New York Times article - Brain Health

Interesting stuff and useful stuff. That's what I call this article here.

Some of it is just for curiosity; reading it for the knowledge and the joy of learning new things about the brain. The brain organoids are interesting but not terribly relevant to a typical reader's life, and I definitely wasn't expecting to read about a researcher who purred brains in order to get a more accurate count of its contents. It was also fun to read about the memory tricks. 

Then there is the more useful stuff. This is the stuff about the "lifestyle changes that matter", which the cover speaks of. Most of it is about sugar. Yes, we all know that too much sugar is bad for one's health, roots teeth etc. but do you know how much sugar is in the food you eat? I thought I was doing well by staying away from candy bars and soda. Actually, I was getting loads of sugar. 

A rough estimate is upwards of 40 grams a day. It was in the trail mix, the milk, the cereal, (and, just for the record, I didn't eat anything obvious, like Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes) and of course, the fruits. One serving of raisins, about 1/4 of a cup or so, had sugar comparable to a candy bar, and very little fiber to slow it down, or nutritional benefit. The article here mentions raisins ( and bananas) in its section of foods to avoid during its Sugar Challenge. So I made a few changes (like unsweetened vanilla milk instead of the sweetened kind and cereal that could be tasty with less sugar). I definitely feel better after doing that. It's not an immediate thing. It's like a two-week thing.

Click here for my next book review So I'm a Spider So What - light novel 1

Click here for my previous book review:  Sleepy Princess in Demon Castle volume 3

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

Sleepy Princess in Demon Castle volume 3

This is a nice improvement on volume 2. I felt things went Syalis's way a little too often, and made her a little less sympathetic. This one is better about that. She is still a relentless sleep-seeking fiend, but she also gets a good karmic kick every now and then. Also, her antics are more clearly due to misunderstandings or apathy instead of malice or manipulation.

One occasion of the former is during a Demon Castle Christmas party. Twilight arranges it to be kept a secret from Syalis and to take place late at night. It is a hush-hush event in darkness when the Princess should be asleep, and so they can have their "dark mass" in peace. Syalis finds out, of course, and infiltrates the party.

She does so because first prize in the Bingo Game of Darkness (I'm not kidding about the name) is a sleep aid she wants. By utilizing the social graces she developed as a princess (i.e. various methods of cheating), she rigs the game so that she is guaranteed to win. However, the Bingo Game of Darkness takes place after the Buffet of Darkness and the Oration of Darkness. The later of which takes so long that she falls asleep, is discovered, and thus does not win the Bingo Game of Darkness (that is actually fun to write!).

An example of the latter is when Princess Syalis knits a pair of woolen underwear for herself. The demons notice that she's up to something again, and she deliberately refrains from telling them that is just about knitting. This is because her mother the queen forbid her from talking about her underwear due to an incident in her childhood. So she uses other means of communication as a compromise: charades, morse code, pictures etc. Due to different frames of reference, the demons think she is declaring her intent to massacre them with alien back-up.

Both of these events are fun to read, and well-constructed.

Furthermore, Syalis shows a willingness to include her nominal captors in her adventures in better sleep. This happens in the very first chapter of the volume, and involves a magical device with the power to subdue demons. It is a wooden device which can trap demons within its confines and inflict them with laziness, rendering them harmless. It is a kotatsu.

Like the previous two volumes, each chapter is a self-contained story, so I could go about all the stories in this volume. I won't because that would take too long.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Sleepy Princess in Demon Castle volume 3" an A+

Click here for my next book review (technically an article):  New York Times article - Brain Health

Click here for my previous book review: Spiral - Bonds of Reasoning volume 2

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

Spiral - Bonds of Reasoning volume 2 (reading for fun)

This is the second Spiral book I picked up at my local library. I've decided that I do not like this series enough to purchase the volumes, but I do like it enough to continue reading it. So library it is. Yay, public library system!

This one picks up immediately where the previous volume left off, the locked-room mystery. That was a fine, a good conclusion. Yet, I'm glad that the rest of the volume was not the same sort of mystery. See, I was expecting this series to be in the same vein as Cased Closed /  Detective Conan, a murder case every time. That is not the case in the volume. As the plot thickens, different sort of mental challenges are thrown at Ayumi.

It was a pleasant surprise. I think I may like these better than the previous. First up is a bomb threat where a logic puzzle  is the only way to disarm it safely. Next is a twist on the "pick a card" trick. Ayumi has to guess which card the magician, so to speak, has drawn. If he guesses incorrectly, then the magician will release a bee,  and Ayumi happens to be hyper sensitive to bee venom. If he guesses wrong, he dies. Despite this pleasant change, my favorite aspect of this series continues to Hiyori. 

I like her character design because it is cute. I like her banter with Ayumi and others, because it is funny. I also like how she has more confident in herself than Ayumi, who deplores himself as basically an inferior version of his older brother. She appears to be trying to rid him of this mindset by encouraging him and telling him to value himself more. Though she has chosen to be Ayumi's sidekick, she has a persona beyond that role. 

Also, more information about the Blade Children. I still don't think it is a literal "curse", but it definitely appears to be a real thing. I was thinking it was some sort of social thing but it has a physical aspect to it. So that's a good development for the myth arc. 

The art is still good. I like it. 

Trickster Eric Novels gives Spiral - Bonds of Reasoning volume 2 a B+

Click here for my next book review: Sleepy Princess in Demon Castle volume 3

Click here for my previous book review: Witch's Printing Office volume 3

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.