in a year?), The How and Wow of the Human
Body takes readers on a journey through our
various organs and appendages, starting with
the head and concluding, appropriately, with
the rear end.
Authors Mindy Thomas and Guy Raz
both have a background in podcasting, and
it shows in the way information is presented
in the book. Dialogues, funny fictional ads,
graphics, comics, and even biographies of dif-
ferent body parts can all be found, while QR
codes at the end direct readers to the authors’
favorite episodes of their Wow in the World
podcast. There are also lots of fun challenges
and examples of human record breakers dot-
ted throughout. The authors’ aim is to an-
swer questions about how the human body
works and to provide a barrage of fun and
weird facts with which to wow one’s friends.
At times, the book moves a little too
quickly. I would have appreciated a more
comprehensive overview of the body and
less of a focus on the sensationally gross. But
overall, it achieves what it sets out to do: in-
spire curiosity and imagination around the
way our bodies work. What it lacks in depth
it certainly makes up for in humor, a willing-
ness to engage with irreverent questions (“Is
it okay to eat my boogers?”), and its offering
of helpful flowcharts (when trying to decide
whether to pick at something on your skin,
the answer is almost always no).
The How and Wow of the Human Body, Mindy Thomas
and Guy Raz, Illustrated by Jack Teagle, Clarion Books,
2021, 192 pp.
SCIENCE science.org
There’s No Ham
in Hamburgers
Reviewed by Trista Wagoner^3There’s No Ham in Hamburgers is orga-
nized around favorite American foods:
hamburgers, French fries, pizza, ice cream,
hot dogs, chicken fingers, peanut butter,
cookies, chocolate, and breakfast cereals.
Each chapter includes the origin of the
food under consideration, as well as de-
scriptions of how it is made, information
about its nutritional value, and a recipe.
Scientific concepts appear in high-
lighted text boxes and include an explana-
tion for why chips become stale and how
milk chocolate requires overcoming the
tendency for oil and water to separate. At
least one recipe also doubles as an easy ex-
periment, inviting readers to measure the
temperature of ice before and after mak-
ing ice cream. Careful readers will catch
the author’s observation that most of our
favorite foods are unhealthy at the quanti-
ties at which we regularly consume them,
but this qualification is easy to overlook.
A more culturally sensitive perspective
would have improved the book. Zach-
man writes, for example, that the Aztecs
“believed in human sacrifice” but fails to
effectively contextualize this statement
and gives short shrift to the experience
of Indigenous societies, maintaining that
Spanish explorers “discovered” potatoes,
tomatoes, and other crops long cultivated
by Native peoples.
Despite these shortcomings, readers of
all ages are likely to learn something new
about food. (For example, I learned that
ancient Egyptians built incubators for
chicken eggs and that mustard may have
been the world’s first condiment.)There’s No Ham in Hamburgers: Facts and Folklore
About Our Favorite Foods, Kim Zachman, Illustrated by
Peter Donnelly, Running Press Kids, 2021, 144 pp.A Shot in the Arm!
Reviewed by Seth Thomas Scanlon^4As more children become eligible for COVID-
19 vaccines, resources that help explain the
“what” and “why” of vaccination to young
minds are urgently needed. Don Brown’s in-
formative and inviting graphic novel A Shot
in the Arm! arrives at just the right time.
Narrated by Lady Mary Wortley Mon-
tagu, who championed inoculation in
18th-century Britain, the book recountsefforts to understand and combat diseases
such as smallpox, rabies, anthrax, cholera,
and polio. Contributions by scientists in-
cluding Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Edward
Jenner, Robert Koch, Louis Pasteur, and
Jonas Salk are recounted in an approach-
able and inspiring way. The author also
does an excellent job describing the soci-
etal and political responses to vaccination,
with special attention paid to antivaccine
movements. Brown ends his tale with
a timely and engaging depiction of the
COVID-19 pandemic and the global effort
to quickly develop vaccines.
Mini-primers on the science behind vac-
cines interspersed throughout the text may
leave budding scientists wanting more. Ad-
ditionally, the detailed timeline at the end
is much appreciated, but the accompanying
bibliography should have included more
age-appropriate resources. But these are
minor criticisms. Overall, I found the book
to be informative, clear-eyed, and enjoyable.
J. N. Hall wrote in Science in 1894 that
“[t]here is, indeed, a certain element of
danger in vaccination, as in every other
thing of established value, but it is strange
that in the face of such evidence...there
are still found those who deny the value of
the most beneficent discovery ever made
by man” ( 1 ). When it feels like the same
battles are being fought again and again,
take heart in this book’s core message: that
despite all the roadblocks, progress con-
tinues to be made in protecting humanity
against infectious diseases, thanks to the
curiosity, creativity, and passion of scien-
tists around the globe.REFERENCES AND NOTES- J. N. Hall, Science 23 , 72 (1894).
A Shot in the Arm!, Don Brown, Amulet Books, 2021,
144 pp.CHILDREN’S SCIENCE PICTURE BOOKMimic Makers
Reviewed by Kelly Servick In the wrinkles of a leaf and along the fin
of a whale, inspiration is hiding. That is
the message in Kristen Nordstrom’s Mimic
Makers, a joyful parade of scientists and
engineers who have looked to nature to
solve problems.
Nordstrom describes how the tapered
shape of a kingfisher’s bill pointed engineer
Eiji Nakatsu to a quieter, more efficient de-
sign for the Shinkansen bullet train and
how the ridged back of a Namibian beetle
led designer Pak Kitae to create a device
that collects drinking water from morning3 DECEMBER 2021 • VOL 374 ISSUE 6572 1191