Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Nanorrobots Prodigiosos?

Virus. La guerra de los mil millones de años by Juan José Gómez Cadenas; Juan Botas

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So for my European bingo spot, I’m going to review a science book about humanity’s tangles with viruses that eventually builds to the COVID-19 pandemic. ‘Virus. La guerra de los mil millones de años‘ (‘Virus. The war of a billion years’) is a bit of a curiosity for me: this book about viruses, diseases, and pandemics, which was written with a Spanish perspective in mind, was completed during the very first few months of the pandemic. The authors state in the introduction that the writing […]

Octopus’ Garden

The Den That Octopus Built by Randi Sonenshine

Before the Seed: How Pollen Moves by Susannah Buhrman-Deever

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I have probably mentioned before that I was never a science person. However, if I had been taught that science was not just chemicals and numbers and formulas maybe I would have been into it more (don’t get me wrong, I had good teachers, just some did not know how to teach me). Therefore, as an adult I am enjoying my journey into Seemingly-Non-Science-Science areas. And of course, I have found books to help me. Books that show nature is a science. And since I […]

There’s so much more to the world than we know

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

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CBR15 BINGO: In the Wild, because it’s about animal senses (which is pretty wild!) A bug called a treehopper communicates by creating vibrations through its abdomen. A dog’s olfactory sense is so acute that it can tell twins apart by their smell. Shore birds called red knots use their bills to feel prey under the sand. These are a few of the amazing sensory tales that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ed Yong reveals in An Immense World. More than a collection of animal facts, An Immense […]

The darker side of science

The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science by Sam Kean

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CBR15 BINGO: Violence, for murder, icepick lobotomies, cruelty, and general skulduggery described in this book The Icepick Surgeon is the latest book by Sam Sean, my favorite science writer. If you haven’t read any of his books (like this one, or this one, or this one, or this one), they delightfully balance science with history in a series of true-life tales. As the the title indicates, The Icepick Surgeon explores the darker side of science, citing examples of how humankind has benefited from some really reprehensible […]

CBR15 Bingo: Strange Worlds

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

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CBR15 Bingo: Strange Worlds 15-word-review: Delivering food during the pandemic leads Jamie Gray to a monstrously exciting new career opportunity. Longer review: During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jamie Gray is working a dead-end job as a delivery driver for the very same company he got fired from. One day, when delivering food, Jamie runs into an old acquaintance, Tom, who remembers that Jamie’s thesis was on science-fiction and therefore thinks the job opportunity that KPS, the “animal rights organisation” that Tom works for might be a […]

It’s a Love and Air thing

Family is Family by Melissa Marr

Puff: All About Air by Emily Kate Moon

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Let me tell you a not so secret secret: I like books. But what is a somewhat secret is that I do not write reviews for all the books I have read. However, I am going to write reviews for the two below (both read via online reader copies) Family is Family by Melissa Marr and illustrated by Marcos Almada Rivero, due March 2024  While the “all families are different” theme has been done before, this is the first time I have seen it done […]



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