If you want a book on aging that is positive, humorous and just plain fun to read, try Keep Moving and Other Tips and Truths About Aging, by Dick Van Dyke. Part auto-biography, part cheerful advice, I read this in one afternoon!

Pigs are smart, self-sufficient and adaptable. The author suggests that they domesticated themselves, choosing at some point to follow humans around. They are omnivores who will eat anything, including garbage and waste (human and otherwise). They can be turned out to forage for themselves, breed more often and produce more young than either cattle or sheep. Lesser Beasts: a Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig by Mark Essig was a fascinating look at the animal who has been worshiped and reviled through out human history.

I'm told that there were many relatives with red hair in my family, but since most of the men were bald and the pictures are black and white, who knows for sure?! ;-) In Red: a History of the Redhead, by Jacky Colliss Harvey, you will learn everything about red hair from genetics to myths to the bias they face and more. There are historic figures here (think royalty) and movie stars (some real, some dyed) and fiction characters (Pippi Longstocking, and Anne of Green Gables fame). This would have been fun used in a history class. :-)

Reading Hermit With Dog