I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love Winnie-the-Pooh. I grew up on the Disney animated versions, and even today when I step foot on a Disney property, Pooh and his friends can expect to be hugged. I’m grateful that I never picked up the books that inspired these theme park favorites until I was an adult, because they are so hilarious, so thoughtful, and so smart, the animated interpretation surely would have disappointed me if I’d been exposed to the books first. If […]
Figured I’d better read this now in case Hollywood screws it up
Yeah, I’m late to the party on this one. Actually, I’m usually late to the party–one of these days I’m gonna show up before the party starts and pass out from tequila before you all even walk through the door and you’re gonna be shocked. (Just kidding, I hate tequila.) Anyway, I’ve been curious about this book since I first started hearing about it on CBR, and now with the imminent release of the major motion picture, I decided I’d better jump on it in […]
Sometimes, when a perfectly lovely person is speaking to me, I just want to shout STFU
Some twenty-odd years ago, I moved out to Southern California from New Jersey and set about finding a job. My wide-eyed self was more than a little delighted when I landed an interview with the Walt Disney Company: the Mouse, the Big Cheese, the place where wishes come true! During the interview process, a Human Resources representative asked me if I was extroverted. “We tend not to hire introverts here,” she said. I nodded sagely; quite understandable–don’t want any of those types around. In my […]
I guess this is a children’s book?
In 1998 a snopes.com reader coined the term glurge, and I’ve been forever grateful. What is glurge? Snopes has this to say, “Think of it as chicken soup with several cups of sugar mixed in: It’s supposed to be a method of delivering a remedy for what ails you by adding sweetening to make the cure more appealing, but the result is more often a sickly-sweet concoction that induces hyperglycemic fits.” The website tvtropes.org claims the term derives from the sound of someone throwing up. […]
Dear humans: Your insecurity is showing
This book is a study of two fascinating concepts: animal intelligence and human arrogance. Prominent biologist and primatologist Frans de Waal shares insights into animal cognition interspersed with mini-rants about the skepticism that people, even scientists, express at the thought of non-human animals displaying something that we might call intelligence. After reading this book, I’m inclined to suggest a new title: Are We Humble Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? At the heart of the skepticism is human beings’ desire to understand “what it […]
My brain is a jerk and so is yours
Early in Idiot Brain, author Dean Burnett addresses a common misconception about memory. People tend to assume human memory works along the same lines as a computer’s memory: information goes in, is stored, and is retrieved at a later date when you need it. Sure, there might be trouble retrieving at times: you only have perfect recall ability if you’re Sherlock or you take narcotics like Bradley Cooper in Limitless, but all the data is in there somewhere, right? Unfortunately for the pharmaceutical industry, it’s […]
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