Baðstofa
The Three Little Pigs has long been one of the classic fables. This week I finished a fiction that's more haunting, Burial Rites .
The story has also taken place in simple house made of primitive material like turf and stone (not straws, I know). They call such centuries-old farmhourse a badstofa.
The big bad wolf was also killed in this fiction. The three "pigs" in this darker story, however, were also executed for murder. Sadly.
Burned
Many of us know that our kids come first, of course they do. But not all of us.
In some darkest moments and for some less fortunate kids – like Paul Sinton-Hewitt who had been growing up with struggling parents – putting the kids first can be more difficult than asking a cow to recite a poem.
Paul Sinton-Hewitt, the founder of parkrun and being awarded a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II, wasn't so sure his parents had done a damn good job to raise him. At
Ocean
From the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries, the global population of sea otters fell from 300,000 to less than 2,000 individuals. That's a result of human hunting; these marine animals have the thickest fur of any mammals. I learned these from the recent David Attenborough's landmark series, Ocean .
His book shows us how the world is both desperately fragile yet astonishingly resilient.
Little did we know the kelp forests are diminishing, albatross populations are crashing, seashells being washed
Pachinko
Patient
Tilly Rose is an author and a patient advocate. She wrote a powerful story about being patient and a patient.
Be Patient is an eye-opening account of her being a seriously ill patient without a diagnosis. That should be a must-read book for all medical students and doctors. Every year, there are cases with mysterious or unexplained symptoms leading to so-called medical gaslighting – "it's all in your head."
What makes the situation worse is the undefined illness that won't fit in
Bees
In prehistoric times, the jawbones or tooth sockets of extinct rodents and mammals were nests for bees. Fast forward to today, bees are experiencing a massive global crisis; they have been dying off in massive numbers. Dwindling habitats and onslaught of pesticides account for a sharp decline in the colony numbers. Then came parasites and climate changes. Some beekeepers reported that 55 percent of their colonies had perished over the previous year – their worst losses ever.
Perhaps that's one of the reasons National Geographic put up the title
Hunt
What can be more difficult to find than a white-throated kingfisher in Lantau? You might be scratching your head as you think about the loud chattering "kra-kra-kra-kra" laugh of this kingfisher.
Well, my wife and I were looking for birds who don't really sing. How different things are when we decided to celebrate my wife's birthday with the Flock Project. That means we explored the trails and alleys of Lantau, navigating with intermittent mobile network coverage, to find the
Horse
The Oxford English Dictionary defines "dark horse" as a candidate about whom little is known, but who unexpectedly wins or succeeds. That's not a bad definition. Of course, we can find a better one.
Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas, both accomplished in their field of psychology and neuroscience respectively, worked together to write the book Dark Horse . Put simply: they define dark horses as those bravely blazing their own trails through the wilderness.
Their central concept of dark horse mindset is that the pursuit of fulfilment
Space
Recent launching of Artemis II marked a pivotal moment of human's traveling furthest from Earth – ever.
It's hard to think of a better movie or book than Project Hail Mary . In this beautiful sci-fi fciton, we were brought on an interstellar field trip like Ms. Frizzle's Magic School Bus to the solar system.
We followed the story of Ryland Grace on his solo space trip adventure, after his crewmates died. For those of us who aren't mathematics buff, we might not
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are ugly and gross.
Or are they?
Other than Erie Carle's hungry caterpillar and that of Absalom from Alice in Wonderland , most caterpillars are. They've been viewed as voracious eating machines at best and crop-destroying pests at worst.
Since my recent reading on butterfly's metamorphosis, I have better understood these fascinating creatures. In my opinion, they should have won as many awards as the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar .
Look closely enough, and you will find these animals cleverer than what