This book discusses the case of Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, two middle school aged girls who lured their "friend" into the woods and attempted to murder her. The victim, Bella, was previously best friends with Morgan. She was targeted due to her friendship with Morgan. Bella was stabbed nineteen times, and very nearly lost her life due to the actions of these two girls. She somehow managed to find the strength to make it to the road, where a passing cyclist found her and immediately called for emergency services. The other two had promised her they would go get her help, but planned to leave her there to die and walk to some location where they supposedly believed Slenderman was waiting for them. I do not want to get into many details about the court case or sentencing for those who are unfamiliar with the case or want to read the book.

I have some hot takes about this, so if you do not wish to read them....scroll on to the end.

1. People often like to immediately blame the parents for things that their children do. Having been a child and teenager, I know for a fact that I got up to stuff that my parents did not know about....and still do not know about. That is often just a fact of life. There is a line between monitoring what your child does, parenting them, and being involved in their lives and being ultra-strict and stifling. Sometimes, that line can be difficult for parents to discern. Sometimes, parents pay no attention at all. I think it is unfair to place the blame for this solely on the parents, although I absolutely believe a HEALTHY, HEAPING DOSE of blame should be placed FIRMLY on the shoulders of Morgan's parents, which will be my next hot take point. People apart from the situation love to blame both Morgan and Anissa's parents, and also blame Bella's for allowing her to be friends with these others.

2. Morgan's parents are absolutely ridiculous. Her mother chose to enter into a relationship with a man who had schizophrenia, and then chose to procreate with him. Schizophrenia is a very difficult mental illness to deal with (which runs in my paternal side of the family, so I am very familiar with it). These two chose to have a child and then failed that child UTTERLY by not paying attention to the very clear signs that their child was exhibiting symptoms of the same illness as one of her parents. Her mother worked in healthcare, and her father suffered from the same thing. Between the two of them, they should have seen something and were living in a delulu world of denial. This girl could have gotten medication and mental health services TIME ago, quite likely preventing this crime from happening at all. While I think what Morgan did was horrible, I do feel bad for the suffering she must have endured throughout her life in dealing with untreated mental illness. Her parents need one of those shirts that say DELULU IS NOT THE SOLULU to wear every single day until the lesson sticks. They failed this kid.

3. The school system also failed Morgan, and thereby failed Bella. There were plenty of indicators that something was off with Morgan. She was once suspended and spoke with administration who shrugged off the little parade of red flags that were in front of them. People often like to blame school administrators and faculty for not doing enough or seeing enough, and I have fallen into that trap a little bit with this case, however, it would be very nice to have some serious training for school officials about mental health and warning signs about harmful behavior and such. I know that my kids' school system has an awful lot of in-service days for training and education, so they could surely come up with one for this. Kids spend a great percentage of the year at school, for a full working day. It would be very helpful if they were given tools to recognize serious issues to help be a team with parents and the community. (And probably also deserve more money for having to take that on, but that is another topic I have hot takes about.)

4. The criminal justice system and mental health facilities in the Unites States are LACKING. As a person who utilizes mental health services in this country, it is poor quality. People love to boast that the US is the greatest country on earth, which is laughable. The state of the criminal justice system alone makes that statement laughable. These two girls, Morgan, and Anissa, were incarcerated and given no intervention. It is not enough to slap people in cages and assume that cures their problems. There needs to be mental health services and education involved.

This is the end of my hot takes section.

I have the Audible version of this book, which is around 8 hours to listen to. I started it last night and finished it while I was at work today. The physical copy for those interested is just over 360 pages. I got this book after watching the documentary on HBO about the case, and hoped that it had more details, which it did. I do have a great deal of sympathy for the parents, families, and friends of all of the girls involved. People do not plan for things like this to happen, especially with children as young as these. I am sure that it is very difficult to have your young child be incarcerated or hospitalized and in recovery due to circumstances like this, and I tried to keep that in mind while reading this book, though I must admit it was difficult at times. There were several parts of this book that made me roll my eyes so hard they physically hurt, and I made a lot of faces about it as well. This was a complete fiasco from the word go, and gives several reminders about the need for mental health advocacy, services, monitoring what kids are doing online, and other things. Overall, the book was informative and if you are interested in the case, I would say that you would like this book. 

Banana Republic was founded in 1978 by the authors of this book, Mel and Patricia Ziegler. In this book, they discuss the founding of the company and how they spread their brand. Today, Banana Republic is owned by The Gap, and is meant to be luxury clothes, only affordable. The only Banana Republic I have ever seen in real life was in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge at the Outlet Mall. 

This book was absolutely boring to me. I did not like the way it flip flopped back and forth between his point of view and hers. I thought it would be a really interesting book, because I typically enjoy this type of content, but I just did not. If you are interested in this book, it is currently available on Audible Plus. 

Leah Messer is well known to those who watch MTV's Teen Mom 2. I watched her story transpire for several years, though I haven't watched any new episodes in several years. In this book, she takes a look back at many different relationships in her life, from her family to her romantic interests. Within the first thirty minutes of this book, I can see why she behaved in some of the ways that she did. I think it is great that she recognized that she needed help for herself and that she got it. Some people never do. 

This book is currently available to listen to for free on Audible Plus, and it is a short listen. I believe it was around three hours. I appreciated that she was able to tell her story and look back on some of her hard moments with mature eyes and a sense of growth. I hope she continues to be a good mom for all of her girls and that she finds happiness in herself.

 The Spectacular Mine on Granite Mountain in Butte, Montana suffered a catastrophic disaster on June 8, 1917. This mine, in particular, was at maximum production in support of operations during World War I. Miners had long been dissatisfied with safety precautions in the mines, and had begun a strong push for improved safety measures. Part of those safety measures included fire protection. Miners were using carbide lamps, which contained an open flame, to light their work areas. This was exceptionally dangerous when working in a mine that has various gasses inside of it. As part of these safety measures, an electric cable for a fire prevention system was being installed. Unfortunately, one of the carbide lamps caught insulation for the wire on fire and the fire spread rapidly through the mine, killing 168 miners.

I purchased the Audible version of this book, which came in at around seven hours to listen to. If you are interested in the physical copy, it is just over 350 pages. The author of this book is also the author of The Revenant, as well as Last Stand, which is about saving buffalo. The writing style of this book was very readable, and the narrator on the Audible version was pleasant to listen to. I appreciated the level of research that went into this book, but my favorite part was the personal statements and accounts by those who were present at the time of this disaster. I really learned a lot of about mining and mine rescue from this book. 

 In the years preceding World War II, and certainly throughout, many companies threw their hat into the ring of Nazi support. Many business owners felt that it would be good to serve whoever was in power, especially if those in power were eliminating business rivals (i.e. Jewish business owners) and selling off their companies for next to nothing. Of course, many business owners shared Nazi ideology, even becoming members of the Nazi Party. In the post-war years, many of these companies have continued to thrive, despite their treacherous beginnings and shady doings, with many claiming that they were coerced into supporting the Nazi Party or having to join because of pressure and blackmail. At any rate, it was interested to see how some of theses people came to be in the situations they found themselves in.

I got this book some time ago, and I really wish that I had gotten around to reading it sooner. I have the Audible version, which is about eleven hours to listen to. The narrator was pleasant, and I enjoyed it. If you are interested in the physical copy, it is around 400 pages. The author of this book absolutely did his due diligence when researching the companies mentioned and their Nazi collaborators. I knew about some of these, but this book went into much greater detail about the companies than I had previously been exposed to. This was a really good book. 

 The Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur, India is a government ran hospital. This hospital is one of a few that are specialized to treat pediatric patients suffering from encephalitis. India is particularly troubled by cases of encephalitis, and they even have an "Encephalitis Season" that typically runs from May to October. This is a mosquito born illness, which is particularly prevalent during the rainy season in India. Part of the treatment for this illness is continuous oxygen supply. During August of 2017, a crisis emerged when the oxygen supply at the hospital ran out in all departments. The reason for the oxygen crisis was absolutely shameful, but I won't go into that here in case anyone is interested in reading the book. The investigation in the aftermath was also shameful, but I won't give any details away on that. There was unnecessary trauma and death during this crisis.

This book was written by a doctor in the pediatrics department, who immediately rushed to the hospital when he was summoned. He tried contacting his superiors and making arrangements to get more oxygen to the hospital. I think it is very unfortunate what happened to him during the investigation into the crisis. This book is about a 7 hour listen on Audible, which is the version that I have. It is available on Audible Plus, if you are interested, but be warned that if you struggle listening to narration with an accent, you may prefer the physical copy. I had never heard of this crisis, which happened fairly recently. I learned a lot from this book. 

 The 2011 Super Outbreak took place between April 25 through April 28. In total, there were 360 recorded tornadoes during this three day time span, with 175 of those hitting Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Some of these tornadoes were rated as EF5 tornadoes, which is the highest rating that is given to this type of weather event. April 27 was especially destructive and deadly, especially in Alabama. I remember that day very well, as I had gone out adventuring and got home just an hour before everything kicked off here in the Chattanooga area. In fact, there is a cemetery not far from my house that has a headstone that was impaled by a piece of a tree, which you can still see today. It kind of looks like a bullet hole. I can clearly see all of the damaged things in my mind, and how people were finding papers and pictures littered around from Alabama and Georgia in their yards. 324 people died as a direct result of the tornadoes, and 24 more died from other injuries, such as lightening and flooding.

I bought this book with my Audible credits, and the listening time was about eight hours. I started it last night, and finished it today at work. I am so grateful that I can listen to things at work!! If you are interested in the physical copy, it is just over 300 pages. This book was well written. The only complaint that I have is with the narration of the Audible version...the fake Southern accent got on my nerves. (However, the real Southern accents I have to listen to all the time and speak in also gets on my nerves, so this could just be a me problem.) The author really took her time getting the personalities of the people discussed in the book to come through. She wrote about this disaster and the lives lost in a very informative and respectful way. This is a solid disaster book, and I am really looking forward to reading another book also written by this author. If you are interested in disasters and/or weather, do yourself a favor and check this book out. 

 This book discusses Nintendo's presence in the United States, and how they really hit a home run with the Mario franchise of games. Mario has been around for a long time, and continues to be popular amongst old and new game players alike. It was neat to learn about how Mario came to be, his design, and his name. I had never really thought about any of that before happening across this book.

This book is currently available on Audible Plus, which is the version that I have. It was approximately 7 hours to listen to, I believe. If you are interested in the physical copy, the page count is around 320. The author was extremely knowledgeable about this topic, and did plenty of research into the history of Mario and Nintendo. I only got this book because it was a nonfiction book for me to listen to for free during the workday, and I was actually really pleased by it. I did not expect to like it or find it terribly interesting at all, since I am not into video games, but it was a really interesting book. Game lovers and those interested in companies would probably really like this book. 

 Springhill Mine in Springhill, Nova Scotia experienced what is known in the mining world as a "bump" on October 23, 1958. A bump is scientifically known as underground seismic activity, usually resulting from the collapse of support pillars inside of the mine. This particular event began as a small bump, which was largely ignored by miners who were working, as it was a fairly common event. An hour later, a massive bump occurred, sending shockwaves throughout the mine. 174 miners were working in this mine at the time of the bump, and many were immediately crushed when debris slammed them into stone. 75 miners working in the upper areas of the mine were injured, but managed to make it to the surface. 24 other miners were trapped below the surface with no food, water, injuries, and gas threats. This book tells the harrowing tale of those trapped underground and their experiences once brought back to the surface.

This book was wonderfully written. I leaned a considerable amount about mines, especially mining in Nova Scotia, from this book. The author told the stories of the miners in a way that made one feel like they knew them in some way. I would strongly recommend this book if you are interested in mining or in disasters. I also want to note, just because I think it is a neat fact, that this disaster was mentioned in 101 Dalmations on a newspaper in the movie. I also thought it was interesting that Prince Philip visited the site while he was in the area. I hate that it took me forever to finish this book, but it wasn't the book I was reading regularly. 

Gabriel Fernandez was an 8 year old boy from California who was subjected to horrific abuse from his biological mother and her boyfriend. This abuse was reported numerous times by his teacher, though the case workers were absolutely negligent and useless. Unfortunately, Gabriel was beaten to death by his so called mother and her boyfriend. The amount of people that failed this child and then tried to justify their actions (or lack thereof) is staggering. 

This was poorly written and poorly edited. I am glad that I only spent $2.99 for the Kindle version, because it is certainly not worth the $7.99 paperback price. In addition to the poor writing and poor editing, there were no new facts about the case that were not covered in the documentary. If you choose to read this, I hope that you enjoy it more than I did. I certainly do not recommend doing so.  You're better off just watching the documentary on Netflix and calling it a day.