I learned so much about the life and death of Laika, the Soviet space dog. This is a well-researched, thorough historical narrative, but also a beautifully poetic, philosophical meditation on Laika, on animals used in science and exploration, and our long, deep human relationship with the canine species. A profound work that should be much better known and appreciated.
Laika began her life as a stray dog on the streets of Moscow and died in 1957 aboard the Soviet satellite Sputnik II. Initially the USSR reported that Laika, the first animal to orbit the earth, had survived in space for seven days, providing valuable data that would make future manned space flight possible. People believed that Laika died a painless death as her oxygen ran out. Only in recent decades has the real story become public: Laika died after only a few hours in orbit when her capsule overheated. Laika's Window positions Laika as a long overdue hero for…
A book about the traditional worldview of the Siksikaitsitapi people, in which the author shares her personal story of "coming home" to reclaim her identity within her culture. This book opened my mind and heart to a worldview that is breathtakingly alive with meaning, interconnection, and wisdom.
Blackfoot Ways of Knowing is a journey into the heart and soul of Blackfoot culture. As a scholar and researcher, Betty Bastien places Blackfoot tradition within a historical context of precarious survival amid colonial displacement and cultural genocide. In sharing her personal story of reclaimed identity, Bastien offers a gateway into traditional Blackfoot ways of understanding and experiencing the world.
For the Siksikaitsitapi, knowledge is experiential, participatory, and ultimately sacred. Bastien maps her own process of coming to know, stressing the recovery of the Blackfoot language and Blackfoot notions of reciprocal responsibilities and interdependence.
Finally got around to reading this, and baby, it blew my mind. A crazily original mash-up of science fiction and edge-of-the-seat thriller, with a heavy dose of complete mindfuck. Nothing else like it.
A classic science fiction tale of artifical worlds by one of the great American writers of the 20th century
Glen Runciter is dead.
Or is he?
Someone died in the explosion orchestrated by his business rivals, but even as his funeral is scheduled, his mourning employees are receiving bewildering messages from their boss. And the world around them is warping and regressing in ways which suggest that their own time is running out.
If it hasn't already.
Readers minds have been blown by Ubik:
'Sheer craziness, a book defying any straightforward synopsis . . . a unique time travel adventure…
Part ecofiction, part literary puzzle, part fable, The Book of Rain begins in the northern mining town of River Meadows, where a valuable ore’s strange properties create anomalous effects known as “decoherences” that alter reality and eventually force the evacuation of the town. From this beginning the novel follows three intertwining stories:
Alex Hewitt returns to River Meadows years later to search for his sister Amery, who has disappeared while rescuing animals trapped in the restricted zone.
Claire, a young woman from River Meadows who now traffics endangered wildlife, comes to an island under threat of environmental catastrophe for what she hopes will be her greatest prize yet, only to find herself facing a life-altering choice.
In a future as distant as myth, a flock of birds sets out on a dangerous journey to prevent the extinction of their ancient enemy, humanity.
