Book Reviews

By Lisa Kaltenegger 4/16/24 288 pages $30 St. Martin’s Press

‘Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos’

I love space. I follow all the launches, the probes, the landers on Mars; I can’t get enough of all the fascinating and paradigm-shifting discoveries that surround us in this era of technological wonders. If you’ve got a penchant for looking up at the stars and wondering, or just a love for “Star Trek,” I’ve got a brilliant recommendation for your summer reading list. 

Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger is a rock star in the science world for good reason. She has had a fascinating and glass-ceiling-shattering career and, along the way, has become a brilliant science educator with an effortless ability to teach complex topics with an infectious enthusiasm. Her skills are on full display in this overview of the vast, multi-disciplinary search for life on other planets. This very readable book explores the many different ways we are looking for any sign of life among the fascinating worlds we’ve discovered outside our own solar system and asks us to ponder what will happen if we find someone looking back at us.

Reading more like a conversation than a lecture, this is the epitome of what a popular science book should be. It’s full of facts and context but never feels dry or boring. I was hooked from the first page. Be prepared to look at the night sky a little differently after this wonderful book. — Review by Julie Goodrich

By John Shen Yen Nee and S.J. Rozan 4/2/24 312 pages $25.95 Soho Crime

‘The Murder of Mr. Ma’

Mash-ups, genre-benders, unexpected fusion: these are the things I look for after decades of reading. I like mystery books that bring something new to the same old game, and, this time, the game is afoot wearing an entirely different shoe.

“The Murder of Mr. Ma” is a rollicking, fast-paced adventure that weaves the grand tradition of a Sherlock Holmesan homage into traditional Chinese gong’an crime fiction with explosive results. Academic Lao She is adapting to Edwardian London as best he can when he chances into a meeting with the notorious Judge Dee Ren Jie, a well-known figure in the Chinese diaspora and not a man given to quiet study. Lao is soon caught up in a disturbing and highly dangerous murder mystery that has him running for his life more than once. Can he and Dee save themselves, along with the serial killer targeting immigrants?

This was such a fun book, with the beautiful writing and affections so well-known from the Holmes style but with intriguing history and a cultural influence I loved to learn about. Anyone with a need for a quick read that keeps you on your toes will love this one. — Review by Julie Goodrich