The Germ Code by Jason Tetro

You ever pick up a book that you think is just meant for you and it turns out to kinda be the opposite? That was sadly the case with The Germ Code by Jason Tetro, which I thought I would absolutely adore cause it was supposed to be all about the microbes we find around us and how awesome they are and how we can learning to "how to stop worrying and love the microbes".  For somebody without a scientific background, this provides some decent information about germs, where they are found, and the history of the human battle against them.

Unfortunately, I have a scientific background, and as a result I found The Germ Code a bit simplistic at times. I was also frustrated that Tetro didn't include any references, even at the back of the book. He writes that he does it to make the book more approachable, but I don't think a list at the back of the book would hurt anyone, and it would be useful for further reading. I also was really hoping for more information about how microbes can be useful, but despite claiming that there are plenty, the emphasis is really on the dangerous ones.

Another issue I had with The Germ Code was I often felt like Tetro got 3/4 of the way towards sharing something cool and then didn't actually go into it further. At times, some of the historical information feels more like a list of names. That said, I do think The Germ Code is probably a good starting place for a reader looking to learn a little more about microbes in an easy and accessible way, unfortunately it just doesn't quite deliver on what it promises.

Release Date: November 5th 2013 Pages: 272  Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher  Publisher: Doubleday Canada  Buy It: Book Depository

How the Meteorite Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland

How the Meteorite Got to the Museum is a picture book written and illustrated by Jessie Hartland, who previously published How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum (2011) and How the Spinx got to The Museum (2010).

Despite being a picture book, this is definitely targeted at a slightly older reader as there is quite a lot of text on some of the pages. It has a significant educational element to it which is really great, without it coming across as boring or just a list of facts. However, as much as I appreciated the art, the story itself is one I think best-appreciated by the intended audience. There are some picture books that are just so sweet and lovely that I would definitely reread them again by myself, but How the Meteorite Got to the Museum is one I'd save to read to an actual child.

One aspect of the book I really appreciated was the diversity of the characters, how they all looked different. There's also something just so charming and interesting about the artwork, it looks childlike, but intentional. There is a depth to Hartland's colours, and it's unsurprising given that the author both wrote and illustrated, but the drawing and the text blend together seamlessly. The use of different styles of writing (both fonts and hand-drawn) helps keep the pages interesting and makes the book more fun to read.

How the Meteorite Got to the Museum is an informative, fun, and beautiful book. I am passing this book onto a friend of mine who is also a scientist, and I know she will appreciate the educational aspect as well for her daughter. A definite success and I would certainly pick up more picture books by Hartland in the future.

Release Date: October 8th, 2013  Pages: 40  Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher  Publisher: Blue Apple Books
Buy It: Book Depository

The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall

Even though I love the enriching aspect of non-fiction, I don't read a lot of it. My excuse for that is the amount of non-fiction reading I have to do in my "real" life as a science grad student. But when a particularly interesting-sounding title catches my eye, like The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gottschall did, I have to pick it up. And in the end, especially as a reader and lover of stories, I found it incredibly interesting.

The Storytelling Animal is a multidimensional account of the many ways that we use stories, the many reasons why we may have them, the history and development of storytelling, and even some of the science and neurobiology between what stories do to our brains. It's a huge mix of things, and though I did find Gottschall's writing a little scattered at times, overall he did a pretty good job of following a logical sequence. In a way, he told his own story. Gottschall points out that the non-fiction we most love tends to borrow from storytelling, things like memoirs or the way that when watching sports there is always a backstory or rivalry. It's never just about the facts or the game. 

Complimenting The Storytelling Animal are a bunch of black and white photos, that were sometimes interesting but often felt unnecessary. It does help to break up the text, but I wasn't reading the book for the pictures and having a photo of Gottschall's daughters playing dress-up in order to demonstrate the creativity of children just felt pointless. In fact, there were a lot of references to his children throughout the book, and I assume that is the author's way of making the story more personal– of making it more of a story, since his book clearly explains that is what people would rather read. The personal anecdotes were cute, but as a reader I tend to prefer more real-world type examples from history and less from the author's own life.

As a whole, however, The Storytelling Animal is incredibly fascinating. It begins to answer so many questions that I'd never even thought about, and showed how important a role story plays in our everyday lives. How each of us, when we talk about ourselves, is also telling our own story, creating it in our brains as we live– emphasizing certain details, forgetting others. It's really interesting to think about, and Gottschall does a great job of triggering those thoughts.

Something I really found interesting, as somebody who loves writing, was the dissection of what makes a good story really interesting. Really, my major problem with the book is that it sometimes went off on tangents, before coming back to what had been in the middle of being discussed, in a way that was difficult to follow. Even if I wished for a slightly clearer narrative, I really appreciated The Storytelling Animal as what Gottschall has written is both unique and incredibly interesting. This is a perfect book for readers, those ultimate story lovers, but at the same time as Gottschall so aptly points out– each of us is a story lover in our own way.

Release Date: April 10th 2012  Pages: 272  Format: Hardcover 
Source: Thomas Allen & Son Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Buy It: Book Depository

Invincible Microbe by Jim Murphy and Alison Blank

A great little history of tuberculosis for younger readers, Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure by Jim Murphy and Alison Blank mixes science and stories for an easy to read non-fiction book. It's complimented by red writing and black and white images, which break up the text nicely. For such a complicated issue, Murphy and Blank manage to pare down the story to its essentials which make it easy to follow but still allows the reader some insight into specific events and people. There's even the addition of pronunciation guides for all the scientific names.

There are a few instances in Invincible Microbes when the book felt a bit superficial, but I have a pretty advanced scientific background that means I am definitely not the intended reader. Then, there were other times when historical figures were mentioned without any elaboration at all– when I felt a younger reader would probably benefit from one, even just to say that Alexandre Dumas wrote The Count of Monte Cristo when quoting him, for example.

That said, even as a biology grad student I still managed to pick up some new bits of information especially when it came to reading about the sanatoriums. It was ridiculous to read how recently they were still considered the tuberculosis cure. It was also a bit scary to be reminded that the disease is still far from being erradicated– but that was definitely the message the authors left the reader with. The advent of airplanes and the ease with which people travel the globe means that another outbreak is not only plausible but probable, which makes it more important than ever to try to discover a cure and to diagnose and treat cases world-wide. 

Invincible Microbes is an easy way for a younger reader– probably middle grade– to learn without trying. Murphy and Blank take a complicated and important topic and give a concise history, including plenty of intriguing bits to keep the reader's interest. It's definitely an approach I appreciate and I would certainly pick up another collaboration by them, or try one of Murphy's solo books, in the future.

Release Date: July 10th 2012  Pages: 160  Format: Hardcover  Source: Publisher 
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  Buy It: Book Depository

Eating Dirt by Charlotte Gill

Eating Dirt by Charlotte Gill

Release Date: September 2nd 2011
Pages: 272
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Greystone Books
Buy It: Book Depository

Gill offers up a slice of tree-planting life in all of its soggy, gritty exuberance while questioning the ability of conifer plantations to replace original forests, which evolved over millennia into intricate, complex ecosystems. Among other topics, she also touches on the boom-and-bust history of logging and the versatility of wood, from which we have devised countless creations as diverse as textiles and airplane parts.

As somebody who once got a job as a tree-planter, only to end up quitting before I even started when a parent got married the same summer I was supposed to work, I was especially intrigued in picking up this look into the life of a career tree-planter. Gill worked as a tree-planter for 20 years, and all I can say is: she should have been writing.

Well, maybe not, because then we wouldn't have gotten this incredible memoir, Eating Dirt. It's one of those books that manages to mix the personal and the factual in a smooth and interesting way. Gill covers all kinds of history: logging, tree-planting, agriculture, and other plant uses. Because of the non-fiction distractions, the chronology of Eating Dirt can be a bit confusing at times– I'm not sure, but I think that the ending took place before another chunk of the book. It probably wasn't helped by the fact that I took a three month break while reading the memoir though. I'm so glad I went back to Eating Dirt when I was ready for it, instead of swamped with school work, because it's really a poetic and amazingly written book.

Gill has some funny anecdotes, some emotional ones, and even some scary ones (Mama Bear anyone?). It makes Eating Dirt a great mix of stories, held together by her clear love for tree-planting. It's hard to imagine somebody doing this voluntarily, and the memoir is filled with an eclectic cast of people who do. I love the way the tree planters are mostly called "we" throughout the book, because it just makes it clear what a strong connection this kind of experience forms. Assuming that Gill has retired from tree-planting, I wish there had been a little insight into what it was like for her afterwards, but given that the book follows only one year, that probably would have required an epilogue.

I'm not sure I can recommend this book if you are considering planting trees. On one hand, it's a vivid insight into the job. On the other hand, I'm now one hundred percent glad I missed out on the opportunity to do. Eating Dirt exposes what life is like planting trees, peels away the bark to the soft underbelly, and the result is a beautiful and brutal exploration of a unique career and the people who choose it.

The Untamed Garden by Sonia Day

The Untamed Garden: A Revealing Look at Our Love Affair with Plants by Sonia Day

Release Date: November 8th 2011
Pages: 240
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Random House
Buy It: Book Depository

Which suggestive plant caused a queen to faint when it was presented to her at court? What was the original French name for the Great Maiden's Blush rose that had the Victorians blushing? Why are figs and pomegranates thought to be the real forbidden fruit that led Adam and Eve into temptation?

I love plants, but almost from page three I was concerned I wouldn't love Sonia Day's The Untamed Garden. That's because it begins with vivid and erotic imagery:

"the plant world is drenched in sex," she writes "Passionate, urgent, unabashed sex. Buds swell suggestively. Phallic stalks thrust skywards. Enticing orifices and lolling tongues invite probing. [...] Pornographic couplings take place. And ah, those seductive scents, like the one wafting from my father's cereus."

She's writing about a flower her father grew, one that bloomed at night and only for a couple hours, but honestly, that kind of description not only made me want to giggle a bit, but seemed like it belonged more in a steamy romance novel than a non-fiction book about flowers. But according to Day, that's why she "wrote this book– to encourage people to start celebrating the wild, sexy side of Mother Nature as humans once did, because it's been shunted aside and forgotten for far too long."

Believe me, it's not that this kind of lusty, vivid imagery went away after page 3, but I kinda got used to it.  And somewhere amid the blushing and giggling that accompanied my reading of this book– I'm really a ten year old at heart, apparently– I started to enjoy it. What sets The Untamed Garden apart, besides for its beautiful design and images, is Day's wonderful conversational way of writing. Often, it sounds like listening to an old friend (or maybe a slightly cooky aunt). At one point, Day writes how clergy

"removed the stamens and pistils from white lily blooms displayed on church altars on the grounds that such "overt symbols of sexuality" might move the congregation to think impure thoughts. Tut-tut." 

Estella Rijnveld Tulip– I'm in love with this one!

Or talking about the Greek god Paeon, she writes, "His is a complication and confusing myth (like so many)."

Her language didn't always hit the mark for me, she seems to have a fondness for some strange vocabulary, often using phrases such as "hot-to-trot", "titillating", and "pooh-bahs", quite a few of which I had to Google. I actually really recommend having the Internet handy when you read The Untamed Garden, as there are so many references to erotic looking plants that even with the many photos I was constantly Googling. Also, I don't think they look sexual, but the book did lead me to discover Parrot Tulips, which I am now officially obsessed with. So gorgeous!

There's also humour to The Untamed Garden as well. A self-described "master gardener" Day doesn't take herself too seriously. Writing on Amorphophallus konjac, she says:

"The whole plant could be described as a knock-out, in fact, and a great way to impress the people gardeners always like to impress– other gardeners."

Ultimately, if you're looking for a sexually charged book on plants, I completely recommend The Untamed Garden. But even if you're not, it's definitely entertaining enough to be worth a try– you'll never look at plants the same way again.

Bees: Nature's Little Wonders by Candace Savage

Bees: Nature's Little Wonders by Candace Savage looks at the incredible insect in a way you have never experienced before. It covers everything from what the relationships between bees is like, the diversity of bees, and what is going on in the mind of a bee. I picked up Bees because I'm a huge nature and science nerd, but what I found is a wonderful little book with crossover appeal to anyone who might just be a little interested in bees. Savage combines everything from poetry and sayings involving bees, to the history of the bee. Not only does she tell the story in an interesting way, but the book itself is extremely aesthetically attractive. You can click here to get an inside preview of Bees (it looks even better in real life!).  

I did find two rather large gaps in the material covered. First, there is a not a single mention of Killer Bees which have spread and terrorized over the years and which I certainly would have loved to learned the facts behind. Secondly, Savage only spends the final three pages of the book discussing the threats to bees in a way that is rushed and vague and I certainly thought a book funded by the David Suzuki Foundation would have spent a little more time on the environmental struggles facing the bee. That said, it's wonderful and informative on the topics it does cover. Savage tells the reader about the history of scientists studying the bee in chronological order, focuses on the key historical and contemporary figures.  I personally have a strong biology background but I had no real prior knowledge of bees going into reading this book. Luckily, Savage is clear and concise although the book itself is not overall scientific in detail.

The format of Bees is fantastic for getting a well-rounded impression of the insects and Savage definitely appears to have done a lot of research while writing the book which also includes plenty of references at the end for further reading. The book is full-colour and the images are a wonderful variety of photos and artistic renderings of the bee. Overall, I fully recommend Bees by Candace Savage as a lovely and informative introduction for individuals interested in learning a little more about this incredible insect!

Release Date: October 1st, 2008
Pages: 136
Source: Publisher 
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