The book's poems, scientific in their inquiry, derived from Hahn's interest in neuroscience and other fields after consistently reading the New York Times' science section.

Hahn's poetry also includes her prior, established interests such as Japanese poetics and the zuihitsu form derived from The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon.

"[2] Benjamin Landry, in the Boston Review, lauded Hahn's conceptual structure around scientific inquiry and saw it similarly to her thematic limitation in a previous poetry collection, Toxic Flora.

"[3] Michelle Nancy Huang, in a review for Post45, observed Hahn's purported connection between language and thought, namely in her intertwining of quotations from poets and scientists alike.

In particular, Vilu pointed out her juxtapositions of the rational and the personal, her impactful poems that are brief in length but "powerfully and universally concise" as a result, and her usage of quoted material from diverse sources.