characters, you'll love this book. Because it's so short, it can be used as a coffee table book and I'd encourage it. If everyone in the world could read this book once, it would make my day.
 
PS.  To read what Matt really thinks of this book, click here.

Thumbing Through Thoreau - Henry David Thoreau, compiled by Kenny Luck

Summary: On July 4, 1845, when Henry David Thoreau moved into his cabin on the shores of Walden Pond, he was probably unaware that his abode in the woods, and the impact and influence of that endeavor, would forever echo through time. Thoreau was an uncompromising idealist; an ardent maverick who criticized his fellow man. He urged that men and women ought to live more simply, and more deliberately. "The mass of men," he famously wrote, "lead lives of quite desperation." Yet the scope of Thoreau's message is much wider than social criticism. He speaks of spiritual transcendence in Nature and the unbounded potential of the individual. Thoreau is a dreamer and he speaks to dreamers. In a word, shun dogmatism and demagoguery; see beyond the immediate conventional religious explanations to reap a higher understanding. In our commodified contemporary American society, with the rise of religious intolerance and fundamentalism, materialism and mass consumerism, Thoreau's message is needed now more than ever. Author Kenny Luck has thumbed through Thoreau's voluminous journals, correspondences and other publications to make this the most comprehensive collection of Thoreau aphorisms available. (Summary from Amazon.com and image from http://4.bp.blogspot.com - Book given free to review)

My Review: I received this book free to review and I'm so glad! I love quotes, so maybe I'm biased about this book. I also loved all my Thoreau readings in college. This book takes all of his most thought provoking thoughts and put them in an easy to digest, small bites format. I'd like to use this in my classroom for a quote of the day, although not all would be discernible for my middle school students. I believe though that we could build up to the vocabulary, the sentence structure, and the higher (critical) level thinking. If you like books that make you analyze yourself and your motives, do pick up this enjoyable read.

Rating: 5 stars.

Sum it up: A wonderful compilation of quotes that provokes intra-personal contemplation.

Vanishing Act - Art Wolfe

Summary: One of the world's preeminent nature photographers shows the beauty and evolutionary brilliance of animals and insects with a tenacious will to stay alive in an eat-or-be-eaten world. (Summary and image from amazon.com)

My Review: My husband and I ran across this book a couple years back while wandering aimlessly through a busy mall amid Holiday shopping at a Pottery Barn. They were asking some unearthly amount for the book, so we opted to search for it online. We found it and purchased it straightaway.

The photographs in this book are amazing. You will see creatures never written about as well as animals you'd love to see in the wild yourself. You will search for what seems hours to find the animal hidden in the scenery. And some will be staring right back at you without your knowledge until you realize that in the real world you'd have been lunch. It's unnerving, beautiful, and until you finish the book, addicting. Each page has written in faint lettering what is hidden (whether you know what it is or not). At the back of the book is a description and photograph of the locations the pictures originate. We've loved having it for our coffee table and enjoy sharing with friends who then become addicted to finding the animals. It's definitely worth checking out.

Rating: 5 Stars

Sum it up: A grown-up version of Where's Waldo, but with wildlife. Very cool!

Evidence of Angels - Suza Scalora & Francesca Lia Block

Yet another guest review from Daniel Nighting, father of the cutest little baby girl (till my own is born, of course) on the West Coast.

Summary: Evidence of Angels, a beautiful and colorful photographic journey into the world of the angels who exist just beyond our vision, began with the questions: "Do angels exist? Or are we alone? What happens after we die and leave this earth?" From there, Suza Scalora, bestselling author of Fairies, began a project, hanging her photographs of angels throughout New York City, on walls and lampposts and fences, along with her email address. Three days later her first letter arrived. Evidence of Angels . . . captures onto each page the responses to those photographs and the world of unseen guardians who offer hope and comfort in times of need--beginning with Suza's reflections in the wake of a loved one's death--and explores her feelings of hopelessness after suffering such a profound loss. (Summary and image from Vision On)

My Review: For those of you who didn't get your fill of sticky-sweet confections over the holidays, Evidence of Angels is certain to speak to your cravings. The "photographs" of the angels, as well as the text, are suffused with a delicate, hazy light that suggests that everything is going to be ok. But like the holiday season's sugarplums, this book is short on substance--which is perhaps to be expected, dealing as it does with things angelic and ephemeral.

I suspect that consumers of this book fall into two camps. The first consists of those who already believe--or want to believe--in the sort of nondenominational, benevolent beings of spiritual energy that Scalora and co-author Francesca Lia Block describe. For these readers, this book is a beautiful, heartfelt affirmation that we are never alone--that the universe is teeming with beauty and love, if we can just open our hearts and eyes and let go of fear and doubt.

The second camp consists of everyone else. These readers, while appreciating the message, may find the artwork more blurry than ethereal, the angels' teachings more trite than touching, and may perhaps feel nostalgia for the grand, vengeful, uncompromising angels of the Apocrypha.

My Rating: 3, plus or minus 1 depending on whether heartwarming messages of hope delivered by glowing metaphysical messengers are your thing.

Sum it up: A sugarcoated dessert composed of equal parts Sylvia Brown and Photoshop. Enjoy after a hearty meal of Edgar Cayce, and don't forget to floss.

Twilight Tours - George Beahm

Summary: Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" series has become a genuine phenomenon in pop culture, approaching the popularity of the "Harry Potter" series. In 2008, 10,000 pilgrims descended on Forks, WA, the town of 3,100 people that is the setting for the books. After the fall 2008 release of the record-setting "Twilight" movie (which made more than $70 million in its opening weekend alone), many more fans are expected to arrive in Forks in 2009. "Twilight Tours" is a photographic guide to this mystical place. Included are 90 photos composed by noted photographer George Beahm, who also contributes the accompanying text. The pictures range from moody scenic shots of the rain forest and nearby tribal lands described in the four novels to photographs of the actual high school, police station, saltwater beach, and a certain vintage red pickup truck. (Image and summary from Powells.com)

My Review: I know. I know. I'm slightly embarrassed for even reviewing this on here. You're probably thinking I'm loony for reading this. Maybe I am. I am honestly interested in seeing the once-never-heard-of town of Forks, Washington at some point. Some of that curiosity stems from being from the Pacific Northwest, but admittedly it's also from reading the books. Aren't you at all curious to visit the rainiest city in the continental United States? (Technically it's Quillayute, WA. That's between Forks and La Push, in case you needed the reference point.) I'd also like to walk around such a small town, one with only one stop light and soak in the slower pace of life related in this book.

A majority of Twilight Tours is images, which is nice if you have no way of actually touring Forks, Washington. If you're interested in going to Forks and don't want to miss any of the points of interest simply because you aren't familiar with the town, this is a book to buy before your trip. But considering Forks really isn't very large, I think you could easily tour Forks thoroughly without a previewing a tour book. Of the written commentary, much of it recaps what is in the Twilight Saga, making sure you understand the significance of each site. I felt like it was a bit too much of a review and not necessary to a tour of forks unless you didn't read the books or read them so fast you wouldn't remember any of the sites. Still, the pictures are nice and it piqued my interest to visit a little more.

My Rating: 3.5 Stars. Nothing spectacular, but it was interesting.

Sum it up: A mix of Twilight-Saga summary and pictures comprising the town of Forks, Washington and the surrounding areas.

The Four Corners - Christian Usera

This review is from my friend Dan (husband to Becca, father of almost two), who cracks me up, even when I can't understand a word he's saying...

Summary: "The Four Corners" is an anthology containing a series of folktales by Christian Usera. Each story is an inner journey into the heart of Light, Love, Truth, and Wisdom. Although written in a childish format, the style belies these complex surrealist proverbs. (Summary from book jacket- image from amazon.com)

My review: I tend to get all tingly at words like "complex surrealist proverbs," so I was rather looking forward to reading this book, which contains four short stories liberally illustrated with the author's own paintings. To my disappointment, I soon found that "complex" meant "incoherent," "surrealist" meant "paying little attention to things like plot, character, consistency, or grammar and spelling," and "proverbs" meant "heavy-handed preaching." Nor could the illustrations make up for the weakness of the text; they appeared hastily conceived and haphazardly executed.

The book seems unsure of who its target audience is. The tone veers from condescendingly childish to pompously faux-scriptural, while the stories themselves discuss grand themes (the creation of the world, the nature of the soul, moral laws, and humanity's quest for meaning) using sound bites drawn from the Barnes & Noble metaphysics section. And somehow, despite the book's claim of exploring "Light, Love, Truth, and Wisdom," the primary values I could discern involved misanthropy, a sense of pious superiority, latent sexism, and general disgust at the messiness of life.

To the author's credit, the stories improved somewhat from the earliest to the latest; if he spent the next few years dedicating the same degree of passion to developing the craft of storytelling (and painting) as he has to developing his personal brand of spiritual syncretism, perhaps his next work will be worthy of a more sympathetic review.

My rating: 1 star. I'm all for personal mythologies, esoteric philosophy, and unorthodox experiences of spirituality, but even Great Cosmic Truths suffer from a clumsy presentation--and Great Cosmic Truths are in short supply in this book.

Sum it up: Warmed-over New Age morality tales for the aesthetically numb.