Book Review: The Man Who Died Twice (OT)(British, murder mystery, senior citizens)

The Man Who Died Twice, by Richard Osman (Penguin Books, 2022, 400pp, $13.13 PB) Review by Skye Anderson

"Highly Recommended"

The Man Who Died Twice came highly recommended to me by a couple of friends in their 70s, the ages of the quartet of British sleuths in this book, and is a multi-million copy bestseller (whatever 'bestseller' means), so why was it so hard for me to finish. over several weeks with a break in the middle?

NPR's Book of the Day for October 3, 2024, is the newest Richard Osman title and series (We Solve Murders)

while Man is a "Thursday Murder Club Mystery." The best thing about Man, to this reviewer, is the large print and 84 short chapters, some with titles, plus the two pages of discussion questions for readers and a cute fox on the cover.

If you like voluminous Russian novels with numerous characters and long Russian names (lots of consonants), you will love Man, set in England with just as many characters (but shorter names) of all generations and genders (so the names transcend the generations and genders, thereby making it even harder for me to remember who's who)

Man is the second in the series (and soon to be major motion picture) starting with The Thursday Murder Club (soon to be a major motion picture from Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment) and followed by The Bullet That Missed and The Last Devil to Die (in that order). I really should try reading another Osman book, but, in the meantime, here below is a sample of the humor.

Two women cross the Channel into Belgium for the day and buy souvenirs for their friends: "It was quite a long journey back, so somewhere in northern France I unwrapped Ibrahim's chocolates and we ate them, and then I unwrapped Ron's beers and we drank them."

Book Review: Have You Met Stephanie Plum? (single, female bounty hunter)

Have You Met Stephanie Plum? by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin's Press, 52 pp, 2003, FREE Sampler) Review by Skye Anderson

If you like the Kinsey Milhone alphabet mysteries by Sue Grafton (set in California) and have read all 25 of them like I have, you will love Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum!

And if you haven't read the Kinsey books, try them, along with Evanovich's 31, and you will be hooked!

Have You Met Stephanie Plum? is a sampler. In this very short book with episodes from the first nine of her 31 books, we can read samplers ranging from just a couple of pages to 14 pages as we are introduced to all the main characters from Grandma Mazur to police officer Joe Morelli and former Army ranger, Ranger, along with Golden Retriever, Bob, plus Lula, the former 'ho' turned assistant bounty hunter. Our heroine, Stephanie, attracts unsavory characters, many of whom she went to school with, along with Morelli. And speaking of Morelli - and Ranger - Stephanie can't decide which one she should end up with.

Set in Trenton, New Jersey, with all of its culture, this sampler book also has a short summary of each of the nine books so far. I'd recommend starting with the first book but if you can't get it, start anywhere and get ready to laugh at the antics and exploding cars!

Book Review: Poppies of Iraq (OT) (hardback comic book, a graphic novel)

Poppies of Iraq, by Brigitte Findakly (Drawn & Quarterly, 120pp, 2017, ages 14 and up, $21.95) Review by Skye Anderson

I never thought I would read a comic book that wasn't for kids (shades of Dennis the Menace) but this was a lovely experience with pages of photographs interspersed among pages and pages of story-text with each sentence illustrated by the author's husband and colored by the author.

A story about growing up in Iraq (before moving to France to live [and marry]), written in and translated from French, Poppies of Iraq is a quick read but one you can put down and pick up again, easily. 

Brigitte spends her childhood in Mosul, Iraq, and comes from a very large Christian family. Her story begins before she was born: her father went to France for his degree in dentistry and married his French wife there before returning to Iraq. The author takes us through the next few decades and episodes of being a minority, of visiting relatives in France for the summers, living in a 'war' torn country (civil wars) but as a child, so we learn how she sees and is shielded from politics and discrimination. 

One  Page

When Brigitte then spends the rest of her childhood in France, she is also a minority - someone who speaks French but doesn't read or write it and is therefore 'put back' in school. After a few trips back to Iraq over the years she finally comes to the realization that she may never fit in, in either country.

The story weaves back and forth and touches upon Saddam Hussein and some of his acts, as well as being a pretty good history text book of a few decades.

What is it really like to be a child in turbulent times? What is one aware of and what does one remember - perhaps the pet you had to leave behind, perhaps playing with the little girl next door after months of the families ignoring each other because they are 'different.'

And the drawings are fun!

Book Review: Dog Days (another Olive and Mabel treasure)(bemused and confused)

Dog Days: Life in Lockdown with Olive & Mabel, by Andrew Cotter (Sourcebooks, 336 pp, 2022, $16.99) Review by Skye Anderson.

I've had this book for about a year, started it but didn't get very far until I picked it up again and am I glad I did! Actually I got sidetracked by viewing most of the 44 videos! (see below)

Dog Days: Life in Lockdown with Olive & Mabel is author Andrew Cotter's second book about life during COVID with Olive (black lab, 8) and Mabel (yellow lab, 4), his two very world-famous Scottish Labrador Retrievers who have entertained the world recently, starting with their daily life and non-antics during COVID depicted in short video snippets with accompanying hilarious non-stop commentary by their person, a COVID-underemployed sportscaster.

Sportscasters are known to get excited and talk lickity-split: Cotter does both in a Scottish accent to boot but he also writes like he speaks - fast with long sentences that I cannot read out loud in one breath. You can simply imagine his voice coming through the written words and laugh often as you read a book written as a diary over the course of a year.

Second Book, Amused and Confused

Dog Days starts in the middle of COVID and sees it to its finale, so I suspect Cotter's first book, Olive, Mabel and Me: Life and Adventures with Two Very Good Dogs, begins either before or at the start of COVID. Now I shall have to read Olive and report back if it's really necessary to begin at the beginning (shades of Julie Andrews!). I suspect not.

The Family and Its Environs

Olive, the elder, and Mabel, the younger and cover girl on Outside magazine, live with Andrew when he is home and not galivanting around the world covering international sports events in his Scottish lilt (or brogue). The world's best labs also live with the shadowy Caroline who is mentioned perhaps three times in the book so we can surmise she and Andrew are married. But the stars are, of course, Olive and Mabel.

As you read through, you come to know the stately worried Olive and the puppy-like Mabel. The written voice of their human grows on you and the color photos of the dogs being dogs in the middle of the book are, in British words, lovely, especially at the PGA championships and on stage, begging an audience for treats.

How It All Began

All of a sudden, sports events across the globe were cancelled so, with nothing to do, and two dogs to do it with, who wouldn't stage sporting events between the two laconic canines, video them and post them to the world.  And do it again. And again. Forty-four times, to be exact. 

But not all are narratives of the silent dogs looking and acting cute - like dogs. The author takes his dogs on hikes and camping trips up north. Unfortunately, this reviewer preferred the cute antics of the dogs at home with the creative repartee of their human - as far as she could understand the British vocabulary and references to people, places and things English (and Scottish).

The book's pages eventually and gradually depict the re-opening of society as COVID wanes and the author begins to write about more philosophical topics, like their hiking and camping trips. 

The Bond

This reviewer was unable to divorce the book from the 44 videos but I do want to point out the relationship between man and dog(s) - the dogs stay close to him, follow him without leashes, gaze upon him with acute adoration. In like manner, the man teases his dogs with love-felt humor that keeps you coming back for more. 

Video Episodes

1 The Dogs' Breakfast Grand Final

2 Game of Bones

3 The Walk of Shame

4 The Company Meeting

5 From the Sporting Archives

6 Mabel's Dream

7 Behind the Scenes

8 Not a Smooth Criminal

9 The Trust of Dogs

10 Intermission

11 Looking for Love

12 Run with Us

13 Home Help

14 Trick or Treat

15 Still Taking a Paws

16 Scent of a Dog

17 Exit the Stage

18 Home Gym

19 Lockdown Life

20 Card Game

21 Keeping Up Appearances

22 The Long Walk

23 Call of the Wild

24 Alternative Olympics

25 Co-authors

26 Squeak and I

27 The Inconstant Gardener

28 Escape to the Beach

29 Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

30 Their Master's Voice

31 World Dog Day

32 Sea Dogs

33 Just Being Dogs

34 Dogs of the Mountains

35 Once More to the Hills

36 Simple Dog Joy

37 Flora and Fauna

38 Butterfly Minds

39 Golf

40 Working Like a Dog

41 Mabel's Free Solo

42 Puppy Love

43 Ear-Flap Beach

44 Non-Gardener's World

Book Review: Border Collie Training Guide: Training Your Border Collie Dog (a mixed review) (Grade: C)

Border Collie Training Guide: Training Your Border Collie Dog, by Paul Allen Pearce (Paul Allen Pearce Publishing, 2015, 178pp, $19.95 HB) Review by Skye Anderson

"Your Complete Border Collie Guide for Caring, Raising and Training Your Border Collie Dog: From the Car Ride Home, Training Your Border Collie Begins"

First of all, we are not sure of the exact, complete title: in addition to the two titles above, it may include Border Collie Think Like a Dog. . . But Don't Eat Your Poop! and Here's Exactly How to Train Your Border Collie - all these appear on the front cover. Secondly, we received four border collie books at the same time, unsolicited. Third, this book is self-published (however, many self-published books are excellent - they just come with caveats) and a few years old.

On the whole, Border Collie Training Guide is a good training and care book in that author Paul Allen Pearch explains clicker training (positive reinforcement training). However, clicker trainers who have transitioned from traditional, force-based dog training, use positive methods and vocabulary whole-heartedly and as exclusively as possible. Pearce still uses vocabulary such as 'command' rather than 'cue' plus the words 'alpha' and  'obedience.' He also includes some protocols for traditional training methods, but, fortunately he says these are a last resort. And he also seems to skip a step here and there.

The husbandry sections are very good: nutrition, handling, how to lift a dog, e.g. The book also includes information on barking, digging, dog body language and other topics. 

What We Would Change

Here at DogEvals, we are trainers who also work with behavior cases and don't specialize in nutrition or other topics but, though this book is divided into three  parts, and we sort of figured out the different chapters, there is no table of contents or index which makes the information difficult to find.

On second thought, we did finally find a table of contents but it includes Part 111 without mentioning Parts 1 or 11 and appears a dozen pages into the text so we easily did miss it on first reading (or forgot it).

And, of course, DogEvals would delete the non-positive old-fashioned terms. We would also delete the traditional information and found the author's URL to be non-existent so the good reference section may also be outdated.

Last Words

This book is, for the majority, helpful and would be totally helpful if your positive-reinforcement trainer could black-out the information that is old-fashioned and misleading. The instructions that are omitted can also be figured out with the help of a good trainer.

And, finally, the author has numerous guide books - one for each of many dog breeds!

Book Review: How to Train Your Dog with Love and Science (Grade: A minus)

How to Train Your Dog with Love and Science, by Annie Grossman (SourceBooks [Penguin Random House], 352 pp, 2024, $17.99) Review by Skye Anderson

In a Word - Wow! The best book I have read in several years!

I have been known to start writing a book review before finishing the book and even to suggest the Book of the Year very early in the year - but only for exceptional books. This is one such book! 

A non-fiction, how-to book that reads like a story and keeps you enthralled, a book you hate to put down. 

A book I used up an entire yellow highlighter on!

I knew, after reading the Introduction, that I would love this book! (How many readers read the Introduction, or the Acknowledgements or the Preface, other than book reviewers like me?)

Author Annie Grossman of School for the Dogs. . . 

School for the Dogs in NYC

makes the love, and the science, and the psychology of dog training easy to understand and use at home (she even takes a stab at explaining the difference between habituation and sensitization). And, she is an entertaining author to boot! But then, I should have realized that with her background as a journalist (I find books written by reporters and journalists to be, on the whole, excellent reads and when I find a book that I like, I love to read everything that person has authored - just like I tell my undergraduates to take every course from your favorite professor that you can because you will learn the most from them! But I digress.) 

Who is Train Your Dog with Love and Science For?

Ah, this took me a while to figure out and what I came up with is that Train is a resource book plus a textbook for serious dog people and a book for dog-trainers-in-training to discuss amongst themselves and with their mentors. It would also make a great book for undergraduates in a behavioral psychology course. Educators will be able to easily transfer the principles to their classrooms as Ah-ha! moments.

Dear Reader, Take the Good Dog Training Pledge on page 283 and send it to Annie!

Learning to be Brave in NYC

Grossman's personality and sense of humor shines through so much that I'll wager there are dog trainer wanna-be's out in Idaho that wish they could fly to New York City to apprentice under Grossman! I know I would, if I were a few years younger.

What Did I Like the Best? 

Author (left) and Business Partner Kate

I noticed some of my favorite words: homunculus, halcyon, Mobius strip, minions and others. I liked how the author defined terms that needed defining, right after using them in the beginning of a chapter. I like how she kept referring to future chapters when appropriate and referring to previous chapters as well. I love her sense of humor and how she makes science easy - and gives the reader the stories of scientists in little bites as well as some anecdotes from her own life. I like how, rare in a non-fiction book, this book transitions into the next chapter so well, to keep you reading - and often with humor!

Positive-Reinforcement Training - What's it All About?

Training should be fun and it can be easy if reward-based methods are used. Grossman makes it fun and easy, too, to learn this method and to apply it in other situations in daily life. Excellent teachers and parents already (unknowingly) use a lot of rewards and reinforcement.

What Would I Change?

Author Grossman clearly states in the Intro that there are four parts to her book but the table of contents does not clearly reflect this and the last part of the introduction clearly points out parts three and four only. I found a few typos in a couple of chapters* but on the whole, it was well edited.

My first thoughts that seven pages of pre-publication praise from leaders in the dog field was a bit much, even if I knew most of them but when I finally put the book down and reread those comments, I was a convert.

A Gem

I did eventually get used to the polka-dotted dogs on the cover, too! And I want to reiterate what a fun, engrossing, educational book this is. But here's a friendly warning: you will need a highlighter unless you like to take notes - so much of Annie's words are gems to remember.

Now I am waiting for a play-by-play manual, a workbook!

*perhaps more than one copy editor was used or, if one, they were interrupted mid-chapter.

Movie Review: Inside the Mind of a Cat (Netflix documentary)

Inside the Mind of a Cat (2022, 67 minutes, Netflix documentary) Review by Skye Anderson

Previously, DogEvals reviewed Inside the Mind of a Dog, so it is only "fitting and proper" that we give equal time (and space) to their nemesis, the cat, in Inside the Mind of a Cat. Consequently, as promised yesterday, here is the other side of the story. . . . 

Our Most Puzzling Companions

I am not a cat person but I loved this documentary - for its educational value. It almost made me want to live with a cat. Almost.

With a population of four million, cats are in the top ten of animals species that have ever walked the earth. They have a fondness for boxes and bags because they are ambush predators from way back. Cats also like to climb but do not need to be taught how to do so. This is a left-over trait from many many years ago and if you do not  provide cat furniture, your cat may just find the Christmas tree or the venetian blinds or . . . !

These most puzzling companions are the fastest land animals, thanks to their oh-so-flexible spines: plus they can jump 5-6 times their height.

Why Do Cats Do What They Do?

Ask a cat psychologist! Or ask Dr. Wailuni Sung, a veterinarian.

But, "Forget everything you think you know about cats." It's true that feline research is logging behind canine research* by about 15 years, but cats have done amazing tricks on America's Got Talent (e.g., the Savitsky Sisters' cats from Ukraine) - the same tricks dogs can do: jump through hoops, weave through weave poles (albeit slowly), . . . . We have discovered that they even know their names but whether they choose to respond is another story. (Haven't dog people always known that?)  They also understand pointing, just as dogs do but chimpanzees do not (and neither do wolves).

How To Read a Cat

What are whiskers for? What is the difference between a dog wagging its tail and a cat swishing its tail? How do cats purr and why? Can you clicker train a cat? Why do cats bring their owners 'gifts'?

Low and slow is the way to go - not a hand coming down from above to pet a cat: that is like a bird of prey coming in to attack.

*Comparing this documentary to the Netflix documentary on dogs, Cats is more educational and perhaps fascinating for the new cat owner while Dogs focuses more on cutting-edge research about our best friends (dogs) (and on service dogs).