Write a book that I read recently by filling in this mad lib over and over
Nonsense word
Last name
Adjective
Date
Number
Type of person - plural
Celebrity
City
Medical symptom
Body part - plural
Bodily fluid
Event
Transitive verb, past participle*
Plural noun
Government agency
Company
Number
Number
Body part
Noun
Plural noun
Kitchen implement
Adjective
Adjective
Liquid
Food
*This means: A verb that can take an object (i.e. “kiss” would be acceptable because you can kiss something; “sleep” would not); in a form that can follow “have” or “had”--usually this is going to be the same as the past tense, but not always.
{Nonsense word} {last name}-ia: a/an {adjective} pathogen
On {date}, {number} {type of person - plural} checked into {celebrity} Memorial Hospital in {city} complaining of {medical symptom} and inflamed {body part - plural}. Doctors were able to isolate {Nonsense word from above} {last name from above}-ia from their {bodily fluid}. They determined that all of them had attended {event} the week before and had {transitive verb, past participle} contaminated {plural noun}. The incident was reported to {government agency}, which fined {company} ${number}. After treatment, {number} of the {type of person from above} died, but the rest made a full recovery.
The best way to prevent infection with {Nonsense word from above} {last name from above}-ia is to wash your {body part} frequently, especially after using the {noun} and after touching {plural noun}. Also, make sure to wash your {kitchen implement} with {adjective} {adjective} {liquid} after it touches raw {food}.
The book is Where the Germs Are: A Scientific Safari by Nicholas Bakalar. I don't recommend it. I was feeling burned out about work and went to the library in hopes of energizing myself with some pop science in my chosen field. I have warm and fuzzy feelings about pop science that aren't necessarily justified, at least in fields other than evolution, which tends to get the good writers. This guy seems to be more of a medical writer, which should have been a big red flag. His biggest sin, in my book, is writing a microbiology book while adhering to the two-kingdom system of taxonomy. A direct quote: "It's hard to say whether viruses are animals or plants..." No, as a matter of fact, it's not hard at all, since shoehorning everything alive (if viruses even count) into one of those two categories went out of fashion at least a good 20 years ago, I'd guess. The book was published in 2003, by the way.
He partially redeems himself in the last chapter, which is about antibacterial products. Having given you the worst quote in the book, I'll give you the best: "When I spoke to Procter & Gamble to ask if they made an antibacterial hand soap or sanitizer, they could have said, 'No, we don't, but if you wash your hands with Ivory Soap, which we do make, you'll get the same germ-fighting effect as you will with antibacterial hand sanitizers, maybe even a little better.' If they had said that, they would have told the truth and maybe even sold a couple more bars of soap. Instead, they explained, trying quite honestly to be helpful, that no, we don't make an antibacterial hand soap, but we have a dish soap called Dawn that's antibacterial, and that can also be used as a hand soap."
So I'd recommend the last chapter of the book, which I think would stand on its own nicely enough. The rest is boring, repetitive, and sometimes ill-informed.
Last name
Adjective
Date
Number
Type of person - plural
Celebrity
City
Medical symptom
Body part - plural
Bodily fluid
Event
Transitive verb, past participle*
Plural noun
Government agency
Company
Number
Number
Body part
Noun
Plural noun
Kitchen implement
Adjective
Adjective
Liquid
Food
*This means: A verb that can take an object (i.e. “kiss” would be acceptable because you can kiss something; “sleep” would not); in a form that can follow “have” or “had”--usually this is going to be the same as the past tense, but not always.
{Nonsense word} {last name}-ia: a/an {adjective} pathogen
On {date}, {number} {type of person - plural} checked into {celebrity} Memorial Hospital in {city} complaining of {medical symptom} and inflamed {body part - plural}. Doctors were able to isolate {Nonsense word from above} {last name from above}-ia from their {bodily fluid}. They determined that all of them had attended {event} the week before and had {transitive verb, past participle} contaminated {plural noun}. The incident was reported to {government agency}, which fined {company} ${number}. After treatment, {number} of the {type of person from above} died, but the rest made a full recovery.
The best way to prevent infection with {Nonsense word from above} {last name from above}-ia is to wash your {body part} frequently, especially after using the {noun} and after touching {plural noun}. Also, make sure to wash your {kitchen implement} with {adjective} {adjective} {liquid} after it touches raw {food}.
The book is Where the Germs Are: A Scientific Safari by Nicholas Bakalar. I don't recommend it. I was feeling burned out about work and went to the library in hopes of energizing myself with some pop science in my chosen field. I have warm and fuzzy feelings about pop science that aren't necessarily justified, at least in fields other than evolution, which tends to get the good writers. This guy seems to be more of a medical writer, which should have been a big red flag. His biggest sin, in my book, is writing a microbiology book while adhering to the two-kingdom system of taxonomy. A direct quote: "It's hard to say whether viruses are animals or plants..." No, as a matter of fact, it's not hard at all, since shoehorning everything alive (if viruses even count) into one of those two categories went out of fashion at least a good 20 years ago, I'd guess. The book was published in 2003, by the way.
He partially redeems himself in the last chapter, which is about antibacterial products. Having given you the worst quote in the book, I'll give you the best: "When I spoke to Procter & Gamble to ask if they made an antibacterial hand soap or sanitizer, they could have said, 'No, we don't, but if you wash your hands with Ivory Soap, which we do make, you'll get the same germ-fighting effect as you will with antibacterial hand sanitizers, maybe even a little better.' If they had said that, they would have told the truth and maybe even sold a couple more bars of soap. Instead, they explained, trying quite honestly to be helpful, that no, we don't make an antibacterial hand soap, but we have a dish soap called Dawn that's antibacterial, and that can also be used as a hand soap."
So I'd recommend the last chapter of the book, which I think would stand on its own nicely enough. The rest is boring, repetitive, and sometimes ill-informed.