Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR & NARRATOR: Cory Doctorow GENRE: Tech Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: October 7, 2025 RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: An engrossing exposé on the enshittification of the internet and all its components over the last few years. Well-researched with substantial and concrete examples. Informative without getting too techy. Don’t be fooled by the cover; this is a serious and scary book. Much recommended. Canadian author Cory Doctorow has been an internet activist for more than twenty-five years. He has worked on digital rights management, file sharing, and post-scarcity economics, among other themes, and has actively lobbied for liberalising copyright laws. Doctorow coined the term ‘enshittification’ in a blog post in 2022, to indicate the process by which online products and service gradually decay in quality until they are *shit*. While the concept was already being spoken of, his term caught on and became a widespread neologism, chosen as the ‘Word of the Year’ by The American...

AUTHOR: Scott Goldie GENRE: Children's Illustrated Nonfiction, Science PUBLICATION DATE: January 6, 2026 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: An illustrated book about the anatomical constituents of the human body. Presented in a humorous way. Quite elaborate, with fairly comprehensible explanations. A good option for older middle-graders. The book delivers exactly as promised by the title and the tagline. The content explores the components of the human body, beginning from the basics. So we get a detailed look at the skeleton, the muscles, the key (and not-so-key) organs, the senses, the constituents of cells and blood, and so on. As the content is organised in terms of role in the human body, the book is highly structured and hence easy to peruse through. Beyond the basic biological information, it also has several fun sections such as ‘Four Facts and a Fib’ and Breakthroughs. While the information does get science-heavy at times ( it cannot be avoided in such a topic after all ), ...

AUTHOR: Kathleen M. Blasi ILLUSTRATOR: Petronela Dostalova GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: August 12, 2025 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A heartwarming picture book about a little space lover and his ‘mission’. Loved the story, writing, characters, and ending. The illustrations are great as well. The information on meteors was a bonus. Much recommended. Plot Preview: Young Milo loves space and dreams of playing take-off with his “Second-in-Command”, his Mom. Unfortunately, Mom has plenty of tasks and even though Milo helps her, her list of chores never seems to diminish. When the weather forecast predicts a meteor storm in the middle of the night, Milo is desperate to witness it. But will his Second-in-Command have the time to help him accomplish this mission? The story is written in Milo’s third-person perspective. All children love to look at the moon and the stars, but several actually dream of flying through space. Young Milo is one such sweet kid. I loved...

AUTHOR: Jean-Baptiste Aubin GENRE: Maths PUBLICATION DATE: February 3, 2026 RATING: 5 stars! In a Nutshell: Exactly as the title states. A big book of everything pi. Fascinating and hilarious. Not at all dry. Totally enjoyed this book. If only math textbooks were like this! If someone had told me in my school years that I would relish a book about that infernal concept called pi π, I would have laughed right in their face! Not that I didn’t enjoy maths, but so many geometrical formulae involved the use of pi that it became a bugbear. I wish such a book had existed in my childhood. Pi is known to be one of the most enigmatic concepts in mathematics, even when humans (with the aid of computers) have unfurled its decimals to much more than practically necessary. This book seeks to shatter the dread surrounding this concept without sounding like a school textbook, and it is VERY successful in this endeavour. The uniqueness of the approach is that the content is almost conversational despit...

AUTHOR: Tom Gauld GENRE: Cartoon Collection. PUBLICATION DATE: April 2, 2020 RATING: 4 stars. A set of cartoons for science nerds. All of these originally appeared in New Scientist magazine, so obviously, the STEM level is quite high. A few of these are a bit too abstract, but many of these are genuinely hilarious. Most depict a high level of scientific understanding, so it would help if the reader also has a basic scientific knowledge, else the joke would be lost in the ether. Much recommended to science enthusiasts with a sense of humour. Better if read at random than in one go.

AUTHOR: Jen White GENRE: Children's Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: October 21, 2025 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book about the connection between art and science and how the two can work in sync. A good concept, but I wanted more from the execution. This might click slightly better for older kids than the targeted age group. Art and Science have long been considered distinct fields. However, there is plenty of science in art ( think colour combinations, geometric arrangements, spatial utilisation, structural knowledge of materials, and so on ) and plenty of art in science ( think botanical sketches, chemical bonds, engineering structures, architectural designs, and so on .) The commonality between the two is a fascinating topic, and hence, I was thrilled when I saw the title of this book. Unfortunately, though it gets some things right, it skips some foundational information and aims at a higher level. The book begins with some generalised statements about how both art ...

AUTHOR: Mike Rampton ILLUSTRATOR: Guilherme Karsten GENRE: Children's Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: October 14, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A Q&A-styled nonfiction for middle-graders. Contains some interesting questions and some equally interesting answers. Given the title, I expected the questions to be more whimsical and wacky, but these are far and few between. Informative. A good gift option if you are looking for a different kind of encyclopaedic book covering multiple subjects. Author Mike Rampton’s daughter once asked him a question he couldn’t answer. This simple incident led to a wonderful and worthy revelation – there are no silly questions. Thus began the ideation of this book, wherein the author noted more than 200 “silly” questions and the answers for each. I love that the book begins with two “silly questions” right on the title page, questions of which most book-loving readers would surely enjoy the answers. Questions are unfortunately not given enough...

AUTHOR: Moira Butterfield ILLUSTRATOR: Ro Ledesma GENRE: Children's Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: August 19, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A funny and informative picture book about the various hics and toots of the human body. Educational in content and entertaining in tone. A good choice for any child (and adult) interested in anatomical noises. 😉 You already know that the human body makes sounds. Not counting our verbalised intelligible communication, we still create plenty of noises. Involuntary audible sounds through farts, burps, stomach gurgles ( It’s called “borborygmi”! I never knew! ), hiccups, and so on; hidden involuntary sounds inside of our body that we are never aware of such as heartbeats; sounds coming because of age or illnesses such as creaky joints or coughs; voluntary sounds we make while blowing raspberries or shushing someone at the library; and even voluntary noises such as claps – the book covers it all. There are also several examples of animal (and...

AUTHOR: Bertie Stephens GENRE: Middle-grade Eco-Fiction. PUBLICATION DATE:  June 26, 2025. RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A middle-grade STEM adventure that combines science and fantasy and environmental awareness and humour. Interesting characters and a creative storyline. A bit too episodic and disjointed for my liking, but kids might enjoy the magical mayhem more. First of a series; minor cliffhanger ending. Plot Preview: Eleven-year-old Ellie Ment doesn’t believe in magic. As a self-proclaimed scientist, all her passion is for science. After all, it provides an explanation for everything. But when Ellie’s school burns down in a purple inferno and her favourite teacher hands her some strange wrist braces that conjure up the elements, Ellie struggles to search for an explanation. Determined to discover the truth using science, common sense, and logic, Ellie follows her teacher into a strange new club.  The story comes to us via an unknown omniscient narrator, who lo...

AUTHOR: Amy S. Hansen ILLUSTRATOR: Rocío Arreola Mendoza GENRE: Children's Picture Book, Biography PUBLICATION DATE: August 19, 2025. RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A biographical picture book about the life of blind astrophysicist Wanda Díaz-Merced. Amazing story, excellent illustrations. Inspiring in every way. A great option for little STEM readers. I grabbed this book without even knowing that it was a biographical story, totally missing the tagline on the cover: “A Blind Astronomer Listens to the Universe.” What actually caught my attention was that stunning cover art and that curious title about *hearing* the stars. Reading the book confirmed what an apt name it was for this powerful book. Wanda Díaz-Merced grew up in a small Puerto Rico town. When she was nine, she was fascinated by the stars. Unfortunately, because of her diabetes, she began losing her eyesight while in college and soon was completely blind. Anyone else would have given up on the starry dreams, but Wa...

AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Ashley Spires SERIES: Most Magnificent Thing, #4 GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: May 6, 2025. RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: The fourth picture book of the ‘Most Magnificent’ series, and possibly the most helpful one for today’s kids. The focus is on team work, and the resultant content is funny as well as practical. Much recommended! Plot Preview: Our little tinkerer, still unnamed after four books, and her pug are as amazing as ever at working together and creating stuff. One day, when the girl goes to her usual place to work on her latest brainwave, she sees that there’s someone already there: a new neighbour with her pet cat. This neighbour also seems to love inventing, so the girl offers her a chance to work together on her new project. But when two strong-minded imaginative thinkers get together, can the going be easy? The first three books of this series have been quite helpful in getting kids to use their imagination and hand...

AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Ashley Spires SERIES: Most Magnificent Thing, #3 GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: September 5, 2023. RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: The third picture book of the ‘Most Magnificent’ series. Unlike the earlier two, this one has no plot but is a guide book aimed at creative thinkers. Quite interesting and imaginative with much helpful advice, but will have limited appeal compared to the rest of the series. Though the third book of the Most Magnificent series, this book stands apart in its approach. This first two books had a clear plot, where a little girl struggled with making her invention and thinking of an idea respectively. This third book is more of a nonfiction, with the title indicating exactly what the book contains: a A-Z guide for little makers. From Brainstorming to Fixing to Rethinking and a lot more, every single letter of the English alphabet gets a page or two of dedicated focus. The content doesn’t stop just at saying th...

AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Ashley Spires SERIES: Most Magnificent Thing, #2 GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: September 6, 2022. RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: The second picture book of the ‘Most Magnificent’ series and just as adorable. Great idea, great characters, great life lesson. Much recommended. Can be read as a standalone. Plot Preview: The unnamed little girl and her pet-dog-cum-creative-assistant are back. She still loves tinkering and has a new idea every day for a new project. But one day, she hits that dreaded wall that so many creative people fear: her mind draws a blank. No idea! What will she do? What can she make? With her beloved assistant in tow, she tries her best to think of a new idea, but nothing seems to work. Is this the end of her tinkering days? Yet again a simple concept but a relatable one. Even the most creative people have days when no idea comes to mind or comes to fruition. This might lead to sadness, annoyance, or frustratio...

AUTHOR & ILLUSTRATOR: Ashley Spires SERIES: Most Magnificent Thing, #1 GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: April 1, 2014. RATING: 4.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A lovely picture book about the frustrations that accompany perfectionism. Adorable characters, great storyline, nice message, cute illustrations. Much recommended! Plot Preview: A little girl and her best friend, her pet pug, love to do everything together. She enjoys making things, so one day, she decides to create the most magnificent thing that she has already imagined and planned out in her head. She employs her dog as her assistant and starts her work. But is it always easy to get what’s in our mind out in reality? I happened to have the ARC of a picture book by this author, and on opening it, I noticed that it was the fourth book of a running series. Luckily, my library had the first book, so I sang just as Julie Andrews did: “Let’s start at the very beginning…” 😉 The dedication itself makes clear that ...

AUTHOR: Ixtzel Arreola ILLUSTRATOR: Martina Liebig GENRE: Children's Picture Book. PUBLICATION DATE: March 11, 2025 RATING: 3.25 stars. In a Nutshell: A picture book that indirectly explains the water cycle using the story of a little cloud. Sweet story and great graphics. But I wish the intent had been made clearer on the front cover  and the execution a bit fine-tuned . This is a cute story about a little cloud called Re, who dreams of becoming a big cloud. She has no idea how to grow larger, until a friendly cloud tells her the secret: “Fly over lakes and rivers and collect morning dew.” Thus Re soaks up the water droplets, and grows bigger and bigger, and even makes a new friend along the way: a pretty pink flower. However, Re is too large to float around. What happens next? This book was first published in 2024 in German under the title “Kleine Wolke Re.” This English translation is to be published in March 2024. The concept of the story is fabulous. But the implementation o...

AUTHOR: Sara de Waal ILLUSTRATOR: Ana Stretcu GENRE: Children's Picture Book PUBLICATION DATE: April 8, 2025 RATING: 4 stars. In a Nutshell: A clever picture book about looking at things differently. Creative storyline, diverse characters, good message, amazing illustrations. A good option for little readers, but better if read with adult guidance. Plot Preview: Mo is quite excited about the upcoming Scintillating Science Symposium as he wishes to be a chemist when he grow up. He is determined to win the event, and he is sure that he will. After all, his classmates are quite creative, but none are as smart or as into science as him. One of his friends Muriel, even declares that she wants to be a cat when she grows up. As the teacher declares the theme for the symposium: “turn something small to something big”, Mo’s head is already bursting with ideas. Which one should he opt for? Can he win the competition? The storyline of this picture book is good, and its execution is also ...