Like many of the books I read, I think I first saw What Do Women Want? Adventures in the Science of Female Desire (2013) by Daniel Bergner on the Cannonball site. Immediately intrigued by the subject matter, I put it on my list. The full title gives a pretty good idea of what to expect when you read this book, but I will try to sum up Bergner’s main points. Evolutionary theory has been used to teach us that men are more aggressive and promiscuous […]
How to Make an Interesting Topic Unbearable
The headquarters of the Vidocq Society were housed in a Victorian brownstone in Philadelphia. I know this because author Michael Capuzzo reminds the reader at least four times throughout the 426 pages of The Murder Room, so he must think it’s pretty significant. This is a minor complaint about a book that is rife with problems. I picked this book up with high hopes, drawn in by what I think is a fascinating subject. The Murder Room is a work of non-fiction about a real-life […]
This Author’s Note is the Twistiest of Twist Endings, Mind Blown
I finished this book this morning, got to the end and thought, sure, I’ll read the author’s note, and therein I found out that this story–about life and death and poverty and corruption and justice and injustice and good luck and bad luck in a Mumbai slum–is totally, COMPLETELY TRUE. It blew my mind, you guys, because it reads like fiction: the characters are so well-documented in their thoughts and dreams (and sometimes even in the listed cause of death in official records and police […]
insert quippy remark here
This is likely going to be a very short review, because I just don’t have much to say about the book. I knew about half way through reading The Night Circus that it was going to be a tough book for anything to live up to, so I decided that my next selection needed to be something very different. For that goal, Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Lazy, and Stupid accomplishes being on the other end of the spectrum from […]
the Girls of Atomic City
I’ve always been a bit of a history nerd, I believe I mentioned that when I reviewed Monuments Men. I love WW2 and it’s always interesting to hear about the women’s part in aiding their men. Have you seen Bletchley Circle? It’s a BBC show about women, who were code breakers in England during the war, who are now bored housewives solving crimes. Anyway. The Girls of Atomic City is the untold story of the women who went to work in Oak Ridge, TN on […]
Neil deGrasse Tyson is a National Treasure
HALF CANNONBALL! Neil deGrasse Tyson is national treasure. Hopefully you all are aware of this, either because you’ve known for years, or because you caught the fantastic Cosmos this year. About three years ago I was lucky enough to see him speak at the local university, where he told vivid stories that helped me understand the scale of things in the universe and on earth, including one story that aided me in fully grasping how much money Bill Gates really has. Mr. Tyson is coming […]