I love Mary Roach. I will read whatever she writes, regardless of whether or not the subject area really sounds interesting to me. I was admittedly indifferent to this one, generally speaking, before I picked it up. The Read Harder challenge said to read a non-fiction book about science, and I knew Mary Roach was my gal for this. I enjoy Mary Roach’s smorgasbord approach to non-fiction writing. Each idea is linked to the next, but if you look at them from the macro you […]
” Close your eyes and open them again. That’s what a blackout feels like.”
In my life I can recall (or not recall) two times I blacked out from drinking. One lead to vague consent issues and the other lead to me arriving at home- 20 miles away from where I started- with no recollection of my drive home… when I was the driver. (Hi mom!) Sarah Hepola spent 25 years having similar, and worse, experiences to mine. A person suffering from a black out may appear fine. The hippocampus is shut down but short term memory still works, therefore […]
The adjacent possible
I found this book, six chapters about six different inventions or discoveries that changed the world in massive ways, to be utterly fascinating. I did, however, also enjoy a 400 page book about salt, so I understand that your mileage may vary. Then again, y’all are a bunch of nerds like me so you should probably go ahead and read this one. Steven Johnson, who also wrote a really cool book about cholera, examines six innovations that had worldwide implications. Each chapter starts with a […]
Banned Book Week Selection
Over the past few years I have begun to pay attention to reading books by or about members of the LGBTQ community. In general, I’ve tried to be more aware of my reading habits and expand them generally. It was a boon to me then that one of the tasks for Read Harder challenge was read a book by or about a person who identifies as transgender. I shortlisted three, but decided to go with Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin as […]