#totallyrandomnonfictuesday

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Totally Random Non-Fiction Tuesday

Apparently poisons were big in New York in the early 20th Century, until Charles Norris became the Chief Medical Examiner. And, he, as well as Alexander Gettle, a toxicologist, changed the game, basically forever.

A lot of it is about Dr. Gettler, who would literally go through a deceased person’s organs a little at a time to find the answer to something. He’d prove the innocence of a husband suspected of poisoning his wife (it was mercury in the calomel prescribed by the doctor), or that the Standard Oil workers didn’t just die from ‘working too hard’, but, instead because of the tetraethyl lead they were working with. Oh, and he even proved that radium caused the deaths of the Radium Girls (the women who painted dials on watches).

It was such an interesting look at these cases, and these poisons, and the men, especially Gettler who was definitely an interesting character, that changed much of forensic science so much.

You may like this book If you Liked: Forensics by Val McDermid, The Inheritor's Powder by Sandra Hempel, or American Sherlock by Kate Winkler Dawson

The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum

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Totally Random Non-Fiction Tuesday

This is another fun Mary Roach non-fiction book. This time about the places (and times) that humans and wildlife collide. Roach goes all over the world, from indoor elephants, to bears, to terrifying leopards. And, I’m not sure that it’s a spoiler, but, a lot of the time, these issues that humans are having with animals, it’s not the animals fault, but ours.

Just like her other books, it has a good balance of information (oh so much information) and humor throughout the book. It was a fun read. Also, laser scarecrows??

You may like this book If you Liked: Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are? by F.B.M. de Waal, Poached by Rachel Nuwer, or Animals Strike Curious Poses by Elena Passarello

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach

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Totally Random Non-Fiction Tuesday

Cats are the best. And this book goes from beginning to end all about Cats and history, and does so in one of the most different and hilarious ways I’ve ever seen.

I had never read or heard of Paul Koudounaris before this book, but, apparently this is on brand. This book is actually “by” Baba, Paul’s cat. It starts with cats like the the ones in Egypt (and the cat goddess Bastet) to cats in World War I and II, to even going prehistoric with the history of cats.

For a cat lover it was just so amazing, and, as for those dog lovers who read this blog, you may learn something too. Humans domesticated dogs, Cats domesticated themselves! Heh.

You may like this book If you Liked: The Lion in the Living Room by Abigail Tucker, The Inner Life of Cats by Thomas McNamee, or Cat Sense by John Bradshaw

A Cat’s Tale: A Journey Through Feline History by Paul Koudounaris

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Totally Random Non-Fiction Tuesday

I’m always a sucker for a True Crime book that takes place somewhere that I have been around, know of, and so, this book about the murder of Jane Britton a Harvard Anthropology student in 1969 written by a Harvard graduate Becky Cooper decades later.

It’s a typical sort of true crime on the one hand, there’s lots about the time (misogyny and that sort of thing that could happen at Harvard) and I could definitely tell that Cooper did tons of research on the crime, but, it’s also a bit of a memoir about Becky Cooper herself at times too which made it a slightly less typical true crime book.

It was definitely an interesting read, and, through every word I could tell that Cooper had really really been into this case. The end was a bit surprising to me, just as it has been to many others, and, definitely don’t Google the case if you don’t want to be spoiled (It was closed in 2018). An intense, but good read.

You may like this book If you Liked: Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford, I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara, or Blood & Ivy by Paul Collins

We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence by Becky Cooper

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Totally Random Non-Fiction Tuesday

Did you have a hankering to learn all all all about bread? If so, this is the book for you for sure!

Samuel Fromartz is a journalist, but, in 2009 he got the assignment to go to France and work in a boulangerie (A bakery that specializes in bread. Especially in French-style breads.) That started him on a new journey. To make his homemade baguette the best it could be, but, also, to research bread in all its form, from when the seeds were planted, to when someone ate it.

This was so immense, and so interesting, and, just… it was only 320 pages, but, it fit so much in it. Tips, recipes, and, oh, the pictures. Wow, wow. It was a fun read even for someone who likes bread more than she likes to bake bread.

You may like this book If you Liked: Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl, Taste by Stanley Tucci, or Blood, Bones, and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton

In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker's Odyssey by Samuel Fromartz

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Totally Random Non-Fiction Tuesday

First of all, I love the title. Cracked me up, and, got me to pick it up, so, checking all the boxes.

Not surprisingly, the book inside has the same sort of feeling as the title. Sure, there’s a ton of info about Indexes (those things in the back of the book where you can find out all the times that someone was referring to knees in the strengthening joints book). Apparently their history is not straightforward. And, goes from monasteries to Silicon Valley, and, just touches things that I had no idea it would. I will never look at an index the same ever again.

Take that Keyword Search!

You may like this book If you Liked: The Oxford Illustrated History of the Book by James Raven, Portable Magic by Emma Smith, or The Life of Crime by Martin Edwards

Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age by Dennis Duncan

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Totally Random Non-Fiction Tuesday

So, I picked this book up because according to one blurb I read, Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, who was actually at the trial of the man who killed Willie Maxwell, a preacher who was accused of murdering five of his family, and court-wise got away with it.

This book tells the story of both the Reverend Willie Maxwell and his accused of crimes, the fact that both he and the man that murdered him both got away with their murders in court (and with the same attorney for both men, bonkers), and the book that Harper Lee wanted to write about the story called ‘The Reverend’.

It’s just sort of… it blew my mind a little. The levels of True Crime and such that are in this book. It’s like a rubix cube of stories that have been put together by the author, Cep. Such an interesting read.

You may like this book If you Liked: Mockingbird by Charles J. Shields, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, or Rising Road by Sharon L. Davies

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

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Totally Random Non-Fiction Tuesday

Gander, Newfoundland. Even though here in New England, in Massachusetts we’re not too too far away from Newfoundland in the grand scheme of things (not to mention being connected with Halifax, Nova Scotia) I’d never heard of Gander until I read this book 18 or so years ago.

U.S. airspace was closed on September 11th, and, so, not one or two, but, 38 jetliners had to land at Gander International Airport. And the town of Gander suddenly almost doubled (more than 6000 passengers were stranded).

It’s just such a story. An amazing story, everything from the food that was prepared by the town for the stranded passengers, to the bus drivers who were on strike, but went back to work to deliver the passengers to the shelters that were created in churches and schools. Linens, toiletries, showers, even access to computers. And this was for 4 days too.

It’s a short story, but, one that is a reminder that humans, especially in a crisis, are primarily good or want to be good. Thank you Gander, Newfoundland.

You may like this book If you Liked: Among the Heroes by Jere Longman, Firehouse by David Halberstam, or Last Man Down by Richard Picciotto

The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede