Reviews
You won't find reviews of Hike Your Own Hike or The Hidden Europe here (that's a lie: there's one review for The Hidden Europe). Instead, this section is for my review of other books, especially nonfiction books, which I comprise 95% of my reading. I occasionally review clothes, movies, a politician, a gadget, or anything else that looks promising.
I've put my best reviews here, but if it's not enough, then you'll find hundreds of reviews on Amazon. I am one of the top 10,000 reviewers on Amazon with over 1,500 helpful votes. And yes, I can review your product if you'd like. Just contact me to see if I'm interested.
I enjoyed watching Black Panther in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The crowd was into it. So was I. It's a fun Marvel Studios movie. If you love superhero movies, you'll love Black Panther.
There are no spoilers in this review.
What I loved
I loved how Black Panther challenges stereotypes. Examples:
- Tough women. Yes, with Wonder Woman and Black Widow, it's not an original idea. Also, the stereotype of a tough black woman is nothing new. But it's still nice to see.
- Most blacks have natural hair. This is a big issue among the black community in the US but Africans are still into artificial hair and chemical treatments. It's nice to see a movie that celebrates natural black hair. There's a scene when a woman complains about her "ridiculous" wig.
- Afro-futurism is an inspiring concept.
My wife's criticism
My wife, who is from Cameroon, gave the movie 8/10 stars.
There's one thing that she disliked. When the white CIA man wakes up, the black female doctor says, "Don't scare me like that, colonizer."
Although the theater filled with Tanzanians laughed, Rejoice did not.
She said, "Some Africans would like to say such things to whites but they refrain out of politeness. Now that they see it in a movie, they may do it more often."
She added, "Blacks would hate it if you called them 'slave' or 'nigger.' Calling a present-day white person 'colonizer' is equally bad. You're using a term of a bygone era on people living today who had nothing to do with colonization or slavery."
I understand her point. I just don't care. I know it's just a joke.
Africans often say to me, "Hey white man!"
Even though this does not bother me, it irritates the fuck out of many whites who work or volunteer in Africa. They said, "They would hate it if they go to Eurasia or the Americas and people say, 'Hey black man!'"
Frankly, I don't care because I know Africans don't mean it in a bad way.
The one terrible idea
The movie has one dangerous idea that will reinforce this dangerous and stupid idea:
Gavin Evans has written a pseudo-scientific book, Black Brain, White Brain: Is Intelligence Skin Deep?
Gavin Evans has a Ph.D. in politics. However, this book is about genetics, race, and intelligence. Some people may feel he’s not qualified to write such a book, but I disagree. You don’t have to have a diploma in a subject matter in order to have an educated opinion on it.
Still, he dares to write, “Even the finest scientific minds are capable of coming up with ridiculous theories when tackling subjects beyond their own calling.” (Loc 154)
For example, James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA’s structure, said he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours—whereas all the testing says not really.”
Evans thinks the Nobel-Prize-winning Watson shouldn't "tackle subjects beyond his calling," but somehow, Evans feels it's acceptable for him to do so. That sounds like arrogance or hypocrisy—or both.
Of course, I'm also "tackling subjects beyond my calling" by reviewing this book about genetics and intelligence. But as I said from the beginning, I don't have a problem with Evans (or anyone) debating things outside of their "official" realm of expertise. It's just that I dislike it when young people aren't allowed to voice opinions "because they have no experience."
I am annoyed that Evans doesn't see the hypocrisy of his criticism of Watson and other intelligent people.
Are IQ tests useful?
Are you a mapaholic? Do you just love to scrutinize maps? If so, I've got the book for you.
In 2018, Alastair Bonnett released New Views: The World Mapped Like Never Before: 50 maps of our physical, cultural and political world.
I adore maps and I soaked up all 50 maps.
It's not available as an ebook, which is fine since the colorful book is designed to be flipped through, touched, and examined.
You can see a few sample maps on the book's Amazon page.
My 14 favorite maps from New Views
Let's look at my 14 favorite maps in the book.
Definitely, my favorite overall is the Pangea Ultima map. The name is terrible. It implies that it's ultimate and final resting places of the continents. It's not. They will continue to move for at least another billion years. Still, it's interesting to see where we're headed. We're going to rejoin the continents again! Drive to see your friends.
David Ogula's Shedding Black Africa's Burden says many things I wish I could write in my upcoming book about my tour through all 54 African nations. Because I'm white, the politically correct police would crucify me if I repeated his statements, even though they are true and fair.
Ogula shows how Africans bear much of the responsibility for the state of their continent.
He offers solutions.They often raise more questions. The devil is in the details. He should have spent less time pointing out Africa's flaws and more time explaining how exactly Africa can shed its burden.
Still, it's a good start.
Rejoice is from Cameroon, so she is thrilled that the first creature that America sent into orbit was from Cameroon.
The creature was named Enos. He was a chimp from Cameroon. He flew aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 on November 29, 1961. Enos logged three hours and 21 minutes in space. He paved the way for the first American orbital flight three months later.
I’m a fan of space exploration and astronomy. I’m an even bigger fan of the privatization of spaceflight, so I’ve been following the news fairly closely.
Still, just like I didn’t know about Enos the chimp, Christian Davenport’s upcoming book, Space Barons: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos, delivers plenty of facts I didn’t know about.
If you’ve meticulously followed the headlines, I suppose there’s little new in Davenport’s book. Test yourself.
Did you know that . . .
Surviving Kidnappers: Precautions, Influence, Strategic Tools is an excellent book for anyone who worries about being kidnapped.
From 2013-2018 I traveled to all 54 African countries, including all the ones where kidnapping is a serious risk. Although I took precautions, I wish I had read this book before my trip.
The 2022 book teaches you how to prevent a kidnapping in the first place. For instance, whenever getting into a taxi (or any car), take a photo of the license plate (and the driver) and then email it to a friend. Tell the driver that you’re doing this so that he doesn’t come up with any bright ideas to make an unnecessary detour.
His advice is sound, including:
On December 5, 2017, Noam Chomsky will come out with his five millionth book. The dude is prolific. It's called Global Discontents.
The book is a collection of interviews with his loyal sympathizer David Barsamian.
I disagree with Noam Chomsky on so many issues. I often can't stand the guy.
Still, I force myself to listen to him because I respect him.
In today's echo chamber of the Internet, too many people simply surround themselves with media that reinforce their point of view. We must force ourselves to open our mind and listen to people we disagree with, even if we feel outraged.
For example, so many of my liberal San Francisco friends blame everything that's wrong in this world on Fox News. However, few have spent much time watching it. If they did, they might learn that many of the programs on Fox are as objective as any other mainstream news source.
Of course, many programs aren't, but the fact that few liberals realize that Fox News isn't always biased shows that they rarely listen to the opposition.
I pay attention to Chomsky for the same reason I watch Michael Moore's movies. I disagree with many of the points but it's important to hear their intelligent (or at least entertaining) arguments.
The day after our Jackass-In-Chief won the election I cried like a pussy and then wrote, “3 Great Things About Donald Trump’s Victory.”
It was good therapy for me and I hope it calmed down my liberal friends who had become stupidly hysterical.
Now that the Trumpster has been in office for 100 days, it’s the traditional time to judge his performance so far.
In my post-election article, I mentioned three silver linings in the Trump cloud:
- Democracy won.
- Russian-American relations may win.
- Mars may win.
Now that the first 100 days has passed, let’s review each one and consider a few other important points. I'll end with a shocking prediction.
I reviewed Dave Hall's excellent book, Winter in the Wilderness. I got a chance to have an exclusive interview with the author and ask him 8 questions. His answers are extremely useful for anyone who is interested in winter survival.
1. What's been the most uncomfortable/life-threatening situation you've ever survived in the winter? How did you do it?
Two events come to mind. In both instances, I didn’t feel that my life or the lives of anyone in our group were in imminent danger, but circumstances could have changed and easily become life-threatening.
The first happened when I was in college and leading a group into the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. We stayed in the Adirondack Loj campground under what I would call severe conditions, with temperatures hovering at 30 degrees below zero. Our plan was to summit Algonquin Peak the next day. With the wind chill, temperatures dropped to about 50 below during our hike.
We decided to tackle Wright Peak instead, with only four or five of us summiting while the rest of our party stayed below treeline. Our gear served us well, but it was evident that this was a potentially disastrous situation. On the way down, on the lee of a boulder, I removed my mittens to make an adjustment and the ache and pain in my hands was instantaneous.
The second situation occurred when my colleague, Tim Drake, and I led a group of students from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry on a winter overnight into the Labrador Hollow Unique Area. During this particular expedition, we faced a situation that until that point I had often thought about but never experienced. Conditions at the outset of our journey were ideal but soon took a harrowing turn. It began to rain, then sleet, then snow. This presented one of the most deadly winter survival situations into which I had ever been cast. Everything—and I mean everything—was wet. By nightfall, most of the students had finished their shelters, but it was
It began to rain, then sleet, then snow. This presented one of the most deadly winter survival situations into which I had ever been cast. Everything—and I mean everything—was wet. By nightfall, most of the students had finished their shelters, but it was fire that saved our asses. This is a skill that must be mastered, and it is situations like these that speak to its importance.
2. What's been your biggest winter survival error? What did you learn from it?
In truth, I have encountered few, if any, errors. I have certainly been uncomfortable at points throughout the years, but I have never exceeded my limitations—and it’s important to know what those limitations are. I try to stay dry and push myself to improve and expand on my skill set. I have always gone into winter situations prepared and with deliberate intentions. Even when I embark on a short cross-country skiing trip into the woods near my home, I bring along a knife and a lighter.
3. What's the biggest myth that people have about winter survival? (That it's freezing in a snow cave?)
In late 2016, I bought a Samsung Galaxy S7 phone on eBay from Nathan Gundlach, who claimed that it was unlocked. After buying it, he begged me to give him positive feedback on eBay before I got the phone. He claimed it's because PayPal won't release the money I sent him until either I give feedback or 3 days have passed. He wanted to buy more phones with the cash I sent him. He added, "Even if you don't like the phone, you can still bring up a case against me if you need to."
I trusted that the phone would be good and that he would work with me to fix it if it wasn't.
When my American friend brought the phone to Madagascar, I put my working SIM card (I know it was working since my Samsung Galaxy S6 was using it) into the S7. Result?
- A Troublesome Inheritance book by Nicholas Wade
- Are Racists Crazy? A book by Gilman and Thomas
- Walking the Nile book by Levison Wood
- Climate Change and the Health of Nations book by McMichael
- Chibok Girls book by Helon Habila
- The New Black Middle Class in South Africa book by Southall
- Esoteric Empathy book by Raven Digitalis
- Out of Eden book by David Barash
- How to Survive in the Wild book by Martin and Casucci
- The Planet Remade book by Oliver Morton
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