Fool Me Twice, by Shawn Lawrence Otto.

Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America, by Shawn Lawrence Otto.  Rodale Books, 2011.  384 pp.  978-1605292175.

... in which we explore the ways that politicians and other public figures have led an attack on science in America, leading to the policy problems encountered today.

This review is of a digital copy provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley.

In Fool Me Twice, Shawn Lawrence Otto discusses the divide between politics and science present in America today.  Pointing out that we are living in an increasingly scientifically complex world, Otto writes about the implications of having a Congress where less than 2% of the members have a background in a science field.  He also talks about how the media has done very little to alleviate this issue, by constantly dodging scientific topics or dumbing them down to a point where they aren't really science any more.  

Opening Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove

Opening Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove.  ROC, 2007.  440 pp.  978-0-451-46174-2.

... in which we hear of the exploits of the Radcliffe family as they discover, settle, and lead a new community on the island of Atlantis.

Harry Turtledove is most famous for his alternate history novels.  In this book, the first of a trilogy, Turtledove explores the idea of an extra continent (or large island) in the Atlantic Ocean.  Although this island is named Atlantis by its discoverers, it's not actually the lost Atlantis of legend.  As you can see from the cover art above, Atlantis is basically the eastern United States, broken off from North America and now situated in the middle of the Atlantic.  Opening Atlantis follows the Radcliffe family through several generations after the founding of Atlantis.  The book is divided into three parts.  The first part is set in the mid-1400s during the War of the Roses, and follows Edward Radcliffe and his sons Richard and Henry as they discover Atlantis and bring the first wave of European settlers to this new world.  The second part is set about two centuries later, and follows the confrontation between Red Rodney Radcliffe (pirate) and his cousin William Radcliff (who changed his last name so as not to be associated with his pirate cousin).  The third part of the novel follows Victor Radcliff a few generations later, as he witnesses mounting tensions between English, French, and Spanish settlers, as well as tensions between the Europeans and their slaves.

Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich

An Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster

As the subtitle implies, Voices from Chernobyl is a collection of interviews of survivors from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.  Maybe monologues would be a better term since it's not questions and answers so much as stories ranging from a paragraph to several pages.  They are mostly stories from parents and spouses of people killed by radiation or people dying of radiation.  As you may suspect, it's incredibly sad.

Founding Gardeners, by Andrea Wulf

Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation, by Andrea Wulf.  Knopf, 2011.  349 pp.  978-0-307-26990-4.

... in which we learn about how much America's Founding Fathers loved their gardens, and how this contributed to the shaping of a country.

Andrea Wulf, a British design historian, takes us on a journey around the world with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison in Founding Gardeners.  For the purposes of this book, "gardening" is used loosely, and can refer to gentlemen who simply oversee the planting and cultivation of an estate, either with servants or slaves.  Each chapter is devoted to either a particular man or a particular significant event in early American history.  Wulf's writing is full of colorful details and is very engaging.  She addresses topics like Washington's beloved gardens and plantations, Jefferson's world-wide search for plants to bring to America, Adams' love and pride in his fully American garden, Madison's tour of Europe and his prolific plantation in the USA, the Constitutional Convention, the creation of Washington, D.C., and the westward expansion during Jefferson's presidency.

Death in Yellowstone, by Lee H. Whittlesey

Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park, by Lee H. Whittlesey.  Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1995.  276 pp.  1-57098-021-7.

... in which we learn of all the gruesome ways an unlucky person can die in Yellowstone National Park. 

Death in Yellowstone chronicles many different deaths that have occurred in Yellowstone National Park during its long history.  This is not a book for the squeamish, and it's not a happy read, but it's really fascinating in a morbid sort of way.    The book is divided into two main sections: Death by Nature, and Death by Man.  Death by Nature is divided up into sections like death by hot water, death by wild animals, death by poisonous gas, death by lightning, death by avalanche, etc.  Death by Man is divided into chapters on death in war, death by murder, death by stagecoach crash, death by structural fire, etc.

Colonization: Second Contact by Harry Turtledove

In which humans and alien coexist with varying degrees of success twenty years after the partial conquest of earth during World War II, upon the arrival of the alien race's second fleet of ships.


Harry Turtledove is unequivocally the master of the alternate history fiction. His settings are their own special kind of nerdery where time travel, alien invasions or random events change history. So in Guns of the South, for example, the confederate army is supplied with AK-47s by time travelers. His books are an interesting mixture of real historical figures and events and fiction in ways that make (alternate) history come alive.

The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, by Siddhartha Mukherjee.  Scribner, 2010.  571 pp.  978-1-4391-0795-9.

... in which we learn of the history of oncology.

This book was one of the most highly praised non-fiction works of 2010; it made numerous top ten lists made by respectable sources, and its author went home with the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for non fiction.  As such, I went in with high expectations.

Written by a doctor who is both a practicing oncologist and a cancer researcher, the book has two separate narratives woven together.  The dominant thread is the story of how scientists' understanding of cancer has evolved.  Beginning with the ancient Egyptians, and moving through time all the way up to current medical practices, Mukherjee does a nice job of showing not only how oncology has evolved, but also how medicine as a whole has changed in the last 4000 years.  In some parts, he focuses on the people who were behind each breakthrough or new practice, and in other parts, he focuses on the science itself.  I haven't had any classes remotely resembling molecular or cell biology since I was in high school, but I found the science parts to be really clearly laid out for readers who are not biologists or doctors by training.

The second thread involves Mukherjee's own patients.  Stories of them are woven into the main narrative, showing how some of them have benefited hugely from centuries of dedicated research, and how scientific knowledge has fallen short for other patients.  Human anecdotes are usually easier reading than scientific history, and in this case, Mukherjee's personal recollections did a nice job of breaking up the long science passages and reminding the reader of the reason for all of the work on the part of scientists and researchers.

On Hitler's Mountain, by Irmgard A. Hunt

On Hitler’s Mountain: Overcoming the Legacy of a Nazi Childhood, by Irmgard A. Hunt.  Harper Perennial, 2005.  278 pp.  978-0-06-053218-5.

… in which the author describes her life in Berchtesgaden, Germany, during the years of Hitler’s regime.

When it comes to memoirs relating to WWII history, the selection seems to be largely dominated by Holocaust survivors or by writing from the Pacific side of the war.  For me, at least, it was easy to forget about the general population of Germany, since most of the attention goes to the Nazis or to the people who suffered under them.  Irmgard Hunt, the author of this memoir, was born in 1934, the year after Adolf Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany.  She was born in Berchtesgaden, a town in southeastern Germany that is infamous as being Hitler's home and his base of operations.  Irmgard was born to parents who had both suffered greatly in the difficult years following WWI.  Because of their difficulties in their youth, Irmgard's parents were both easily persuaded to vote for Hitler in 1933, and to support him in the following years.  Because of her proximity to Hitler's home, Irmgard was always aware of Hitler's presence; once, when she was a small child, she even sat on his knee when he spotted her at a parade.  As Germany eventually found itself at war with the Allies, Irmgard's happy early childhood changed.  Her father was called away to war, and was killed in France.  Irmgard goes on to describe what it was like being an everyday German during the war, during the years of rationing and air raids and increasing Nazi brutality directed at Irmgard's family and friends.

The Myth of American Religious Freedom by David Sehat

I am pretty much dancing with joy right now for having finally finished this book. It took me forever to get through! While it was interesting and very relevant, it was slow, slow going for me.


The Myth of American Religious Freedom is an incredibly thorough look at religion's intersection with politics since America was formed. It is sort of a history of the "war" in American between the non-religious left and the religious right. At least, that's how most of it was framed. The book has long sections regarding slavery, abolition, equal rights and women's liberation and how those debates and political changes were affected by religion. Court cases and supreme court decisions were an important part of the book as well. While the book goes right up to 2010, everything since Roe v. Wade seems pretty rushed and cursory.

The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester

The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary, by Simon Winchester.  HarperPerennial, 1998.  242 pp.  978-0-06-083978-9.

… in which we learn about how the Oxford English Dictionary was created with the help of an Oxford professor and an inmate in an asylum for the criminally insane.

At first glance, this is simply the story of the writing of the English language’s most important reference book: the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).  However, in the hands of Simon Winchester, this seemingly dull story takes on a great deal of heart and life.  The OED spans twelve volumes, defines 414,825 words, and contains 178 miles of text.  As a point of comparison, the average fluent English speaker knows about 20,000 words. 

From its inception to the completion of the first edition of the OED, 70 years elapsed, and in those seven decades a group of dedicated scholars ponderously worked their way through all the words in the English language.  Their strategy was simple: read books, and write down every word they read.  Since this is obviously a gargantuan task, they enlisted the help of interested volunteers in English-speaking countries around the world.  In charge of the project was Professor James Murray, a man of humble origins who had attained his place at Oxford University through self-education (he never formally completed grammar school).  Over time, he found that over ten thousand of the OED’s definitions were submitted by a single volunteer: one Dr. William Chester Minor, who apparently lived a mere forty miles from Oxford.  Professor Murray took it upon himself to visit this prolific contributor to the dictionary, only to find that Dr. Minor was an American Civil War veteran who had murdered a man in London and was then found to be insane and was locked away for life in an insane asylum.  What followed from this shocking discovery was a friendship and an extremely productive partnership that would last for the remainder of their lives.

Seeing Further, edited by Bill Bryson

Seeing Further is a collection of essays on the Royal Society, science, and scientists. Each chapter is a little essay by a different author. These include Margret Atwood, Richard Dawkins, David Attenborough, and Martin Rees. Topics range from mad scientists in literature to global warming to early hot-air balloon attempts. It's all over the place, with a loose focus on the history and scientists of the Royal Society.

From a purely visual standpoint, this was the most beautiful book I've ever read. It is not a normal book for adults. Almost every page has full color images of historical documents, paintings, drawings, collages... It is so pretty! Looking at the pictures was my favorite part of the book, I think. Each chapter had a neat digital collage starting it off. These were stunning! I would scan and post a page from it to show you, but I imaging that's frowned upon.