Girl Logic by Iliza Shlesinger ***

If you are a single female between in your 20s or 30s Girl Logic by Iliza Shlesinger might be a book for you, but as a retired male, I’d don’t presume to know. I had to look up “snoochy” which is apparently a derogatory term for a single woman in her 30s. As my generation said: if the shoe fits…

“[Girl Logic] is a characteristically female way thinking that appears to be contradictory and circuitous but is actually a complicated and highly evolved way of considering every choice and its repercussions before we make a move forward toward what we want.” 

Girl Logic might also be shorthand for overthinking.

“This book is not written as an autobiography.” Mostly, I imagine the book is drawn from Shlesinger’s stand-up routines. However, for the last few chapters, she moved into autobiography/memoir territory, especially where she recounted her strategy to win Last Comic Standing (2008) and her recent career moves.

One of her comic choices has been to be nice to everyone. She is no Don Rickles (younger readers might want to look him up). Every time she makes a joke that might be offensive to some group, she immediately follows it up with a confession that the joke includes her also.

Her strategy on Last Comic Standing had everything to do with being nice. She realized that the producers would edit whatever she said to start a fight between the contestants. She foiled them by never mentioning any other contestants, positively, negatively, or anything. As long as she didn’t mention anyone else, the producers didn’t have anything to edit into an attack. This worked, she avoided reality-show drama and won. The audience (her audience) was drawn to this, even though the other (male) contestants still resented her.

If you are a fan of Iliza Shlesinger, this book will give you more of what you love. If you're interested in feminist advice for 21st-century women, you can start at chapter 9. Otherwise, there are a lot of other books on offer.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

The Devil’s Seal by Peter Tremayne ***

Set in 7th-century Ireland, The Devil’s Seal by Peter Tremayne is the 25th Sister Fidelma novel. Sister Fidelma is a dalaigh (district attorney), sister to the king, and married to Eadulf (a Saxon from England). The story opens with an unexplained murder, followed by more murders and attempted murders, mysterious and seemingly unrelated. Fidelma observes, “A tangled skein can be untangled if one has patience.”

Eadulf summarizes the mystery like this.

“We start with the murder of a Saxon cleric. Then there is the attack on my brother and his companion… We think they were attacked by robbers… The robbers are…killed, except for their leader. He…is then murdered. … Someone tries to kill us.”

The attacks and murders continue with no obvious pattern.

In the end, Fidelma, possibly speaking for the author, states, “It was a complicated plot.” Ultimately, the plot hangs on the possibility to steal and sell a unique artifact that has no value unless publicly displayed. I was not convinced and thus found the resolution unsatisfying.

I enjoyed that Eadulf, husband of Fidelma, came from Seaxmund’s Ham, in the land of the South Folk of the Kingdom of the East Angles. I spend some time working in present-day Saxmundam in Suffolk County in East Anglia. Certainly the same place.

The book regularly jumped to modern times. I could ignore kilometers (19th century) because the concept of measuring distance existed in the 7th century. However, I found antiseptic and sedative more jarring, because these are 19th-century concepts. Most surprising was the “tinkle” of breaking windows when the technology for such windows was still a millennium away.

If you have the patience to read through lengthily digressions on Catholic dogma (the middle third of the book), the mysteries are solved through tortured logic that I feel has logical Fidelma rolling over in her grave. If you don’t have a strong interest in early Catholic and Irish history, you probably want to take a pass on this one.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.

American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee *****

American Wolf by Nate Blakeslee and Carnivore Minds by G A Bradshaw both put forward a case for preservation and protection of carnivores and predators. Blakeslee makes the practical argument that predators are good for the environment, while Bradshaw makes the ethical argument that predators are sentient. Blakeslee follows Rick McIntyre, a Yellowstone ranger, and O-Six, a Yellowstone wolf, through their intertwined adventures through wildlife politics and policy. Neither is prepared for the adventure and both suffer as a result.

Blakeslee, possibly to convince hunters and ranchers, avoids anthropomorphizing. A significant part of his argument is based trophic cascade (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trophic_cascade). On my visit to Yellowstone National Park in 2017, almost every Park Ranger had a story about trophic cascade in their talk. Trophic cascade is the practical result of the central premise of ecology—everything is connected.

Here is some of the trophic cascade examples that began with the introduction of wolves to Yellowstone.

Elk no longer stayed at the streams but spent more time in the safe woods. As a result, the willows flourished, and along with the willows, more beavers. Thus, more wolves led to more beavers.

Coyotes were no longer the top predator and their numbers dropped. Fewer coyotes meant more rodents. More rodents meant more hawks and owls. Thus, more wolves led to more raptors.

In addition, as wolves are not interested in pronghorns, fewer coyotes meant more pronghorns. Thus, more wolves led to more pronghorns.

Bears, big enough to chase away wolves, fed on wolf kills. Thus, more wolves led to a healthy bear population.

Wolves even helped the elk population.

The conclusion is that with wolves the ecosystem is more diverse and healthier, not surprising since the ecosystem evolved with wolves over thousands of years.

By following the narrative of the two main characters, American Wolf makes the case to preserve and protect more engaging and persuasive as it appeals to a long tradition of storytelling instead of the simultaneously cold and melodramatic path appealing to neuroscience in Carnivore Minds.

Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.