Tag: science

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#BookReview: Frostbite by Nicola Twilley

Utterly Fascinating Parallels Between History Of Cold Food Tech And AI. This is the book I was reading on my walks in May 2026, and it was truly utterly fascinating to see the parallels between the history of cold food storage and transportation technology – a history of basically the past 150 yrs in particular, though Twilley does indeed also cover how food was cooled and stored before that period as well – and that of the current history-in-the-making of AI technology. One thing that stood out in particular was just how much more power is used for cold food storage and transportation than AI uses – a fact that actually checks out upon an independent deep dive. Another was the rapidity of societal change from “this new tech is harmful” to “this new tech is essential” – Twilley speaking directly of refrigeration of food, yet seemingly *also* speaking to the near future history of AI.

But the history and its parallels aren’t the only details that were fascinating to learn. Twilley covers seemingly everything about the topic, including how foods are kept fresh in grocery stores – and bleeding edge research to extend this in a variety of ways for a variety of foods – but also how the entire concept of cold food storage and transportation is being developed in rising areas such as China and Africa, and the challenges of bringing both regions to the levels that Americans and Western Europeans have now taken for granted for generations.

Overall a truly astounding text full of information that will illuminate several areas of your life that you hadn’t previously considered – likely even if you work in HVAC or (as in my case) have family and friends that do. One that has direct bearing on so many conversations in the zeitgeist of late, including not just AI but also GMO foods, power generation tech, and even cooling technology more generally. Indeed, in questioning whether cooling is an actual net positive for humanity (it is, but Twilley points out some areas where it is genuinely changing us and explores ways these changes may be mitigated), Twilley actually actively adds to even the very conversations she is covering within this text.

Absolutely one book that so very many should read, particularly those that pontificate about certain issues without having any clue about how very small those ant hills are in relation to the hills and indeed mountains of food chilled and refrigerated and the technology – and its power and resource consumption – that enables said mountains to exist at all.

Oh, and one note: As I read the Audible form of this book and this was not an Advance Review Copy, I do not have access to depth of bibliography information. This text would absolutely have the Sagan Standard applied though, so I do hope that the text forms of this book have at *least* 20% bibliography – I just don’t have access to that information as I write this review, and because of the format I consumed the book in, it did not bear on my actual experience with the text.

Very much recommended.

This review of Frostbite by Nicola Twilley was originally written on June 1, 2026.

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#BookReview: The Beasts Of The East by Andrew Moore

Interesting History Marred By Substandard Bibliography. This text essentially takes Cat Tale by Craig Pittman and does for elk, buffalo, and red wolves what Pittman did for the Florida panther – explain the historic ecology of the animal, how humans nearly wiped it out, and what humans are doing to try to restore it. And yes, even without directly naming Pittman in the text, the story of the Florida panther is at least briefly mentioned here, specifically as it relates to similar issues and interventions with the red wolves.

Along the way, we’re going to meet a *lot* of humans and see their roles in the fall and rise of these species, and we’re going to get a *lot* of discussion of both plant and animal ecology… and how the two different types of scientists and activists are often at odds, or at bare minimum rarely talk in the same “languages”. We’re going to see historic figures both known and not, including some in both areas who have had significant impacts on these creatures in various ways.

All of this is done in a professional journalist tone, but with a clear (if relatively mild) bent to a particular worldview common among professional journalists and scientists. Which will be annoying to some readers, but should only rise to the level of seeking the nearest window for defenestration purposes among the most extremely against this view. Point being, this isn’t a book where the author is going to inject humor or levity really at all – this simply doesn’t appear to be this author’s style, and the style he chooses to use here ultimately works to be informative without being sleep inducing, which can be a very fine line to toe at times.

Really the only actual fault here was the dearth of a bibliography, listing a “selected” bibliography of just 10% of the Advance Review Copy version of the book I read a week before publication (despite having it for several weeks before that), when a bare minimum of 15% – and more typically, particularly for books of this type, 20-30% – documentation is more standard.

Ultimately, the fate of this book will actually have a lot in common with the animals it details: Getting people to actually care about these animals will ultimately determine both their fate and the fate of this book, and indeed one would expect that both sides would help each other in common marketing here. But as a general guide from someone outside of that particular group, I would say that if you’re interested in the history of ecology and the natural North American biome, both in what it was and in how humans have been shaping it these last few hundred years in particular, this is absolutely going to be a book you’ll find interesting. If you’re looking to learn about these issues at all, this will be a solid overview of everything that has transpired through late 2024 or so. And if you’re just looking for a decent doorstop, well, at 400+ pages, eh, this could work in a pinch there too. 😉

Very much recommended.

This review of The Beasts Of The East by Andrew Moore was originally written on May 27, 2026.

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#BookReview: Open Space by David Ariosto

Well Documented Examination Of Space Tech Beyond Musk and Bezos. At least in the US (where both Ariosto and I are based), if you’re talking space these days you’re generally talking NASA, Elon Musk (SpaceX), or Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin). This book goes into the details of where space science and tech are *beyond* just those three entities, traveling all over the world showing how different people in different areas are contributing to pushing humanity beyond our home world – and why. While there are a lot of details here, including how nativist US policies ultimately both created China’s space program decades ago and pushed it to new heights (both literally and figuratively) more recently, this is also more of a complete overview of the entire field than a deep dive on any particular tech or event. Even as some significant ones – including the race to have the first commercial lunar lander – are more heavily detailed than other aspects. (For example, while space craft of various forms are discussed heavily, I don’t remember any mention whatsoever of space suit tech and only the barest mention of space food tech.)

Still, for all that it *does* cover, this book will actually better inform you of a lot of things that perhaps even some within the space exploration field may not be fully aware of (as I’m all too familiar with the idea even in my own field that a practitioner isn’t always fully aware of newer developments even in their own field). At 22% documentation, it is also fairly well sourced and because it is primarily reporting on current and near future tech and the histories thereof, Sagan doesn’t really apply here – making the 22% more than sufficient for this particular narrative.

Overall, this is an exploration of space exploration in its current forms that is clearly designed for mass appeal, and I do think this is one that most anyone even remotely interested in space tech and how we got where we currently are (beyond NASA, Musk, and Bezos) will find quite informative indeed.

Very much recommended.

This review of Open Space by David Ariosto was originally written on March 24, 2026.

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#BookReview: The Feather Wars by James H. McCommons

Dense Academic Treatise With Not Quite Enough Bibliography. The singular most important thing you need to know about this book is that it is very much written in a dry, academic, very much textbook tone. There is a *lot* of seemingly fairly comprehensive history of birding from the beginning of European settlement in the area now known as the United States – with a brief touch on histories before that period – basically up to Silent Spring. Yes, given the eras this covers, particularly in the 19th century and earlier, this means that for nature lovers in particular it may be a doubly difficult book as it goes into details about the wholesale slaughter of birds generally and even the extinction of several different specific species, including the passenger pigeon.

While at least one other reviewer does claim the book to be hyperbolic, the approach here seemed at least relatively balanced regarding birds – if slanted more in favor of conservation and government power in particular human actions and specific conservation methods. Up to and including recommending some rather extreme actions regarding pet cats, declaring that they should be regulated even more tightly than pet dogs are. Clearly, this author has never actually attempted to keep a cat even inside a covered stroller, much less walked on a leash. (Yes, I’m aware *some* cats tolerate these actions. *Some* animals – including the human animal – will tolerate nearly any physically survivable situation. This does not mean the majority do or that these conditions are good for them.)

Indeed, as with so many nonfiction books declaring policy recommendations… eh, they’re always going to be hit or miss at best depending on the reader’s personal preferences. As a cat lover and avowed Anarchist… let’s just say I personally agreed with few of them indeed, but others with different views may arrive at different conclusions there.

Overall if you can withstand the dense academic tone – and, if a nature lover, the clinical precision with which McCommons describes such wholesale and wanton slaughter of so many birds – this book will at minimum be informative, unless perhaps you are a birder yourself with a strong knowledge of the history of that hobby.

Recommended.

This review of The Feather Wars by James H. McCommons was originally written on March 19, 2026.

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#BookReview: Body Electric by Manoush Zomorodi

Clarion Call For Post-COVID Society To Move More. In this text – based on a 2023 podcast and experiment Zomorodi helped orchestrate – the central point could not be more clear: Virtually all of us, particularly among white collar workers, in this post-COVID age need to move more. A lot more. To the tune of 5 minutes every 30 minutes. Nothing overly stressful, a casual stroll or its equivalent is actually the recommendation. No or at least minimal sweat, just movement to get our body operating more efficiently than it does when we sit for hours on end.

This is actually a book that is hitting pretty damn hard personally, as I am now actively fighting health issues in my legs (and I’m actively getting various scans to identify exactly what is going on and where, but so far it seems limited to my legs) that this text actually directly addresses, such as lymphedema (which is specifically mentioned) and possible (in my case) chronic veinous insufficiency. This, from a man who a few yrs pre-COVID (within the absolute value from COVID that we now are after COVID) was walk/ running (13 min mile or so at my best) 1100 miles per year / 5K race every month and even did a pair of half marathons (PR: 3:09:12). And then COVID hit and I eventually got my dream job, fully remote and doing interesting work while getting to mentor colleagues newer to the field.

But now I sit. All. The. Time. And my legs in particular have begun to noticeably have ill effects. DDPYoga, particularly its programs starting you flat on your back on your bed and progressing to sitting in a chair and then (where I am now) using a chair for stability as you begin to stand through the workout, has helped in my case… but Zomorodi’s advice here may actually be even more beneficial to even more people than DDP has been. (Sorry, DDP – you’re awesome and I really can’t thank you enough for this program, but I stand behind my last statement.)

In conjunction with Rowan Jacobsen’s In Defense of Sunlight, releasing about six weeks after this book and which I read just a day or so before reading this book, what many of us need to do to begin both getting healthier and generally feeling better could not be more clear… or more basic. Get up. Get out. Move around more. Not enough to burn (either your skin or sweating), but enough to just *be*. According to the actual research using thousands of people Zomorodi describes in this text that she helped facilitate, it really is that simple and will provide a fair amount of quality of life benefits that will at minimum help your focus and emotional stability if nothing else.

Ultimately, and I can’t believe *I* am saying this, consult your physician for any problems you’re actually feeling. If you don’t have one, find one – even with my general anti-doc stance (and I have my reasons), quite simply (and this is the very thing that got me to finally go to them), they have instrumentation and thus information that you cannot possibly obtain on your own/ at home, including the scans I’ve already done and am doing over the next couple of weeks. But talk to them about Zomorodi’s ideas here in this text. Talk to them about Jacobsen’s ideas in his text. Ask them about DDPYoga if you think it may help you.

Even as Zomorodi is discussing something she actively participated in and helped facilitate via her podcast, this book is still pretty well documented at 22% of the text of even the Advance Review Copy I read, with a forward from the doc whose research she had found and decided to help with. Which is perfectly in line with my usual expectations of 20-30% documentation.

Move more. 5 minutes every 30 minutes is ideal, according to Zomorodi, but even 5 minutes every hour or even 2 hours will provide at least some benefit. Just a casual stroll, in an office hallway, around your apartment, whatever space you may have. Just move. Frequently.

Very much recommended.

This review of Body Electric by Manoush Zomorodi was originally written on March 2, 2026.

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#BookReview: In Defense Of Sunlight by Rowan Jacobsen

Short Yet Thoroughly Documented Clarion Call Inspired By Pollan’s In Defense Of Food. In this text, Jacobsen explicitly sets out to do for sunlight what Michael Pollan once did for “real food” several years ago… and largely nails it. The writing here is engaging and explains the science at a level that most will be able to understand it yet doesn’t shy away from the more complex areas of the science either. At just under 300 pages with just over a quarter of even that being documentation, this is an easy one day read for many people… and yet will also be one that many readers will want to sip and savor and perhaps spread out over a much longer reading period.

Perhaps, even, via reading it for a few minutes per day as the sun rises or sets… which is a particular period Jacobsen shows does quite a bit for the human body.

In all honesty, I read this book when I did – days before the dreaded “Spring Forward” of “Daylight Saving Time” – hoping for a much stronger anti-DST argument here, which isn’t as present as I had hoped… but that actually points to the actual strengths of the text, as Jacobsen is more concerned that you get outside at all than *when* you get outside, though he does indeed go into detail about what the sun’s light at different times of the day can do for you and does in fact make at least some case for the earlier sunrises of so-called “Standard” time, while also pointing out the science of living on the eastern vs western edges of a time zone, among many other topics.

Overall a very thorough text covering all aspects of the science of the interaction of the sun and the human body, this is absolutely one book everyone needs to read and make their own calls about… and perhaps even recommend it to your medical providers. I know I’ll be recommending my own docs read this.

Very much recommended.

This review of In Defense Of Sunlight by Rowan Jacobsen was originally written on February 27, 2026.

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#BookReview: The Greatest Scientific Gamble by Michael Joseloff

Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. J. Robert Oppenheimer and Werner Heisenberg. In this text, Joseloff almost portrays the leading nuclear scientists of the WWII era – particularly Oppenheimer and Fermi vs Heisenberg – as a Professor X vs Magneto friendship yet rivals, still with humanity’s freedom – and possibly existence – at stake. Written in an approachable more journalistic rather than academic style befitting Joseloff’s background as an Emmy award winning news producer for various cable networks, thriller/ action fans may actually be able to enjoy this particular nonfiction book quite well.

This noted, the cast of “characters” is rather large – if you have trouble keeping track of half a dozen different characters in a tale, this one may not be for you after all, as there are nearly that many major players here along with several more supporting players for this particular narrative (many of whom were far larger players in the overall scheme of WWII, but who weren’t *as* prominent directly within the efforts on both sides of the war to build a working atom bomb).

Clocking in at roughly 23% documentation though, this tale is fairly well cited, and even if you think you know absolutely everything about nuclear development during the WWII era, this book will likely show you at least a few you didn’t. For example, I personally learned of the Allied attempts to assassinate Heisenberg, that Heisenberg was a version of the US/ Confederate States of America’s Robert E. Lee… and that the plutonium blast at Nagasaki that effectively ended the war (once the Russians finally declared war against Japan the next day) actually hit facilities used to produce torpedoes that had been used to attack Pearl Harbor nearly four years earlier (along with a *lot* of other facilities in Nagasaki).

But really, it is a story of friends finding themselves on opposing sides of a war, both seeking to both be the best in their field and uncover new scientific breakthroughs before the other does… knowing that their governments intend to weaponize these breakthroughs to use against the other side. It is a story of one man remaining staunchly loyal to his homeland, knowing its faults and yet choosing his home and family anyway. It is a story of his friends already seeing how evil their friend’s homeland is – even before its full evils were truly known – and doing absolutely everything possible to convince their friend to abandon his home and join them… even if they have to kidnap him to save his life.

It is a story you think you know… and yet you almost certainly never knew these particular aspects of it.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Greatest Scientific Gamble by Michael Joseloff was originally written on February 18, 2026.

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#BookReview: I Told You So by Matt Kaplan

Interesting History That Can In Fact Comes Across As Extended Ad For Author’s Day Job. I was perusing the existing reviews on Goodreads as I sat down to write this review, as is my custom, when I saw a 2 star review mention that this book felt, to that reviewer, at least partially like an extended ad for the author’s day job as a science reporter for The Economist and actually agreed with that point in retrospect.

Written almost as much in a memoir style as even a popular science history type book – the author’s bread and butter for twenty years now both in articles for The Economist and in books on various topics over the years, if you didn’t know (see what I did there? 😉 )- this is actually the second book this month I read that dealt with a Hungarian physician named Ignaz Semmelweiss and his pioneering antiseptic work in the 19th century, with the other being The Great shadow by Susan Wise Bauer, about the history of sickness and healing more generally whereas Kaplan’s text here focuses more on how right Semelweiss was… and how much a price he paid for being the one man that was beginning to get at least something right in an era when The Establishment (to use a more modern phrase) was oh so very wrong.

Semmelweiss’ story is the binder of this narrative, but along the way we encounter a few others similarly situated, from the famous (Galileo, Lister (whom Listerine is named after, to give those who may not be familiar with the name an idea of why it may be significant), and Pasteur, among others) to the more bleeding edge and let’s say not-yet-as-globally-famous, even though this modern set has at least one Nobel Prize winner among it and one who was essential in the creation of the COVID 19 vaccine.

The history is well written – as should be expected with someone of Kaplan’s experience – and doesn’t shy away from relevant facts that may make the historical figures look not so great in modern eyes, yet the modern is, while still well written, perhaps a touch *too* personal, offering insights into Kaplan’s own training and direct interactions with some of the subjects he is profiling. This is where the more memoir aspects of the tale kick in, and again, these are still well written and engaging, they just don’t share the same psychological distance as is notable when Kaplan is writing of Semmelweiss and others.

Still, the only reason for the star deduction is, as long time readers of my reviews of nonfiction books can probably already guess, a lack of documentation, clocking in at just 12% of the overall text here, just shy of the 15% or so of even my more recent more relaxed expectations on this point after having read quite a few nonfiction Advance Review Copy books over these last eight or so years.

Overall though, the book is truly fascinating and brings to light quite a bit of obscure history of the last few hundred years, and does a great job of making the points Kaplan is trying to make quite clear without veering too deeply into preachiness. Most readers will likely learn quite a bit from reading it, and have a generally pleasant experience doing so.

Very much recommended.

This review of I Told You So by Matt Kaplan was originally written on January 30, 2026.

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#BookReview: The Great Shadow by Susan Wise Bauer

Interesting Take On The Subject With Writing Reminiscent of Rachel Held Evans. I suspect Bauer would have admired much about the late great Evans, even if they didn’t agree on every particular. Here, Bauer approaches the history of sickness the same way Evans, particularly in the last few books before her death, did various Biblical topics – with a fair amount of creativity to give examples of a particular point followed by reasonably well reasoned analysis based on the available authoritative texts – whether those be the Bible (and Torah) in Evans’ case or what we consider to be more “objective” science and histories for Bauer.

Bauer does a truly great job here with the scenarios she creates usually at the beginning of each chapter, showing both how a “modern” (21st century ish) approach to the next topic looks – usually in a way most current readers will readily identify with or at least have heard of – and a more historical perspective would look on that same topic, with “historical perspective” here ranging from pre-history through roughly the WWII period. With these, Bauer shows herself to have almost a novelist eye for storytelling, and a fairly good novelist eye for *compelling* storytelling.

The actual histories she presents here are fairly solid and mostly reasonably known or at minimum in line with things that are reasonably known, so I don’t necessarily feel the Sagan Standard applies for this text as it exists. Which allows the 15% documentation to suffice without a star deduction, even though it *is* around the lower bound of what I expect to see from a nonfiction text.

In Bauer’s message of trying to reach those skeptical of modern medicine – which should be most anyone who actually understands its history and where it actually currently is – she actually had one particular line that stuck out to me as particularly well said:

“If you’re going to try to convince people of something that is going to deprive them of something vital (freedom, agency, control, their livelihood), anything less than an ironclad case isn’t going to do the trick.”

While this line, if I remember correctly, was specifically about trying to get docs to adopt more stringent standards in line with more current thinking, it really does apply equally well to anyone seeking any change from any other person for any reason at all. Thus, it is both quite wise and quite well spoken – and gives you a pretty solid idea of what to expect from the overall tone of the book here to boot.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Great Shadow by Susan Wise Bauer was originally written on January 18, 2026.

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#BookReview: The Oldest Rocks On Earth by Simon Lamb

Part Geologic History. Part Memoir. All Intriguing Information. This is one of those books where, like at least one other early reviewer mentioned, it is nearly as much about the author as it is his subject. So for those looking for a book more solidly focused on geology or science, where the author rarely if ever interjects himself into the narrative… know up front that this isn’t that. At all.

Instead what we get is a book where the author has spent a lifetime researching something he is clearly passionate about, one where he has several personal theories he openly admits aren’t shared by all of those in his field, yet also one who has had some very interesting experiences along the way as he was doing his research. This narrative encompasses all of the above and more. We get a lot of deeply scientific detail of how the oldest rocks on Earth formed and how scientists find and study them. We get a lot of stories of the type of “and that is how I wound up being the personal taxi for an entire region when the regional bus failed one day” or “these are the people I was partying with at a remote campsite deep in the African wilderness”. We also get several instances of “these are my personal theories based on my own research and studying the field for a lifetime, but not everyone agrees with me”.

In other words, a fascinating look at a topic that some could consider quite dry indeed, but which Lamb brings to life with both his own life and his passion for the subject. Yes, there is perhaps too much here at times for anyone who knows anything less about this subject than Lamb himself does, but for the most part he really does explain even these concepts well enough that the reader can have at least a rough understanding of them – enough to generally follow along with Lamb’s narrative and story, if not enough to pass any kind of test about them.

No, the only real thing I could find to fault here is the dearth of a bibliography. Yes, I recognize that this tale is at least part memoir, but still, there is enough geology and objective nonfiction here that just 12% bibliography still seems lacking, even if much of the objective nonfiction is based on the author’s own research. But hey, maybe I’m being a touch harsh there. Read the book for yourself and write your own review of it and let the world know either way what you think on that point. 🙂

Overall a truly fascinating book that works as much as a travel memoir as it does as a geologic tale.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Oldest Rocks On Earth by Simon Lamb was originally written on December 18, 2025.