reviews

Bringing zoos back to life... Author:  Terry Maple He was a formidable beast.  Even these many years later, I still have sad memories of the massive gorilla sitting glumly in his sterile locker room-like abode.  Known as Samson, he was the star attraction at the Milwaukee County Zoo in the ‘60s and ‘70s until his sudden death in 1981 at the age of 32.  He lived and died back in the day when zoos were basically a collection of cages, each one featuring a different creature.  Cement, tile and metal bars were the norm.  It wasn’t until the 1980s that [...]

A Cop, a Thief, a Murderer Author: Belinda Bauer Snap begins with a young boy, left in a baking car abandoned in the pitted and debris filled breakdown lane with his two younger sisters, waiting for his mother to return. She never does. Where this ultimately leads Jack is into a life of crime and the search for a murderer. Snap starts with a gut punch. A broiling scene of crying babies and mad siblings that paints an austere picture, one we can’t help but enter. From here though as the years slam by, the fear turns into teenage anger and the [...]

Drip, drip, drip… Author:  Jon Gertner The poles were where all the glamour was.  International fame and glory was assured men like Peary, Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton even if they didn’t reach their respective goals, particularly if they died (or almost died) trying.   But there was another frigid locale that attracted the attention of explorers and served up equally thrilling adventures, although it didn’t present as sure a route to worldwide adulation.  In The Ice at the End of the World, science journalist Jon Gertner reveals why, even though the age of exploration may have ended, the icy wastes of [...]