Michell, Tom "The Penguin Lessons"

Michell, Tom "The Penguin Lessons: What I Learned from a Remarkable Bird" - 2015

I discussed this with my German book club in August 2025.

I'm not an animal person. I don't mean to say I'm totally against animals, but they don't particularly interest me.

The book was quite nicely written. I also found the accounts of the school where the author taught and his travels through South America very interesting. But the relationship with the penguin, well, okay. As I said, I'm probably the wrong person to describe this book. It just wasn't really my cup of tea.

The only thing that was interesting to me was the description of the people the author met, the anthropological aspect.

The other members, however, found the book very readable. Here are a few quotes:

• I learned a lot about a species of animal I didn't really know much about.
• I found the description of how he travels through the countries with youthful carefreeness and enthusiasm, and even saves the penguin, refreshing.
• The parts where he describes how the school outcast can show off his talent were touching.
• I particularly liked the scene in the swimming pool.
• Mir hat das Buch gut gefallen. Interessant und klug geschrieben und oft sehr berührend, aber ohne Pathos.
• I liked the book. It's interestingly and cleverly written, and often very touching, but without pathos.

From the back cover:

"'I was hoping against hope that the penguin would survive because as of that instant he had a name, and with his name came the beginning of a bond which would last a life-time.'

Set against Argentina's turbulent years following the collapse of the corrupt Peronist regime, this is the story of Juan Salvador the penguin, rescued by English schoolteacher Tom Michell from an oil slick in Uruguay just days before a new term. When the bird refuses to leave Tom's side, the young teacher has no choice but to take it with him and look after it. This is their story."

Allende, Isabel "City of the Beasts"

Allende, Isabel "City of the Beasts" (Memories of the Eagle and the Jaguar #1) (Spanish: La ciudad de las bestias) (Las memorias del Águila y del Jaguar #1) - 2002

I found this book ages ago but my TBR pile is so large that it took me half a decade until I tackled this book. Not for want of interest. I love Isabel Allende.

I wasn't aware that this is supposed to be a young adult book but it definitely is also suitable for "old" adults like me. I love this story about a teenager who is taken out of his usual habitat and has to get on in a totally different world. First, he has to find an address in New York without any help but with many obstacles. But the real adventure starts when he leaves for the rainforest with his grandmother. Together with the daughter of their local guide, he explores the area. They rely on each other for their different knowledge and he grows up.

That is the beauty of this story. It's magical, they meet not just the natives but also their spirits, something totally alien to them as well as to us as readers.

There are two more books about Alex and Nadia, "Kingdom of the Golden Dragon" (El Reino del Dragón de Oro), and "Forest of the Pygmies" (El Bosque de los Pigmeos). I totally intend to read them.

From the back cover:

"An ecologial romance with a pulsing heart, equal parts Rider Haggard and Chico Buarque -- one of the world's greatest and most beloved storytellers broadens her style and reach with a Amazonian adventure story which will appeal to all ages Fifteen-year-old Alexander Cold has the chance to take the trip of a lifetime. With his mother in hospital, too ill to look after him, Alex is sent out to his grandmother Kate -- a fearless reporter with blue eyes 'as sharp as daggers' points'. Kate is about to embark on an expedition to the dangerous, remote world of the Amazon rainforest, but rather than change her plans, she simply takes Alex along with her. They set off with their team -- including a local guide and his daughter Nadia, with her wild, curly hair and skin the colour of honey -- in search of a fabled headhunting tribe and a legendary, marauding creature known to locals only as 'the Beast', only to find out much, much more about the mysteries of the jungle and its inhabitants. In a novel rich in adventure, magic and spirit, internationally-celebrated novelist Isabel Allende takes readers of all ages on a voyage of discovery and wonder, deep into the heart of the Amazon."

Harari, Yuval Noah "21 Lessons for the 21st Century"

Harari, Yuval Noah "21 Lessons for the 21st Century" - 2018

A brilliant follow-up to "Sapiens" and "Homo Deus". This is another book that I think everyone should read. The author shows us what the future might have in mind for us and how we should get prepared. And I don*t talk about the fear of war or natural disasters due to climate change but about everyday life. What should we study to get a decent job? More importantly, what should our children study in order to get through their lives? My parents and grandparents would leave school at age 14 or 15, do an apprenticeship and many of them worked in the same company for the rest of their lives. Once they finished their apprenticeship, they could do what they learn for decades without having to learn anything new. That is not the case anymore. That wasn't the case for my generation, that isn't the case for tomorrow's generation and it certainly will not be the case for the next generation after that.

So, we need clever people like Yuval Harari to tell us what might happen, what we can do in order not to be afraid of the future. He does exactly that. His recommendations make sense and are well-founded, he explains every single remark he makes. What's even better, he explains it in such a way that even people who don't understand much about science (like myself) can follow his explanations. And also about politics, global economy, anything that concerns us and influences our lives.

I heartily recommend this and his other books. They are just fantastic. I hope he will write more.

From the back cover:

"Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus looked to the future. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century explores the present.

How can we protect ourselves from nuclear war, ecological cataclysms and technological disruptions? What can we do about the epidemic of fake news or the threat of terrorism? What should we teach our children?

Yuval Noah Harari takes us on a thrilling journey through today’s most urgent issues. The golden thread running through his exhilarating new book is the challenge of maintaining our collective and individual focus in the face of constant and disorienting change. Are we still capable of understanding the world we have created?"

Sapolsky, Robert M. "Behave"

Sapolsky, Robert M. "Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst" - 2017

This was probably the toughest book I ever read even compared to "Ulysses" or "The Odyssey" and some other heavy and long classics). I guess anyone who read this and can repeat all of that deserves at least a master's degree.

I was never good at any science subject in school. Mainly because I wasn't interested in it. My teachers did not succeed in getting me enthusiastic about the subjects. If I had had a teacher like Robert Sapolsky, that might have been a different matter.

It still doesn't mean that I'd ever become an expert. There was far too much to-ing and fro-ing to my liking. That was just above my head.

The author says it himself in one of his last chapters:
"If you had to boil this book down to a single phrase, it would be 'It's complicated.' Indeed it is. But it is a complicated subject and I'm glad I read the book."

And one final quote:
"The opposite of hate is not love, its opposite is indifference." Elie Wiesel whose book "Night" is a publication everyone should read.

This was our international online "extra" book club read in May 2021.

Some comments:

• The book is massive and we agreed, that it lacks structure. Or at least, none of us found a helpful structure.
• Indeed, this was a tough read. The author could have taken more care about structure. I took 14 pages of hand written notes and I think, I needed them.
• Sapolsky organizes a huge amount of technical neuroscience into a logical and memorable structure, so that the context and significance of all that info is clear. He emphasizes the interplay of various factors. Then he discusses the personal, social, political and legal consequences of that information, forming a coherent view of humanity. Brilliant! 717 pages
• The chapter outline indicates the structure of the book and that helped me to maintain my orientation while reading.
  
• We plan to set up another meeting and discuss parts of the book to make up for the missing structure. If we discuss the whole book in just one hour with several people it may get a bit chaotic.
• We might then post questions for maybe one chapter at a time.

From the back cover:

"Why do human beings behave as they do?

We are capable of savage acts of violence but also spectacular feats of kindness: is one side of our nature destined to win out over the other?

Every act of human behaviour has multiple layers of causation, spiralling back seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, even centuries, right back to the dawn of time and the origins of our species.

In the epic sweep of history, how does our biology affect the arc of war and peace, justice and persecution? How have our brains evolved alongside our cultures?

This is the exhilarating story of human morality and the science underpinning the biggest question of all: what makes us human?"

For those of you who think, this might be a little too heavy but are still interested in "science for beginners", start with one of these:

Bryson, Bill "A Short History of Nearly Everything" - 2003
- "The Body. A Guide for Occupants" - 2019

Harari, Yuval Noah "Sapiens. A Brief History of Mankind" (Hebrew: קיצור תולדות האנושות/Ḳizur Toldot Ha-Enoshut) - 2014
- Noah "Homo Deus. A Brief History of Tomorrow"- 2016

Fatland, Erika "Sovietistan"

Fatland, Erika "Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan" (Norwegian: Sovjetistan. En reise gjennom Turkmenistan, Kasakhstan, Tadsjikistan, Kirgisistan og Usbekistan) - 2014

After reading "The Border" by this Norwegian author where she travels all around the Russian border and visits every adjoining country, I was eager to read her first book where she visited the Central Asian "Stans" who became independent after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

I was not disappointed. Erika Fatland seems like someone who really researches what she does. She speaks several languages, i.a. Russian which makes it easier but she still meets many people who don't speak any of the languages she knows. You can definitely tell she knows a lot about exploring other cultures. And it's interesting to read a woman's perspective about this part of the world, doesn't happen too often.

There is so much history in the part of the world, longer than the European one, definitely longer than any of the "new world" and this book makes us aware that we should always look at someone's history if we try to understand them. From the Mongolian invaders through the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union, these countries have all had to endure a lot. It's not easy to go back to what we would call "normal democracy" in just one generation. Some of the countries seem to be on a better way than others but I'm sure it will still take a long time until all the inhabitants will be able to live a free life.

The author tells us about the Silk Road, the mountains and valleys, the rich cities of the past (like Samarkand, doesn't that name just conjure some dreamy 1001 night-like picture?). And the ethnic people who have inhabited this area for thousands of years. In telling her story where it fits in the historical parts she mentions, she gives us a good idea about how life in those countries seems to be. From old cultures like bride-stealing to the wealth brought through oil, there is a lot to take in

We hear about Genghis Khan and Amir Timur or Tamerlane, two Mongol conquerors, who influenced the region just as much as Stalin later on.

A while ago I read a book about the Hutterer (The Forgotten People) who came to Canada via this region and Erika Fatland also mentions the Mennonites who suffered the same fate, some of whom still occupy their area. It was interesting to compare these two religious' groups.

But those are not the only interesting people the traveller met. There are so many anecdotes about the people she met and how she often was welcomed with open arms.

There is this guy (Igor Savitsky, see here on Wikipedia) who founded a museum in the middle of nowhere, even in Uzbek standards, the State Art Museum of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, named after I.V. Savitsky, also known as Nukus Museum of Art or Savitsky Museum and the Desert of Forbidden Art.

Or she talks to human rights activists, people who live in the mountains without any electricity or anything else we all consider necessary to live a decent life. They don't and chose to live like that. Totally interesting.

As always, it was great to read about a part of the world we know so little about. Most Europeans would even be able to find the right countries on a map if questioned let alone name the capital cities. I've learned them now and hope to remember them:
Kazakhstan: Nur-Sultan, formerly Astana
Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek
Tajikistan: Dushanbe
Turkmenistan: Ashgabat
Uzbekistan: Tashkent

Granted, there are so many topics in this book, anthropology, communism, dictatorship, economy, ecology, human rights, politics, religion, sociology, you name it, everything that fits into human life is there, but it is still a highly pleasurable read.

I also really appreciated to see this world through the eyes of a woman. A woman who grew up in a free world and therefore would see more of the restrictions women in these countries have to live with than any man ever would. Well done, Erika!

This was our international online book club read in November 2020.

Some comments by the readers:

• I had once read a travel book I didn't like, therefore didn't think I would like this one, but it absolutely gripped me and held my interest through all the many layers of history, politics, culture, travelling, etc.
• At the meeting we talked a lot about how the USSR nostalgia seem to appear and how for example we in Finland reading this book might be reacting to that.
• Personally, I really, really enjoyed this book. It definitely widened my knowledge of a lot of things and was really well written.
  

From the back cover:

"Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan became free of the Soviet Union in 1991. But though they are new to modern statehood, this is a region rich in ancient history, culture, and landscapes unlike anywhere else in the world.

Traveling alone, Erika Fatland is a true adventurer in every sense. In Sovietistan, she takes the reader on a compassionate and insightful journey to explore how their Soviet heritage has influenced these countries, with governments experimenting with both democracy and dictatorships.

In Kyrgyzstani villages, she meets victims of the tradition of bride snatching; she visits the huge and desolate Polygon in Kazakhstan where the Soviet Union tested explosions of nuclear bombs; she meets shrimp gatherers on the banks of the dried out Aral Sea; she witnesses the fall of a dictator.

She travels incognito through Turkmenistan, a country that is closed to journalists. She meets exhausted human rights activists in Kazakhstan, survivors from the massacre in Osh in 2010, and German Mennonites that found paradise on the Kyrgyzstani plains 200 years ago. We learn how ancient customs clash with gas production and witness the underlying conflicts between ethnic Russians and the majority in a country that is slowly building its future in nationalist colors.

Once the frontier of the Soviet Union, life follows another pace of time. Amidst the treasures of Samarkand and the brutalist Soviet architecture, Sovietistan is a rare and unforgettable adventure."

Harari, Yuval Noah "Homo Deus"

Harari, Yuval Noah "Homo Deus. A Brief History of Tomorrow"- 2016

After reading "Sapiens. A Brief History of Mankind", I knew I had to read the following books by this brilliant scientist and author.

After trying to explain how we got where we are today, Yuval Noah Harari now takes us on an expedition into the future, almost list Charles Dickens in "A Christmas Carol", we've dealt with "Christmas Past", we know "Christmas Present" but we have no idea what "Christmas yet to come" will bring us. The author gives us options, tells us what could be if we don't change or even what can be if we do change. Let me tell it like this, a lot was not new to me, but he gives so many different perspectives that it is interesting to see where else we might be heading.

This highly engaging book makes us aware of what we are today, where we are today, what needs to be done and what we can do. We all know that machines and computers have taken over a huge part of what our world used to be, are we ready for the next step?

I'm already looking forward to his next book where he deals with "Christmas Present": "21 Lessons for the 21st Century".

I think all his books should enter every school curriculum.

From the back cover:

"From the author of the international bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind comes an extraordinary new book that explores the future of the human species.

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the bestselling Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, envisions a not-too-distant world in which we face a new set of challenges. In Homo Deus, he examines our future with his trademark blend of science, history, philosophy and every discipline in between. 

Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.

War is obsolete
You are more likely to commit suicide than be killed in conflict

Famine is disappearing
You are at more risk of obesity than starvation

Death is just a technical problem
Equality is out but immortality is in

What does our future hold?"

Harari, Yuval Noah "Sapiens"

Harari, Yuval Noah "Sapiens. A Brief History of Mankind" (Hebrew: קיצור תולדות האנושות/Ḳizur Toldot Ha-Enoshut) - 2014

This book is one of the most interesting ones I have read lately. A book that tries to explain how we became the beings we are today, what happened between the time the first humanoid forms appeared on this earth and today. It answers many questions you might have never asked yourself but always should have.

Why did the Homo Sapiens survive and not the Neanderthal? Why did we go from being hunters and gatherers to being settlers, farmers? Did it do us any good? Have people in the middle ages been unhappier than we are today? What is the advantage of global communities? And where does all this go? How much does biology influence history? What exactly are cultural differences?

If you have any questions along those lines, the answer is probably in this book. Or - it can't be answered.

A brilliant book by a great mind, a history professor who has studied his fellow human beings intensely.

From the back cover:

"100,000 years ago, at least six human species inhabited the earth. Today there is just one. Us. Homo sapiens.

How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance? Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms? How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books and laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables and consumerism? And what will our world be like in the millennia to come?

In Sapiens, Dr Yuval Noah Harari spans the whole of human history, from the very first humans to walk the earth to the radical – and sometimes devastating – breakthroughs of the Cognitive, Agricultural and Scientific Revolutions. Drawing on insights from biology, anthropology, paleontology and economics, he explores how the currents of history have shaped our human societies, the animals and plants around us, and even our personalities. Have we become happier as history has unfolded? Can we ever free our behaviour from the heritage of our ancestors? And what, if anything, can we do to influence the course of the centuries to come?

Bold, wide-ranging and provocative, Sapiens challenges everything we thought we knew about being human: our thoughts, our actions, our power ... and our future."

 

I also read "Homo Deus" in the meantime. Just as great.

Schaik, Carel van & Michel, Kai "The Good Book of Human Nature"

Schaik, Carel van & Michel, Kai "The Good Book of Human Nature: An Evolutionary Reading of the Bible" (Dutch: Het oerboek von de mens) - 2016

When I started reading this book, I had a certain thought how it might be. Years ago, I read an explanation on why people had to live kosher, why certain food was "unclean" and others had to prepared differently. I thought this might be a book like that, explaining the meanings of parts of the bible.

And it is in a way. However, it turned out completely different than what I thought. It might be a great read for all those who think you can either believe in the bible or in science. The authors of this book show us that this is absolutely not the case. They draw certain lines between the stories of the Old Testament, the New Testaments and the findings since.

A lot of their explanations are so clear that you wonder why nobody else thought about it before. Probably because people just took the bible for granted the way it was written and didn't question anything or didn't want to find anything that might question something.

Anyway, one part of this book explains that the garden Eden might have been the life of the hunter-gatherers and that life changed quite enormously when the people settled down. More illnesses, fights, more rules. There was no private property before, people lived in small groups and life was ruled by "one for all and all for one". This had to change when everyone started farming their own land.

The authors also explain that we have a first, second and third nature, the first being in-born, probably comparable to an animal instinct. The second nature is given by religion and society, how we ought to behave. The third nature has to do with laws and rules, definitely a lot more than what the hunter-gatherers dealt with.

In any case, a great analysis of the history of the bible. It explains the evolution as well as the reason for religion.

A brilliant book, both fascinating and informative.

From the back cover:

"The Bible is the bestselling book of all time. It has been venerated or excoriated—as God’s word, but so far no one has read the Bible for what it is: humanity’s diary, chronicling our ancestors’ valiant attempts to cope with the trials and tribulations of life on Earth.

In The Good Book of Human Nature, evolutionary anthropologist Carel van Schaik and historian Kai Michel advance a new view of Homo sapiens’ cultural evolution. The Bible, they argue, was written to make sense of the single greatest change in history: the transition from egalitarian hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. Religion arose as a strategy to cope with the unprecedented levels of epidemic disease, violence, inequality, and injustice that confronted us when we abandoned the bush - and which still confront us today.

Armed with the latest findings from cognitive science, evolutionary biology, archeology, and religious history, van Schaik and Michel take us on a journey through the Book of Books, from the Garden of Eden all the way to Golgotha. The Book of Genesis, they reveal, marked the emergence of private property - one can no longer take the fruit off any tree, as one could before agriculture. The Torah as a whole is the product of a surprisingly logical, even scientific, approach to society’s problems. This groundbreaking perspective allows van Schaik and Michel to coax unexpected secrets from the familiar stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able, Abraham and Moses, Jesus of Nazareth and Mary. The Bible may have a dark side, but in van Schaik and Michel’s hands, it proves to be a hallmark of human indefatigability.

Provocative and deeply original, The Good Book of Human Nature offers a radically new understanding of the Bible. It shows that the Bible is more than just a pillar for religious belief: it is a pioneering attempt at scientific inquiry."

Mankell, Henning "Daniel"

Mankell, Henning "Daniel" (Swedish: Vindens son) - 2000

A non-crime fiction novel by a crime author, well, an almost non-crime novel. But one that doesn't focus on the crime.

This is the story about the South African boy Molo who lives in the late 19th century. When his parents get killed (by white people, of course), a Swedish biologist gives him the name Daniel, takes him back home and tries to "adopt" him which in his case means he takes him to exhibitions and lets other scientists measure him, draw him, use him for their curiosity.

The boy is completely homesick. Nobody really cares for him and he tries to get back home.

Not a bad story but I expected it to be more about Africa than Europe. However, the story captures you, the boy is described in a way that you cannot neglect his wishes. It is easy to understand why he doesn't feel at home in this cold country where everything is forbidden that used to be normal in his old life. A dark story, but seeing how people in 19th century Sweden lived was quite interesting, as well. Let's hope that we all evolved from that.

The various translators didn't seem to agree on the title, as happens very often. While the French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and Finnish versions keep the original title (Son of the Wind), the Portuguese call it simply "The Antelopes" and the Germans and Russians choose "The Red Antelope", the English selected the title "Daniel".

From the back cover:

"In 1878, aspiring entomologist Hans Bengler travels to the Kalahari Desert in hopes of making a name for himself by discovering a previously unknown insect or two. There he encounters a boy named Molo, an orphan whose family has been killed by European colonists. Bengler 'civilizes' the boy by rechristening him Daniel, teaching him to pray to the Christian god, and finally bringing him home to Sweden. The boy is bewildered and awed by the new land, cut off from his culture and the spirits of his family, and Bengler finds that raising a child across a great cultural divide is more difficult than he imagined. A psychological drama of one boy’s struggle to find his place in a new land far from home, Daniel is a compelling novel for our modern globalized world."

Woodhouse, C.M. "Modern Greece. A Short History"

Woodhouse, C.M. (Christopher Montague) "Modern Greece. A Short History" - 2000

Great overview over Greek history. But not just Greek history. If you are at all interested in the history of the world, this is an excellent account of Ancient and Modern Greece and how it developed into the country it is today.

The title might be a little misleading as it says both "modern" as well as "short". It starts in the year 324, so not exactly just a decade ago. And it stretches over almost 400 pages (although I wouldn't have minded if it had been twice as long). However, the book is interestingly written and we get to understand modern Greece a lot better through its history - as we do with almost anything. It contains a few maps that make us realize how much the world as changed in that part of the world throughout the centuries. Great analysis of a people that formed our modern day world.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Acclaimed for its penetration, balance, and insight, Modern Greece tells the story of Greece and its people, from the founding of Constantinople to the eclipse of socialism in the late twentieth century. C. M. Woodhouse is uniquely qualified to write the history of Greece, having served there in the Allied military and the British embassy during and after World War II before writing several books on Greece. In this classic work, which Woodhouse has updated five times to create a truly comprehensive history, the depth of his knowledge and understanding of the country and its citizens comes through clearly in every chapter, as he ranges from the ascendancy and eventual fall of the Byzantine Empire through the emergence for the first time of a unified Greek kingdom in the 1800s to the political turmoil of twentieth-century politics. This is a book for readers and travelers who wish to understand the history and culture behind the beauty that is eternal Greece."

Defoe, Daniel "Robinson Crusoe"

Defoe, Daniel "Robinson Crusoe" - 1719

"Robinson Crusoe" "is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre" and "one of the most widely published books in history".

Classic novels are always interesting. We can "visit" a time long past and see what someone who lived at the time thought about his contemporaries, the political, economical, or social situation.

"Robinson Crusoe", okay, said to be one of the first or maybe even the first fictional novel that could be called "realistic". Possible, I have read a few older novels but they did not ring the same tone.

"One of the most widely published books in history". Well, if they say so, I am sure they are right.

I can imagine why this book is still read three hundred years after its first publication. It is an interesting story. Even today, we cannot imagine how it would be to spend a year on an uninhabited island, let alone twenty-eight. That's longer than most people get for a life-sentence in prison.

Apparently, the author based the story loosely on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor who was cast on an island in the Caribbean where he had to spend four years in the early 1700s, so just a few years before Daniel Defoe wrote his famous story.

The novel gives us a lot of insights into the politics and economics of the time. But most of all, it poses a lot of moral issues. "When confronted with the cannibals, Crusoe wrestles with the problem of cultural relativism. Despite his disgust, he feels unjustified in holding the natives morally responsible for a practice so deeply ingrained in their culture." Nothing has changed. We still live in a time where we have discussions about how much of our culture and moral understanding to impose of people with another background. As such, Robinson Crusoe is a great opportunity to think about this problem in a different setting and maybe get an idea on how to solve those problems nowadays.

I have no idea on how many school curricula we can still find this novel but I think it should be there. Just for the reason I gave right now.

There is probably another reason why this book is still passed on to new readers. The language is pretty simple, the story is told in chronological order, it is a pretty easy read. Tedious at times, especially if you read a lot but it offers a captivating story as well as understandable English at the same time, that must be a bonus for many people.

This was discussed in our online book club in March 2019.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Robinson Crusoe has captured the imagination of countless readers with its vivid evocation of one man's survival on a remote island, far from the civilization he knows.

Thought to be one of the first English novels, Robinson Crusoe is the timeless story of a merchant's trading voyages and adventures at sea, his shipwreck and subsequent life marooned alone. Based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, it is fascinating in its descriptions of Crusoe's ingenuity and inventiveness, his ability to make and use tools, his discovery of man Friday and his treatment of him.

In addition to this, Robinson Crusoe is also an exploration of the ways in which a man who had made his fortune in trade is able to survive in reasonable comfort, thanks to his resourcefulness, when goods and money can no longer be of any value to him."

We discussed this book in our international online book club in March 2019.

Steinbeck, John "The Pearl"

Steinbeck, John "The Pearl" - 1947

I absolutely love John Steinbeck. Whether it is a large saga or a short story, he manages to describe the characters so well, to let them come alive, to give you the feeling you are there. I have never lived in the United States, I have actually never been to the United States but the way he describes it, it makes me feel like I have. Well, at least during his times. And he also describes the landscape so vividly, it feels almost like looking at a painting only someone is explaining it to you.

The story is a sad tragedy, telling of the problems of the indigenous inhabitants of Mexico, how they have to struggle through their daily lives and yet never can hope to get anywhere. Even when they seem to find a treasure, others manage to ruin it for them. Another story about how the invaders exploited the natives. Apparently an old Mexican folktale, the story rings true to your mind.

This story is a parable, full of symbolism. We have the pearl fisher and his family, we have the evil that threatens them in many forms, we have the richness that is about to come to them but taken away. We have the pearl telling its own story. It changes its music that you can almost hear, it changes its soul the same way as the story takes its path from the beginning to the end. The characters change throughout the book as well as the relationship between the characters develop, an interesting view into the lives of this culture.

A very powerful story, as anything by this fabulous author who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception". Well deserved.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"In the town they tell the story of the great pearl - how it was found and how it was lost again. They tell of Kino, the fisherman, and of his wife, Juana, and of the baby, Coyotito. And because the story has been told so often, it has taken root in every man's mind."

Find the other John Steinbeck books I read here.

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

Hill, Richard "We Europeans"

Hill, Richard "We Europeans" - 1992

The book is subtitled "An alternate history of Europe". It starts with "Once upon a time... there was a cozy little continent crammed with alien cultures, each of them strange, even sinister, to its neighbours, most of them recently emerged from a series of devastating wars."

Very interesting book about the different nations of  Europe, their likes and dislikes, their similarities and their differences. Sometimes these books get a little overwhelming at times, a little too stereotypical, but Richard Hill managed to give a neutral view, as much as that is possible. I have lived in several European countries and can honestly say that I know at least a few people of every nation and I found a lot of the author's findings quiet accurate.

I enjoyed reading this book. I loved the humour in it. And there are quite a few little stories about the differences of the people some of which I hadn't heard before.

I also enjoyed all the quotes the author gave at the beginning of every chapter. My favourite: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayaa

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From the back cover:

"The united Europe is all about people - people who differ in their tastes and habits but share the same values and ideals. This book describes these people, then attacks stereotypes of them, ending with a witty analysis of each of the cultures making up the Continent. Hill enlarges his theme with a comparative study analysis of value systems and lifestyles, how people communicate, relate to one another and do business. The final chapter examines recent events and offers thoughts on where we go from here."

Westerman, Frank "The Republic of Grain"

Westerman, Frank "The Republic of Grain" (Dutch: De graanrepubliek) - 1999

"The Republic of Grain" describes life in a Dutch region, in the North of the Netherlands during a tough time. The rise and fall of an area due to nature, politics, decisions made. Mainly, this is the story of a guy who lived during the biggest part of the 20th century who was the son of a big farmer, got into politics and ended up the agricultural commissioner at the EU in Brussels. But it is also the story of his country, his village, his home

Frank Westerman is a renowned journalist who has spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe as a correspondent for a Dutch newspaper. I am sure I will read more of his books.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

Book description:

"From time immemorial, the Dutch have owed their survival to pushing back the sea. Now, at the end of the twentieth century, the dikes will be pierced and water let in once again. In the grain republic of Groningen where the clay is richest and the best grain harvested, the centuries-old polders will be flooded. The farming community, and with it a thousand-year-old tradition, will have to yield to environmental pressures and recreation.

Central in this amazing turnabout is the European agricultural technocrat Sicco Mansholt who worked his way up from farmer’s son in Groningen to Minister of Agriculture and subsequently Agricultural Commissioner of the EEC and Chairman of the European Commission. His controversial ‘Mansholt Plan’, formulated in the sixties to reform agriculture and manage it in a more industrial way, fundamentally changed European agriculture. By means of stable grain prices and import levies Mansholt was able to push grain production up sharply. But the initial success turned against him. From the seventies, ever larger surpluses of grain, milk, butter, and meat were created which then had to be dumped on the world market. Ultimately, Mansholt’s agriculture policy absorbed more than half of the eec budget and was permanently abandoned in the eighties.

Because of the enormous increase in scale, many farmers in Europe had already given up. Meanwhile Mansholt had also undergone a sea-change in his thinking. Under the influence of the Report of Rome and his remarkable relationship with the German Green politician Petra Kelly, he changed his mind about the idea of food self-sufficiency and became a champion of the idea of preferring the environment to agriculture.

De graanrepubliek ends with this apotheosis. The plan to flood fertile agricultural land will definitely mean the end of gentlemen farmers and farm workers. In a compelling way Frank Westerman shows how the history of the grain republic of Groningen is in fact the story of the destruction of all European farmers and of an old world that has disappeared."

Kemal, Yaşar "The Drumming-Out"

Kemal, Yaşar "The Drumming-Out" (Turkish: Teneke) - 1987

A young administrator in a town in the Anatolian province tries to fight a big landlord who floods large portions of land to grow rice but doesn't care about the effects on the population. Quite a story, well written, exciting.

The author was born in a small village in Southern Anatolia and was the only one in his village who learned to read and write. Quite an accomplishment. He is one of the biggest critics in Turkey and received several prizes for his works.

I later read another book by the author, "The Birds Have Also Gone", he seems quite the expert on Turkish life.

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From the back cover:

"In Teneke, Kemal depicts the tragic conditions, under which the landowners in the region Çukurova in southern Anatolia of Turkey live and the way in which the rice planters exploit them. A young and idealistic district governor, who is newly appointed there, tries to back the landowners struggling against oppression and injustice by a rice planter."

Yaşar Kemal received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade (Friedenspreis) in 1997. 

Conrad, Joseph "Heart of Darkness"

Conrad, Joseph "Heart of Darkness" - 1902

I found this book when reading Jane Smiley's "13 Ways of Looking at the Novel". It sounded interesting and I found it in the library the next time I went.

The author, a Polish novelist who wrote in English, wrote this story about an English captain who goes to Africa for an assignment. His ship is destroyed before he arrives and he is forced to travel into the dark continent. He conveys his thoughts about his experiences, his encounter with the inhabitants, both native and colonists.

Even though this is a novella, only 110 pages, so not very long, there is a lot of information crammed into the story, there is no way you can skip even one sentence and you will have lost the plot. He has a special kind of writing style, probably due to the fact that English is not his mother tongue and he still keeps the flow of his native language, as we probably all do somehow.

In any case, he gives us an interesting insight into colonisation, the impact it had on the people in Africa and also on the Europeans who went there. It is a highly interesting study about a part of history that still influences our lives today.

My favourite quote:
"The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea - something you can set up, and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to ..."

From the back cover:

"In a novella which remains highly controversial to this day, Conrad explores the relations between Africa and Europe. On the surface, this is a horrifying tale of colonial exploitation. The narrator, Marlowe journeys on business deep into the heart of Africa. But there he encounters Kurtz, an idealist apparently crazed and depraved by his power over the natives, and the meeting prompts Marlowe to reflect on the darkness at the heart of all men. This short but complex and often ambiguous story, which has been the basis of several films and plays, continues to provoke interpretation and discussion.
Heart of Darkness grew out of a journey Joseph Conrad took up the Congo River; the verisimilitude that the great novelist thereby brought to his most famous tale everywhere enhances its dense and shattering power.

Apparently a sailor’s yarn, it is in fact a grim parody of the adventure story, in which the narrator, Marlow, travels deep into the heart of the Congo where he encounters the crazed idealist Kurtz and discovers that the relative values of the civilized and the primitive are not what they seem. Heart of Darkness is a model of economic storytelling, an indictment of the inner and outer turmoil caused by the European imperial misadventure, and a piercing account of the fragility of the human soul."

Mak, Geert "Jorwerd"

Mak, Geert "Jorwerd: The Death of the Village in late 20th Century" (Dutch: Hoe God verdween uit Jorwerd. Een Nederlands Dorp In De Twintigste Eeuw) - 1996

The original Dutch title is (translated) "How God disappeared from Jorwerd". The story is about a small village in Friesland and the changes it underwent in the first half of the 20th century, changing from farming to a commuting place, the influence of modern technology on a people that had lived off the land for centuries. But it is not just the story of Jorwerd, overall in Europe, the countryside changed. This little place with a population of just 700 became even smaller through the "Silent Revolution". After  more industrialization and mechanization of the farming, only about half of those people still live there, and they are getting older and older.

Geert Mak lived in the village for half a year to explore all the history and the changes. One remark I will never forget, life in a village in the Netherlands was closer to life in a village in Russia than to life in a town in the Netherlands. I think this was true overall, especially when comparing this book to that of Russian authors. "Anna Karenina" comes to mind where village and town life are described very well.

A very interesting book showing us what development and improvement has done to our lives. And the title, the more the people can rely on help from outside, the less they depend on changes of weather, etc., the fewer of them go to church and the believers attending the services are getting less and less.

This book is very interesting, no matter from which country you come, it’s a great account of the lives our grandparents still lived.

Geert Mak has carried on writing about the life of ordinary people in Europe. "My father’s century" and "In Europe. Travels through the twentieth century", both are on my reading list.

I read this in the original Dutch.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2025.

From the back cover:

"Born in Friesland himself, Geert Mak has returned to his roots to explore the silent revolution that took place in the small village of Jorwerd, Friesland, after World War II. He lived in Jorwerd for six months, gathering the personal stories of Jorwerters past and present, many of whom were born, lived and died there. By interweaving their colourful stories with the wider history of Europe, Mak provides an unsentimental portrayal of the pleasures and the hardships of living in the country, while illustrating at the same time how rural life everywhere is under threat from the modern world."

Truss, Lynne "Talk to the Hand"

Truss, Lynne "Talk to the Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of Everyday Life (or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door)" - 2005

"'Talk to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening,' the saying goes. When did the world stop wanting to hear? When did society become so thoughtless?"

Even though I nodded to a lot of the points Lynne Truss had on this subject, I often thought "I didn't experience this in England". When we moved to England and I had our second son, I was astonished of the politeness people were showing, even teenagers going out of their way to open a door, for example. However, I can see what she means, people are not as polite any more as they used to be, everywhere. I guess for someone from the continent, people in the UK will always be more polite and for people in the UK they will think the opposite since they are treated more politely because they behave more politely.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book, definitely not as much as "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", but it was fine. And I had a good laugh a lot of times .

From the back cover:

"The best-selling author of 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' is back with a book on the state of modern manners. 'Talk to the Hand' is a colourful call to arms - from the wittiest defender of the civilised world."

Fox, Kate "Watching the English: the hidden rules of English behaviour"

Fox, Kate "Watching the English: the hidden rules of English behaviour" - 2004

An anthropology about a nation dear to my heart - the English. This book is quite funny at times and I am sure all the English people will love it and just nod their heads all the time - well, most of the others will do the same. And I did it, too, at least most of the time. However, I think the author's conclusions are a little too negative. I never experienced the English not talking to strangers. When I moved to England, I met such a lovely set of people and made many, many friends. I still have, after eleven years in the Netherlands, more friends back in the UK than over here. So, maybe I see the English through too rose-tinted glasses, but that's the way I experienced them.

See more comments on my ThrowbackThursday post in 2024.

From the back cover:

"In WATCHING THE ENGLISH anthropologist Kate Fox takes a revealing look at the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people. She puts the English national character under her anthropological microscope, and finds a strange and fascinating culture, governed by complex sets of unspoken rules and byzantine codes of behaviour. The rules of weather-speak. The ironic-gnome rule. The reflex apology rule. The paranoid-pantomime rule. Class indicators and class anxiety tests. The money-talk taboo and many more ...Through a mixture of anthropological analysis and her own unorthodox experiments (using herself as a reluctant guinea-pig), Kate Fox discovers what these unwritten behaviour codes tell us about Englishness."

Vossestein, Jacob "Dealing with the Dutch"

Vossestein, Jacob "Dealing with the Dutch" - 1998

Based on his wide experiences and insights of all types of foreign views on the Dutch, Jacob Vossestein is called an interculturalist. He wrote this as a guide book for companies and people wanting to do business with the Dutch.

However, this is also very helpful if you just live in the Netherlands and have to "deal" with them on a normal every day business. This guy knows what he's talking about. He studied human geography and social anthropology and he observed his fellow countrymen very well.

I wish someone had given this book to me before I moved to the Netherlands. I probably might have thought it can't be that bad or I might have never moved here.

In any case, this work gives a very good account of Dutch culture and behaviour, what you should or shouldn't do when working with Dutch people. Great insight.

From the back cover:

"People from all corners of the world involved in government, business and culture come into contact with Dutch colleagues and counterparts, either in the Netherlands or in their own countries. No matter whether you are coming to the Netherlands for a business trip or to work here for a while, or have regular contact with Dutch people in your own country, being prepared for Dutch culture will make your working and social contacts more effective and therefore more satisfactory. Like the very successful first edition published in 1997, and the updated version published in 2001, this 14th revised and updated edition of Dealing with the Dutch focuses on Dutch values and norms, but it also takes into account the economic, social and cultural changes the Netherlands is undergoing. Many new quotes by people from all over the world who have already 'dealt with the Dutch' have also been added."