Neil Johnson - Simply Complexity

 

Neil Johnson - Simply Complexity: A Clear Guide to Complexity Theory 

4 ⭐

Genre: Non-Fiction, Science, Academia, Research, Physics, Nature, Environment

Pages: 256

Format: Paperback

Publisher:  OneWorld Publications

Date Published: 1st October 2009

 

Book Blurb: 

What do traffic jams, stock market crashes, and wars have in common? They are all explained using complexity, an unsolved puzzle that many researchers believe is the key to predicting – and ultimately solving—everything from terrorist attacks and pandemic viruses right down to rush hour traffic congestion.

Complexity is considered by many to be the single most important scientific development since general relativity and it promises to make sense of no less than the very heart of the Universe. Using it, scientists can find order emerging from seemingly random interactions of all kinds, from something as simple as flipping coins through to more challenging problems such as the patterns in modern jazz, the growth of cancer tumours, and predicting shopping habits.

My Review: 

As someone who didn’t know anything about Complexity and Complexity Theory before, yet needed to learn about it for a PhD project, this book is fantastic. It is very accessible and easy to understand. It doesn’t use any of the overcomplicated scientific jargon and explains very complex ideas in an easily understandable way with some great real-life examples. Yes, this book was also written a while ago, but the examples that the author uses are still very much relevant today.

The book itself explains the idea behind Complexity and Complexity Theory, its evolution and where it all is today, as well as what needs to be done to take this idea even further and make it a part of scientific research and academia. It looks how Complexity covers a wide range of subjects and disciplines, from anthropology, and economics, to, geography, physics and maths.

Overall: Very accessible and exciting book, with no complicated language and no scientific jargon. Examples are also given to consolidate the understanding and to provide a bigger picture of the Complexity around us. It definitely gave me ideas and was one of the only Complexity books that didn’t include a lot of complex explanations and maths that I would never be able to understand. 

About the Author:

Neil Johnson is the head of a new inter-disciplinary research group in Complexity at University of Miami in Florida. Previously he was Professor of Physics and co-director of research collaboration into Complexity at Oxford University.

https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Simply-Complexity/Neil-Johnson/9781780740492

Ilan Kelman - Disaster By Choice

 

Ilan Kelman - Disaster By Choice: How Our Actions Turn Natural Hazards into Catastrophes 

4 ⭐

Genre: Non-Fiction, Environmental Studies, Academia

Pages: 352

Format: Hardback

Publisher:  Oxford University Press

Date Published: 1st May 2020

 

Book Blurb: 

An earthquake shatters Haiti and a hurricane slices through Texas. We hear that nature runs rampant, seeking to destroy us through these 'natural disasters'. Science recounts a different story, however: disasters are not the consequence of natural causes; they are the consequence of human choices and decisions. we put ourselves in harm's way; we fail to take measures which we know would prevent disasters, no matter what the environment does.

This can be both hard to accept, and hard to unravel. A complex of factors shape disasters. They arise from the political processes dictating where and what we build, and from social circumstances which create and perpetuate poverty and discrimination. They develop from the social preference to blame nature for the damage wrought, when in fact events such as earthquakes and storms are entirely commonplace environmental processes We feel the need to fight natural forces, to reclaim what we assume is ours, and to protect ourselves from what we perceive to be wrath from outside our communities. This attitude distracts us from the real causes of disasters: humanity's decisions, as societies and as individuals. It stops us accepting the real solutions to disasters: making better decisions.

This book explores stories of some of our worst disasters to show how we can and should act to stop people dying when nature unleashes its energies. The disaster is not the tornado, the volcanic eruption, or climate change, but the deaths and injuries, the loss of irreplaceable property, and the lack and even denial of support to affected people, so that a short-term interruption becomes a long-term recovery nightmare. But we can combat this, as Kelman shows, describing inspiring examples of effective human action that limits damage, such as managing flooding in Toronto and villages in Bangladesh, or wildfire in Colorado.

Throughout, his message is clear: there is no such thing as a natural disaster. The disaster lies in our inability to deal with the environment and with ourselves.

My Review: 

I think for those who are interested in different geological and geophysical hazards and want to learn more, this book perfectly summarises it all. It uses very simple and non-scientific language to explain why disasters are not natural and show real-life examples. For me, this book lacked more depth, but that said, I have a degree in geological hazards and read quite a lot about it all. Yet, if you are a beginner and want to learn more, then I cannot recommend this book enough.

Ilan Kelman touches on reasons why people are vulnerable to hazards and how it runs much deeper than just our infrastructure and households. He looks into our history, cultures, traditions, colonialism, economy and different social factors that all make us vulnerable in one way or another. The author also discusses why hazards are natural but disasters that they create are not. Resilience on societal and community levels is also touched upon.

I really enjoyed the case studies in this book, as they gave all the technical and theoretical visual/real-life explanations and examples. I just wish this book gave more examples and case studies, to show different ends of the spectrum.

Overall: Very accessible and easy-to-read book, that uses very simple and non-academic language to explain the reality of disasters and hazards that our society face. I recommend this book to someone who is a beginner and wants to learn more about hazards and disasters. 

About the Author:

Ilan Kelman, Professor of Disasters and Health, University College London, and Professor II, University of Agder Ilan Kelman is Professor of Disasters and Health at University College London, England and a Professor II at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway. His overall research interest is linking disasters and health, including the integration of climate change into disaster research and health research.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/risk-disaster-reduction/people/dr-ilan-kelman

Ali Hazelwood - Love, Theoretically

 

Ali Hazelwood - Love, Theoretically 

4⭐

Genre: Contemporary Romance,Romance, Fiction,STEM,Academia

Pages: 389

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Sphere

Date Published: 13th June 2023

Book Blurb: 

The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.

Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?

My Review: 

I love Ali Hazelwood’s writing and romances. There is no doubt about it. Yet, Love, Theoretically for me just wasn’t as good as her first two full-length books. Although I still loved the academic setting, the drama and the light that Hazelwood shines on misogyny and sexism in STEM when it comes to females, the romance itself for me was a real letdown.

The story follows theoretical physicist Elsie who is living two lives. She is an adjunct professor in two different universities, teaching graduates and hoping one day she can land a tenure. She also offers her services as a fake girlfriend on the online platform, just so she can pay her rent and bills. However, her best client’s older brother Jack Smith ruins her perfect double life when Elsie meets him during an interview at MIT, where she is hoping to get her dream job. Elsie’s hate for Jack doesn’t end there, he is an experimental physicist who ruined her supervisor's career and now is on a path to ruin Elsie's career too. Or so Elsie thought…

I didn’t like Elsie at all. She is not likeable. She pretends to be a version of herself that people want to see, thus it was hard to figure out who she really is. For someone who is also a Dr and theoretical physicist, she is also very naïve. I liked Jack as a character, he was more open than the male love interest in the other two Hazelwood books, so that was very interesting to read.

Romance-wise, I just didn’t buy it. She and Jack’s chemistry for me felt really forced and very instant. I didn’t believe their romantic story one bit, and honestly, I didn’t care that much about them both. I didn’t root for her like I did with Olive or Bee.

I enjoyed the Olive and Adam cameo, as well as the cheeky appearance of Bee’s name…It was so wholesome. Also, I really enjoyed the nature of academia being discussed during the book and all the drama that comes with it.

Overall: Not my favourite Ali’s book but still a very enjoyable read, academia and STEM wise mostly, instead of romance. However, I can’t wait to read Check & Mate, her first YA book and see what it’s like. 

About the Author:

Ali Hazelwood is the pseudonym for an Italian neuroscientist and writer of romance novels. Her main characters are women in a variety of different STEM fields and in academia. Her debut novel, The Love Hypothesis, was a New York Times best seller. In 2022 she has published three novellas: Under One Roof, Stuck with You, and Below Zero. Her second novel Love on the Brain was published on August 23, 2022.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21098177.Ali_Hazelwood

Bill Gates - How To Avoid A Climate Disaster

Bill Gates - How To Avoid A Climate Disaster 

4⭐

Genre: Environmental Studies, Non-Fiction, Geography, Climate Change, Academia, Education

Pages: 272

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Penguin Press UK, Allen Lane Books

Date Published: 16th February 2021

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press UK for an e-copy to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

Bill Gates shares what he's learned in more than a decade of studying climate change and investing in innovations to address the problems, and sets out a vision for how the world can build the tools it needs to get to zero greenhouse gas emissions.

Bill Gates explains why he cares so deeply about climate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Gates says, "we can work on a local, national, and global level to build the technologies, businesses, and industries to avoid the worst impacts of climate change." His interest in climate change is a natural outgrowth of the efforts by his foundation to reduce poverty and disease. Climate change, according to Gates, will have the biggest impact on the people who have done the least to cause it. As a technologist, he has seen first-hand how innovation can change the world. By investing in research, inventing new technologies, and deploying them quickly at large scale, Gates believes climate change can be addressed in meaningful ways. According to Gates, "to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we have to get to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases. This problem is urgent, and the debate is complex, but I believe we can come together to invent new carbon-zero technologies, deploy the ones we have, and ultimately avoid a climate catastrophe."

My Review: 

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster reads very quickly and well, as well as covers a lot of basics of Climate Change, greenhouse gases, causes of greenhouse gases/ Climate Change, production and consumption, so it is a great book if you are a newbie and don’t know much about ins and outs of Climate Change, but want to learn more or just want a quick yet reliable summary.

The book is basically divided into two parts. The first part is all about setting the scene and explaining what is Climate Change, why it is a problem, how this all came about and summarising all the facts and figures about the problem we as a society currently face. The second part is all about solutions to Climate Change, including innovations, changes in policies, governments' attitudes, as well as binding agreements between the countries. Gates in the second part of the book doesn’t shy away from portraying future possibilities if we don’t do anything about Climate Change, but he also discusses and displays what changes need to be made in different parts of our economies, industries and societies to achieve zero carbon and to reduce Climate Change impacts on communities and humans significantly. 

This book was very interesting and covered quite a lot of solutions to fight climate change that isn’t usually covered by mainstream media and news. Also, Gates talks about different start-up companies, highlighting their innovations in tackling climate change, which gives a glimpse of hope that not everything is lost and we can make changes needed to restore our environment. He also makes a strong point that we need to move towards cleaner energy as soon as possible, but in order to do that we need to invest more in those industries and change our opinions on low-carbon and renewable energy into more positive ones.

Unlike in many other Climate Change books, Gates only slightly touches on individual action regarding Climate Change issues. He mainly concentrates on what different industries and governments can do to reduce their reliance on fossils, reduce consumption, change materials into more sustainable ones, etc. I really enjoyed this take on Climate Change, as there aren’t a lot of books that look at the issues regarding Climate Change from this particular viewpoint.

I also liked that Gates displayed how much Climate Change is affecting and will affect more of our everyday life and how it, directly and indirectly, links to nearly every challenge societies across the world currently face.

Overall: Verry well written, easily understood, with complex processes explained in great depth and ease. The perfect book for someone who wants to learn more about Climate Change, but doesn’t know where to start, as this book summarises everything you need to know about it in one place and without complex scientific language, which is at times hard to grasp. Additionally, relevant and simple graphs, pictures and diagrams allow information to be better digested, especially as the complex numbers and graphs that are usually associated with production and consumption are very well explained to the reader. This book also offers a glimpse of hope by diving into new innovations and technologies in tackling different issues that are arising due to Climate Change. 

I honestly didn’t think I will enjoy this book as much as I did!

This review was first published on NetGalley: 

https://www.netgalley.co.uk/book/208120/review/959200

About the Author:

Bill Gates is a technologist, business leader, and philanthropist. In 1975, he co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen; today he and his wife, Melinda, are co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He also launched Breakthrough Energy, an effort to commercialize clean energy and other climate-related technologies. He and Melinda have three children and live in Medina, Washington.

https://www.gatesnotes.com/

Prof Sarah Gilbert & Dr Catherine Green - Vaxxers

Prof Sarah Gilbert & Dr Catherine Green - Vaxxers 

4⭐

Genre: Non-Fiction, Health, Science, Academia, Medicine, Popular Science  

Pages: 352

Format: Hardback

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Date Published: 8th July 2021

Book Blurb: 

A gripping, inspirational account of the race to create a functioning vaccine to combat the spread of Covid-19, Vaxxers is the story of two scientists who have accomplished something truly remarkable at a pace that few people ever thought possible.

This is the story of a race - not against other vaccines or other scientists, but against a deadly and devastating virus.

On 1 January 2020, Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology at Oxford University, read an article about four people in China with a strange pneumonia. Within two weeks, she and her team had designed a vaccine against a pathogen that no one had ever seen before. Less than 12 months later, vaccination was rolled out across the world to save millions of lives from Covid-19.

In Vaxxers, we hear directly from Professor Gilbert and her colleague Dr Catherine Green as they reveal the inside story of making the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine and the cutting-edge science and sheer hard work behind it.

This is their story of fighting a pandemic as ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Sarah and Cath share the heart-stopping moments in the eye of the storm; they separate fact from fiction; they explain how they made a highly effective vaccine in record time with the eyes of the world watching; and they give us hope for the future.

Vaxxers invites us into the lab to find out how science will save us from this pandemic, and how we can prepare for the inevitable next one. 

Book Review: 

It is such a clear, scientific, simple and well-written account of the two lead scientists involved in creating the Oxford AstraZeneca Corona Virus Vaccine. This book explains in depth all the steps that were taken to create this vaccine in such a short time and ready for public use, including creation, design, development, trial, testing, trial result analysis, approval and then production.

I really liked the fact that scientific concepts around vaccine development and design in this book are very well explained in simple scientific language that makes sense for someone who is not as familiar with the terminology, processes or this field in general. A lot of really useful analogies were used to explain more complex concepts too, which helped me a lot to get my head around some of the science behind it.

Also, the book clearly explains how different types of vaccines, not only the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, are created, including the rigorous processes each has to go to be developed, tested and approves, which in turn displays the thorough safety of vaccines. Additionally, the authors discuss how the field improved the safety of vaccines for human consumption, since 1960, explaining all the ethics, policies and criteria that each vaccine has to go through to be safe to give to people.

Authors also don’t shy away from discussing other issues surrounding vaccines and vaccine design and development, such as anti-vaxxers, media influence on whether people trust vaccines or not and funding that is needed to get vaccines to people. Also, challenges when it comes to academia and doing science, as well as making those breakthroughs in developing effective vaccines are all aspects that are discussed in depth.

Each chapter is written either from Prof Sarah Gilbert’s or Dr Catherine Green’s POV, which allows the reader not only to learn about the vaccine that their team created but also allows the reader to get to know the people who worked on it, especially the long hours and sacrifices they had to make in order to deliver this lifesaving vaccine to people.

Overall: A very interesting, informative, factual and insightful book about the creation of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, the pandemic, and the importance of science and vaccine science in general. Definitely recommend it if you don’t know much about vaccines and want to learn more, as this book explains processes in a very simple, yet still scientific way. I will be looking out for more books like this to add to my TBR pile in the future. 

About the Author: 

Ali Hazelwood - Below Zero

 

Ali Hazelwood - Below Zero  

4⭐

Genre: Contemporary Romance,Romance, Fiction,STEM,Academia, Novella

Pages: 139

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Sphere

Date Published: 3rd January 2023

Book Blurb: 

It will take the frosty terrain of the Arctic to show these rival scientists that their chemistry burns hot.

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn…

Hannah’s got a bad feeling about this. Not only has the NASA aerospace engineer found herself injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station—but the one person willing to undertake the hazardous rescue mission is her longtime rival.

Ian has been many things to Hannah: the villain who tried to veto her expedition and ruin her career, the man who stars in her most deliciously lurid dreams…but he’s never played the hero. So why is he risking everything to be here? And why does his presence seem just as dangerous to her heart as the coming snowstorm?

My Review: 

I have to say that Below Zero was my favourite STEMinist novella by Ali Hazelwood. I really loved both Hannah and Ian, but especially Hannah, as she is so authentic and nerdy, yet true to herself. I just really wished this novella was longer, as I needed more of Ian and Hannah.

The novella follows Hannah who is a NASA aerospace engineer currently working in a very cold and remote part of Norway in a research station, conducting her ground-breaking research. Unfortunately, she gets herself injured and is unable to get back to safety, however, the person she least expects comes and rescues her. That person is no other than her long-time rival and arch nemesis Ian. However, being stranded in the cold and brutal wilderness, Hannah thinks about the past and Ian, especially the reasons why their rivalry started in the first place. Are being below zero will make Hannah’s heart colder or being faced with a life-threatening challenge will make her heart finally melt for Ian?

I loved how many character development Hazelwood put in this short story. It was amazing to see Hannah grow as a character between her memories and being stuck in a remote part of Norway. She is so likeable, authentic and cool. Loved her so much! It was really interesting to see the instant connection and the shared interests between them both, which is why their attraction and romance were so believable.

Overall: Fluffy, cute and brilliantly written novella. I loved the flashback scenes and how each added to the story, as well as covered all the blanks and helped to piece the story altogether. It just worked so well.  I actually wish this was a full-length book as I need more of Hannah and Ian since they are amazingly developed and interesting characters. 

About the Author:

Ali Hazelwood is the pseudonym for an Italian neuroscientist and writer of romance novels. Her main characters are women in a variety of different STEM fields and in academia. Her debut novel, The Love Hypothesis, was a New York Times best seller. In 2022 she has published three novellas: Under One Roof, Stuck with You, and Below Zero. Her second novel Love on the Brain was published on August 23, 2022.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21098177.Ali_Hazelwood

Ali Hazelwood - Stuck With You

Ali Hazelwood - Stuck With You   

3.5⭐

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance, Fiction, STEM, Academia, Novella

Pages: 127

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Sphere 

Date Published: 3rd January 2023 

Book Blurb: 

Nothing like a little rivalry between scientists to take love to the next level.

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn…

Logically, Sadie knows that civil engineers are supposed to build bridges. However, as a woman of STEM she also understands that variables can change, and when you are stuck for hours in a tiny New York elevator with the man who broke your heart, you earn the right to burn that brawny, blond bridge to the ground. Erik can apologize all he wants, but to quote her rebel leader—she’d just as soon kiss a Wookiee.

Not even the most sophisticated of Sadie’s superstitious rituals could have predicted such a disastrous reunion. But while she refuses to acknowledge the siren call of Erik’s steely forearms or the way his voice softens when he offers her his sweater, Sadie can’t help but wonder if there might be more layers to her cold-hearted nemesis than meet the eye. Maybe, possibly, even burned bridges can still be crossed….

My Review: 

Stuck With You was definitely my least favourite of Ali Hazelwood's novellas. Firstly, there was no chemistry between Erik and Sadie nowhere in this story. Secondly, the instant love just seemed super unrealistic, especially the way they met. Very disappointing, especially as I heard so many good things about this one on Bookstagram.

This novella follows Sadie who is a civil engineer for a small company and who is very superstitious. Due to this superstition of hers, she meets a gorgeous Erik and she straight away is smitten by him. Erik seems to like her too. 24 hours and one spicy fling later, Sadie suddenly hates Erik. Why might you ask? Well…all of the details are revealed when both of them get stuck in an elevator and have to face each other once and for all…

I think if this wasn’t a novella but a full-length book, I think I would have liked it more. In this format, I didn’t get the whole instant love and then instant hate idea. Also, the story itself felt a bit unrealistic to me. Also, Erik’s character was very underdeveloped and oh don’t get me started on them talking about football. That just ruined the story for me. I liked Sadie but there wasn’t much of her true character or personality there, and at times she just felt a tad childish. I really felt that the trope took the front and the characters with their personalities took the back seat in this novella.

However, unlike in Under One Roof, at least the smutty scene here kept me interested, since the story and characters didn’t. Also, I was glad it wasn’t a long story, as I couldn’t face more of Erik and more of their silly miscommunication/ hate, which was sorted within an hour whilst stuck in the elevator…

Overall: Very disappointing story, with very underdeveloped characters and a miscommunication trope, which had so much potential but felt very short. I think this would have worked in a longer story but not in a novella format. 

About the Author:

Ali Hazelwood is the pseudonym for an Italian neuroscientist and writer of romance novels. Her main characters are women in a variety of different STEM fields and in academia. Her debut novel, The Love Hypothesis, was a New York Times best seller. In 2022 she has published three novellas: Under One Roof, Stuck with You, and Below Zero. Her second novel Love on the Brain was published on August 23, 2022.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21098177.Ali_Hazelwood

Ali Hazelwood - Under One Roof

 

Ali Hazelwood - Under One Roof    

4⭐

Genre: Contemporary Romance,Romance, Fiction,STEM,Academia, Novella

Pages: 112

Format: Paperback

Publisher: Sphere 

Date Published: 3rd January 2023

Book Blurb: 

A scientist should never cohabitate with her annoyingly hot nemesis – it leads to combustion.

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn….

As an environmental engineer, Mara knows all about the delicate nature of ecosystems. They require balance. And leaving the thermostat alone. And not stealing someone else’s food. And other rules Liam, her detestable big-oil lawyer of a roommate, knows nothing about. Okay, sure, technically she’s the interloper. Liam was already entrenched in his aunt’s house like some glowering grumpy giant when Mara moved in, with his big muscles and kissable mouth just sitting there on the couch tempting respectable scientists to the dark side…but Helena was her mentor and Mara’s not about to move out and give up her inheritance without a fight.

The problem is, living with someone means getting to know them. And the more Mara finds out about Liam, the harder it is to loathe him…and the easier it is to love him.

My Review: 

Although it doesn’t compare to how amazing were The Love Hypothesis and Love On the Brain, it was still a very cute, fun and feel-good novella. Excellent pallet cleanser in between heavier books.

The novella follows an environmental engineer Mara, who after graduation moves to DC to start her graduate position. However, she has a big problem, and that problem is living with Liam, who she hates from the minute their meet each other. Why is she cohabiting with him? Well, her PhD mentor left half of her house to Mara and half to her nephew Liam. Mara also can’t afford to leave…Plus she loves the place…Well, apart from Liam. However, as much as she hates him, she also starts getting to know him and that might turn her whole world upside down….

I liked the fact that it wasn’t instant love between Liam and Mara, and there was a bit of a slow burn (as much of a slow burn as you can have in a novella). However, I think the issue with novellas is that you can’t get to know the characters that in-depth, which for me affects how much I like and care about the story. I need to be invested in the characters to enjoy actually reading the story. As far as the novella’s length both Liam and Mara were very likeable characters, even though I wished I got to know them better. Also, I felt that there were so many things that both characters talked about that could have been explored in more depth and would have added to the plot of the story. This is especially if the smutty scene, which in my opinion was just awkward and unnecessary, was removed.

Overall: Likeable characters, feel-good story with hints of enemies to lovers and proximity tropes. Definitely a great pallet cleanser. I wished it was a bit longer and gave more actual romance between the two characters, not just a few scenes and a smutty chapter, especially after a quite slow start. Still, however, an enjoyable read if you want something easy and quick to read.

 

About the Author:

Ali Hazelwood is the pseudonym for an Italian neuroscientist and writer of romance novels. Her main characters are women in a variety of different STEM fields and in academia. Her debut novel, The Love Hypothesis, was a New York Times best seller. In 2022 she has published three novellas: Under One Roof, Stuck with You, and Below Zero. Her second novel Love on the Brain was published on August 23, 2022.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21098177.Ali_Hazelwood

Ali Hazelwood - Love on the Brain

Ali Hazelwood - Love on the Brain  

5⭐

Genre: Romance, STEM, Academia, Contemporary Romance 

Pages: 362

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Sphere  

Date Published: 23rd August 2022

 

Book Blurb: 

From the New York Times, bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis-with explosive results.

Like an avenging, purple-haired Jedi bringing balance to the mansplained universe, Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project-a literal dream come true after years scraping by on the crumbs of academia-Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.

Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. And sure, he caught her in his powerfully corded arms like a romance novel hero when she accidentally damseled in distress on her first day in the lab. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school-archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

Now, her equipment is missing, the staff is ignoring her, and Bee finds her floundering career in somewhat of a pickle. Perhaps it's her occipital cortex playing tricks on her, but Bee could swear she can see Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas...devouring her with those eyes. And the possibilities have all her neurons firing. But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there's only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?

My Review: 

Unpopular opinion but I loved Love on the Brain more than I loved The Love Hypothesis. Oops! Yes, there were some similarities between the two books but I felt that most of the book was different. Adam and Olive were fake dating, whereas Bee and Levi were more enemies to lovers/ second chance romance. Also, the book setting was completely different, which for me made a huge difference.

This story follows Bee Königswasser, a neuroscientist who is invited to work on an exciting new project called BLINK at NASA in Houston. The success of this project will mean Bee can have an amazing career in research but if she fails then all those years put into becoming an academic will be wasted. However, she soon realises that she will have to work with her archnemesis from her graduate school years, Levi Ward. Levi Ward is a tall and brainy engineer who for years worked at NASA. Once the project starts Bee notices that the equipment she was promised is missing, other people on the project refuse to listen to her and Levi after all these years still cannot even look at her or even be in the same room as her. Bee now needs to either confront her enemy or lose her dream job and subsequently her career….Or maybe after all Levi might become an ally to Bee in search of who is messing around with the success of BLINK.

I really liked the fact that Bee is quirky and geeky, as well as completely in love with cats. She also fangirls after Marie Currie and runs an undercover Twitter account What Would Marie Currie Do?, where she discusses all the challenges and barriers in the academic environment with other academics. It just felt that Bee was a more developed character than Olive in The Love Hypothesis, as Bee actually has a life and hobbies outside her research, whereas Olive didn’t really.

I also loved that Hazelwood discusses misogyny in STEM and how even though you are an intelligent female who achieved a lot in their respective academic field, you are less likely to be listened to or given authority in comparison to a white male academic. It is sad but it's true and I love that Hazelwood shines the light on these problems through her novels.

All the scientific aspects of this book made me so geeky and nerdy. I loved it! There was so much more science in this book and I am all here for it!

I also think that this story was more authentic than The Love Hypothesis. The premise of how Bee and Levi knew each other and how they became ‘enemies’ is more real than the one of how Olive started fake dating Adam. The characters in this book were also more relatable, especially the fact that before romance there was a genuine friendship that took time to develop happened between them at first and only then the romance followed.  

Overall: Honestly, this book had everything that I love, STEM, Academia, Romance and Spice. What else could I want? It made me smile, made me geek out, filled me with joy and was just a feel-good book to read. You should definitely read this if you want an easy, quirky romance with a bit of spice and science. I, however, can’t wait until Loathe to Love You in January 2023 and Love, Theoretically in June 2023! So excited! 

About the Author:

Ali Hazelwood is the pseudonym for an Italian neuroscientist and writer of romance novels. Her main characters are women in a variety of different STEM fields and in academia. Her debut novel, The Love Hypothesis, was a New York Times best seller. In 2022 she has published three novellas: Under One Roof, Stuck with You, and Below Zero. Her second novel Love on the Brain was published on August 23, 2022.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21098177.Ali_Hazelwood

Eric Archambeau - Costing the Earth

Eric Archambeau - Costing the Earth (How to Fix Finance to Save the Planet) 

5⭐

Genre: Non-Fiction, Climate Change, Environmental Studies, Geography, Academia, Education, Politics, STEM, Society

Pages:  224

Format: Paperback 

Publisher: Whitefox Publishing

Date Published: 1st August 2022

Huge thank you to The Book Publicist for sending me a copy of this book to read and review. 

Book Blurb: 

In Costing the Earth, leading impact investor Eric Archambeau argues that rather than making media-friendly pledges and grasping low-hanging fruit (such as aviation taxes), world leaders must radically overhaul finance instead.

Only by aligning investment decisions with the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and ensuring that industrial and services companies measure and incorporate in their P&L statements the full environmental and social costs of their operations - costs that are currently passed on to taxpayers or absorbed by Nature - will we stand a chance of achieving the breakthroughs we need.

Zeroing in on the agri-food sector, one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and biodiversity loss, Archambeau dissects the many hidden problems caused by our current financial system.

As the stakes continue to rise and the window for action narrows, Costing the Earth makes the case that the only viable and sustainable way to achieve net-zero is to adopt the model pioneered by impact investors, which takes the three Ps - profit, people and the planet - into account when valuing a company or tracking its performance. Only then will business leaders all over the world be incentivized to place sustainability and the regeneration of the planet's resources at the heart of their operations and decision-making.

My Review: 

I was so excited about this book! Mainly because I love reading about the environment, especially climate change and ways to tackle it, and the fact that as a geographer I can’t stay away from books about the environment. This book, however, met all of my expectations and more! 

In each chapter, Archambeau presented cases on what is wrong in our current ways of production, consumption and environmental degradation/protection. Then he explained how we can change that if we looked at the environment, production, economy and consumption in a more holistic way, especially how we can change business and our day-to-day economic processes, such as financial statements, cost calculations, life cycle assessments, etc, to move towards more sustainable future. He also presents tools which companies can use to calculate the true cost of our products, including the real environmental cost that is usually left out from our product cost and the company’s financial statements. Lastly, in each chapter, Archambeau presents companies or start-up initiatives that are working towards changing the status quo of how businesses operate and finance themselves, as well as displays how those companies take strong steps towards tackling issues associated with climate change, such as poverty, hunger, agricultural processes, deforestation, greenhouse gases, to name a few. 

I learned so much from this book, especially about some of the start-up companies in the environmental sector and technology that I haven’t heard about before, that are doing amazing innovative work towards sustainability and tackling climate change. I also learned so much about the financial processes of the past that we as a society are very reluctant to change to protect our environment. 

The author’s arguments are very well researched and backed up, displaying that we need a very radical change in investing, running of companies, financing and economy to be able to work towards saving our Earth. 

I liked how the author talks about the importance of technology and machine learning, especially working together and not against technology to come up with innovative ideas and projects to save our environment and its resources for future generations. 

This is one of the few books that I have read about this topic that takes this holistic view of our environment, anthropogenic processes and economy and explores how they are all interconnected. This book shows that we need to do much more to tackle climate change and that what we are doing now is not enough. It is never going to be enough unless we are changing our old ways of doing things, such as production, investing, and financing. 

Overall: This book is a must-read for everyone interested in protecting our environment, who want to make a change, who cares about sustainability and the future of our environment and of course those who are interested in finding real solutions to tackle climate change and associated issues. This book is such an important read looking at all of the issues that we as a society are facing from a very holistic viewpoint. 

About the Author:

Eric Archambeau is an engineer, former Silicon Valley entrepreneur, venture capitalist and the co-founder of Astanor Ventures, an impact-led venture capital firm focusing on technology-enabled start-up companies in the regenerative agriculture and sustainable food sectors, with investments in companies such as Apeel Sciences, Empirical Spirit, Infarm, Modern Meadow, Monarch Tractors, Plantible, Smallhold and Ynsect.

Before Astanor, Eric was a business angel, venture capital investor, member of the board of directors and mentor to many founders of disruptive technology companies across the US, the UK and the EU, including, among others, eGroups (Yahoo groups), Flutter Entertainment PLC, PriceMinister (now Rakuten), XING, Spotify, Threads Styling, Freenow, Onfido, Peakon and Pirate Studios.

Over the past two decades, he has also worked as an investor and mentor with social entrepreneurs, addressing key social and environmental challenges, including Maven Clinic, a digital health clinic for women, in New York, and DASRA-Social Impact, a social impact accelerator in Mumbai. Eric was an early supporter of the social entrepreneurship network Ashoka in Europe, and a founding member of the Ashoka Support Network. Eric has also lectured at INSEAD, where he founded the social entrepreneurship programme, and served as Global Chairman of the Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, providing food education for children across the world.

Ali Hazelwood - The Love Hypothesis

 

Ali Hazelwood - The Love Hypothesis 

 5 ⭐

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Romance, Academia/ STEM 

Pages: 384 

Format:  Paperback 

Favourite Quote: ''Carry Yourself with the Confidence of a Mediocre White Man'' (Page 198).

Book Blurb: 

When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive on her way to a happily ever after was always going to be tough, scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting woman, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when he agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire and Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support (and his unyielding abs), their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion.

Olive soon discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

My Review: 

This book! It is the cutest rom-com I have read in a while! I absolutely love this book and not because of BokTok but because it is actually an amazingly written book! 

Firstly, of course, I loved the STEM/ Academic representation in a fictional romance book. It is so rare to see STEM and academia represented in fiction, especially in romance books. Also, it is so fresh to see a romance book set in a different and not conventional environment. For someone who is passionate about STEM and academia and who was a graduate student in a STEM subject and who knows academia, it is amazing to see that it is represented in this book.

This book displayed so many everyday realities of STEM and academia: long hours working alone, long hours doing research and experiments, competition for funding and research, challenges when applying for grants/funding, stresses of publishing and conferences, to name a few. All that whilst barely having any social life and barely surviving from the smallest possible student loans and scholarships...and of course constantly doubting your ability and research. This book covered all of this perfectly! I loved how I could relate to Olive so much because of all that! 

Olive is so bright, determined and ambitious to achieve what she wants even in a very male-dominated field of STEM. Her navigating the world of STEM and academia really shows how hard is to be a female in the STEM and academia. I also liked the fact that at times Olive was portrayed as socially awkward, introverted, especially when it comes to socialising with friends and having a relationship or even not having a life outside a lab. She always has her work and research on her mind, as well as, most of the time she is doubting herself and her abilities. That imposter syndrome is not uncommon with graduate researchers and thus made Olive even more relatable.

I was really happy that this book didn't jump straight into lovey-dovey romance but allowed Olive's and Adam's fake relationship to grow slowly into a friendship and then into strong feelings towards each other. They got to know each other, then they also started to show each other their true personalities, which made this such a brilliant and more realistic read. 

I think what would make this book even better is chapters from Adams's POV. Mainly because I wished there was more background on Adam so that I could've gotten to know his character better since in this book I only got to know his character as how Olive saw him and how his students stereotyped him. I haven't seen the true Adam Carlsen. Although, there were a couple of places in the book where some of his true personality was presented, but not as much as I would’ve liked. 

To be perfectly honest I just wish there was a second book as I want more Olive and Adam and their adventures in academia.

Overall: It is definitely my favourite romance book! Apart from the cliche kiss and fake dating, this story was just an amazing portrayal of two people becoming friends and falling in love, struggles in academia and challenges in STEM research. 

Any romance lovers should add this book to their TBR list (if you haven't already read this) - you will not be left disappointed. 

 

Now I am just going to eagerly await more Ali Hazelwood books...👀👀👀