REVIEW: How to Make a Vaccine: An Essential Guide for COVID-19 & Beyond (nonfiction book) by John Rhodes

How to Make a Vaccine: An Essential Guide for COVID-19 & Beyond is nonfiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

I was helping a student at the library I work at find immunology books and realized that we don't have paper copies of anything published after 2019. Not super great. We also don't have much of a budget, and what we do spend goes almost entirely into databases and e-books, so I figured I'd read this and donate it.

This was published in 2021. Rhodes goes over the history of immunology and what we currently know about the immune system and how it works. He also discusses the history of vaccines, various types of vaccines, and the various stages of vaccine development. Then he looks at the various COVID-19 vaccine contenders, arranged by class: inactivated whole-virus vaccines, protein subunit vaccines, live attenuated vaccines, nonreplicating viral vector vaccines, replicating viral vector vaccines, virus-like particle vaccines, DNA vaccines, and RNA vaccines. There's a chart of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine candidates at the end of the book. Rhodes also goes over some vaccination hurdles and how they might be overcome.

This book was maybe not the best place for me to start. Rhodes is an immunologist who definitely seemed to know what he was talking about. Unfortunately, I wasn't always able to follow along with his explanations very well. I really could have used some visual aids.

Still, I appreciated learning a little more about vaccine development in general and the development of COVID-19 vaccines in particular.

REVIEW: The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters (nonfiction book) by J.W. Ocker

The United States of Cryptids is a guide to various cryptids found throughout the United States. It's organized into four sections: the Northeast, the South, the Midwest, and the West. Each cryptid has at least a couple pages devoted to it, including an illustration, information about its type (Mammalian, Humanoid, Aquatic, etc.), its earliest sighting, its size, its location, and any notable features. 

For Ocker, the absolute most important thing is whether there is some form of local celebration or festival devoted to the cryptid, or some form of visible recognition or claiming of it. Cryptids are great tourist attractions, and if a town has a meal or bar named after its local cryptid, Ocker more than likely notes it. In at least a couple instances, Ocker lists cryptids that were invented entirely to attract tourists.

All in all, this was a fun little read. I admit to being a little disappointed that none of the cryptids and their associated museums, festivals, or other attractions were within easy driving distance of me. You'd think at least one of the small towns in my area would have some great cryptid lore, but, as far as I know, all we have are some UFO sightings from a few years back. 

REVIEW: Twisted Visions: The Art of Junji Ito (nonfiction book) art by Junji Ito, translated by Jocelyne Allen

Twisted Visions: The Art of Junji Ito is an art book. I bought my copy new.

Review:

The best thing about Junji Ito's manga is, hands down, his artwork. It's detailed and unsettling. This art book does it justice - most of the artwork is given an entire page to itself, and the page size is nice and large. 

The book starts with a section focused on Tomie, then a section focused on Uzumaki, and finally a more general "other works" section. The back of the book includes a 3-page interview with Ito about his influences and artistic process. Then there's an "index" that includes publication and medium information for each of the book's artworks, as well as short comments from Ito (acrylics are frequently mentioned as a source of frustration and pain).

The color artworks look amazing here. My absolute favorite is probably page 85, the frontispiece for Kyoshitsu Igyo Collection (Fantastical Classroom Collection). A decision was made to print the black-and-white artworks similar to the way the cover art was done - silver on black. I didn't exactly dislike it, but I kind of wished that it had just been printed black on white.

REVIEW: Mal Goes to War (book) by Edward Ashton

Mal Goes to War is science fiction. I bought my copy new.

Review:

In the future depicted in this book, humans are at war - it's the Federals (modded and augmented humans) vs. the Humanists (those against modding and augmentation). Mal (short for Malware) couldn't care less about their battles. He's a free AI who's only interested in the tech that he might be able to salvage from whatever the humans leave behind. He's also kind of interested in the novelty of having a body. Which is why he transfers himself into the body of a recently deceased cyborg mercenary. Unfortunately, he didn't count on the Humanists cutting off access to infospace, so now he's stuck inside a rotting body with only a modded girl named Kayleigh (a teen altered to age slowly, so she appears to be a toddler) for company.

Mal and Kayleigh travel together, trying to stay safe from the Humanists. Mal intends to leave the instant he can find a way back into infospace, but that turns out to take longer than he expects. As their journey continues, there are signs that the Humanists might have teamed up with an unexpected ally.