How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi: Collected Quirks of Science, Tech, Engineering, and Math from Nerd Nite 

Written by Various 

Read by Various 

Book 150/250 

Genre: Non-Fiction, Science 

Format: Audio/Digital, RC 

Pages/Time: 320/9hr 28min 

Published: February 20, 2024 

Rating: 9.25/10 

Narration: 8/10 

 

How to Win Friends and Influence Fungi is probably the most fun I have had reading science since Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry”. Curated by Dr. Chris Balakrishnan and Matt Wasowski, this book contains 70+ hilarious yet informative TED TALK-esque chapters written by STEM experts. 

 

Some of my particular favorites were: Camel Spiders: the Rumors of My Size Have Been Greatly Exaggerated by Forest Ray, PhD; Brain On A Chip: the Ethics of Brain Experimentation by Max Jackson; Microbes Can Save You, Kill You, Or Just Give You the Poops by Ariane L Peralta, PhD; Life Under the Ice of Europa by Guillermo Garcia Costoya; A Tea Test Tempest by Sam Kean; From Back to Tool: the Secret Math Behind Music Theory by Alexander Brewer; and Fermentation: a Cultural Story by Amy Oxenham.