Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer

I don't know how I got through this series. It is soooo weird, and I read a lot of weird stuff. This final book in the trilogy was supposed to explain Area X-where it came from, what happened, who all the characters are. And while yes, these questions are answered, they just lead to more mysteries. Fantastic visualization again, especially with the mutations and time shifts of the characters. I just found this entire series rather hard to follow after the first book. Kinda hope for a follow up just to answer my questions, but I don't know if I could get through another one. I love the movie though. Definitely go watch Annihilation if you haven't seen it.

Read this trilogy if you like weirder than normal science fiction!

341 pages

Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans, by Brian Fagan

This book offered many interesting details not only of Cro-Magnons, but of Neanderthals as well. The differences in the mode of dress (Cro-Magnons wore what looks much more like clothes, whereas Neanderthals wore heaps of furs), artistic tradition (cave paintings in France), and technology (the invention of the needle really was incredibly important), all make for an interesting read. One drawback for me was that the author took some artistic license in describing some aspects of Cro-Magnon life that do not yet have a solid scientific base. But you do get to hear about the Cro-Magnon version of the Louvre and all about their diet: marrow, dried fat, and rendered fat to drink!
audio: 10 hours
print: 320 pages

Here on Earth, a natural history of the planet by Tim Flannery

A fascinating view of how the earth evolved, and how all creatures but especially we humans are rapidly changing the balance of nature. Flannery begins with a review of the theory of evolution, but moves on to a fresh look at Earth as one great ecosystem. He describes how man has upset the balance of nature from the time we began to expand beyond the African plains, by hunting the largest mammals to extinction. Trouble is, those creatures were essential to the balance of some ecosystems, and without them areas like Siberia became frozen wastes. Now of course humans have overrun the planet and have radically changed much of the planet. He concludes with an assessment of the steps humanity needs to take to avoid catastrophe from latent chemical pollution and rapid climate changes, and his hope we will gather the political will to act in time. This is a very readable overview of a very broad topic, recommended. 281 p.