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Nonfiction Beaks, scales, feathers, fur UNLIKELY COMPANIONS: The Adventures of an Exotic Animal Doctor By Laurie Hess, DVM, with Samantha Rose 259 pp. Da Capo Reviewed by Lynne M. Hinkey, author of Marina Melee Part memoir, part mystery, and all heart, Dr. Laurie Hess’s Unlikely Companions is a captivating look at the dedication, frustration, and devotion that veterinarians – and the whole animal healthcare community – pour into their work. Centered on a spate of sugar-glider deaths, and one vet’s determination to solve the mystery before any more of her patients are lost, this book takes us through a few harrowing weeks in the life of Dr. Laurie Hess, a Westchester county, New York veterinarian specializing in exotic animals. Interspersed with her search for answers, Hess provides a mix of anecdotes about her journey to becoming an exotic animal vet, her family life, and entertaining stories of her often-eccentric clients, and their beloved and bizarre pets that are her patients. Th...

The IRB's Celebrating 10 Years of Intelligent Reviews October 2007-October 2017 Nonfiction THE UN-DISCOVERED ISLANDS: An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes By Malachy Tallack, Illustrated by Katie Scott 144 pp. Picador Reviewed by Lynne M. Hinkey Un-discovered islands, those that once appeared on maps--either through an accident of navigation, an overabundance of imagination, or blatant lies--are the subject of this entertaining breeze through history and geography. Author Malachy Tallack explores two dozen islands that have shown up in cartography, literature, and mythology, many of them complete with elaborate and detailed accounts of their topography, flora and fauna, inhabitants, and culture, that were later discovered to be non-existent...un-discovered.   Beginning with islands of ancient legend and myth and continuing to the present day, the book provides brief vignettes of twenty-four islands that appeared on maps, but were eventually shown to not be ther...

Nonfiction Embrace their return THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE By David Finkel 256 pp. Picador Reviewed by Lynne M. Hinkey David Finkel spent fifteen months on the frontlines in Baghdad with Second Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment during the surge of 2007-2008. He documented that experience in his 2009 The Good Soldiers . In this more recent Thank You for Your Service (2014) , he revisits a handful of these men, now returned home, as they deal with the experiences and the injuries, some visible some not, that still plague them from those deployments.   Because of the continued stigma and reticence to seek help, the number of soldiers returned with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and suicidal depression will probably never be known. Estimates are that 20 to 30 percent have been psychologically damaged to some degree by their service in Iraq and Afghanistan. But, “[m]ost are O.K., and others are not.”   This book gives faces and names to those...

Nonfiction Looking for the next epidemic PANDEMIC: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond By Sonia Shah 288 pp. Picador Reviewed by Lynne M. Hinkey From the bubonic plague to HIV/AIDS, contagious diseases have loomed large in human history, and influenced human evolution, behavior, and culture. They intrigue us in the way a train wreck does, leaving us wondering how it could happen and fearful lest it happen to us. But, surprisingly, most of us have very little understanding of how these diseases start, spread, or even factual information on how great – or small – a threat any one of these might be to us. We tend to overreact to distant, vague threats, like Ebola, but brush off as inconsequential the more familiar and likely threat of Lyme disease.  Pandemic explores the human health, economic, social, and even that specific psychological phenomenon of potentially deadly infectious disease. Using the well-documented and understood mechanisms of cholera’s spread as a...

Nonfiction Living with mystery and complexity TIDES The Science and Spirit of the Ocean By Jonathan White 360 pp. Trinity University Press Reviewed by Lynne M. Hinkey For anyone who is fascinated, inspired, or in awe of the ocean, here’s the book for you. The ocean has drawn us to its shores in fascination, awe, and even fear throughout human history. It inspires poetry, mythology, and exploration. Its power and beauty enchant and intrigue us, and piques our curiosity. Whether calling for explorers us to venture forth across its expanse, scientists to discover its secrets, or poets and philosophers to ponder the love affair between the moon and the tides, the sea calls to us to solve its myriad mysteries. Tides is an ode to all those facets of the ocean tides’ rhythmic rise and fall--from mythology and lore to scientific research and great engineering feats.  Author Jonathan White interweaves anecdotes and stories from his experiences as a sailor and marine educator into the compl...