The Early Middle Ages, Audio Book (2004) Philip Daileader (The Great Courses) 300 – 1000 CE My brain sometimes likes to keep going long past the time I’m ready to fall asleep. I’ve always read myself to sleep, and I’ve usually read non-fiction before bed (reading fiction can lead to staying up too late) but […]
Spectrum Women: Walking to the Beat of Autism (2018) edited by Barb Cook & Michelle Garnett A collection of essays where autistic women describe life from a female autistic perspective, and present empowering, helpful and supportive insights from their personal experience for fellow autistic women. Prologue: Barb Cook Chapter 1: Finding Your Tribe by Maura […]
Taking Charge of Adult ADHD: Proven Strategies to Succeed at Work, at Home, and in Relationships (2021) Russell A. Barkley and Christine M. Benton I skipped around a lot in this book. First, I skipped the entire first section, since I was reading this book after a diagnosis of ADHD. I also looked for sections […]
We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation (2021) Eric Garcia This is book where I jumped from section to section, looking for bits that were pertinent to what I needed at the time I picked it up. It is one of many books I need to reread more thoroughly, now I’ve had time to process […]
Knowing Why: Adult-Diagnosed Autistic People on Life and Autism (2018) Autistic Self Advocacy Network This is an anthology of essays from a diverse group of adult-diagnosed autistic people. Introduction by Elizabeth Bartmess Emerging From Burnout by Erin Human Being the Dictionary: On Passions, Diagnosis, and Integration by A.J. Odasso Sensory Issues and Social Inclusion by […]
Uniquely Human: Updated and Expanded: A Different Way of Seeing Autism (2015) Barry M. Prizant I get why this was the first book the doctor recommended to me. Really, I do. The diagnoses were a lot to take in (at any age, but especially this late in ones life) and there is always stigma attached […]
A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie (2015) Kathryn Harkup Agatha Christie volunteered as a nurse during the first world war, and ended up working at the pharmacy. In order to prepare for the Apothecaries Hall examination Christie was tutored in practical, as well as theoretical, aspects of chemistry and pharmacy. And she […]
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (2009) Dan Ariely I’ll be honest–I have listened to this book several times. Unfortunately, because it’s non fiction, I’d get distracted and so the ends of chapters and the end of the book? (I retained next to nothing.) (Why the ends of chapters? Because when I’d […]
Pandemic 1918: Eyewitness Accounts from the Greatest Medical Holocaust in Modern History (2018) Catharine Arnold This is a look at the 1918 pandemic from the stories of those who died and survived. Some of the bits I liked. Especially the more esoteric bits. (A)n accident of chemistry meant that the lead dramatically slowed the decay […]
Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction (2019) Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson It’s (somewhat) common knowledge that Mary Shelly wrote the first SFF book: Frankenstein. But there were so many other women at the start of the horror, science fiction, and speculative fiction genres, and this book tells you […]
Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Identity, and the Meaning of Sex (2020) Angela Chen What is ace? The book opens with a decent explainer. What I didn’t know was what it felt like to want sex without a specific person in mind. To think about sex at all when I was alone. To feel […]
Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine (2021) Olivia Campbell Although primarily about three women: Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake, other women who were among the first to attend (or attempt to attend) medical school. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical […]
Women Warriors: An Unexpected History (2019) Pamela D. Toler One of the things about ebooks that is both good and bad, is that when I am reading them I have no idea how long they are. This means I can be surprised at an ending, since I generally have little idea how far along I […]
Women Heroes of World War I: 16 Remarkable Resisters, Soldiers, Spies, and Medics (2014) Kathryn J. Atwood Table of Contents: PART I RESISTERS AND SPIES Edith Cavell: “Patriotism Is Not Enough” Louise Thuliez: “Because I Am a Frenchwoman” Emilienne Moreau: The Teen Who Became a National Symbol Gabrielle Petit: Feisty Patriot Marthe Cnockaert: Nurse for […]
No Man’s Land: The Trailblazing Women Who Ran Britain’s Most Extraordinary Military Hospital During World War I (2020) Wendy Moore When the Great War broke out, two of the leading suffragettes, Louisa Garrett Anderson and Flora Murray, decide to open a hospital, in the own battle to prove women deserved the same rights as men. […]
Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World (2017) Laura Spinney This one took me a bit to get through, but mostly because I completely stopped reading non-fiction for awhile last year. This is another story about the Spanish Influenza, this time focusing upon the changes the diseases wrought upon […]
An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination (2021) Sheera Frenkel, Cecilia Kang This book sets out to tell you how things are, and pulls no punches, right from the start. For years, Facebook had exercised a merciless “buy-or-bury” strategy to kill off competitors. The result was the creation of a powerful monopoly that wreaked […]
An Edible History of Humanity (2009) Tom Standage Forever ago I read a History of the World in 6 Glasses, and found it interesting, so I picked up this, let it languish for awhile, and then finally decided to settle down and read it. I found many of the historical bits interesting. It is only […]
Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America (2019) Christopher Wylie How did a gay, liberal, Canadian end up one of the architects of Cambridge Analytica–the company behind interference in multiple elections in 2016? It’s a long story, and involves everything from greed to psychological warfare to a desired to see how just far […]
18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics (2020) Bruce Goldfarb Frances Glessner Lee, daughter of wealthy Chicago socialites, ended up becoming the mother of Forensic Medicine. However, she did so not only without a medical degree, but she didn’t even have a high school diploma, teaching […]
The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History (2004/2009/2018) John M. Barry I started this immediately after finishing Gina Kolata‘s book on the flu. Interestingly, these books work well together. This book looks at things up to and during the outbreak, Kolata’s book is during and after the outbreak. This book covers […]
Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It (1999) Gina Kolata I’d been wanting to re-read Flu for years, however, I the digital version never went on sale. But when the Covid-19 pandemic started, it went on sale one day, and I snatched it […]
Lady Cop Makes Trouble (2016) Amy Stewart (Kopp Sisters) Set in New York and New Jersey in 1915. Constance Kopp has been working as a deputy, but since the county won’t allow her a badge and official position, she ends up relegated to prison matron. At the start of the book, she meets with Mrs. […]
Girl Waits with Gun (2015) Amy Stewart (Kopp Sisters) Set in New Jersey in 1915. After the disappointment of the previous book I finished, I needed something completely different to clear my brain. I probably read the first paragraphs of about five books before I settled on this. First. Constance Kopp was a real woman, […]
The Apple Lover’s Cookbook (2011) Amy Traverso I’d just picked up a bunch of apples from the Farmers Market when I noticed this kindle book on sale. Generally, I prefer my cookbooks to be hardcover, but I did have a lot of apples, so I bought it. I’ve mentioned before that I tend to read […]
Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist (1994) Dr. William Maples I’ll be honest. I bought this on sale, so the fact I only paid a dollar or two for it colors my opinion. If I’d paid full price, I’d have liked it a lot less. Take that […]
Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment (2006) David Bodanis In France (and Europe) ~1706-1749 Unless you are a geek or a mathematician (or perhaps astronomer) you probably have never heard of Emilie du Chatelet. Not because she lacked achievements, but because she achieved those things as a […]
Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love (1999) Dava Sobel I read this a long time ago. Possibly soon after it came out. So when I needed some non-fiction bedtime reading, I decided to read it again. This book is based upon Galileo’s “124 surviving letters from the once-voluminous correspondence he carried […]
What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (2014) Randall Munroe I adore xkcd. It’s often funny, sometimes enthralling, and almost always makes you think. So when Randall Munroe wrote a book based upon his What If answers, I snatched it up. Because: Randall Munroe. But I bought the actual physical book, so it […]
My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places (2013) Mary Roach (T)he complete collection of her “My Planet” articles published in Reader’s Digest. She was a hit columnist in the magazine, and this book features the articles she wrote in that time. I adore Mary Roach’s writing. She makes me laugh, but also writes about […]
Dessert For Two: Small Batch Cookies, Brownies, Pies, and Cakes (2015) Christina Lane Let me gush, for just a moment: I love this book. I love to bake, but I don’t love having more sweets than Michael and I should (or even can!) eat. But in baking, unlike cooking, you can’t just halve or quarter […]
Comfort and Joy: Cooking for Two (2015) Christina Lane After falling in love with Dessert for Two by Christina Lane, I snatched up Comfort and Joy. The section we use most frequently is Anytime Comfort Foods, and although they’re not necessarily my comfort foods, what we’ve made is super delicious. One-Skillet Beef and Cheddar Paste […]
The Complete Cooking For Two Cookbook (2014) America’s Test Kitchen In the past couple years I started to take cooking more seriously. I’ve always loved baking, but cooking? Not so much. On a whim I picked up a couple of cooking for two books, to see if not having to eat the same meal for […]
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (2013) Mary Roach I love Mary Roach. I would love to be trapped in an elevator with her (unless she’s claustrophobic, in which case, that seems unfair). She is a science fan-girl of the best kind, and is unafraid to get into the nitty gritty details (and believe me, […]
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2012 (2012) Edited by Dan Ariely and Tim Folger I’ve mentioned before that I read non-fiction before bed. I like it, it’s interesting, but it doesn’t keep me awake, wanting to know what happens next. I’m especially fond of science writing, because I like science. So the Best […]
The Doctor Wore Petticoats: Women Physicians of the Old West (2006) Chris Enss The stories in this book are very interesting–it’s a look at the women who were the pioneers of medicine in the old West. The problem is that the writing is pretty terrible. Each women is introduced with a somewhat fictionalized tale of […]
She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth (2011) Helen Castor This was my most recent “read before bed” book, so it took me quite awhile to finish, and I can’t say that a lot of it will stick with me, but it was interesting. The book looks at queens who attempted to rule England […]
A History of the World in 6 Glasses (2005) Tom Standage I got this as a kindle deal, and was absolutely delighted by it. It’s a look at how six beverages–beer, wine, liquor, coffee, tea, and Coca Cola–changed the world. There were so very many fascinating historical tidbits, I’m afraid that on multiple occasions I […]
Lives of the Trees: An Uncommon History (2010) Diana Wells Well. That only took about six months to read. Maybe more. That’s not to say it wasn’t interesting, and that I didn’t learn lots of fascinating stuff. But it was very good bedtime reading. I have to say, one of the things I’ve come to […]
Angel Killer: A True Story of Cannibalism, Crime Fighting, and Insanity in New York City (2012) Deborah Blum If you’re looking for a light happy story–this is not the correct place to look. This is a true crime history of a man who kidnapped, tortured–and in some cases–at children. That’s now why I read this. […]
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2011 (2011) edited by Mary Roach and Tim Folger I’ll admit I bought this because 1) it was on sale and 2) because it was edited by Mary Roach. I have no idea is Mary Roach is a good editor or not on her own, but I love […]
Simply Sensational Cookies (2012) Nancy Baggett So, maybe I have a problem. This is the fourth cookbook–dessert cookbook (and third cookie book)–I’ve finished in a week. But I love baking. What can I say? And I’m always looking for just that perfect cookie. I have two other of Nancy Baggett’s dessert cookbooks, so when this […]
Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts (2012) Alice Medrich As I’ve noted before, I am very fond of Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies, so along with Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies I also picked up Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. There are a lot of recipes I want to try here, though I have made only one […]
Rose’s Christmas Cookies (1998) Rose Levy Beranbaum You can tell it’s getting colder–I’m starting to obsess over baking books and looking and possible Christmas cookies. (NOTE: This is the ONLY Christmas thing I am interested in. I don’t want to hear Christmas music or see decorations until AFTER Thanksgiving.) I very much liked the pictures, […]
Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies (2010) Alice Medrich I love Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies so much that the pages fell out of my original copy. So how could I resist a new–and LARGER!–cookie book? So what do we have? ~340 pages of recipes with plenty of notes and pictures and options and alternatives […]
Baking (2009) James Peterson I love baking books, and I especially love baking books that focus on technique as well as recipes. I love to bake, and I want to become a better baker. Cooking may be an art and a science, but baking is far more science than art, and knowing the science makes […]
The BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Photography (2005) Jim Miotke Let me be clear, this is not a bad book. It’s just not a useful book for me. This is an extremely basic book, covering things like the basics of taking pictures and file types. If you knew absolutely nothing or very little about photography, this […]
Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference (2010) Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu Let’s start this with a truth: Desmond Tutu is an amazing human being. Like his good friend, the Dalai Lama, he has lived through things that those of us in the developed world cannot even imagine yet has remained […]
Botany for Gardeners: Third Edition (2010) Brian Capon It’s been a long time since my botany classes in college. A long time. I’ve recently found myself trying to remember basic botany / plant physiology / plant geography etc recently, but as all my college text books are long gone, I decided I needed a refresh. […]
Fast Breads: 50 Recipes for Easy, Delicious Bread (2010) Elinor Klivans and Susie Cushner As much as I love my Kindle, I can’t say I’ve had much of a desire to read cookbooks on it. But this was a deal I could hardly resist, so I went for it. Yes I did, in fact, read […]