Non Fiction – Schizanthus Nerd

Lost & Found – Helen Chandler-Wilde

Welcome to my stop on the Lost & Found blog tour.

My relationship with my stuff over the years has been complicated, contradictory and, at times, confounding.

I rebelled against my family’s bah humbug spirit by decorating my entire bedroom each Christmas as a teenager. I went through a stage in my 20’s where I attempted to recapture my childhood Disneyana style.

When I’m fidgety, I love nothing more than sorting through and throwing out stuff I don’t need anymore. I don’t plan on stopping adding to my book collection until I’m crushed under its weight. My stuff was in a storage unit for over six months during lockdown and I was surprised by how few items I use on a daily basis.

It’s pretty safe to say this book and I were destined to find one another.

This was a fascinating read, combining memoir and investigation. The author lost almost all of her belongings in a storage unit fire in her 20’s. Just thinking about that makes me want to hug my Nan’s paintings.

This experience has given the author a unique perspective regarding what our stuff means to us and how it changes over time.

Possessions can fix a memory, for good or bad. They make one version of the past permanent, giving it an outsized importance that it hasn’t earned, while other memories fall away.

Each chapter tackles our “thoughts and behaviours around our possessions”, beginning with an item lost in the fire that’s relevant to the lesson. The author explores her own relationship to her possessions as well as sharing what insights fields such as neuroscience, psychology and philosophy have to offer.

Looking at the role social status and nostalgia play in how and why we accumulate stuff, as well as delving into scarcity and hoarding, I don’t think you could read this book without examining your own experiences and maybe taking some action. I was compelled to stop reading mid chapter to tackle some items I’d been meaning to sort through for months and I felt so much better afterwards.

Handy hint: If you want to buy something, holding off for just 72 hours can be enough for you to determine if it’s something you really want or an impulse spend.

We can choose things that please us or help us to feel that yesterday wasn’t so long ago. If chosen smartly, they can please us for a while, but they will never be the centre of our lives.

Thank you so much to Random Things Tours and Aster, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group, for the opportunity to read this book.

Once Upon a Blurb

An exploration into why we keep holding on to material things and what they mean to us

On New Year’s Eve of 2018, journalist Helen Chandler-Wilde lost everything she owned in a storage unit fire in Croydon, where she’d stowed all her possessions after a big break-up. She was left devastated, and forced to re-evaluate her relationship with owning material things.

A mix of memoir, self-help and journalism, Lost & Found explores the psychological reasons for why we buy and keep the things we do, and explains how we can liberate ourselves from the tyranny of ‘too much’. Helen interviews people from all walks of life, including behavioural psychologists on the science of nostalgia, a nun on what it’s like to own almost nothing and consumer psychologists on why we spend impulsively, to help us better understand why we’re surrounded by clutter and what we can do to change it.

This smart-thinking book explains the sociological quirks of human nature and the fascinating science behind why we buy and hold onto things. By the end of it, your relationship with your belongings will be changed forever.

8 April, 2024 by Schizanthus Nerd Categories: ReviewTags: 5 stars, Aster, Blog Tour, Book, Book Review, Hachette, Memoir, Non Fiction, Octopus Publishing Group, Random Things Tours

Shapeshifters – Lisa-ann Gershwin

They are so adaptable and so perfectly suited to changing environments they have outlived 99 percent of the species that have ever existed. And still they thrive.

Jellyfish have fascinated me since I was a kid. I remember a ferry ride with my grandmother that was much too short because I was busy looking over the side at these amazing creatures in the water.

A quirk has emerged over the past couple of years when I walk on the beach. Whenever I come across insects struggling in the water or with their wings stuck in the damp sand, I give them somewhere dry to recover. More often than not, they want to stay on my hand until they’re ready to fly away. Fish that are out of water, I return.

Since I discovered Glaucus, which I know as blue dragons, they have been one of my favourite creatures to try and save. Carefully, so I don’t get stung. Over the past couple of months, I’ve started trying to save jelly blubbers, even more carefully.

After reading this book, I’ve realised I need to be even more cautious. The sting of a jellyfish, at 40,000 G’s (!), is the “fastest process known in the animal kingdom”. It’s the world’s most venomous animal.

This book is divided into eight sections. Because I can’t help myself, here’s my favourite jellyfish from each section.

Poisonous: the long stingy stringy thingy (Rhizophysa filiformis), for its name alone.

Troublesome: jelly blubber (Catostylus mosaicus), the jellyfish I watched from the ferry so many years ago.

Beautiful: flower hat jelly (Olindias formosus) are fun because they change colour. By day, it’s the two rarest jellyfish colours, bright pink and black. “But by night, or under ultraviolet light, it becomes radiantly beautiful, with the body glowing softly blue, accentuated by an aura of luminous, golden-tipped tentacles.”

Amazing: by-the-wind sailor (Velella velella). Due to their sails, they’re at the mercy of the wind. They can be either left or right handed, though, so a breeze that spells disaster for a right hander will ensure the safety of a lefty, and vice versa.

Tiny: sticking jelly (Cladonema radiatum) can often be found in home aquariums. They’re “tiny, transparent beads bearing numerous threads attached to the insides of the glass walls.”

Huge: bitey whitey (Lobonema smithii). Seriously, I need to know who names jellyfish.

Strange: sea lizard (Glaucus atlanticus), which aren’t jellyfish but sea slugs. These are my beloved blue dragons. This sea slug “preys on jellyfish and consumes their stinging cells without triggering them to discharge, then deploys these weapons for its own defense.”

Obscure: painted box jellyfish (Chirodectes) have markings that provide camouflage in their coral reef habitat.

I’m not sure what I thought bluebottles were exactly but I didn’t realise they were jellyfish. I was stung by one when I was about three. While I don’t remember the sting, I know the story well and I’m always wary when I see them on the shoreline. I don’t want to repeat the experience.

This is a beautiful book with incredible photography. The descriptions of each jellyfish are, well, descriptive, in that they tell you what they look like, where you’ll find them and oftentimes the symptoms you’ll experience if you’re stung by one. I wish there’d been some more fun facts but I still know a lot more about jellyfish today than I did yesterday. I’m keen to learn more.

Once Upon a Blurb

Shapeshifters: The Wondrous World of Jellyfish is a breathtaking collection of photographs and expert commentary that shed light on the most mysterious creatures of the deep sea.

Jellyfish come in a dazzling array of colours, shapes, and sizes, drifting through every ocean, from the surface to the deepest of the deep seas, and are even found in freshwater locations. These ancient creatures, also called sea jellies (they are not, technically, fish), are so otherworldly and luminous that it is no wonder they are often compared to mythical shapeshifters. Some are so delicate that they shatter with the smallest disturbance to the water, while the tenacity of others means they can withstand almost any temperature, any salinity, starvation, and even being dismembered. And some are truly biologically immortal.

This visually breathtaking book showcases 100 species of jellyfish within its pages —from the ubiquitous Aurelia to the enigmatic Velella — along with astounding facts about these fascinating marine life-forms. Some are splendid, some strange, some poisonous, some deadly. Some carry surprising secrets, and some are barely known, but every one of them is remarkable and has a tale to tell. An introduction by noted expert Lisa-ann Gershwin, with her commentary throughout, invites you into the wondrous world of jellyfish.

31 January, 2024 by Schizanthus Nerd Categories: ReviewTags: 4 stars, ABRAMS Books, Book, Book Review, Non Fiction

The Upside-Down Book of Sloths – Elizabeth Shreeve

Illustrations – Isabella Grott

This book is a lovely introduction to the six types of sloths that live in Central and South America as well as some of the dozens that used to walk the earth (and in one case swam the sea) millions of years ago. Comparing the three-toed sloths with their “bandit-like masks” and the larger two-toed sloths to those we have learned about through their fossils, we discover how they live, sleep, raise their young and poop.

While I’ve yet to meet a sloth, I’ve read about them, fallen in love with some cuties I’ve seen in documentaries and have bought my mother, who adores them even more than I do, all manner of sloth merchandise. Did you know you can buy sloth bandaids?

This was a quick, enjoyable read that taught me some new fun facts. My top three are:

🦥 The largest tree sloths grow to 32 inches (81cm) and weigh up to 24 pounds (10.9kg). That’s tiny when you compare it to the Megatherium, a giant ground sloth, that lived 10 million years ago. It grew to 18 feet (almost 5.5m) and weighed around 8,000 pounds (3,628kg)!

🦥 Sloths move about 13 feet per minute through trees and about one foot a minute on the ground. They’re good swimmers, moving three times as fast in the water than they do on land.

🦥 It takes more than a month for a sloth to digest a meal.

Isabella Grott’s illustrations are gorgeous, showcasing species both past and present.

Kid me definitely would have borrowed this book from the library for a school project.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Norton Young Readers, an imprint of W. W. Norton & Company, for the opportunity to read this book.

Once Upon a Blurb

Slow, sleepy — and adorable. This playful and informative picture book follows the fascinating history of one of the world’s most beloved animals.

Many find sloths cute, while some find them just plain bizarre. In The Upside-Down Book of Sloths, Elizabeth Shreeve uncovers their less-well-known evolutionary history and how they became the beloved — and unique — creatures of today. She pairs and compares the six extant modern species, like the pygmy sloth, the brown-throated sloth, and the ai, with their prehistoric counterparts, such as Thalassocnus, the tough seafaring sloth; Paramylodon, which had armor-like skin and walked on the sides of its feet; and Megatherium, which could weigh up to 8,000 pounds. She even reveals how modern sloths have adapted to hang upside down, how they learned to swim, and even how they poop!

As entertaining as it is educational, The Upside-Down Book of Sloths offers a brilliant deep dive into sloths, their evolution, and their connections to our planet’s natural history — and future.

7 August, 2023 by Schizanthus Nerd Categories: ReviewTags: 4 stars, Cover Lovin’, NetGalley, Non Fiction, Norton Young Readers, Picture Book, Sloths, W. W. Norton Company