Cannonball Read 16

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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Diseases shape the course of history

Plague-Busters!: Medicine's Battles with History's Deadliest Diseases by  Lindsey Fitzharris

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Plague-Busters!: Medicine’s Battles with History’s Deadliest Diseases by Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal is probably my new favorite nonfiction read of 2023 (I know it is still only late April, but something tells me I won’t be reading too many more nonfictions and if I do, nothing will match up to this).  Due in October 2023, I give this book a 4.5 as I need to see the final artwork. What I had in my reader copy, was mostly black and white, but there were a […]

The book tells you why A Vaccine Is Like a Memory, but my review is just commentary

A Vaccine Is Like a Memory by Rajani Larocca

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CBR15Passport genre (science in a fictionalized format) If you are pro or anti-vaccine, that is not important as A Vaccine Is Like a Memory by Rajani Larocca is more the history of vaccines and the way they work is the secondary piece of information. Because you can agree or disagree all you want, but that does not change the fact that in the 1770’s “this happened” or in 2020 “that happened.” Sure, you then get how a vaccine is supposed to work, how it evolved […]

“There are three stages in scientific discovery. First, people deny that it is true, then they deny that it is important; finally they credit the wrong person.”

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

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When I was looking at the 2022 Read Harder Challenge for the first time and saw #9: “Read the book that’s been on your TBR the longest”, I knew without looking what that book would be, even though I haven’t looked at the beginning of my list in years. And that’s because I’ve been avoiding this book for as long as I’ve wanted to read it. Just one word for you: supervolcano. In Bryson’s signature breezy, humorous, yet intelligent style, he will explain to you […]

What an Idea Becomes Means More Than How It Got There

The Cold War Politics of Genetic Research: An Introduction to the Lysenko Affair by William deJong-Lambert

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  At the start of this year, I decided to focus a bit more on reviewing history books – more so than I had been previously. Come February and a couple of Twitter and media storms down the track, and I decided to revise this a little. I have no intention to stop focusing on history, but where I can, I’m going to try and dip into more into the history of science and bioethics. It’s 2020, and I’m sorry, I am going to get […]

“I see poisoners—so calculating, so cold-blooded—as most like the villains of our horror stories.” (CBR11 Bingo)

The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum

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I don’t know what it says about me that I quite enjoy medical history and historic New York, but I do know that it says that The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York is right up my alley. It also wins the prize for longest title of the books I’ve read this year. Blum’s book tracks the time when a pair of forensic scientists, Charles Norris and Alexander Getler began the chemical detective work that forensic science […]

Surgery Before Anesthesia and Antiseptics

The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris

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Bingo 17 (Science!) The Butchering Art is part biography and part history of medicine, but mostly medicine. Do not read this is you are squeamish about some fairly graphic descriptions of surgery before things like antiseptics and anesthesia. The focus of the book is one the career of a Quaker named Joseph Lister in Victorian England; if his last name sounds vaguely familiar it should, and I’m surprised it doesn’t get more attention or pointed out sooner than it actually does. I’m also slightly ashamed […]



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