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Slugman
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PostWed Jan 20, 2021 12:33 pm 
I just finished 1491 by Charles Mann. https://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Columbus/dp/1400032059 Very interesting. I was a little bummed that it didn’t go into recent discoveries regarding Beringia and the origins of Native Americans, until I realized the book is 15 years old.

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zephyr
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PostFri Jan 22, 2021 1:19 pm 
Atlas of a Lost World, Travels in Ice Age America by Craig Childs, Pantheon Books, New York, 2018. Available from the Seattle Public Library. I really enjoyed the latest ideas on the peopling of the Americas as determined by newer ideas from all the archaeological work being done these past few decades. The author has traveled to many of the sites and first hand tried to experience the conditions of those early bands of hunters in remote wilderness. Here's a review as expressed in Kirkus Reviews: Scenarios of glacial and postglacial environments in the Americas. Toward the end of the last glaciation, when there was still a land bridge between what was to become Siberia and Alaska, humanoids started to migrate from northeast Asia across the bridge and into the Americas—right? Not so fast. As Childs (Apocalyptic Planet: Field Guide to the Everending Earth, 2012, etc.) points out in this useful and transporting tour d’horizon of the prehistoric Americas, that theory has lost its authority despite its continued usage. In chapters that hopscotch around in time—45,000 years ago, 13,000, 20,000, etc.—and geography (the Bering Sea to Florida), the author brings readers to prehistoric sites, pointing out where artifacts have been found. He presents each site like a diorama, describing what it would have looked like eons ago, what animals would have roamed the land, and what flora would have been available to eat or to fashion as clothing or a boat. “First people,” he writes, “wildly outnumbered by animals, would have found themselves tossed and trampled by tusks and hooves or torn to pieces by the scissoring teeth of scimitar cats.” Throughout the text, Childs projects a high degree of infectious fascination, pulling readers into his prehistoric scenes. Readers will be impressed by his hardiness as he attempts to experience what an ancient traveler may have experienced. Some of the boats and other conveyances are still used today by far northerners, including the “umiaq, the traditional skin boat…made out of walrus skins stitched together around a wooden frame, eyelets cut through the inch-thick hide and secured with rope.” The author backs up his theses with the latest in archaeological research, and he is clearly thrilled when he hits on some new nugget of information. A tight weave of professional findings, anecdotes, site visits, and explanations behind ancient artifacts make this book both engaging and indispensable for those with an interest in prehistory. What the reviewer leaves out is that there is more emphasis on the coastal route that follows the western American coast all the way to the tip of South America once the sea level has dropped a few hundred feet. Childs covers this in his book as well as taking a brief look at the possibility of access from Western Europe due to low sea levels at the same time. Stone artifacts have been found in North America that seem to be a part of a culture in Western Europe--the Iberian peninsula. What is fascinating to me is how they can pinpoint the sources of stone age tools from the chemical and geological signature of the material. ~z

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Ski
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PostFri Jan 22, 2021 3:05 pm 
re: zephyr's post above: For the benefit of those who may not be familar with the term "Oomiak", here is an archival photo of one from a book I have here:
'Eskimos on beach with Oomiak' Port Clarence Alaska 1891 (photo Miner Bruce)
'Eskimos on beach with Oomiak' Port Clarence Alaska 1891 (photo Miner Bruce)
Anyone who doubts that the original Native American inhabitants did not come from eastern Siberia needs to look closely at this photo image. The Yukaghirs (and the Chukchi), fierce warriors, are believed by academics to be the ancestors of Native American tribal peoples.
'Yukaghir summer village on the Korkodon River' - Eastern Siberia ca 1895 (photo Waldemar Jochelson)
'Yukaghir summer village on the Korkodon River' - Eastern Siberia ca 1895 (photo Waldemar Jochelson)

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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Slugman
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Slugman
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PostFri Jan 22, 2021 3:33 pm 
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Waterman
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PostThu Jan 28, 2021 7:54 pm 
Full Rip 9.0 Sandi Doughton Tells of scientists working to understand hazards of a large quake off the coast, the effects and what we can expect.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost
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neek
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PostMon Feb 01, 2021 7:32 am 
When Breath Becomes Air. Memoir of a young neurosurgeon dying of lung cancer, with the final chapter written by his wife. An important read IMO as we all prepare for the inevitable.

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Malachai Constant
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PostMon Feb 01, 2021 9:27 am 
Lightning up a bit, The Guardians by Grisham combination Parry Mason and social comment. Concerns a group of lawyers and a priest freeing innocent prisoners wrongfully convicted in now cold cases.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostMon Feb 01, 2021 4:08 pm 
olderthanIusedtobe wrote:
Just starting Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline, obviously the sequel to Ready Player One.
Jeez, the first 50 pages or so was so dismal I gave up on it. After I bogged down I looked up some user reviews and it looks like almost everybody hated it. I'm sure it's already been optioned for a movie, hopefully they will make it a much more entertaining film than it was a book. I breezed thru the Murderbot novellas by Martha Wells last year. 4 quick reads that really could've been all one book. Murderbot is back, this time in novel form in "Network Effect." Pleasing enough to start.

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Waterman
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PostMon Feb 08, 2021 4:12 pm 
American Kompromat Craig Unger Financial entanglements of the former president with assorted Russian actors. Also explores interactions of former administration officials with their own dubious russian interactions.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost
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Malachai Constant
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PostMon Feb 08, 2021 4:54 pm 
Finished Rage by Woodward, nothing really to say that has not already been said.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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lookout bob
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lookout bob
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PostThu Feb 11, 2021 9:07 am 
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Washington-Nostalgic-Evergreen-Smallest/dp/1591938457 Little Washington. A book about all the cool small towns in this state. Recommended. You drive through a bunch of them on your way to the trailhead.... cool.gif

"Altitude is its own reward" John Jerome ( from "On Mountains")
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zephyr
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zephyr
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PostMon Mar 01, 2021 6:06 pm 
Slugman wrote:
I just finished 1491 by Charles Mann.
I also just read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had seen it on the shelf at Elliott Bay Book Company this winter while Christmas shopping. I later found it at the Seattle Public Library and put it on hold about the time Sluggo announced the above. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, by Charles C. Mann, Vintage Books, Random House, New York, 2005, 2011. If you enjoy archaeology, natural history, geology, or human history--particularly of the Americas, then this is for you. Originally published in 2005, I read the 2nd Edition released in 2011. Illustrated with maps, photos, and drawings. The trade paperback has a nice weight and size. The book is beautifully designed. Here's a couple of reviews: Kirkus and BookBrowse. ~z

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Mike Collins
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PostTue Mar 16, 2021 8:40 am 
Tides-The Science and Spirit of the Ocean by local author Jonathan White allows you to discover the largest and fastest tides of the world after a review of the physical characteristics of this phenomenon. Tidal friction is slowing the rotation of the earth by 1/50,000 of a second everyday. The energy transferred by angular momentum to the moon means its orbit is 1 1/2 inches farther away each year or about 10 feet during an average lifespan. This offers enjoyable reading as it mystifies you. It is at kcls.org

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zephyr
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zephyr
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PostWed Mar 17, 2021 9:24 pm 
Slugman wrote:
Now I am reading 1493 by Mann.
I just completed this book as well. wink.gif 1493: Uncovering The New World Columbus Created by Charles Mann, Vintage Books, Random House, 2011. It's funny, both these books (1491 and 1493) came out years ago, but I am just now coming across them this year. A reviewer in the San Francisco Chronicle/Gate had this to say about both: Despite similar titles and styles, "1493" is a very different book from "1491," and the difference may not please all readers. To appreciate Mann's pre-Columbian focus, one needed to know just a little history, a little anthropology. But "1493" asks readers to absorb key concepts in biology, agronomy, epidemiology, chemistry, genetics and more. So take note. So much history here to digest. But the author is such a good writer and the material is fascinating. From the Kirkus Review: "...A spellbinding account of how an unplanned collision of unfamiliar animals, vegetables, minerals and diseases produced unforseen wealth, misery, social upheaval and the modern world." The GoodReads Review is here. And this blurb from the back cover communicates well: A deeply engaging new history of how European settlements in the post-Columbian Americas shaped the world...Presenting the latest research by biologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians, Mann shows how the post-Columbian network of ecological and economic exchange fostered the rise of Europe, devastated imperial China, convulsed Africa, and for two centuries made Mexico City--where Asia, Europe, and the new frontier of the Americas dynamically interacted--the center of the world. Enjoy. ~z

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostWed Mar 31, 2021 6:35 pm 
I'm on another losing streak with books. Currently attempting "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I thought very highly of the movie adaptation. The jury is out on the book. I'm about 100 pages in. It's very episodic. There is basically no plot to speak of, at least not so far. Considering I'm about 1/4 of the way thru, I expected it to start moving in some direction by now.

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