Books

SCOURGE: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox by Jonathan B. Tucker is less a history of smallpox than a history of the politics and logistics involved in destroying it in the 20th century. The World Health Organization was won over to the idea (despite already working on ending malaria) because of US offers of funding and the relative simplicity (no insect vectors—inoculate all the exposed people, you can end an outbreak), and set off on the challenging effort to inoculate every victim and everyone they might have infected (logistically very challenging). After the elimination came the contentious debate over whether eliminating US and USSR stocks would make the world safer (no chance of an accidental or terrorist release) or less so (on the theory some group could genetically engineer a new smallpox in which case we need the stockpile for research). The discovery of Soviet germ warfare experiments and terrorist interest in bioweapons tilted the balance in favor of keeping the stuff, though as Tucker notes it’s debatable how useful the supply will be in a worst-case scenario. Very good.
THE UPSIDE OF IRRATIONALITY: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home by Dan Ariely discusses the underlying reasons why big bonuses make us less effective, why pride in our work and ideas matters more than money and what prompts us to give negative feedback about businesses. This works well in discussing the business world, but Ariely just plugs in stereotypes when he tackles our personal lives. For example, he claims that men being 2.4 times more likely to ask out a woman online proves men are less fussy about who they date than women, rather than say, more willing to take the initiative or less worried about meeting a rapist online. In general, he seems to ignore outside forces that influence our judgment—is the massive support for Baby Jessica (a toddler trapped underground some 25 years ago or so) prove anything other than saturation media coverage grabs our attention? Interesting but flawe
THE WARRIOR WHO CARRIED LIFE by Geoff Ryman is a mythic fantasy in which a woman transforms herself into an armored male warrior to avenge the attack on her family only to discover revenge will require regrowing the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden. The big twist is that we learn Adam is the one responsible for the Fall of Man, only to blame the serpent and Eve; this isn’t that shocking (I’ve seen much more in-your-face deconstructions of Christianity) but it works. Enjoyable overall, but not A-list.
FRANKENSTEIN, AGENT OF SHADE: Secrets of the Dead by Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt and Alberto Ponticelli is the second and final volume in the series (Frank himself went on to join Justice League Dark) which focuses heavily on family matters, Frank and his Bride discovering their long-lost son lives, then going for a showdown with their creator. Unfortunately, it’s nowhere near the story it should have been—the final showdown with Victor gets brushed over so that we can focus on a crossover event involving his new master, the Rot (a demonic force of decay). That said, entertaining enough to be worth reading.