I’m guessing most viewers of the Pixar  flick  Up were convinced that the surreal, twisted landscape on the top of the mountain where the balloon-house landed were figments of overheated animators’ brains. However, based on the pictures in Lost Worlds of the Guiana Highlands, it is clear that much of the artwork was straight still-life renditions of the eerie scenery at the top of these remote cloud-shrouded mountains.  The tepuis, mountain islands shooting vertically thousands of feet into the air, have been objects of fascination and speculation for centuries.  Until the 1800s, no one had ever managed to climb to the top of the straight and treacherous mountains.  Despite their immense inaccessibility, numerous stories have been based on the tepuis. Most famously, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Homes fame) set his Lost World on the top of one of these remote mountains.  While the real tepuis don’t harbor any dinosaurs, they do have diverse and unique eco-systems, some populated with animals and plants that have not needed to evolve in millenia. Other bits of legend, such as the discovery of Angel Falls, sound like fanciful adventure  stories.  Angel Falls, the tallest in the world, were discovered by a dare-devil explorer  looking for gold.  In 1938 he spotted the falls from his tiny plane and reported back, to the wonder (and skepticism) of the world. Fantastic photos and a wonderful place to dream about visiting.

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/botalex/tags/Canaima-Roraimaflora/

Despite being dead, Michael Crichton has managed to still write quite prolifically. The book, finished posthumously by science writer Richard Preston, has its moments.  The premise is pure old-school Crichton.  An evil tech company owner shrinks down a bunch of science grad students and they must survive in a jungle. The descriptions of the micro world from a tiny size are lovely and intriguing. Crichton/Preston provide tons of fascinating details on insects, spiders, birds and the plants of a Hawaiian jungle. Aspects of being super-small that I had never considered become excellent plot points – gravity has much less effect, bodies run through massive amounts of calories, micro people need to break the “skin” on water to drink it because of surface tension.  All these wildly imaginative points fail to make up for the characters. The grad students and other people in the book are flat, dull and lifeless.  Their descriptions are a broad list of  stereotypes with virtually no personality.  Even the attempts to add a bit of texture to various people seem cliched and tired. As they died off one by one (well of course they do, it’s Crichton) I failed to care at all about them. Read the book of the description for the micro world, but don’t plan to get attached to any of the dullard humans inhabiting it.

I’m tempted to add a new category for books called “what the hell were you thinking?” Mezrich, author of The Accidental Billionaires (later made into the movie The Social Network) never seems to come close to answering this question.  Sex on the Moon chronicles the brief rise and spectacular fall of Thad Roberts.  Within a few short years of   being thrown out of his crushing Mormon family, Roberts finds himself working at NASA.  Driven by an immense desire to be an astronaut, Roberts flies through a triple major, extra-curricular groups and anything else he can do to increase his changes of someday walking on Mars.  He is rewarded with an internship-type position at NASA.  Then, mysteriously and so very close to a full-time job, he decides to instead instigate a major heist of moon samples potentially worth billions.  While Mezrich certainly speculates elaborately on Roberts’ motivations, and does interview him also, Roberts’ actions never do seem convincingly or clearly explained.  Rationally, risking it all for a year’s salary and a girl who is already firmly enamored just don’t seem to add up.  Puzzling, tense and, if nothing else, a hell of a good story.

Caitlin Kelly’s tell-all working retail behind the cash register is both shocking and unsurprising.  Everyone knows that retail is a dead-end and most would work almost anywhere else.  However, the total blind-eye that management and the average shopper turns to those working sales is both a sad, sickening and clearly why companies still continue to make massive profits.  Despite often being the only contact a shopper may have with a company, these poorly paid peons have to know products (often with no training), clean the store, stock, ring up sales and returns and a myriad of other exhausting tasks, all with a required smile.  Kelly does her research well and, in addition  to her own battle stories, talks about retail work and workers in general.  She quotes other fascinating writers like Paco Underhill. I am tempted to send Kelly and email inquiring whether she got any blowback, or in fact any response, from her former employer The North Face.  While what she says is not flattering, many small cheap adjustments she suggests would greatly increase their sales and customer service.

The second installment of the diaries of actor and writer Michael Palin is an excellent continuation of Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years.  Palin continues to chronicle both the successes and failures of himself and his Python cohort, but also his own family’s growth, his wonderful spunky mother and the sad decline of his sister into depression.  Like diarist Sir Samuel Pepys (1633 –1703) his own personal comments show Palin to be a warm, caring, colorful and brilliant man. In addition, those of us who enjoy nosing around the backstage of life will enjoy descriptions of the humdrum and everyday workings of the rich and famous.  The end product of a movie, play or book may seem effortless but the energy and work going on behind the curtains is immense, demanding and never-ending. A thoroughly worthwhile read both for Python fans but also anyone with an interest in British politics,  the inner-workings of the movie business or the exhausting life of a star