“Song of the Cell” by Siddhartha Mukherjee

I’m a big fan of Mukherjee’s writings, I read his first three books years ago and really enjoyed them. (Posts about those are here and here and here.) This work is a bit different from the others, but no less enjoyable.

I think this will be impossible to summarize, but to give a broad, sweeping overview, the book is about cell biology. He starts with how the concept of the cell came to be, then divulges down a few different paths. One is about cell growth, another about neurons, another about insulin. He takes different aspects of cells and goes through the history, figures that played major roles, and consequences of these concepts to science and medicine.

The biggest strength of this work is that Mukherjee is an expert at taking complicated processes and simplifying them so that any reader could understand. There are times where the structure of the book makes it difficult, some chapters are pages and pages of just the science. Which can be dull, but it never gets confusing or lost in the jargon. And the same things I loved about his other books are all present: the scientists and characters practically jump off of the page and have all of these personalities to them. Science history turns out to be full of really incredibly interesting people, I never knew that there was such a scuffle over who got the credit for isolating insulin that a murder was nearly committed!

There are elements of this structure that work a bit against it. I was initially very annoyed with the lack of chronological order in the work. The Emperor of all Maladies and The Gene are so clear in their history and how they track an idea over time, that gets lost here. But about halfway through you realize that there is no other way to do there, there would simply be too much information in too many different directions to line them all up chronologically. So I made my peace with that.

Another great strength is the care that Mukherjee takes with the people he highlights. Many of his friends and mentors are characters in the book where he’s describing their sickness or brilliance. There is practically a whole chapter dedicated to the nurses that cared for all of the early bone marrow transplant patients, which is so important and amazing as nurses are constantly overlooked in their contributions to the medical field. That they are credited so highly is a testament to their work and to the care Mukherjee has for the people he writes about.

One thing I felt odd about though is that towards the end Mukherjee writes about pending research happening in his lab. And the subject matter makes sense, it all flows logically, but for the one detail about how this work has not been peer reviewed and published yet. It feels like a move that would force a journal somewhere to publish it, as it’s already out in a book, instead of highlighting something that has already been established and reviewed. I don’t know, likely there is not an issue but as a scientist I felt weird about it.

Still a great science communicator, still a great writer. I don’t think there will ever be a time I don’t read and enjoy what Mukherjee writes and that definitely isn’t the case here either.

This Is Beautiful: Theater

 Well it's been a rough week, the friend that I thought I was getting through took a U-turn and I had to shut down the conversation. Plus the run of Shakespeare in the Arb wrapped up with a closing night that ended up cancelled due to the double whammy of a tornado watch and thunderstorms. It was truly such a fun production though, I felt that I made a bunch of new friends, gained a lot of practice acting, and had an excellent time!

I am a little glad that the show is over, I will have much more free time now, but sad to see it finish. Onwards to the next project I guess!

“The Throne of Fire” by Rick Riordan

This is the second book in the Kane Chronicles from Rick Riordan. (My post on the first book is here.) I thought that this was a great expansion of the world, and that the stakes were raised accordingly.

The plot starts off in Brooklyn with the Kanes training some new recruits that they got as a result of their actions in The Red Pyramid. They are trying to steal a scroll from a museum that they need to awaken the old sun god, Ra. During the course of it though, things go wrong. Jaz, a recruit, is left in a coma. They do recover the scroll though and head back where it becomes clear that they have very few days left to awaken the god. Sadie has her birthday though, so she heads off to London where her grandparents have been possessed by gods and are now trying to kill her. She gets help from the dwarf god, Bes, and meets back up with Carter. They all head to Russia to get the second scroll. There’s a run in with Set on the way, Carter gets bitten by a venomous snake, and Sadie has to make a deal with Set (god of Chaos) in order to find the third scroll. After healing Carter, the team splits up. Set also told them where Zia (who has been hidden and was replaced with a doll for the first book) is and Carter/Bes head off to find her. Sadie and one of the trainees, Walt, go to get the third scroll. Once they have all three, they learn that Brooklyn is going to be attacked just as the real big bad, Apophis (Chaos snake) is going to rise. They have to wake Ra first to balance Order with Chaos.

Walt and Zia then head to Brooklyn to protect it while Carter and Sadie head into the Duat (magical realm) to awaken Ra and fight Apophis. In the Duat they find his first self no problem, the second one though is harder to find and puts them behind schedule. They make a deal with the god of the moon, play a game and if they win they get 3 hours back. If they lose then he takes their ren (a person’s name, sum of all their experiences). Bes joins as their third, and ends up taking the consequences when they lose a piece. Bes’s ren is taken, but Carter and Sadie win the game and carry on. They make it to the end where they meet a magician taken over by Apophis. Their old enemy, the leader of the Egyptian magicians, joins them and fights with them. He sacrifices his life to lock Apophis away for a short period. Carter and Sadie head to Brooklyn with Ra, who keeps talking about zebras and weasels, to win the battle. Apophis will be back shortly though, and they need to be prepared.

Alright well the interesting thing about this book is that there isn’t much conflict up until the end. Apophis wants Ra to be awakened and the Kanes have a pretty easy time getting the scrolls. It makes up for it though, with a pretty big character death thing. Losing Bes is devastating, you see scenes from his life as his ren is taken and feel the characters’ grief. My only comment is that there’s a lot of characters that we just meet in this book, Bes being one of them, and it feels odd to introduce Bes just to have him removed. I think I read this whole trilogy (after reading this I definitely remember some sections) but I don’t remember if Bes manages to come back or not.

This book is also just really funny, there were so many sections I was chuckling at. Bes was a large part of them, but Sadie and Carter’s antics were also highly up there. It sounds so serious, but it’s a very lighthearted read. Until it isn’t.

To be honest though, the audio aspect of it is starting to get a little old. It’s devolved into the characters telling you what they were feeling instead of showing it. It’s still very creative, but it makes me glad that this is only a trilogy.

Fun stuff! Onwards to the conclusion of the series!

This Is Beautiful: Reconnecting

 This is a bit of an odd post, but I've been trying to reconnect with a friend that I broke off contact with a while ago. And it's been a bumpy ride, I was convinced that I'd have to call it off for a while. But it looks like we are now communicating effectively and things are going ok. Which is an interesting time, I don't think I've even tried to do this with anyone else. But I think it'll be good for healing and good for us to open back up this communication.

This Is Beautiful: Vacation

 I'm off this week at my parents' place and it is so nice to just be away from work for a bit. I haven't felt like the summer is very restful and I'm hoping that this will be the recharge that I need before heading back. Just rest and reading and good food!

“Fox and I: An Uncommon Friendship” by Catherine Raven

I honestly don’t remember how this book ended up on my list, but I am glad I picked it up. The plot is fairly simple, a woman who is avoiding civilization after getting a PhD in biology moves to the middle of nowhere and ends up befriending a fox. Or the fox befriends her. Either way, the relationship she has with Fox changes her whole outlook on life and connections that she has.

The most interesting and unique aspect of this book is the way that it is written. The narration jumps around a lot, between time periods and between perspectives (the author’s and the fox’s). Which can make it somewhat confusing, especially since the author likes to throw out big plot points and move on from them immediately to some description. Which is indicative of the author’s tendency to not get emotional throughout the story, animals die and nature is brutal and she remains pretty stoic throughout it. It is cool to see the fox’s perspective though, at one point I was wondering how she’d know what the fox was up to but also. It doesn’t matter! He’s doing fox things, you can make educated guesses about your friend and what they’re up to.

As a biology PhD, I won’t pretend that a lot of this resonated with me. A lot of the story has to do with how science teaches us to be objective and not anthropomorphize animals and things like that. And over time the author learns to shed that and let Fox become her friend. Now I am not off befriending an animal, but the avoidance of connections sure is a thing. A lot of graduate students struggle with connections, even though it’s what keeps us afloat. By the end of the story, the author learns from Fox and starts to make connections and put down roots. A lesson all PhD students can learn from!

I’m glad I picked this up, it is such a unique book and a unique story. And it’s always interesting to read memoirs from other biology PhDs and see what they manage to do with their lives. Glad I managed to grab it!

This Is Beautiful: Time Outside

 This past weekend was the opening weekend of Shakespeare in the Arb, which means that I had to spend a lot of time outside in general, and even more since my double was out of town. Overall, I had three shows that weekend, plus an additional two more from the dress rehearsals. It's exhausting and sweaty, but it's really nice being outdoors! The peony gardens are exploding in flowers so it's gorgeous out and I'm really enjoying it. Would love to get a break as well, but other than that, very nice.

“Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men” by Caroline Criado Perez

This was a fascinating, if depressing, read. The book is entirely about data collection and comparing the data between men and women, with a focus on how women are being let down globally with current design and norms.

There’s no way I can fully sum up the book, it is chock full of references and stats and numbers on men and women and their different experiences in the world. I’ll try to hit all of the topics though. The book starts by talking about how male bodies and male experiences are always seen as the default, despite the fact that women make up half the world and have very different bodies and needs. It first covers daily life, such as traveling (women being more likely to use public transit and many women being attacked on public transit) and architecture (think bathrooms and how women’s rooms tend to be designed so less people can use them at once). Then it moves to work and how women do more unpaid labor, are discriminated against under meritocracies, are expected to have the same needs at work as men (particularly impacts pregnancies), and women workers’ health being worth less than men’s. After that it’s design of how tools and protective equipment are designed for men while new products aimed at women can’t get a foot in the door. Next is medical issues with drugs having different efficacies and symptoms for common ailments being different, not to mention women’s pain not being taken seriously in general. Finally there’s public life with women’s work being exploited, gender gaps in the family, and women not getting elected to public office or being taken seriously in leadership positions. Finally it’s the dark chapters talking about how women are disproportionately impacted by disasters and dying at higher rates as a result.

Ok so there is so much information in this book. I am blown away by the amount of research that must have been carried out to write this. Criado Perez is so thorough and absolutely incredible for digging up all of this information and statistics.

Some parts are so depressing to read though. Hearing about all of the women who got harassed on public transit made me want to never step foot in a bus again. And the discussion of the lack of medical studies including women in their trials hurt my faith in science and in my field. Despite all that though, it’s still such an important and validating read to hear about how women have been repeatedly let down by modern design. This was the most thorough discussion of why the lines for women’s bathrooms are so long in my opinion! (It boils down to men’s rooms having urinals so they can have more people use them at once, and women being more likely to have children, be elderly, have medical conditions that cause them to use the bathroom for longer, or be menstruating. So even if the bathrooms service the name number of people, women are going to need more stalls in order for it to truly be fair.)

She does note in the introduction that she was limited by minimal information available about women, and few studies separating their data by sex. When possible, she tried to include data separated by race as well, but even fewer studies do that. While reading I did note passages where she acknowledges that there would be differences based on race but does not have the data to demonstrate it. However my main complaint is that the whole book does not make a single mention or trans or non-binary individuals. And sure, I bet that there is very little data out there on this. But there are times where Criado Perez directly conflates sex and gender, equating being a man to having a penis. And again, sure, likely this all only applies to cis men. But she never acknowledges this! There is no mention of the impact of these things on trans women, trans men, or non-binary individuals! And even if the data doesn’t exist, there’s no need to continue the erasure of trans individuals by equating being male to having a penis. Or by equating women to giving birth and being pregnant. Which yes, primarily impacts women. I’d love to see an acknowledgement that men could give birth too. Having said all that, this book still has so much data in it that it is still inherently so useful. I just want a more well rounded discussion on the difference between sex and gender and how that can impact people as well.

To sum up: this book has its limitations. It is a tour de force of research and data collection, but the discussion can lack nuance. I found it incredibly valuable though, just take it with a grain of salt should you pick it up.