This week, I tell you about a few nonfiction books that arrived recently -- including some books that arrived just a few hours ago!
Below the jump, I mention the books that I received recently, either as gifts or as review copies, or that I purchased somewhere. These are the books that I may review in more depth later, either here or in print somewhere in the world.
When I get new books, I like to share them with people. Unfortunately, you are all so far away, so I cannot host a book party in my crib where you can look then over, so I'll do the next best thing. I'll host a book party on my blog each Friday of the week when I either purchase books or when they arrive in the mail. In this New Book Party, I will try to be your eyes by presenting my quick "first impression" -- almost as if we are browsing the shelves in a bookstore -- and I'll also provide relevant videos about the book and links so you can get a copy of your own.
*Books that arrived recently:*
Contemporary Fiction: A Very Short Introduction by Robert Eaglestone [Oxford University Press, 2013; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* Contemporary fiction is a wide and diverse field, now global in dimension, with an enormous range of novels and writers that continues to grow at a fantastic speed.
In this Very Short Introduction, Robert Eaglestone provides a clear and engaging exploration of the major themes, patterns, and debates of contemporary fiction. From genre, form, and experimentalism to the legacies of modernism and postmodernism, the relationship between globalization and terrorism, and the impact of technology, Eaglestone examines how works both reflect the world in which we live and the artistic concerns of writers and readers alike.
*My first impression:* This slim volume is not a survey of modern novels, nor of modern fiction. The author discusses recent trends in fiction that has been published "within the past ten years or so" -- including foreign works. Some of the most interesting chapters cover "the past" (historical novels, mostly), "the present", and "the future" (science fiction, mostly). I must warn you that this little book will likely inspire you to purchase MORE BOOKS -- titles you've probably not heard of before, but which you will want to read for yourself after reading about them.
Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction by David C. Catling [Oxford University Press, 2013; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* Astrobiology is the study of the origin and development of life on this and other planets. What fascinates people about astrobiology is that it seeks answers to long-standing unsolved questions: How quickly did life evolve on Earth and why did life persist here? Is there life elsewhere in the Solar System or beyond? The research of astrobiology has become more crucial than ever in recent decades, as biologists have discovered microbes that live in ever more extreme settings, such as bubbling hot springs, in acid, or deep within rocks. Rooted in strong and rigorous research, astrobiology incorporates the work of microbiologists, geologists, and astronomers. In this Very Short Introduction, David C. Catling introduces the origins of astrobiology and demonstrates its impact on current astronomical research and potential future discoveries.
*My first impression:* When I was an undergrad in microbiology, I spent some time studying in a lab of an astrobiologist. At that time, his work was viewed with tolerance, but it certainly wasn't openly embraced by most others in the department. But that time was useful since it explored common themes that are necessary for life, regardless of where you find it, and this book starts out by using the same approach. For example, liquid water, or some other liquid that can facilitate organic chemistry, is essential. Additionally, life must be carbon based, since that's the only element that can create stable, complex molecules. The author then moves on to discuss which planets, moons and other celestial objects in our Solar System one of them might at some point have possessed the kinds of conditions necessary for life. In the last section, the book examines planets throughout the Galaxy that potentially may support life, and estimates their "livability." An engaging and well-written book for those who want to learn more about this emerging scientific field.
The Goldilocks Planet: The 4 billion year story of Earth's climate by Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams [Oxford University Press, 2013; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US]
*Publisher's synopsis* Climate change is a major topic of concern today, scientifically, socially, and politically. It will undoubtedly continue to be so for the foreseeable future, as predicted changes in global temperatures, rainfall, and sea level take place, and as human society adapts to these changes.
In this remarkable new work, Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams demonstrate how the Earth's climate has continuously altered over its 4.5 billion-year history. The story can be read from clues preserved in the Earth's strata -- the evidence is abundant, though always incomplete, and also often baffling, puzzling, infuriating, tantalizing, seemingly contradictory. Geologists, though, are becoming ever more ingenious at interrogating this evidence, and the story of the Earth's climate is now being reconstructed in ever-greater detail -- maybe even providing us with clues to the future of contemporary climate change.
The history is dramatic and often abrupt. Changes in global and regional climate range from bitterly cold to sweltering hot, from arid to humid, and they have impacted hugely upon the planet's evolving animal and plant communities, and upon its physical landscapes of the Earth. And yet, through all of this, the Earth has remained consistently habitable for life for over three billion years - in stark contrast to its planetary neighbours. Not too hot, not too cold; not too dry, not too wet, it is aptly known as 'the Goldilocks planet'.
*My first impression:* This lucid summary of relevant scientific discoveries reads like a detective story that seeks to uncover and understand past changes in climate to gain insight into what may lie in the near future. Basically, our planet may not remain a "Goldilocks Planet" for much longer if we neglect our impacts upon it. (Although it is not clear that the past is be a good predictor of future climate changes and effects.) Includes diagrams and black & white photographs and drawings. Worthwhile reading material, especially if you have any interest in climate change and how scientists study it.
Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters from the Malay Archipelago by John van Wyhe and Kees Rookmaaker [Oxford University Press, 2013; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* This volume brings together the letters of the great Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) during his famous travels of 1854-62 in the Malay Archipelago (now Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia), which led him to come independently to the same conclusion as Charles Darwin: that evolution occurs through natural selection. Beautifully written, they are filled with lavish descriptions of the remote regions he explored, the peoples, and fascinating details of the many new species of mammals, birds, and insects he discovered during his time there.
John van Wyhe and Kees Rookmaaker present new transcriptions of each of the letters, including recently discovered letters that shed light on the voyage and on questions such as Wallace's reluctance to publish on evolution, and why he famously chose to write to Darwin rather than to send his work to a journal directly. A revised account of Wallace's itinerary based on new research by the editors forms part of an introduction that sets the context of the voyage, and the volume includes full notes to all letters.
Together the letters form a remarkable and vivid document of one of the most important journeys of the 19th century by a great Victorian naturalist.
*My first impression:* Alfred Russel Wallace's letters are already online (see Wallace Letters Online) and the publication of this book raised a bit of a kerfuffle since the online library was barely acknowledged in the book. On one hand, this book is a wonderful resource, but on the other hand, if you have good internet access, the online library is superior in every way to the book -- users can view images of the actual letters, for example. Further, like most people's letters, some of these letters are just not interesting (unless you happen to be a museum curator or historian, I suppose)! For that reason, I think that Wallace's other book, The Malay Archipelago, which was written for the general public of the time, is more appropriate reading.
*Due out this month:*
These books arrived today, so I've not had a chance to read them.
Drugged: The Science and Culture Behind Psychotropic Drugs by Richard J. Miller [Oxford University Press, 2014; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* "Morphine," writes Richard J. Miller, "is the most significant chemical substance mankind has ever encountered." So ancient that remains of poppies have been found in Neolithic tombs, it is the most effective drug ever discovered for treating pain. "Whatever advances are made in medicine," Miller adds, "nothing could really be more important than that." And yet, when it comes to mind-altering substances, morphine is only a cc or two in a vast river that flows through human civilization, ranging LSD to a morning cup of tea.
In DRUGGED, Miller takes readers on an eye-opening tour of psychotropic drugs, describing the various kinds, how they were discovered and developed, and how they have played multiple roles in virtually every culture. The vast scope of chemicals that cross the blood-brain barrier boggle the very brain they reach: cannabis and cocaine, antipsychotics and antidepressants, alcohol, amphetamines, and Ecstasy-and much more. Literate and wide-ranging, Miller weaves together science and history, telling the story of the undercover theft of 20,000 tea plants from China by a British spy, for example, the European discovery of coffee and chocolate, and how James Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous man of letters, first isolated the alkaloid we now know as caffeine. Miller explains what scientists know-and don't-about the impact of each drug on the brain, down to the details of neurotransmitters and their receptors. He clarifies the differences between morphine and heroin, mescaline and LSD, and other similar substances. Drugged brims with surprises, revealing the fact that antidepressant drugs evolved from the rocket fuel that shot V2 rockets into London during World War II, highlighting the role of hallucinogens in the history of religion, and asking whether Prozac can help depressed cats.
Entertaining and authoritative, Drugged is a truly fascinating book.
Oxygen: A Four Billion Year History by Donald E. Canfield [Princeton University Press, 2014; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* The air we breathe is twenty-one percent oxygen, an amount higher than on any other known world. While we may take our air for granted, Earth was not always an oxygenated planet. How did it become this way? Oxygen is the most current account of the history of atmospheric oxygen on Earth. Donald Canfield -- one of the world's leading authorities on geochemistry, earth history, and the early oceans -- covers this vast history, emphasizing its relationship to the evolution of life and the evolving chemistry of the Earth. With an accessible and colorful first-person narrative, he draws from a variety of fields, including geology, paleontology, geochemistry, biochemistry, animal physiology, and microbiology, to explain why our oxygenated Earth became the ideal place for life.
Describing which processes, both biological and geological, act to control oxygen levels in the atmosphere, Canfield traces the records of oxygen concentrations through time. Readers learn about the great oxidation event, the tipping point 2.3 billion years ago when the oxygen content of the Earth increased dramatically, and Canfield examines how oxygenation created a favorable environment for the evolution of large animals. He guides readers through the various lines of scientific evidence, considers some of the wrong turns and dead ends along the way, and highlights the scientists and researchers who have made key discoveries in the field.
Showing how Earth's atmosphere developed over time, Oxygen takes readers on a remarkable journey through the history of the oxygenation of our planet.
Racisms: From the Crusades to the Twentieth Century by Francisco Bethencourt [Princeton University Press, 2014; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* Groundbeaking in its global and historical scope, Racisms is the first comprehensive history of racism, from the Crusades to the twentieth century. Demonstrating that there is not one continuous tradition of racism in the West, distinguished historian Francisco Bethencourt shows that racism preceded any theories of race and must be viewed within the prism and context of social hierarchies and local conditions. In this richly illustrated book, Bethencourt argues that in its various aspects, all racism has been triggered by political projects monopolizing specific economic and social resources.
Bethencourt focuses on the Western world, but opens comparative views on ethnic discrimination and segregation in Asia and Africa. He looks at different forms of racism, particularly against New Christians and Moriscos in Iberia, black slaves and freedmen in colonial and postcolonial environments, Native Americans, Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, and Jews in modern Europe. Exploring instances of enslavement, forced migration, and ethnic cleansing, Bethencourt reflects on genocide and the persecution of ethnicities in twentieth-century Europe and Anatolia. These cases are compared to the genocide of the Herero and Tutsi in Africa, and ethnic discrimination in Japan, China, and India. Bethencourt analyzes how practices of discrimination and segregation from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries were defended, and he systematically integrates visual culture into his investigation.
Moving away from ideas of linear or innate racism, this is a major interdisciplinary work that recasts our understanding of interethnic relations.
Entrepreneurship: A Very Short Introduction by Paul Westhead and Mike Wright [Oxford University Press, 2014; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* There has been an explosion of interest in entrepreneurs in the popular media, as well as in business, policy, and education. But what do entrepreneurs do and why is what they do important? Paul Westhead and Mike Wright weave a pathway through the debates about entrepreneurship, providing a guide to the entrepreneurial process. They look at how the actions of entrepreneurs are shaped by the external environment and availability of resources, consider the types of organizations in which they can be found, and look at the diversity in their backgrounds, experience, and how they think and learn. Lastly, they consider the impact that entrepreneurs have on modern market economies and look at the future of entrepreneurship in our increasingly globalized world.
What book(s) are you reading? How far are you along in the book? What do you think of it so far? Do you think your book is worth recommending to others?
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
GrrlScientist can also be found here: Maniraptora. She's very active on twitter @GrrlScientist and sometimes lurks on social media: facebook, G+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Reported by guardian.co.uk 7 hours ago.
Below the jump, I mention the books that I received recently, either as gifts or as review copies, or that I purchased somewhere. These are the books that I may review in more depth later, either here or in print somewhere in the world.
When I get new books, I like to share them with people. Unfortunately, you are all so far away, so I cannot host a book party in my crib where you can look then over, so I'll do the next best thing. I'll host a book party on my blog each Friday of the week when I either purchase books or when they arrive in the mail. In this New Book Party, I will try to be your eyes by presenting my quick "first impression" -- almost as if we are browsing the shelves in a bookstore -- and I'll also provide relevant videos about the book and links so you can get a copy of your own.
*Books that arrived recently:*
Contemporary Fiction: A Very Short Introduction by Robert Eaglestone [Oxford University Press, 2013; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* Contemporary fiction is a wide and diverse field, now global in dimension, with an enormous range of novels and writers that continues to grow at a fantastic speed.
In this Very Short Introduction, Robert Eaglestone provides a clear and engaging exploration of the major themes, patterns, and debates of contemporary fiction. From genre, form, and experimentalism to the legacies of modernism and postmodernism, the relationship between globalization and terrorism, and the impact of technology, Eaglestone examines how works both reflect the world in which we live and the artistic concerns of writers and readers alike.
*My first impression:* This slim volume is not a survey of modern novels, nor of modern fiction. The author discusses recent trends in fiction that has been published "within the past ten years or so" -- including foreign works. Some of the most interesting chapters cover "the past" (historical novels, mostly), "the present", and "the future" (science fiction, mostly). I must warn you that this little book will likely inspire you to purchase MORE BOOKS -- titles you've probably not heard of before, but which you will want to read for yourself after reading about them.
Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction by David C. Catling [Oxford University Press, 2013; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* Astrobiology is the study of the origin and development of life on this and other planets. What fascinates people about astrobiology is that it seeks answers to long-standing unsolved questions: How quickly did life evolve on Earth and why did life persist here? Is there life elsewhere in the Solar System or beyond? The research of astrobiology has become more crucial than ever in recent decades, as biologists have discovered microbes that live in ever more extreme settings, such as bubbling hot springs, in acid, or deep within rocks. Rooted in strong and rigorous research, astrobiology incorporates the work of microbiologists, geologists, and astronomers. In this Very Short Introduction, David C. Catling introduces the origins of astrobiology and demonstrates its impact on current astronomical research and potential future discoveries.
*My first impression:* When I was an undergrad in microbiology, I spent some time studying in a lab of an astrobiologist. At that time, his work was viewed with tolerance, but it certainly wasn't openly embraced by most others in the department. But that time was useful since it explored common themes that are necessary for life, regardless of where you find it, and this book starts out by using the same approach. For example, liquid water, or some other liquid that can facilitate organic chemistry, is essential. Additionally, life must be carbon based, since that's the only element that can create stable, complex molecules. The author then moves on to discuss which planets, moons and other celestial objects in our Solar System one of them might at some point have possessed the kinds of conditions necessary for life. In the last section, the book examines planets throughout the Galaxy that potentially may support life, and estimates their "livability." An engaging and well-written book for those who want to learn more about this emerging scientific field.
The Goldilocks Planet: The 4 billion year story of Earth's climate by Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams [Oxford University Press, 2013; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US]
*Publisher's synopsis* Climate change is a major topic of concern today, scientifically, socially, and politically. It will undoubtedly continue to be so for the foreseeable future, as predicted changes in global temperatures, rainfall, and sea level take place, and as human society adapts to these changes.
In this remarkable new work, Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams demonstrate how the Earth's climate has continuously altered over its 4.5 billion-year history. The story can be read from clues preserved in the Earth's strata -- the evidence is abundant, though always incomplete, and also often baffling, puzzling, infuriating, tantalizing, seemingly contradictory. Geologists, though, are becoming ever more ingenious at interrogating this evidence, and the story of the Earth's climate is now being reconstructed in ever-greater detail -- maybe even providing us with clues to the future of contemporary climate change.
The history is dramatic and often abrupt. Changes in global and regional climate range from bitterly cold to sweltering hot, from arid to humid, and they have impacted hugely upon the planet's evolving animal and plant communities, and upon its physical landscapes of the Earth. And yet, through all of this, the Earth has remained consistently habitable for life for over three billion years - in stark contrast to its planetary neighbours. Not too hot, not too cold; not too dry, not too wet, it is aptly known as 'the Goldilocks planet'.
*My first impression:* This lucid summary of relevant scientific discoveries reads like a detective story that seeks to uncover and understand past changes in climate to gain insight into what may lie in the near future. Basically, our planet may not remain a "Goldilocks Planet" for much longer if we neglect our impacts upon it. (Although it is not clear that the past is be a good predictor of future climate changes and effects.) Includes diagrams and black & white photographs and drawings. Worthwhile reading material, especially if you have any interest in climate change and how scientists study it.
Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters from the Malay Archipelago by John van Wyhe and Kees Rookmaaker [Oxford University Press, 2013; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* This volume brings together the letters of the great Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) during his famous travels of 1854-62 in the Malay Archipelago (now Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia), which led him to come independently to the same conclusion as Charles Darwin: that evolution occurs through natural selection. Beautifully written, they are filled with lavish descriptions of the remote regions he explored, the peoples, and fascinating details of the many new species of mammals, birds, and insects he discovered during his time there.
John van Wyhe and Kees Rookmaaker present new transcriptions of each of the letters, including recently discovered letters that shed light on the voyage and on questions such as Wallace's reluctance to publish on evolution, and why he famously chose to write to Darwin rather than to send his work to a journal directly. A revised account of Wallace's itinerary based on new research by the editors forms part of an introduction that sets the context of the voyage, and the volume includes full notes to all letters.
Together the letters form a remarkable and vivid document of one of the most important journeys of the 19th century by a great Victorian naturalist.
*My first impression:* Alfred Russel Wallace's letters are already online (see Wallace Letters Online) and the publication of this book raised a bit of a kerfuffle since the online library was barely acknowledged in the book. On one hand, this book is a wonderful resource, but on the other hand, if you have good internet access, the online library is superior in every way to the book -- users can view images of the actual letters, for example. Further, like most people's letters, some of these letters are just not interesting (unless you happen to be a museum curator or historian, I suppose)! For that reason, I think that Wallace's other book, The Malay Archipelago, which was written for the general public of the time, is more appropriate reading.
*Due out this month:*
These books arrived today, so I've not had a chance to read them.
Drugged: The Science and Culture Behind Psychotropic Drugs by Richard J. Miller [Oxford University Press, 2014; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* "Morphine," writes Richard J. Miller, "is the most significant chemical substance mankind has ever encountered." So ancient that remains of poppies have been found in Neolithic tombs, it is the most effective drug ever discovered for treating pain. "Whatever advances are made in medicine," Miller adds, "nothing could really be more important than that." And yet, when it comes to mind-altering substances, morphine is only a cc or two in a vast river that flows through human civilization, ranging LSD to a morning cup of tea.
In DRUGGED, Miller takes readers on an eye-opening tour of psychotropic drugs, describing the various kinds, how they were discovered and developed, and how they have played multiple roles in virtually every culture. The vast scope of chemicals that cross the blood-brain barrier boggle the very brain they reach: cannabis and cocaine, antipsychotics and antidepressants, alcohol, amphetamines, and Ecstasy-and much more. Literate and wide-ranging, Miller weaves together science and history, telling the story of the undercover theft of 20,000 tea plants from China by a British spy, for example, the European discovery of coffee and chocolate, and how James Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous man of letters, first isolated the alkaloid we now know as caffeine. Miller explains what scientists know-and don't-about the impact of each drug on the brain, down to the details of neurotransmitters and their receptors. He clarifies the differences between morphine and heroin, mescaline and LSD, and other similar substances. Drugged brims with surprises, revealing the fact that antidepressant drugs evolved from the rocket fuel that shot V2 rockets into London during World War II, highlighting the role of hallucinogens in the history of religion, and asking whether Prozac can help depressed cats.
Entertaining and authoritative, Drugged is a truly fascinating book.
Oxygen: A Four Billion Year History by Donald E. Canfield [Princeton University Press, 2014; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* The air we breathe is twenty-one percent oxygen, an amount higher than on any other known world. While we may take our air for granted, Earth was not always an oxygenated planet. How did it become this way? Oxygen is the most current account of the history of atmospheric oxygen on Earth. Donald Canfield -- one of the world's leading authorities on geochemistry, earth history, and the early oceans -- covers this vast history, emphasizing its relationship to the evolution of life and the evolving chemistry of the Earth. With an accessible and colorful first-person narrative, he draws from a variety of fields, including geology, paleontology, geochemistry, biochemistry, animal physiology, and microbiology, to explain why our oxygenated Earth became the ideal place for life.
Describing which processes, both biological and geological, act to control oxygen levels in the atmosphere, Canfield traces the records of oxygen concentrations through time. Readers learn about the great oxidation event, the tipping point 2.3 billion years ago when the oxygen content of the Earth increased dramatically, and Canfield examines how oxygenation created a favorable environment for the evolution of large animals. He guides readers through the various lines of scientific evidence, considers some of the wrong turns and dead ends along the way, and highlights the scientists and researchers who have made key discoveries in the field.
Showing how Earth's atmosphere developed over time, Oxygen takes readers on a remarkable journey through the history of the oxygenation of our planet.
Racisms: From the Crusades to the Twentieth Century by Francisco Bethencourt [Princeton University Press, 2014; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* Groundbeaking in its global and historical scope, Racisms is the first comprehensive history of racism, from the Crusades to the twentieth century. Demonstrating that there is not one continuous tradition of racism in the West, distinguished historian Francisco Bethencourt shows that racism preceded any theories of race and must be viewed within the prism and context of social hierarchies and local conditions. In this richly illustrated book, Bethencourt argues that in its various aspects, all racism has been triggered by political projects monopolizing specific economic and social resources.
Bethencourt focuses on the Western world, but opens comparative views on ethnic discrimination and segregation in Asia and Africa. He looks at different forms of racism, particularly against New Christians and Moriscos in Iberia, black slaves and freedmen in colonial and postcolonial environments, Native Americans, Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, and Jews in modern Europe. Exploring instances of enslavement, forced migration, and ethnic cleansing, Bethencourt reflects on genocide and the persecution of ethnicities in twentieth-century Europe and Anatolia. These cases are compared to the genocide of the Herero and Tutsi in Africa, and ethnic discrimination in Japan, China, and India. Bethencourt analyzes how practices of discrimination and segregation from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries were defended, and he systematically integrates visual culture into his investigation.
Moving away from ideas of linear or innate racism, this is a major interdisciplinary work that recasts our understanding of interethnic relations.
Entrepreneurship: A Very Short Introduction by Paul Westhead and Mike Wright [Oxford University Press, 2014; Guardian Bookshop; Amazon UK; Amazon US/kindle US]
*Publisher's synopsis* There has been an explosion of interest in entrepreneurs in the popular media, as well as in business, policy, and education. But what do entrepreneurs do and why is what they do important? Paul Westhead and Mike Wright weave a pathway through the debates about entrepreneurship, providing a guide to the entrepreneurial process. They look at how the actions of entrepreneurs are shaped by the external environment and availability of resources, consider the types of organizations in which they can be found, and look at the diversity in their backgrounds, experience, and how they think and learn. Lastly, they consider the impact that entrepreneurs have on modern market economies and look at the future of entrepreneurship in our increasingly globalized world.
What book(s) are you reading? How far are you along in the book? What do you think of it so far? Do you think your book is worth recommending to others?
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
GrrlScientist can also be found here: Maniraptora. She's very active on twitter @GrrlScientist and sometimes lurks on social media: facebook, G+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. Reported by guardian.co.uk 7 hours ago.