I really enjoyed listening to this audio book read by the author. I love to have fun while learning which this book helped me to do. I was also inspired and elated by the many interesting examples of human research and achievement.

Carly Anne York’s The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog is an offbeat, exhilarating plunge into the world of unconventional research, equal parts absurd and awe-inspiring. I picked it up expecting a laugh and a handful of odd trivia; instead, I found myself unexpectedly moved. In an era when intellectual curiosity is often dismissed or devalued, this book feels like a joyful defense of wonder.

The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog by Carly Anne York is a delightfully bonkers tour of “silly science”—but smartly so. From salmon-propelling vacuum tubes to frogs floating in magnetic chambers, York proves that curiosity-driven research often leads to significant breakthroughs (hello, PCR and whale-inspired wind turbines).

Her tone is playfully winsome—like your overenthusiastic lab partner who brings a whoopee cushion to a physics lecture—and perfectly matches the subject. This is pop science at its punniest, loaded with eyebrow-raising anecdotes about elephant peeing, duck genitals, and nitrous oxide inhalation.

4.25 ★ – If you’re ready to laugh, learn, and maybe win a trivia night with your newfound “silly science” arsenal, this is your ticket.

Fun in a way that learning often isn't, York does a great job bringing these stories to life. I laughed more than I probably should at how outrageous some of these experiments where, in the best way.

i loved the idea of this book, which is all about highlight the value of “silly science”. it was so eye-opening to hear about not only what kinds of obscure research scientists conduct, but also how the seemingly most inconsequential research projects can lead to findings that have a positive effect on the whole of humanity. really well-written and full of interesting facts!

York reminded me why science is so much fun. She dives into federally funded projects that some politicians call “wasteful”—from the rate at which different animals pee to cockroach squishiness. She shows how those oddball experiments enable particle physics (yes, via a ferret!), and even the salmon cannon. History proves that playful, “silly” science leads to serious breakthroughs, and life-changing discoveries can come from "basic research". The chapter on origins of the pregnancy test was genuinely fascinating. If you believe, as I do, that science education should be engaging and want some examples to articulate its importance, this book is great read.

Every so often a news report hits the airwaves about scientists and their bizarre or seemingly ridiculous research and we think "Tax dollars are funding THAT?!". We shake our heads and grumble about wasteful government spending. This book brilliantly turns that sentiment on its head and demonstrates the need for "silly" science experimentation. From ferrets to cock roaches, glow-in-the-dark jellyfish to pugilistic mantis shrimp, Carly Anne York outlines these experiments, the minds behind them, and the unexpected benefits society has garnered from them.

York's writing is fresh, bright, humorous and burbles with a contagious enthusiasm for her subject, sweeping the Reader along into laboratories, towers, landmine fields (both literally and politically!) explaining complex scientific concepts in language that is completely understandable to the lay person. The audiobook narration is superb; upbeat with dynamic energy.

Not only will I never grumble about "silly" scientists and their work again, this book is headed to the very top of my Recommendation List for fiction and non-fiction fans alike. Simply put, a brilliant achievement.

A fantastic science read! Carly Anne York sets out to convince readers that science should be fun, research should follow curiosity - and not the dollar, that politicians ruin everything. I can't speak for every reader, but I am a convert! History shows us that silly science does lead to serious discoveries, and if we stifle researchers' ability to play, to follow seemingly useless explorations, we will miss out on many life-changing scientific breakthroughs. The audio is enthusiastic, Eileen Stevens embodies a sense of adventure through her narration. Thank you to the author, narrator, publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC.

When I started The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog, I expected to learn some quirky science facts. What I didn’t expect was to get emotional over a rat who received a gold medal for heroism—or to develop a very reluctant respect for the sheer survival skills of cockroaches (I still don’t want them anywhere near me, though).
Carly Anne York does a fantastic job of highlighting bizarre, hilarious, and genuinely fascinating scientific studies—the kind that make you pause and go, "Wait, someone actually studied that?" But beyond the fun and weirdness, this book is a powerful celebration of scientific curiosity and its inherent value to us as human beings. York reminds us that not all research needs a clear or immediate application—sometimes the simple act of asking questions and exploring the unknown is meaningful in itself.
In a time when science and learning are often under attack, this book felt like both a breath of fresh air and a rallying cry. It’s heartwarming, gross (in the best way), surprising, and deeply human.
I listened to the audiobook (which was excellent!), but I’ll absolutely be buying a physical copy to keep and share. Highly, highly recommend to science lovers, curious minds, and anyone who enjoys learning about the stranger side of our world.

📚 Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

From cone snail venom to the physics of mantis shrimp hunting and duck genitalia to the unsquashability of cockroaches and biomimicry, this book covers a range of "silly science" - i.e. the study of phenomena which won't immediately or obviously benefit humans.

Given my background, I was already familiar with a decent subset of the stories, but I feel like this book contains a good mix. I appreciated that the author went through several such stories to show how the knowledge they provided ultimately helped people. Although I think knowledge for knowledge sake is valuable, I know investors don't think that way and people often ask "why?" when there are so many issues in the world. Showing that it can also benefit us does become quite an important part of a scientist's job in my experience. The narrator does a good job of enthusiastically sharing the passion that the writer clearly has towards the subject.

There were times, that as I biologist, I wished that a bit more nuance and/or details were provided but I think the book does a good job for what it is. I also wish there had maybe been a bit more geographic diversity in terms of the researchers, but I recognise that science is not equally distributed around the world, especially silly science as it quickly loses funding when more immediately essential problems crop up.

Overall a fun book and an interesting overview of some of the "silly science" (some of which is definitely sillier than others) that has been conducted and what it has taught us.

This was such a fun exploration of different kinds of science, which would have been enough for an interesting book, but York also makes sure to underline the importance of curiosity and science.

I went into this book with low expectations mostly because the nonfiction books I read tend to be biographies/autobiographies. However, I couldn't help just request this because The Salmon Cannon and the Levitating Frog was such an intriguing title and the synopsis made it seem like I would breeze through some silly science things™. I got exactly that! This was a lot of fun especially! I have been in a reading slump but the science stories and facts were presented in such a fun way! The narrator of the audiobook made it sound like one of my girl friends was telling me all the tea about animals and science.

Definitely a great read!

I feel I must be a fish, since I fell directly into this book because of the name and the cover expecting it to be a random science facts book, I couldnt be more wrong, and I couldnt be more pleasantly surprised about this book.
York introduces us to the world of science, specifically silly science, firts she provides context about what silly science means and all the problems it might arise to study things such as the shrimp fightclub, and all the stigma that surrounds such investigations that could be interpreted as time and money waste such as how that weird reptile is still alive when it only eats like twice a year, or why does the cockroach doesnt die even when you squash it, you might be surprised, just as I was, of all the usefulness found in this seemingly silly investigations.
Only downside I found the first chapter a bit too long, I want more science please!

I also will mention that the audiobook narrator is superb, she has a beautiful voice, and gets just so excited when telling this explanations, I really loved it and if possible I want to listen more narrations by her.

This book is totally what I believe science should be introduced at schools, fun, interesting, and it explains the utility of science. (comeon tell me you found the mithocondria is the powerhouse of the cell talk useful when you were 13)
Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Books for providing me with this awesome book, here its my most honest review

So if you don't want to hear about animal experimentation at any point in history, don't read this book. I'm not a fan of the practice At All, but it has been part of science and finding alternatives takes work. I admire the fact that the author took the time to mention that it would come up in the book, and her own apparent dislike of it.

I really enjoyed this book, the history of it went further back than I expected and that added to my enjoyment of it. For me the fact that the author herself has done "silly science" instead of just being an author who decided to go off and research some "silly science" added to the book.

I received an advanced copy of this audiobook for review. All opinions are my own. Thanks to Hachette Audio for the ALC!

This book does reference the study of animals and past testing on animals. I don't love scientific testing on animals but I understand the necessity for scientific advancement in instances such as medicine. I have hope for a more humane future, but alas, we aren't there yet. As a softhearted, squeamish person, I didn't find this difficult to listen to.

I really liked the narrator--I've heard her narrate in other genres and enjoyed her narration style, and I think she did a good job in this format as well.
Anyway on to the review.

This reminds me a bit of The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, which is probably my favorite nonfiction book of all time. Most of the time I read fiction, usually romance, but I do occasionally branch out. When I do read nonfiction, I prefer it to be presented with humor, or at least in vernacular rather than jargon, because while I have the capability to understand a lot of dense language, I have no interest in wading through a book that read like a text book. Much like The Anthropocene Reviewed, The Salmon Cannon... is written more like stories or episodes, starting in one place (a man changing his son's diaper and wondering how a baby can pee for so long) and ending somewhere unexpected (the realization that there's an average constant time for urination and how deviation from this standard can help diagnose prostate cancer). The book is about the importance of "silly science" and the importance of curiosity based study and how important serendipity can be.

This book was fascinating, and I would recommend it to people like me who want to branch out or those who enjoy learning without it being pretentious.

4.5/5 stars

This book was great fun, but it's also an important topic people should know more about. Science shouldn't be political, because curiousity-driven research leads to so many great ideas and innovations. There doesn't always need to be a specific goal when studying something, just a passionate desire to learn more and a willingness to share ideas with others so that our knowledge can keep growing in leaps and bounds.
I loved the topics that were chosen, and they all seemed "silly" at first, and many of the topics came about because of random observations. For example, one guy learned a lot because he wondered about the time it took him and his new baby to pee. My favorite story was about Felicia the Ferret, who saved a $250 million particle accelerator when the scientists were looking for a way to clean it (it was a real emergency as there didn't seem to be a way and the magnets were failing, but they couldn't just take it apart). The researchers took turns taking care of Felicia until her retirement when they figured out a different way to clean the particle accelerator, and by all accounts enjoed their time with her.
Thinking outside the box is necessary tor innovation -- we often don't know what the question is until we have more information Thanks to NetGalley, I got to listen to this audiobook, and the reader was so enthusiastic! I found myself walking around talking about the book with whoever I could get to listen.

I forgot to update more of my reading for this book, but oh well! I love learning, especially if I am learning weird facts or animal facts (and especially weird animal facts, which this book is full of).

Want to learn about duck genitalia? Read this. Want to learn about how indestructible a cockroach really is? Read this. Want to know about weird ways of studying frogs? Read this. And do you want to know how much studying these seemingly random things cost? Read this.

This information may seem silly and useless, but those discoveries can lead to other discoveries. The information you learn in one place, can be helpful in another. I like facts like that. This book really teaches you to appreciate all sorts of information. And it also just teaches you cool things that I promise you did not know.

This was a very fun book to read/listen to. I did wish that the chapters were a little more sectioned. What I mean by this is, I wish that each topic got its own chapter. Some chapters had multiple stories and studies in one, I found it a little confusing every now and then. But that's no biggie.

If you love silly little facts, I highly recommend! I also think that this cover is so fun. Give me fun facts and give me fun covers!

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

Diving into the silly and "wasteful" science, York explores how we learn about the world through curiosity and collaboration in research. I loved hearing about the Ig Nobel Awards and how Shelia Patek defended science of shrimps :)).

As I scientist, I wanted more details and reflection with nuance about the harms of the anti-science rhetoric or not so great scientific discovery.

3/5 stars

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to net galley and the publisher for this audio arc! I do not know the technical term and will never learn
Did you know that all mammals larger than a mouse take the same amount of time to pee? 23 seconds. You can test it yourself.
Great and timely defense of “silly” science, ie government research that seems like a waste of money only if you’re Elon musk/have no imagination. Basic research is important because without doing it, we have no idea what discoveries it could lead to (like penicillin). Well written, great narrator, and super funny while still informative!
5 stars

This author’s “silly science” book is a way to explain why she (and other scientists) study things without any clear-cut goal in mind. It’s a paean to scientific curiosity: those who observe and wonder, then undertake the rigorous work of understanding why.
Without such inquisitive minds, we would not have new adhesives that emerged from studying the foot pads of gecko lizards, more efficient wind turbines from studying the fins of whales. Today’s pregnancy tests owe much to the study of African claw frogs. With humor and many such examples, the author makes a strong case for science for science’s sake. She reminds us of the Golden Fleece awards given by a senator decrying public spending on scientific research for silly-sounding topics, but makes a strong case for why such work is appropriate and necessary — even when it does not lead to commercially viable products. I found the audiobook to be informative and entertaining, with excellent narration. 4.5 stars rounded up.
My thanks to the author, publisher, @HachetteAudio, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #TheSalmonCannonandtheLevitatingFrog for review purposes. Publication date: 17 June 2025.