2023 My Year in Books: Darius

The Library’s Social Media Team loves to read. So, in this series of blog posts, we’re bringing you some of our favorite books we read in 2023! Several of us (myself included) did a Goodreads challenge—feel free to connect with me there, or join a Goodreads Challenge of your own in 2024!

In 2023, I read 45 books and 7,701 pages. This is actually a small step down from last year, when I read 49 books and 9,587 pages. That surprised me! My shortest book was Pen Pals by Aaron Cometbus, which was 72 pages. The longest book I read was Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, which was 476 pages. You can see all the books I read on my Goodreads page.

My goal for 2023 was 45 books, which I achieved over Christmas break. In no particular order, here are some of my favorites!

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Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry:

An aging barber named Jayber Crow tells you his life story. Wendell Berry’s prose is excellent, and the fictional small town of Port William (in which many other Berry stories are also set) feels as real as any place I’ve ever been. Jayber Crow as a character comes to life in a way I’ve rarely experienced. My favorite “old man tells a story” book that I’ve read so far. In the months since I read Jayber Crow, I’ve found passages from it coming up in my conversations and thought life again and again.

Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck:

Steinbeck’s slice-of-life duology set in Monterey, California, about the community along a lane of sardine canneries called “Cannery Row.” I’ve been a fan of John Steinbeck’s writing ever since I read The Moon is Down in college. (I read Of Mice and Men and The Pearl in high school, but I think there’s something especially enjoyable about choosing to read something, rather than having it assigned.) I’ve always been impressed with the author’s ability to communicate a lot of meaning through very few words.

Cannery Row doesn’t have much of a plot, while Sweet Thursday has a (comparatively) solid narrative arc. I really enjoyed the character development in the second book, but I don’t think I would have appreciated it without the background of having read the first book. Finally, I’ll share this great quote from the introduction of Cannery Row:

“When you collect marine animals there are certain flat worms so delicate that they are almost impossible to catch whole for they will break and tatter under the touch. You must let them ooze and crawl of their own will onto a knife blade and lift them gently into your bottle of sea water. And perhaps that might be the way to write this book—to open the page and let the stories crawl in by themselves.”

Deadpool Killustrated by Cullen Bunn and Matteo Lolli:

Deadpool Killustrated is a sequel to the acclaimed Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe series, and, in my opinion, is a far more interesting story than the original. The premise of the original series is, “What if everything you thought was funny about Deadpool…was actually just disturbing?” Everyone knows Deadpool as the comic book character who knows he’s a comic book character and makes endlessly hilarious fourth-wall-breaking quips as a result. But what if that knowledge was, instead, a source of existential dread? What if Deadpool decided to kill the whole Marvel universe in an attempt to escape his reality as a pawn for readers’ entertainment?

In Deadpool Killustrated, the titular character, having been thwarted by the endless multiverse of comic book worlds, decides to get right down to the source of these Marvel comic heroes: classic literature! If he can destroy the ideas the characters are built on, perhaps he can destroy the whole multiverse at once. By killing Dr. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde, Deadpool eliminates The Incredible Hulk. By killing the Three Musketeers, he strikes down the very idea of a team of heroes!

But Deadpool is not unopposed—on a quest to stop him is a team of classic heroes led by none other than Sherlock Holmes! I won’t spoil the ending, but what follows is a surprisingly fascinating thought experiment exploring where our ideas come from, how stories influence each other, and what would happen if a character found a way to dramatically influence our collective imagination. Plus, cameos from countless literary classics!  

I got Deadpool Killustrated (and Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe) through Interlibrary Loan.

The Sting of the Wild by Justin O. Schmidt:

Dr. Justin Schmidt is famous for his sting pain index used for ranking the painfulness of insect stings on a scale from 0 (completely ineffective) to 4 (excruciating). He is also known for his beautiful descriptions of how each sting feels: for example, a sweat bee is, “light, ephemeral, almost fruity. A tiny spark has singed a single hair on your arm.”

The Sting of the Wild is the late Dr. Schmidt’s memoirs, which I decided to read after the legendary entomologist’s passing in early 2023. Pick up The Sting of the Wild for fascinating anecdotes and discoveries from the life of a man who helped humanity better understand the families of insects that—for better or worse—demand we pay attention to them.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir:

A man wakes up in a clinically-clean, windowless room with no memory of how he got there and only two corpses for company. By the end of the first chapter, he has discovered one crucial fact: he’s not on Earth.

Project Hail Mary is a realistic, near-future sci-fi novel that’s full of adventure—and even mystery, since the main character has to piece together what he’s supposed to be doing and how to do it! The plot is told utilizing several flashback scenes throughout, which is a storytelling device that, in my opinion, doesn’t always work well. This book, however, utilizes them masterfully: since each flashback scene is the main character actually remembering that event, the flashbacks influence the “current” plot just as much. Andy Weir’s writing is extremely accurate to science, but in a way that is surprisingly accessible. Project Hail Mary also includes one of my all-time favorite fictional friendships.

This is the longest book I read in 2023, but I read it in very few days because I just could not put it down. I honestly think Project Hail Mary might be my favorite science fiction novel I’ve ever read. Find some more of my thoughts about Project Hail Mary here.

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You can see more books I read last year on my Goodreads page. Happy Reading!

Darius Mullin’s reviews reflect his personal opinions and not necessarily those of the library or university.

2023 My Year in Books: Amber

At the end of each year, we reflect on what goals we accomplished and the memories we made. We also often take time to set new goals for the upcoming year. Our goals often include reading more books, reading more often, and reading a greater variety of books. My reading goal for 2023 was to read 77 books, or to increase the number of books from last year. Well, I exceeded my goal. I read 88 books in 2023. This number includes audiobooks: and yes listening to a book still counts, at least in my opinion.

I continue to gravitate toward young adult and middle grade, but I have also read more nonfiction this year than previously. I am starting to find the nonfiction writing styles I enjoy most. Discussing books with other library staff and in book club helps me broaden my reading horizons.

Gigi and Ojiji was my shortest book with 32 pages, while my longest book, Kingdom of Ash, came in at 980 pages. You can see all the books I read this year on my Goodreads page. My goal for 2024 is to add more nonfiction books to my list. So, if you have recommendations, add them in the comments.

Last year, I gave my top five books from 2022. Just to be different, here are five books I read in 2023 that represent the favorites and least favorites.

The book that had the most impact:

One of the Syndey Taylor Award nominees for 2023 was Some Kind of Hate by Sarah Darer Littman. I read this book in early 2023 and it has stuck with me throughout the year. In this fiction novel, a teenage boy becomes involved with an antisemitic hate group. The boy feels like no one understands him after a career-ending injury, except for the friends he met online. These “friends” use his vulnerability to indoctrinate him. He begins hating people he has been friends with his whole life. The boy must decide who he is and what he believes at a moment’s notice after he becomes part of a terrorist plot. This book was gut-wrenching, and although it was fiction, it shows how easy it was for this teen to become involved with terrorists.

The book that I recommended others read:

This year, I read/listened to the novel Damsel by Evelyn Skye. I have recommended this book to numerous people and gave it to a friend for her birthday. Initially, I thought this book would be a re-telling of a fairy tale, but it is not. Although you will find many elements of fairy tales, you will also find a unique story with a strong female protagonist. Elodie is trying to save her homeland by marrying a prosperous prince. However, the perfect solution isn’t so perfect when the prince throws Elodie into the mouth of a mountain after her wedding.

*You can request Damsel through Interlibrary Loan.

The book that made me think the most:

Serving Patrons with Disabilities by Kodi Laskin provided me with ample opportunity to reflect on my job as a librarian. This book talks about different ways to help people with disabilities, particularly in a library setting. Each chapter is written by someone who either has a disability themselves or is the parent of a person with a disability. Each chapter outlines a specific disability and things that help and hinder a person with this disability, while bearing in mind each person has their own experience. Laskin’s book made me reflect on how I help people in the library and how I can better serve students, faculty, staff, and guests in my role here at Union.

The book that confused me most:

There were a few books that confused me this year. One of those was Neil Gaiman’s Ocean at the End of the Lane. We read this for book club, so you can find my thoughts on the Book Club blog post. Another one that confused me was The Midnight News by Jo Baker. In this WWII novel, Charlotte has lost several friends and family members to war—at least that is what the coroner’s reports say. After the death of a coworker, Charlotte starts seeing the “ghosts” of those she loved. Charlotte doesn’t believe she lost her friends to the war and sets out to find the truth. What she discovers might be harder to handle than death by war. I found myself not understanding the plot or what was happening until the very end. I did appreciate that this mystery/suspense novel did not solely revolve around WWII, even though it is set in 1940s London.

*You can request The Midnight News through Interlibrary Loan.

The book I am least likely to recommend:

This might be taking the easy way out, but the book I am least likely to recommend is American Murderer by Gail Jarrow. I say that because it gave me the heebie-jeebies, and I was paranoid I had worms for at least a week after reading the book. In this book, Jarrow discusses the medical fiasco of hookworms. Jarrow is an excellent nonfiction writer, but learning about hookworms was not my favorite thing to do. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, people living in the south, particularly the rural south, were suffering from illness that doctors could not find a cause until zoologist Charles Stiles started working the case. Stiles determined that hookworms were the culprit, and simple solutions like wearing shoes and using proper outhouses could solve the problem. American Murderer walks readers through the highs and lows of solving this problem.

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I hope you enjoy my recommendations from 2023. Check back next Friday for Sarah’s Year in Books.

Amber Owrey’s reviews reflect her personal opinions and not necessarily those of the library or university. 

Genre Starter List: Science

When you think of science books, what comes to mind might be dull, hefty science textbooks. In reality, science books and stories can be engrossing, even thrilling! Here, we have selected several books that are interesting to those with or without a scientific background. Of course, “science” is a remarkably broad category including many, many subjects—we have attempted to showcase representative titles across a range of disciplines. Remember to click on the links to read more about each book if you’re interested, and remember that you can search for other science writings in the library catalogue!

The Hidden Universe: Adventures in Biodiversity

A detailed and engaging exploration of biodiversity and why it matters. Of course, any work on the subject must address the worldwide crisis of declining biodiversity, which Antonelli does with clarity while also offering ideas for solutions.  

Black Hole Survival Guide

A fascinating and whimsical investigation of black holes, one of the most captivating concepts in physics. Accompanied by fun and minimalistic illustrations, Janna Levin breaks down complicated concepts from astronomy and physics in this surprisingly short and readable book.  

The Matter of Everything: How Curiosity, Physics, and Improbable Experiments Changed the World

Through the lens of twelve major experiments, Suzie Sheehy recounts the history of physics with an emphasis on curiosity and experimentalists, rather than theorists.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

Oliver Sacks relates several engrossing, entertaining, and insightful anecdotes of neurological disorders and their effects.

Seeing the Sky: 100 Projects, Activities, and Explorations in Astronomy

Looking for hands-on ways to learn more about astronomy? This volume includes one hundred options targeted for beginners and amateurs.

Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World

Interested in learning about the history of chemistry through a particularly explosive lens? Look no further than Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs, a book that traces the origins of chemical and biological warfare through ancient and medieval times.

Life’s Edge: The Search for What it Means to be Alive

What is “life?” The answer seems obvious, but is actually notoriously murky. One of the most brilliant science writers tackles the question in this 2021 release.

The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires that Run the World

In 2017, a series of papers published around the world drew attention to an emerging disaster: insects, the glue that holds ecosystems together, are disappearing in droves. In The Insect Crisis, Oliver Milman dives into this emerging story, it’s causes, and why the results might be even more disastrous than we dare to fear.

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

The incredible true story of the “human computers” whose work at NASA helped put rockets and eventually astronauts in space. The basis for the popular 2016 movie of the same name.

Mother Brain: How Neuroscience is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood

Dive into this 2022 exploration of groundbreaking research on the “maternal instinct” and how becoming a parent actually changes the neurology of the mother’s brain.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Though she died more than sixty years ago, Henrietta Lacks’ cells—known as HeLa to researchers—are still used today. HeLa cells have been an integral part of research on cancer, viruses, gene mapping, polio vaccines, and more, yet Lacks herself is buried in an unmarked grave. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a fascinating account of scientific history, bioethics, and scientific law.

Silent Spring

Rachel Carson’s classic work investigating the connection between environmental destruction and the use of herbicides, pesticides, and other chemical products. Originally published in the 1960s, Silent Spring is (unfortunately) still an important work today.

Darius Mullin’s reviews reflect his personal opinions and not necessarily those of the library or university.

Book Review: The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley

We all have something in common. Everyone does it from time to time.  In a quiet moment, our mind drifts to worst case scenarios and we imagine what we would do if a disaster were to happen. We imagine going into superhero mode, or we imagine what escape routes we would take. We wonder if we would have what it takes to survive. Since September 11, 2001, those thoughts have become more frequent for many people. That’s why Amanda Ripley, senior writer for Time magazine, set out to write a timely book on the subject.

In her well-researched and in-depth book, The Unthinkable, we learn about who survives when disaster strikes and why. Anyone who reads this book will feel slightly more prepared if they ever find themselves facing the unthinkable.

What The Unthinkable gets right:  

Each chapter of the book focuses on a different disaster dating all the way back to 1917 and how various people responded to the events, including survivors. From fires, floods, plane crashes, and terrorist attacks, no stone is left unturned.

Every type of fear response is analyzed through interviews, statistical evidence, and other scientific data, including brain scans of survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder.  The main takeaway of the book is to always have a plan and know where the exits are to decrease the risk of paralysis in an emergency. Time and again it was shown that people with a military background were more likely to respond quickly and effectively during a disaster because they know how to be prepared for every type of situation.

Each chapter includes morbidly fascinating stories of regular people and how they chose to act in various situations in order to survive, as well as save other people.   

What The Unthinkable gets wrong:

While this book will fascinate readers with a variety of information, it is understandably heavy. I had to take periodic breaks while reading it to let myself decompress and focus on lighter subjects. This is a lot like reading a textbook, so keep that in mind before you begin reading it.

Since the book was released in 2008, some of the information is a little dated now. However, I think most of the information is still relevant for 2023.

Overall, I did not find much to complain about with The Unthinkable. It kept me engaged and left me feeling more prepared for any type of emergency.

Recommended for:

Anyone who is interested in learning more about how to survive in a disaster; people who are interested in working in a field that requires emergency training, such as military, police, or nursing to name a few; people who are interested in science and the way our brain responds to dangerous situations; parents and teachers.

You can find The Unthinkable on the New Books shelf of the library.

Sara Hand’s reviews reflect her personal opinions and not necessarily those of the library or university.

Library Collections: Periodicals Room

Tucked into a corner of the library, often forgotten or not even seen by library patrons, is our Periodical Reading Room. Also known as our deep quiet room, it is a cozy place with comfy chairs and perfect for studying. Whether you need to research for an upcoming paper or you simply want to catch up on the latest news, the Periodical Reading Room is meant to be enjoyed for hours. So, grab a cup of coffee from Modero and discover one of the many magazines and journals housed within it.

Below are listed just some of the many titles you can find in the Periodical Reading Room…

American Organist

Artist’s Magazine

Astronomy

Booklist

Christianity Today

Communication Arts

The Economist

Image

Instrumentalist

Library Journal

National Geographic

National Review

The New Republic

Paris Match

School Arts

Science

Wired

World

YC: Young Children

Please note that magazines and journals cannot be checked out of the library. However, many of the titles can also be found online at uu.edu/library. We’re always happy to help you find what you are searching for at the Circulation Desk!

Reading List: New Books Summer 2023

Summers here at the Union University Library are certainly quieter than during the semester, but that doesn’t mean we stop working! Over one hundred new books were added to our main collection during the last three months—too many to list in a blog post. Instead, I made a small selection of our new titles that I hope you find intriguing, relevant, challenging, and even entertaining. If you want to see more of our new stuff, check out our regularly-updated New Items List, the New Rec Reads display on the second floor, or the New Books Shelf next to Collections & Technical Services.

Choosing Brave — Juv 323.092 .J84c

A Caldecott-honor winning picture book biography of the mother of Emmett Till, and how she channeled grief over her son’s death into a call to action for the civil rights movement. Mamie Till-Mobley is the mother of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy who was brutally murdered while visiting the South in 1955. His death became a rallying point for the civil rights movement, but few know that it was his mother who was the catalyst for bringing his name to the forefront of history. In Choosing Brave, Angela Joy and Janelle Washington offer a testament to the power of love, the bond of motherhood, and one woman’s unwavering advocacy for justice. It is a poised, moving work about a woman who refocused her unimaginable grief into action for the greater good. Mamie fearlessly refused to allow America to turn away from what happened to her only child. She turned pain into change that ensured her son’s life mattered. Timely, powerful, and beautifully told, this thorough and moving story has been masterfully crafted to be both comprehensive and suitable for younger readers.

-Provided by the publisher.

Against All Odds — ML 410 .T954 2016

Our Evening Supervisor, Darius Mullin, has the following to say about Against All Odds: “Rapper, label founder, and motivational speaker Travis ‘Thi’sl’ Tyler tells his life story in this gripping autobiography. Thi’sl was a gang member and drug dealer before becoming a Christian, turning around, and running right back ‘into the fire’ to do inner-city ministry. Many might also be familiar with Thi’sl music and involvement with the 116 movement—if that’s the case, prepare to learn the incredible stories behind his music. Against All Odds is a powerful testimony weaving together tales of drug dealing, poverty, fatherlessness, gun violence, and God’s saving grace.”

Beyond the Messy Truth — JK 275 .J66 2017

Van Jones burst into the American consciousness during the 2016 presidential campaign with an unscripted, truth-telling style and an established history of bridge-building across party lines. His election night commentary became a viral sensation. A longtime progressive activist with deep roots in the conservative South, Jones has made it his mission to challenge voters and viewers to stand in one another’s shoes and disagree constructively. Now, in Beyond the Messy Truth, Jones offers a blueprint for transforming our collective anxiety into meaningful change. Tough on Donald Trump but showing respect and empathy for his supporters, Jones takes aim at the failures of both parties before and after Trump’s victory. He urges both sides to abandon the politics of accusation and focus on real solutions. Calling us to a deeper patriotism, he shows us how to get down to the vital business of solving, together, some of our toughest problems. “The entire national conversation today can be reduced to a simple statement—‘I’m right, and you’re wrong,’” Jones has said. But the truth is messier; both sides have flaws. Both parties have strayed from their highest principles and let down their core constituencies. Rejecting today’s political tribalism, Jones issues a stirring call for a new “bipartisanship from below.” Recognizing that tough challenges require the best wisdom from both liberals and conservatives, he points us toward practical answers to problems that affect us all regardless of region or ideology: rural and inner-city poverty, unemployment, addiction, unfair incarceration, and the devastating effects of the pollution-based economy on both coal country and our urban centers. In explaining how he arrived at his views, Jones shares behind-the-scenes memories from his decades spent marching and protesting on behalf of working people, inspiring stories of ordinary citizens who became champions of their communities, and little-known examples of cooperation that have risen from the fog of partisan conflict. In his quest for positive solutions, Van Jones encourages us to set fire to our old ways of thinking about politics and come together where the pain is greatest.

-Provided by the publisher.

Lethal Tides — D 767 .M874 2022

In Lethal Tides, Catherine Musemeche weaves together science, biography, and military history in the compelling story of an unsung woman who had a dramatic effect on the U.S. Navy’s success against Japan in WWII, creating an intelligence-gathering juggernaut based on the new science of oceanography. When World War II began, the U.S. Navy was unprepared to enact its island-hopping strategy to reach Japan. Anticipating tides, planning for coral reefs, and preparing for enemy fire was new ground for them, and with lives at stake it was ground that had to be covered quickly. Mary Sears, a marine biologist, was the untapped talent they turned to, and she along with a team of quirky marine scientists were instrumental in turning the tide of the war in the United States’ favor. The Sears team analyzed ocean currents, made wave and tide predictions, identified zones of bioluminescence, mapped deep-water levels where submarines could hide and gathered information about the topography and surf conditions surrounding the Pacific islands and Japan. Sears was frequently called upon to make middle-of-the-night calculations for last-minute top-secret landing destinations and boldly predicted optimal landing times and locations for amphibious invasions. In supplying these crucial details, Sears and her team played a major role in averting catastrophes that plagued earlier amphibious landings, like the disastrous Tarawa, and cleared a path to Okinawa, the last major battle of World War II.

-Provided by the publisher.

Practice the Pause — BV 4813 .O25 2023

These days, many of us live in a state of overreactive fight-or-flight response and chronic stress. The demands of modern life pull us in all directions and can often put the meaningful connections in our lives at risk—connections to our deepest selves, to others, and even to God. But there is good news. New developments in brain science have recently proven that an intentional practice of pausing for a few minutes of meditation, prayer, or other contemplative practice actually rewires our brain in ways that make us calmer, less reactive, and better able to see the bigger picture.

-Provided by the publisher.

Sharks in the Time of Saviors — Rec Reading PS 3623.A86733 S53 2020

In 1995 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on a rare family vacation, seven-year-old Nainoa Flores falls overboard a cruise ship into the Pacific Ocean. When a shiver of sharks appears in the water, everyone fears for the worst. But instead, Noa is gingerly delivered to his mother in the jaws of a shark, marking his story as the stuff of legends. Nainoa’s family, struggling amidst the collapse of the sugarcane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favor from ancient Hawaiian gods—a belief that appears validated after he exhibits puzzling new abilities. But as time passes, this supposed divine favor begins to drive the family apart: Nainoa, working now as a paramedic on the streets of Portland, struggles to fathom the full measure of his expanding abilities; further north in Washington, his older brother Dean hurtles into the world of elite college athletics, obsessed with wealth and fame; while in California, risk-obsessed younger sister Kaui navigates an unforgiving academic workload in an attempt to forge her independence from the family’s legacy. When supernatural events revisit the Flores family in Hawai’i—this time with tragic consequences—they are all forced to reckon with the bonds of family, the meaning of heritage, and the cost of survival.

-Provided by the publisher.

Under the Sky We Make — QC 903 .N54 2021

A leading global sustainability scientist, Dr. Kimberly Nicholas knows the data about climate change, knows the catastrophes looming. Here she reveals how all the passionate sentiments she was taught to suppress as a scientist turned out to be the key tools to navigating a path out of the climate crisis. She makes a hopeful, clear-eyed and at times hilarious guide to effecting radical change in our society and culture—starting with our own lives.

–Adapted from back cover.

Reading List: The Atomic Bomb

Image Credit: IMDb

Today, July 21, marks the release of Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated historical drama, Oppenheimer. The film is a biopic following the life of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and his part in the development of the atomic bomb. Here we’ve collected some historical accounts relating to the events and characters from Nolan’s film, such as Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), Leslie Groves (Matt Damon), and of course Oppenheimer himself. Whether you’re wanting to get familiar before watching the movie or you’re interested in diving deeper after seeing it, we’ve got you covered!

*Book descriptions provided by the publishers via the library catalog unless otherwise indicated.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin

The first full-scale biography of the “father of the atomic bomb,” the brilliant, charismatic physicist who led the effort to capture the fire of the sun for his country in time of war. After Hiroshima, he became the most famous scientist of his generation–an icon of modern man confronting the consequences of scientific progress. He created a radical proposal to place international controls over atomic materials, opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb and criticized the Air Force’s plans to fight a nuclear war. In the hysteria of the early 1950s, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup, and people such as Edward Teller and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover worked behind the scenes to obtain a finding that he could not be trusted with America’s nuclear secrets. This book is both biography and history, significant to our understanding of our recent past–and of our choices for the future.

Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller by Gregg Herken

Brotherhood of the Bomb is the fascinating story of the men who founded the nuclear age, fully told for the first time. The story of the twentieth century is largely the story of the power of science and technology. Within that story is the incredible tale of the human conflict between Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller—the scientists most responsible for the advent of weapons of mass destruction. How did science—and its practitioners—enlisted in the service of the state during the Second World War, become a slave to its patron during the Cold War? The story of these three men, builders of the bombs, is fundamentally about loyalty—to country, to science, and to each other—and about the wrenching choices that had to be made when these allegiances came into conflict.

The General and the Genius: Groves and Oppenheimer—the Unlikely Partnership that Built the Atom Bomb by James W Kunetka

Describes how Leslie Richard Groves of the Army Corps of Engineers enlisted the help of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer on a three-year collaboration that resulted in the U.S. beating the Nazis to the invention of the atomic bomb.

No Sacrifice too Great: The Life of Lewis L. Strauss by Richard Pfau

A scholarly biography of Lewis L. Strauss who shaped American atomic policy as member and chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission between 1946 and 1958.

Edward Teller: The Real Dr. Strangelove by Peter Goodchild

Edward Teller was one of the giants of the nuclear age. Born in 1908, he spent the best part of the Twentieth Century at the forefront of national and international defense strategies, becoming one of its most controversial and powerful scientific figures. Seen by some as a champion of freedom and democracy and by others as an enemy of humanity, few have had as profound an impact on the shape of the post-war world.

Memoirs: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics by Edward Teller and Judith L. Shoolery

The story of Edward Teller is the story of the twentieth century. Born in Hungary in 1908, Teller witnessed the rise of Nazism and anti-Semitism, two world wars, the McCarthy era, and the changing face of big science. A brilliant and controversial figure, Teller brings to these events a perspective that is at once surprising and insightful. In clear and compelling prose, Teller chronicles the people and events that shaped him as a scientist, beginning with his early love of music and math, and continuing with his study of quantum physics under Werner Heisenberg. Present at many of the pivotal moments in modern science, Teller also describes his relationships with some of the century’s greatest minds—Einstein, Bohr, Fermi, Szilard, von Neumann—and offers an honest assessment of the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, the founding of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, and his complicated relationship with J. Robert Oppenheimer. Writing about those aspects of his life that have had important public consequences—from his conservative politics to his relationships with scientists and presidents—Teller reveals himself to be a man with deep beliefs about liberty, security, and the moral responsibility of science. 

Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center by Ray Monk

Revered biographer Ray Monk solves the enigma of Robert Oppenheimer’s life and personality and brilliantly illuminates his contribution to the revolution in twentieth-century physics. In Robert Oppenheimer, Ray Monk delves into the rich and complex intellectual life of America’s most fascinating and elusive scientist, the father of the atomic bomb. As a young professor at Berkeley, the wealthy, cultured Oppenheimer finally came into his own as a physicist and also began a period of support for Communist activities. At the high point of his life, he was chosen to lead the Manhattan Project and develop the deadliest weapon on earth: the atomic bomb. Upon its creation, Oppenheimer feared he had brought mankind to the precipice of self-annihilation and refused to help create the far more powerful hydrogen bomb, bringing the wrath of McCarthyite suspicion upon him. In the course of famously dramatic public hearings, he was stripped of his security clearance. Drawing on original research and interviews, Monk traces the wide range of influences on Oppenheimer’s development–his Jewishness, his social isolation at Harvard, his love of Sanskrit, his radical politics. This definitive portrait finally solves the enigma of the extraordinary, charming, tortured man whose beautiful mind fundamentally reshaped the world.

No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman by Richard Feynman and Christopher Sykes

If Richard Feynman had not existed it would not be possible to create him. The most extraordinary scientist of his time, a unique combination of dazzling intellect and touching simplicity, Feynman had a passion for physics that was merely the Nobel Prize-winning part of an immense love of life and everything it could offer. He was hugely irreverent and always completely honest – with himself, with his colleagues, and with nature.

This intimate, moving, and funny book traces Feynman’s remarkable adventures inside and outside science, in words and in more than one hundred photographs, many of them supplied by his family and close friends. It gives vivid insight into the mind of a great creative scientist at work and at play, and it challenges the popular myth of the scientist as a cold reductionist dedicated to stripping romance and mystery from the natural world. Feynman’s enthusiasm is wonderfully infectious. It shines forth in these photographs and in his tales – how he learned science from his father and the Encyclopedia Britannica, working at Los Alamos on the first atomic bomb, reflecting on the marvels of electromagnetism, unraveling the mysteries of liquid helium, probing the causes of the Challenger space shuttle disaster, or simply trying to find a way through Russian bureaucracy to visit the mysterious central Asian country of Tannu Tuva. Feynman’s story will fascinate nonscientists who would like to share something of the joys of scientific discovery, and it will delight those scientists who use Feynman’s work but who never had a chance to meet him.

Nuclear Forces: The Making of the Physicist Hans Bethe by S. S. Schweber

On the fiftieth anniversary of Hiroshima, Nobel-winning physicist Hans Bethe called on his fellow scientists to stop working on weapons of mass destruction. What drove Bethe, the head of Theoretical Physics at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, to renounce the weaponry he had once worked so tirelessly to create? That is one of the questions answered by Nuclear Forces, a riveting biography of Bethe’s early life and development as both a scientist and a man of principle.

Enrico Fermi: Physicist by Emilio Segrè

Student, collaborator and lifelong friend of Enrico Fermi, Emilio Segrè presents a rich, well-rounded portrait of the scientist, his methods, intellectual history, and achievements. Explaining in nontechnical terms the scientific problems Fermi faced or solved. Enrico Fermi: Physicist contains illuminating material concerning Fermi’s youth in Italy and the development of his scientific style. Emilio Segre was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1959.

Atoms in the Family: My Life with Enrico Fermi by Laura Fermi

Mrs. Fermi tells of her life with her famous husband who produced the first chain reaction that led to the atom bomb, and was winner of the Nobel Prize and the Congressional Medal for Merit. This memoir has become a classic.

Bomb: The Race to Build–and Steal–the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

Recounts the scientific discoveries that enabled atom splitting, the military intelligence operations that occurred in rival countries, and the work of brilliant scientists hidden at Los Alamos.

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan

In this book the author traces the story of the unsung World War II workers in Oak Ridge, Tennessee through interviews with dozens of surviving women and other Oak Ridge residents. This is the story of the young women of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, who unwittingly played a crucial role in one of the most significant moments in U.S. history. The Tennessee town of Oak Ridge was created from scratch in 1942. One of the Manhattan Project’s secret cities, it did not appear on any maps until 1949, and yet at the height of World War II it was using more electricity than New York City and was home to more than 75,000 people, many of them young women recruited from small towns across the South. Their jobs were shrouded in mystery, but they were buoyed by a sense of shared purpose, close friendships, and a surplus of handsome scientists and Army men. But against this wartime backdrop, a darker story was unfolding. The penalty for talking about their work, even the most innocuous details, was job loss and eviction. One woman was recruited to spy on her coworkers. They all knew something big was happening at Oak Ridge, but few could piece together the true nature of their work until the bomb “Little Boy” was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, and the secret was out. The shocking revelation: the residents of Oak Ridge were enriching uranium for the atomic bomb. Though the young women originally believed they would leave Oak Ridge after the war, many met husbands there, made lifelong friends, and still call the seventy-year-old town home. The reverberations from their work there, work they did not fully understand at the time, are still being felt today.

Book Review: Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin

Finally, the handy guide you’ve been waiting for! Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin is an engaging, entertaining, and thought-provoking read. Levin’s use of language is witty and accurate: at once no-nonsense and clever. Lia Halloran’s illustrations are the perfect tone, providing helpful visualization of the concepts discussed in the text while remaining visually striking in their own right. The ideas communicated in the Guide are huge. Due to the nature of black holes themselves, ultimately this is a book about physics, and especially quantum physics and relativity (with some paradox in there as well, for good measure). Nonetheless, this is one of the clearest and most easy to follow explanations of such brain-bending topics that I have read to date. Clocking in at only 143 (very small) pages, this is a book that could be completed in a weekend, or maybe even a day. Though you might want to slow down and process the ideas within! The combination of this Guide’s brevity (each chapter is fairly short as well) with its clarity makes it a quite exciting foray into some of the more extreme sides of physics.

Black Hole Survival Guide is accessible and will leave you with much food for thought. Pick up this book for a very readable expedition into one of the most intriguing concepts known to science.

Especially recommended for: 

Readers interested in black holes, astronomy, physics, quantum mechanics, relativity, or science generally. People who enjoyed Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, and anyone wanting a bit of a brain workout in a small package!

Black Hole Survival Guide can be found in the “QB” section of the library.

Darius Mullin’s reviews reflect his personal opinions and not necessarily those of the library or university.

Book Review: Buzz Sting Bite by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson

Did you know there are a few species of water strider that live exclusively on the open ocean? What about beetles that can age backward? Buzz Sting Bite: Why We Need Insects by Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson contains details about all this and much, much more.

Sverdrup-Thygeson makes a compelling case for why we need insects. Rather than hammer the human race’s dependence upon insect-kind with big picture data, Buzz Sting Bite gradually makes its case through example after example of the many ways insects are part of our lives. From antibiotics to keeping produce fresh in the supermarket, insects have more of a direct effect on your day-to-day life than you probably suspect!

Most of the big-picture perspective and application of the facts presented in Buzz Sting Bite are found in the final chapter. Because of this, the book lends itself more to a gradual read of a chapter or even just a few sections at a time. The individual stories found within are remarkable and important; taken all in one go, however, the book might feel a little disjointed.

Buzz Sting Bite is full of wonderous details about the world we inhabit and is worth picking up for even the most insect-averse and the most insect-knowledgeable. The book is full of engaging descriptions, charming illustrations, and such a plethora of subjects that you can never guess what interesting thing you will learn next.

Especially recommended for: 

Anyone wanting to take a fresh look at the world we inhabit, those wishing to be amazed by Creation and better understand it, readers with an interest in ecology or entomology, people who want to be good stewards of Creation, and anyone wanting to discover why E. O. Wilson is quoted as saying “If human beings were to disappear tomorrow, the world would go on with little change… But if invertebrates were to disappear, I doubt that the human species could live more than a few months.”

Buzz Sting Bite can be found in the “QL” section of the library.

Darius Mullin’s reviews reflect his personal opinions and not necessarily those of the library or university.

Book Review: Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer

Ready to feel uncomfortable? With chapter titles like “A Precise Horror” and a prologue called “A Vein Is a River” starting on the first page, Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer is no bedtime story. The book is nothing if not informative, however, unveiling a whole new world – our world, as it turns out – that has been hiding right under the reader’s nose (sometimes literally).

Zimmer is an engaging writer on scientific topics, and he is aided by the fascinating nature of his subject matter. It is likely that many readers are not aware of the extent to which parasites infiltrate our world. It is likelier still that many more are unaware of the shocking extent to which these creatures influence the day-to-day life of not only frogs, fish, and crabs, but humans as well.

Parasite Rex will change the way you think about parasites. Zimmer highlights the incredible complexity (and maybe even beauty?) of parasitic species, the fascinating discoveries throughout the history of parasitology, and the medical relevance of important species like Trypanosoma brucei and Dracunculus. A crustacean known as the tongue louse replace fishes’ tongues with its own body and Sacculina carcini turns crabs into puppets. Parasitic wasps devour caterpillars from the inside out and young cuckoos invade the nests of other birds.

It’s possible that Zimmer’s work slightly overstates the role of parasites as he makes his point. The book’s title itself does, after all, claim that parasites not only play an important role but are indeed king. Not a fault on its own, but when Zimmer seems to stretch his definition of “parasite” when convenient to include viruses or even mammalian fetuses within their mothers, overstatement is certainly a risk.

Nonetheless, even if Parasite Rex claims rulership a little too strongly, even a less strong claim is still startling. For example, ecologists have long seen predator-prey interactions as a classic example of survival of the fittest. Recognizing, however, as Zimmer does, the role of parasites can greatly complicate things: perhaps the fittest antelope in the herd is afflicted by parasites through no fault of its own, leading to its untimely demise as a lion’s dinner. The tendrils of parasitic influence reach even the most fundamental aspects of life and death.

Especially recommended for: 

Those wanting to learn more about a challenging aspect of Creation, readers with an interest in biology and ecology, those wanting to expand their knowledge of medical issues, people interested in missions (especially medical missions), and readers wanting to ponder more deeply the problem of natural evil.

Parasite Rex can be found in the “QL” section of the library.

Darius Mullin’s reviews reflect his personal opinions and not necessarily those of the library or university.