Book in Review: The Story of B

An American priest crosses the ocean on the trail of a man known as “B”, with a singular mission: to hear the message that B is carrying and to see if he is what the Lutheran church has always feared – the Antichrist.

What JF discovers is that B’s message might be far greater than anything the church could have ever thought – the message on how to save the world.

From Amazon

**

I should write the backs of books. Seriously. That took me like, 5 minutes and it’s been almost 3 months since I read the book.

The Story of B is a sort-of sequel to Ishmael – a sequel in that it is set more recently than Ishmael, and they mention Ishmael in the story. But other than that, it is essentially a book onto itself, though the backbone is the same: To save the world from its utter destruction, we must change the way we see humans in nature.

But, where Ishmael took more of a straight historical view, mixing in religion and biology where suitable, Story of B sort of does the opposite: It takes the religious and biological views, and mixes in history just to keep things clean.

**

Personally, I liked and disliked this approach. I definitely liked Ishmael more, but then I still need to read Story of B at least two more times before I will pretend I actually understand it past the “big picture”. But, as someone who lives both in the scientific and religious world, it’s hard for me to sympathize with media that puts the two at odds – although I know that there is a history of it and in fanatical and extreme cases there still is.

Maybe it’s the moderate in me, but I always find it difficult when people blame religion for anything – even if it’s not my religion.

But what I did like about this book was all the biology in it! Ishmael had it, of course. You can’t talk about nature without talking about biology, it’s one of the other. But it was a lot more pronounced in Story of B, using terms and concepts straight out of my second year ecology class to explain how messed up we are in this world.

Now, I read a PDF version off of my laptop, as I am travelling and books are difficult to carry around (although how come every time I travel, determined not to bring books with me, I always come home with at least two?), and the way the PDF was set up was they put all the “lecture material” (AKA the nitty gritty details) at the very end, so you could get the overall premise and all the action from the book, then if your brain wasn’t complete mush, you could try to get through about 100 pages (actual pages, because it was a PDF) of all the details that make his argument valid.

I was so overwhelmed by the end of the actually book that I got through about half of the lecture material. I was also travelling, which made it difficult to find time to read on my laptop. So I sort of wish they had split it up in the book. But maybe they do in the print version. I don’t know. If someone does know, leave a comment!

So, in summary, Story of B is a great book that really makes you think, but I personally preferred Ishmael. All my atheist readers (you know who you are, even if I don’t), maybe you’ll like it more than I did, but I think anyone who reads it will get something awesome out of it.

I think I’ll end with a quote from the book, because it’s sort of the central principle, and it makes total and complete sense – and if it doesn’t, it means you need to read the book.

“If the world is saved, it will be saved by people with changed minds, people with a new vision. It will not be saved by people with old minds and new programs.”

Speak Loud!

Buy the book at Amazon

And at Chapters

Asking for Help

Hey Team!

So, the blog has gotten a facelift! I think I like the look a little more... still fun, but maybe a bit more professional? I have a friend with an amazing blog who is getting some pretty serious recognition for it, and it's not jealousy that I feel, but maybe simply motivation?

As I post my blog to my personal facebook, I know that my friends and family make up a fair amount of the people who read my blog. And that's awesome, thank you guys for supporting this crazy dream of mine (both the biology one and the blog one)!

But I am hoping to reach a wider audience, because let's face it, most of my friends do not want to grow up to be biologists, and the point of this blog is to inspire and teach.

So if anyone has any ideas on how to get this blog out there and read by people who don't actually know me, please leave a comment below, and hopefully I can start to see more views.

Or maybe there just aren't enough blog reading biologists in the world and it's a futile attempt. It's still fun to write so I won't be stopping any time soon.

And just to keep you intrigued, here are some of the upcoming posts...

• a review of a TV show
• a review of a movie
• conservation vs. research
• bottlenose dolphin facts

So stay tuned for more blog posts, once I find the time and the internet connection...

Speak Loud!

Mentoring With the Best of Them

Hey Team, sorry for the lack of catchy title, the song in my head was just too long.

So I am sitting pretty in Croatia, doing a lot of data work. photo-ID matching, data entry, cropping photos, renaming files, organizing files, etc. Lots of busy work while we wait for the weather to clear up so we can get on the waters again.

But I am here to talk about teaching and mentoring. Because all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I have become a mentor.

Woah.

I mean, that was the point of this blog at the beginning, you know? To give hints and tips about marine biology to try and help others who are just starting down this path. I think it's become something a little different, but I think it's still possible to learn something from all my babbling.

Anyways. Mentors. I have had quite a few in my life. Sticking with those in my career path, most of them have been grad students, older than me, already partway through their own research who for reasons beyond my comprehension took a special interest in my quest to become a marine biologist and let me help them with their lab work, taught me how to look for grants, how to write applications and let me use their names when trying to find work.

And they helped. I came to them with questions, hopes, dreams and they actually cared. I know, I'm surprised as well. They were my friends and my teachers. Mentors.

Higher up the ladder, my supervisor for my honours thesis has also been a mentor for almost 3 years now. She's taught me how to write science articles, how to think critically about statistics and how to perform real behavioural experiments. Also my boss at DFO, probably for some strange reasons of his own, is always willing to hire me back when I am in Winnipeg, and has offered up a variety of projects if I ever have a long stretch of time with him.

These are people that if there was ever an 'Oscars' for my life, would be thanked in my awards speech. It's true that without them I would have probably failed. Miserably.

**

I have been a swimming instructor for 7 years. Five consecutively, then on and off for 2 years while I have been travelling. I have always, always, loved teaching, though usually I keep it to people under the age of 12.

One of the other interns here in Croatia is in her 2nd year of university in Germany, and she is just starting to do lab work and internships in marine biology. She has a lot of questions about different internships around the world, and how to do things like photo-ID and data entry.

It's not like I have a decade of experience under my belt, but I have enough that I can answer her questions, and now I have become one of those people who taught me so much. She asks me questions, tells me her plans for the future, and I answer her and encourage her.

The strangest part is that we are the same age. In Germany they start university a year late and she took a gap year, so although we are the same age, there is a big enough gap in our life paths that I can be a mentor to her.

It's weird though; I know that I take everything my own mentor's say so seriously, and now there's the chance that there is someone in the world doing the same with me.

It's a strange feeling, but a good one. I hope there will be lots and lots people I can help and teach in the future, because there are few things in life I love more.

There is also someone back home a friend got me in contact with that might also be asking advice about how to get into the field. I'm really hoping to lend her a hand, even if the competitor monster in me is roaring for me to stop. I so should have become a doctor.

**

Anyways, that was just a little thing about mentors. Not much to take from it, other than if you have the opportunity to become a mentor to someone, take it. You need patience, but it feels so rewarding when you know that you are making a difference in someone's life. And they are old enough to appreciate it.

Speak Loud!

Book in Review: Ishmael

While work is quiet, here's another book review to hopefully make you think.

From Amazon

I first read this book in grade 11, for my AP Environmental Science class. It was a good class, and it was a good book.

But time passes, you read a lot more books, and you forget some of the things you read.

While I never forgot the concept that was Ishmael, I did forget the details. So I read it again.

And man, what a good book.

**

A man, looking for himself and his place in the world, reads a notice in the paper: Teacher seeking pupil who wants to change the world. When he arrives he finds himself face to face with a full grown gorilla, named Ishmael.

Ishmael takes us on a journey through the history of mankind, detailing out the relationship between humans and the rest of nature. Ishmael tries to teach us our mistakes, and how we can learn from them.

**

So I will be the first to say that I don't think I really understood the book when I was 16, and I don't think I completely understand it now. I think I'll have to read it at least 3-4 more times before I can feel comfortable explaining the book.

But what I did take away from it, and did understand, was completely thought provoking. Everything we think of as human history is wrong. Like,really wrong.

I don't really know how much I can say about Ishmael without giving the book away, or getting something wrong. But the premise is at a certain point in human history, we made a choice. This choice took us away from what we are, animals living within nature, to what we thought we were, which is above nature.

And at that point, we brought upon our own extinction.

**

Of course, topics like this are controversial. There are people that don't believe that our environment is in trouble and that we are simply following the path of evolution.

Except that how come no other animal has made this choice? There are other animals with the same level of intelligence as humans, but they don't dominate the world like we do.

And who is to say that we are done evolving? Why do humans believe we are the pinnacle of evolution? According the the theory of evolution, evolution never stops. So how come Homo sapiens sapiens believe we are where evolution stops?

I know this isn't quite as in depth as my last review, but this book is a lot easier to ruin. It's not a long book, but it is still not an easy read. I recommend it if you have the time, and if you are interested in changing the way you see yourself in the world.

Speak Loud!

From Amazon here
From Chapters here

Zoo in Review: The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo

Hey Team!

If you would have told me that I would have used the Reviews section of this blog to talk about things other than books or documentaries... I wouldn't have believed you. Actually though, never would have thought to review places.

But today I spent the day at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, and man - what a zoo!!

Now, it was cold and rainy and foggy, so I only got to see about half the animals, but what a did see really blew me away!

So for the most part, the Zoo was created to breed, conserve and display animals that were mentioned in the bible (hence the Zoo's name). However, that was a few decades ago, and now the Zoo has grown into a zoo displaying species from all over the world, although still with a focus on North African, Middle Eastern and Western Asian species.

And so much conservation! It seemed like every species was critically endangered or threatened and the JBZ was working on breeding programs or rehabilitation programs with every species! It might be an exaggeration, but it seemed that way to me.

Parrots, raptors, and penguins! Turtles, crocodiles, and frogs. Lions, tigers and bears (oh my!). Asian elephants! All of them in some kind of trouble, and the JBZ is here to help (alongside a lot of other zoos. Props to them!).

Asian Elephant  - Indian sub-species

Persian Fallow Deer - once thought to be extinct!

Black-footed penguins - one of JBZ's many projects

Giant Tortoise - critically endangered

And around every corner were signs that talked about environmental conservation! There was even the "Ecological Maze", with little signs throughout it talking about ecological concerns, like pollution, and their solutions, like breeding programs! And at the end of the maze, there's a sign about "How you can help".

Cheesy, yes. For kids? Absolutely. Educational? Yes!

Man, I feel like I could go on forever! In the rainforest building, signs all over explaining all the problems facing rainforests, and others explaining why they are important. There were also signs about the importance of "primal knowledge", which is the knowledge that indigenous people have about nature. Those signs really got to me, because of my recent completion of Ishmael (keep an eye out for the book review!).

Last thing I think I really want to point out from the zoo is their "West Side Story" exhibit. Now, this is NOT a musical (I was disappointed as well), and the Hebrew title makes a lot more sense. In Hebrew, the exhibit is called "The Story of Tippy". Tippy is a water drop that falls to the Earth in the Kinneret (aka Sea of Galilee), and moves his way through the Israeli waterways, India and Australia. And everywhere he goes, he sees how people have been destroying their water systems and the implications. And every time he learns that it's people's fault, he gets more and more bad.

The "West Side Story" exhibit - the story of the aquatic concerns

Fish! That might be extinct soon if we don't help!

This story is done in cartoons throughout the exhibit, along with an explanation of the problem, and examples of species of fish that are being effected.

To me, this took the cake. I might have teared up a bit, just because I was so impressed with how much the Zoo talked about all the negative impacts Israel is having on their aquatic environments. I mean, it's their zoo, but they aren't afraid to say "Hey, we're not perfect, and what we do matters."

Basically, of you find yourself in Israel sometime in the summer, and you just happen to have a free afternoon in Jerusalem with nothing to do, hop on a 33 bus and get yourself to the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo. In a past post I talked about the pros and cons of zoos, and I said that the point of zoos (hopefully) is education and awareness. There's a lot of controversy around this statement, that they don't really work that way. But I honestly and truly believe that if there is only one zoo in the world really trying hard to make education, awareness and conservation it's focus, it's the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.

A big indicator: They only charged me half price admission because the day was rainy and cold and a bunch of the animals weren't on display. Doesn't sound like a money-grabbing enterprise to me.

Speak Loud!

Sorry for the Silence!

Hey Team!

No, I have not given up on this blog! It's just that my last 3 months, relating to the fascinating field of marine biology, have been uneventful.

I spent 2 months back on the prairies, doing the same work on seal jaws as I did before, so nothing new there.

I am currently in Israel travelling around and seeing the country, so no marine biology here. Although I am going scuba diving this week, and that's sort of related, so maybe I'll talk about that.

but fear not! my readers (all like, what, five of you?) Starting in February I will be sitting pretty and sunny in Croatia, working on a(nother) bottlenose dolphin project! Woot! Someone would think I liked bottlenose dolphins. Which I do, but not as much as other cetaceans. It's mean having favourites, but I do.

Anyways, this means that the months of February, March and April will hopefully be more eventful. I have another book I want to review, and possibly it's sequel (when I finish), so please keep an eye out for updates more interesting than this!

Speak Loud! 

Book in Review: Elephants on the Edge

Hey Team!

Okay, I am a bad, bad blogger. I know this. I knew it when I started blogging. While I like to pretend I have interesting things to say occasionally, I also like to pretend I'm really busy (but if I broke down my time usage, I think a lot of it is laziness). So I haven't blogged in a bit, even though I've wanted to talk about this book for about a month now.

So welcome to a new feature of the blog: book reviews! Sometimes you read books that change your life. I have come across a lot of these types of books, but most of them don't really make the grade of this blog.

Except this one.

Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach Us About Humanity is a book written by G.A. Bradshaw that takes a look into the minds and lives of elephants, and how we relate ourselves as humans to them.

That description does not do this book justice. The book looks at the history of elephants and people interactions in Africa, India and the United States. The book looks at how science has proven that elephants are sensitive, intelligent, emotional beings. The book looks at the neurological and psychological similarities ad differences between humans and elephants. The book reminds us that we have been mistreating these amazing animals for as long as they can remember (and it's true that they remember way longer than we do; it's in the book).

Elephants have always been in my top five animals list. I think my family knew it before I did. In my room, second to figurines of dolphins, I have more elephant figurines than anything else (3 wooden ones, a metal one and a white one that I am 80% sure is not ivory). And recently I have had a lot of really neat ideas swirling around my head connecting people to whales to elephants, in terms of behaviour and sociality.

So a book all about the connections between elephants and humans? I was intrigued, and after the introduction I was hooked. I read at every opportunity for 2 days and I wish I wasn't such a fast reader because I wanted to continue reading it.

I don't know how to do a book review, but I don't think it's about going chapter by chapter and explaining the book. However some highlights of the book seem right to me.

**

Back in 2000, there were reports of young bull (male) elephants attacking rhinos across South Africa. These attacks were fatal, sexual and above all, perplexing. The book tries to explain not only the reasons behind the attacks, but what we can learn about human violence and potential solutions by looking at these attacks. The book also tries to make us understand why we find the attacks to be so disturbing, even though normally interspecies (between species) violence is not something new (welcome to the predator-prey relationship).

What the book explains is that unlike humans, elephants are able to be intelligent, emotional, social animals without resorting to violence. They live in structured herds and there are never fights for dominance within herds or between them. They are a peaceful species, both to other elephants and other animals (self-defense aside). Which is why elephants attacking rhinos blew the minds of scientists and public alike. A normal reviewer might tell you what they discovered, but really, read the book.

**

Humans have not treated elephants well in a really long time. In Africa they put it back to European colonization. In the United States they put it back to the first circus elephant. In India... harder to put a date on it. But it's been a while since we've shown elephants the respect we should. Which is interesting, because study after study show that they think and feel emotional and psychological stress just as humans do. So the circus trainers who chain and isolate their elephants, the hunters who bring down a cow (female) and live-capture the calf (baby), the Mahout who beats their elephants into submission, all create victims of abuse and trauma that show the exact same symptoms that humans do. Time and time again in the book, they show examples of elephants with PTSD, depression and suicidal tendencies. Sound familiar?

And it's not subjective. Neurological tests on humans and elephants show that their brains are behaving in exactly the same way after these major life-altering traumas.

So while we as people speak out about genocides of people, call isolating children abuse and combat domestic violence against women, we turn away from the exact same abuse and genocide in a species that reacts in the exact same way. And when humans rebel against their abuse, they are freedom fighters (and more power to them). When elephants rebel (and trust me, they are smart enough to understand revenge and vengeance), we kill them and call them terrors.

I don't really see the fairness, do you? For more examples and information, read the book.

**

I think I could go on for days, and ask any of my coworkers, I did. This book made me wonder about how we treat animals in general, how many other species might be at our level (or higher) in intelligence and emotion, but we can so simply turn away. Now of course, I just finished eating chicken for lunch, so I don't know how much I have changed, but thinking about it is the first step, right?

And as a marine biologist, I easily moved Bradshaw's arguments toward my own loves, whales and dolphins. Clearly cetaceans are brilliant and feeling animals with complex social systems, but just as clearly we are able to turn a blind eye to their inappropriate use and killings. Or we see it, feel sad for a day, but then move on.

There are more movements for the freedom of people against abuse (killing included) than animals. Which I understand, we are a selfish species. And I am NOT saying these are bad. I'm just saying it's unfair, because why shouldn't animals with equal-human (I hate the term near-human. When was the last time whales started Ocean War I?) intelligence get equal human rights? The right to food, habitat, and safety? How hard are those, really?

I don't know if I did this book justice. The elephants in it are exceptional stories, as are the people who have devoted their lives to saving them. The science is sound and the scientists she cites are at the top of the field of elephant biology. There were times where I was reading stories or more often than not statistics, where I had to put the book down and walk away, because of the overwhelming sadness that came from reading it. But I could only stay away for about 2 minutes before the book pulled me back into itself. It's an addicting read.

I recommend it to every biologist, if only just to make us think about the way we ourselves use animals in the name of science. Do we have the right? And of course, I recommend it to every human soul, to make us rethink the way we treat each other, but above all, how we treat animals. Because isn't one of the early warning signs someone might be a serial killer is animal abuse?

Think about it. Read the book.

Speak Loud.

Buy the book from Amazon
Or from Chapters

Because I am not kidding.