Tag: science
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The Breath of the Gods by Simon Winchester
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Breath of the Gods: The wind is kinda creepy when you think about it too long. Quick synopsis: The history of the wind. Yes, you read that correctly. Fact for Non-History People: Mount Washington, New Hampshire is one of the windiest places ever and until recently held the record for…
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Gemini by Jeffrey Kluger
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Gemini: Gemini not Gemini. Quick synopsis: The history of NASA’s Gemini Space Program. Fact for Non-History People: Never forget that the USSR sent a dog named Laika to space knowing they couldn’t bring her back. Never. Forget. Fact for History Nerds: When space shuttles re-enter the atmosphere, they face temperatures five…
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Adventures in Volcanoland by Tamsin Mather
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Adventures in Volcanoland: Big mountain go boom sometimes. Quick synopsis: A science travelogue by a seasoned volcanologist. Fact for Non-History People: The continents move at about the same rate of toenail growth. Fact for History Nerds: Radium is a million times more radioactive than uranium. My Take on Adventures in Volcanoland:…
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Challenger by Adam Higginbotham
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Challenger: It was a question of when, not if. Quick synopsis: The story of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: When Neil Armstrong first stepped foot on the moon in 1969, an estimated 600 million people were watching. Fun Fact for History Nerds: It…
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The Asteroid Hunter by Dante Lauretta
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Asteroid Hunter: Who knew space could be so anxiety inducing? Quick synopsis: A firsthand account of the OSIRIS-REx space mission by its leader, Dante Lauretta. Fact for Non-History People: Asteroid Bennu might kill us all on September 24, 2182. Fact for History Nerds: About 17 meteorites hit Earth every…
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The Underworld by Susan Casey
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Underworld: Nope. Not going down there. No way. Quick synopsis: A look at the deepest depths of the ocean. Fact for Non-History People: The top layer of the ocean that we can see is called the epipelagic (sunlight) zone. It only makes up 5% of the ocean’s volume. Fact for…
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Hands of Time by Rebecca Struthers
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Hands of Time: Watch this! (I’ll see myself out.) Quick synopsis: The story of the watch by a horologist. Fact for Non-History People: That weird little pocket inside the pocket of your jeans? It was put there to hold a pocket watch. Fact for History Nerds: As of 2020, the most…
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Comet Madness by Richard J. Goodrich
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Comet Madness: The newspapers lied! Kinda! Quick synopsis: A look at how when Halley’s Comet visited Earth in 1910 some people thought it would kill us all. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: When Halley’s Comet came by, it was closer than Mars, but still fifty-four times the distance of the…
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The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: Poor dinos… Quick synopsis: A look at the time right before, and then way after, the stupid asteroid killed all the dinosaurs. The asteroid is a jerk. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The asteroid impact released the equivalent energy of 100 teratonnes of dynamite…