Morgan Falconer. How to be Avant-Garde.

 The book must be titled "How to be a self-centric prick". Obviously, high art always attracted prima donnas, eccentrics, etc., but European High Modernism (EHM) got a head start, for the artists inherited an impetus from Symbolist movement with its cult of unusual, uncanny and bizarre. In fact, compared to the Symbolists, early twentieth century avant-gardists were quite a sedate bunch. This they compensated in tireless self-promotion made easier by the proliferation of printed press, increase in international travel and communication between different group of artists. But do not expect deep insights on the nature of EHM from Falconer. 

Tricia Romano. The Freaks Came out to Write.

     This is a book about the times when America was great. New York was a dirty, decaying rathole, but the people there carried the idea of infinite possibilities. Chuck Close, Andy Warhol, Philip Roth, Normal Mailer measured the streets and the likes of Hunter S. Thompson and Alexander Coburn wrote about their New York. These days, Manhattan is an abode of banksters and tourists with the sprinkles of homeless people here and there, more a transportation hub than a place where real people live. 

Amanda H. Podany. Weavers, Scribes and Kings: A New History.

     Very thorough reading of the texts from ancient Mesopotamia but with very limited reflection, which is typical of the modern Anglo-Saxon historical discourse. Real science is formulating hypotheses and proving them with facts or the results of experiments, even if they are proven wrong later. But the right of making mistakes is not conducive to earning a tenure in the modern hyper-competitive university culture. 

Denise L. Herzing. Is anyone listening? What animals are saying to each other and to us?

    

        There is a hint that dolphin system of ultrasound whistles and clicks form a some kind a vocabulary, which allows them to express rather complicated signals (I would not yet say "thoughts") and that they can distinguish between friend and foe of their own species sufficiently to cover up their communication from the latter. Only one unproven step -- namely that (some) animals can objectivize past experience to plan the future course of action -- removes them from what we humans mean by consciousness.  

David Chaffetz. Raiders, rulers and traders. The horse and the rise of empires.

    Eminently readable book with a lot of interesting information. However, what is strange, for Chaffetz is a horse rider himself, there is very little information on the evolution of harnesses, saddles, stirrup and other equipment needed to turn a horse into an indomitable war machine. Peacetime application of horses does not interest him that much. 

    Chaffetz' numbers of the size of pre-modern armies are taken from contemporary chronicles and are not reliable because chroniclers shamelessly exaggerated the numbers of the opponent and diminished the numbers of their own. For instance, he estimates the size of Mongol hordes as 600,000. But the army of such size in the absence of railroad supply would simply eat their horses first, and then die itself from starvation. In fact, the Mongols divided their troops into corps of 10,000 riders (tumen), each of each traveled by a different road. The next village, which they would plunder -- and they ate only meat considering plant eaters as cud chewing animals -- must be located within a length of march supported by slaughtering the village livestock.