This book is more of a memoir than a technical discussion of forensic science. Angela Gallop discusses her 40 year career as a forensic scientist, providing a basic outline of several of her most memorable cases, along with the history and development of forensic sciences within the UK, as well as the importance of forensics in criminal justice. Interesting and informative, but a bit bland.
TITLE: Migrations
AUTHOR: Charlotte McConaghy
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DESCRIPTION:
"Franny Stone has always been a wanderer. By following the ocean’s tides and the birds that soar above, she can forget the losses that have haunted her life. But when the wild she so loves begins to disappear, Franny can no longer wander without a destination. She arrives in remote Greenland with one purpose: to find the world’s last flock of Arctic terns and follow them on their final migration. She convinces Ennis Malone, captain of the Saghani, to take her onboard, winning over his salty, eccentric crew with promises that the birds she is tracking will lead them to fish. As the Saghani fights its way south, Franny’s new shipmates begin to realize that the beguiling scientist in their midst is not who she seems. Battered by night terrors, accumulating a pile of letters to her husband, and dead set on following the terns at any cost, Franny is full of dark secrets. When the story of her past begins to unspool, Ennis and his crew must ask themselves what Franny is really running toward—and running from.".
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REVIEW:
Beautiful, lyrical writing for a poignant and melancholy story. I did, however, find the world building a bit flat or incomplete and not particularly realistic in terms of specific details, and a bit too preachy. No way are ravens and gulls going extinct due to climate change if humans are still around (unless the whole planet turns into an inferno or ice-house) - the birds thrive on human garbage and habitats.
TITLE: Other People's Pets
AUTHOR: R.L. Maizes
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DESCRIPTION:
La La Fine relates to animals better than she does to other people. Abandoned by a mother who never wanted a family, raised by a locksmith-turned-thief father, La La looks to pets when it feels like the rest of the world conspires against her.
La La’s world stops being whole when her mother, who never wanted a child, abandons her twice. First, when La La falls through thin ice on a skating trip, and again when the accusations of “unfit mother” feel too close to true. Left alone with her father—a locksmith by trade, and a thief in reality—La La is denied a regular life. She becomes her father’s accomplice, calming the watchdog while he strips families of their most precious belongings.
When her father’s luck runs out and he is arrested for burglary, everything La La has painstakingly built unravels. In her fourth year of veterinary school, she is forced to drop out, leaving school to pay for her father’s legal fees the only way she knows how—robbing homes once again.
As an animal empath, she rationalizes her theft by focusing on houses with pets whose maladies only she can sense and caring for them before leaving with the family’s valuables. The news reports a puzzled police force—searching for a thief who left behind medicine for the dog, water for the parrot, or food for the hamster.
Desperate to compensate for new and old losses, La La continues to rob homes, but it’s a strategy that ultimately will fail her.
Other People’s Pets examines the gap between the families we’re born into and those we create, and the danger that holding on to a troubled past may rob us of the future.
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REVIEW:
A very cute, entertaining and sometimes emotional story. I loved all the animals. The humans - some people should just not be parents.
PS: I just wish the author had chosen some other name other than the juvenile and silly "La la" for her main character.
TITLE: The Genius of Dogs - Discovering the Unique Intelligence of Man's Best Friend
AUTHOR: Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods
DATE PUBLISHED: 2013
FORMAT: Paperback
ISBN-13: 9781780743684
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DESCRIPTION:
"Is your dog purposefully disobeying you? Probably, and usually behind your back. Should you act like ‘top dog’ to maintain control? No, you’re better off displaying your friendliness – and not just to your dog. Which breed is the cleverest? That’s the wrong question to ask. These are just some of the extraordinary insights to be found in 'The Genius of Dogs' – the seminal book on how dogs evolved their unique intelligence by award-winning scientist Dr Brian Hare. He shares more than two decades of startling discoveries about the mysteries of the dog mind and how you can use his groundbreaking work to build a better relationship with your own dog."
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REVIEW:
Hare and Woods take a look at various doggie studies to determine exactly how intelligent dogs are compared to humans, wolves and occasionally other animals (e.g. crows and bonobos). The book is a bit erratic, with the authors covering a variety of topics and writing about their personal dog experiences. But since I love dogs, this didn't really bother me. The sections on domestication (dog, fox, bonobo and human) were particularly interesting. This book made for an entertaining and easy read on comparative cognitive science with a focus on dogs, while providing some fascinating information that might not be generally well known.
PS: The dog is smarter than the cat!
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