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favoriteI added this book to my TBR pile way back when it won the Costa Book of the Year award. That was in January 2015, so it has taken me more than two years to get to it. But get to it I did. And it is simply wonderful. Such a great book, I cannot […]
Genre: non-fiction
The serpent and the goddess
Using Ireland as a case study, this book provides an account of the decline of matriarchal power in Western civilizations and analyzes its implications for today’s women and today’s Catholic Church. From the age of Eve to the age of Brigit to the age of Mary, the author traces the rise of patriarchial consciousness. Mary […]
The diaries of Nella Last : writing in war & peace
This collection brings together into a single volume the best of Nella Last’s prolific outpourings, including a great deal of new, unpublished material from the war years. Capturing the everyday trials and horrors of wartime Britain and the nation’s transition into peacetime and beyond, Nella’s touching and often humorous narrative provides an invaluable historical portrait […]
The curious history of Irish dogs
There are nine breeds of dog that are native to Ireland: four terriers, three gun dogs, and two hounds. In The Curious History of Irish Dogs, David Blake Knox tells the remarkable stories of each of the nine breeds, and reveals how they have become inextricably linked with the people of Ireland. Irish Wolfhounds stalked […]
Testosterone Rex : unmaking the myths of our gendered minds
Rec’d back in Feb by Aarti on Twitter. Testosterone Rex brings together evolutionary science, psychology, neuroscience and social history to move beyond old ‘nature versus nurture’ debates, and to explain why it’s time to unmake the tyrannical myth of Testosterone Rex. (Testosterone Rex: Unmaking the Myths of Our Gendered Minds on Goodreads) I read Fine’s […]
The truth about stories
From what I remember I bought this book a few years ago because of Aarti’s A More Diverse Universe reading challenge. I didn’t get around to reading it then, but for some reason it popped out at me when I went to shelve a different book. So I picked it up and started reading. It […]
The History Thieves : secrets, lies and the shaping of a modern nation
In 1889, the first Official Secrets Act was passed and created offences of ‘disclosure of information’ and ‘breach of official trust’. It limited and monitored what the public could, and should, be told. Since then, Britain’s governments and civil service have been engaged in the greatest identity fraud of all time – the dishonest and […]
The Girl who beat isis
In August 2014, Farida, like any ordinary teenage girl, was enjoying the summer holidays before her last year at school. But Farida lived in the mountains of northern Iraq — and what happened next was unimaginable. Her village was an ISIS target. In Ireland we forget sometimes just how good we have it. Reading this […]
SPQR : a history of ancient Rome
The Roman Empire still holds quite a sway in modern imaginations and culture. Gladiator and the tv show Rome are only two examples of its pop culture hold, and we still quote what may, or may not be, actual Roman lines. Rome is still important to us, and in this book, covering the beginnings of […]
Between the world and me
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a name that has floated around me for a while now. Often in discussions on Metafilter about racism and America and what it is to be black, or what it is to think yourself white in the US. But I’ve never really read his work before, so this year’s Diversiverse [ref]What is […]
Jane Eyre’s Sisters
Don’t you just love it when you pick up a book at random thinking it looks vaguely interesting and then you devour it? That is what happened me with this book. I spotted it among the new books at the library and almost didn’t pick it up, mainly because I haven’t been into non-fiction all […]
The Genius of Dogs
“Brian Hare, dog researcher, evolutionary anthropologist, and founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center, and Vanessa Woods offer revolutionary new insights into dog intelligence and the interior lives of our smartest pets.” Obviously this book is aimed more at dog lovers than at any more general reader, so if you aren’t interested in how and […]