science – Page 42 – Cannonball Read 17

You can die from constipation. Just ask Elvis Presley’s doctor.

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach

August 11, 2019 by KimMiE" 3 Comments

CBR11bingo: Science If you do a Google search for “how did Elvis Presley die,” most answers will mention prescription drugs and cardiac arrest. Until I read Gulp, I hadn’t heard that the King had what’s known as a megacolon, which is exactly what it sounds like: a big-ass large intestine. According to his personal physician George Nichopoulos, the condition gave Elvis such terrible constipation that Nichopoulous had to administer laxatives and enemas on an almost daily basis. Whether the condition was the result of genetics […]

A long apprenticeship for this final act of bad judgment

Orfeo by Richard Powers

August 11, 2019 by Leedock Leave a Comment

CBR BINGO: Awards (2014 California Book Awards Silver Medal Fiction/ Man Booker long list) Somehow I managed not to get the memo regarding Richard Powers earlier in his career. I picked up “Overstory” last year because it was displayed at the library, had trees on the cover and looked like it checked all of my eco-fiction boxes. (I’m still wondering what to call the nature/environmental/ecology centric fiction that I love. Is there an established understood category for this? Anyone?) Didn’t realize I was picking up the […]

DNA and Genes Broken Down

The Violinist's Thumb by Sam Kean

August 5, 2019 by Jen K Leave a Comment

Bingo Square: Science! I quite enjoyed Same Kean’s previous book, The Disappearing Spoon, so I am not entirely sure why it took me so long to get around to reading this – The Violinist’s Thumb was published in summer 2012 and I have a hardcover, so I’ve obviously had it for a while. I will say, at least part of the blame goes to the fact that around 2014/2015 I transitioned to primarily reading Kindle books so it hasn’t helped diminish the stack of physical […]

The Raft of Medusa

The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells

July 31, 2019 by Jake 1 Comment

Read as part of CBR 11: Science David Wallace-Wells wants us to avoid the trap of fatalism when it comes to climate change. Fatalism is a form of denialism. I get that. I appreciate it. But man, it’s tough to come away from reading this book feeling anything but pessimistic about the future at best and nihilistic at worse. This book is divided into two sections: the potential scientific effects in the near future due to global warming, and how we process that ethically, politically, […]

Twice (or More) in a Lifetime

Recursion by Blake Crouch

July 29, 2019 by jeverett15 Leave a Comment

CBR11Bingo: Science! You ever read a book that feels just a little too much like a treatment for a film script? In Blake Crouch’s Recursion, the focus is almost entirely on its high-concept, easy to pitch plot. The characters are briefly sketched to the point where it’s easy to imagine almost any two actors playing the main roles in an adaptation. The writing is competent but unchallenging, making for a quick read without much in the way of metaphor. Maybe that’s too critical. After all, […]

Drier than a popcorn fart in the desert

The Science of Leadership by Julian Barling

July 25, 2019 by Wanderlustful Leave a Comment

If you are looking for some light reading to put you to sleep, or wondering what a dry day in the Sahara would feel like in print form, this book is for you. Whew, am I parched. I received this book for free from the author when he presented at a professional women’s event I attended about 4 years ago. I remember his presentation being largely uneventful- not exciting but no more boring than many other professional talks. Then, because I was working at a […]

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