Difference between revisions of "Newest Popular Science Reviews"

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[[Category:Popular Science|*]]
 
[[Category:Popular Science|*]]
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Lewis Dartnell
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|isbn=1787333175
|title=The Knowledge
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|title=You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here
|rating=4.5
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|author=Benji Waterhouse
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Post apocaplyptic depictions of earth are common place in Science Fiction - the wonderful (if hugely depressing) ''The Road'' by Cormac McCarthy, The ''MaddAdam'' trilogy by Margaret Atwood (although I believe Ms Atwood would be rather rankled to hear her books described as 'Science Fiction'),  and the recent ''Station Eleven'' by Emily St. John Mandel are just a small drop in the very deep ocean of post apocalyptic books.
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|summary=I was tempted to read ''You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography.  ''You Don't Have to be Mad...'' promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding.  
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099575833</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1788360702
 +
|title=Charles, The Alternative Prince: An Unauthorised Biography
 
|author=Edzard Ernst
 
|author=Edzard Ernst
|title=A Scientist in Wonderland: A Memoir of Searching for Truth and Finding Trouble
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Autobiography
 
|summary=Professor Edzard Ernst was born in Germany not long after the end of World War II and grew up with guilt about what had happened in the years before he was born as well as an insatiable curiosity - with the two not being entirely entirely unconnected. He also developed an attitude of speaking his mind - as an early challenge to his step-father about the death of six million Jews in the course of the war proved. In his teens he wasn't determined to become a doctor - he had a hankering to be a musician - despite the fact that it was the family business, so to speak, but came round to the idea and practiced in various countries before settling in Exeter as Professor of Complementary Medicine at the university.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845407776</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
 
{{newreview
 
|author=New Scientist
 
|title=Question Everything: 132 science questions - and their unexpected answers
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|summary=For years now the ''New Scientist'' magazine has had a column whereby people submit questions they want the answer to, and it's up to correspondents from all walks of life to submit the answer and explain the solution.  It's nothing new – the Guardian had it for years, then the Daily Mail probably had Britain's most popular variant, what with it being daily, but none were purely science-based such as that under perusal.  It's a simple format for a book – not only does it create a fun kick-back at the close of an at-times hard-going science read, it generates a book full of fun and intriguing Q&As almost every year.  Chances are that, by relying on the interests of their audience, the editors have allowed themselves to publish books that will appeal to many people who have never looked at their weekly edition – certainly they have been incredibly popular, and massively boosted the magazine's public recognition.  And this volume will not be any different.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781251649</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Encyclopedia Paranoiaca
 
|author=Henry Beard and Christopher Cerf
 
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Popular Science
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|genre=Biography
|summary=We're screwedWherever we look, whatever we think of doing, there is a reason why we shouldn't be doing it, and people to back that reason up with scientific dataTake any aspect of your daily life – what you eat, how you work, how you rest even, what you touch – all have problems that could provoke a serious illness or worse.  And outside that daily sphere there are economic disasters, nuclear meltdowns, errant AI scientists and passing comets that could turn our world upside down at the blink of an eye. Perhaps then you better read this book first – for it may well turn out to be your last…
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|summary=For over forty years, Prince Charles has been an ardent supporter of alternative medicine and complementary therapies''Charles, The Alternative Prince'' critically assesses the Prince's opinions, beliefs and aims against the background of the scientific evidenceThere are few instances of his beliefs being vindicated and his relentless promotion of treatments which have no scientific support has done considerable damage to the reputation of a man who is proud of his refusal to apply evidence-based, logical reasoning to his ambitions.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715649213</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=Professor Stewart's Casebook of Mathematical Mysteries
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|isbn=0192779230
|author=Ian Stewart
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|title=Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Invisible World of Germs
|rating=3.5
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|author=Isabel Thomas
|genre=Popular Science
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|rating=5
|summary=Ah, those pesky number things.  Not just [[Rogerson's Book of Numbers: The culture of numbers from 1001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World by Barnaby Rogerson|Rogerson's Book of Numbers: The culture of numbers from 1001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World]] and how we have related to certain ones, but how they all relate to each other, and have provided mathematical scientists with thousands upon thousands of hours of thinking time.  Just one problem in these pages has ended with not so much a checkable proof, but a third more data again than the entire Wikipedia project.  Within this book are numbers far too big you would not even manage to write them out given the entire lifespan of the universe (and ones bigger than that) and problems wherein one must define as many integers as possible using merely 1s and mathematical symbols.
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683475</amazonuk>
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|summary='Germs' seems to have become a catch-all word to cover anything unpleasant which has the potential to make you ill.  In the first book in what looks to be a very promising new series, OUP and Isabel Thomas have provided a clear and accessible introduction to the world of germs.  We get an informed look at how people originally thought about diseases and what they thought caused them and how the thinking has developed over time.  The vocabulary can be confusing but Thomas gives a regular box headed 'speak like a scientist' which explains some of the trickiest concepts and you'll soon be familiar with bacteria, fungi, protists and viruses – and how we should protect ourselves.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=The Edge of the Sky
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|isbn=gareth_steel
|author=Roberto Trotta
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|title=Never Work With Animals
 +
|author=Gareth Steel
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Popular Science
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|genre=Animals and Wildlife
|summary=''Don't use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do''. Apparently that's advice to budding journalists and writers, and I do try to follow the English translation of it, if not completely successfully. Someone who seems to have no trouble whatsoever in agreeing with the dictum is Roberto Trotta.  This book is his survey of current astrophysics and cosmological science, but one that has to convey everything it intends to by using only the most common thousand words of the English language. So there is no Big Bang as such, planets have to be called Crazy Stars – and it's soon evident you can't even describe the book with the word thousand either.
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|summary=I don't often begin my reviews with a warning but with ''Never Work With Animals'' it seems to be appropriate. Stories of a vet's life have proved popular since ''All Creatures Great and Small'' but ''Never Work With Animals'' is definitely not the companion volume you've been looking for. As a TV show the author would argue that ''All Creatures'' lacked realism, as do other similar programmes. Gareth Steel says that the book is not suitable for younger readers and - after reading - I agree with him. He says that he's written it to inform and provoke thought, particularly amongst aspiring vets. It deals with some uncomfortable and distressing issues but it doesn't lack sensitivity, although there are occasions when you would be best choosing between reading and eating.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0465044719</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=Inventions in 30 Seconds
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|isbn=0241480442
|author=Dr Mike Goldsmith
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|title=Healthy Vegan The Cookbook: Vegan Cooking Meets Nutrition Science
|rating=5
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|author=Niko Rittenau and Sebastian Copien
|genre=Popular Science
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|rating=4.5
|summary=My son is incredibly curious and is constantly bombarding me with questions about how things work or how things are made. It seems that the minute I have found the answer to one of his questions, another has formulated inside his head to replace it. I was delighted then, when ''Inventions in 30 Seconds'' arrived for me to review, as I saw it as a dose of much-needed respite from my endless research.
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|genre=Cookery
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782401482</amazonuk>
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|summary=Emotionally, I am a vegan.  Mentally, I am a vegan.  I read [[How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World by Henry Mance]] and was appalled by the way in which we treat animals in our search for (preferably cheap) food.  Practically, I am not a vegan. It worked for a while apart from the odd blip with regard to cheese but then a perfect storm of those events which you hope don't occur too often in your lifetime tempted me back to animal-based protein. It wasn't the taste - I know that I can get plant-based food that tastes just as good as anything plundered from the animal kingdom - it was the ease of being able to get sufficient protein when meals were often snatched in a few spare moments.
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=The Human Body in 30 Seconds
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|author=Daniel Gibbs with Teresa H Barker
|author=Anna Claybourne
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|title=A Tattoo on my Brain
|rating=5
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|rating=3.5
|genre=Popular Science
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|genre=Autobiography
|summary=Our body is an amazing machine, capable of performing a myriad of tasks simultaneously. Even when we are sleeping, our body is busy processing information, pumping blood, regulating temperature and filtering waste. When we are hurt, a host of repair systems jump into operation to sort out the damage. When we are invaded by a foreign body, our immune system works to repel the invaders. We are constantly making new discoveries about the wonderful way that our body works.
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|summary=Alzheimer's is a disease that slowly wears away your identity and sense of self. I have been directly affected by this cruel disease, as have many. Your memories and personality worn away like a statue over time affected the elements. It seems as if nature wants that final victory over you and your dignity. This is what makes Daniel Gibbs' memoir so admirable. Daniel Gibbs is a neurologist who was diagnosed with Alzheimers and has documented his journey in ''A Tattoo on my Brain''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782401474</amazonuk>
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|isbn=1108838936
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Gary Smith
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|isbn=0099551063
|title=Standard Deviations
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|title=The Wisdom of Psychopaths: Lessons in life from Saints, Spies and Serial Killers
 +
|author=Dr Kevin Dutton
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Over the years I've regularly been infuriated by the way that seemingly intelligent people abuse statistics - or perhaps misuse them deliberately to deceive us. Politicians, journalists, academics all seem to fall into the trap with alarming regularity and I was tempted into reading this book by a quote from Ronald Coase (Nobel Prize-winning Economist) that 'If you torture data long enough, it will confess'.  The author, Dr Gary Smith, taught at Yale for seven years and is now a professor at Pomona College in California.  His book is aimed at the layman rather than the academic - does it hit the mark?
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|summary='' 'Donald Trump outscores Hitler on psychopathic traits' claims Oxford University researcher.''
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715649140</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Mind Change
 
|author=Susan Greenfield
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|summary=The year is 2014. The digital age is upon us and Greenfield seeks to explore what the impact of its technologies might be.
 
  
Heralding from the discipline of neuroscience, Greenfield’s case, in short, is that the brain may be changing to meet the demands of the digital twenty-first century. Online mass-player games, digitally equipped classrooms, electronic readers and search-engines each challenge how the mind has traditionally socialised and learned.
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Until the events of 6 January 2021 that might have surprised, even shocked many readers: now they're probably convinced that they knew it all along.  The statement has lost a little of its shock value but it does help us to understand more about the nature of psychopathy.  It's too easy to associate psychopathy with the Yorkshire Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Saddam Hussein or Robert Maudsley, the real-life Hannibal Lecter, but the truth is that having psychopathic traits can sometimes be a good thing.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846044308</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=The Cancer Chronicles: Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery
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|isbn=1849767343
|author=George Johnson
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|title=Count on Me
|rating=4
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|author=Miguel Tanco
|genre=Popular Science
 
|summary=George Johnson, a popular science writer more comfortable in the fields of physics and cosmology, started his journey into cancer when his wife, Nancy, was diagnosed with a rare uterine variety. He took it as an opportunity not just for personal soul-searching (why her? why now?), but also for a wide-ranging odyssey into current research about what causes cancer and how long it has been with us.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099556057</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Psy-Q: You know your IQ - now test your psychological intelligence
 
|author=Ben Ambridge
 
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular Science
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=''Psy-Q'' is a fun and interactive slice of 'Pop-Science' which delves into various psychology topics, with the aim of entertaining and enlightening the reader and debunking a few myths along the way. Most of the chapters are only a couple of pages long and include quizzes, personality profiles, experiments, optical illusions and the odd cheesy joke thrown in for good measure. The result is a readable, accessible and un-putdownable book that I managed to devour in an entire afternoon.
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|summary=The title and format of this book might lead you to think that it's either about responsibility - or it's a basic 1-2-3 book for those just starting out on the numbers journey. It isn't: it's a hymn of praise to mathsIt's about why maths is so wonderful and how you meet it in everyday life.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781252106</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=At the Edge of Uncertainty: 11 Discoveries Taking Science by Surprise
 
|author=Michael Brooks
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|summary=Eleven Discoveries are introduced and explored in Michael Brooks’ At the Edge of Uncertainty, spanning all from the expansion of epigenetics, the possibility of creating a hypercomputer, and the unveiling of the true nature of the universe. Some of the hypotheses currently being investigated by our contemporary scientific community are baffling enough in themselves: Is our universe a hologram of an extra-dimensional universe? Are the mechanisms governing photosynthesis and human olfaction in fact one and the same? Just how well-established are animal personalities and cultures, if such exist? Is a human ‘will to live’ something which can be attributed to discernible biological responses and systems? Is time an illusion?
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781251274</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Earth in 30 Seconds
 
|author=Anita Ganeri
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=children's Non-Fiction
 
|summary=As a former cataloguer of children’s books there are names that are synonymous with juvenile non-fiction, in my time the author Anita Ganeri has graced my work table 112 timesShe is a prolific author and her legacy continues in the form of ‘Earth in 30 Seconds’, part of a series of books for 7-11 year olds that explore scientific principles in easy bite size pieces.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782401091</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=The Lazarus Effect
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|isbn=B08B39QNRH
|author=Sam Parnia
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|title=The Curious History of Writer's Cramp: Solving an age-old problem
 +
|author=Michael Pritchard
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=As part of my job, I assess junior doctors who want to specialise in General Practice at the end of their two foundation years, and this assessment takes the form of role plays where they play a doctor and respond to cues from an actor playing a patient/relative/staff member while I take notes and score them against competencies. Last year one of the scenarios included explaining DNAR (do not attempt resuscitation) to a ‘relative’ and one rather memorable candidate said 'It doesn’t mean we let your mother die, but if she does die, we won’t bring her back to life the way we might another patient'. The answer did not score well on what I was assessing (communication skills) but it stuck with me and I still tell it as a tale from time to time, along with the story of the patient who tripped and fell on a, erm, personal massage device, had to have it surgically removed…and then asked for it back. It’s relevant here, though, because what that wannabe GP was saying is that he had the power to bring people back from the dead. And that’s what this book is all about.
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|summary=''Society is based on speech but civilisation requires the written word''.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846043077</amazonuk>
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 +
I came to Michael Pritchard's ''The Curious History of Writer's Cramp'' by a rather strange route.  I have problems with my hands which orthopaedic surgeons refer to as 'interesting': I prefer the word 'painful' but I have an interest in the way that hands work. An exploration of the history of a problem which has defeated some of the best medical minds for some three-hundred-years seemed liked excellent background reading and so it proved, with the book being as much about the doctors treating the sufferers and the changing medical attitudes as the problem itself.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen
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|isbn=1776572858
|title=The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day (Science of Discworld 4)
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|title=How Do You Make a Baby?
|rating=4.5
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|author=Anna Fiske and Don Bartlett (translator)
|genre=Fantasy
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|rating=5
|summary=The wizards of the Unseen University are custodians of Roundworld.  It may be different from their own turtle-carried Discworld (it's round for a start!) but they're still rather fond of itHowever, there's a problem: the Church of the Latter Day Omnians have taken a shine to it too and would like to claim it.  A court case will decide the winner, a court case that will have a guest spectatorFor Marjorie Daw (yes, like the nursery rhyme) has arrived from Roundworld just in timeWhat on Earth will happen next?
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|genre=Home and Family
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091949807</amazonuk>
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|summary=It's more than sixty years since I asked how babies were madeMy mother was deeply embarrassed and told me that she'd get me a book about it.  A couple of days later I was handed a pamphlet (which delivered nothing more than the basics, in clinical language which had never been used in our house before)  and I was told that it wouldn't be discussed any further as it ''wasn't something which nice people talked about''I ''knew'' more, but was little ''wiser''Thankfully, times have changed.
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=Where Do Camels Belong?: The story and science of invasive species
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|author=Danny Dorling
|author=Ken Thompson
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|title=Slowdown
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Popular Science
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|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=''Much of what passes for invasion biology is poorly supported hype.'' So says our author, and you can easily fall into agreeing with him after reading his bookIn much the same way the ''Daily Mail'' et al have their own attitudes to immigrants of the human kind, so it would appear do many people have similar notions about immigrant speciesAnd the end results might be much more damaging.
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|summary= We are living in a time of rapid change, and we're worried about itDorling tells us that the latter is normal, natural and probably good for usWe are designed to worry and with the current state of what we're doing in the world we have much to be worried about.  However, over the next three-hundred-and-some pages, if you can follow the arguments, it sets out in scientific detail why either we shouldn't be as worried as we are, or in some cases that we're worrying about the wrong thingsMostly.  Because mostly, things are not changing as rapidly as we think they are.  In fact, the rate of change in many things is slowing down and the direction of change will in some cases go into reverse.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781251746</amazonuk>
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|isbn=0300243405
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|author=Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe
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|isbn=Langford_Emily
|title=Island on Fire: The extraordinary story of Laki, the volcano that turned eighteenth-century Europe dark
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|title=Emily's Numbers
 +
|author=Joss Langford
 
|rating=4
 
|rating=4
|genre=Popular Science
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|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=I'm fascinated by volcanoes, by their uncontrollability and potential to disrupt way beyond their immediate environment and for years to come, but I've always struggled to find books which were accessible to someone without specialist knowledge - or at least more behind them than my very basic qualificationsLike many people my attention was drawn to Iceland when Eyjafjallajokull erupted in the spring of 2010, not because of the plight of the Icelanders and their livestock, but because of the disruption it caused over much of Europe, I'm afraidI began to look at other volcanoes in Iceland - particularly Katla, reputed historically to erupt in conjunction with Eyjafjallajokull.  It's likely that a full-scale eruption of Katla would cause even more disruption than its little sister - and then I started to look back at other eruptions in Iceland.  The one which few people seem to know about is Laki - which might have been one of the triggers of the French Revolution.
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|summary=Emily found words ''useful'', but counting was what she loved best.  Obviously, you can count anything and there's no limit to how far you can go, but then Emily moved a step further and began counting in twos.  She knew all about odd and even numbersThen she began counting in threes: half of the list were even numbers, but the other half was odd and it was this list of odd numbers which occurred when you counted in threes which she called ''threeven''.  (Actually, this confused me a little bit at first as they're a subset of the odd numbers but sound as though they ought to be a subset of the even numbers, but it all worked out well when I really thought about it.)
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250049</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=Jake's Bones
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|isbn=1910593508
|author=Jake McGowan-Lowe
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|title=Apollo
 +
|author=Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and Mike Collins
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
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|genre=History
|summary=My oldest son has wanted to be a palaeontologist since he was three and both boys are fascinated by how things work. Last year my youngest saw some scientific anatomy drawings and begged for more, so I began looking for children's books on skeletons, and anatomy. There are very few available and this looked the best by far, I spent two days searching not only British but American booksellers before noticing that the book had not been released yet - so sadly we were forced to wait. It was worth waiting for though, this book is truly one of a kind.
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|summary=This incredible graphic novel is a love letter to the Moon landings and the passion for the subject drips off every Apollo by Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and Mike Collins. This is a story we know well and because of this, the authors take a few narrative shortcuts knowing that we can fill in the blanks. These shortcuts are the only downside to the book. If you've ever read a comic book adaptation of a film you will be familiar with the slight feeling that there are scenes missing and that dialogue has been trimmed. This is a graphic novel that could easily have been three times as long and still felt too short.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783250259</amazonuk>
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}}
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{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1999308719
 +
|title=Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments
 +
|author=Adrian Cull
 +
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Lifestyle
 +
|summary=For many years now I've (half) joked that I intended to live forever and that so far, it was working out OK.  Time has passed though and although I'm a great deal fitter and healthier than most people of my age there were a few nagging health problems which were tipping my life out of balance. It was time to look for a new approach and as so often happens, the reviewing gods brought me the book I needed.  ''Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-ageing treatments'' seemed like the answer to my problems - only you get so much more than just 101 tips.
 
}}
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=My Age of Anxiety
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|isbn=1847941834
|author=Scott Stossel
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|title=Atomic Habits
 +
|author=James Clear
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular Science
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|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=Scott Stossel is anxious. There are no two ways about it. He has been anxious for as long as he can remember, with dark recollections of his turbulent childhood, much of which seems to have been spent nervously gazing out of the window wondering whether his parents were coming home or if they had died in a terrible accident. Then of course, there was the sister who was very possibly an 'adult midget who had been trained to play the part of a five-year-old girl' helping her colleagues (his parents) perform experiments on him before abandoning him. Clearly Stossel’s anxiety has been fuelled by a rather active imagination over the years.
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|summary=I've said this before but there are some books that you seek out, some books that you stumble across and some books that drop into your life because you really MUST read them, like, right now!  ''Atomic Habits'' is in the last category.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0434019143</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=
+
|isbn=Honeyborne BlueII
Knowing, Doing, and Being: New Foundations for Consciousness Studies
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|title=Blue Planet II
|author=Chris Clarke
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|author=James Honeyborne and Mark Brownlow
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 +
|genre=Animals and Wildlife
 +
|summary=You may well remember when the sticking of a number '2' after a film title was suggesting something of prestige - that the first film had been so good it was fully justified to have something more. That has hardly been proven correct, but it has until recently almost been confined to the cinema - you barely got a TV series worthy of a numbered sequel, and never in the world of non-fiction. If someone has made a nature series about, say, Alaska (and boy aren't there are a lot of those these days) and wants to make another, why she just makes another - nothing would justify the numeral. But some nature programmes do have the prestige, the energy and the heft to demand follow-ups. And after five years in the making, the BBC's Blue Planet series has delivered a second helping.
 +
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{{Frontpage
 +
|isbn=1783099593
 +
|title=Speaking Up
 +
|author=Allyson Jule
 +
|rating=4
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Man suffers from a regrettable lack of a ’hotline to reality’, or to ''noumenon''. In order to give a relatively faithful rendition of reality, however, people use two aspects of consciousness. By researchers, they've been termed the relational and the propositional. A number of thinkers from a number of fields propose that the structure of consciousness may be unveiled using the tool of quantum physics.
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|summary='Speaking Up' has a fascinating subject matter - how language reflects and shapes our notions of gender. It looks at our use of language in media, education, religion, the workplace and personal relationships. Author Allyson Jule calls on an encyclopedic body of research from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. Reading it, we feel that she has studied everything that has ever been said on gendered linguistics; she references Foucault and the Kardashians with equal rigour.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845404556</amazonuk>
 
 
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{{newreview
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{{Frontpage
|title=Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence and Emperor Penguins
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|isbn=Campbell_Astra
|author=Gavin Francis
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|title=Ad Astra: An illustrated guide to leaving the planet
 +
|author=Dallas Campbell
 
|rating=5
 
|rating=5
|genre=Travel
+
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=I know two books don't make a genre, but twice in recent years I have read autobiographical travelogues of men who felt too much was going on in their lives and their surroundings, and took themselves off to remote, isolated, extremely cold and inhospitable places.  One went to the shores of Lake Baikal, and shared his days hunting, fishing, drinking and reading with only a few very distant neighbours.  Gavin Francis took himself south, to the edge of the Antarctic ice, to spend a year as a scientific doctor.  He wasn't able to be completely as alone as some have been in the past – even if he hid himself away in isolation before the week-long annual changeover of staff was through. Francis ends up with a baker's dozen of companions, in a place where – apart from the ice, sealing things up – only two lockable doors exist.  You might think this was a large group of people for someone wanting to be alone, but the very tenuous and isolated feel of the place in the huge emptiness of the landscape is the main point of this book – that, and communing with emperor penguins…
+
|summary=So… you want to leave the planet? Before you do you'd better study the whole history of human space flight to get up to speed. That could take a while… if only there was a handy guide that could condense it all down for you. Enter Dallas Campbell with this book: An illustrated guide to leaving the planet.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009956596X</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=What If Einstein Was Wrong?: Asking the Big Questions About Physics
+
|isbn=Adrian_Sock
|author=Brian Clegg
+
|title=Sock (Object Lessons)
 +
|author=Kim Adrian
 
|rating=3.5
 
|rating=3.5
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=''What if Einstein Was Wrong?'' is a beautifully presented book written by a team of scientific experts attempting to answer some of the most intriguing  ''What If?'' questions about physics, cosmology, technology and relativity. The result is an accessible storehouse of information, written in user-friendly format, which can be dipped into from time to time whether it be to impress friends at dinner parties, or simply to find out the answers to long-burning questions like: ''What if You Could Journey Into the Past?''
+
|summary=The subject of this book has been around for several millennia, and yet my partner's daughter has been employed for several years designing it, or them. It's something I use for about 200 days of every year, at a guess (well, I have my self-diagnosed over-active eccrine glands and other people to think about) – which clearly puts me at the opposite end of the scale to well-known mass-murderer of women, Ted Bundy, who was into stealing credit cards to fund his desire of having a fresh pair every single day. On which subject, the amount of them we create every year could stack to the freaking moon and more. Some idiots buy more than six pairs a year, apparently, which is plain stupid. I'm talking, as you can tell, of the humble sock.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782400451</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Inside The Centre: The Life of J Robert Oppenheimer
 
|author=Ray Monk
 
|rating=5
 
|genre=Biography
 
|summary=Thinking back to the early 1960s, Bertrand Russell, the subject of another prize winning biography by Ray Monk, was frequently seen on black and white television declaring his concerns over Nuclear Weapons. He stated, 'Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.' For nearly seventy years, mankind has wondered in the words of Sting, 'How can I save my boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy?' As concerns about nuclear proliferation in relation to Iraq, Pakistan and North Korea escalate it is salutary to return to a thorough biography of the man, known as the father of the bomb, that felt a deep and urgent need to be at the centre and to belong, J Robert Oppenheimer.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099433532</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=The End of Plagues: The Global Battle Against Infectious Disease
+
|isbn=Germano_Eye
|author=John Rhodes
+
|title=Eye Chart (Object Lessons)
 +
|author=William Germano
 
|rating=4.5
 
|rating=4.5
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=In ''The End of Plagues'', the remarkably clear voice of immunologist John Rhodes takes one through significant moments in man’s battle against infectious diseases. The artillery on which Rhodes focuses is that of the vaccine, which has taken us further away from the extreme grip infections once had on the course of history. The book starts with the example of smallpox, for which Edward Jenner first made a vaccine, having been in a world where variolation was on the rise. Between Jenner’s first serum transfer from an immune milkmaid to a servant’s son and the present day, several vaccines have been developed against ailments such as measles, various influenzas, and polio.
+
|summary=It's happened to me, and like as not it has or will happen to you, too. I mean the receipt of certain little numerical results, with a positive or negative before them to prove the correction needed to my vision to make me see with the intended clarity and normality. I've had that gizmo that photos the back of my eye to check for diabetes and other problems, I've had different tests to check the pressure inside my eye, and I've come away with glasses I don't need to wear all the time, but certainly benefit from on holiday, or when watching TV or a cinema or theatre production. And above and beyond that I've stared at and got wrong – the simple, seemingly ageless test, of various letters in various configurations that diminish in size, to prove to the relevant scientist at what stage things get blurry for me. Of course, it's not ageless, but the scientific progress that led to it, the changes other people made to it, and the cultural impact it's had are all on these eye-opening small pages.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1137278528</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=What a Wonderful World
+
|isbn=Ball_Wonders
|author=Marcus Chown
+
|title=Wonders Beyond Numbers: A Brief History of All Things Mathematical
|rating=4.5
+
|author=Johnny Ball
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=We all wonder about the Big Stuff at one time or another. How does the brain work? How does electricity actually get into our homes and power stuff? Who thought it was sensible to have a soft cheese, a Ferengi and an elementary particle all share the same name? Because that’s not at all confusing. Rather than just think about these things, Marcus Chown has decided to examine and explore them, and share his research. Or, as the subtitle puts it, this is 'One man’s attempt to explain the big stuff'.  
+
|summary=Like many people of a ''certain age,'' I have fond memories of tuning in to watch Johnny Ball enthusiastically extolling the virtues of maths and science; succeeding where our schoolteachers had failed and actually making these subjects ''fun.'' Although decades have passed since those classic TV shows, his latest book proves that he has lost none of his passion and enthusiasm for his subject.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571278396</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
{{newreview
+
{{Frontpage
|title=The Machines of Sex Research: Technology and the Politics of Identity, 1945-1985
+
|isbn=Yong_Contain
|author=Donna J Drucker
+
|title=I Contain Multitudes: the microbes within us and a grander view of life
|rating=4
+
|author=Ed Yong
 +
|rating=5
 
|genre=Popular Science
 
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=I'll start bluntly – this is a very academic, specialised tome, and is not really for the curious reader to flick through.  Given that, you probably can work out exactly what this book is like, and therefore move on from this review, but should you stay with me you'll find that if you didn't know much about sex research equipment then the subject might actually manage to fire a curious synapse and leave you with some interest. It is, after all, not a topic to be ignored easily – as I read and write about this book in September 2013 I'm weeks away from Channel 4 making one of the featured scientists a historical figure in a drama, which is only part of a season that controversially includes something like the science of fifty years ago – namely filming copulating couples.  Conversely, if you did know something on the topic, this book will be on your shelves quite imminently.
+
|summary=The world you know is a lie. There is no such thing as good or bad microbes. Sickness and health are all far more complex than we thought. Things designed to save us may kill us and things we think would kill us may save us. Welcome to the modern study of microbes.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>9400770634</amazonuk>
 
}}
 
{{newreview
 
|title=Inventing the Enemy: Essays on Everything
 
|author=Umberto Eco
 
|rating=4
 
|genre=History
 
|summary=Imagine a sumptuous Italian feast in the sunlit-bathed ancient countryside near Milan. Next to you a gentleman talks and eats with furious energy. He tells of Dante, Cicero, and St Augustine and quotes a multitude of obscure troubadours from the Middle Ages. He repeats himself, gestures flamboyantly, nudges you sharply in the ribs, belches and even breaks wind. His conversation contains nuggets of information but in the flow of his discourse there is a fondness for iteration and reiteration. He throws bones over his shoulder and when he reaches the cheese course - definitely too much information on the mouldy bacteria! When you finally get up things the elderly gentleman has said prompt your imagination. You are better informed, intrigued and prodded to examine his discourse again and again, even if only to challenge what you have heard. Such are the effects of reading Eco’s essays in ''Inventing the Enemy''.
 
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553945</amazonuk>
 
 
}}
 
}}
 +
 +
Move on to [[Newest Reference Reviews]]

Latest revision as of 09:12, 27 May 2024

1787333175.jpg

Review of

You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here by Benji Waterhouse

5star.jpg Popular Science

I was tempted to read You Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here after enjoying Adam Kay's first book This is Going to Hurt, a glorious mixture of insight into the workings of the NHS, humour and autobiography. You Don't Have to be Mad... promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the work of a psychiatrist. I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding. Full Review

1788360702.jpg

Review of

Charles, The Alternative Prince: An Unauthorised Biography by Edzard Ernst

4star.jpg Biography

For over forty years, Prince Charles has been an ardent supporter of alternative medicine and complementary therapies. Charles, The Alternative Prince critically assesses the Prince's opinions, beliefs and aims against the background of the scientific evidence. There are few instances of his beliefs being vindicated and his relentless promotion of treatments which have no scientific support has done considerable damage to the reputation of a man who is proud of his refusal to apply evidence-based, logical reasoning to his ambitions. Full Review

0192779230.jpg

Review of

Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Invisible World of Germs by Isabel Thomas

5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

'Germs' seems to have become a catch-all word to cover anything unpleasant which has the potential to make you ill. In the first book in what looks to be a very promising new series, OUP and Isabel Thomas have provided a clear and accessible introduction to the world of germs. We get an informed look at how people originally thought about diseases and what they thought caused them and how the thinking has developed over time. The vocabulary can be confusing but Thomas gives a regular box headed 'speak like a scientist' which explains some of the trickiest concepts and you'll soon be familiar with bacteria, fungi, protists and viruses – and how we should protect ourselves. Full Review

Gareth steel.jpg

Review of

Never Work With Animals by Gareth Steel

4star.jpg Animals and Wildlife

I don't often begin my reviews with a warning but with Never Work With Animals it seems to be appropriate. Stories of a vet's life have proved popular since All Creatures Great and Small but Never Work With Animals is definitely not the companion volume you've been looking for. As a TV show the author would argue that All Creatures lacked realism, as do other similar programmes. Gareth Steel says that the book is not suitable for younger readers and - after reading - I agree with him. He says that he's written it to inform and provoke thought, particularly amongst aspiring vets. It deals with some uncomfortable and distressing issues but it doesn't lack sensitivity, although there are occasions when you would be best choosing between reading and eating. Full Review

0241480442.jpg

Review of

Healthy Vegan The Cookbook: Vegan Cooking Meets Nutrition Science by Niko Rittenau and Sebastian Copien

4.5star.jpg Cookery

Emotionally, I am a vegan. Mentally, I am a vegan. I read How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World by Henry Mance and was appalled by the way in which we treat animals in our search for (preferably cheap) food. Practically, I am not a vegan. It worked for a while apart from the odd blip with regard to cheese but then a perfect storm of those events which you hope don't occur too often in your lifetime tempted me back to animal-based protein. It wasn't the taste - I know that I can get plant-based food that tastes just as good as anything plundered from the animal kingdom - it was the ease of being able to get sufficient protein when meals were often snatched in a few spare moments. Full Review

1108838936.jpg

Review of

A Tattoo on my Brain by Daniel Gibbs with Teresa H Barker

3.5star.jpg Autobiography

Alzheimer's is a disease that slowly wears away your identity and sense of self. I have been directly affected by this cruel disease, as have many. Your memories and personality worn away like a statue over time affected the elements. It seems as if nature wants that final victory over you and your dignity. This is what makes Daniel Gibbs' memoir so admirable. Daniel Gibbs is a neurologist who was diagnosed with Alzheimers and has documented his journey in A Tattoo on my Brain. Full Review

0099551063.jpg

Review of

The Wisdom of Psychopaths: Lessons in life from Saints, Spies and Serial Killers by Dr Kevin Dutton

4star.jpg Popular Science

'Donald Trump outscores Hitler on psychopathic traits' claims Oxford University researcher.

Until the events of 6 January 2021 that might have surprised, even shocked many readers: now they're probably convinced that they knew it all along. The statement has lost a little of its shock value but it does help us to understand more about the nature of psychopathy. It's too easy to associate psychopathy with the Yorkshire Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Saddam Hussein or Robert Maudsley, the real-life Hannibal Lecter, but the truth is that having psychopathic traits can sometimes be a good thing. Full Review

1849767343.jpg

Review of

Count on Me by Miguel Tanco

4.5star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

The title and format of this book might lead you to think that it's either about responsibility - or it's a basic 1-2-3 book for those just starting out on the numbers journey. It isn't: it's a hymn of praise to maths. It's about why maths is so wonderful and how you meet it in everyday life. Full Review

B08B39QNRH.jpg

Review of

The Curious History of Writer's Cramp: Solving an age-old problem by Michael Pritchard

4star.jpg Popular Science

Society is based on speech but civilisation requires the written word.

I came to Michael Pritchard's The Curious History of Writer's Cramp by a rather strange route. I have problems with my hands which orthopaedic surgeons refer to as 'interesting': I prefer the word 'painful' but I have an interest in the way that hands work. An exploration of the history of a problem which has defeated some of the best medical minds for some three-hundred-years seemed liked excellent background reading and so it proved, with the book being as much about the doctors treating the sufferers and the changing medical attitudes as the problem itself. Full Review

1776572858.jpg

Review of

How Do You Make a Baby? by Anna Fiske and Don Bartlett (translator)

5star.jpg Home and Family

It's more than sixty years since I asked how babies were made. My mother was deeply embarrassed and told me that she'd get me a book about it. A couple of days later I was handed a pamphlet (which delivered nothing more than the basics, in clinical language which had never been used in our house before) and I was told that it wouldn't be discussed any further as it wasn't something which nice people talked about. I knew more, but was little wiser. Thankfully, times have changed. Full Review

0300243405.jpg

Review of

Slowdown by Danny Dorling

4star.jpg Politics and Society

We are living in a time of rapid change, and we're worried about it. Dorling tells us that the latter is normal, natural and probably good for us. We are designed to worry and with the current state of what we're doing in the world we have much to be worried about. However, over the next three-hundred-and-some pages, if you can follow the arguments, it sets out in scientific detail why either we shouldn't be as worried as we are, or in some cases that we're worrying about the wrong things. Mostly. Because mostly, things are not changing as rapidly as we think they are. In fact, the rate of change in many things is slowing down and the direction of change will in some cases go into reverse. Full Review

Langford Emily.jpg

Review of

Emily's Numbers by Joss Langford

4star.jpg Children's Non-Fiction

Emily found words useful, but counting was what she loved best. Obviously, you can count anything and there's no limit to how far you can go, but then Emily moved a step further and began counting in twos. She knew all about odd and even numbers. Then she began counting in threes: half of the list were even numbers, but the other half was odd and it was this list of odd numbers which occurred when you counted in threes which she called threeven. (Actually, this confused me a little bit at first as they're a subset of the odd numbers but sound as though they ought to be a subset of the even numbers, but it all worked out well when I really thought about it.) Full Review

1910593508.jpg

Review of

Apollo by Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and Mike Collins

5star.jpg History

This incredible graphic novel is a love letter to the Moon landings and the passion for the subject drips off every Apollo by Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and Mike Collins. This is a story we know well and because of this, the authors take a few narrative shortcuts knowing that we can fill in the blanks. These shortcuts are the only downside to the book. If you've ever read a comic book adaptation of a film you will be familiar with the slight feeling that there are scenes missing and that dialogue has been trimmed. This is a graphic novel that could easily have been three times as long and still felt too short. Full Review

1999308719.jpg

Review of

Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments by Adrian Cull

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

For many years now I've (half) joked that I intended to live forever and that so far, it was working out OK. Time has passed though and although I'm a great deal fitter and healthier than most people of my age there were a few nagging health problems which were tipping my life out of balance. It was time to look for a new approach and as so often happens, the reviewing gods brought me the book I needed. Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-ageing treatments seemed like the answer to my problems - only you get so much more than just 101 tips. Full Review

1847941834.jpg

Review of

Atomic Habits by James Clear

4.5star.jpg Lifestyle

I've said this before but there are some books that you seek out, some books that you stumble across and some books that drop into your life because you really MUST read them, like, right now! Atomic Habits is in the last category. Full Review

link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/Honeyborne BlueII/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21

Review of

Blue Planet II by James Honeyborne and Mark Brownlow

4.5star.jpg Animals and Wildlife

You may well remember when the sticking of a number '2' after a film title was suggesting something of prestige - that the first film had been so good it was fully justified to have something more. That has hardly been proven correct, but it has until recently almost been confined to the cinema - you barely got a TV series worthy of a numbered sequel, and never in the world of non-fiction. If someone has made a nature series about, say, Alaska (and boy aren't there are a lot of those these days) and wants to make another, why she just makes another - nothing would justify the numeral. But some nature programmes do have the prestige, the energy and the heft to demand follow-ups. And after five years in the making, the BBC's Blue Planet series has delivered a second helping. Full Review

1783099593.jpg

Review of

Speaking Up by Allyson Jule

4star.jpg Popular Science

'Speaking Up' has a fascinating subject matter - how language reflects and shapes our notions of gender. It looks at our use of language in media, education, religion, the workplace and personal relationships. Author Allyson Jule calls on an encyclopedic body of research from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. Reading it, we feel that she has studied everything that has ever been said on gendered linguistics; she references Foucault and the Kardashians with equal rigour. Full Review

Campbell Astra.jpg

Review of

Ad Astra: An illustrated guide to leaving the planet by Dallas Campbell

5star.jpg Popular Science

So… you want to leave the planet? Before you do you'd better study the whole history of human space flight to get up to speed. That could take a while… if only there was a handy guide that could condense it all down for you. Enter Dallas Campbell with this book: An illustrated guide to leaving the planet. Full Review

Adrian Sock.jpg

Review of

Sock (Object Lessons) by Kim Adrian

3.5star.jpg Popular Science

The subject of this book has been around for several millennia, and yet my partner's daughter has been employed for several years designing it, or them. It's something I use for about 200 days of every year, at a guess (well, I have my self-diagnosed over-active eccrine glands and other people to think about) – which clearly puts me at the opposite end of the scale to well-known mass-murderer of women, Ted Bundy, who was into stealing credit cards to fund his desire of having a fresh pair every single day. On which subject, the amount of them we create every year could stack to the freaking moon and more. Some idiots buy more than six pairs a year, apparently, which is plain stupid. I'm talking, as you can tell, of the humble sock. Full Review

Germano Eye.jpg

Review of

Eye Chart (Object Lessons) by William Germano

4.5star.jpg Popular Science

It's happened to me, and like as not it has or will happen to you, too. I mean the receipt of certain little numerical results, with a positive or negative before them to prove the correction needed to my vision to make me see with the intended clarity and normality. I've had that gizmo that photos the back of my eye to check for diabetes and other problems, I've had different tests to check the pressure inside my eye, and I've come away with glasses I don't need to wear all the time, but certainly benefit from on holiday, or when watching TV or a cinema or theatre production. And above and beyond that I've stared at – and got wrong – the simple, seemingly ageless test, of various letters in various configurations that diminish in size, to prove to the relevant scientist at what stage things get blurry for me. Of course, it's not ageless, but the scientific progress that led to it, the changes other people made to it, and the cultural impact it's had are all on these eye-opening small pages. Full Review

Ball Wonders.jpg

Review of

Wonders Beyond Numbers: A Brief History of All Things Mathematical by Johnny Ball

5star.jpg Popular Science

Like many people of a certain age, I have fond memories of tuning in to watch Johnny Ball enthusiastically extolling the virtues of maths and science; succeeding where our schoolteachers had failed and actually making these subjects fun. Although decades have passed since those classic TV shows, his latest book proves that he has lost none of his passion and enthusiasm for his subject. Full Review

Yong Contain.jpg

Review of

I Contain Multitudes: the microbes within us and a grander view of life by Ed Yong

5star.jpg Popular Science

The world you know is a lie. There is no such thing as good or bad microbes. Sickness and health are all far more complex than we thought. Things designed to save us may kill us and things we think would kill us may save us. Welcome to the modern study of microbes. Full Review

Move on to Newest Reference Reviews