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Buzzwords
Buzzwords: A Scientist Muses on Sex, Bugs, and Rock 'n' Roll | May R. Berenbaum
7 posts | 1 read | 1 to read
What sort of person devotes their life to the study of bugs? How do you picture your average, every-day entomologist? "I've been photographed on several occasions," writes author May Berenbaum, "and it seems that every time, photographers ask me to pose in one of three ways: seated in front of a microscope, with an insect (usually a cockroach) on my face, or with an insect net clutched in my hand." In Buzzwords, Berenbaum expertly blows away these stereotypes with short takes on all things entomological--from the story of a pet ant kept for 14 years to major motion pictures featuring cockroaches. Buzzwords showcases the Best of Berenbaum, a selection from her humor column in the American Entomologist professional journal, accompanied by a number of original pieces written for this book. "I know people are reading these columns," she notes, "because they write me letters that point out all the mistakes I've made!" The book comes in four parts: How entomologists see insects, including their view of a U.S. government plan to eradicate illicit coca fields by dropping caterpillars from airplanes. How the rest of the world sees insects, with Berenbaum's proposed classificatory scheme for placing Spider Man, Firefly, and other cartoon superheroes into well-defined taxa. How entomologists view themselves--featuring Bambi Berenbaum, a gorgeous entomologist created for an episode of TV's popular "The X-Files," whose character was inspired when the scriptwriter consulted Berenbaum's books. How entomologists see their colleagues, with various views on scholarly citation, motion sickness, and more. Along the way are some thought-provoking observations--for example, about the impact of television on public knowledge of science. In one poll, Berenbaum writes, 35% of adults said they believed that prehistoric humans coexisted with dinosaurs, a la the Flintstones. Berenbaum even takes on the controversy over alternative medicine, fearlessly purchasing Chinese medicinal insects during a professional trip to Vancouver, which also happened to be her honeymoon. "Okay, so maybe giving two talks at an International Congress of Entomology is not everybody's idea of a romantic honeymoon venue, but it seemed like a good idea at the time." Berenbaum is a noted scientist in a field that doesn't always gets the respect it deserves, but she shows us that there's a fun and even freaky side of life with insects. While working on the University of Illinois' annual Insect Fear Film Festival she received a letter from a "crush freak" who waxed lyrical about a young, sexy babe with a size 9 or 10 shoe. Berenbaum writes, "On the one hand, it's almost gratifying to think that insect pest management can arouse people's interest to such an extreme extent. On the other hand, it has convinced me not to list my shoe size in the biographical sketch of my next book." Readers will appreciate learning how the word "shloop" was introduced to the medical literature when physicians used a metal suction tip to remove a cockroach from a patient's ear canal, and how one investigator named a series of subspecies bobana, cocana, dodana, and so forth, "anticipating by 60 years the song, 'The Name Game,' by Shirley Ellis." Although you'll chuckle all the way, Berenbaum has the last laugh, giving powerful lessons in the spectacular diversity of the insect world and the nature of scientific discovery, cleverly packaged as witty observations on subjects far and wide. If you're a scientist or you like reading about science--better yet, if you've ever found a fly in your soup (or worried that you might have unknowingly just slurped one down with your tomato bisque--this book is for you.
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sblbooks
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A while back I posted my buzzwords, now I wanted to share my Buzzkills. What are some things in books that will make you think twice about reading a book? Comment below or make your own post! #bookishbuzzkill

Hooked_on_books The biggest buzzkill for me is instalove. 🙄 It kills any book for me immediately. 2y
34 likes1 comment
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sblbooks
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If I see a title with any of these words, I automatically pick it up to find out more . What are some of your book title #buzzwords? Share my post or create your own. Tag me and some friends to play along. Everyone welcome! @megnews @Chrissyreadit @Allylu @Butterfinger

Chrissyreadit Fun! I will work on this. 3y
Butterfinger Let me think on this. 3y
megnews This is fun. I‘ll try to post tomorrow after I think about it and make a graphic half as cute as yours. Yours is so cute!! 3y
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megnews Also, I have a feeling ours will be similar 3y
sblbooks @Chrissyreadit @Butterfinger 👍 looking forward to seeing yours. 3y
sblbooks @megnews thanks, I enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to seeing yours! 3y
36 likes6 comments
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hes7
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#BuzzwordBookathon starts a week from today! Do you have a word yet?

BookishMe Starting with Love, to tick those titles off the TBR / wishlist... And off to an early start with 4y
sharread Ohhhh I'm in sounds like fun. 👍 4y
48 likes2 comments
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BookishMe
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Check out #BuzzwordBookathon hosted by @Clwojick and @hes7

I could do with some novelty at the moment

Clwojick Yay! Thanks for the repost. ❤️🐝 4y
BookishMe @Clwojick you're welcome 🤗 so far, 'Blue', 'Book' and 'Sun' are the other #buzzwords . And your idea has finally inspired me to create my Bookspin list with the #Buzzword titles! ;D 4y
BookishMe @SquidgetsRoom thanks for the tag in the other post, Amanda. 😊😊 Contemplating the above and Love (the leading buzzword on the Overdrive TBR ;)) what buzzwords are you considering? 4y
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DieAReader @BookishMe I‘m honestly not sure yet 😬 Considering ‘Cowboy‘ & ‘Body/Corpse‘ so far based on books I own 🤷🏻‍♀️😉🤪 Great choices & cool idea to create your Bookspin list with #Buzzword titles!! 4y
BookishMe Cowboy will be uniquely Cool!! 😃 😃 4y
BookishMe @SquidgetsRoom ⬆️⬆️😉 yes, I was almost afraid I may not do a May list cos lethargy is getting better of me these days 4y
hes7 Thanks for sharing! 🙌🏻 4y
BookishMe @hes7 my pleasure 🤗🤗 4y
45 likes8 comments
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hes7
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Have you heard yet? @Clwojick and I are hosting #BuzzwordBookathon in May! Check out your stacks, pick a word, and join us for the readathon fun. 🐝

BookishMe This sounds COOL! Some novelty may be what I need to cheer myself up ;p 4y
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Clwojick
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The picture says it all! 🐝 @hes7 and I invite you to join us in May for another simple, yet fun reading event! The #BuzzwordBookathon will run from May 18th to May 24th, so take some time to look through your collection and make your selections. I‘m excited to see the variety of words we choose, so please share your #Buzzword once you‘ve made your final decision 🐝

@LitsyHappenings #litsyhappenings #readingchallenge #bookathon #readathon

TEArificbooks I choose “bee”. My book club prompt is “bee” so I have a lot of bee books. 🐝 4y
DieAReader I love it! Count me in @Clwojick @hes7 🥳📚 4y
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Andrew65 Thanks fir the tag 👏👏👏, now to think of the word! 4y
Laughterhp What an interesting idea. I‘ll have to review the books I haven‘t read and see if I can come up with anything. 4y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! I'm going to have to contemplate this one carefully! 4y
kiks This sounds interesting 4y
wordslinger42 This sounds fun! I'll join in 😊 4y
rjsthumbelina Interesting! I'm already doing 4 readathons in May, but I'll try to join in 4y
rjsthumbelina I think I will make it a bit more broad, if I can: I like the idea of an astronomy theme in the title: sky, stars, sun, etc. More of a buzztheme than a word...? 4y
Clwojick @mdm139 oh that‘s a good one! I read a few over the last couple of years, but at one point I had a good number of Bee books too! Have you read The Nest? That one was weird. Hahah 4y
Clwojick @SquidgetsRoom yay! So happy that you‘re joining! And thank you for tagging some more people 🥰 4y
Clwojick @Andrew65 I definitely searched and made categories on my kindle selection, which really helped add to my word choices. ♥️ 4y
DieAReader @Clwojick My pleasure! 🥰📚 4y
Clwojick @Laughterhp @kiks @wordslinger42 hope you can come up with a word that works for you! ♥️ 4y
Clwojick @TheAromaofBooks I know, I have about 6-7 word options, but I might wait to choose after I see the order of the #BookSpinBonanza numbers. Maybe some of those books will tie into this challenge. 4y
Clwojick @rjsthumbelina feel free to flex the challenge to make it better suit your reading schedule. 4y
Jerdencon Going to give this some thought and see what I come up with! 4y
xicanti This sounds fun! I think I‘ll have a pretty good pool if I go with Dark, Angel, or an edged weapons theme (Knife/Sword/Blade). 4y
AsYouWish Oh my stars!!! I am already doing 12 challenges this month, but what‘s one more right?!?! I will have think about my word and maybe go more theme with my books. I think I am going to wait I until after the #BookSpinBonanza numbers are posted to decide my word. (edited) 4y
RainyDayReading Hmmm 🤔 Gonna have to think about this one 4y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @SquidgetsRoom thanks for the tag!! 🙌🏻 4y
EadieB @Clowojick I'm going with the word death/dead/dying. 4y
Clwojick @EadieB oooh good choice! 4y
EadieB @Clwojick Thanks! Mystery/Thriller is my genre! 4y
AppuNthebooks This sounds exciting! I‘m in! 4y
BookishMe @EadieB I see so many titles with murder on my list! Haha... Will move from crime fiction for now ;p 4y
EadieB @BookishMe Is Murder your Buzzword? 4y
BookishMe @EadieB not for now ;D love seems to be leading among the titles on my list! Lol... I have no idea how that happened 😅🤣😅 4y
EadieB @BookishMe Interesting! Murder and Love - not sure they go together! 4y
kiks Current buzzword for me seems to be girl followed by murder and Queen equally. Question: is women considered similar to girl and die similar to murder. If yes, my count for both words went up. Otherwise, I'm still good 4y
Clwojick @kiks there are no super strict rules with this event, so if you want to combo two words of a similar theme like that, I would say that‘s totally fine. ♥️ 4y
Lizpixie Can I do a theme like Colours? I have a few books with a colour in the title but not the same one.🤞❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🤍 4y
Lizpixie Cool!🙌 4y
68 likes36 comments
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TheRomantiCate
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Hopefully yours will be more accurate... seeing as I‘m 29 and an Aries...

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ajanibazile/scholastic-book-fair

JanuarieTimewalker13 Well, they‘re only off by one sign and 11 years. Lol 5y
JanuarieTimewalker13 I just did it! I got 41 years and Leo. Which is WAY off...I‘m a 57 yo Capricorn. I‘ll take the 41. Lol 5y
rather_be_reading 26 and capricorn...but im 30 and aries lol 5y
8 likes3 comments