Just Finished Reading: The Unthinkable – Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why by Amanda Ripley (FP: 2008/2009) [229pp] 

When tragedy strikes why do some walk away when others die? Is it the luck of the draw? Is it just because they happened to be sitting next to the emergency exit or had popped out for a breath of fresh air during a fire? Or the fact that they went to the bathroom moments before the shooting started? Or is it something more and can that something be learnt? This is the heart of the authors investigation. 

Although the majority of the examples and interviews in these pages are US based, there’s a lot of general knowledge and advice throughout this intriguing book. Covering 9/11, a diplomatic hostage incident in South America, a stampede in Mecca, a fire at a club in Beverly Hills, the shooting at Virgina Tech and much besides the author shows what people do, how the human brain reacts to dangerous surprises and why such reactions – often (ironically) hardwired for survival – could determine life or death. Following the initial shock there is often a period of disbelief: this isn’t happening or why is this happening to me? Getting stuck there will, all too often, get you killed. Once disbelief has been banished the question is: what next? Strangely the most common reaction is to do nothing, to wait for direction or rescue. This too could get you killed. Once moving on to doing ‘something’, what exactly do you do? Again, the standard reaction is to see what others are doing. There is, often, safety in numbers – but it can also result in argument, discussion, group think and, again, death. What needs to be done is a quick analysis of what happened, where it leaves you and how to get out. So, where are your exits? Do you know how to get to the fire escape? Can you (or indeed should you) break that window? Do you know if it’s safe to open that door? Do you take anything with you? Do you help others? Surprisingly numerous studies have shown that people hardly ever panic but are actually very polite, will wait their turn and help others who are struggling. Which, ironically, can make evacuations take much longer than the buildings or aircrafts designers anticipated. 

This is an often fascinating and surprisingly multilayered look at how people react in ‘unthinkable’ situations. The author interviewed survivors asking them what they did, what they saw other people do (some of whom didn’t make it) and what they assigned their survival to. She also spoke to experts in the field to get their take on things including those who study the human brain to see why some people panic, some freeze and some take charge. I’m not sure if (as per the tag-line on my copy) that this book might save your life someday, but it does give a LOT of good advice and observations. One of my favourites is the idea of what to do after you check into a hotel. After you’ve dropped your bags in your room, you leave, find the nearest fire exit and follow it to reception discovering exactly where it goes and if there are any problems en route. Now THAT could indeed save your life! A very interesting read and definitely recommended. 

Just Finished Reading: The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa (FP: 2021) [244pp] 

After enjoying the authors previous novel – The Travelling Cat Chronicles – I was looking forward to her next work. I was not disappointed. Rather than a novel, this was a selection of short stories featuring cats (obviously) and how they affected their owners during a change or crisis in their lives. Oddly (at least in my mind) almost all, if not actually all, the cats in question were strays picked up by various characters in various ways. Whether that’s a standard way to have a cat in your life – in Japan or elsewhere – I don’t know. My last cat arrived in a roundabout way, via the landlady of a friend's girlfriend... 

Off to a great start with ‘The Goodbye Cat’ a story told from the point of view of Kota, a new cat in the Sakuraba family who is ‘promised’ to go to Heaven if he lives long enough and fills out the correct forms. Both funny and quite sad. ‘Bringing Up Baby’ might have been my favourite tale if it wasn’t for two later ones. It told of a socially inept husband of a long-suffering wife who despaired of him ever being able to cope with their new baby – until he finds a kitten in a discarded pizza box and adopts it. Looking after such a small and needy creature (Spin, the cat that is!) turns him into the husband and father she most needed. A very heart-warming story. 'Cat Island' was a bit of a mystical one revolving around a young boy coming to terms with his father's second wife helped by an old woman who is much more than she seems to be. 

The last two in the collection were a surprise. At first, I thought ‘Finding Hachi’ was an earlier draft of Travelling Cat, but it turned out to be an expansion of the novels plot where we learned more about the main characters first cat and his early family tragedy. In ‘Life is Not Always Kind’, the final story, we learn even more about the background of the Travelling Cat’s main character Satoru Miyawaki and his second cat Nana. I was really pleased to be immersed in that lovely narrative again.

Not only are these stories bound to be loved by anyone who is remotely a fan of felines they also give lots of little insights into Japanese culture which is fascinating in its own right. The author has a real eye for life's daily drama too. 

One additional thing that I loved about this book was that each story was preceded by an excellent drawing of a cat by someone who both clearly knew and loved cats. You can see the quality of his work on the cover too. The artist’s name is Yukata Murakami and you’ll be seeing examples of some of his work in future. I’m already looking forward to the author's next book which, as far as I can tell, is a series of short stories based around train travel. Highly recommended although the more sensitive might need a tissue or two ready. 

Translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel. 

A View from the Other Side of the Pond: The US Election 

I’m really not going to say much or anything that hasn’t really already been said. I almost decided not to post anything at all, but... I know many people, not just in the US itself, are disappointed (or even appalled) by Trump winning the Presidential election (again) and I’m one of them. Personally, I think it's a bad decision and I’m glad (yet again) not to be a US citizen or to live in the US. Apart from a few who will undoubtedly get richer because of it and Trump himself who will now escape prison for good (no doubt), I think that most people who voted for this will eventually regret it for one reason or another once the honeymoon glow has faded. It is, I think, just a matter of time and circumstance. 

A few things that I think will happen next is that the existence of NATO as we presently know it is not long for this world. It will probably cease to exist in the next 5 years. This is not actually a terrible thing. NATO has struggled to find a role for itself in the post-Cold War world. Without the Soviet Union to oppose why would it even need to exist? Of course, a resurgent Russia has added a frisson of use but still... If the US does leave NATO (as I suspect it will in Trump’s presidency) I suspect that it will reconstitute itself as a European alliance along with Scandinavia and the UK. This will be more than enough to contain Russia’s expansionary desires in Europe. Afterall, from being believed to be the 2nd best military force in the world we now KNOW that Russia is the 2nd best force in Ukraine. Handling any further aggression in Europe is not beyond our capabilities. 

Speaking of Ukraine, I’m fairly certain that one of the first things that Trump will do is pull the plug on any US aid to that country. This will have two consequences – it will lengthen the war by 6-12 months and it will hurt the US economy. It will not (I strongly suspect) stop the war or force the Ukrainians to capitulate. It will result in more Ukrainians, Russians and, now, North Koreans dying but Trump doesn’t give a rat's ass about any of that. After the Ukrainian victory next year or in 2026 I suspect that Ukraine will be welcomed into both the EU and the European Defence Alliance as a very valuable partner. 

As to the rest, I suspect that the US and the world at large will inevitably become a more dangerous place – especially if, as is likely, that America falls back into isolationism. China, I expect, is looking forward to expanding its influence around the world without US interference. I expect that the new administration will leave various treaties and treaty obligations pretty swiftly after January 2025. I don’t think it will leave the UN but even that is a possibility. China would probably be delighted if they did as they would dominate the UN Security Council and all that followed from that fact.  

On the upside, because I’m nothing if not an eternal optimist, at least Florida will never be hit by a hurricane ever again – now that trump and his MAGA minions will have unrestricted access to the Democrat weather technology. Although I suspect that the conspiracy theory twonks have already decided that the tech has been destroyed so that Trump can’t help his buddies in Florida – the BASTARDS!  

Happy Birthday: Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by exposure to light. He assembled the first physical messages sent into space, the Pioneer plaque and the Voyager Golden Record, which were universal messages that could potentially be understood by any extraterrestrial intelligence that might find them. He argued in favor of the hypothesis, which has since been accepted, that the high surface temperatures of Venus are the result of the greenhouse effect.

Initially an assistant professor at Harvard, Sagan later moved to Cornell University, where he spent most of his career. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. He wrote many popular science books, such as The Dragons of Eden, Broca's Brain, Pale Blue Dot and The Demon-Haunted World. He also co-wrote and narrated the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which became the most widely watched series in the history of American public television: Cosmos has been seen by at least 500 million people in 60 countries. A book, also called Cosmos, was published to accompany the series. Sagan also wrote a science-fiction novel, published in 1985, called Contact, which became the basis for the 1997 film Contact. His papers, comprising 595,000 items, are archived in the Library of Congress.

Sagan was a popular public advocate of skeptical scientific inquiry and the scientific method; he pioneered the field of exobiology and promoted the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life (SETI). He spent most of his career as a professor of astronomy at Cornell University, where he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. Sagan and his works received numerous awards and honors, including the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal, the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction (for his book The Dragons of Eden), and (for Cosmos: A Personal Voyage) two Emmy Awards, the Peabody Award, and the Hugo Award. He married three times and had five children. After developing myelodysplasia, Sagan died of pneumonia at the age of 62 on December 20, 1996.

[Cosmos, the TV series, had a HUGE impact on me - and millions of others - and really turned me on to all things cosmic, well that and reading copious amounts of SF. Sagan was an important part of me growing up...]

Interesting... and timely....