A review by rosepoints
Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between by Joseph Osmundson

2.0

unfortunately, i picked up this book very specifically because i was interested in an essay collection that delved more deeply into viruses and their relationship with humans, but this book turned out to be a collection of essays that focus more on the author's queerness and personal experiences during the pandemic than anything else. given that the author is a microbiologist, i expected more niche information on viruses, bacteria, anything biological really, but i found the actual scientific information to be ancillary to the personal experiences that the author wanted to talk about. i do acknowledge that my rating and perception of the book is warped by its marketing and my own expectations. i very specifically wanted a collection of essays that dwelled in science and its ties to the world surrounding it,  and i very specifically wanted to know more about viruses, whether it be their scientific or their sociopolitical impact. i feel like i got a memoir instead, which would've been fine if that was the blurb, but that wasn't the case. 

moving past my own expectations, i think that the essays themselves are fine. i personally didn't enjoy the formatting of some of them such as the journal entries; i think that there could've been a better way to structure the essay while still conveying the core idea. some of the essays also dragged on a bit too much for my liking. some of the analogies and connections didn't really work for me either.

is the book worth reading? if you modulate your expectations, yes. i worry that my rating and review will dissuade readers from picking up the book, and i hope that isn't the case because i could really see some types of people enjoying it. it just didn't hit right with me and that's fine.