Book Review: The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson Nonfiction: The Ghost Map, Steven Johnson During the summer of 1854 a cholera outbreak threatened to devastate London. In particular, London’s Soho neighborhood lost many of its residents. Entire households were found dead. Yet from the ashes of this destruction rose a phoenix of discovery that […]
Book Review: Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, Annalee Newitz Nonfiction: Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction, Annalee Newitz (This review honors the stated preference of the author to use “they/them” pronouns. The book was published prior to that request, so readers may notice a […]
Book Review: The Hidden History of Coined Words, Ralph Keyes Nonfiction: The Hidden History of Coined Words, Ralph Keyes In the delightful book Frindle by the late Andrew Clements, a child decides he wants to make a word. He convinces everyone in his class, then his school, to call a pen a “frindle.” […]
Book Review: Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, Annalee Newitz Nonfiction: Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age, Annalee Newitz Going into this book I did not realize that the title is intentionally ironic. Annalee Newitz is very deliberate in pointing out that the cities […]
Book Review: The Address Book, Deirdre Mask Nonfiction: The Address Book, Deirdre Mask 2021 Centre County Reads Book What’s in an address? Admittedly, I had never really thought about it. I know my address, the address of my office, other addresses of importance to me. Deirdre Mask, though, has thought about it a […]
Book Review: Earth Keeper, N. Scott Momaday Nonfiction: Earth Keeper, N. Scott Momaday Almost 40 years ago now I sat in an Introduction to American Literature class in my high school. I don’t remember a lot about the class. I remember reading Poe and Hawthorne, Longfellow and Thoreau. Back then it was mostly […]
Book Review: Semicolon, Cecelia Watson Nonfiction: Semicolon, Cecelia Watson At Scintilla we get book recommendations from a variety of sources: book blog tours often invite our participation; “best of” lists and award winners grab our attention; our local library, Schlow, makes some outstanding suggestions; friends and family point us toward books they’ve enjoyed. […]
Book Review: The Great Mortality, John Kelly Nonfiction: The Great Mortality, John Kelly I have to admit, reading books about pandemics seems very odd in the present moment (the end of 2020). On the one hand, trying to understand the transformations society faces in the aftermath of COVID-19 is hard. Perhaps seeing how […]
Book Review: Shakespeare’s Tremor and Orwell’s Cough, John J. Ross, M.D. Nonfiction: Shakespeare’s Tremor and Orwell’s Cough, John J. Ross, M.D. Certain writers’ works are, dare I say, infected with certain maladies. Shakespeare frequently refers obliquely to syphilis. James Joyce has multiple descriptive names for gonorrhea. Tuberculosis affects characters in Jane Eyre and […]
Book Review: 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics,, Bruce Goldfarb Nonfiction: 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics,, Bruce Goldfarb Although it would make a great title for a crime novel, 18 Tiny Deaths […]
