Tag: scientist

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Ali Hazelwood’s debut novel The Love Hypothesis is the start to a new contemporary romance series. Hazelwood’s books all center around women in STEM and academia, which represents her life. Hazelwood is originally from Italy, then lived in Japan and Germany, and after that she moved to the US to pursue a PhD in neuroscience. She is now a professor (and author).

Olive Smith is a third-year PhD candidate at Stanford. She’s not a fan of romantic relationships – they just aren’t her thing. Science has always been there for her, so lasting romance doesn’t interest her. Slight problem though: she did have a boyfriend for a while that it turns out her best friend has a major crush on. In order to finally convince her best friend that she really doesn’t care if she dates Olive’s ex-boyfriend, Olive needs to get a new boyfriend stat. A ‘real’ boyfriend isn’t in the cards, so Olive does the next best thing: she panics and kisses the first man she sees.

Utter disaster. Well, the kiss wasn’t that bad, but the man she kissed – a whole other story. She planted her lips on Adam Carlsen, a young professor who is known throughout her department to be utterly rude and condescending, especially to the students in his labs. Forced to explain why she forced herself upon him, Olive is stunned when Dr. Carlsen agrees to keep up the pretense and be her fake boyfriend. Rumors swirl around campus, putting Adam and Olive into very awkward positions with other faculty, students, and friends.

The more they get to know each other, the more Olive thinks that this experiment may not be a bad idea. Especially when they are thrown together at a big conference and in addition to the surprise of his six-pack abs, Adam proves to be incredibly supportive when Olive’s life starts to crumble. There are bigger things at play than just biology: Olive may have to deal with the feelings that are starting to creep into their relationship.

The second book in this series, Love on the Brain, is set to be published in August 2022.

This book is also available in the following format:

Love Hypothesis series

  1. The Love Hypothesis
  2. Love on the Brain (will be published in August 2022)

 

Darwin Diluted

- Ann Leave a comment

young-darwin2

How does one simplify the subject of evolution?  One solution — read some children’s books on the subject.  Well, at least that’s what I did.  After quickly purveying Darwin’s original On the Origin of the Species, it was pretty obvious that I wouldn’t be finishing it anytime soon, so I did the next best thing.  I checked out what we had in the juvenile section, and lo and behold, I could actually understand them!  I also garnered some fascinating tidbits about this legendary scientist.  For instance, did you know that Darwin . . .

  • was a poor-to-mediocre student who would rather be out hunting than studying the classics?  (Wouldn’t most kids?)
  • dropped out of medical school as he couldn’t stand to watch surgery being performed on children without anesthetic? (That would do me in, too.)
  • spent five years on a voyage around the world aboard the HMS Beagle?  (Though plagued with terrible seasickness, he collected countless new specimens and fossils.)
  • spent eight years just studying barnacles?
  • was an ardent abolitionist?
  • preferred the term “transmutation through natural selection” over “evolution”?
  • suffered from stage fright so severe he couldn’t publicly defend his ideas?

If you’re interested in finding out more about Darwin, check out these titles:

Darwin and Evolution for Kids: His Life and Ideas by Kristan Lawson

Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution (a graphic novel!) by Heather Adamson

The Tree of Life: a Book Depicting the Life of Charles Darwin, Naturalist, Geologist and Thinker by Peter Sis