Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


“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 […]

A Love Letter to Our Little Lords and Masters.

First in Fly: Drosophila Research and Biological Discovery by Stephanie Elizabeth Mohr

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I think Stephanie Elizabeth Mohr has done us all a great service by writing this book. As a drosophilist myself (or in more common parlance, a fly-pusher) I understand completely why Drosophila is such a great model organism to work for genetics. It’s a damned shame though that this understanding has not really trickled down to the rest of the population, who just don’t get it the way we do. Mention that you’re being paid by the government to study flies, and people look at […]

It’s all about that data-base

Ava in Code Land by Jess Hitchman

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Ava in Code Land is obviously, from the cover and title, a modern story about computers and coding. It is also a classic story about not giving up and trying even if all seems hopeless. This is all wrapped up with a girl main character called Ava.   Jess Hitchman, Gavin Cullen and Leire Martin put together a picture book that is set in a computer game. A game that Ava loves living in as all she has to do is hit a few keys […]

What’s your book about? Stuff.

Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik

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This book is meant to make you think about all the stuff that surrounds you.  Not the clutter, but the stuff that that clutter is made of. The metal in your chair, the cloth of your clothes, the paper of the book you’re reading.  We take the materials in our world largely for granted, but there was a lot of time and effort put in to discovering and inventing all of the materials that we encounter in our daily lives.  The book is divided into […]

Neat.

A Grown-Up Guide to Dinosaurs by Ben Garrod

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Ok, so I just finished listening to this today (when I wrote this review, which is actually being posted months later).  These are the things I remember from the audiobook. To be fair, I was listening on my commute to work, so some distraction from listening is to be expected, you know, because I was driving a vehicle.    Thing 1: Part of what makes a dinosaur a dinosaur has to do with the hips.  Dinosaurs evolved to have their hips configured in a way […]

Two for the price of one review

Frog Meets Dog: An Acorn Book (A Frog and Dog Book #1 by Janee Trasler 

Sadiq and the Desert Star by Siman Nurrali,

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Books that grab the young reader are always a treat to read. You never know what you might find. However, the adult reader actually might miss things that the child reader will enjoy. Therefore, two books that had a great start, but fell short for me, is the subject of this review. This very easy reader by Janee Trasler (Frog Meets Dog: An Acorn Book (A Frog and Dog Book #1) is good for the just starting out sight reader. However, the story itself is weak. […]



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