Oh hi!

Given my penchant for pneumatic tubes and galvanometer séance tests, it’s probably no surprise that I love microhistories, the non-fiction subgenre where authors laser in on a specific thing and go deep in a way that often reflects an aspect of our larger world.

There are well-known writers in this subgenre. I’m talking about Mark Kulansky, who wrote Salt and Cod, and Mary Roach, who penned Stiff and Gulp, to name just a few of their respective works. And then there are exceptional, wider-read microhistories like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot and Susan Orlean’s The Library Book.

There are many recently published microhistories worth reading. Here’s my list of some worth picking up. I’ve also included them on my online bookstore, with individual links for each entry below.

Here they are, in no particular order.

William Alexander loves tomatoes the way I love pneumatic tubes. This book chronicles the life of the tomato in our world, how it was once reviled — in Italy! — and has since become the most popular vegetable (or is it a fruit?) in the world (I’m looking at you, Heinz ketchup). This is a fun read, full of interesting characters and more than 10 tomatoes.  

Who knew refrigeration could be so fascinating? Nicola Twilley did, and this books takes us to places I didn’t know existed, from massive refrigeration warehouses to underground cheese caves. The people who work there are as interesting as the places themselves, and Twilley also examines how a thermally controlled food chain has impacted how and what we eat.

“I think there is an element of sacredness to the beaver, if only in its deep weirdness,” writes Leila Philp. That weirdness in part comes from the dams they build — complex edifices they construct thanks to either their intelligence and/or instinct. In Beaverland, you learn about and come to love the beavers (if you didn’t already). Did you know, for example, that when beavers first eat bark, they poop out a gooey substance called cecotrophe that they then eat again? The second time through, the real waste comes out. Who knew?!

“Butts are a bellweather,” Heather Radke writes. “The feelings we have about butts are almost always indicative of other feelings — feelings about race, gender, sex, feelings that differ profoundly from one person to the next.” Radke explores the butt throughout history, staring with homo erectus — the first species to have a butt — through present day. She interviews scientists, drag queens, dance instructors, historians, and archivists to do so, making for a thought-provoking narrative that will make you think differently about backsides.

This graphic novel gives a fun overview of the history of the pinball, including how in the 1930s and ‘40s  many, including New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia, viewed the game as a gateway for children to become degenerate gamblers. The story goes on from there, revealing how pinball made a comeback.

There are 20 billion chickens living on Earth; three hens for every human. Chickens are also the bird (along with the ostrich) whose chromosomes most closely match dinosaurs’. Sally Coulthard outlines all of this in Fowl Play, as well as how the bird reflects on our own society. “Of all animals, they perhaps best represent the strange and often contradictory way we humans treat other species,” she writes. “They’re both beloved pet and cheap commodity, symbol of rural simplicity and icon for ‘misery meat’ and the industrialization of food.”

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