Joseph Baneth Allen's Blog, page 31
August 18, 2024
What Was Bugging Ol' Pharaoh
Just finished reading "What Was Bugging Ol' Pharaoh?" by Charles M. Schulz, published by Warner Press.
While Charles M. Schulz is best known for his beloved comic strip "Peanuts," he did write and draw two other lesser known comic strips, ""It's Only A Game" that lasted a year, and a monthly comic panel cartoon called "Young Pillars," which ran for about nine years in the pages of "Youth," a publication associated with the Church of God.
Now I'm not familiar with "Youth" so I can say what type of magazine it was, other than say, rather obviously, that it was a non-denominational Christian youth magazine. I'm making that assumption based on the comic strips in this collection which are not specifically religious, though Schulz did use the same Christian tenets in "Peanuts." Although I will admit that Schulz does make some rather pithy observations about Judaism in some of the panels.
Harold, the main character, is not an older version of Charlie Brown, even though the artistic style of the teenage characters is similar "Peanuts." He is a likable teenager who tries to live his best life according to the dictates of his faith.
What makes "Young Pillars" different from "Peanuts" is that Harold and his friends actually interact with their parents and adults on panel face-to-face.
You will also recognize what I call "older versions" of Peanuts, but they are never referred to by name, and interestingly enough, Harold does wear a sweater in several panels that has a "C" on it.
"Young Pillars" is an rather interesting series by Schulz that ran about a decade before Schulz moved on from it.
Strongly Recommended!
Five Stars!
https://www.amazon.com/What-was-buggi...
While Charles M. Schulz is best known for his beloved comic strip "Peanuts," he did write and draw two other lesser known comic strips, ""It's Only A Game" that lasted a year, and a monthly comic panel cartoon called "Young Pillars," which ran for about nine years in the pages of "Youth," a publication associated with the Church of God.
Now I'm not familiar with "Youth" so I can say what type of magazine it was, other than say, rather obviously, that it was a non-denominational Christian youth magazine. I'm making that assumption based on the comic strips in this collection which are not specifically religious, though Schulz did use the same Christian tenets in "Peanuts." Although I will admit that Schulz does make some rather pithy observations about Judaism in some of the panels.
Harold, the main character, is not an older version of Charlie Brown, even though the artistic style of the teenage characters is similar "Peanuts." He is a likable teenager who tries to live his best life according to the dictates of his faith.
What makes "Young Pillars" different from "Peanuts" is that Harold and his friends actually interact with their parents and adults on panel face-to-face.
You will also recognize what I call "older versions" of Peanuts, but they are never referred to by name, and interestingly enough, Harold does wear a sweater in several panels that has a "C" on it.
"Young Pillars" is an rather interesting series by Schulz that ran about a decade before Schulz moved on from it.
Strongly Recommended!
Five Stars!
https://www.amazon.com/What-was-buggi...
August 12, 2024
Millie Fleur's Poison Garden
Just finished reading "Millie Fleur's Poison Garden" by Christy Mandin, published Orchard Books.
I was immediately drawn to this book because of my past and current experiences with my neighbors from down under, and I don't mean Australia. There is no Home Owners Association where I live, but that didn't stop my neighbors from calling the police when we planted flowers. No, I'm not joking.
Millie Fleur is a unique little girl with a unique garden. She has moved into a new town that really prides itself on its normalcy and sameness. By the end of the story, she has her classmates and the town on their way to embracing their uniqueness. This story is told not only through words but also through illustrations that will have you pausing for an extra look through all of the little details. It is a wonderful story about acceptance and friendship and even gardening.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Millie-Fleurs-...
I was immediately drawn to this book because of my past and current experiences with my neighbors from down under, and I don't mean Australia. There is no Home Owners Association where I live, but that didn't stop my neighbors from calling the police when we planted flowers. No, I'm not joking.
Millie Fleur is a unique little girl with a unique garden. She has moved into a new town that really prides itself on its normalcy and sameness. By the end of the story, she has her classmates and the town on their way to embracing their uniqueness. This story is told not only through words but also through illustrations that will have you pausing for an extra look through all of the little details. It is a wonderful story about acceptance and friendship and even gardening.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Millie-Fleurs-...
Brothersong
Just finished reading "Brothersong" by T.J. Klune, released by TOR Books.
It's always more than a bit bittersweet when a series comes to an end. "Brothersong" is is the final book in the Green Creek series. The beautiful, exciting story of Carter and Gavin was the perfect ending to the Bennett family saga. Gavin and Carter’s love story started in the previous books as an unconventional one - a wolf shifter stuck as a wolf and a shifter who easily shifts between man and wolf. The book begins where Heartsong left off - Gavin has left with Robert Livingstone in order to save Carter and Carter, being a martyr, starts after Gavin alone leaving his pack, including his brother/tether Kelly, behind. The overriding theme of all the Green Creek books is family, is packpackpack. So of course the pack will be part of the story, the journey of Carter and Gavin, and the evil that is Robert Livingstone. Despite being a darkish fantasy, there is also light here, goodness, hope, love, and redemption. Like the other books in this series, along their journey, Gavin and Carter also deal with their individual issues without magically making them vanish. The storyline is rich with emotion including tender moments, hilarity, mundane life snippets, violence, and tense scenes.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Brothersong-Gr...
It's always more than a bit bittersweet when a series comes to an end. "Brothersong" is is the final book in the Green Creek series. The beautiful, exciting story of Carter and Gavin was the perfect ending to the Bennett family saga. Gavin and Carter’s love story started in the previous books as an unconventional one - a wolf shifter stuck as a wolf and a shifter who easily shifts between man and wolf. The book begins where Heartsong left off - Gavin has left with Robert Livingstone in order to save Carter and Carter, being a martyr, starts after Gavin alone leaving his pack, including his brother/tether Kelly, behind. The overriding theme of all the Green Creek books is family, is packpackpack. So of course the pack will be part of the story, the journey of Carter and Gavin, and the evil that is Robert Livingstone. Despite being a darkish fantasy, there is also light here, goodness, hope, love, and redemption. Like the other books in this series, along their journey, Gavin and Carter also deal with their individual issues without magically making them vanish. The storyline is rich with emotion including tender moments, hilarity, mundane life snippets, violence, and tense scenes.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Brothersong-Gr...
August 11, 2024
Tea Rex
Just finished reading "Tea Rex" by Molly Idle, released by Viking.
Writer and artist Molly Idle has a great book that combines friendship with a rite of passage that every child enjoys, tea parities with friends, real or imaginary. Idle's artwork vividly and vibrantly captures the joys of childhood fun!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Tea-Rex-Molly-...
Writer and artist Molly Idle has a great book that combines friendship with a rite of passage that every child enjoys, tea parities with friends, real or imaginary. Idle's artwork vividly and vibrantly captures the joys of childhood fun!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Tea-Rex-Molly-...
August 8, 2024
Beltane Moon 3
Just finished listening to "Beltane Moon 3" by Wychazel, released by Medwyn Goodall Music.
Wychazel is the recording and production alias used by Chris Green. With a career spanning two decades, Chris first appeared on the new age music scene as part of Runestone and has since established himself as an award winning solo artist. His music is highly atmospheric, transporting the listener through vivid soundscapes inspired by the power of ancient sites, ancient cultures and natural landscapes. His unique sound incorporates unusual, authentic and sacred instruments.
Now I am not 100% certain of this, but I believe that it was Medwyn Goodall and David Arkenstone who independently of each other, pioneered the idea or notion if you will of sequel albums/CDs to a popular New Age Music CD on a theme. So is should not be a a total surprise that Wychazel, i.e. Green, would have his own popular series of New Age CDs on certain themes.
The Beltane Moon is the pagan symbol of growth and new beginnings. So for this series, Wychazel returned to his musical roots to explore some of the mysterious moods and atmospheres that used to define the Runestone sound.
In this third exploration of his mythical Wildwood series of the Beltane Moon, Wychazel uses Guitars (Acoustic, Electroclassical, 12 String & E-Bow), Mandolins, Dulcimer, Irish Whistles, Frame Drums & Percussion, Synths & Samples and atmospheric effects in continuous tracks.
My favorite tracks are "Celtic Fire," "The Majesty of Selene," "Wildwood Grove," and "A Promise of Summer."
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
Wychazel is the recording and production alias used by Chris Green. With a career spanning two decades, Chris first appeared on the new age music scene as part of Runestone and has since established himself as an award winning solo artist. His music is highly atmospheric, transporting the listener through vivid soundscapes inspired by the power of ancient sites, ancient cultures and natural landscapes. His unique sound incorporates unusual, authentic and sacred instruments.
Now I am not 100% certain of this, but I believe that it was Medwyn Goodall and David Arkenstone who independently of each other, pioneered the idea or notion if you will of sequel albums/CDs to a popular New Age Music CD on a theme. So is should not be a a total surprise that Wychazel, i.e. Green, would have his own popular series of New Age CDs on certain themes.
The Beltane Moon is the pagan symbol of growth and new beginnings. So for this series, Wychazel returned to his musical roots to explore some of the mysterious moods and atmospheres that used to define the Runestone sound.
In this third exploration of his mythical Wildwood series of the Beltane Moon, Wychazel uses Guitars (Acoustic, Electroclassical, 12 String & E-Bow), Mandolins, Dulcimer, Irish Whistles, Frame Drums & Percussion, Synths & Samples and atmospheric effects in continuous tracks.
My favorite tracks are "Celtic Fire," "The Majesty of Selene," "Wildwood Grove," and "A Promise of Summer."
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
Eternal Summer
Just finished listening to "Eternal Summer" by Paul Sills, released by Medwyn Goodall Music.
Sills is a UK based instrumental artist and has become best known for his inspiring, melodic, instrumental New Age music. Since his first release, Astral Doorways, in 2007, Paul has established himself as a main contributor to the New Age music scene. His early influences span many musical genres including artists like U2 through to Medwyn Goodall and Vangelis.
Sills has a solid and length catalog of CD releases with Medwyn Goodall Music has been a key artist with the company almost from its beginning.
My favorite tracks on Sill's latest release are: "Tangerine Clouds," "Summer Wine," "Crimson Dusk," "Arizona," and "Eternal Horizons."
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars!
https://medwyngoodall.com/paul-sills
Sills is a UK based instrumental artist and has become best known for his inspiring, melodic, instrumental New Age music. Since his first release, Astral Doorways, in 2007, Paul has established himself as a main contributor to the New Age music scene. His early influences span many musical genres including artists like U2 through to Medwyn Goodall and Vangelis.
Sills has a solid and length catalog of CD releases with Medwyn Goodall Music has been a key artist with the company almost from its beginning.
My favorite tracks on Sill's latest release are: "Tangerine Clouds," "Summer Wine," "Crimson Dusk," "Arizona," and "Eternal Horizons."
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars!
https://medwyngoodall.com/paul-sills
August 7, 2024
Drifter
Just finished watching "Drifter" released by Kino Lorber on blu-ray.
Trying to get a movie about a bi-sexual hustler into main stream, commercial theaters back in the mid-1970s was an impossible task, yet Pat Rocco, an independent movie producer who documented gay life during the late 1960s thru the 1980s wanted to give it a try with his third feature length movie "Drifter" which is supposed by be based on the novel of the same title by Edward Middleton - I couldn't find any information on the book, so it might have been self-published or published by a publisher of gay pulp novels at the time.
Pat Rocco was born Pasquale Vincent Serrapica in 1934 to an Italian-American family in Brooklyn, New York. As a charismatic, openly gay youth, Rocco pursued a career in entertainment in Southern California, singing and appearing on televised talent shows. A job as a photographer of male nude studies turned into a successful mail-order business of his own 8mm and 16mm films. Shown publicly for the first time in 1968 in L.A.’s Park Theatre, Rocco’s films were widely embraced by the gay community and favorably reviewed by mainstream press. The films were ecstatic affirmations of gay love and identity, and were groundbreaking at a time when homosexual activity remained illegal.
But in order to succeed, a movie must tell a gripping tale and "Drifter" or Drift, as he likes to call himself, has an emotional and physical aversion to sex no matter if he is with a man or woman. He can't commit to anyone and there is no compelling backstory as to why he is an emotionally stunted man-child.
Now as for Rocco wanting to show gay life and gay culture in a positive light, playing into the stereotypes of the time of gay men as psychologically scarred men who have mental health issues is a rather odd choice to show homosexuality as normal by a gay film maker of that time. If anything Rocco is showing that the gay lifestyle wasn't a healthy lifestyle.
"Drifter" suffered the fate of most independently produced movies of that era. It was hardly seen by anyone an was only rescued from the dustbin of obscurity when Kino Lorber licensed the print from the UCLA Library's Film and Print archive 50 years after its initial release.
"Drifter" is not a great movie and I just didn't see the cultural significance behind it.
Not Recommended.
One and a half stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Drifter-Kino-C...
Trying to get a movie about a bi-sexual hustler into main stream, commercial theaters back in the mid-1970s was an impossible task, yet Pat Rocco, an independent movie producer who documented gay life during the late 1960s thru the 1980s wanted to give it a try with his third feature length movie "Drifter" which is supposed by be based on the novel of the same title by Edward Middleton - I couldn't find any information on the book, so it might have been self-published or published by a publisher of gay pulp novels at the time.
Pat Rocco was born Pasquale Vincent Serrapica in 1934 to an Italian-American family in Brooklyn, New York. As a charismatic, openly gay youth, Rocco pursued a career in entertainment in Southern California, singing and appearing on televised talent shows. A job as a photographer of male nude studies turned into a successful mail-order business of his own 8mm and 16mm films. Shown publicly for the first time in 1968 in L.A.’s Park Theatre, Rocco’s films were widely embraced by the gay community and favorably reviewed by mainstream press. The films were ecstatic affirmations of gay love and identity, and were groundbreaking at a time when homosexual activity remained illegal.
But in order to succeed, a movie must tell a gripping tale and "Drifter" or Drift, as he likes to call himself, has an emotional and physical aversion to sex no matter if he is with a man or woman. He can't commit to anyone and there is no compelling backstory as to why he is an emotionally stunted man-child.
Now as for Rocco wanting to show gay life and gay culture in a positive light, playing into the stereotypes of the time of gay men as psychologically scarred men who have mental health issues is a rather odd choice to show homosexuality as normal by a gay film maker of that time. If anything Rocco is showing that the gay lifestyle wasn't a healthy lifestyle.
"Drifter" suffered the fate of most independently produced movies of that era. It was hardly seen by anyone an was only rescued from the dustbin of obscurity when Kino Lorber licensed the print from the UCLA Library's Film and Print archive 50 years after its initial release.
"Drifter" is not a great movie and I just didn't see the cultural significance behind it.
Not Recommended.
One and a half stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Drifter-Kino-C...
August 6, 2024
Dark Sky Alliance
Just finished listening to "Dark Sky Alliance" by Interdwell, released by Spotted Peccary Music..
"Dark Sky Alliance" is the debut album of Interdwell, a group comprised of music industry veterans percussionist Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel, Indigo Girls), keyboardist Rupert Greenall (The Fixx), synthesist Eric "the" Taylor, and cinematic ambient guitarist David Helpling. This visionary premiere is a feat of sonic storytelling, each composition a different scene. Hidden in Interdwell's kaleidoscopic sound are shades of all their past work: new wave guitar flourishes, tribal ambient percussion, richly layered synth-beds, Hans Zimmer-esque cinematic crescendos--but here, they coalesce into something uniquely vivid and bracingly original, something the members of Dark Sky Alliance could only make together.
Interdwell's twelve compositions draw inspiration from the personal and the cosmic, the natural world and the fantastical. The album opens with "Fortunate One" featuring chanting from the late Sonam Targee and builds layer upon layer from there, shifting from melancholic to euphoric. "Warm Inlet" was inspired by a view of the Adirondacks on 7th Lake seen only by boat; new wave guitar warbles paint the glimmering whitecaps, a steady bassline the powerful undercurrent, with Vangelis like synth chords, the sun on the mountain peaks. Dreamlike and reflective, "The Slow Train Home," features bassist Tony Levin's (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) emotive upright bass gliding through an electronic landscape both airy and rich. The title track takes the listener beyond Earth, depicting humanity's journey through space: the tribal march of Marotta's percussion as a voyager, shimmering sequencers as stars through the viewport, anthemic electric guitar as a starship's acceleration, a distant destination finally reached.
My favorite tracks are: "Search," "Tre Pur," "The Slow Train Home," "Warm Inlet," "Fortunate One," and "The Far Cry."
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Interdwell-Dar...
"Dark Sky Alliance" is the debut album of Interdwell, a group comprised of music industry veterans percussionist Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel, Indigo Girls), keyboardist Rupert Greenall (The Fixx), synthesist Eric "the" Taylor, and cinematic ambient guitarist David Helpling. This visionary premiere is a feat of sonic storytelling, each composition a different scene. Hidden in Interdwell's kaleidoscopic sound are shades of all their past work: new wave guitar flourishes, tribal ambient percussion, richly layered synth-beds, Hans Zimmer-esque cinematic crescendos--but here, they coalesce into something uniquely vivid and bracingly original, something the members of Dark Sky Alliance could only make together.
Interdwell's twelve compositions draw inspiration from the personal and the cosmic, the natural world and the fantastical. The album opens with "Fortunate One" featuring chanting from the late Sonam Targee and builds layer upon layer from there, shifting from melancholic to euphoric. "Warm Inlet" was inspired by a view of the Adirondacks on 7th Lake seen only by boat; new wave guitar warbles paint the glimmering whitecaps, a steady bassline the powerful undercurrent, with Vangelis like synth chords, the sun on the mountain peaks. Dreamlike and reflective, "The Slow Train Home," features bassist Tony Levin's (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) emotive upright bass gliding through an electronic landscape both airy and rich. The title track takes the listener beyond Earth, depicting humanity's journey through space: the tribal march of Marotta's percussion as a voyager, shimmering sequencers as stars through the viewport, anthemic electric guitar as a starship's acceleration, a distant destination finally reached.
My favorite tracks are: "Search," "Tre Pur," "The Slow Train Home," "Warm Inlet," "Fortunate One," and "The Far Cry."
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/Interdwell-Dar...
Who's On First, Charlie Brown?
Just finished reading "Who's On First, Charlie Brown?" by Charles M. Schulz, published by Ballantine Books back in 2004.
I found my copy of "Who's On First, Charlie Brown?" on the shelves of Chamlin's Bookmine here in Jacksonville, Florida several months ago, and I finally got around to reading it.
Charlie Brown and Baseball are a classic combination, and when The Library of America recently published their excellent collection of American baseball writing, I thought that Schulz would have been right at home among America's classic baseball writers. Who can think about baseball without imagining the visual gags of Lucy getting bonked in the head with fly balls, or Charlie Brown literally getting his socks knocked off by line drives up the middle? Such images are as much a part of the collective consciousness as "Casey at the Bat" and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." But there are not just single-strip gags, there are also ongoing stip-by-strip stories. The one about Charlie Brown's hapless team nearly winning a game, only to have Chuck load the bases in the ninth inning, then balk in the tying AND winning runs is not only funny, but as poignant as any baseball story I've read. Every fan knows such heartbreak. It might as well be the "fan interference" at Wrigley Field, or a routine grounder to a RedSox first baseman. The volume includes, too, the great and forgotten stories of Charlie Brown's baseball-inspired nervous breakdown, and his quest for a card representing his hero, Joe Schlobotnik. These strips find Schulz at his best, capturing his own love for the game and mixing great humor with the gentle sadness that pervades his work.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/First-Charlie-...
I found my copy of "Who's On First, Charlie Brown?" on the shelves of Chamlin's Bookmine here in Jacksonville, Florida several months ago, and I finally got around to reading it.
Charlie Brown and Baseball are a classic combination, and when The Library of America recently published their excellent collection of American baseball writing, I thought that Schulz would have been right at home among America's classic baseball writers. Who can think about baseball without imagining the visual gags of Lucy getting bonked in the head with fly balls, or Charlie Brown literally getting his socks knocked off by line drives up the middle? Such images are as much a part of the collective consciousness as "Casey at the Bat" and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." But there are not just single-strip gags, there are also ongoing stip-by-strip stories. The one about Charlie Brown's hapless team nearly winning a game, only to have Chuck load the bases in the ninth inning, then balk in the tying AND winning runs is not only funny, but as poignant as any baseball story I've read. Every fan knows such heartbreak. It might as well be the "fan interference" at Wrigley Field, or a routine grounder to a RedSox first baseman. The volume includes, too, the great and forgotten stories of Charlie Brown's baseball-inspired nervous breakdown, and his quest for a card representing his hero, Joe Schlobotnik. These strips find Schulz at his best, capturing his own love for the game and mixing great humor with the gentle sadness that pervades his work.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
TEN STARS!
https://www.amazon.com/First-Charlie-...
Silk - A World History
Just finished reading "Silk - A World History" by Aarathi Prasad, published by William Morrow.
Silk has been a much sought after luxury item for untold centuries and, when most people think of silk, the think of the cocoons of silk worms being harvest after the emerge from them after their metamorphosis into moths have been completed. Most people don't realize that there are other sources of silk.
Prasad basically divides the book into three sources of silk: moths/silkworms, “sea silk” from marine creatures, , and spiders. For each they explain the source’s physical nuts and bolts of silk production—it’s evolutionary/biological purpose, such as anchoring in ocean waves or web construction and the mechanism and chemistry of the production, such as use of spinnerets, types of proteins, difference in types of silk, etc. The sections also explain how the silk naturally extruded by whatever creature (moth, mollusk, spider) became part of human culture. For the most ancient usage, Prasad turns to archaeological evidence and ancient texts, though each as they take pains to detail, can be unreliable and at times new information throws things into a different light. For more recent (relatively, we’re talking centuries here rather than millennia, they bring in primary texts, journals, reports, etc. often of the naturalists who did the work of collecting, illustrating, experimenting, gathering silk by hand from the creatures, inventing machines to gather silk, and so on. Prasad is careful to point out the imperialistic/colonialist attitude that underlay much of said collecting when it comes to the Europeans. And while they point out the difficulty of giving due credit to indigenous people and women who were involved, thanks to how they were often disappeared, they note who they can, such as Maria Merian, an integral collector, experimenter, and illustrator when it came to silkworms/moths. Each section also explains the uses silk was put to: clothing obviously, but also wound health, parachutes, and perhaps most surprisingly bulletproof vests.
The last section moves us into more speculative mode, as Prasad explores ongoing experiments, particularly attempts to mass produce silk and how the attempt to get silk from the milk of genetically modified goats failed.
An intriguing and detailed look at the fabric that has become an integral of everyday life.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Silk-World-His...
Silk has been a much sought after luxury item for untold centuries and, when most people think of silk, the think of the cocoons of silk worms being harvest after the emerge from them after their metamorphosis into moths have been completed. Most people don't realize that there are other sources of silk.
Prasad basically divides the book into three sources of silk: moths/silkworms, “sea silk” from marine creatures, , and spiders. For each they explain the source’s physical nuts and bolts of silk production—it’s evolutionary/biological purpose, such as anchoring in ocean waves or web construction and the mechanism and chemistry of the production, such as use of spinnerets, types of proteins, difference in types of silk, etc. The sections also explain how the silk naturally extruded by whatever creature (moth, mollusk, spider) became part of human culture. For the most ancient usage, Prasad turns to archaeological evidence and ancient texts, though each as they take pains to detail, can be unreliable and at times new information throws things into a different light. For more recent (relatively, we’re talking centuries here rather than millennia, they bring in primary texts, journals, reports, etc. often of the naturalists who did the work of collecting, illustrating, experimenting, gathering silk by hand from the creatures, inventing machines to gather silk, and so on. Prasad is careful to point out the imperialistic/colonialist attitude that underlay much of said collecting when it comes to the Europeans. And while they point out the difficulty of giving due credit to indigenous people and women who were involved, thanks to how they were often disappeared, they note who they can, such as Maria Merian, an integral collector, experimenter, and illustrator when it came to silkworms/moths. Each section also explains the uses silk was put to: clothing obviously, but also wound health, parachutes, and perhaps most surprisingly bulletproof vests.
The last section moves us into more speculative mode, as Prasad explores ongoing experiments, particularly attempts to mass produce silk and how the attempt to get silk from the milk of genetically modified goats failed.
An intriguing and detailed look at the fabric that has become an integral of everyday life.
Strongly Recommended.
Five Stars.
https://www.amazon.com/Silk-World-His...
