Cannonball Read 14

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Not a bad ending but a little uneven with the science and the story

Cells at Work! vol. 6 by Akane Shimizu

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There’s seems to have been some drama behind the scenes before Cells at Work! Vol. 6 came out; a few years ago (pre-pandemic I think) it was listed for pre-order then disappeared. Now, it’s out as the final volume of the original series that’s now got a few spin-offs and an animation. Overall, the basic premise of real biology science presented through manga/anime tropes is still here and fun, although maybe worn a touch thin in places. This volume feels a bit more episodic than […]

This is a beautiful book with a sensitive subject

Fox: A Circle of Life Story by Isabel Thomas

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I was thinking Fox: A Circle of Life Story was going to be more about the cycle of trees, plants, the seasons, the forest and not about the cycle of life of a mother fox. Isabel Thomas created a poetic, beautiful story of life and death. We follow a fox as she wanders the woods, crossing the human road, and her unfortunate end. The concept of death is lightly presented, but also nothing is held back. It is a serious look at the cycle of […]

Professional Science Gets Ugly

The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson

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Bingo 4: People In addition to the cover being of a person, this is also a book about people on several levels, down to the genetics. On the surface it’s the biography of one of the winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry, Jennifer Doudna for her work with the CRISPR. The thing is, that’s actually not totally accurate. This book is also an introduction to bio-engineering and general molecular biology, an expose on academic science world and how it’s shifted to more business […]

My mind is blown, and not because I’ve been sampling magic mushrooms

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make our Worlds, Change our Minds, and Shape our Futures by Merlin Sheldrake

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I have read many books on science and natural history, but few have made me stop reading every few pages to look up and declare to whomever is within hearing distance (currently, my husband and cats, because we’re in a pandemic), “This is fascinating.” I don’t care if you’ve never read a book about nature in all your previous existence. Entangled Life will ensorcel you with tales of carnivorous mushrooms, zombie fungi, acid trips, and superhero microorganisms that could end up saving the planet. If […]

“I can remember how grown-up I felt then, and earlier, since about nine. Because we age one way, in one direction, every age we are is the most grown-up we’ve ever been.”

Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body by Sara Pascoe

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Sara Pascoe is here for you. There is no stone she won’t turn over and no story she won’t tell, because she is going to use her embarrassments, misunderstandings, failures, and larks to help you learn. If you are looking for a medical textbook on what it means to be a human woman then go ahead and look elsewhere. If you want a smart and unflinching comedian to share her life story with you while looking back through biology, history, and cultural norms in order […]

Science Lesson Via Storytelling

Cells at Work! Vol. 5 by Akane Shmizu

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It seems like Cells at Work! 5 was a surprise as in it was surprising that this was the apparently last entries in the original series; I had seen the pre-order for a vol. 6 that apparently got canceled for vague reasons. There does appear to be a spin off though, so the series isn’t exactly over. I don’t know what happened there, but vol. 5 does kind of seem like someone may have gotten a little tired or distracted by another project because it […]



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