Don't Stop Dreaming

The Blue Day Book: A Lesson in Cheering Yourself Up by Bradley Trevor Greive (2000)
Christmas Wishes: Inspiring Sentiments for the Festive Season (2004)
Weight: 1.5 lbs
Method of Disposal: Donating to AKF thrift store with some other items, unless you want them



These are those little square books that can be found by the registers at most major bookstores. They are up-sale items. They are last-minute gift ideas, attention grabbers, and coffee table phenomena. They are, essentially, like a really long chain e-mail. There are adorable and sometimes amusing pictures of animals juxtaposed with a simple sentiments. For example, a line of penguins stands at the edge of an ice cliff and one is jumping off. Underneath this image you find the following words, “Never hang back. Get out there and go for it.” Kind of annoying, right? The cover of The Blue Day Book brags that Grieve is a New York Times best-selling author.

These books are popular amongst certain people or when seen at the right time by someone desperate to find something for that someone or for someone who just wants to add something small to the gift they already purchased. Maybe you were guilted into buying it by the poor soul trying to keep their job—the one that already offers low pay and few hours? These books have been around for awhile so might have lost some of their luster, but I still think if they are donated someone who likes them will find them and will probably give it to someone else who doesn’t but will appreciate the thought.

I love cute pictures of animals as much as the next person, but thanks to the World Wide Web I see them every day. Often, I see the same ones over and over again. Often, I see them and couldn’t care less. I never understood these books. They do not make me feel better. They do not make me feel anything. The Blue Day Book was a hand-me-down from my manager, and the best part about it is the note in the front someone wrote to her. It was a gift, and probably a good one for the occasion. I have since flipped through it, and I am ready to pass it on. With a quickness.

I hope I do not offend anyone here. Christmas Wishes was a gift from a family member, and I can totally see what drew them to it. Adorable pictures of animals and most of them are penguins—my favorite. I was really pleased with this gift and appreciated the thought. I loved all the penguins. I have held onto it for a couple years, but I am going to relinquish it with the other one. It can only be flipped through so many times, and the words are absurd. A flock of geese are featured and beside them are the words, “What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic. All together now…quack,quack!” And that is one of the better excerpts.

No, these predictable and trite little square books are not my thing. I am sure I will receive them again in the future though. I love animals and someone will think of that and think of me, and I will be thankful.

The Chimpanzees of Gombe

Through a Window: My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of Gombe by Jane Goodall
2000
Weight: 14 oz.
Method of Disposal: Giving to my Mother, one person who seemed somewhat interested in my ramblings about the book.




I bought this book on discount when I worked at Barnes and Noble. I was only vaguely interested in reading it and only got it because it was such a good deal. I have admired Jane Goodall, and thus chimpanzees, ever since I first heard of her way back when, but it just was not on the top of my reading list. I felt that I had already read so much about her and so much about chimpanzees. I, obviously, have a passion for animals on top of it all and that is what led me to pick this book up out of a pile of others earlier this week.

It did end up surpassing my expectations, and I felt I did not know as much as I thought I did. For several days, I became enmeshed in this chimpanzee world and had trouble leaving it. I could put the book down easy enough. I wasn’t constantly trying to get back to it, but I could not get the chimps out of my head. I found myself inflicting others with conversations about Goodall and the chimps when most people obviously did not care. Probably, they also felt that they had already read or seen enough. Maybe they have, but I am willing to bet that most of them don’t know the half of it.

I kept seeing chimpanzee-like behavior in people that I knew, and it was fascinating. I had also, previously, idealized chimps and was a little shocked at how violent they could be. I found myself feeling angry and disappointed with them often, not unlike I feel towards people. It was really helpful to glean this information from Goodall, who respects and loves the chimps and has spent much of her life with them. She was able to present this information, while also balancing it with examples of kindness and compassion amongst the animals. In one of the final chapters, she discusses how similar people are to chimps, but also highlights their differences. She believes that only humans are capable of evil and torture, or martyrdom.

It is also sad to think of what would have happened to Goodall in the year 2011 if she were to try to go off on a similar expedition at the age she was in the 60s and with the same inexperience. It is easy to envision her being shot down, and then we would have lost so much valuable insight or it would have taken us much longer to get it. What are we missing now? Anything? I guess there is no need to dwell. Excellent people are held back every day, and excellent people push through all the barriers from time to time, throughout history. I am just glad Goodall made it and that she has made it her mission to let others know about Chimps, their link to human behavior, and the need to help save them and other animals from destruction and/or miserable living conditions. I am glad she was able to stand apart from some of the more sterile thinking involved in scientific research and observe the chimpanzees with the full knowledge that they are sentient and emotional beings.

Labeled Autistic

Emergence: Labeled Autistic by Temple Grandin and Margaret M. Scariano
1996
Weight: 6 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving in a public place or giving it to you if you are willing to ask for it



This year I had the chance to see Temple Grandin speak at a training conference and, as expected, she was amazing. A whole chain of events has led me to Temple Grandin and to my extreme respect for her, though I did not recognize it for years. I never remembered author’s names before I attended college and now I remember authors before titles. Because of this, when I bought and read Emergence over a decade ago I did not think about it again when I picked up another one of Grandin’s books. The other book I put on a shelf and did not get around to reading for a couple years. One year, for my birthday, my brother bought me her book on understanding animal emotions. I had trouble with the writing style, but I got through it and was impressed with the information. I bought another book of hers about animals.

Eventually, I would see the movie on the recommendation of a friend. It helped me give a voice to the words I had been reading, and I couldn’t stop myself. I talked about her all the time, re-read her books, bought new ones, named two dogs at the shelter Temple and Grandin, and eventually was able to see her in person because of the helpfulness of a complete stranger that I met when we brought some PAWS dogs to a training facility. Everything just fell into place and, the next thing I know, I have a hotel room over 30 floors up and a very expensive name tag that can get me into the right building. Who cared that my name was Jennifer, and I came from out of state?

I just re-discovered this book a week ago. I saw it on the shelf, remembered reading it, but had never made the connection. The cover is so dramatic and has since changed. It has a scratched up photo of a girl looking sad, font that is meant to look like scratchy handwriting, the words “a true story” posted over the title, and “She lived in a world like no other…” on the back. It is absurd. It has since been updated to feature a girl in a thin dress jumping on green grass. It is much less bleak, and the transformation cracks me up.

I recommend that every one read the work of Temple Grandin and watch her movie. She is amazing. You will learn a lot about animals and about autism. If someone does not ask me for this book I will not know what to think. You are really missing out. There will be more coming too. I just haven’t been able to bring myself to part with them.

The other thing you will glean from Grandin’s biography is the strength and affection of her mother, who I also admire very much. Grandin was not always well-behaved, but she was always smart. That can be a difficult mix for some people, but her mother reveled in the challenge and always supported and loved her daughter, who truly was unique and world-changing. Just read her stuff! I don’t know how to relay all the information to you.