Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“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

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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 […]

Blueberry Muffin Brains and lots of other stuff

The Body A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

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I started The Body A Guide for Occupants about a year ago; I had kind of a pattern starting the year off with a science book of some sort. This year, I guess I’m also ending with one. This book is on the one hand pretty readable since the science is explained in some detail without getting too technical; my last biology class was well over a decade ago. On the other hand, it’s also incredibly dense, making it sort of hard to read for […]

Oh Olive…

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

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I picked this up because it kept coming up in CBR14 reviews. After researching it a little bit, it seems that it is hugely popular. I was intrigued to find out what made it more than the average romcom-type romance. Plus I was very curious to find out whatever it has to do with ReyLo. Olive, a struggling biology grad student, kisses a random guy in her lab, her intent being to show her best friend that she has completely moved on from her ex […]

Not a bad ending but a little uneven with the science and the story

Cells at Work! vol. 6 by Akane Shimizu

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There’s seems to have been some drama behind the scenes before Cells at Work! Vol. 6 came out; a few years ago (pre-pandemic I think) it was listed for pre-order then disappeared. Now, it’s out as the final volume of the original series that’s now got a few spin-offs and an animation. Overall, the basic premise of real biology science presented through manga/anime tropes is still here and fun, although maybe worn a touch thin in places. This volume feels a bit more episodic than […]

This is a beautiful book with a sensitive subject

Fox: A Circle of Life Story by Isabel Thomas

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I was thinking Fox: A Circle of Life Story was going to be more about the cycle of trees, plants, the seasons, the forest and not about the cycle of life of a mother fox. Isabel Thomas created a poetic, beautiful story of life and death. We follow a fox as she wanders the woods, crossing the human road, and her unfortunate end. The concept of death is lightly presented, but also nothing is held back. It is a serious look at the cycle of […]

Professional Science Gets Ugly

The Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson

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Bingo 4: People In addition to the cover being of a person, this is also a book about people on several levels, down to the genetics. On the surface it’s the biography of one of the winners of the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry, Jennifer Doudna for her work with the CRISPR. The thing is, that’s actually not totally accurate. This book is also an introduction to bio-engineering and general molecular biology, an expose on academic science world and how it’s shifted to more business […]



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