Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

History Little H But With a Big Punch

Of Walden Pond: Henry David Thoreau, Frederic Tudor, and the Pond Between by Lesa Cline-Ransome and Ashley Yazdani

September 3, 2026 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

When people think of history, they think of something with a big H. They think of Big Things. Important and Earth Shattering things. Things like the Statue of Liberty, a volcano, the World Trade Center, a royal death or birth, the Declaration of Independence. But much of history is done on a smaller scale. It might have a larger reach, but in the end it was something as simple as cutting ice from a pond. But not just any pond, mind you, but Walden Pond. […]

Filed Under: Biography/Memoir, Children's Books, Cooking/Food, Health, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry Tagged With: 19th century, Ashley Yazdani, Frederic Tudor, Henry David Thoreau, history of science, Lesa Cline-Ransome, Lesa Cline-Ransome and Ashley Yazdani, literary, nature, science

BlackRaven's CBR18 Review No:272 · Genres: Biography/Memoir, Children's Books, Cooking/Food, Health, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry · Tags: 19th century, Ashley Yazdani, Frederic Tudor, Henry David Thoreau, history of science, Lesa Cline-Ransome, Lesa Cline-Ransome and Ashley Yazdani, literary, nature, science ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Sixty-six million years ago or Ya know the other day

One Cosmic Rock: The Story of the Asteroid that Changed Our World by Julia Vasileva

November 25, 2025 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid hurtled through space toward an ancient Earth that looked very different from the one we know today. And in One Cosmic Rock: The Story of the Asteroid that Changed Our World by Karen Krossing we see how that came to be in poetic language for the picture book crowd.   Good for ages five and up, this book is a simple, but involved, non-fiction story that has interesting illustrations by Julia Vasileva. They are neither realistic or abstract, but a […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry Tagged With: disasters, history of science, Julia Vasileva, nature, prehistoric, science, space

BlackRaven's CBR17 Review No:520 · Genres: Children's Books, History, Non-Fiction, Poetry · Tags: disasters, history of science, Julia Vasileva, nature, prehistoric, science, space ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Diseases shape the course of history

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

April 24, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Health, History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: Adrian Teal, Death, Diseases & Illnesses & Injuries, epidemics, history of science, lindsey fitzharris, Social Topics

BlackRaven's CBR15 Review No:261 · Genres: Children's Books, Comedy/Humor, Graphic Novels/Comic Books, Health, History, Non-Fiction · Tags: Adrian Teal, Death, Diseases & Illnesses & Injuries, epidemics, history of science, lindsey fitzharris, Social Topics ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

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

March 23, 2023 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Children's Books, Health, Non-Fiction Tagged With: CBR15Passport, history of science, Inventions, Kathleen Marcotte, Rajani LaRocca, Science & Nature, technology

BlackRaven's CBR15 Review No:194 · Genres: Children's Books, Health, Non-Fiction · Tags: CBR15Passport, history of science, Inventions, Kathleen Marcotte, Rajani LaRocca, Science & Nature, technology ·
Rating:
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“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

December 31, 2022 by narfna 4 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Non-Fiction Tagged With: #history, A Short History of Nearly Everything, astronomy, audiobooks, Bill Bryson, biology, chemistry, geology, history of science, natural history, non fiction, paleontology, physics, richard matthews, science, that fuckin supervolcano

narfna's CBR14 Review No:256 · Genres: Audiobooks, Non-Fiction · Tags: #history, A Short History of Nearly Everything, astronomy, audiobooks, Bill Bryson, biology, chemistry, geology, history of science, natural history, non fiction, paleontology, physics, richard matthews, science, that fuckin supervolcano ·
Rating:
· 4 Comments

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

March 8, 2020 by LittlePlat Leave a Comment

  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 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. One of my favourite books which serves as a great introduction to […]

Filed Under: History, Non-Fiction Tagged With: Genetics, history of science, non fiction, politics, William deJong-Lambert

LittlePlat's CBR12 Review No:4 · Genres: History, Non-Fiction · Tags: Genetics, history of science, non fiction, politics, William deJong-Lambert ·
· 0 Comments
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Recent Comments

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