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.

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.

★★☆☆☆

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!

★★★★☆