Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History by Bill Laws

I picked this book up from the library as a possible resource for Miss Adventure. She’s doing a project on the different sources of fabrics and their history. I read the pages on cotton to check and see if it would work for her, and got sucked into reading the whole book.

Published: 2010

Genre: science nonfiction

Length: 217 pages of text, 224 pages total

Summary: Short version: read the title again

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Reading People by Anne Bogel

I faithfully listen to Bogel’s podcast (What Should I Read Next) and read her blog (Modern Mrs. Darcy). It’s where I get half of my new books on my TBR list, so of course I am going to read her new book. I am trying to be a bit more mindful of my personality and looking at long-term goals for myself. I thought this book might help with that personal goal.

Subtitle: How Seeing the World through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything

Published: 2017

Genre: nonfiction psychology

Length: 203 pages of text, 217 pages total

Summary: Short version: What are all the different personality tests about

Weird Geography Picture Books

After having a chance to see the Terracotta Warriors in person earlier this year, I was looking for some books about them for the kids to read. Sadly, I couldn’t find too much in our local library system. The best I found for kids was a mention in a book about other oddities on Earth. While they didn’t really have much information about the Terracotta Warriors, the books are fascinating on their own.

First off, there’s the DK book What’s Weird on Earth, subtitled “our strange and wonderful world as you’ve never seen it before”. This book contains about 70 two-page spreads split into nature, supernatural, places, people, history, and fun facts. All but the fun facts section shows a map of the world with interesting locations around the world that fit the page’s theme picked out and described. I can pretty much guarantee there’s a page on here that interests anyone. When Miss Adventure was reading it in the car, I had to limit her to two bits of information per page, or she would have read the entire book to me. Definitely a must read for any map fiend, but not really intended to be read cover to cover in a single sitting.

The other book I’m highlighting today is Curious Constructions: A Peculiar Portfolio of Fifty Fascinating Structures by Michael Hearst. Hearst describes fifty different impressive structures. Most of the are manmade (like the Millau Viaduct or the International Space Station) but also includes a few natural phenomena (like the Great Barrier Reef). For each construction, there’s a page of information, often with some true or false questions or fun facts, and the facing page is an illustration. This book involves more reading than the previous book since there is a page of text on each construction. Even so, there will be many interruptions to share little tidbits of “Did you know…?”

Both of these books would make a fun addition to a child’s library if they’re into construction, maps, or nonfiction books.

If you’re interested in purchasing the book, you can click on the cover image or title to follow an Amazon affiliate link to the book and thanks for supporting my blog!

What I Will Be Reading #36: It’s Been a While

It’s been a while since I’ve had a What I Will Be Reading post. Trying to homeschool on top of teaching a 70+ person class AND a lab (even if it only has 11 students in it) has been a bit too much for my brain. But, I don’t have much grading to do today so I thought I’d add some books to my reading list.

Let’s start with a couple of suggestions from The Modern Mrs. Darcy. Let’s face it, I could basically populate my reading list with books she writes about, but I’m going to try to branch out a bit.

Miss Adventure is nearly a teenager, which makes Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood by Lisa Damour highly appropriate. This book came from a post about books to help you navigate the tween and teen years. As an extra added bonus, it provides that elusive “U” for my Title Alphabet Challenge.

My second book from The Modern Mrs. Darcy is another nonfiction book. This time, though, it’s a book about books – my favorite. The book is called Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life by Annie Spence.

My next book is a suggestion from my mother-in-law. She reads quite a bit and besides having a stronger taste for mysteries than I do, has a similar taste in books. If she suggests a book, I’m likely to enjoy it. She’s suggested I read The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See. A major thread of the story is about growing and picking tea. I’m a tea drinker, not a coffee drinker, so I think this will be interesting to read.

Finally, a science fiction book to round out my books for the day: Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. I’m a long time fan of Mur, ever since she started her Heaven series (which is still available to listen to on Scribl for free). Six Wakes is her new novel and it is nominated for a Hugo Award this year. It’s a murder mystery in space. Who has killed the entire crew? The clones don’t know, since they’ve just been woken and everyone is dead.

So, any books look good to you? What else should I add to my book list?

If you’re interested in purchasing the book, you can click on the cover image or title to follow an Amazon affiliate link to the book and thanks for supporting my blog!

The Canon by Natalie Angier

When this book came out, I saw it reviewed a number of places. It was touted as a general tour of the sciences, so I wanted to see if it would be a good fit for one of the general science classes I teach.

Subtitle: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science

Published: 2007

Genre: science nonfiction

Length: 264 pages

Vacationland by John Hodgman

I heard Hodgman interviewed on NPR about this book. In that interview, he read a bit of one of his chapters and it made me laugh so much I knew I had to read the book. Go ahead and listen to the interview. If it makes you laugh, you should probably read the book as well.

Subtitle: True Stories from Painful Beaches

Published: 2017

Genre: nonfiction memoir

Length: 257 pages

Setting: Maine and Massachusetts, recent past

Font: New Caledonia LT Std

Summary: In seven words or less: Amusing musings of Hodgman’s privileged life

Setting the Records Straight by Lee Binz

I’m not sure how I became aware of this book. I’m sure it caught my eye because Mr. Curiosity is in high school this year and will be going to college eventually. Homeschooling is much more common these days, so it isn’t hard to get a homeschooler into college. It just requires that I keep track of what he’s learning and turn it into a transcript. This book is designed to help me do just that.

Subtitle: How to Craft Homeschool Transcripts and Course Descriptions for College Admission and Scholarships

Published: 2010

Genre: nonfiction homeschooling education

Length: 118 pages of text, 222 pages total