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Introduction

In light of my birthday coming up in November, I wanted to read some books that I got for my birthday and some that I was gifted on Christmas. There are three categories, each with its own handful of books: mystery/thriller, non-fiction, and other genres of books (which only have four books). In total, there are twenty-six books. Much like my other reviews, I won’t spoil too much for each book.

A new thing I’m adding is a link for most of these books that takes you to my eBay store. If any books interest you, I have a copy that I’m willing to sell. Each book costs $10.00, including $5.00 in shipping. There are some books that I have already sold or lent to my family for them to read, but they will show up later in my eBay shop when they are done. I have more books that I got for my birthday/Christmas, so be ready for those posts. But for now, let’s jump into the ones I read for this post. Starting with…

Mystery/Thriller

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Book #1: Pandora’s Temple by Jon Land

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Blaine McCracken, a Vietnam vet and agent, is sent on a mission in the Gulf of Mexico to find out what happened to the Deepwater Venture. The Deepwater Venture is a ship that discovered something more powerful than oil. However, this material doomed everyone on board the ship. Blaine, along with his friend and partner Johnny Wareagle, discovers the main culprit is dark matter.

Meanwhile, two enemies are looking to possess an ancient artifact known as Pandora’s jar. Pandora’s jar is a jar that contains dark matter. It was sealed in a temple that was built by an ancient Greek architect. Two men are in search of this artifact, each with their own goals. Roy, a rich magnate who owns a business named after him, wants to use dark matter to create more fossil fuels as revenge against extreme environmentalists who killed his family. The other enemy is Shino Asahara, the leader of a doomsday Japanese cult who wants to start a massive extinction event using dark matter.

Blaine McCraken needs to find where Pandora’s jar is before these two men take hold of its power. This book is really good. The dynamic of Blaine and Wareagle reminds me of the same dynamic of Pendergast and Coldmoon from the Pendergast series written by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (though Blaine McCracken came first). Throughout the book, Blaine also fights robots and a sea monster in his search for the jar.

I love techno-thrillers and would love to read more of the Blaine McCracken series. I give this book five stars.

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Book #2: The Maid by Nita Prose

Molly Gray, or Molly the maid as she goes by at work, cleans up rooms at the Regency Hotel. When she enters the room where Mr. Black is staying, she discovers his dead body lying on the bed. After reporting it to the police, they suspect that Molly had something to do with the murder, as they find evidence pointing to her. Molly contacts Mr. Preston, another employee at the Regency Hotel, for help.

He gets his daughter, Charlotte, involved, as she is a lawyer who helps clear Molly’s name and find the actual killer. This is the first book of the Molly the Maid series. It also won the 2022 Goodreads Choice Awards for the mystery/thriller category. This book receives a lot of praise and good reviews, but to me, it was disappointing.

The main thing that disappointed me was that it was boring. Things don’t really pick up until halfway through the book, when suspicion starts pointing towards Molly. Then the rest of the book has Molly and her friends figuring out who actually murdered Mr. Black. Even then, the way things were resolved wasn’t like other cozy mysteries. This book wasn’t what I expected.

Molly is a neurotypical character (which I don’t have a problem with), but from what I’ve read in other people’s reviews, the author seems to suggest that Molly isn’t a neurotypical character or that the author hasn’t confirmed that Molly is neurotypical. However, judging from the writing, it is clear that Molly is neurotypical.

All in all, I didn’t have such a problem with the main character, but with how boring the book was.

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Book #3: Reaper Ghost Target by Nicholas Irving

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Vick Harwood is a sniper who gets injured on a mission spying on the Chechens. Vick is known as the Reaper due to his high kill count in a short period of time. Another sniper is taking out generals of the army. The sniper is using the same weapon that Vick used and is trying to frame the killings on him.

Vick needs to clear his name and find the sniper before he is charged with the murders. Meanwhile, Samuelson, Vick’s spotter, is found by Basayev, a man behind a human trafficking ring, nurses Samuelson back to health, and gets him to believe that the army abandoned him.

Other than the framing plot device, the story also has a human trafficking plot that Vick Harwood uncovers. The book is good. The only things I criticize about it are some of the decisions the characters make and that I wish there was more about the characters. Other than that, the book is good.

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Book #4: A Ghost Of Caribou by Alice Henderson

In book #3 of the Alex Carter series, Alex Carter is sent to Washington state by her friend Ben to study the elusive caribou, an animal thought to be extinct in the US. While tracking down caribou, the body of another park ranger is found strung up in a tree. Alex Carter is also informed about a missing hiker by the sheriff, Taggert. Alex is staying at a ranch house located in the Selkirk Mountains.

However, Alex notices strange things happening in the woods. Lights appear in the woods, and traps are laid out to hurt Alex. Alex is being hunted by the killer of the park ranger. Alex has to find clues about the missing woman in the woods and find the killer while simultaneously studying the caribou.

There are subplots like the fight between activists who want to preserve the forest, while the lumberjacks want to cut it all down. One of the activists is a young girl named Agatha who lives in a tree. Alex also calls her friend Zoe and her father. Zoe is on the set of a movie that Zoe believes is cursed because of weird things happening, while Alex’s father is on a trip in Arizona.

I like books that take place in National parks or Nature in general. I’ve mentioned in a few blog posts books in the Anna Pigeon series written by Nevada Barr. This book reminds me of that series. This is the first book I read in this series. Aside from the mystery, I loved the little tidbits throughout the book about caribou. It mixes mystery with a natural lesson. I give this book four stars.

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Book #5: A Duty To The Dead by Charles Todd

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Bess Crawford, a nurse who is looking after Arthur Graham, a lieutenant in World War I, is dying from his injuries. Before he died, he told Bess a final cryptic message to tell his family. Bess returns to England after the ship ran over a mine. To her surprise, she gets invited to meet Arthur Graham’s family. Bess tells each family member about the message.

However, none of the family members understand what Arthur means. That changes when Peregrine Graham, a member of the family who allegedly murdered someone and was locked up in an asylum, goes back to the Graham house after catching pneumonia. The family is hesitant to bring him back into the household, but they reluctantly agree after Bess volunteers to care for him.

Peregrine returns to the asylum until he escapes from the asylum. Peregrine visits Bess Crawford, where he insists to her that he didn’t kill that person and that his family is hiding something. Now Bess needs to help Peregrine by getting to the bottom of the secrets the Grahams are hiding.

I like how this book is set during WWI. A lot of the historical mystery books I’ve read have mostly taken place in WWII, which I enjoy. On the other hand, I want to read more historical mystery books during WWI. I loved Bess Crawford as a protagonist and would love to check out the other books in the series.

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Book #6: In The Ballroom With The Candlestick by Diana Peterfreund

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Based on the board game of the same name, In the Ballroom With The Candlestick is the third book in the Clue mystery series. Orchid’s boyfriend, Vaughn Green, tragically died in a car crash. Orchid, along with Scarlett, posts Vaughn’s music on a channel for fans. What neither of them knew was that Vaughn’s twin brother, Oliver Green, was secretly switching him and stealing things at Blackbrook, the setting of this book.

Along with this revelation, another murder has occurred at Blackbrook. Dr. Brown, the new headmaster of Blackbrook, is found dead in the library by Scarlett. Now Scarlett and Orchid, along with Peacock, Mustard, and Plum, must solve who murdered Dr. Brown while also planning a prom.

I haven’t played the board game Clue since I was a child. However, I recently watched a 1985 movie based on the game that stars Tim Curry (you can watch it for free on YouTube; it’s good, in my opinion). I came across this book on Pinterest. I also haven’t read any of the previous Clue books. Some things in this third installment mention events from the previous books.

However, I still understand what is going on in the book despite not having read the other books. All of the main characters are characters from the board game, de-aged to fit into the high school setting. The book is fine. I have a few issues with it, like how some of the writing is repetitive, or the book doesn’t have much mystery to it. It’s mostly focused on the main character’s secrets that they’re hiding from each other.

On the other hand, I didn’t hate it completely. The book had multiple endings, which is very reminiscent of the board game. I might check out the other two books.

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Book #7: Witness 8 by Steve Cavanagh

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Ruby Johnson, a babysitter working for the Johnson family, became a witness to a murder. She saw a person shoot Margaret Blakemore in cold blood. She left an anonymous tip to the police, but this is just the start of her own plans.

John Jackson, the father of Tomas and husband to Alison, is accused of killing Margaret Blakemore after the weapon was found in his house. John pleads that he is not guilty of the crime. John goes to Eddie Flynn for help. Eddie Flynn, a former conman turned lawyer, has to clear his name before John gets put in prison as tensions rise in the neighborhood.

I saw this book while browsing Pinterest one day. The tagline on the front cover of the book caught my attention. I haven’t read many mystery/legal thrillers where the unreliable witness trope is used. This is also the first book that I read in the Eddie Flynn series. I have other books in this series that are on my TBR.

The book follows multiple perspectives, with Eddie’s being told in first person while the others are in third person. Besides Eddie getting to the bottom of clearing John’s name, there is also a subplot in which Ben Grey, a corrupt cop, puts a hit out on Eddie after he exposes him during a trial.

Aside from the main character, I loved the other characters who helped Eddie with John’s trial. Denise, Lake, Bloch, Harry, and Mr. Christmas (he is one of the hitmen hired to take out Eddie, but he does help Eddie) were good characters. I also liked the trope of an unreliable witness, or one who is as bad as the killer. I recommend this book if you like John Grisham’s books.

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Book #8: The Unexpected Inheritance Of Inspector Chopper by Vaseem Khan

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The first book in the Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation series: Inspector Chopra is retired from the Indian police force. Before he retired, the police force was caught in an investigation of a poor young boy. The young boy’s death is ruled a drowning, but Chopra suspects otherwise. Thinking that foul play was involved in the boy’s death, Chopra investigates on his own what happened to the young boy. As he explores more about the circumstances of the boy’s death, Chopra finds out that an old target is still alive.

Aside from the investigation, Chopra is also tasked with taking care of a baby elephant gifted by his uncle. Chopra keeps the elephant and names it Ganesha. Chopra wonders why his uncle gave him the baby elephant.

I like that this is a mystery book that takes place in India. As far as I can remember from previous books I read, I don’t think I read any mystery books where the setting is in India. I also liked Ganesha, the baby elephant that accompanies Chopra in the investigation.

However, the mystery aspect is not anything new that I have read. But this book wasn’t bad either. The book is like The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith (I read the first book, but I didn’t really enjoy it). If you love that series, then you should read this book and the series. I give this book 3 stars.

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Book #9: Deadly Anniversaries by Multiple Authors

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Told in 19 different stories by the biggest authors of the mystery/crime genre, each story includes the theme of anniversaries. From authors like Sue Grafton, Lee Child, S.J. Rozen, Jeffery Deaver, etc., and different subgenres of the crime genre, all stories are themed around anniversaries. Aside from wedding anniversaries, some stories deal with historical events, birth anniversaries, etc.

My favorite stories in this anthology are:

• Normal in Every Way by Lee Child- This story focuses on a man who has a disability is discriminated against the police force he works at solves a murder. I’ve read this story before from one of Lee Child’s own anthology books. The anthology was okay, but this story is one of the best out of all of them.
• The Anniversary Gift by Jeffrey Deaver: George befriends a woman who is running away from her abusive husband. What George doesn’t know is that the woman has an ulterior motive. This short story plot twist is what makes it my favorite.
• The Last Dive Bar by Bill Pronzin: Harry loves going to different bars until he meets a man in one of them who says something that scares him away from bars. Much like the previous story, the plot twist is good.
• Case Open by Carolyn Hart- Peggy’s sister, Evelyn, was found dead. Found dead over the cliff, the police suspect she killed herself. However, Peggy thinks otherwise. Peggy invites several people to a party where she will also confront each of them about who killed Evelyn. The story reminds me a little bit of the Clue movie, which I’ve mentioned in the YA Clue book.
• Whodunit Heist by Julie Smith- Two men planned on doing a heist during the Super Bowl season. However, someone else is one step ahead. I like this story because it doesn’t have murder.

I give this anthology four stars.

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Non-Fiction:

Book #1: 10 Birds That Changed The World by Stephen Moss

The ten birds that make up this book helped shape society for better or for worse. From the extinct Dodo bird to the bird that influenced Charles Darwin’s book about the origin of species (the finches), all ten of these birds make the world an interesting place.

This book is good if you want to read about how ten birds shaped us as people and science. My one criticism of the book is the bald eagle chapter. Most of the chapter talks about the negative symbolism of the eagle. I’m not saying that it’s not true, but there is a more positive side to their symbolism, it just depends on how people use the symbolism.

Despite this, I did like this book. My personal favorite from this book is the pigeons chapter. Pigeons are stereotyped as being dirty and living in urban areas. However, pigeons had a role during the World Wars. They were trained and used as messengers for armies. These pigeons are known as carrier pigeons. The US, the UK, Australia, France, and Germany are some of the countries that used carrier pigeons during the World Wars.

I recommend this book if you want to read about ten birds that help us understand the world, science, or how they assisted humans.

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Book #2: Unexplained Mysteries Of The 20th Century by Janet and Colin Bird

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Sixteen unsolved mysteries throughout the 20th century are covered in this book. Ghosts/Poltergeists, UFOs/Alien abductions, cryptids, and the question of if dinosaurs really went extinct , among other mysteries, are covered in this book. Each story also includes encounters people had with bizarre occurrences and photos. I love real-life mysteries. Mysteries make the world interesting. Of course, I always think of a rational explanation for certain mysteries (for example, animals like toads falling from the sky could be the result of a tornado or other weather occurrence).

On the other hand, the book is still entertaining and interesting. I like how the book mentions places from all over the world rather than just North America and the UK. This book is perfect for the spooky season. My favorite chapters are:

Spontaneous Human Combustion- This mystery has been disproven and has been labeled as pseudoscience. A human can’t burst into flames by themself. However, the concept, or hypothetically, if a human can combust into flames without any known cause, is a scary thing to think about. I’ve heard of this mystery since I was a child, and it has always interested me even if it’s fake.

Ball Lightning and Spook Lights- The weather phenomenon of ball lightning intrigues me. It’s a very rare weather phenomenon that happens after a severe thunderstorm, and little is known about it. The other weird lights reported in the sky are also cool.

USOs (Unidenified Submarine Objects)- A lot of people talk about UFOs and aliens (which this book also covers), but what about USOs? This chapter goes over people who have seen strange-looking objects submerged in the oceans. I like this chapter because it’s different from UFOs.

Unexpected Objects Falling From The Sky- This chapter goes over bizarre things falling from the sky that are not rain. Things include animals like frogs or objects like money. As I said before regarding the animal portion of this chapter, most of those can be explained by tornadoes (though it depends on where it happened), but the other things reported falling from the sky are a little more mysterious.

These are the chapters that I liked the most. I give this book four stars.

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Book #3: The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum

The Poisoner’s Handbook is about 10 different poisons (carbon monoxide has two chapters in this book) and how they were used during the Jazz Age (or the roaring 20s), a period in history that saw events like Prohibition and the rise of certain things like Jazz music, flapper lifestyle, youth culture, etc.

The ten poisons detailed in the book are as follows: chloroform, wood alcohol, cyanides (the three different variations of it), arsenic, carbon monoxide, methyl alcohol, radium, ethyl alcohol, and thallium. Each chapter goes into detail about how each poison was used for murder or how it affected people who consumed it (radium being a big example).

As the title suggests, the book takes place in New York City. The two recurring scientists are toxicologists Alexander Gettler and Charles Norris, who worked at Bellevue Hospital, the oldest and one of the largest hospitals in the US. These two toxicologists studied each poison and its effects on the human body and solved multiple murder cases by bringing their findings to trial.

The title of the book sounds like a handbook on different poisons and information about each, but it’s more of a mix of true crime and forensic science. Despite this, I really enjoyed the book. Forensic science and the history of poisons were always been of interest to me. I give this book four stars.

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Book #4: The Cruelest Miles by Gay Salisbury

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In Nome, Alaska, in 1925, an outbreak of diphtheria broke out in the town. Affecting mostly Inuit children, diphtheria starts by affecting the throat by forming thick, grayish membranes. As these membranes grow, the disease makes the victim breathless. Because of this, diphtheria has the nickname “the strangler”.

Diphtheria is a highly contagious disease. There is an antidote for the disease in Nome, but the supply is expired. Welch, the leading doctor helping with the outbreak, needs a new shipment of the antidote. The council meeting decided to send a group of dog sled teams to travel throughout Alaska and bring it back to Nome.

While Welsh and a former WWI nurse named Morgan take care of the sick at Nome, the dog sled teams face challenges of their own. The Cruelest Miles goes into the heroic story behind the men and dogs that saved thousands of people infected by diphtheria.

The book details the grueling adventure of the relay to get the diphtheria antitoxin to Nome. Aside from the journey, I really loved the parts of the chapters that talk about the history of Nome and the natives that live there and how Siberian huskies became sled dogs.

This book is good if you love daring adventures. I rate this book five stars. Second-best non-fiction book that I read so far.

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Book #5: The Elements Of A Home by Amy Azzarito

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Going from A to Z, The Elements Of A Home is a short microhistory book about the objects that live in our house and the history behind each of them. There are common items that people are familiar with, such as a kettle, spoons, forks, a mattress, etc. There are also less common household items like a King Louis XVI (16th) chair, a flotaki rug, etc.

This book was short but had a lot of interesting biographies of common household objects. Some of my favorites and an interesting fact about each of them.

• Forks: Forks used to be banned. Forks were considered immoral and unhygienic. It took several centuries for forks to be legalized.
• Mattresses: Medieval mattresses are a lot larger than the mattresses we have today. They were 10 by 10 feet and needed long sticks to smooth out the sheets and bedspreads.
• Napkins: Napkins were originally dough. The Spartans used a dough called apomagdalie, which was rolled and kneaded. They then cut it up and used it to wipe their fingers. After the meal was over, they then fed the dough to the dogs.

I recommend this book if you love microhistories or want to learn more about the history of objects that make up your house.

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Book #6: One Night Stands With American History by Richard Shenkman

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Beginning with the arrival of the Pilgrims, One Night Stands with American History explores a mix of small tidbits and interesting, lesser-known stories throughout American History. There are nine chapters in total, each covering the biggest events in US history:

• Beginnings- Arrival of the Pilgrims
• Inventing a Country- American Revolution
• Old Hickand Ready- Post-American Revolution
• Billy Yank and Johnny Reb- The American Civil War
• The Great Barbeque- Post-American Civil War
• The Full Dinner Pail, the Bull Moose, and the Great War- Before World War I and After World War I
• Era of the Pumpkin Coach- Post WWI
• War on Depression, War on Europe- The Great Depression and World War II
• Since Hiroshima- Post WWII

Each chapter starts with a scrapbook of the times, a bulleted list of facts. Then the chapter will go into short stories in each of these time periods. I love learning about unknown or forgotten history. Whether it’s the US or international, I love reading books or watching movies based on forgotten events. While I have read and known some facts before, every chapter has intriguing facts and stories that I wasn’t aware of. Here are some facts in the book:

• The first bible was printed in a language that is endangered. That language is Algonquin, published in 1661.
• Buncombe or bunk came from a speech by Felix Walker, who was the congressman of Buncombe County, North Carolina. The speech he delivered was considered irrelevant and just him rambling, which in turn created the word. Buncombe, or bunk, means nonsense.
• Americans didn’t eat tomatoes at all until the 1830s. During this time, tomatoes were considered poisonous and were mostly used as decorations.
• Ice cream soda became an accidental discovery. Robert Green ran out of sweet cream. He replaced it with vanilla ice cream. From there, ice cream soda became a hit.
• Red lights became a symbol for prostitution when railroad workers who visited whorehouses left their red lights outside.
• The state of Rhode Island used to have two capitals: Providence and Newport.

There are plenty of other facts and stories throughout the book. If you want to learn about the lesser-known side of American History, read this book. I give this book four stars.

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Book #7: The Phantom Atlas by Edward Brooke-Hitching

For centuries, cartographers have created the maps that we use today. However, throughout history, cartographers sometimes added countries/islands that never existed. In the Phantom Atlas, the book explores these hoaxes and blunders. There are the most common legends like Atlantis, while there are less common legends, with some reportedly having fantastical creatures/monsters. These legends start because explorers saw an island, but it turned out to just be a mirage, or the explorers made up an island.

So far, I say this is my favorite non-fiction book. I haven’t read books about maps, so this is my first book about maps. The maps in the book are very well detailed. Each of the places is interesting, but personally, these are the ones I liked the most:

• Lost Continent of Lemuria and Mu
• Norumbega and Its Creatures
• Carta Marina and Its Sea Creatures

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Book #8: What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool

Using popular 19th-century English authors and novels such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, the Brontës, and Anthony Trollope, this book explores the lifestyle in England during the 1800s. In 26 chapters, you learn about the government, card games, food, etiquette, transportation, clothing, death, and the dark side of 19th century England, among other topics.

The book references other books in the 19th century, most notably Northanger Abbey, Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Who Can Forgive Her?, Wuthering Heights, etc. The book spoils a bit of these books, so if you don’t want any of these books spoiled, then I don’t recommend reading it. Besides that, I found the book intriguing.

Some of the interesting things I liked are:

• Card games were popular during 1800s England. One of the biggest card games was Whist, the game that is mentioned in the title. It’s a card trick where the person beside the dealer goes first. They pick up one of the trick cards. When it’s the dealer’s turn, they pick up one of the trump cards. The other players’ job is to keep up with the trick or pick up another trump card. The game is played with a 52-card deck and requires a lot of strategy to win.
• The dresses women wore during this time required a crinoline, a hooped base that women wore around their waist. This is the reason why the 1800s dresses were massive. To no surprise, it was hard for women to maneuver during the day.
• When someone died, a bell would ring to announce which gender passed away. If the bell rang six times, a woman passed away, but if the bell rang nine times, a man passed away.

There are other things in the book that are interesting. The book also has a glossary with all of the different terms used in the 19th century. I rate this book four stars.

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Book #9: Framed by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey

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John Grisham, the author of legal thrillers, has teamed up with Jim McCloskey, the founder of Centurion Ministries, to write about ten real cases of people wrongly imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. In each of these ten cases, John and Jim discuss the crimes in detail and how both the police and judges twist the evidence to falsely convict the wrong person.

To me, the book is insightful about how corrupt the American justice system is. The cops and the judges in each of these cases manipulate the evidence to create their own narrative. The people who are sent to prison experience abuse and are in prison for an enormous amount of time, while the actual perpetrator of the crime gets away. Some of the wrongful convictions led to the accused being sent to death row and being executed before the actual evidence was presented. There are also cases where racism plays a part in convictions.

This book is good. The book gave me mixed emotions. It made me feel sad and infuriated with how our justice system is. It also made me look into how many innocent people are convicted. I recommend this book if you want to know more about the American justice system and why innocent until proven guilty is important. I gave this book four stars.

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Book #10: American Heroes by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann

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In these thirty accounts, this military non-fiction book covers former soldiers who share their stories. Some are told by soldiers themselves, while others are told through interviews with family members. Conflicts include World War II, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Gulf War, the War on Terrorism, etc.

Each interview goes over when the soldier got drafted or joined the army, the branch they served in, what they did in the army, and the aftermath of the soldier after the war. Most accounts are from Vietnam and the War on Terrorism, but there are others from previous wars. I like reading about accounts of former soldiers.

The past books I read in this genre are Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell and No Easy Day by Mark Owen (both good books that are similar to American Heroes, but they focus on one account). I also like how the book includes one story from a nurse who helped soldiers. I recommend this book if you love military non-fiction or are interested in what goes on in the military.

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Book #11: American History Revised by Seymour Morris Jr.

In these 200 stories spanning over ten chapters, American History Revised goes over the lesser-known American history. Each story jumps to a different time period. For example, one story happened during the founding of the US (1776), then another jumps to a different year. Some stories cover wars the US partook in, while others document non-war-related stories like how the US economy was back then.

This book took a while for me to complete. While there are images throughout the book, most of it is long pages of text (granted, this book is a textbook itself). This book was a slow read. On the other hand, the book is still great. Here are three interesting stories I learned while reading this book:

• Gone With The Wind, the biggest Civil War period movie based on Margaret Mitchell’s book, almost wasn’t made because Hollywood execs thought no one would be interested in a movie taking place in the Civil War, and the director had trouble finding an actress to play the lead role. The movie grossed about $390 million at the box office.
• The Erie Canal, the largest canal and considered the eighth wonder of the world, was constructed by two people who were not engineers. There weren’t many trained civil engineers during this time; but these people pulled through and created it despite their inexperience.
• Hedy Lamarr, an actress who starred in Ectasy, was also an inventor. She invented a radio-guidance system during World War II. She invented it with George Antheil. The invention didn’t go through the patent stage, with the Navy stating that the invention would be too big for a navy ship. Hedy and George didn’t pursue the invention any further, but modern technology uses the same radio frequencies.

This book has more than this that I can put here, but this article is long enough. I give this book three stars.

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Book #12: The Things That Nobody Knows by William Hartston

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Going from A to Z, the 501 things no one knows about covers mysteries and questions about life, the universe, and other topics. Some are on the scientific side of life, like the universe, the solar system, animals, dinosaurs, humans, how we behave, etc., while other topics that are non-science-related are also discussed, like music, philosophy, literature, history, etc.

Some mysteries have more detail than others. I found the book interesting for the most part. There are two things I didn’t like about it. Though this isn’t widespread throughout the book, there are a few editing errors in the book. I don’t think people would care about some of the mysteries in the book, even if we found the answers. Other than that, the book was good. My favorite mysteries in the book are these:

• What Was Sweating Sickness?- First mystery in the disease chapter
• How Do Animals Predict Earthquakes?- Second mystery in the earthquake chapter
• Can Bacteria Solve Sudoku Puzzles?- Fourth mystery in the games chapter
• Is Language Programmed In A Baby’s Brain?- Fifth mystery in the language chapter
• Are There Fish On The Moons of Jupiter?- Fourth mystery in the planets chapter

There are plenty of mysteries that I could include, but this is just a sample of the mysteries I find interesting. I give this book four stars.

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Other

Book #1: The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

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In 1865, at The Bridge in England, Elsie Bainbridge inherits a manor when her husband, Rupert, passed away from an unknown ailment. With her servant, Sarah, they move into the mansion. Elsie and Sarah are living with Joylon, Rupert’s cousin, and the staff who worked with Rupert. When Elsie and Sarah discover paintings titled The Silent Companions Elsie notices that one of the paintings looks strangely like her.

After discovering the painting, strange happenings begin to occur throughout the manor, messing with Elsie’s mind. The book has different perspectives. The book starts at St. Joseph Hospital, the hospital Elsie is at after she allegedly burned down the manor. Then there’s 1865 at The Bridge, which details what happened at the manor, and another timeline at The Bridge back in 1635 that details what happened to Sarah’s ancestor Anne and her child Hetta.

This book is a mix of gothic and paranormal with a mix of witchcraft. The book also takes place in a Victorian manor. If you love the setting of creepy manors/estastes, this book is good for you. I personally love books that take place in estates. I also like cursed objects as well (this book has haunted paintings). So from that, I give this book four stars.

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Book #2: The Quantum Curators and The Fabergé Egg by Eva St. John

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Neith, a woman working for the Quantum Curators, is tasked with finding a Fabergé egg, an intricately designed egg made for the Russian Romanov family. Fifty of these eggs were made, but after the assassination of the Romanov family, a few eggs went missing. Neith, along with her team consisting of Clio, Ramin, and Paul, is tracing the egg.

Meanwhile, another character named Julius is tasked with continuing his friend’s journey after he was gunned down by a mysterious person. Eventually, Julius and Neith meet each other to find the egg. Unbeknownst to them, this mysterious killer doesn’t want them to obtain the egg. Both characters must find the egg before this killer finds it first.

In the book, there are two Earths. Alpha Earth, which is where Neith and her friends reside. When they find the object they are tasked to find, they bring it back to Alpha Earth to preserve it. Then there’s Beta Earth, where Julius lives and is also searching for the egg. The book switches between perspectives in each chapter, following the two main characters. There is also a perspective of the unknown killer, who is also looking for the egg for their own gain.

Before I get into my thoughts about the book, I want to show an image of a Fabergé egg for people who don’t know what a Fabergé egg looks like. They are pretty and delicately made eggs. Most of these eggs were made for the Romanov family before they were killed. A few of these eggs are missing:

I really like this book. It’s got a mix of time travel, adventure, and a little bit of mystery behind it. The gadgets that Neith uses are like the gadgets used in Men in Black. This book is also in a series, so I might check those out at some point. I give this book four stars.

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Book #3: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

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Ryland Grace, a man on board the Hail Mary, wakes up from a coma. Being the only one alive on the Hail Mary, his memory is bleak. As memories slowly come back to him, he remembers that he was sent on the Hail Mary to save Earth. Something is eating up the energy of the sun, located at the mysterious Petrova Line. If this thing succeeds in taking the energy of the sun, humans will go extinct.

However, Ryland notices another spaceship in the Petrova Line. Ryland communicates with the inhabitant of the spaceship. The inhabitant turns out to be an alien of the Eridian species. Ryland gives the alien the name Rocky. Rocky is in the same predicament as Ryland as the two of them get to know each other. It’s up to Ryland and Rocky to save both of their planets.

Project Hail Mary won the 2021 Goodreads Award for favorite science fiction book. The book also recently got a movie adaptation that I want to watch. I want to read the book before I go watch the movie. The book has a lot of hype behind it. Sometimes hype can kill high expectations, but I will say in Project Hail Mary’s case, the hype for this book is justified. I really loved this book.

The book made me want to get back into reading sci-fi books again (along with fantasy). I loved the dynamic between Ryland and Rocky and how they both look for a way to save both of their planets. I also loved the ending. I gave this book five stars. Now I’m just hoping that the movie will be just as good as the book.

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Book #4: The Paleontologist by Lu.Lukemas

Dr. Simon Nealy, a paleontologist, becomes the new curator of the Hawthorne Museum, a dinosaur exhibit that has been shut down due to COVID. With the museum in disarray, Simon is in charge of creating the Theo exhibit. This T. rex fossil was documented by Albert Mueller, the former museum curator who mysteriously went insane.

However, Simon is at the museum for another reason. His half-sister, Morgan, went missing at the same museum when Simon was a kid. Haunted by her disappearance, Simon wants to figure out what happened to his sister. The museum itself also seems to have secrets of its own. As Simon works on the exhibit and investigates the disappearance, the Hawthorne seems to be haunted by something malevolent.

Let me start by saying that I love dinosaurs and prehistoric animals in general. This book has an interesting concept with ghost dinosaurs. The Paleontologist is also a mix of supernatural horror and mystery, which I like. The book alternates between Simon and his reading of Mueller’s diaries, which explain what happened to Mueller himself and to Simon’s sister, Morgan.

The only things I didn’t like about the book were that it was hard to follow along in some parts and the message about white male privilege, but other than that, I give this book four stars.

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Conclusion

I have more books that I need to get to that I got for my birthday and Christmas, but these are just the books I got from the previous two years. Most of the books land in the four-star category, but there hasn’t been any book that I disliked. Most of these books are being sold on my eBay store, so if any of my viewers want to buy a copy from me, feel free to! I’ll come back to more books I got for these two holidays again in another post. Thanks for reading!