Happy Harry: A Magical Golden by Barbara Lampert (Spotlight, excerpt, review, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

 

Happy Harry: A Magical Golden

by

Barbara Lampert

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GENRE:  Dog memoir

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BLURB:

 

"Nobody who loves dogs will be able to resist your book! A magnificent love story!"

- Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, international bestselling author of Dogs Never Lie About Love and When Elephants Weep.

 

In her dog memoir Happy Harry: A Magical Golden, psychotherapist Barbara Lampert, a lifelong dog lover, tells the story of her beloved Golden Retriever, Harry. Like her first dog memoir, Harry's story comes from her mostly uncensored daily journal and takes place in Malibu, California.

 

Harry was a genuinely free spirit - wild, and very wolf-like. Did all this contribute to his being exceptionally happy? Perhaps.

 

Harry was not only the happiest being Barbara's ever known, happy to the very core of him, but also the bravest. More than once in his life, Harry had to face true adversity, and each time, Barbara would look at him in wonder, not fully understanding how a being could be so brave and at the same time continue to be so happy.

 

Harry literally pranced through life, with a joyous attitude that made being around him like magic. Barbara fell in love with Harry. And as you immerse yourself in Harry's story, it's likely you will too! Happy Harry is unforgettable!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

EXCERPT

 

I call Harry my calendar dog. Exquisite face. That’s what drew me to him when he was nine weeks old. Sounds superficial, but I thought his face was extraordinary. And this sounds superficial too, but I’d hoped his face would stay as gorgeous when he grew up. Well, it has. But you know, no matter what he turned out to look like, I knew I would love him tremendously. What’s inside Harry is amazing!

 

Harry is the happiest dog I’ve ever known. Genuinely happy, from the core of him. Mostly with a ball game. Harry can’t wait for the moment when he can go out to play.

 

The first few years with Harry were insane. He was a maniac, wouldn’t listen. Particularly when he was out of the house on a walk or at the big field at the nearby school. We tried every kind of leash and harness. We enlisted a dog trainer. Nothing worked. But little by little, he’s getting better. Still pays scant attention when we’re out of the house, but at least I don’t have the feeling he would run away. Though he’s never off leash when we’re out. Never!

 

Those first years were so chaotic with him that I was resigning myself to the possibility he might be a sociopath, because he seemed to not care about rules, listening, or consequences. I needed to accept him as he was. But now, at six, Harry has become incredibly devoted and loyal. Our wild wolf has settled into his pack.

 

I’m at work right now and can’t wait to get home and see Harry. Give him lots of kisses, get his over-the top joyful greeting with a soft toy in his mouth. Seeing Harry brimming with enthusiasm makes me so happy! I love him so much!

 

Harry’s adapting… But more than that, he’s still so joyful. His abundance of happy energy is so wonderful to be around. He’s still putting stuffed toy rabbits and balls in his mouth, particularly when he’s really happy. Still comes to me with even more enthusiasm and his head held even higher than usual when I say, “Hey Harry.” I love saying that to him, and Harry seems to love hearing it. I only use the “Hey” with Harry. It’s special, just for him. Something I started saying to him a few years ago. To me, it’s a way of emphasizing how cool Harry is. Yes, Harry is really cool, in the true sense of the word. Unafraid, carefree. Still.

 

Dogs are such special beings. I swear a big reason they were put on this earth is to teach us how to be.

 

Buy link:

Amazon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

My passion is dogs! I’ve had dogs most of my life and hope to have at least one by my side always. Dog energy is the best!

 

I’m the author of two dog memoirs: Happy Harry: A Magical Golden and before that Charlie: A Love Story. Each about one of my Golden Retrievers. (I told you dogs are my passion!)

 

I’m a psychotherapist, licensed for over thirty years, specializing in relationships. .

 

I was a flight attendant for nine years. And taught sociology at several universities. I have two master’s degrees and a doctorate.

 

Gardening is another love – not as much as dogs, but right up there! I see my garden as a work of art and garden as much as possible in my free time. I love being in nature.

 

I live in Malibu, California with my husband David and, you guessed it, our two wonderful Golden Retrievers, Oliver and Henry.

 

Links:

Website

 

Facebook

 

Facebook

 

Tiktok

 

Instagram

 

Pinterest

 

 

************************************

 GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The tour dates can be found here

************************************

My review:

4.25 stars

 

Happy Harry: A Magical Golden by Barbara Lambert is a pet memoir about a very special golden retriever. His story is told through a series of garden-journal entries that chronicle Harry’s arrival and his life in the household that he enlivens with his quirks and cheerful personality. The author conveys her heartfelt affection for this loveable breed through a series of dated entries that chronicles her journey with Harry and are sprinkled with philosophical musings and contemplations of how close he was to his wolf brethren. She supports some of her observations with quotes and citations of various individuals who have studied wolves in the wild, and illustrates her story with black-and-white pictures of the personable Harry.

 

The cycle of life is poignantly portrayed for both Barney, who is in residence when the whirlwind subsequently named Harry arrives, and for Harry himself. Be advised that tissues will be required, as the highs and lows of loving a fur-baby are depicted.

 

Harry’s story is conveyed in a kind of stream-of-consciousness manner, which was a little difficult for me to connect with at first, but I eventually became accustomed to the style, and I became invested in his story. I love that the author allowed us to see that he wasn’t perfect (I had to laugh at her initial fear that he was a sociopath, given his disregard for rules or the consequences of breaking said rules) but still manages to convey how important he was to their family and how he changed their lives. We should all be so blessed to meet a character such as Harry, and I daresay many of us who read this story will suddenly develop a need for puppy cuddles, especially with a Golden Retriever.

 

A copy of this story was provided for review

365 Days of Gratitude Journal, Vol. 2 by Mariëlle S. Smith (VNBtM, Guest post, excerpt, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

 

It is my pleasure to welcome author Marielle S. Smith, who kindly answers my question (although I hadn't expected quite so much advertising)...

ELF: How do you mentor others?

 

MSS:  I love this question so much. As a writing coach, mentoring others is literally my job, but being asked the question forced me to sit down and reflect on my coaching practice and whether I mentor others in any other way.

 

Here’s what came up for me:

 

52 Weeks of Writing

 

One of the ways in which I mentor others is through my 52 Weeks of Writing series. I created this series of journals/planners to help writers get out of their own way and users consistently describe the three volumes as ‘it’s like having a coach in a book’.

 

Of course, it’s not exactly the same and a journal can never replace the real thing, but the series has been lauded as an affordable way to get at least some coaching in your writing life.

 

My upcoming book, 99 Writing Prompts and Journal Exercises for Writers to Cultivate Courage and Kick Imposter Syndrome to the Curb, serves a similar purpose. If you want to check it out, I’m currently running a Kickstarter campaign to fund its launch.

 

The Accountable Wordsmiths

 

Those who’ve purchased a copy of 52 Weeks of Writing get access to my Facebook group The Accountable Wordsmiths. While the group is intended as a safe space where writers can support each other on their respective journeys, I reply to comments where I can, to offer guidance, ask deeper questions, make suggestions, and so on.

 

I also share my own struggles in the group to show we’re all in this together. I might have a lot of answers, but that doesn’t mean I don’t get into my own way as well ;)

 

Individual coaching sessions

 

As a writing coach, I offer individual coaching sessions to writers who somehow got stuck, whether that’s because their plot’s not working and they need a sounding board, they can’t figure out how to prioritise their writing time, they struggle to own their voice and brilliance, it can be anything.

 

Often, I find that writing-related issues are actually linked to author mindset issues. Someone might come to me with a plot problem, only to learn that the reason they have a plot problem is because they don’t dare to write what their story is asking for.

 

Or, they think they’re struggling to finish their novel because of time constraints, only to realise what’s really keeping them from committing are fears around their writing style or language proficiency.

 

3-Month 1:1 Coaching for Writers Programme

 

During the thirteen weeks of this programme, I work together with writers to figure out why they aren’t where they want to be. What I love about this programme is that it gives us time to dig deep and truly unearth how and why they’ve been getting in their own ways.

 

Because of my spiritual background—I’m a Reiki master, a Magnified Healing practitioner, a cartomancer, and an Akashic Records reader—I sometimes use different coaching modalities during the programme as well, if my clients are up for it.

 

Sometimes, we run into something that seems to be running so deep, it needs a little more than regular coaching sessions to get to the bottom of it. What these modalities do is offer a fresh perspective, an angle our thinking brains easily overlook because it might not be as obvious at first glance.

 

However, this is not for everyone and that’s absolutely OK—you don’t need to be spiritual to work with me. But, if you are open to explore this other approach, I’ve booked some great results using different these modalities.

 

While I used to offer these alternative coaching modalities only during the three-month programme, I’ve recently started offering individual sessions in my inner circle, the success of which made me decide to include a coaching reward tier for individual sessions in my current Kickstarter campaign where you can choose whichever modality you prefer.

 

At this point, I have no idea whether there’s any demand for that amongst my own followers, but it’s been so rewarding doing this for my friends and so immensely helpful, I wanted to give others a chance to try it too.

 

So that’s how I mentor others. I have my book, my Facebook group, and my actual coaching practice. When I started my freelance editing business all these years ago, I’d never expected to end up as a writing coach, but I’m so glad I wholeheartedly said ‘YES!’ to it when it crossed my path. .

*************************

365 Days of Gratitude Journal

Vol. 2

by 

Mariëlle S. Smith

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GENRE:   Non-fiction; self-help

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BLURB:

 

*** Now available in black-and-white AND full colour! ***

‘The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see.’ Mary Davis

Gratitude is not just about ATTITUDE.

Gratitude is about PRACTICE.

But how do you create a gratitude practice that sticks?

After the success of her first 365 Days of Gratitude Journal, writing coach Mariëlle S. Smith brings you Volume 2. Same journal but with an entirely different look!

After years of barely surviving her own emotional minefield, Mariëlle discovered the transformative power of practising gratitude. But, like no one else, she knows that cultivating an attitude of gratitude is easier said than done.

365 Days of Gratitude, Vol. 2 is an undated, guided journal. Complete with inspiring quotes, daily prompts, and recurring check-ins, it was designed to help you create a sustainable gratitude practice too.

Commit to the life-changing power of gratitude today and order your copy now!

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

EXCERPT

 

I’m not here to sell you on gratitude. There are many articles and research papers I could be citing to convince you just how great practising gratitude is for you. I think you’re already aware of that, though. Perhaps you’ve read some of those articles and papers or maybe you just know it somewhere deep down—or not so deep down.

 

I’m not hooked on gratitude because it works wonders on my blood pressure and promises to help me sleep better. Although it probably does that, too.

 

I’m hooked on gratitude because it enables me to perceive everything in life as magical again. I’m hooked because I’m not the same person I was since I started practising it. And because I slip and return to being that anxious, burned out, overachieving workaholic as soon as I stray from the gratitude path—which happens far more often than I care to admit.

 

Gratitude is a commitment for life. I created this journal to help you commit and turn your gratitude practice into a sustainable one.

 

 Purchase Links

All purchase links can be found on https://mswordsmith.nl/365daysofgratitude

 

Amazon

Amazon (Deluxe edition)

Barnes & Noble (Black and white edition) 

Barnes & Noble (Full colour edition)  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Mariëlle S. Smith is a writer, writing coach, and editor. She lives in Cyprus, where she organises private writer's retreats, is inspired 24/7, and feeds more stray cats than she can count.

 

Contact Links

 

Website

Facebook

Blog

Goodreads

Instagram

YouTube channel

 

 ****************************************

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The tour dates can be found here

 

****************************************

My review:

4.25 stars

 

365 Days of Gratitude Journal, Vol. 2  by Marielle S. Smith is a non-fiction book aimed at reminding one to find something to be grateful for every single day, and encouraging one to reframe even negative occurrences into something to appreciate. There are inspirational quotations every so often, and a place to plan for making the following day even better.

 

I like the way this encourages you to live a life of positivity and to stop and appreciate things. Although I tend to like having lines to write on, the spaces allow one to perhaps sketch or apply stickers to help make the journal your own. I tend to forget to write daily in a journal, so it’s nice that the pages are labelled with just a sequential day which may or not be the next calendar day. The prompts such as what I could have been more grateful for today stimulate introspection and thoughtfulness. I think this would be a lovely gift to oneself or for someone else as a tool to make one’s outlook on life more positive.

 

 

A copy of this title was provided for review

Marines Don't Cry by Daniel Garcia and Jacqueline C. Garcia (VNBtM, guest post, excerpt, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

It is my pleasure to share a guest post by Daniel & Jacqueline Garcia. We are indebted to them for their service and dedication.  

Do you know what a promoter does?

 

Full disclosure, I had to look it up.  Not promoter as in DNA and gene dynamics, but promoter as in

a club promoter.  Thanks to Google, this definition fits the bill of what I what to talk about.

“Also called an event promoter, coordinates and publicizes events like concerts, open mics and themed parties. They advertise information about the event, answering questions and often coordinating everything from the date to the entertainment to the cleanup.  Apr 1, 2021”

You have to have some skills, be good with people, be able to talk up an event.  Get attention, create a desire, give a call to action.  Am I running a club?  No, I am not the partying type; in fact, I am a bit of nerd (introverted) and can be naïve.  Danny used to tell me, “I am a promoter.”  I scratched my head and wondered why is that was important?

As we are on this first book journey, I’m starting to get it.  I have to be as our publisher coined the term, an entrepreneurial author, one who generates interest, exposure, readers for their book.  I have to admit, it is another perspective of life and another world being a book author.  I have to grab the reins and find creative venues and opportunities to promote our book, vehicles outside of the norm of book signing and appearances.

We have the benefit of (his) lifetime of experience in public relations, marketing, concert producing…. I could go on, but I want you to read about it for yourself.  I get to benefit from his mentoring and the formulation of a grand vision for our story to get out to the world!   Will you join us in the journey?  Strap in and enjoy.

 

*********************************

Marines Don't Cry

by

Daniel Garcia and Jacqueline C. Garcia

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

GENRE: Memoir, Non-fiction

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

BLURB:

 

Have you ever been lost -- really lost?

 

Danny and Jackie answer this question in Marines Don’t Cry with stories of death to life, deep sorrow to joy, darkness to light, and freedom in Christ.

 

Danny recounts his early life in Spanish Harlem and describes conversion from a life of drugs and “the fast lane” to one consumed with knowing and serving God. This makes his journey of walking more than 52 million steps on six continents for children and world peace such an incredible story.

 

Marines Don’t Cry is about the transformational power of God’s love: how Danny found his calling and is delivering the message of Christ at all costs.https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-walk-inc/

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

EXCERPT

Chapter 12: Walking for Children Around the World

 

“You Don’t Have Enough Bullets”

 

As we left the Arab village and continued toward Baghdad, the security patrol noticed something odd. In the distance, the guards saw large groups of people coming toward the caravan. About 20,000 people were walking toward us and were converging on us. The people were coming from both sides of the road. The military escort responsible for my safety became agitated and concerned. The crowds were not racing angrily toward us, but we were clearly outnumbered. Although the vehicles had automatic machine guns at the front and back of the caravan, I think the escorts were afraid.

 

“What shall we do, Mr. Garcia? They are coming!” the guards exclaimed.

 

“You don’t have enough bullets. Let them come,” I said.

 

As the crowd got closer, I could hear them singing. The caravan came to a stop. The guards were shocked. The people were in unison, in harmony, like a massive choir. The melody was beautiful.

 

“Why are they doing this? Why are they singing? Are they singing to me?” I asked.

 

“This is unbelievable,” said the guards. “They are singing to you! They are welcoming you.”

 

“Welcome,” they sang lovingly. “You are welcome!”

 

I absorbed the beauty of this moment and melted in their love for me. I smiled as the crowds joined the caravan. In unison, we continued forward into Baghdad. More than fifty TV cameras from around the world, including China, were waiting and recorded the entry into Baghdad. The sponsors made sure that all vehicles were removed from the main highway so that we were clear to walk. We walked up and over a bridge, the main bridge into the city of Baghdad, and thousands of people were flashing cameras in the daytime.

 

The city welcomed us. The Iraqi Olympians cried. Never had they been acknowledged with such a welcome.

 

In front of all the people was a little girl, maybe six years old. She stepped toward me and, looking up, raised a flower to give to me. I bent down to accept her flower. Then I picked her up, turned her around, and set her on my shoulder for the crowds to see this beautiful child. The people went wild and shouted with joy and happiness. My gesture was a message to the world:

 

“Everyone, see her! This is your child. I love her, you all should love her! She is who I care about. The children, we must protect them.”

 

 

 

 Buy links

Amazon 

BookFunnel

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million 

BookShop 

IndieBound

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Daniel Garcia

 

Danny Garcia, The Walking Man, was born and raised in New York’s Spanish Harlem.  He served as a United States Marine, law enforcement officer, and ordained minister.  Since 1996, he has prayed and walked over 52,000, 000 steps on six continents for children and world peace.  During his journeys, Garcia met with dignitaries all over the world, ministering to the famous and to the poorest of the poor.  Danny made presentations to Kings/royals, Presidents, and other world leaders, to include four Presidents of the USA, several Prime Ministers of other countries, the Pope, Mother Teresa, Ambassadors and various eminent personalities and multilateral organizations.  Garcia began his journey as a personal commitment to peace and children and continued walking and raising funds for multiple charitable organizations.

Danny is married to the former Jacqueline Charsagua of El Paso, TX, and they work side by side to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For more information, visit Danny’s website.  

Jackie Charsagua Garcia

 

Jackie Charsagua Garcia is married to Daniel Garcia.  She graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, in 1985 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.  Jackie holds a Bachelor of Science in Management and a Master of Science in Human Resources Management.  While in the US Air Force, Jackie specialized in communications, acquisition, systems engineering, and information technology. 

 

After a rewarding and fulfilling Air Force career, she retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the summer of 2006, having spent more than 21 years on active duty.  Since 2006, she has supported and advised on all aspects of her husband’s walks and charitable initiatives within the United States and abroad.  She joined Danny during his Africa Walk in 2007 and ministered in South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Southern Sudan.  During this time, her faith and reliance on God grew tremendously under the mentorship of Danny Garcia. The Global Walk experience gave Jackie an opportunity to serve God abroad, and her vision is to spread the hope, love, and the grace of Jesus Christ through her writing.  She is a native of El Paso, TX, mother of one amazing daughter, and a breast cancer survivor.

 

Websites:

https://marinesdontcry.com   

/Global Walk website

 

Facebook: 

FB Danny Garcia           

FB Walking Man/Danny Garcia

FB Jackie Garcia

 

Instagram: 

IG Danny Garcia

IG Jackie Garcia

 

YouTube

 

YouTube link of an interview with Danny and Jackie for the Veterans History Project

 

Linked In:

LI Jackie Garcia

LI Global Walk Inc.

 

 

**************************

 

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The tour dates can be found here

 

Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses by Jackie Higgins (Spotlight, excerpt, and review)

Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses

by

Jackie Higgins

Being sentient—is being aware of the world around us and conscious of our own place within it—is a marvel that science has yet to explain and that we take for granted because it seamlessly defines our every waking moment.

 

The 5 senses we grew up being taught—sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste—conceived by Aristotle have become a nearly universally accepted belief system.  And yet it is a myth. Many neuroscientists say up to thirty-three distinct senses are served by dedicated receptors in our bodies.

 

In the vein of Oliver Sacks, Diane Ackerman, Malcolm Gladwell, and Sy Montgomery, author Jackie Higgins has a fascination with nature. She studied zoology under Richard Dawkins at Oxford and went on to become a leading writer and producer of documentary films about nature.  In SENTIENT: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses, Jackie Higgins explores the breadth of our capabilities as sentient beings through the lens of the animal kingdom. This book looks to animals to better understand the ways we sense and make sense of the world. Scientific research shows that there is more to unite, than divide us and that all creatures are built on the same foundations—a message of particular importance right now.  Through their eyes, ears, skin, tongues, noses and more, we can uncover what it means to be human and rediscover the extraordinary in the ordinary waking moment.

With stories of creatures from land, air, and sea that have the ability to sense the world in ways that boggle the mind. With its unique combination of armchair travel, scientific discovery, and a magnificent cast of animal characters, SENTIENT is a mind-boggling read unlike any other.  

 

 
"Sentient is a revelatory book. Exploring animals' beyond-human senses opens to us whole new realms of experience. Thank you, Jackie Higgins, for enlarging our understanding of what the world looks, feels, tastes, and smells like." —Sy Montgomery, New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of an Octopus

The book is narrated in an easily readable tone, and Caroline Church’s well-rendered illustrations are a bonus. An appealingly written, enlightening, and sometimes eerie journey into the extraordinary possibilities for the human senses.” — [starred] Kirkus Reviews

 

 

 ********************

 

Excerpt: 




True to its various names, the peacock, painted, or harlequin mantis shrimp is one of the most colorful creatures on the Great Barrier Reef. Neither shrimp nor mantis, Odontodactylus scyllarus is more akin to a diminutive lobster with a kaleidoscopic carapace of indigos, electric blues, and bottle greens. Yet this captivating countenance belies a somewhat irascible temperament. One spring day in 1998, at the Sea Life center in the English seaside town of Great Yarmouth, a particularly pugilistic specimen named Tyson astounded onlookers by smashing through the thick glass wall of his aquarium. "He was clawing and snapping. Nobody dared touch him;' the manager told the national press. "All our visitors assume our sharks are the man-eating killers, but they are pussycats compared to Tyson. His power is incredible:' Tyson was not the first to attempt such a jailbreak; these marine crustaceans, known as stomatopods, have developed quite a reputation among aquarists and scientists. Indeed, research has shown that the peacock mantis shrimp uses its dub-like arms to pack a punch faster and more forceful than any heavyweight boxer.

One scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, made it her mission to understand the mantis shrimp strike, but only because she had run into problems with her original research plan. "I decided to take a break from trying to study their sound production and look instead at a behavior they perform regularly, without hesitation;' ex­ plained Sheila Patek. "It was a classic example of how failure can open up new and unexpected directions:' Her first challenge was to find a camera system fast enough. "Standard high-speed video cameras, that film at 1,000 frames per second, are too slow to capture the creature's strike. They only show a single frame of blur;' she said. An opportunity arose to team up with a BBC film crew and use the latest high-speed technology for low light conditions. "Low light is the critical issue when filming these animals;' because, "if it's too high, you fry them:' The experiment was simple to set up: a peacock mantis shrimp, a sacrificial snail loosely tethered to a stick-"they are aggressive animals, happy to strike whatever is placed in front of them"-and, sure enough, they soon had a recording of a shell-splitting impact. They had filmed the punch at 5,000 frames per second, and, playing it back, they slowed it down by a factor of three hundred. "It was still pretty darn fast;' Patek told me. "Even a back-of-the-envelope calculation for the speed and acceleration of the strike put them right at the outer limits of what people had ever seen:' The final calculation was more surprising still: it was the fastest strike ever recorded in the animal kingdom. "It is a glorious moment as a scientist to see something for the first time and recognize how special it is;' Patek added. The calcified club accelerated like a bullet in a gun, reaching its target in three- thousandths of a second, at velocities approaching 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour. "But that was not the end of the story:'

Patek decided to film the behavior at even faster speeds. "At 20,000 frames per second, we saw an incredible flash of light where the limb hit the snail, that then spread over the shell;' she said. "I recognized it instantly:' She was looking at a potent phenomenon called cavitation, which occurs where areas of water moving at vastly different speeds meet and the pressure drops. "This results in the water literally vaporizing and when that vapor bubble collapses, it does so with such destructive force that it emits sound, heat, and light:' The experiments revealed that the force behind the peacock mantis shrimp's fist is so great that sparks really do fly. The knockout blow spells doom for aquarium walls and any snails unfortunate enough to be within reach. Patek's research enabled the Guinness World Records to claim it, relative to the animal's weight, as "the most powerful punch in the animal kingdom:' But the mantis shrimp shows prowess beyond the boxing ring.

Amazon link

 

***************************

About the author:

 

Growing up in Cornwall by the sea - spending much of my childhood outdoors, on the beach, poking around in rock pools - fostered a fascination with nature. At Oxford University, I was taught evolution and animal behavior by Richard Dawkins, as well as epidemiology, ecology and conservation, eventually I graduated with an MA in Zoology.

 

I worked for Oxford Scientific Films making wildlife films for the BBC and National Geographic. My first day in the office involved stinging my boss with a bee – he showed me where on his arm the lens was focused so we could get a macro shot of a sting for a film we were making on bees in the Panamanian rainforest.  I filmed in many places around the world: bats pollinating saguaro cactuses in Arizona, warring woodpeckers in the peaceful Californian Carmel Valley, to seed dispersal in the rare Coco de Mer forests of the Seychelles.  OSF was world renowned for its expertise in unusual photographic techniques: cameras to play with time (e.g. hi-speed photography to show seed pods exploding, time-lapse to show flowers budding, locked shots to show landscapes changing through seasons) or lenses to play with size (e.g. macro lenses to show microscopic creatures or endoscopes to reveal unusual points of view). 

 

I next worked in the Science Department at the BBC making narrative documentaries across all scientific disciplines for the Horizon strand (sometimes co-produced with PBS Nova or The Discovery Channel): I covered the SARS epidemic from the WHO headquarters in Geneva and filmed quite a few people who have been in the news throughout this year.  I debunked Atlantis myths by exploring the origins of Egyptian and Mexican cultures, exposed the truth behind the Atkins diet, followed magic men in India to explain the science behind their trickery, a team of evolutionary biologists in Latvia studying fossils to understand how our distant ancestors first crawled out of the oceans and a team of anthropologists into the remote Indonesian forests of Flores in search of one of the most important ancient hominin fossils of the last century; she became known as 'the hobbit'.

 

It is therefore no surprise among my favorite books are The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks, A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman and Desmond Morris’ The Naked Ape.

 

SENTIENT combines my deep fascination with the fragility and diversity of the human experience: what might it feel like not being able to see colour, to smell with the sensitivity of a bloodhound or to lose the sense of one’s body, to live disembodied? Ultimately, I intersect what we can learn about humanity from these wonderful creatures.

 

***********************

 

 

My review:

 

5 stars

 

Sentient: How Animals Illuminate the Wonder of Our Human Senses by Jackie Higgins is a thought-provoking and intriguing book that invites one to marvel at the creatures of the world around us. Even better, it challenges the reader to contemplate the wonders of the human body and the capabilities it has, far beyond the traditional five senses postulated by the ancients. Using a variety of animals who specialize in certain abilities, the author explores how form affects function, how the brain can be mapped to reflect the emphasis on a particular sense, and how knowledge of these capabilities can be utilized to understand certain disease conditions.

 

I’m astonished at the idea of having an additional receptor in the eyes that confers time sense, fascinated by the existence of abysses in the ocean that could swallow up Mount Everest, and love the creative descriptions such as that of the peacock mantis shrimp having “optical panache” as well as pugilistic expertise. I can’t help but be dismayed by the idea that a person could lose the ability to know where their body is in terms of spatial knowledge after a viral disruption of proprioception, or that the body’s innate clock can be disrupted by a head injury.

 

This is a densely packed volume of information. One can read it on several levels. Easiest is reading to just marvel at the amazing creatures. I’d never heard of most of these entities…except of course, the cheetah, which I’ve adored for years and admired for its ability to turn on a dime and to explode into action; the octopus, which I’ve learned that I should be even more wary of its escape abilities than I already was; and the vampire bat which exhibits far more compassion that I’d ever imagined. Then one can admire the lengths that scientists go to in order to analyze a hypothesis…whether it is being sense-deprived or tolerating the presence of giant cockroaches (ewwww) or counting the number of hair cells or rods and cones. And finally, there is the science itself. Personally, I wince at some of the implications of the investigations, as there were quite a few animals sacrificed in order to provide the information, but wow, the revelations that are provided are truly invaluable.

 

Whether you are a scientist, a philosopher, or just a curious student of life, this book will provide hours of fascinating material. I invite you to expand your mind and enjoy discovering that we have far more than the traditional five or six senses ascribed to us.

 

A copy of this book was provided for review