Review of "Streamlined," by John Kaufmann

 Review of

Streamlined, by John Kaufmann ISBN 0690005652

Five out of five stars

Proof that learning science can be fun

 The fundamental physical principle of streamlining is one that appears throughout nature and is an essential principle of many different types of engineering. From motor vehicles to ships to buildings designed to resist strong winds, making the vehicle streamlined is essential.

 This book is an excellent basic primer on this topic. It starts with how and why many creatures in nature have streamlined shapes and the advantages it gives them. From this, the reader is introduced to simple, inexpensive experiments that can be done that demonstrate the effectiveness of streamlining. Those experiments can be done at home in a bathtub or in a classroom with a tib of water.

 This book is an existence proof that learning science can be entertaining.

Review of "Bedtime Stories for Lovers," by Joan Elizabeth Lloyd

 Review of

Bedtime Stories for Lovers, by Joan Elizabeth Lloyd ISBN 0446671398

Four out of five stars

Short bedtime story format erotica

 The standard bedtime story is only a few pages long with a happy ending to go to sleep to. This book contains a series of them, only in this case the action is explicitly for adults only. With only a few pages to work with and some needed to set the appropriate context and the need to reach the specific type of happy ending, there is little ink for preambles.

 The action is very explicit, worthy of the most detailed skin magazine columns. These stories will serve to get only the most rapid response physiologies energized for action. Nevertheless, it can serve as a “bedtime” primer for all adult couples.

Review of "The Goddamned: Before the Flood, issue three" comic

 Review of

The Goddamned: Before the Flood, issue three comic

Four out of five stars

Loosely based on the early chapters of the Christian Old Testament, it starts with Adam and Eve looking out over a natural, bright green paradise. However, they talk to each other like a couple that have grown to hate the very sight and sound of each other.

 There is an immediate shift to a world that is dark, sinister and extremely brutal. Babies, “good and fresh” are for sale on open markets. People are brutalized and kept in slave pens, with one reserved for the children. Human bodies are fed to the captured carnivorous animals and Cain is aiding a woman in looking for her son Lodo that has been imprisoned in a camp run by a vicious gang.

 As someone that has read the Christian Old Testament, this comic more accurately portrays the events depicted in that document. Life is brutal, slavery is ubiquitous, and death can appear on a whim and in spite of prayer.

 This is the first issue in this series that I read. It piqued my curiosity and further interest, so now I am looking for the other issues in the series.  

Review of "An American Plague," by Jim Murphy

 Review of

An American Plague, by Jim Murphy ISBN 0395776082

Five out of five stars

A reminder of the grisly cycles

 The year 2020 has been memorable for the return of the pandemic. Something largely predicted in the last paragraph of this book. People that study infectious diseases and public health understand that mass outbreaks of fatal diseases have been part of the human condition since humans gathered together into groups. Literature from science fiction to fact has stated many times that humans have been due for another pandemic for some time due to the mass and rapid modern travel. Even though modern science quickly identified the causative agent and engaged in aggressive treatment and prevention, the corona virus has proven deadly on a mass scale.

This book is about an outbreak of yellow fever in Philadelphia in 1793, when that city was the temporary capital of the United States. Those with the means chose to flee the city, that included President Washington and nearly all the rest of the national government.

With very little known about the causative agents of the disease, some of the treatments were bizarre and extreme. As was the case in other plague events, this outbreak ran its course until cold weather and simply went down as another mini pandemic experienced by the human race. However, during that time there was little humans could do or even knew what to do.

 One of the saddest aspects of this story was how the black population of Philadelphia reacted to the plague and was treated when it was over. While many if not most of the white caregivers fled the city, the black population largely stayed and did what they could to minimize the suffering. Many of the black caregivers became ill and some died. Yet, when it was over, their blackness had not changed, both in the literal and figurative senses. Discrimination was put on hold out of necessity, only to return post crisis.

 This is a great book about what was really only a historical quirk, for this was only one of several mini pandemics to strike the United States over the first two centuries of the country. Even though it has been almost 2.5 centuries since this plague struck, there are many aspects of it that have reappeared in the modern Corona virus pandemic.

Review of "The How and Why Wonder Book of Light and Color," by Harold Joseph Highland

 Review of

The How and Why Wonder Book of Light and Color, by Harold Joseph Highland

Three out of five stars

 When reading this book, I was puzzled by some of the language used, for it simply did not have the expressions and tones of a physicist. For example, on page 35 there is the sentence, “Actually, no one today is certain exactly what light is.” This book was published in 1963 and at the time, all the characteristics of light were well known. The wave-particle duality was by then well-established scientific fact. Furthermore, physicists do not talk like that. When I investigated, I learned that the author is in fact the chair of a department of business administration and not billed as a scientist.

 I found this rather odd, this is a book about science, so it should have been written by someone well versed in the sciences. There are other phrasings that are questionable, for example the last sentence of the book is “What is light?” One can ask this question in the metaphysical sense, but that should not be a topic in an introductory book.

Review of "Battle Beasts #1," IDW comics

 Review of

Battle Beasts #1, IDW comics

Five out of five stars

 The three main characters of this opening issue are talented warriors that have banded together after what is stated as earlier periods of relationship difficulties. It took them some time before they reached the point of mutual trust. Given that they are all capable warriors, there is the hint of barely resolved initial conflict.

 All three are sentient man-beasts with near-human bodies. One has the head and talons of an eagle and can fly; another has an extremely powerful body with the head and tusks of a walrus. One of the tusks is broken off. The third has the head and horns of a bighorn sheep.

 The story opens with them camped and eating a meal when they are suddenly attacked by a large number of assorted warrior creatures. Seemingly hopelessly outnumbered, the trio manages to fight them off until the attackers mysteriously depart. There is the mention of a search for what are called “dread weapons.”

 The story then takes a dramatic change of location to Earth, where a woman rushes into a research facility and claims to have translated the inscription on alien orbs. A team of scientists has been trying everything they could think of to crack them open but has failed. At first, they do not take the woman seriously, but when she utters the “magic words” they open.

 Yet, there are times when success is of dubious value, for the consequences are that powerful alien creatures arrive and start laying down a path of destruction. The two seemingly disparate threads are connected.

 While many hints at background and purpose are put down, none are explained in detail. Yet, it is clear to the reader that a solid foundation for an epic tale has been set, leading to a desire to read the subsequent issues.

Review of "Sherlock Holmes: Dressed to Kill," starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce DVD

 Review of

Sherlock Holmes: Dressed to Kill, starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce DVD

Five out of five stars

Rathbone and Bruce are the best to ever play the roles

 The results of a search engine search were that 45 actors have played Sherlock Holmes in movies. Holmes is the character that has been portrayed most often in acting productions. There is no doubt in my mind that Basil Rathbone is the best to ever play the role on screen. Nigel Bruce also captures the relatively slow witted Doctor Watson. Both men simply exude the man of London persona of the late nineteenth century.

 In this adventure, a man has been convicted of stealing plates that can be used to print money that would be indistinguishable from the genuine items, throwing the entire British economy into chaos. He managed to hide the plates before being captured and he is now making simple music boxes in prison. Since the stolen plates have never been recovered, there is a great deal of interest in the criminal’s actions.

 Being a clever man very good with his hands, the criminal manages to construct a complex code describing the location of the plates for his confederates on the outside and it is up to Holmes to decipher the code and track down the criminals as well as recover the plates. The code is embedded in a set of simple music boxes. Of course, he succeeds in the brilliant way of Holmes, managing to connect the appropriate dots in constructing a path to the solution.

 Although Edgar Allan Poe is credited with the creation of the detective story, it was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of the Sherlock Holmes character, that truly made it the literary staple that it has become. No character is more popular than Holmes and, in this movie, Rathbone makes him real, albeit placed in the proper time frame.