Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


In the immortal words of Dorothy Zbornak, “If you have to ask, it does not matter.”

Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell

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I’ve never been the type to read more than one book at a time, but earlier this year, I decided I should both spend less time online and read more poetry and philosophy and mythology and the like. I kept one book on my nightstand to read before bed, another by my desk to read in downtime during work instead of picking up my phone. And it worked! I’ve spent much less time online and more time reading, but this success also led to an […]

Here a skull, there a skull, everywhere a skull-skull….

SKULLS! by Blair Thornburgh

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SKULLS!  Yes, you have one. Yes, I have one. Yes, your dog has one. Yes, even a pirate has one! Blair Thornburgh’s narrator takes you through the world of skulls in a very scientific but simplistic and story formatted, way. Follow the story along as she tells you all the great things skulls can do for you and things about skulls. The afterwards has interesting facts about skulls that do not lend themselves easily to the story itself. This would be a good book to […]

So Much More Than Just Textbook Biology

Gene Machine: The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome by Venki Ramakrishnan

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    “So I don’t subscribe to the heroic narrative of science. Rather, some of us are fortunate enough to be the agents of important discoveries that would have been made anyway, sometimes not even that much later. “   I think this quote in particular sums up why I loved this book and its author so much. I am aware from both media portrayals of science and from discussing my work with friends and family that the public perception of the scientific process is […]

For my first read of 2019, I decide to learn EVERYTHING

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

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Although probably best known for travel writing, Bill Bryson has written a number of science-based nonfiction books, and in 2003 he published a book that pondered the scientific questions and attempted to answer, well, nearly everything. The jump from travel writing to his Short History of Nearly Everything is not such a tremendous leap, however, if you think about it like a travelogue, starting with the beginning of the solar system and ending with life as we know it. In the introduction, Bryson describes how […]

When you have Yeti Crabs

Sea Creatures by Seymour Simon

Elephants by Seymour Simon

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Seymour Simon is a genius. I have been recommending him for years without really having read a book cover to cover. The other night I found two reader copies just laying around, waiting to be read. I figured I had a few minutes to skim them. I have no idea how many hours later I have not only read Elephants and Sea Creatures, but I am sharing an online video of a Vampire Squid. I will also be checking out Yeti Crabs as well. Simon’s […]

Two different stories that tie into each other

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Fur, Feather, Fin All of Us Are Kin and Mapping Sam are two science books that are not dull science. While Fur is more traditional science, it is written so it reads as a story. And Sam is a story that has information in it. Mapping Sam was my favorite out of the two. Joyce Hesselberth creates a story of a cat that puts their family to bed then goes out into the night on their nightly adventures. They explore all sorts of areas, climb […]



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