Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Should I give my frog a mug of hot chocolate too?

Do Frogs Drink Hot Chocolate? How Animals Keep Warm by Etta Kaner

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I like a fun science book. A book that does not go deep diving into all the ins and outs of a subject. I like to get my feet wet and then see how far I want to explore. And with Do Frogs Drink Hot Chocolate? How Animals Keep Warm I am in the shallow end of the wadding pool. You get your feet wet as an adult, but the aged three and up gets up to their waists, laughing and learning with the best […]

Two books about the brain (kinda)

Unthinkable: An Extraordinary Journey Through the World's Strangest Brains by Helen Thomson

This Is Your Brain on Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society by Kathleen McAuliffe

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I’ve had a couple of brain books sitting on my shelf for a little while, one (Unthinkable) courtesy of a local Little Free Library, and one (This Is Your Brain on Parasites) courtesy of my husband wanting to qualify for free shipping on an online order. I decided to do a “brain dump” in January, and while neither of these books exactly blew off my Bombas, both contained enough interesting information that I would recommend them if you’re in the mood for some light science. […]

A hurricane of jacarandas, strangling figs, hanging vines.

Nature Obscura: A City’s Hidden Natural World by Kelly Brenner

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I’ve always been intrigued by (OK obsessed with) nature. Stick me next to a window and you’ll find me staring outside, looking for signs of wildlife. Come spring, you’ll find me kneeling on the sidewalk next to every snail and slug I see, trying to get the perfect picture. When I worked at a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, a spider made a web on the light in my office and we named him Stanley and fed him mealworms meant for the baby birds. When I moved […]

“The caterpillars were ordered to appear in court on the twenty-eighth of June, at a specified hour, where they would be assigned legal representation.”

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach

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I was so happy when Mary Roach announced this book, because I have been missing her writing. I never read her last book, even though I tried and couldn’t get more than ten minutes in before waving the white flag, because reading about warfare and war and its consequences is something that I found actively unpleasant. And this book sounded so silly! And it’s about animals. I fucking love animals! Even the ones most people dislike, like rats and spiders and snakes. I anticipated laughter […]

“Lip . . . Dip . . . Paint.”

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore

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What I have to say about this book can be whittled down to one classic Samuel L. Jackson moment in cinema: And I truly mean that. Anyone with an ounce of empathy will find this one a tough go. Moore extensively researched the women this story is about, and she pulled not only from scholarly books and articles about them, but from their own personal correspondence, journals, and memories from friends and family. The result is that you get a clear picture of just exactly […]

The History of Flies and Mosquitos: Final Book of the Year

Historia de las moscas y de los mosquitos: y su influencia en el devenir de la humanidad by Xavier Sistach

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This is it: this will be my final book for the year, and #26 for my reviews. And I have saved the most difficult book for last   I’m not going to lie, it took my close to 4 months to make my way through Historia de las moscas y de los mosquitos: y su influencia en el devenir de la humanidad This is honestly because the books was well above my skill level. However, many of the books that were at my skill level […]



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