Where is your nonfiction section please.
As we know, 2020 has been the living worst. A helpful balm for the seemingly endless parade of horrors this year has thrown at us is reading some facts about how the state of the world and humanity in general aren't as horrible as they might seem or feel. Let's investigate. First is Factfulness: Ten... Continue Reading →
To end Nonfiction November this year, Julie, Katie and I recorded an episode of Leann's Shelf Aware podcast. We talked Nonfiction November history, reading preferences, and a bunch of other stuff. It was so much fun to get to chat about books with my fellow hosts and I hope it's fun to listen to! I... Continue Reading →
There was a time I didn't want to read one word about bodies or medicine, but maybe because of developing chronic health issues myself, or again living in the US uninsured, but as I mentioned in my first Nonfiction November post, I've been drawn to medical-related nonfiction lately. Here are three targeted at lay readers... Continue Reading →
Happy first (second? what is time?) day of Nonfiction November! I'm even more excited than usual to celebrate nonfiction right now, mainly because 2020 hasn't been a spectacular reading year for me (in addition to every other reason it's been the worst, obviously). My attention has been spread unusually thin and my reading is basically... Continue Reading →
Apollo's Arrow, by Nicholas A. Christakis (Bookshop.org) It seemed to me that the novel coronavirus was a threat that was both wholly new and deeply ancient. Yale sociologist, public health educator, and former hospice physician Nicholas A. Christakis's Apollo's Arrow covers the coronavirus pandemic, drawing comparisons to previous plagues and pandemics from history and mythology,... Continue Reading →
It's Halloween month! What spooky scary nonfiction might you be reading? I mean yes -- real life is scary enough, especially this year, but perhaps you're distracting from the everyday horror and existential angst with some nonfiction about less-present scariness? Just me? The wonderful Molly at Silver Button Books is again hosting Frighteningly Good Reads,... Continue Reading →
For some reason this summer, I was weirdly drawn to ocean and/or whale-related nonfiction. Topics that I always appreciate learning something about, but I'm not sure why I felt such a pull now. Maybe the yearning to be elsewhere and if that elsewhere is as far-feeling as possible from the world as we know it,... Continue Reading →
Book review: Owls of the Eastern Ice, by Jonathan C. Slaght Jonathan C. Slaght is a wildlife conservationist dedicated to preserving and documenting the Blakiston fish owl, a rare species found primarily in Siberia. In Owls of the Eastern Ice, he documents his time in the Russian Far East, and the unique challenges of trying to research... Continue Reading →
Book review: Clean: The New Science of Skin, by James Hamblin (Amazon) James Hamblin is a doctor of preventive medicine and staff writer at The Atlantic. His latest book, Clean: The New Science of Skin, looks at the mix of confusing messaging around what actually works in skincare, the scientific limits of products against their purported... Continue Reading →
Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, by David Quammen (Amazon) The purpose of this book is not to make you more worried. The purpose of this book is to make you more smart. I bought this book as soon as COVID-19 appeared in the US for the above reason. I completely understand why... Continue Reading →
Not to sound like a cliched ancient person, but even given the surreal circumstances, this year is positively flying by, isn't it? I can't even fathom that we've already made it halfway. And yet we have! These are my favorite new releases of the nonfiction published between January and June 2020. What's been your favorite... Continue Reading →
Under the Sea Wind and The Sea Around Us, by Rachel Carson The island lay in shadows only a little deeper than those that were swiftly stealing across the sound from the east. On its western shore the wet sand of the narrow beach caught the same reflection of palely gleaming sky that laid a... Continue Reading →
