Book #150 of 2025: A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith This 2023 title is an informative popular science book, with a handful of caveats. My first issue is that it’s really two works in one, and that …
Tag Archives: science
Book Review: Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine: The New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight by David A. Kessler, MD
Book #128 of 2025: Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine: The New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight by David A. Kessler, MD This is not a weight-loss book. Rather, it’s an overview from former FDA Commissioner David Kessler (no relation) on the current medical understanding of nutrition and dieting, the widespread problem that he calls food …
Book Review: Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell
Book #76 of 2025: Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell As a reader with a master’s degree in linguistics who used to research and lecture within its sociolinguistics branch, there are three main things I’m looking for in a popular science title like this: 1) Does it seem …
Book Review: On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service by Anthony Fauci, M.D.
Book #122 of 2024: On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service by Anthony Fauci, M.D. Dr. Anthony Fauci may not have become a household name until the recent COVID-19 pandemic, but that experience capped off a long and distinguished career in patient care, scientific research, and public health policy. In this 2024 autobiography, the …
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Book Review: The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell
Book #5 of 2024: The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet by Jeff Goodell A harrowing look at the impact of climate change on human and non-human existence, really contextualizing how innocuous-sounding figures like a few degrees of global average temperature increase are in fact catastrophic for us. Author …
Book Review: Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English by Valerie Fridland
Book #113 of 2023: Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English by Valerie Fridland I taught a few undergraduate sociolinguistics courses when I was in grad school, and if this book had been available back then, I could see myself including a few of its chapters as assigned reading. It’s an engaging …
Book Review: How to Argue With a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don’t) Say About Human Difference by Adam Rutherford
Book #130 of 2021: How to Argue With a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don’t) Say About Human Difference by Adam Rutherford This 2020 title is somewhat misleading, since author Adam Rutherford is not an expert on antiracist engagement, and even he admits that most people who espouse open bigotry do not appear receptive …
Book Review: The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir by Sara Seager
Book #245 of 2020: The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir by Sara Seager This title is a firsthand account of author Sara Seager’s experiences with death — primarily that of her young husband to cancer, but also those of her father, a dog, and two cats — as well as a look at …
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Book Review: Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond by Sonia Shah
Book #84 of 2020: Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond by Sonia Shah This popular science title from 2016 offers an engaging and informative explanation of disease outbreaks, focused primarily on the biology of the pathogens that carry them. Author Sonia Shah has literally given TED Talks on the subject, and it …
Book Review: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink
Book #52 of 2020: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink This is an engagingly written pop science book, and it’s short enough that I do recommend it for anyone interested in learning some surprising patterns behind hourly mood swings, peak performance times, and the like. It’s cleverly positioned as a …
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