This blog feature amusing and heartwarming stories about our late Leonberger dog Bronco, as well as other Leonbergers. It also has a lot of information about the Leonberger breed, the history, care, training, Leonberger organizations, etc. I also wrote a Leonberger book, which I am featuring in the sidebar.
Category: Non-Leonberger Book Promotions
Reviews of books that are not about Leonbergers. They are books I want to promote.
The focus of this blog is Leonbergers but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that I want to promote. Since Halloween is coming up, I decided to post a review for one of the most disturbing horror books that I’ve ever read, Books of Blood. Books of Blood is an anthology divided into six volumes. This book is volume one to three. If “Clive Barker” does not ring a bell, his novel Hellbound Heart was the foundation for the Hellraiser series of eleven movies (with Pinhead). Books of Blood spawned seven movies. I read the paperback version.
I should mention that the stories in Books of Blood are very imaginative but disturbing and macabre and should not be read by children, and perhaps not even by young adults. There are bizarre depictions of violent deaths as well as some sexual themes. Other than demons, Clive Barker’s books do not include many standard horror characters such as vampires or zombies, and his stories also tend to be unique.
Paperback – Published October 1, 1998, by Berkley, ISBN-10 : 0425165582, ISBN-13 : 978-0425165584, 507 pages, Item Weight : 1.1 pounds, Dimensions : 6 x 1.1 x 9 inches, it cost $13.13 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Hardcover – Published January 1, 1999, by Little, Brown, ISBN-10 : 0316853674, ISBN-13 : 978-0316853675, 512 pages, Item Weight : 1.26 pounds, it costs $32.10 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of Books of Blood Volume 1-3. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.
Amazon’s description of the book
Rediscover the true meaning of fear in this collection of horror stories from New York Times bestselling author Clive Barker.
“The most provocative tales of terror ever published.”—The Washington Post
Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we’re opened, we’re red…
With the publication of Books of Blood, Clive Barker became an overnight literary sensation. His tour de force collection of brilliantly disturbing tales demonstrated a genius for dark invention that rivaled Poe and Sade. He was hailed by Stephen King as “the future of horror,” and won both the British and World Fantasy Awards.
Now, with his numerous bestsellers, graphic novels, and hit movies like the Hellraiser films, Clive Barker has become an industry unto himself. It is his powerful writing style and arresting imagery that have made Books of Blood a classic—and Clive Barker a cult phenomenon.
Below is my review written for this blog post. I have not yet written a review for Amazon.
Simon McNeal is a quack pretending to be a medium. He is pretending to channel the spirits in a house that he claims is haunted. Unbeknownst to Simon, the house is haunted for real, and it is located on the highway of the dead and haunted by thousands of spirits. His fakery angers the spirits of the dead who have real stories to tell, horrific stories. They capture him and carve their stories into his skin using sharp little needles. These stories constitute the rest of the book. The concept of the Books of Blood brings to mind Ray Bradbury’s the Illustrated Man whose skin also told stories but in the form of pictures.
This book features 16 stories, and as I mentioned, are the foundation for several movies including Candyman, Lord of Illusions, Dread, Rawhead Rex, and Midnight Meat Train. The stories are disturbing and sometimes gross and they are gloomy and sad. In one story “Son of Celluloid”, a cancer tumor survives its host and gains sentience as well as psychic powers. It attacks people and implants bizarre hallucinations in people’s minds, leading to some very strange and gruesome deaths.
In another story “Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament”, a woman acquires extremely powerful telekinetic powers after a suicide attempt. After Jacqueline’s husband admits to an affair, which he blames on her gloomy personality in the same breath, she gets so upset that she screams at him to “shut up”, which causes him to bite his own tongue off. This gives her ideas, and she decides to take revenge on bad men. Working as a prostitute she lures men to their own death. Let’s just say there is not much left of them when she is done with them, thus no crime to investigate.
Clive Barker mixes the gory, the disgusting and the brutal with good story telling. His imagination is macabre but amazing. Clive Barker uses vivid depictions and our fear of pain and death, and the fear of abandonment, and the losing of our humanity, to create dread and fear as we read these short stories. Books of Blood is a collection of stories for real horror fans, and it may not be for those looking for more lighthearted horror. For that we have Stephen King. They are both great story tellers, but Clive Barker pushes the macabre further than Stephen King does, and his stories are darker and less hopeful. I highly recommend Books of Blood to real horror fans but maybe not to everyone.
Back cover of Books of Blood Volume 1-3. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the hardcover version of the book.
The focus of this blog is Leonbergers but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that I want to promote. This time I would like to promote Haiku for the Midnight Hour by Dawn Pisturino. This is a wonderful book featuring spooky poetry. I bought the paperback version from Amazon for $5.99 .
Paperback – Published September 1, 2024, by Horse Mesa Press, ASIN : B0DFW6CQ7S, ISBN-13 : 979-8991244718, 64 pages, Item Weight : 5.3 ounces, Dimensions : 6 x 0.15 x 9 inches, it cost $5.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle – Published August 31, 2024, by Horse Mesa Press, ASIN : B0DD3SBP6N, 64 pages, it costs $2.99 on US Amazon but is free with Kindle Unlimited. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of Haiku for the Midnight Hour by Dawn Pisturino. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the book.
Amazon’s description of the book
This collection of haiku challenges the traditional Japanese poetic art form. Experimenting with darker images and ideas, I have created non-traditional observations that address the other side of literature and life: monsters, ghosts, natural fears, supernatural forces, fearful gods and goddesses, and whatever constitutes the Otherworld. This book was written for people who like Halloween, scary stories, and being alone in the dark.
Haiku for the midnight hour feature more than 200 spooky Haiku poems divided into 17 chapters. All poems and chapters feature a different theme. There are poems about scary animals, paranormal beings, folklore, ghosts and demons, monsters, death, outer space, fairy tales, magic, occult practices, and much more. My two favorite chapters were Spellbinding and Wee Folk.
The poems are imaginative, varied, original, different, entertaining and a lot of fun to read, especially if you are into Halloween and all things spooky, like I am. I also learned something about paranormal beings and folklore that I did not know before. Do you know what Dagda, Samhein, Arachne, Nyarlathotep, or Lughnasadh is? I think Halloween and scary stories are about imagination, pushing the limits of reality, and having fun, and that is what this poetry book is about. It is not your typical Haiku poem book. I highly recommend Haiku for the midnight hour.
Other books by Dawn Pisturino
I should add that I was also delighted to find myself mentioned in the authors afterword regarding one of her other books.
Back cover of Haiku for the Midnight Hour by Dawn Pisturino. Click on the image to go to the Kindle version for the book.
About the Author
Dawn Pisturino is a retired nurse in Arizona whose international publishing credits include poems, short stories, and articles. Her first poetry book, Ariel’s Song: Published Poems, 1987 – 2023, debuted with five-star reviews. Her short chapbook, Lunar Gazing Haiku, became a #1 Amazon New Release in six categories.
Her newest release, Haiku for the Midnight Hour, achieved #1 Amazon New Release status in three categories. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, PEN America, and the Arizona Authors Association.
In my Leonberger blog I sometimes post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that I want to promote, and this is a book that I would like to promote. I recently read Sounds in the Silence by D.L. Finn: a mystery novel and thriller with paranormal aspects. I found this book to be very imaginative, suspenseful and fun to read and therefore I would like to promote it. It comes in a paperback edition and a Kindle edition.
Paperback – June 22, 2024, ASIN : B0D7SQJJHD, ISBN-13 : 979-8986158785, 230 pages, item weight : 14.4 ounces, dimensions : 6 x 0.52 x 9 inches, it is currently $ 9.99 on Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle – June 24, 2024, ASIN B0D4C82RVQ, 232 pages. It is currently $0.99 on Amazon.com but free with Kindle unlimited. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
This is a scan of the front cover of the book Sounds in the Silence. Click on the photo to go to the Amazon location for the paperback version of the book.
This is Amazon’s description of the book.
Maria and Logan Davis stumbled upon the perfect old house by a secluded lake—a prime candidate for their dream inn. They knew a renovation was involved but didn’t expect a persistent ghost that pleaded to be found. Determined, Maria delved into the mystery, only to uncover a haunting love story and murder from the Roaring Twenties. Yet, the young couple’s curiosity shifts to fear when they realize someone is taking a dangerous interest in their barn. With time ticking away, they must unravel the secrets of their home’s past before it’s too late.
A Captivating Murder Mystery with Paranormal Components
Helen and Charlie live in a mansion in a small town in the mid-twenties during the prohibition. They are a happy and outgoing couple who loves to party, but they are breaking the law by drinking and serving alcohol to the indignation of many of the locals who are under the spell of an ultra-religious and menacing preacher. Maria and Logan move into the same mansion 40 years later. Maria and Logan realize that their mansion harbors a ghostly presence who seems to want to communicate.
The story is told using two timelines, which at first seem disconnected. However, the two parallel stories are presented in a seamless fashion, and they eventually connect and merge in clever ways. The secrets of the past are discovered and explained 40 years later using this technique. I think this novel primarily is a detective story and a thriller with paranormal components. With the help of the hints from the ghost, and their keen minds and perceptiveness, Maria and Logan begin to unravel the dangerous mysteries from the past thus putting themselves in danger. The evil forces from the past are still lurking in the little town.
This book is quite thrilling as well as fun to read. The story is clever and unique and there is something unexpected and interesting happening on every page. The author’s idea of how ghosts behave and the explanation for their limited abilities in the world among the living is as believable as anything I’ve read or seen in the movies. I highly recommend this intriguing and fun book.
This is a scan of the back cover of the book Sounds in the Silence. Click on the photo to go to the Amazon location for the kindle version of the book.
About the Author
D.L. Finn is an independent California local who encourages everyone to embrace their inner child. She was born and raised in the foggy Bay Area, but in 1990 she relocated with her husband, kids, dogs, and cats to Nevada City, in the Sierra foothills. She immersed herself in reading all types of books but especially loved romance, horror, and fantasy.
She always treasured creating her own reality on paper. Finally, surrounded by towering pines, oaks, and cedars, her creativity was nurtured until it bloomed. Her creations include children’s books, adult fiction, and poetry. She continues on her adventure with an open invitation to all readers to join her.
The focus of this blog is Leonbergers but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that I want to promote. Well, I read another book that I loved, so this is another one of those. I am reviewing and promoting a wonderful collection of short stories and poems called The Storyteller Speaks: Powerful Stories to Win Your Heart by Annika Perry. I bought the paperback version.
Paperback – Published January 16, 2018, ISBN-10 : 198188372X, ISBN-13 : 978-1981883721, 204 pages, Item Weight : 8 ounces, Dimensions : 5 x 0.51 x 8 inches, it cost $8.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of The Storyteller Speaks by Annika Perry. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback.
Amazon’s description of the book
It only takes one event to change a life. What is that action, decision, occurrence? Whose life is affected? Changed forever? In this eclectic mix of 21 short stories, flash fiction and poetry the pendulum swings between first love and murder, from soul-destroying grief to reconciliation. The tales veer from the sweet satisfaction of revenge to new beginnings, from heart-breaking miscarriages of justice to heart-warming Christmas misadventure. One common thread binds them all; the belief that there is no such thing as an ordinary life; they’re all extraordinary. Open your hearts and minds as The Storyteller Speaks.
This is a collection of 21 beautifully written stories as well as a few poems. Some of the stories depict the struggles and disappointments in life, some of them are tragic and sad, and some of them are uplifting and fun, but all of them are captivating stories centered on the unexpected in people’s lives. The author’s ability to portray emotions without using superlatives is remarkable. I could feel for and sympathize with the characters with ease. A few skillfully descriptive words were all that was needed. The author’s background is Swedish and since my background is Swedish many aspects of the stories felt familiar to me.
Many of the stories, perhaps all of them, are based on real events, sometimes taken from the author’s own life. I think the story that stayed with me the most was A Green Cage. It was about a woman who was wrong-fully convicted of murdering her children. The story depicted her emotions both very harrowingly and realistically just by stating the facts about what she felt. Another story that stayed with me was Sofia, a story about a tragedy occurring at the zoo. It depicted the dire consequences of thoughtless teenage antics as well as love and bravery going overboard. People do stupid things that can turn a fun day into death. The first story, Biding her Time, is a beautiful love story, which I believe was about the love story of her grandfather and grandmother. The last story, “The Loss of a Patriarch”, is a beautiful tribute to her late grandfather.
It is a very enjoyable and unforgettable collection of stories that is masterfully written. I loved reading it and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in reading short stories.
Back cover of The Storyteller Speaks by Annika Perry. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the kindle version.
About the Author
Annika Perry is a full-time writer, blogger and book reviewer. She was born in Gothenburg, Sweden and raised near Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Annika received her BA Honours Degree in German Language and Literature from the University of Leeds.
Her initial employment was as a journalist followed by many years as an agent in the timber trade. She was awarded first prize in Writing Magazine’s Short Story Competition in 2014 and also shortlisted in an Ink Tears Short Fiction Contest. “The Storyteller Speaks”, a collection of short stories, flash fiction and poetry, was her debut book. “Oskar’s Quest”, a beautifully illustrated and enchanting children’s story, is her second published book. Annika Perry lives with her family in a small village in North Essex, England.
The focus of this blog is Leonbergers but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that I want to promote. This is another one of those. I am reviewing and promoting a great collection of short horror and spooky stories called And the Grave Awaits by Roberta Eaton Cheadle. I bought the kindle version.
Paperback – Published July 5, 2024, ASIN : B0D8BJRCFC, ISBN-13: ISBN-13 : 979-8328600293, 194 pages, Item Weight : 12.5 ounces, Dimensions : 6 x 0.44 x 9 inches, it cost $10.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle – Published July 5, 2024, ASIN : B0D7745TZB, 204 pages, it costs $5.99 on US Amazon, it is free with Kindle unlimited. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of And the Grave Awaitsby Robbie Eaton Cheadle. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback.
Amazon’s description of the book
A collection of short paranormal and dark stories.
Includes the award-winning short story, The Bite.
A group of boys participate in a reality television challenge; to the death.
What does it mean to be a Canary Girl? One young woman is about to find out.
Where is the bride? A beautiful young woman goes missing during a game of hide and seek on her wedding day.
Some stories will make you cry, some will make you gasp, and some will leave you believing in vigilante justice. All will end with a grave.
This is a collection of 16 spooky and creepy stories. Some of them are horror stories, some of them are paranormal stories and some of them are historical fiction depicting dark events in the past. All of them are spellbinding and interesting. There are spider dances, ghosts, séances, human sacrifice, sirens, murders, mass murderers, deadly diseases, icy magical mountains, enraged gods, volcanoes, 500-year-old history, war and poisoning, baby farming, gruesome death, chimney sweep children, and much more. Many of the stories end in death but some of them have happy endings.
The stories are fiction and quite imaginative, but they all have a background in reality whether it is a historical event or some gruesome tradition or myth from the past. At the end of each story the author has an “About” section explaining the background to the story. This ends up being quite educational. At least I learned a lot from reading the About sections, and sometimes I also googled the information to learn more.
I think my favorite story was Glass Mountain. This was a science fiction-like story taking place in the future. A group of young men participate in a reality TV game show. If they succeed in their quest, they will be rich. They are supposed to climb a mysterious and icy mountain called Glass Mountain. The problem is that no one comes back from the climb, and the young men eventually found out why. Another fascinating story was the siren who was raised as a human vegetarian, which is like trying to make your cat a vegetarian. Her father also did not allow her to sing. As you may guess, she grew up.
Above all these 16 stories are very entertaining. I love spooky stories and these stories were thrilling, unique, creative and very well written. I highly recommend this book.
About the Author
Award-winning bestselling author, Robbie Cheadle, has published fourteen children’s books and two poetry books. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.
Robbie also has two novels published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.
The eleven Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
This is a Leonberger blog, but sometimes I also post reviews for books that are not about Leonbergers and when I do it is for books that I love and that I want others to read. Today I am posting a review for Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis by Dr. Michael E. Mann. If you don’t know who Michael Mann is, he is the creator of the hockey-stick curve (in 1998), which is a curve that shows the variation of average global temperature throughout history. For recent times (last 150 years) he used measured temperatures and for temperatures further in the past he used so called proxy data to estimate global temperatures. As the name indicates the graph looked like a hockey stick laying down, which did not sit well with climate change deniers, and as a result he was viciously attacked, threatened, and defamed. He was a young post-doc student at the time. February 8, 2024, Dr. Michael Mann was awarded one million dollars in a defamation lawsuit against Fox talk show host Mark Steyn and another $1,000.00 from Rand Simberg.
Hockey stick curve for the last 1,000 years, blue-Michael Mann’s original curve (proxy measurements such as tree rings), green-dots 30-year average, red temperature measurements. From Wikipedia Commons.Global temperature going back twenty thousand years, another hockey stick graph. Notice the stable temperature during the last 6-7,000 years, coinciding with the development of human civilization, and then a sudden sharp increase at the end.
I should say that at first, I believed myself that Dr. Mann was a fraud. As I took a deep dive into the topic and learned more about it, I came to realize I was wrong and that his critics were wrong, and that Michael Mann was right. Since his original hockey stick curve there have been several dozen hockey stick curves produced by other independent researchers, often going back further in time, and they all confirm his findings. Today the scientific community has entirely accepted the hockey stick as correct. Despite this fact Dr. Mann is still being attacked by various organizations and individuals. Typically graphs put people to sleep, but this one started a war that is still ongoing. Charles Darwin was also attacked for his scientific discoveries and now history is repeating itself.
Anyway, about this book. This book mentions the hockey stick curve, but it is not the focus of the book. This book goes back 4.5 billion years and explains what is known about past climate which is surprisingly much. Science does not know everything, otherwise it would stop, but it knows a lot. He discusses various past climate shocks, various climate cycles, extinction events, etc., and analyses what past climate means for us today. There is bad news and there is good news. The book is packed with information and data, but I loved it.
Hardcover – Publisher : PublicAffairs (September 26, 2023), ISBN-10 : 1541702891, ISBN-13 : 978-1541702899, 320 pages, Item Weight : 1.15 pounds, dimensions : 6.4 x 1.06 x 9.55 inches, it cost $19.59 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Paperback – Publisher : PublicAffairs (October 15, 2024), ISBN-10 : 1541702905, ISBN-13 : 978-1541702905, 320 pages, Item Weight : 1.11 pounds, dimensions : 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.25 inches, it cost $19.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle – Publisher : PublicAffairs (September 26, 2023), ASIN : B0BRJ6SCFM, 392 pages. It is currently $18.99 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Audiobook – Publisher : PublicAffairs, Release date September 26, 2023, ASIN : B0BWKCPSDY, Listening length 9 hours and 38 minutes. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis by Michael E. Mann. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the Hardcover version of the book.
Amazon’s description of the book (from the Amazon page)
In this sweeping work of science and history, the renowned climate scientist and author of The New Climate War shows us the conditions on Earth that allowed humans not only to exist but thrive, and how they are imperiled if we veer off course.
For the vast majority of its 4.54 billion years, Earth has proven it can manage just fine without human beings. Then came the first proto-humans, who emerged just a little more than 2 million years ago—a fleeting moment in geological time. What is it that made this benevolent moment of ours possible? Ironically, it’s the very same thing that now threatens us—climate change.
The drying of the tropics during the Pleistocene period created a niche for early hominids, who could hunt prey as forests gave way to savannahs in the African tropics. The sudden cooling episode known as the “Younger Dryas” 13,000 years ago, which occurred just as Earth was thawing out of the last Ice Age, spurred the development of agriculture in the fertile crescent. The “Little Ice Age” cooling of the 16th-19th centuries led to famines and pestilence for much of Europe, yet it was a boon for the Dutch, who were able to take advantage of stronger winds to shorten their ocean voyages.
The conditions that allowed humans to live on this earth are fragile, incredibly so. Climate variability has at times created new niches that humans or their ancestors could potentially exploit, and challenges that at times have spurred innovation. But there’s a relatively narrow envelope of climate variability within which human civilization remains viable. And our survival depends on conditions remaining within that range.
In this book, renowned climate scientist Michael Mann will arm readers with the knowledge necessary to appreciate the gravity of the unfolding climate crisis, while emboldening them—and others–to act before it truly does become too late.
A Palaeoclimatological Journey Accompanied by Intelligent Analysis And What It Means for Us
In this book the author takes us on a journey through earth’s climate history. He discusses the climate during the different eras and periods of earth’s history starting with the Hadean and Archean and ending with the Holocene. There have been extreme changes in the climate, caused by shocks to the system, followed by mass extinctions. The many devastating large swings in the climate often took hundreds of thousands of years or millions of years to run their course. Species disappeared while species better adapted to the new climate evolved. As he gets to modern times, the Holocene, he gives us more detail and analyzes the climate for much shorter intervals. It is clear from his discussion on more recent climate that climate has shaped us, and we have shaped climate.
He also discusses the various climate cycles that effected our climate in the past as well as currently, including the Milankovitch cycles, such as the eccentricity of Earth’s orbit, earth’s obliquity and precession. Other cycles he is discussing include the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, the north Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), which as it turns out does not exist. The purpose of all this is to determine what this means for our civilization and the unnatural and extremely rapid warming that we are causing today primarily via our carbon emissions.
I found some of the climate shocks he discussed quite interesting. During the Paleoproterozoic era 2 billion years ago the biological innovation of oxygen-generating photosynthesis led to a rapid drawdown on atmospheric carbon dioxide and in addition the positive feedback from the increased albedo from the ice buildup turned the planet into a snowball. This was reversed as the ice prevented absorption of carbon dioxide. Eventually the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere reached 200 times of what it is today, and the snowball rapidly melted, and the carbon dioxide concentration settled again. The greatest extinction event in geological history was the Permian-Triassic extinction event 250 million years ago when 90% of all species on Earth perished. It was primarily caused by a substantial release of carbon dioxide from Siberian Trap volcanic eruptions.
Another interesting climate shock was the dinosaur-killing K-Pg event 66 million years ago. An asteroid collision made Earth’s climate much colder, and all large species died out. It took four million years for flora and fauna to reestablish itself but with new species. The losers were the non-avian dinosaurs, and the winners were the mammals and the avian dinosaurs or birds. The PETM event 55 million years ago was triggered by carbon-enriched volcanic eruptions that led to a rapid increase in temperature of 7-11 Fahrenheit in just 10,000 years. This event is eerily similar to what we are experiencing now, except our warming is even faster. He also describes the cooling that happened 50 million years ago because of the forced uplift of the Himalayas due to the collision of India with Eurasia. For more recent times he is discussing the various glacial and interglacial periods (ice-ages), driven by Milankovitch cycles.
His chief goal with his paleoclimate discussion is to find out what the paleoclimate record implicates for us. For example, establishing what is the equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS), which is the increase in Earth’s average surface temperature that occurs after the climate system fully adjusts to a sustained doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Another is Earth System Sensitivity (ESS), which describes how much warming you ultimately get in response to a doubling of CO2, after all the slow-response feedback mechanisms fully unfold.
Yet another climate feature is the existence of hysteresis loops, in which the value of a physical property lags behind changes in the effect causing it. For example, setting back CO2 to what it was before an event may not bring temperatures and climate back to what it was for 100,000 years. He is also analyzing the risk for ocean conveyor disruption and the risk for future methane bombs. The latter, which turns out to be low risk. Another piece of good news is that we are not at risk of a run-away greenhouse effect like the one Venus underwent two billion years ago. His conclusions are a mixed bag of good news and bad news. I can add that naturally he is also discussing the hockey-stick curve. He was the inventor of it.
The book contains a lot of information, and it sometimes features complex discussions, but if you read the book carefully it makes perfect sense. It is logical, intelligently written, and avoids hyperbole and exaggerations. However, if you are not very familiar with science and have a hard time with complexity it may not be the book for you. He stresses that the greatest threat to meaningful climate action is no longer denial, but despair and doomism, premised on the flawed notion that it is too late to do anything. We will not all perish from climate change, but neither is it a good thing. The facts justify immediate and dramatic action, but we are not going to fall off a cliff. Climate change is a crisis, but a solvable crisis. The question is how much damage we will do to future generations.
I highly recommend this brilliant, and fact filled deep dive into paleoclimate and what it means for humanity today, to anyone willing and able to tackle some complexity.
Back cover of Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis by Michael E. Mann. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the Paperback version of the book.
About the Author
Dr. Michael E. Mann, famous for the hockey stick curve, is Presidential Distinguished Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Annenberg School for Communication. He is director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media (PCSSM).
Dr. Mann has received a number of honors and awards including NOAA’s outstanding publication award in 2002 and selection by Scientific American as one of the fifty leading visionaries in science and technology in 2002. He contributed, with other IPCC authors, to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union in 2012. In 2020 he was elected to the US National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of more than 200 peer-reviewed and edited publications and five books. His research involves the use of theoretical models and observational data to better understand Earth’s climate system.
The Silurian Hypothesis
For all science fiction fans, the book also featured an idea that would make a good science fiction story. 55 million years ago there was an exceptionally fast warming of 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) that was in many regards similar to what is happening now. It was not quite an extinction event, that requires more than 75% of all species to be gone in less than 2 million years, but it was catastrophic. This event is referred to as the PETM event. I can add that we are warming the earth at a rate 10 times faster today.
If we were to destroy ourselves what would a future species know about us 55 million years from now? Well, all traces of our civilization would be gone and finding fossils of us would be very likely despite our large population, because fossilization events are extremely rare. What would be left of us are the traces of the global warming we caused and long-lived chemicals such as nitrates from our fertilizers. That’s exactly what the PETM event has left behind, signs of a sharp increase in CO2, global warming and a sudden spike in nitrates that remain unexplained. Could it be that we are not the first intelligent species on earth and that our predecessors caused global warming as well? Well, this was just entertaining speculation, not science, but could there be something to it?
The focus of this blog is Leonbergers but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but are books that I love, and I therefore want to promote. This time I would like to promote All the Words I Kept Inside by P.J. Gudka – July 9, 2024. In this book P.J. Gudka, or Pooja, lets out her innermost feelings utilizing enchanting and beautiful poetry and it ends up being quite powerful. I bought the Kindle edition.
Paperback – Publisher : Wild Ink Publishing (June 29, 2024), ISBN-10 : 1958531650, ISBN-13 : 978-1958531655, 112 pages, Item Weight : 4.7 ounces, dimensions : 5 x 0.26 x 8 inches, it currently cost $ $19.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle – Publisher : Wild Ink Publishing (July 9, 2024), ASIN : B0D42BHQQ8, 113 pages. It is currently $6.99 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of All the Words I Kept Inside Kindle Edition by P.J. Gudka. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the book.
Amazon’s description of the book
What is your truth? What is your secret? What secrets are you keeping from the world that you hope one day you will be brave enough to tell? When will you tell your heart? All The Words I Kept Inside allows you this moment.
This collection of poetry urges you to look deeply inside and confront your darkest thoughts. It takes that inner dread, disappointment, and heartache to reveal the words of the heart. This book will show you that you are not alone. That you are understood. That you don’t have to go through these dark moments on your own because so many of us experience them too. The words found inside will reach out a hand and guide you.
This is your moment.
This is your truth that you’ve never told anyone.
The words see you.
From the very earliest moments, the words know…
“All the words I kept inside. In you, I now confide…”
The Girl Who Fell in Love with the Monster Under Her Bed
It’s OK to mourn the person you were. Even if you love the person you are now. That was one of the phrases in this book. This book features beautiful and deeply moving poems. They are often dark and sad, and while reading it I couldn’t help but recalling the phrase from the song “the sound of silence”, “Hello darkness my old friend I’ve come to talk with you again”. The author put her innermost feelings and angst into poems using enchanting word formations and rhymes. The poems were dark but also full of wisdom, truth and beauty. As soon as my kindle book was made available to me, I started reading it and I could not stop. The poems were so intriguing and powerful. Reading this book was a very special experience. I highly recommend this beautiful book of poetry.
About the Author
P. J. Gudka is a writer, blogger and freelancer currently working from Kenya. Her journey as a blogger began when she created her multi-niche blog, Lifesfinewhine, as a teenager, to share her experiences with life, mental health, travel and more. Since then, her blog has captured the interest of thousands of people around the world and is now her full-time passion.
Her writing has been published in books like Hidden In Childhood: A Poetry Anthology and Glow: Self-Care Poetry For The Soul as well as multiple magazines.
The focus of this blog is Leonbergers but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that I loved, and I want to promote. This time I would like to promote Sarah (Women in the West Adventure Series) by Kaye Lynne Booth – May 7, 2024. This is a captivating wild west book with a female main character. I did not buy the book. I won the book in a book raffle organized by the author. I was lucky. It is a great book.
Paperback – Publisher : Wordcrafter Press (May 7, 2024), ASIN : B0D32GQD8M, ISBN-13 : 979-8223446460, 314 pages, Item Weight : 14.1 ounces, dimensions : 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches, it currently cost $20.99 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle – Publisher : Wordcrafter Press (May 7, 2024), ASIN : B0CWZHG1W8, 318 pages. It is currently $6.99 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of Sarah by Kaye Lynne Booth. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the book.
Amazon’s description of the book
Sarah survived being abducted at fourteen and sold to the Utes.
She works hard to learn and be accepted as the squaw of the chief’s brother, Three Hawks, and she now looks forward to raising a family among the Ute tribe. But when a mysterious stranger, a lone Sioux warrior, she is thrown into a game of survival in the mountains of Colorado.
Hope and a streak of stubbornness take this optimistic heroine up against the adversities of the western frontier as she blossoms into a young woman and tries to make a place for herself in the world.
If you like strong female protagonists, you’ll love Sarah.
This is my five-star review of the book Sarah. Click here to see my review on Amazon.
A Young Woman’s Dangerous Adventures in the Wild West
I won this book in a raffle, so I did not buy the book from Amazon. Recently I’ve been reading a few Westerns featuring female main characters that was written by female authors. I’ve been awestruck by their intensity and compelling story telling, including this one. I think this might be a genre with a lot of hidden gems. Both women and men can certainly enjoy the captivating and fast-paced story about Sarah, or Hair-of-Fire, which was her Shoshone name.
Sarah was kidnapped by two men and sold to the Shoshone / Ute tribe. She became part of the Ute tribe and integrated into the Shoshone culture. She learned to speak Shoshone, but she retained her ability to speak English. Then one day she was abducted by a Sioux warrior that had been exiled from his tribe, and so began her complicated and tumultuous journey back to “white civilization”. She encountered a lot of life-threatening situations, dangerous animals, evil men, accidents and treacherous acquaintances as well as kindhearted men and women. Sarah is brave, cunning, and strong. She is a survivor with a good heart. That this book is fast-paced and intense is an understatement.
I also really enjoyed the depiction of animals in the book, including her loyal and brave dog Blue and her smart and strong horse Natsam-mayaapeh Beepi or “Beepi” for short. Blue really stole my heart. It seemed to me that the author had done her research well. It appeared that she was well informed about the frontier societies in the old West, she understood native American cultures, is familiar with the landscape in the area and she is a dog lover and horse lover. I highly recommend this book.
About the Author
For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is her passion. It is a very strange time indeed when Kaye Lynne does not have at least three WIPs, in addition to her other writings, teaching and other life activities. Kaye Lynne lives, works and plays in the beautiful mountains of Colorado.
The focus of this blog is Leonbergers but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that I want to promote. This time I would like to promote Lunar Gazing Haiku by Dawn Pisturino. This is a wonderful short book featuring beautiful poetry. I bought it from Amazon for 99 cents. The publisher is Horse Mesa Press (June 8, 2024), print length is 32 pages, ASIN : B0D6LWR5GL.
Front cover of Lunar Gazing Haiku by Dawn Pisturino. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the book.
Amazon’s description of the book
In Japan, tsukimi (moon gazing) is an annual Harvest Moon Festival celebrated in September. Dating back centuries, when the noble classes composed music and poetry while viewing the full moon, the festival now includes everybody and marks the celebration of the autumn season. Looking for the “rabbit in the moon” while picnicking under the stars, appreciating the moon’s sacred splendor, giving thanks for bounties received, and looking forward to a prosperous future make this a special event. The 62 haiku in this digital chapbook celebrate all seasons and all aspects of life, with the last chapter dedicated to moon gazing. Enjoy the fun.
Lunar Gazing Haiku is a delightful short book featuring 62 Haikus about the seasons, holidays, nature, love, spirituality, animals and the moon. The book also has an interesting introduction explaining what a Haiku is and the history of Haiku. The Haikus in the book are fun, ponderous, beautiful, often soothing and sometimes they evoked beautiful imagery and memories. Snow Moon brought me back to my childhood and the dark winters in northern Sweden. My favorites were Your Name, Old Age, Dogs, The Beach, Mercury, Words, and Snow Moon. I highly recommend this beautiful little book of poetry.
About the Author
Dawn Pisturino is a retired nurse in Arizona whose international publishing credits include poems, short stories, and articles. Her poetry has appeared in several anthologies, most recently in Hidden in Childhood: A Poetry Anthology, Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women, and the 2023 Arizona Literary Magazine. She is a Mystery Writers of America, Arizona Authors Association, and PEN America member.
This is a Leonberger blog, but sometimes I also post reviews for books that are not about Leonbergers and when I do it is books that I love and that I want others to read. Today I am posting a review for a book that I loved, “A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays” Hardcover – September 1, 1998, updated in 2017. It was written by Stephen Hawking. A long time ago I read the original “A Brief History of Time” but now I read this updated version. It is still the original but the adjustments/corrections for more recent discoveries are described in the appendix. Contrary to what Amazon claims I don’t think this is a book “Told in language we all can understand”. In my opinion you need a little bit of a physics background or at least a serious interest in the subject. Otherwise, it will be too much abstract information at once. I should add that I bought the Hardcover.
Hardcover – Publisher : Bantam; Anniversary edition (September 1, 1998), updated 2017, ISBN-10 : 0553109537, ISBN-13 : 978-0553109535, 240 pages, Item Weight : 2.31 pounds, dimensions : 6.18 x 0.83 x 9.29 inches, it cost $16.14 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Paperback – Publisher : RANDOM HOUSE UK; First Edition (January 1, 1990), ISBN-10 : 0553176986, ISBN-13 : 978-0553176988, 211 pages, Item Weight : 2.31 pounds, dimensions : 4.33 x 0.71 x 7.05 inches, it cost $20.85 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Kindle – Publisher : Bantam; 10th edition (May 4, 2011), ASIN : B004WY3D0O, 242 pages. It is currently $9.99 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Audiobook – Publisher : Phoenix Books, Inc., Release date : January 06, 2022, ASIN : B09NLFY54Z, Listening length 5hrs 49 minutes. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
Front cover of A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays Hardcover by Stephen Hawking. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the Hardcover version of the book.
Amazon’s description of the book
Published more than two decades ago to great critical acclaim and commercial success, A Brief History of Time has become a landmark volume in science writing. Stephen Hawking, one of the great minds of our time, explores such profound questions as: How did the universe begin—and what made its start possible? Does time always flow forward? Is the universe unending—or are there boundaries? Are there other dimensions in space? What will happen when it all ends?
Told in language we all can understand, A Brief History of Time plunges into the exotic realms of black holes and quarks, of antimatter and “arrows of time,” of the big bang and a bigger God—where the possibilities are wondrous and unexpected. With exciting images and profound imagination, Stephen Hawking brings us closer to the ultimate secrets at the very heart of creation.
Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Black Holes, and Cosmology in just 200 Pages.
First, I should mention that even though I bought the hardcopy version of the book released in 1998, I received the updated version released in 2017. The same will probably happen to you if you buy it. I certainly did not mind. The 2017 version is identical to the 1998 version, but it contains additional material including corrections that are featured in an appendix at the end of the book. For example, in 1998 it was discovered that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, making the Friedmann models he discussed in chapter 3 almost obsolete. In addition, since 1998 Hawking’s no-boundary condition has become more certain, as well as the existence of multiverses. Therefore, it is important not to skip the appendix, and perhaps it is best to read the appendix first, so you know what to ignore in the original text of “A Brief History of Time”. I should mention that I read the original book from 1990, a very long time ago.
The book covers a lot of material. He describe past models of the universe, space and time and special and general relativity, light cones, cosmology, the expanding universe, quantum physics, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, the two slit experiment, the wave particle duality, anti-particles, Feynman’s sum over histories, elementary particles, particle spin, fundamental forces, entropy, black holes, event horizons, space-time singularities, the cosmic censorship hypothesis, virtual particles, the big bang, the inflationary model and the new inflationary model, the anthropic principle, imaginary time, quantum gravitational effects, the no-boundary condition, three arrows of time, Gödels incompleteness theorem, Einstein-Rosen bridges, or so called wormholes, supergravity, string theory, the unification of physics, renormalization, eternal inflation and the multiverse, etc. In summary, he covers a lot in less than 200 pages.
I have a degree in physics (I became an engineer) and I have an interest in these kind of topics, and therefore I understood most of the content in this book, at least at some level. However, I can see how people without a background in physics would have a hard time with this book. Hawking is for the most part doing a great job explaining these topics, but many of the topics are very abstract and the book covers a lot of them. I think it might be too much for some people, but I don’t see that as necessarily a fault of the book. It is just an acknowledgement that this is not an easy subject. If you want to understand what we know about the universe you have a lot of work ahead of you, no matter how great your teachers or authors are.
One potentially controversial item is the implications of the no-boundary condition derived from the combination of general relativity and quantum mechanics (quantum gravity). It is natural to think that the universe has either existed for an infinite time or that it had a beginning. The no-boundary condition offers up a third option. Space-time is finite and yet there is no singularity. In addition, the universe is self-contained meaning it does not have a beginning or an end. Just like in a universe that has existed for an infinite time there is no moment of creation.
In chapter 10 he discusses wormholes and time travel. Kurt Gödel, the guy with the incompleteness theorem, showed that under certain circumstances General Relativity allowed for time travel. Also, when you travel faster than the speed of light you are traveling backwards in time, something most science fiction authors depicting spaceships traveling faster than the speed of light conveniently ignore. However, the conclusion of the discussion that followed was basically, in practice you can probably not time travel. Just imagine that you could travel back in time and kill your mother. That way you would never be born so now you could not travel back in time and kill your mother, and poff, now you exist again, but now you can travel back in time and kill your mother. Time travel comes with various logical problems. By the way where are all the time travelers from the future?
One thing I disagree with was that he on page 156 says that intelligent beings can only exist in the expanding phase of the universe. His explanation for this statement is not convincing and I don’t believe it. However, since we now know that the universe is likely to expand forever it is a moot point. He also keeps calling entropy “disorder”. This is very common, but “disorder” in common vernacular is a vague term that does not exactly correspond to the mathematical definition of entropy, and this should at least be pointed out. These are very minor and unimportant complaints, but I wanted to mention them. The Amazon description states: “Told in language we all can understand”, which as I mentioned is not really true. But that is the Amazon description of the book, not a problem with the book.
In summary, I think this is a very interesting and informative book and I think it is well written and well organized. The fact that it is difficult reading for many people is because of the subject matter and is not the fault of the author. I highly recommend the book to anyone with a background in physics and anyone else who is really interested in the subject and doesn’t mind looking up concepts a bit more in depth. I give it five stars.
Back cover of A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays Hardcover by Stephen Hawking. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the Hardcover version of the book.
About the Author
Stephen Hawking’s ability to make science understandable and compelling to a lay audience was established with the publication of his first book, A Brief History of Time, which has sold nearly 10 million copies in 40 languages.
Hawking has authored or participated in the creation of numerous other popular science books, including The Universe in a Nutshell, A Briefer History of Time, On the Shoulders of Giants, The Illustrated On the Shoulders of Giants, and George’s Secret Key to the Universe.
I can add that I also read The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking, which I also recommend but with the same caution as for this book. It’s a bit abstract.
Leonberger Life 