annieb123's Review of How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi

by Chris Balakrishnan and Matt Wasowski

For 20 years, Nerd Nite has delivered to live audiences the most interesting, fun, and informative presentations about science, history, the arts, pop culture, you name it. There hasn’t been a rabbit hole that their army of presenters hasn’t been afraid to explore. Finally, after countless requests to bring Nerd Nite to more fans across the globe, co-founders and college pals Matt Wasowski and Chris Balakrishnan are bringing readers the quirky and accessible science content that they crave in bookform, focused on STEM and paired with detailed illustrations that make the content pop. The resulting range of topics is quirky and vast, from kinky, spring-loaded spiders to the Webb telescope’s influence on movie special effects.

Hilariously named after Dale Carnegie’s iconic book, How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi features narratives, bursts, and infographics on all things STEM from scientists around the world. Chapters are sure to make you laugh-out-loud, with titles such as “The Importance of Talking Sh*t: How Microbes From Your Poop Can Save Lives” and “Be Annoying When it's GOOD to be irritating!”.

With fascinating details, facts, and illustrations, combined with Chris and Matt’s incredible connections to organisations such as the Discovery Network, How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi is sure to reach joyful STEM enthusiasts of all ages around the world.

Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi is a fun, engaging, and yes, nerdy collection of trivia curated and collected by Dr. Chris Balakrishnan and Matt Wasowski. Released 20th Feb 2024 by Macmillan on their St. Martin's imprint, it's 296 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

Nerd nite is an informal collection of fun/funny/engaging mini talks, sort of TED-lite, or Baker Street Irregulars with more self-awareness. It's illustrated throughout with catchy simple line drawings by Kristen Orr.

The entries are arranged somewhat thematically: zoology and natural science, neurobiology, bodily fluids (yep), sex and attraction, health (lots of really cool info about gut microbiomes and other squishy stuff in this chapter), pathogens, death, space, tech, math, and jobs in STEM and related fields.

Four stars. This would be an excellent choice for public or school library acquisition, home use, gift giving, and reference. It's not set up like most trivia catalogs and will have limited applicability for trivia teams. It's just a collection of cool, widely varying, STEM info with a lot of humor which is layman accessible.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes

Reading updates

23 February, 2024: Started reading

23 February, 2024: Finished reading

23 February, 2024: Reviewed