The Maniac

The Maniac by Benjamín Labatut (2023) 354 pages

This is a fictional memoir of renowned Hungarian-American mathematician John von Neumann. Overall, this is a dark read – Neumann scorched everyone he interacted with and was as complicated as his arcane areas of study. Labatut plays it loose with a cast of historical characters who interacted with the brilliant polymath. Borrowing heavily from secondary sources and his imagination the author weaves a tale of ambition, hubris and brilliance. I enjoyed the literary device of letting contemporaries tell the saga. Labatut has an uncanny ability to assume the voice of the narrator, including context. My favorite example is physicist Richard Feynman describing his limited interactions with Neumann. The chapter reads like a mini-biography of Feynman and describes the frenetic atmosphere of the WWII Manhattan project -- constructing the first atomic bombs (did I mention dark?).  The tragic nature of Neumann’s legacy – he died at age 53 – is strewn across the pages like radiation from a nuclear explosion.

Project Hail Mary

 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (2021, 476 pages)

Imagine you wake up on a... space ship? With a robot nurse and no idea who or where you are. You can barely move, yet your muscles haven't atrophied. You slowly start to remember the impending disaster on Earth, and what your mission is.

INSTANT classic sci-fi for sure!!! Heartwarming, funny, emotional, scientifically mysterious. I absolutely love all the characters. It goes into the depths of science, but in a non pretentious way. You won't miss the plot if you don't understand it. My favorite bit is how the main character is a renowned scientist, but still makes silly mistakes. As he says: "At least being stupid isn't permanent. I'll press on. I know I shouldn't, but I'm too stupid to take that into consideration."

Do NOT watch the trailer for the movie before the read the book! It has a major spoiler that I think would take away from reading the book.

Sat on the couch crying after I finished it for a bit. I highly recommend this book to anyone regardless of their background.

What I liked:
✨Incredible speculation on space travel and more
✨Lovable characters with great backstories
✨Flipping narrative between present and past -- you get to figure out parts of the journey as you read. Adds a layer of mystery!
✨Goes into detail about some science, but in a non-pretentious way

What I didn't like:
💤Some parts felt a little over the top with trying to be funny
💤Bit of an emotional roller coaster near the end

Favorite quote: "This is astronavigational equivalent of doing donuts in the 7-Eleven parking lot."

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
 

Project Hail Mary

 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, 476 pages.

This was my third time reading this sciencey space adventure (and my second time reading it for a book club) and I continue to be surprised at how well it holds up to further scrutiny! I first wrote about this book in 2021 here, and I still stand by most of those first impressions. However, to keep things fresh I decided to try the audiobook this time! I found it remarkably well-done. Grace's sense of humor comes across well with the audiobook narration, and the addition of sound added some really interesting elements to communication with Rocky. My book club ended up chatting about this book for nearly two hours, which proves to me that there's quite a lot to chew on for such a fun book. Definitely check out the book before the movie comes out next month!

The Light Eaters

 The Light Eaters by Zoë Schlanger, 304 pages.

Journalist Zoë Schlanger dives into the rapidly emerging, and highly controversial, field of plant intelligence. She focuses especially on plant communication and problem solving, both topics notable for how poorly they are understood, and for how quickly new information is being added. She also focuses on the scientists making these breakthroughs, the biologists who risk academic exile for researching things that seem to go against the way we understand plants. 

This was a fascinating book! Although it felt at times like it focused more on academic politics than I may have preferred, I still left with a plethora of astounding plant facts, in addition to a broader understanding of the field of research. This is definitely the kind of nature writing that leaves the reader with a lot of big questions to think on, which I always find impressive. I would recommend this book broadly to anyone with an interest in plants, but especially for fans of Ed Yong's An Immense World. 

Proof : the art and science of certainty

Proof : the art and science of certainty by Adam Kucharski,  (2025) 357 pp

Kucharski uses an enlightening set of anecdotes and historical examples to reveal the complex combination of factors that go into knowing what we know. An epidemiologist in the UK, Kucharski was caught in the maelstrom of the Covid epidemic and was impelled to make decisions based on sometimes contradictory and constantly changing evidence. He proves his bone fides explaining the complexity of determining the efficacy of a medical procedure, vaccine, or medicine. Those that get hives thinking about math, statistics and all things uber rational will thank the author for his clear explanations and insights. Whether explaining Abraham Lincoln’s embrace of Euclid’s proofs in debating Senator Stephens, or the more arcane reasoning (and math) behind confidence intervals, Kucharski delivers. The book is a strong antidote to the seemingly endless barrage of lies, damn lies and statistics that bombard us daily. The real beauty of this work is the feeling (Eureka moment?) that comes with a glimpse of ever-present complexity and the elusive nature of certainty.

Everything is Tuberculosis

 Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green, 198 pages.

Tuberculosis is the world's deadliest disease, killing 1.5 million people every year. This is especially staggering, because it is also generally completely curable. Tuberculosis is a very old disease (maybe even older than humans), and it has gone through many name changes throughout the years as human conceptions of the disease evolved. The term Consumption, tragically beautiful disease of poets, changed to Tuberculosis, highly stigmatized disease of the poor. 

John Green weaves both scientific and social histories together with the story of tuberculosis in the modern day. What emerges is a strong call for healthcare reform, as the neglect of the richest nations denies life-saving medicine to residents of the poorest parts of the world, enabling the truly staggering death toll of TB today. It is often clear that Green started as a novelist, as he has a gift for reminding the reader that these collection of facts also have real, tangible effects on people alive today. One of these people is Henry, a young tuberculosis patient from Sierra Leone, who Green met when traveling with Partners in Health, and who's story is a narrative anchor through the book. This is a very accessible (if focused) introduction to global health and healthcare reform, and I would definitely recommend it. 

Eve

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon, 624 pages

In this fascinating exploration of evolution and natural history, Bohannon delves into the science of various mammalian and human traits and behaviors and explains how these things may have come to be because of the female of the species. From milk production to bipedalism to the development of language and story, there's a strong argument for each of these originating and developing because of our female ancestors. While there are a few things I questioned while listening to this audiobook (brilliantly read by the author), overall it was a wonderfully thought-provoking book that has me thinking about many historic and contemporary issues from a new angle. Highly recommended!

A selection of February graphic novels

 Marie Curie: A Quest for Light by Anja C. Andersen and Frances Andreasen Osterfelt, with art by Anna Blaszczyk (2018) 136 pages

The writing is succinct. The art on every page looks like collages with paper cut outs of different colors and textures. Diary entries and letters make this biography very personal. I really enjoyed the creativity of this one.

 

 

 

 

Heartstopper: Volume 1 by Alice Oseman (2018) 288 pages

I'm working on the Hoopla challenge for 2025 while focusing on reading more graphic novels this year. February is Romantic Reads.  I flew through this first volume in one day. There is a lot of space between the panels on many pages and not much text in speech, thought, or mobile texts. Very creative how it tells the story visually as often as it does. I have not seen the TV series yet, and I'll probably wait to continue this comic series.

 

 

 

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O'Connell (2019) 289 pages

Compared to the one above, I liked the art and writing a bit better. The pages are denser with emotive visuals. Freddy Riley has her group of queer friends in high school. Laura Dean doesn't see their relationship as monogamous. Laura has so much extrovert energy and doesn't seem to care that she discards Freddy so easily when she wants attention from others. Freddy is so enamored with Laura's brief moments of attention that she doesn't notice her other truly good, close friends, or the new girl working several part-time jobs in town to pay for college. Freddy's eye opening journey is pretty special.

 

 

The Puerto Rican War: A Graphic History by John Vasquez Mejias (2024) 112 pages

I appreciate the timeline and interview with the author that is included at the end. It is a short story of Puerto Rican history that I was not familiar with before. The author makes prints from woodcuts. The text is challenging to read at times, but with concentration it could all be understood. The unique style is visually expressionistic and very detailed.

Deep Cuts by Kyle Higgins and Joe Clark with various artists (2024) 312 pages

I loved this! #1 in New Orleans 1917, the art and story are amazing, looking at the roots of modern jazz. #2 in Chicago 1928, a novice Broadway songstress has an adventure that references The Wizard of Oz. You begin to see that there are threads that connect the stories. #3 in Kansas City 1940, Alice, a young black girl, tries to solve the mystery of why her dad stopped his music career. This includes research at her local library! #4 in New York City 1956, is documentary-like looking at the jazz scene and the influence of harder drugs. #5 in Los Angeles 1968, shows threads connecting some of the previous stories, but is more countercultural and the art took me longer to embrace. #6 in multiple locations 1977, ties all the issues together. Characters and themes return. Jazz history comes full circle. Oh, and the lead sheets at the end are a cool bonus. I, too, wonder if there are audio tracks somewhere of this music.

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes (2020) 400 pages

Archeology is fascinating to me. This is a well-written science book that is not too academic. Sykes presents a great overview of the latest findings and new interpretations of old findings to thoroughly explore all that we know and understand about Neanderthals currently. Each chapter begins with an italicized paragraph to put you in the mindset of our stone age kin, and these can be quite poetic in describing their environment. I found the chapter on the variety of stone knapping techniques to be a bit difficult to push through. However, all the chapters are great at challenging our assumptions of what we think we know about their lives.
 

How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi

 How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi edited by Chris Balakrishnan and Matt Wasowski, 320 pages.

This book consists of bite-sized bits of knowledge on all sorts of STEM topics adapted from pop-science presentations given over two decades. It includes section headings such as "Mmm...Brains," "Creature Features," and "Tech (High and Low)." Most of the topics aren't more than a couple of pages long, and include a cute little comic or drawing of some sort (the book blurb describes these as infographics, but I didn't see anything I would describe as such flipping through the physical edition after I finished the audiobook).

Unfortunately, I found this book to be pretty much all style with little substance. It does a great job making the reader feel like they're learning something in a fun and easy way. Unfortunately, with how tiny the chapters are, by the time I got through the introduction and opening jokes there was essentially no time left to actually learn much. This feels like it's intended to be picked up and read a handful of pages at a time, but it's not actually efficient enough about presenting information to be very good for that. Unfortunately I don't know that I can recommend this extremely stylish book, there are better choices for books of general curiosities.

This Is Your Brain On Music

 This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, by Daniel J. Levitin, 333 pages

I think I read this maybe a decade ago, but thought it would be a good intro to the science of music to our reading group. Now it's twenty years old and, while still a good introduction, the book could stand an updated re-issue. Other than being too clinical at times or not enough far-reaching, most folks appreciated the "nuggets" of interesting information. For example, the area of a violin players brain that is responsible for left hand coordination will be slightly larger than a non-player--due to their constant practice.  There was some debate as to music being more than just a series of sensory inputs interpreted by the brain--specifically how music also has far reaching effect on other systems in our body--but most of that is missing here. The first chapter is a quick tutorial on how music theory actually works. This is primarily how our brains process music and where in our brains we think it lives. I think some of the questions this book raises are probably answered now or at least we have some good theories about them. For example, the author mentions that they could take MRI's of a performers brain during a performance (because they have to move when they perform) but we can definitely do that now. But at the time, this was probably the best book on the subject designed for popular reading--musicians and non-musicians alike. We don't think about sounds hitting our ears as vibrating molecules but that's exactly what they are--vibrating to certain frequencies that our ears pick up and our brains interpret. Still, as a reader and musician, I was able to pick-up on concepts in this book that I missed out on the first time. Recommended for adults and science-savvy older teens. 

Quanta and fields

 

Quanta and fields: the biggest ideas in the universe by Sean Carrol (2024) 289pp

Part of the “biggest ideas” series, this look at the basic physics intrinsic to quantum mechanics attempts to put a complex topic within reach of curious readers who are not cosmologists or theoretical physicists. Much more math here than in many popular physics books, actually loaded with equations and formulas. I was able to follow the narrative in spite of barely passing my last math class – college algebra. Carrol explains his aim, not ginning up “Big Bang Theory” fantastic cosmic scenarios, but making the current state of quanta and fields’ research comprehensible to the layperson. Readers with a solid grasp of the calculus and advanced math will follow along and nod their heads; duffers like me can do five pages and then nap, a bit of a slog. Kudos to the author for showing that much of the cutting-edge mathematical underpinnings of this esoteric subject are rooted in mathematics developed over hundreds of years – simply (well, not too simply) taking tools developed for use in classical Newtonian physics and adapting and modifying them to explain and predict observations and experimental data. If you read and enjoyed any of the hundreds of books popularizing math, science and physics, but don’t need any more pseudo-science analogies and are sated on the entertaining personalities that litter the history of science and technology, you will be rewarded with a new understanding of this complex topic. However, I wouldn’t bring it up at a dinner party.

Raiders of the Lost Heart

 Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura (2023, 368 pages)

Note: This summary contains spoilers!

I want to start out with saying that I hate writing negative reviews. I know authors work really hard and pull lots of creative muscles. I wanted this to be fun and cute, and parts of it were. But the absurdity unfortunately took away from that.

The gist you need to know if you haven't read it is that two rival (but friend) archaeologist professors, Ford from Yale and Corrie from Stanford, are digging in Mexico for a lost famous warrior and his knife.

These people are SO unprofessional and unrealistic. Now I like campy. But from the very beginning, Ford sends for Corrie to join him on a dig. But, he stays anonymous and she doesn't know where she's going or who she's digging with, with THREE DAYS' notice. What?!? What in the tenure track is this?

This book contains wild things like Ford grabbing a venomous snake right as it goes to bite Corrie; his mom needing life saving treatment which the hospital won't administer unless he pays $30,000 immediately? (just go into medical debt like the rest of us, dude), then Corrie grabs the phone from him and pays it with her credit card; Corrie having some odd supernatural sense about where unknown archaeological sites are; nearly every named character having a crush on her; the dig site having forged papers by a well known smuggler that Ford somehow didn't recognize; Ford being stabbed IN THE STOMACH, left in the MIDDLE OF THE JUNGLE, and somehow surviving. I could go on.

There are also so many little twists that I have whiplash. 

I did like some of the romance bits (enemies to lovers, pretending to kiss so they don't look suspicious, other tropes I unapologetically enjoy, etc.), and the setting was fun. I like the opposite personalities of the characters. I would love to read this author's future books perhaps if the writing matures a little.

★★☆☆☆

42 reasons to hate the universe

42 reasons to hate the universe: (and one reason not to) by Chris Ferrie, (2024) 289 pp

Bleak science humor is the focus here (with numeric apologies to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) featuring a potpourri of terrifying vignettes explained with a comedic rude attitude. Some of the essays are only to be feared/hated on a cosmological time scale and others are staring us in the face – you know, the existential threats, like climate change and nuclear annihilation. The material appears to be a compilation of reworked podcasts and blog posts by the Australian author and his collaborators, leading to a bit of redundancy and uneven quality. I’m going out on a ‘galactic’ limb and pretend that the author has an additional motive, informing the reader that the universe is complex and requires critical analysis, albeit, not too seriously. Not for the faint of heart, this explosive tome is best read in small increments – a binge is not recommended – or so says the author.

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant by Iman Vellani and Sabir Pirzada (2024) 120 pages

I've loved Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel's adventures since reading G. Willow Wilson's ten volume run of graphic novels. Kamala is a Pakistani-American teen in New Jersey navigating school, home, and superpowers. The Marvel TV show is pretty great too although it is not lifted directly from the stories on the page. Now the young star of the show, Iman Vellani, with one of the writers from the show, is given the chance to write the script for a new comic adventure. Kamala's family isn't present for much of this adventure, since she is going to New York City for a summer college program. Her best friend Bruno tags along, and their platonic relationship is one of the best, consistent things established from the beginning of the characters. The origin of Ms. Marvel's powers keeps revealing new layers. There is an element of mutant in her so she has now joined a group of X-Men. There is a new wave of anti-mutant prejudice across campuses led specifically through the science corporation that owns the university where Kamala is preparing herself for the next chapter of her life. Through her nightmares, with science and heroics reliably at hand, Kamala lives to fight another day.
 

The Love Hypothesis

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (2021, 400 pages)

Was very excited to read this one as I LOVED Love, Theoretically also by Ali Hazelwood. While I tend to like romances of all kinds, the added science factor makes it interesting. It has the regular cast of fun, quirky characters. The few things I didn't like were the non-consensual kiss in the beginning and the fact that the main couple is a grad student and a professor. The book was cute but the age/power difference made it a little weird.

Would have done three stars, but the romance was well written to overcome the age gap!

★★★★☆

Uncommon Measures

 Uncommon Measures, by Natalie Hodges, 224 pgs, 2022

A great piece of memoir writing that tracks the author's failed dreams of becoming a first-rate, solo violinist alongside some of the most recent scientific breakthroughs as they apply to music and our perception of time. Hodges recounts her struggle with performance anxiety, practicing difficult classical pieces over and over again, only to miss notes during the execution. She also touches on her Asian-American heritage growing up with a "tiger" mom, dancing Tango to unlearn her fear of performance, and ultimately accepting that the grand musician's dream she once held for herself must go unrealized. Along the way, she introduces us to several scientific studies regarding how the musicians brain operates during times of improvisation, how entrainment works to help us move to a beat and how unburdening your mind from the physics of time allows people to enter a "flow state." Of interest to anyone inclined towards classical music, performance, or even sports--a heartfelt and vulnerable work that covers an often unviewed aspect of the artist life. 

Listen to this playlist of all of the music mentioned throughout the book.

White Holes

White Holes by Carlo Rovelli (2023) 158 pp

In a seemingly endless string of popular physics scribes, Rovelli took the mantle with his hugely popular 2016 book Seven brief lessons on physics. In White Holes he returns to take us on a cosmic journey into a black hole and then out through a white hole. As in most popular physics tomes, Rovelli releases us from math phobia by omitting any formulas and equations. As with his previous books he intertwines quotes from classic works (Dante Alighieri) to illustrate his technical theories to non-technical readers. The book is a perfect companion to Space Time by Matt O'Dowd on PBS/YouTube which also plumbs the depths of all things “spacey” aka cosmology. As to the content of White Holes, I can’t help you; cosmological constants, standard model, time dilation, event horizon, quantum gravity -- ouch.  Just strap in and prepare for an out-of-body experience.

Contact

 Contact by Carl Sagan (1985, 432 pages)

 In his only full length fiction book, beloved astronomer and original Cosmos host Carl Sagan speculates on how aliens might first make contact with us mere Earthlings.

Ellie is a smart, driven, and creative astronomer who studies radio waves whose interest in aliens leads her to work for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). She spends years pointing her radio telescopes at different points in the sky, looking for any sign of intelligent life, when one day she picks up on signals in repeating prime numbers. Ellie works with her team to unfold the message, fight the government wanting to shut it down, and collaborate beyond national borders in the name of humanity.

It's clear the aliens want communication, but the message received spark worldwide backlash, conspiracies, and religious bursts both for and against alien life. This is a heartwarming story about one woman's passion for extraterrestrials and views on the world around her, and her journey as one of the first humans to initiate contact. Anyone with a love of science, especially astronomy, is sure to enjoy this book!

Love, Theoretically

 Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood (2023, 400 pages)

If you are looking for a spicy, sciencey romance, look no further. Ali Hazelwood creates adorable, funny characters in a classic enemies to lovers scenario full of physics jokes and puns.

Elsie is an up and coming theoretical physicist, always trying to please everyone. She's also a girlfriend-for-hire, supplementing her horrible academia pay with pretending to be whoever her fake date of the night needs. Jack is an established tenure professor of experimental physics with a grudge for theorists. And also her favorite fake-boyfriend's brother. He's obnoxious, pompous, protective, and oh so handsome. She doesn't even like blonds. But the way those heterochromatic eyes look at her...

Their worlds intertwine when Elsie applies for a tenure-track position at MIT, where Jack runs the physics institute. He can't stop looking at her, and she can't stop hating him. Right?