hilarious collection of wise feline words

The Violinist's Thumb is one of the Ten Books to Look Out for in 2012

A fast-paced, breezy romp through history using DNA as a unifying theme... it’s nerd-vana

Explored in his Bryson-esque style, [The Violinist's Thumb] provokes fascinating stuff, full of oddball stories and amazing facts. Kean's book is full of wonderfully weird anecdotes, but it's also an accessible history of the discovery and mapping of DNA... compellingly entertaining

Sam Kean is the best science teacher you never had

[Kean] writes with a humor and humanity that make him poised to become the next Brian Greene, maybe, or Oliver Sacks - explaining small corners of the universe one case study at a time

An excellent book – highly readable and with lots of great stories

Kean’s real knack is for digging up strange details most textbooks leave out … the book is an engaging history

Though his subject is a serious one, Mr. Kean enlivens his narrative with an appealing sense of humor... Kean’s witty style nicely blends facts and stories in an engaging package

The wonderful thing about Kean… is his ability to focus on a spiraling narrative while he climbs up the double-helix ladder in this history of genetics… It is a handsome story

Enthralling... wonderfully witty... Kean's thoughtful, humorous book is a joy to read

Anyone reading this fine book could be excused for asking, with wide-eyed amazement: is there anything DNA can’t do?

The Internet really IS a series of tubes! Who knew?

At once funny, prosaic, sinister and wise, Blum's tale is a beautifully written account of the true human cost of all our remote connectivity

With infectious wonder, Andrew Blum introduces us to the Internet's geeky wizards and takes us on an amiably guided tour of the world they've created ... the Internet that Blum's beautifully lucid prose makes real turns out to be if anything a more marvelous place than the cloudy dreamland we'd imagined

An illuminating journey of discovery

Total immersive reading

A wonderful idea ... a hugely enjoyable and thought-provoking book

Fascinating, absorbing

A quick, absorbing read - a summer beach book with brains

If you can stomach only one end-of-the world-as-we-know it story this summer, none is more audacious or interesting than Alan Weisman's The World Without Us

His is an extraordinary story laced with tragedy

[Root's] life story, vividly related here, is crammed with incident and adventure. Curious, creative and fearless, he has diced with death on numerous occasions and been mauled several times in his efforts to capture the daily lives of everything from silver-back gorillas to leopards in the wild on film. A gripping account of a life well lived