This is a chunky book!

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity ~ by David Graeber and David Wengrow, 2021, social science, 704 pages

This donation to our Crown Center's little library is a New York Times bestseller.  Amazon's reviewers have given it a 4.5/5, which is my 9/10.  So I've decided to read it.  I'm sure I will read it in bits and pieces, and want to share it now.  From the dust jacket:

For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike ― either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike.  Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts.  David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals.  Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.

Drawing on pathbreaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what’s really there.  If humans did not spend 95 percent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time?  If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.

The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society.  This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.  (It also includes a few maps along with 63 pages of notes, 58 pages of bibliography, and an index.  I'm ready to dive in.)

1. In my Monday Musing post, I mused about a book by Gail Godwin, HERE.
2. My subject on Thursday was being "over the hill," HERE. 
3. Friday's Book Beginning was about the first book in a series, HERE.
4. On Saturday, I wrote about getting two inoculations in the same arm, HERE.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

Innoculations

Thursday, I got a flu shot and the latest Covid shot.  Trying to decide whether to get both shots in one arm or one in each arm, I did an online search and found (HERE) that it doesn't matter:

"You can save time and money by getting two vaccinations at the same time, and new research finds that it doesn’t really matter which arm or arms the jab goes in."

So I thought about it and asked the person giving me the two shots.  She also said it doesn't matter, so I got both in my left arm (like the person above), hoping to keep my dominant arm pain-free for the next few days.  So far, so good.  It was still hurting yesterday morning, but got better during the day, and I went out to eat with my friend Jane at First Watch and had enough left over for another meal today.

Beginning ~ on Tuesday, October eighth

Beginning

It's a widely known fact that most moms are ready to kill someone by eight thirty A.M. on any given morning.  On the particular mor-ning of Tuesday, October eighth, I was ready by seven forty-five.

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It (Book 1 of 6 in The Finlay Donovan Series) ~ by Elle Cosimano, 2022, humorous fiction, 376 pages

Finlay Donovan is killing it . . . except, she’s really not.  She’s a stressed-out single-mom of two and struggling novelist.  Finlay’s life is in chaos:  the new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written, her ex-husband fired the nanny without telling her, and this morning she had to send her four-year-old to school with hair duct-taped to her head after an incident with scissors.

When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet.  Soon, Finlay discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.

Fast-paced and wholeheartedly authentic in depicting the frustrations and triumphs of motherhood in all its messiness, hilarity, and heartfelt moments, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a series from YA Edgar Award nominee Elle Cosimano.  (I already have the next two books in this series.)

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

Book Beginnings on Fridays.

Thinking about four lines in a book I read

Over What Hill? (notes from the pasture) ~ by Effie Leland Wilder, 1996, fiction (South Carolina), 180 pages, 9/10

"Senescence begins

And middle age ends

The day your descendants

Outnumber your friends" (p. 93).

Oh, my goodness!  I'm there.  Counting:  3 children + 7 grandchildren + 6 great-grandchildren (so far) = 16.  Yikes, do I have 16 friends left?  Okay, so I keep making friends, but can I actually name sixteen of them right now?  Hmmm, Shirley from 6th grade . . . Oh, wait!  I'm 85, so I'm long past "middle age."  Also, I still have friends (new as well as old friends), so I'll take a deep breath and smile now.

Musing about death

Getting to Know Death: A Meditation ~ by Gail Godwin, 2024, memoir, 192 pages, 8/10

Ingmar Bergman once said that an artist should always have one work between himself and death.  When renowned author Gail Godwin tripped and broke her neck while watering the dogwood tree in her garden at age eighty-five, a lifetime of writing and publishing behind her and a half-finished novel in tow, Bergman's idea quickly unfurled in front of her, forcing her to confront a creative life interrupted.  In this book, Godwin shares what spoke to her while in a desperate place.  Remembering those she has loved and survived, including a brother and father lost to suicide, and finding meaning in the encounters she has with other patients as she heals, she takes stock of a life toward the end of its long graceful arc, finding her path through the words she has written and the people she has loved.

I read this book, straight through.  My neighbor Betty left it in my box Saturday evening with a note saying, "This starts out great but devolves — wandering and repetition."  Before going to bed in the wee hours of the morning, I'd finished the book and put it back in Betty's box across the hall from me.  I agree with Betty's assessment that it wanders.  It's like she wrote it for herself, and I could not keep track of who's who.  It's too bad, since Gail Godwin has been one of my favorite authors.

A book about forests and my wooden flute

The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth ~ by Ben Rawlence, 2022, environmental science, 320 pages

For the last fifty years, the trees of the boreal forest have been moving north.  Rawlence takes us along this critical frontier of our warming planet from Norway to Siberia, Alaska to Greenland, Canada to Sweden to meet the scientists, residents and trees confronting huge geological changes.  Only the hardiest species survive at these latitudes including the ice-loving Dahurian larch of Siberia, the antiseptic Spruce that purifies our atmosphere, the Downy birch conquering Scandinavia, the healing Balsam poplar that Native Americans use as a cure-all, and the Scots Pine that lives longer when surrounded by its family.

It is a journey of wonder and awe at the incredible creativity and resilience of these species and the mysterious workings of the forest upon which we rely for the air we breathe.  This is a story of what might soon be the last forest left and what that means for the future of all life on earth.

November is designated as Native American Heritage Month to honor the culture, history, and contributions of indigenous peoples.  The month serves as an opportunity for public education and celebration, with events, exhibits, and educational programs taking place across the nation.  The official designation was established by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, and the celebration is also known as American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.

Decades ago, I bought this 6-hole cedar flute in Cherokee, North Carolina.  I'm the one who added the beaded feathers to the green felt bag, but the leather strap to hold the "bird" in place over the hole to adjust the sound was there when I first bought it.  The indigenous people who made it are the Cherokee, of course.

I noticed how Google is celebrating this month, and that reminded me to mention it on this blog.  I'm smiling because Google also used wooden flutes, and the brown one through the second "G" looks like mine.

is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz.

November is NaNoWriMo Month ~ updated to say, "Oh, no!"

Back in October of 2007, I posted on this blog that I was going to spend the month of November writing a novel, HERE.  Did I finish a novel?  Nope.

Eight reasons to do NaNoWriMo

1. LEARN ~ Learn what you can truly achieve
2. PROGRESS ~ Make real, structured progress
3. BUILD HABITS ~ Chunk tasks into wins and repeat
4. CONNECT ~ Meet others with the same goals
5. ACCOUNT ~ Answer to milestone targets
6. REALIZE ~ Learn how you work best
7. IMPROVE ~ Improve with more practice
8. PREPARE ~ Train to write your next book

No Plot? No Problem!  Novel-Writing Kit ~ by Chris Baty (founder of National Novel Writing Month), 2006, writing, 44 pages

Chris Baty, instigator of a wildly successful writing revolution, spells out the secrets of writing and finishing a novel.  Every fall, thousands of people sign up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which Baty founded, determined to (a) write that novel or (b) finish that novel in — I kid you not — 30 days.  Now Baty puts pen to paper himself to share the secrets of success.  With week-specific overviews, pep "talks," and essential survival tips for today's word warriors, this results-oriented, quick-fix strategy is perfect for people who want to nurture their inner artist and then hit print.  Anecdotes and success stories from NaNoWriMo winners will inspire writers from the heralding you-can-do-it trumpet blasts of day one to the champagne toasts of day thirty.  Whether it's a resource for those taking part in the official NaNo WriMo event, or a handbook for writing to come, No Plot? No Problem! is the ultimate guide for would-be writers (or those with writer's block) to cultivate their creative selves.

No, Snoopy!  Don't give up yet.  November is just starting, and you can do it!  Just say, "I can do it, I can do it, I can do it."  Now keep typing.  Should I let you borrow my laptop?  No, I'm afraid it won't balance on your dog house quite as well as your typewriter.  And besides, I may use it a lot this month.

UPDATE:  "Oh, no!"  I've had this set for ages to start my month writing a novel.  I even published an idea recently, HERE.  It's early afternoon, and I just happened to learn that . . .

"NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is not happening in 2025 as the organization shut down in April 2025.  However, there are new alternatives for the 50,000-word challenge, such as the relaunch of the event under a new name, Novel November, by ProWritingAid.  Many other online and in-person groups are also organizing their own writing challenges to maintain the community and momentum of the original event."