Tag Archives: science

Gut

Posted on February 28, 2018 by smellincoffee

Gut: The Inside Story Of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ© 2015 Giulia Enders271 pages Through the teeth, past the gums, look out stomach, here we come! Gut is a tour of your innards, of the surprisingly clean but bustling twists … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

The Truth about Nature

Posted on January 22, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Truth About Nature:  A Family’s Guide to 144 Myths about the Great Outdoors©  2014 Stacey Torno and Ken Keller212 pages Great news, kids. The tyranny of mom is over: no longer do you have to wait 45 minutes after … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Science Report Card

Posted on December 30, 2017 by smellincoffee

Earlier in the year, in an effort to better organize my science reading, I drew up a list of categories to guide me along.   I kept a Word file on my computer and fill it out as the months progressed, … Continue reading →

Posted in science | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Grunt

Posted on November 2, 2017 by smellincoffee

Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War© 2016 Mary Roach285 pages I’ve never given much thought to the idea of military science. What might it involve? The chemistry of better weapons, the psychology behind successful strategy gambits? The science encountered … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

I Contain Multitudes

Posted on October 27, 2017 by smellincoffee

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes WIthin Us and a Grander View of Life © 2016 Ed Yong 268 pages For much of the 20th century, microbes were equivalent with germs – invisible threats that needed to eradicated.  As we move … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

The Disappearing Spoon

Posted on October 25, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Disappearing Spoon© 2010 Sam Kean400 pages A massive poster of the periodic table is as elemental to the image of a science classroom as the rows of graduated cylinders and microscopes,   but there is considerably more to that table … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Isaac’s Storm

Posted on September 10, 2017 by smellincoffee

Isaac’s Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History© 1999 Erik Larson336 pages First news from Galveston just received by train that could get no closer to the bay shore than 6 mi  where the prairie was … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews, science | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

A human is a messy receipe

Posted on August 24, 2017 by smellincoffee

“There is an important distinction between a blueprint and a recipe. A blueprint is a detailed, point-for-point specification of some end product like a house or a car. One diagnostic feature of a blueprint is that it is reversible. Give … Continue reading →

Posted in quotations, science | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Posted on May 7, 2017 by smellincoffee

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry© 2017 Neil deGrasse Tyson200 pages Astrophysics for People in a Hurry is exactly what it says on the tin, a brief cosmological primer that presents the basics of cosmology, explains the ways we are … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, science | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Garbology

Posted on February 15, 2017 by smellincoffee

Garbology :Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash© 2012 Edward Humes288 pages Readers who are passionate about garbage — a description which includes sanitation workers, victims of SimCity, and ecologists, I assume — will find no shortage of books on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and Civic Interest, Reviews, science | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments