Cary Neeper's Blog: Reviewing World-changing Nonfiction - Posts Tagged "reviews"

A PLACE BEYOND MAN

"If you're a sci-fi fan who particularly relishes the genre when it reveals the human condition sharply and logically, you'll find yourself talking about this book for a long time to all who will listen. If you think you don't like science fiction but are concerned about the growing ecological crisis on planet earth, you'll find Cary Neeper, a ...Ph.D. in medical microbiology, presenting keen insight and pertinent directions. Her unusual device is obviously meant to bring the message of earth's economic and ecological problems to a wider audience. It should.
UU World, July 15, 1975.

"A Place Beyond Man" has much to offer: the aliens and their base...are fascinating. The story...centered on character interactions...is serious and dedicated to the highest values....Perhaps the best thing in the novel is Tandra's growing awareness that the froggy [ellls] are not human, not to be forced into her conventional mental categories, but are truly different in ways that must be respected....a far better than ordinary first novel. "Fantasy and Science Fiction Books" by Alexei and Cory Panskin, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, June, 1977, pp.73-74.

"Cary Neeper has created not one but two credible non-human species....It's an engrossing first novel by a microbiologist whose previous writing has been [on] pneumococcal polysaccharide."
Psychology Today, New York, July 1975, by E.H.

"The current concern[s]...are dealt with competently and lucidly....Tandra both learns and teaches emotional and intellectual integration, a painful but necessary step in the growing-up of mankind.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept.4, 1975.

"Science fiction has been the one literary form that frankly carries a "message" as an important component. In this sense, and in others, the new novel by our own Cary Neeper...is classical science fiction. It has all of these features including a good and exciting story."
"Of Books and Men" by Harry Schulte in the Voice of the Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, March 31, 1975 .

"Tandra becomes an interface between these two [aliens]....Interesting comparisons are made between the history and cultures of the three species, and Tandra's convoluted approach to acceptance of love from the ellls and the gift of her own to the varoks is interestingly documented.
Galaxy Bookshelf by Theodore Sturgeon, Galaxy, March 1975.

"...fine writing and down-to-earth story line, "A Place Beyond Man" is great escapism, and these days we really need it. Bravo."
"Friday Magazine, WCNY TV/24 FM/91.3, April 18, 1975, 7 pm.

“With more than 40,000 new books published each year in the United State, no reader, however enthusiastic, can possibly read more than a small percentage of them.” Thus begins editor Sylvia E. Kamerman’s book "Book Reviewing," ed. by Sylvia E. Kamerman, Boston, The Writer, Inc., 1978.

Now, how many books are published each year? Bowker reports a 60% rise in self-published books since 2011, five time more than in 2007. Berrett-Koehler reports that new print titles issued by U. S, publishers was 316,480 in 2010 and total books published was over three million, plus 2.7 million of “non-traditional” titles (including those self-published). http://www.bkpextranet.com/AuthorMate...

So--is reviewing books a hopeless endeavor now, or even more essential as an invaluable assist for those who love books? I believe that the more books are published the more essential it is to review the good ones. Therefore, I’m reviewing Kamerman’s book as a valuable how-to-do-it guide for people writing various types of reviews, from short descriptions to critical essays.

Book Reviewing is “A guide to writing book reviews for newspapers, magazines, radio, and television—by leading book editors, critics, and reviewers,” twenty-one experts who describe their experiences and summarize their advice. They each have a unique perspective, but they all agree on a few general guidelines. Their opinions only differ on whether or not a reviewer should read other reviews of the same book.

All agree that a reviewer should stick to a special interest in order to reliably compare the book reviewed to the author’s other titles and to similar books by other authors. Without summarizing the plot or premise in detail, the review should provide basic information about the book and its author, its content and style, and whether or not the author succeeded in fulfilling the intended goal. Quotations are useful to illustrate these points, as are comparisons with other books and authors.

Four of Kamerman’s expert reviewers deal with the special problem of reviewing children’s books. Since they are most often bought by adults (primarily by librarians in 1978) the reviewer is challenged to consider the adults' views of accuracy, issues and psychology, while focusing primarily on "literary and artistic merit." Now, with so many books sold online, that may be changing.

To put it simply—in no more than 600 words (twice that for critical essays), the reviewer should focus on what the book offers the reader. Above all, a review should be about the book reviewed, not about the reviewer.

L. E. Sissman of The Atlantic presents his advice as a list of Don’ts, making these points: Don’t review books written by friends or by enemies. Review only those books you care about, ignoring jacket copy and what other reviewers have said. Read twice a carefully chosen book in your area of expertise (making notes). Always be kind in evaluating four basic elements—the plot or premise, pace, style and characterizations. When you understand what the author set out to do, use you best judgment to explain how well the book succeeds and why.

René DubosThe Wooing of EarthNew York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1980.

The 1970’s explosion of interest in environmental degradation was tempered in 1980 by a voice we need to hear now, in this age of dystopias that go on and on. René Dubos--the Pulitzer Prize winner for So Human An Animal and microbiologist who demonstrated that microbes could provide us with antibiotics--reminds us that we can do better. In fact, we have. The human imprint on Earth was beautifully integrated, when we respected nature’s answers and restrained our tendency to ride roughshod over its genius.

We don’t need to cut down all the trees on planet Earth—not even those in our neighborhood—just enough to keep warm or grow something to eat. It was done in the ages-old hedgerows of Europe and Great Britain, which became interesting biosystems, as well as windbreaks and fences. The examples go on and on in this book. We need the reminder of good examples, for, apparently, in much of the world, we have forgotten how to do it, or we don’t care how much we pave and tear down.

In some areas and in the past our restraint and creative talents have created new environments enhanced by cultural inventions unimagined in the beginning. Benefit has come to both humanity and nature when we realized the necessity of those benefits and were wise enough to leave them alone.

We don’t have to pave every square foot or cut down every tree to maximize profit. By leaving to themselves a decent portion of wild lives and natural phenomena, we can use our common sense to work with planet Earth to create its best and most lovely potential. Only then will we secure the future for Homo sapiens. Dubos has shown us how it used to be done.

From Frank Kaminski of resilence.org
http://www.resilience.org/stories/201...
By turns wondrous, wise, witty, tense and gripping...an auspicious new entry in this daring series that refuses to stick with easy answers or safe issues...finds just the right balance between candid political commentary and a tale...for both adult and young-adult readers. Frank Kaminski, Resilience.org

And from Douglas R. Cobb:"... a fantastic book, and my review of it is at:
http://guardianlv.com/2014/11/the-ali... ..."captivating characters and the main character, Shawne, has a noble goal she pursues, despite being met with people who do not always like the message she is trying to teach them. ...reading the first two books in the series is highly recommended, as they are both great, and will provide useful background to help understand and get into The Alien Effect quicker."

Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson, New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishinig Company, 2007.

Written by social psychologists, this is an in depth description of how we deceive ourselves and how we can set ourselves right. It is a must-read eye-opener because the authors describe clearly and carefully how much harm self-justification does to our lives, how our memory can be warped, how science can be compromised, how our legal system has been corrupted, and how marriages fall apart.

At first it seems unbelievable that “...when directly confronted with proof that they are wrong, [people] do not change...but justify it even more tenaciously.” Even politicians might admit “error, but not responsibility. Such is the power of self-justification, “...more powerful and more dangerous than the explicit lie.”

The authors’ explanation for the source of this power is “cognitive dissonance”—the mental tension that results when “...a person holds two cognitions [beliefs or attitudes]
That contradict each other. The book is full of extensively detailed examples, including some generally accepted theories in economics and psychology that are obviously not supported by evidence or everyday experience.

Most disturbing are examples the authors describe taken from legal situations or psychotherapy, where dissonance was reduced by minimizing damage or blaming victims, as in the use of the notorious Reid Technique for gaining confessions.

The most obvious cases of cognitive dissonance are climate change deniers as they watch Arctic ice and glaciers melt and classical economists who don’t recognize the limits to Earth’s resources. But the most egregious and dangerous dissonance must reside in the minds of those who imply that the Earth can support its projected population with a reasonable standard of living.

Such denial is a trap easily sprung, for there seem to be no workable solutions. How do we reach a sustainable consensus to stabilize all human populations? How do we curb our appetites or revise the mantra that growth and fossil fuels are necessary?

We can preserve resources for the future and protect the precious diversity of life on Earth. The tasks seem overwhelming, but to allow ourselves to sink into despair or denial is to become part of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The difficult way out is quite clear: we simply can’t have our cake and eat it too. Understanding self-justification and cognitive dissonance is a good first step out of the trap.

This book is a treasure for anyone interested in growing as a responsible individual, true to both self and reality.

The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy by Lester R. Brown, New York, W.W.Norton, 2015.
The author of Plan B, called the “...best achievable road map” to the future, provides us with encouraging news—we are making the transition to wind and solar to meet energy needs. Costs of wind and solar are “...falling so rapidly that they are starting to squeeze out coal.” Unlike fossil fuels, their use “...does not reduce the amount [of energy provided] tomorrow.”

Other benefits are becoming clear, and soon pollution may trump the enormous fossil fuel subsidies by government and tax policies. Brown proposes shifting transportation to electricity. Biofuels won’t do the trick. One tank of biomass fuel for a large SUV requires growing enough grain to feed a person for one year. Wind and solar do not require the large amounts of water that fossil fuel production does.

Thanks goes to governments and billionaires who have already poured huge efforts into renewable energy. Wind provides 62% of Denmark’s electricity. Brown notes other benefits of the transition, like local control, use of rooftops, no fuel costs for installation, a viable alternative for energy companies who make the switch, and avoiding economic trauma as oil production peaks.

The current issues discussed include the use of coal and nuclear power, and the potential for geothermal and hydropower. Brown’s recommendations include a revenue on carbon to offset taxes on labor and raising a significant tax on gasoline while cutting income taxes—strategies that are also good for the economy, along with energy efficiency, which is cheaper than building “...new generating capacity.”
The Great Transition: Shifting from Fossil Fuels to Solar and Wind Energy

by Curt Stager, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 2011.

Climatologist Curt Stager speculates on the long-term prospects for Earth’s life forms, based on two scenarios—a moderate “path” if we limit CO2 levels to 600 ppm and a “Super-Greenhouse” situation if we “consume all our easily accessible coal,” reaching a peak of 2000 ppm around 2300 A. D.

Armed with a Ph. D. in biology and geology from Duke University, Stager explores the details of various life-threatening scenarios for both futures and notes that we will probably experience a warming similar to that of the early Cenozoic, 50 millions years ago. At that time “...global average temperatures were 18 to 22o F (10-12oC) or more above today’s mean for several million years. Life had moved north, as evidenced by dense Arctic forests. Many species survived the heat.

Stager introduces his detailed analysis of what might happen to polar bears and other currently familiar life forms by suggesting that our fate would be far worse if the next ice age were to make its expected (but poorly understood?) cyclical appearance on Earth. Such ice could wipe out everything in its path, a much worse scenario than what our CO2-induced long-term hot spell might inflict. We may do better if our long-term warming cancels the next ice age.

I recommend this book for general reading because the author is careful to present current findings with well-balanced, readable analyses. He presents the many facets of each complex situation that human cultures and animals will face. As a result of our current load of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, he says, “Welcome to the Anthropocene...We’ve stopped the next ice age in its tracks.” It will take tens of thousands of years for current temperature levels to return to preindustrial conditions.

By understanding the details of our options, we could avoid arguments that oversimplify or exaggerate. In any case, we need to do our best to find a safer pass for life into its warm future. Then we might have a better chance of surviving the needed move north.

Facing up to cognitive dissonance is not easy.


A clearly written story of the agony biologists went through to discover DNA and figure out how it works. Fascinating.


A nice complement to the search for meaning in my new book AN ALIENS QUEST



We really are more moral than ever--due to the gift of knowledge learned recently--which is awesome!


Here's one of those awesome things we've learned lately--that animals are conscious, even sentient, beings