Roughly speaking, this is a history of the field of taxonomy. This is not a scientific text, but it is a text about science, and science is done by people, and people are flawed biased stubborn creatures (also clever, so very clever). It is a delight to see how this problem of classification changed and coalesced over time, and all the drama and controversy that went with it. Scientists are as dysfunctional as everyone else, perhaps more so in some regards. Yoon shows us how messy progress is.
Continue reading
2022-01-03
Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science by Carol Kaesuk Yoon
2021-12-23
Why Fish Don’t Exist—A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
This review contains spoilers. For a biography. Of a man who died in 1931. You have been warned.
I don’t have a proper name for this sort of story, perhaps a sub- or sibling genre of gonzo journalism. I’m going to content myself by calling it kin to “Sita Sings the Blues”. Miller interleaves a biography of David Starr Jordan with the events of her own life while writing said biography. Miller’s half of the story recounts a low point in her life. In that time she leans into her research on Jordan, who spent a lifetime classifying fish, trying to reconstruct the tree of life (for a broader view on this part of the story, see Naming Nature by Carol Kaesuk Yoon). His dedication to this cause despite catastrophic setbacks was a source of inspiration to her. So in her darkest days, she clung to the idea of this steadfast scientist; trying to understand how he did it. And then she learns that he was implicated in a murder, supported compulsory sterilization, and was more than a little racist. This is a strong beat narratively, but comes off a bit contrived. It only takes a few minutes of research to learn about the more controversial parts of Jordan’s life. To be working on a biography of a person in such a granular way so as to know the details of their early life without knowing the first thing about their adult self seems… implausible. Also, using a surprise reveal in a biography of someone who died in 1931 is questionable.
Continue reading
2021-12-20
Book Report: Widen the Window by Elizabeth A Stanley, PhD
Stanley has, through her own personal experience and experience helping others, developed techniques to heal from and develop resilience to stress and trauma. These techniques can help with anything from capital-T-Trauma to to the stress of everyday life. At the extreme end, this requires a skilled practitioner and might even be covered by your health insurance as therapy. On the mundane side, this involves practicing some simple life skills that anyone can learn; the sort of thing they should really teach in school.All this is to say, Stanley has produced something beneficial to the health of modern humans. The book she has written to spread the word is a tragedy.
Continue reading
2021-10-11
Book Report: Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
David Mitchell has a gift for voice. I don’t understand how he does it, but it’s there from the first page: here is a person you’ve just met, and you absolutely, definitely want to know what they are going to do next.
Continue reading
2021-03-29
Book Report: The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal
This is a frustrating book. It is a story about women struggling against mostly sexism and also racism. Good does not triumph. Sexist assholes run the world. The protagonist “succeeds” in spite of them, but the world is still run by sexist assholes. This is a portrayal of America’s past, but let’s not kid ourselves, it is also our present, and for a while yet, our future. It is depressing and enraging.
Continue reading
2021-03-29
Book Report: Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers
This book reminded me why I like reading science fiction. Reading is an exercise in imagination. Picture Paris on the eve of the French Revolution, or New York City in the 1920s, a tall ship lost at sea, a boring suburb, an old shopping mall, a struggling law firm, a sweat shop, a merciless desert, a merciless dessert. Add some characters and off you go. Genres like science fiction and speculative fiction tend to take more liberties with their settings. As the setting becomes more unfamiliar, the exercise becomes more strenuous (I’m looking at you Greg Egan), and the imagination benefits from a little stretching now and then.
Continue reading
2021-03-03
Book Report: For Small Creatures Such as We by Sasha Sagan
Sasha Sagan lives in that uncomfortable place occupied by the families of the famous. She is icon-adjacent. This gives her unusual access and opportunities, but it also means that the public can reliably be expected to have unreasonable expectations of her. Fame is a funny thing, but I think it is important to remember why Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan became famous. In that context, a book written by their daughter about her upbringing and world view is irresistible.
Continue reading
2016-12-26
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
This book is special. There’s nothing particularly novel about the story. It is a very old story (or perhaps several old stories if you prefer). There’s a wizard in a tower in a valley with a dark, scary forest. The wizard takes young girls from the village to serve in his tower, and blah blah blah, it’s practically a cliche, or several cliches, really. But it is the telling that counts, and Novik tells with remarkable care and detail. She takes classic fairy-tale material and makes it real for a modern reader. Continue reading
2015-07-28
Book Report: The Magus by John Fowles
I am ambivalent about The Magus by John Fowles. I am also convinced it is a Good Book. However, it has convinced me of this through a series of arguments that I am not especially susceptible to. I will explain. Continue reading
