A Book for People of All Ages

Looking for an intriguing book for anyone on your gift list from elementary school student to senior citizen?  I bought Listified for myself and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's divided into 8 sections of fascinating facts.  Here are the section and a fact from each:

Space:  22 5 million--the number of years it takes for the Milky Way to rotate once.

Nature:  The most expensive substance in the world:  Red diamond.  $5,000,000 per gram.  So rare that only 30 are presumed to exist in the world.

Dinosaur Times:  Before the dinosaurs, 245 million years-old fossils were found in Germany of Eryops, a carnivore that lived in both water and land.  It was 6.6 feet long and was a fierce predator with sharp teeth that made it impossible to chew so it trapped fish in its jaws, then threw back its head to swallow them, much like alligator and crocodiles and alligators do today.

Animals: An endurance athlete, the ostrich, with a speed of 30mph, could run a marathon in 52 minutes.

The Body: At 5 weeks, a human embryo is the size of a sesame seed.  At 10 weeks, it's the size of a green olive.

Being Human: There are 3 times more chickens than human beings in the world.

Inventions:  The Slinky was invented by accident by Richard James, an American naval engineer who was developing a spring to keep equipment stable on ships. One day he accidentally knocked some springs off a shelf and noticed that they continued to tumble end over end across the floor.   This gave him the idea for the Slinky.

Game Changers: In 1943, at age 12, Vicki Van Meter from Pennsylvania flew an airplane across the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Books of October

 Homo Deus.  A follow up to the author's best selling Sapiens, he focuses on the future of our species:  ruled by robots.  Depressing

A Hunter Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century.  The authors suggest changes in society to make it "simpler."

The Neighbor's Secret.  Rather confusing.  B-

I'll Take Your Questions Now.  Trump's press secretary who never held a  press conference wants us to know how committed she was to Trump, but he didn't appreciate her in the end.  Too bad.  C+

Senior Memoir Reading Sunday, 11/14

 Members of Inprint Houston's Senior Memoir Class invite you to our annual                                     reading:

                  Sunday, November 14

                     5:00 Central Time

                         Register at

www.inprinthouston.org/events/jccreading

            You will receive a Zoom link

     We'd love for you to hear our stories.              

Jeopardy Answers

Sad week for Jeopardy!  Matt Amodio lost, but I guess winning over $1,000,000 makes up for it.

 Answers to last week's questions:

This state is south of Kentucky.  What is Tennessee?

Tbe two female founders of Hogworts were Helga and this witch. Who is Rowena Ravenclaw?

Egg whites and sugar are made into this goo that is an ingredient of Snickers and Kit Kat bars.  What is nougat?

The museum for this female artist also maintains her home Abiqulu, New Mexico, sixty miles away.  Who is Georgia O'Keefe?  (And by the way, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts has just opened an O'Keefe exhibit.

Her 1944 debut included this line:  "You know how to whistle, Steve.  Just put your lips together and blow."  Who is Lauren Bacall?

South Africa's Goolslang is a horrific cave beast that is part serpent and part this trumpeteter.  What is an elephant?Y

FYI:  Jeopardy is on ABC at 11:30 am, Central Time.  See how many questions you can come up with.

This is Jeopardy!

 I've always been a Jeopardy fan.  When I worked in the Medical Center, we watched the show during our lunch breaks.  I've had two writer friends who were contestants.  After Alex Tribek died, my enthusiasm waned, but now that Matt Amodio has become the second highest winner, my addiction has reappeared.  So here are some Jeopardy answers.  Questions will be in next week's blog post:

This state is south of Kentucky.

The two female founders of Hogwarts were Helga and this witch.

Egg whites and sugar syrup are made into this goo that is an ingredient of Snickers and Kit Kat bars.

The museum for this female artist also maintains her home in Abiquiu, New Mexico, sixty miles away.

Her 1944 film debut included this line:  "You know how to whistle, Steve.  You just put your lips together and blow."

South Africa's Grootslang is a horrific cave beast that is part serpent and part this giant trumpeter.

Answers next week.  No fair Googling.

Books of August and September

 The Third Pole:  After the North and South Poles were reached, what was left?  Scaling Everest/  Some referred to it as the third pole, hence the title of this fascinating book about an expedition to find the body of Sandy Irvine, the climbing companion of George Mallory and to locate Irvine's camera.  Did the two reach the summit?  Perhaps the camera could answer that question.  Besides the tale of this expedition, there is much about people who climbed and the many who died on their way.  Fact:  Mt. Everest is named for a man who was mapping longitude and never climbed a mountain.  

Peril.  Yes, I read Bob Woodward's latest book, which is about 50-50 between Trump and Biden.  Interesting.

The Maidens.  A student at Cambridge is murdered and the aunt of a fellow student who comes to comfort her tries to find out who did it.  Like those kids in horror movies, she visits the home of the potential killer--poor motivation.  I would give this book a C.

It Ends with Us.  Another book with poor character motivation and weird backstory.  I don't recommend it at all.

Apples Never Fall.  I give this one an A.  It's the story of the missing mother of four grown children.  Has she met with foul play?  If so, who did it?  And what about the young girl who once showed up at their house and became the mother's buddy?  Engaging and funny.

The Gift Wrap and the Jewel

 Here is a poem written by 92 year-old Wanta Guiness:

I looked in the mirror and what did I see

But a little old lady peering back at me,

With bags and sags and wrinkles and wispy white hair,

And I asked my reflection,

"How did you get there?

You once were straight and vigorous and now you're stooped and weak

When I tried so hard to keep you from becoming an antique."

My reflection's eyes twinkled as she solemnly replied,

"You're looking at the gift wrap and not the jewel inside,

A living gem and precious, of unimagined worth,

Unique and true, the real you, the only you on earth.

The years that spoil your gift-wrap with other things more cruel,

Should purify and strengthen and polish up that jewel,

So focus your attention on the inside, not the out,

On being kinder, wiser, more content and more devout.

Then when your gift-wrap's stripped away,

Your jewel will be set free

To radiate God's glory throughout eternity."