Hi! I'm Deboki, and I love talking about books and science. I did my PhD in Biomedical Engineering, and now I'm a science writer/communicator. You can find me hosting Crash Course: Organic Chemistry, and you can find my writing about microbes on the youtube channel Journey to the Microcosmos.
Here I mostly talk about whatever books and pop culture things I find interesting, and I also talk about my freelance science writing life. I also have a series called Not My Thesis from my grad school days talking about academia and grad school life.
Finally I’ve found out your channel. Like I’m a student preparing for the neet exam which is a medical entrance exam in India and I’m from Bengaluru. When I was in class 11th ig I’ve seen your videos about organic chemistry in the crash course Channel. Finally I’ve got this one. I know it’s weird but if you u know start teaching the syllabus which starts from the GOC from the NCERT then it would’ve been really great.
26:41 I have never heard of this. Thankfully so 🎉😅 I always heard that if you can't explain it to a 5 year old, then you really don't know what you are talking about.
I missed this live and actually missed this entire book pick! Somehow? (Not paying attention, that's how) And I thought your discussion was really interesting. I especially liked how you kind of brushed up against talking about finding the author draw a conclusion that is out on a limb that's not really supported by structure underneath. I was recently reading a Nonfiction title where the author said something that seemed a little off so I actually looked up the end note, found the citation, tracked down the article and couldn't give what the argue was saying. I ended up emailing the author because this one little thing ended up eroding my trust in that section of the book more when I couldn't figure out what they were actually rooted in.
Ok and now I'm bummed I can't chat BT NF prize theories with Deboki at BNF because I am FASCINATED by what makes it further and what doesn't and trying to guess what the trends and reading baggage judges are bringing to each round are.
I'm not judging the booktube prize this year because I couldn't really commit to it, but now I need to go back and see what's been making it through the round!
@@okidokiboki I'm having a couple friends review my hour long (💀) OktaFinals Vlog credit so that'll hopefully go up before June and maybe 10 minutes shorter???
A fantastic short novel about a dating show with elements of queer horror is Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Leigh Allen. It is very fun, very fast paced and I think you will really like the way it shows reality dating shows
such good news - congrats!! i think when i'm in similar moods Agatha Christie really hits lol, or re-reads of books i loved from 5+ years ago. hope you find something that scratches the itch!
Your book recommendation request made me think of something that isn’t historical but actually set in the future and speculative Not sure if you have tried the In Death series by JD Robb but they definitely hit the procedural vibe for me and are well written and quick to get through I think
trash, not well written but conceptually very enjoyable: Queen of Teeth by Hailey Piper. bit of horror, maybe not the best in pregnancy but I scare quite easily and didn't get scared at all. vagina dentata, woman turning bloodthirsty, lesbian revenge on maleness, to me it was very fun that it went further beyond moral hesitations than a lot of other books, the first half is a bit slow
Some oldies but goodies in going to recommend from kidlit in case your brain does better with that these days are The Agency quartet by Y.S. Lee. They're Victorian era with spies and the first book is A Spy in the House. And then maybe maybe The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner and sequels. This one maybe not because each book has a new first person narrator but the same characters will appear so you might not have the brain energy and focus right now but maybe it will free you from feeling like you have to remember so much???
Congrats!! I'm currently reading the very cute sapphic Love at 350°, which is about the judge of a reality baking competition and a contestant falling in love. I'm enjoying it because it's focusing on slightly older women, which I feel like I don't see super often in romance.
I've been thinking about you and hoping you were having a very boring pregnancy a lot lately so I'm very happy to see your face. I hope your third trimester brain reshaping treats you well!
Congratulations on your pregnancy! If you are not reading books, would you be interested in webtoons' rec.? They are so easy to read, since I just have to scroll through on my phone. I pivoted toward them after becoming too exhausting to read physical books!
Congrats to all things happening your way! Including a safe and healthy pregnancy! Happy to hear you have support from family and friends. I'm curious if Journey to the Microcosmos channel is going to stay after the last episode, or another way folks can get access to this beautiful content? Books ( unfortunately not so much romantic) - Island of Sea Women - Lisa See - In the Dream House - Carmen Maria machado
I couldnt get through it after the dog torturing. It was just a very visceral reaction. I wasnt aware this was in the book or i wouldnt have picked it up.
Have you grown up yet? You play a diversity card and say it's good. Care to say why or provide evidence that demonstrates results? Is it possible that women don't want to do science and maybe you should stop jamming down their throat or suggest there is something wrong with them because they have other interests. There are innate differences between men and women.
Ok, I would actually argue that His Name is George Floyd does a bad job when it covers the unrest in Minneapolis. The book is weirdly positive towards the local governing structures (Mayor Frey & the Governor) and MPD and the authors don't cover a lot of the horrible things MPD did during the unrest that violated the rights of citizens. It made it feel incomplete to me. So don't feel bad about your choice there!
ALSO A couple times since I read it people have been like "is An Immense World worth keeping in my TBR?" And I'm always sliding in there like "I regret to inform you that it's as spectacularly good as everyone says." Deboki I STILK think about things from this book all the time. Like humans actually having better eyesight, even at night, then did but it not mattering because dogs use their noses so much I think about all the time.
I definitely agree with the want to use more local desktop applications. Ultimately I want my UI experience to be desktop or terminal applications (remember those 😂) then web applications for tracking personal things. My first attempt to do this is with a password manager (keepassXC) and using backblaze service to backup. It's been amazing and I love it. I've been trying to figure out how to do this with books and all everyone talks about is goodreads. Thank you for the recommendations!
I don't comment enough but I just wanted to say that I really like the way you structure your videos. They feel really conversational and I like how you spend time talking about themes in your reading. You've convinced me to try the Freya Marske series and The Mimicking of Known Successes :)
I'm not upset An Immense World win the BT Nonfiction prize, I think it's totally deserving, but I'm a little miffed that Strangers to Ourselves didn't make the finals.
Agreed, I had more agreement with the overall nonfiction booktube prize trajectory this year than usual, but stranger to ourselves not making the finals was definitely the big point of contention for me
IDK if this helps or not but because the social features of Storygraph are pretty hidden and relatively underdeveloped it actually doesn't feel particularly public. Like could someone see my reviews? I guess if they're already looking at that book but can they hunt down me and my reviews specifically? Ehhh?
It's been a while since you posted this video, so of course the Doomsday books hadn't been published. I'm an avid KJ Charles fan and I loved your comments on these books. I completely agree with your recommendations, and that's why I think you should definitely give a try to the newest books. The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen and A Gentleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel are probably THE BEST books Charles has written. Give them a try and let us know what you think!
Woohoo for the Last Binding trilogy! I also had trouble wrapping my head around the magic system and some of what goes on plot-wise, but the characters and relationships were so strong that I kinda didn't care, lol. I'll be interested to see if the books the algorithm chose do give you the same vibes.
I enjoyed The Mimicking of Known Successes, it was a fun space mystery! I also really liked Some Desperate Glory, it’s been pretty polarizing but I think Tesh does really well what she set out to do.
I completely agree about the non-white characters. They felt very caricatured to me. On the topic of "the point of the fiction", I also agree. Being a science writer, you might have already read the more recent work Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. It's non-fiction, with the main protagonists being fungi, but due to the ecosystem of mycorrhizal fungi and their interaction with trees, the message about the collective health of forests and the impact to that collective health when aspects of the ecosystem are harmed is very present. I think it's a great example of non-fiction being able to creatively narrate such a topic in a compelling way. I also personally have a theory as to why the characters in The Overstory feel a bit empty. I think that Powers might have intended a Science Fiction interpretation to the story where the characters are all AI aspects of Neelay's game. The odd connection between the childless Brinkman couple and Olivia/Maidenhair can't be easily reconciled without some sort of multiverse or simulation element being involved.
I love a library book check in so this was fun to watch 😊 Paradise Falls sounds interesting so I'm looking forward to your thoughts on it. I just tried Kushiel's Dart and dnfd it about 150 pages in as the writing was too flowery for me. Gutted as I was hoping to find a new fantasy series to love. I may give it a second chance at sone point though.
Yellowface’s first chapter also hooked me, but that’s not at all the tone and vibe of the rest of the book! It’s very much not a thriller/mystery, it’s def more focused on satire. It was good (not amazing) but if the narration was not your thing, it’s literally the rest of the book, just the MC’s thoughts and thoughts and thoughts. It was kind of slow!
