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This book came to me at the perfect time - just a few days after I discovered I was running on a severe protein deficit!

Wendell Berry's writing reminds me of Willa Cather's. The sense of place wraps around the narrative in such a way that it becomes like another pivotal character in their stories.

Still in the beginning chapters and this story is already showcasing how decisions of one person, one family, or one company can ultimately have global consequences. It keeps a good pace and holds the reader's interest!

One thing Laura Bates gives voice to in this book is the amount of victim shaming that happens when women are victimized with deepfake images, instead of there being a focus on the accountability of those who created them. Recently in my home state, a high school girl who had deepfake images of her passed around her school punched the boy who created them. The school suspended her. Nothing happened to the boy.

Schlanger's book and the research she considers opens up interesting questions about plant life - their methods of communication, how their use of electricity is surprisingly close to how our own brain waves work, and a myriad of future implications due to this and other new information in the field of botany.

I'm only 60 pages in, and the information that Schlanger is sharing regarding new science research about the possible inner lives of plants is intriguing and, apparently, turning the field of botany on its head. Fully embracing my inner nerd and loving this deep dive into a field of science I've not yet explored.

I know this is an "oldie but a goodie" in the world of history books, but I love Shaara's writing style. His choice to use primary sources as the basis for his research, as he "avoided historical opinions," created a fascinating page-turner.