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From today's Fresh Air lj feed:
'The Historian' by Elizabeth Kostova
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4730352&sourceCode=RSS
A novel about vampires prowling around dark forests and damp crypts in Central Europe may not seem like ideal summertime reading, but The Historian, a debut novel about Dracula by Elizabeth Kostova, is shaping up to be one of this season's big beach books. Book critic Maureen Corrigan has a review.
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I finished Little Children, Tom Perrotta; and Charlie All Night, Jennifer Crusie, and read 4/5 of the mini-book "Don't Get Eaten," while at REI. It turns out that the biggest risk with black bears is that you may have stumbled into the path of a predatory bear. IIRC for the figures, 18 of the 22 deaths caused by black bears were committed by predatory bears. MOST bears, like most wild animals, want nothing more than to go about their business and be left along. Some really DO want you for dinner. OY. Good news: pepper spray works. There's no evidence that menstruation provokes attacks. Climbing a tree is probably the worst thing you can do, don't even think about. Fight for your life if you are attacked.
News to me is that buffalo are one of more deadly wild animals out there. They're very territorial and won't hesitate to stomp and/or gore to you death/near death, then go back to grazing next to your bleeding, supine body. The majority of recorded deaths demonstrate that the afflicted humans have done something really stupid, like walk near a buffalo and try get it into a better photo pose by throwing rocks at it or even shoving it. Um, no.
The statistics on mountain lion deaths (sadly, found nowhere so neatly in the recent book all about searching for mt. lions) show a large increase in the number of attacks on humans since the passage of the proposition that eliminated annual hunts. The information was familiar: look big/scary/threatening. Fight for your life. Don't hike alone. ::SIGH::
'The Historian' by Elizabeth Kostova
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4730352&sourceCode=RSS
A novel about vampires prowling around dark forests and damp crypts in Central Europe may not seem like ideal summertime reading, but The Historian, a debut novel about Dracula by Elizabeth Kostova, is shaping up to be one of this season's big beach books. Book critic Maureen Corrigan has a review.
---
I finished Little Children, Tom Perrotta; and Charlie All Night, Jennifer Crusie, and read 4/5 of the mini-book "Don't Get Eaten," while at REI. It turns out that the biggest risk with black bears is that you may have stumbled into the path of a predatory bear. IIRC for the figures, 18 of the 22 deaths caused by black bears were committed by predatory bears. MOST bears, like most wild animals, want nothing more than to go about their business and be left along. Some really DO want you for dinner. OY. Good news: pepper spray works. There's no evidence that menstruation provokes attacks. Climbing a tree is probably the worst thing you can do, don't even think about. Fight for your life if you are attacked.
News to me is that buffalo are one of more deadly wild animals out there. They're very territorial and won't hesitate to stomp and/or gore to you death/near death, then go back to grazing next to your bleeding, supine body. The majority of recorded deaths demonstrate that the afflicted humans have done something really stupid, like walk near a buffalo and try get it into a better photo pose by throwing rocks at it or even shoving it. Um, no.
The statistics on mountain lion deaths (sadly, found nowhere so neatly in the recent book all about searching for mt. lions) show a large increase in the number of attacks on humans since the passage of the proposition that eliminated annual hunts. The information was familiar: look big/scary/threatening. Fight for your life. Don't hike alone. ::SIGH::