Great Courses: What Darwin Didn't Know by Professor Scott Solomon

Charles Darwin is famous as the father of the idea of genetic evolution, but there was a lot about evolution that Darwin didn't ever know.  In this 24 lecture series Dr. Solomon illuminates the discoveries made since Darwin's Origin of Species that have confirmed and expanded our understanding of how evolution really works in nature and in our lives. He starts by explaining the basic premises of evolution, and then explores how the field has expanded. He uses a lot of examples of how evolution has favored changes in plant, animal, and microorganisms. He ends the series by projecting how evolution will affect the future of both the biome and the human species. 

Dr. Solomon lectures at a level that I, as a college graduate, was able to follow without much problem.  He uses a lot of interesting examples from nature that are amazing and sometimes bizarre. That being said, it was a little more dry than some of the Great Courses lectures I have learned.  Or maybe, I am just not as interested in the hundreds of species of ants as a I am about, say, the history of Europe. I think the lectures would have been more engaging if I had been able to see the visuals.  Still, I made it though 12 hours of it without feeling tempted to stop. This would be a good series to listen to if you were about to take a college biology class and wanted a quick brush-up on your science facts. (12 hrs. 2020)

The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner

 Finn Connelly, dealing with grief over the death of his father, goes to a cemetery and kicks over a headstone.  He is caught, of course, and is given a choice.  His family can come up with the $2000 needed to repair the broken headstone, or he can commit to climbing all 46 high peaks in the Adirondack mountain range near his house in the course of one summer. He knows his family can't afford the $2000 so he agrees to the climbing challenge. He is not thrilled, at first, that he is required to take the pet dog of the diseased woman whose grave he vandalized with him on the hikes. Nor is he happy that he will have "hiking nannies" to go along with him on each hike.  During the summer, the time with caring adults, experiences in nature and time to process his father's death, heal him more than he could have imagined. 

This is a book I chose on a whim. I remembered that it got a lot of attention when it was published a few years ago at the end of the Covid Pandemic. I didn't realize when I started it that it deals with the long term PTSD that first responders to the 9-11 attacks had to deal with.  It ended up being a good way to reflect on that event just after its 25 anniversary. Messner is an amazing author. She has a really good pre-teen male voice, and Finn is sympathetic without ever being sappy. She also does a great job describing nature and the specific hikes mentioned in the book, Messner herself being a "46 Peaker." If you want a heart warming story of a boy dealing with loss, you can't go wrong here. (2023, 368 p.) 

Stealing the Preacher by Karen Witemeyer

Crocket Archer took over the care of his brother's spiritual welfare when the group of teenage boys were left as orphans. Now an adult, he is eager to audition to lead his own parish in Piney Woods Texas. On the way to his interview, his train is held up by bandits.  They aren't after valuables.  Instead they are there to steal the him.  They take him to the ex-train robber's home and present him as a present to his daughter, Joanna.  She is mortified by her father's actions, but shares with Crocket her dreams of finding a preacher for their towns long empty church. Circumstances conspire that convince Crocket that this is the destination God intended for him, and that he has a role to play in Joanna's life. Life's pathways are never smooth, and Joanna and Crocket have many bumps in the road to overcome before they reach their divinely appointed happy ending. 

Here is another Texas Christian romance by Karen Witemeyer about the Archer boys we were introduce to in the Short Straw Bride.  It is the book that I skipped when I read Full Steam Ahead, but even after reading this one I see no connection to that one. Because the love interest is a preacher, this story tends to be even more preachy than her other books but really, I don't mind. I enjoyed the side story of Joanna's father's path to reconciliation with God after a young adulthood of crime. Of course, Crocket and Joanna are endearing as well. Still, this is my third Christian historical romance in a row, and I am ready for something else. (2013, 515 p.)

The Best-Laid Plans by Sarah Eden

 Newton Hughes is getting pressured by his parents to find a suitable match and settle down as a gentleman of leisure. Ellie is getting pressure from her parents to make a match with Charlie Jonquil, since her older sister was unable to ensnare him the previous season. Neither Ellie nor Newton want to do what their parents have planned for them so they, with the help of Artemis Lancaster, plan to thwart their parent's plans by pretending to form an interest in each other. As they spend time in each other's company, they discover that they actually like each other.  Newton likes Ellie's intelligent (though reserved) wit, and Ellie likes Newtons' quiet loyalty. As their pretend romance becomes real, it attracts the attention and ire of their families, one member of which goes to great lengths to squash their growing attachment.

This is a cute short novel in the world of the Lancaster and Jonquil families. It follows the romance of secondary characters to the main novels, but gives the readers a healthy dose of characters they love from the original series.  I especially liked watching Artemis and Charlie interact, knowing what was going to befall them in Charming Artemis. I recently watched the Netflix series based on Seeking Persephone and love love loved it! I was happy to dive back into Ms Eden's delightful dynasties once again. (134 p. 2021)

Full Steam Ahead by Karen Witemeyer

Nicole Renard returns from finishing school to find her father in dangerously ill health.  He begs her to go to St. Louis and choose a husband that can be his heir in his steamboat shipping empire. Part of her dowery will be the legendary knife of the pirate Jean Lafitte that is famed to bring the owner good luck in business. Her father's most bitter rivals, the Jenkins brothers, are after the knife, and so Nicole is forced to take an unexpected detour to Liberty Texas and lay low for a while to evade their detection.  She assumes a false name and takes a job as a secretary to an eccentric, but also young and handsome, scientist, Darius Thornton, who has made it his life's mission to make boilers on paddle boats more safe. At first put off by Darius' single minded devotion to his research, Nicole gradually comes to respect, and then admire him for his good intentions and loyal heart. As that admiration turns into love, Nicole must decide between honoring the promise made to her father to find an heir, or follow her heart. 

This is the third in the series that started with the Short-Straw Bride, but I couldn't find any connection with the first two books except that they are all set in Texas. I just realized that might be because I never read the second in the series. But really, this book works just fine as a stand alone. As I have said before, I am a little embarrassed that I like Witemeyer's books so much.  As I was listening to this one I found myself purposely looking for jobs to do around the house that I could do while listening. It is not that she is that great of a writer, (though I think she has gotten better over time).  It is just that her books are such a lovely escape from everyday life. They make me smile, but also remind me what it means to be a committed Christian. If I ever met Ms Witemeyer in person, I would be seriously tempted to give her a hug. (508 p, 2014)

Great Courses: Ten Great What-ifs of American History by Adam Jotner

 Here is an interesting approach to studying history.  In these 10 lectures, Jotner suggests what might have happened if different pivotal events hadn't occurred in U.S. history. Several concerned military history.  Others were political in nature. The thing that was interesting was that in each case, there was one moment when things might have gone differently.  What if Kennedy hadn't been shot?  What if Theodore Roosevelt had? What if Lewis and Clark had been killed when they were attacked by two grizzly bears? What if that one guy hadn't gone back to the Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg  just in time to see the Confederates coming up the hill? What if Queen Isabella hadn't agreed to fund Christopher Columbus?  What if the Russian astro-engineer who put the first cosmonaut into space, hadn't died soon after? (et alii)The idea is that by looking at the contingencies, you come to see the importance and impact of critical moments of history. 

This was an interesting romp through US history. I was familiar with all the events he discussed, but I learned new facts about each one that helped me see their importance in the broader picture of history.  I thought Jotner made good points and plausible guesses of alternate outcomes except for his lecture on the Salem Witch Trials.  He posited the if the Salem Witch Trials hadn't turned out so awful, laws about how witches were tried wouldn't have been challenged, and people might still be tried for witchcraft or Satan worship even today. That seemed very implausible to me because there are precious few left in the US that believe in God, let alone Satan and witchcraft. Beside that one, the rest of the lectures were affective in showing that the gate of history turns on very small hinges.  (6 hours, 2025)

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

 In this second installment of the Emily Wilde series, Emily has obtained tenure at Cambridge and is using the resources there to try to find a nexus, a place that might have a kind of backdoor to Wendell's realm.  On Wendell's birthday, his stepmother and the usurper of Wendell's realm, sends fairy assassins.  Luckily Emily has found a probable location for the nexus and they jump on the train and head toward the Austrian Alps. They reluctantly take with them Emily's niece and research assistant, Ariadne, and the prickly department chair of druidology, Doctor Rose. As the search for the nexus progresses, Wendell becomes progressively ill until they realize that he is suffering from slow acting poison. Emily must race against time and made odd alliances in order enter Wendell's realm in search for a cure. 

I enjoyed the first in this series and I enjoyed this one as well. Fawcett has such fun world building and has populated the story with a dazzling array of mythical creatures. Fawcett has clearly done research about local folklore in Europe as many of the traditions she mentions are historically accurate as well as being imaginative and amusing. Emily's asp-y personality is the perfect foil for Wendell's blasé aristocracy. Ariadne's and Dr Rose' personalities are also well developed and entertaining. This is a fun choice for teen or adult fantasy readers. (2024, 386 p.)