Books are so educational. Until thoughtful people provided the public service, even educated adults didn’t realize that horses listen to us as long as we whisper and that cats are quite capable of solving crimes. And until this particular book came along, we didn’t know that dogs maintain their famous calm and dignity by practicing yoga. (Excuse me doga.) The book is Doga: Yoga for Dogs from Chronicle Books. The word is Brilliant. No, that’s not the word for the book; it’s the name of one of the authors: Jennifer Brilliant and William Berloni. The word for the book is Goofy. This new tome devotes 96 pages to outrageous color photographs of dogs practicing doga. Readers will learn, for example, that a dog who practices doga is known as a dogi. You will find a dog practicing the Virabhadrasana, or Warrior Pose. In a sidebar he shares this pearl of wisdom: “Regular practice of warrior helps me to divine where toys are buried.” Clearly these dogs are hoping to achieve inner beauty through yoga, and we wish them luck. Now if we can only get them all to assume the pose of the Downward Facing Dog.
Valiant Women is a vital and engrossing attempt to correct the record and rightfully celebrate the achievements of female veterans of World War II.
