Science, Medicine, and Thinking
The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli. Penguin:2018. What is time? The author explores time from a human and mammalian perspective. Do humans and mammals invent time, and is time an integral part of the universe- or is it solely a conception expressly for the purpose of survival? The author's third book in the popular series about physics is wonderfully insightful and will open our perceptions to new epiphanies about the true nature of time. He has written Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, and Reality is Not What It Seems>.http://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~rovelli/ He is the Director of the quantum gravity group of the Centre de Physique Theoretique (CPT) of the Aix-Marseille University. His web site is http://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~rovelli/
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. by Carlo Rovelli. Penguin 2016. An astonishing book relating our existence and the physics of nature. The book describes general concepts in physics such as the theory of relativity, quanta, the cosmos, particles, grains of space, probability, time, and black holes. These concepts are clearly explained so the reader can have a general grasp of our limited perceptions of our universe. The edifying beauty of the book lies in the author's connecting basic knowledge of the universe to our our own lives within nature. The book was written for those "know little or nothing about modern science." However, it will greatly appeal to a wide readership, including the scientifically educated reader. The author is an Italian theoretical physicist, and head of the Quantum Gravity Group at Centre de Physique Theorique Aix Marseille University. The author's web page is http://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~rovelli/
Aristotle's Way : How Ancient Wisdom can Change your Life by Edith Hall. Penguin Random House 2018. Our modern thinking is greatly influenced by the ancient Greeks. In this enlightening introduction to the great philosopher, the author guides the reader through the well-known passages of his works, and illustrates how Aristotle's philosophy is relevant to every day life. This book is a valuable source for opening the door to the study of Ancient Greek philosophy. The author is one of Britain's foremost classicists, and is a professor at King's College London She is the first woman to have won the Erasamus Medal of the European Academy. She is the author of several books including Introducing the Ancient Greeks.
Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary by Henry Hitchings. Farrar. Straus, and Giroux, New York: 2005. A fascinating window into the London literary world of the 18th century and the compilation of Dr. Johnson's seminal English Dictionary. The world of Dr. Johnson and his associates is brought to light as the reader discovers the decade long endeavor to complete the first comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Each chapter is titled with a word and its contemporary definition in Dr. Johnson's dictionary. The author was educated at the Universities of Oxford and London. He wrote his Ph.D on Samuel Johnson. Defining the World is his first book.
Failure: Why Science is so Successful by Stuart Firestein. Oxford University Press :2015. Book Preview Failure is crucial to scientific and civilized progress. The author illustrates how failure in science has brought about many important invaluable yet unintentional discoveries. Aversion to failure is generally counter-productive in science. The author points out that scientists have endured countless failures which result in a new discovery or insight. He criticizes modern scientific research and experimentation as being too goal-oriented and and apprehensive about failure. This highly incisive book will enlighten readers to the prospect of failure as a precursor of success to life- inside or outside the scientific realm. The author is a well-know scientist and teacher. He was the former chair of the Biological Sciences Department at Columbia University. where he taught a very popular coarse in Scientific Ignorance. He was named a Fellow in 2011 in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhodes. Doubleday New York: 2011. The unlikely duo of glamorous actress Hedy Lamarr and Hollywood composer George Antheil collaborated on a new technology which would eventually change the world. Viennese born Hedy was formerly married to an important Austrian munitions manufacturer and privy to his business conversations concerning new military technologies. Antheil, a New Jersey pianist wunderkind, was a Renaissance man who engineered the Ballet Mécanique in Paris in 1926. Together they designed a jam-proof radio guidance system for torpedoes to help the Allied war effort. Although initially rejected, their patented invention would become adopted by the military and pave the way to the the development of modern devices such as the GPS, and Wireless phones. This is a fascinating overdue account of a remarkable invention by two unlikely individuals who would change the face of modern technology. The author most recently wrote the Twilight of the Bombs, his last book in a quartet about nuclear history. The first book in this series, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, won a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, and a National Book Circle Critics Award. Readers who enjoy this book will also want to read George Antheil's autobiography, The Bad Boy of Music.
The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. WW Norton & Company, New York:2010. The advent of the internet may bring a new psychological threat: a continuous state of distraction. The internet could encourage reading with less focus and skimming inattentively for information. The vast store of information on the internet may create a new readership with diminished critical thinking. There is a lot of debate regarding this issue: the webmaster of this site disagrees with the book's premise: the internet engenders a new breed of unfocused readers. On the contrary- the vast nest of hypertext links on the internet invites the psychological expansion of the mind and aids critical thinking. This thought provoking book will surely broach important questions about the unquestionable influence of the internet on the neural plasticity of our civilization. The author has written The Big Switch, and Does IT Matter? He has written for the New York Times,The Atlantic, The New Republic, and other periodicals.
The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain by Barbara Strauch. Viking Adult New York: 2010. It was commonly believed by both the scientific community and the public-at-large that old age brings a decline in mental function. In recent years, this conventional wisdom has been disproved. A middle aged individual uses the brain differently than a 20 year old- resulting in an improved ability to grasp broader emotional and academic perspectives. The author cites a variety of studies pointing to improved mental abilities which accompany aging. The book brings hopeful insight to readers who are confronting mental change with aging. The author is the deputy science editor of the New York Times, and has also written The Primal Teen, a book on the teenage brain. Her web site is grownupbrain.com.
Mr. Gatling's Terrible Marvel The Gun that Changed Everything and The Misunderstood Genius Who Invented It. by Julia Keller.Penguin Group New York:2008. American inventor Richard J. Gatling invented the first working machine gun during the American civil war period. The inventor hoped that this mass killing machine would save soldier's lives by decreasing the size of armies. Although the Gatling gun was rebuffed by most of the Union's traditional military leaders in the Civil War, it was later instrumental in America's rise as a world military power. North Carolina born Gatling was a entrepreneurial inventor who improved upon the technologies of his era: flush toilets, bicycles, steamship propellers, and a steam plow. The reader is transported into the world of antebellum America, where self-taught Americans from farming communities were inventing technologies which would transform both the country and the world. Gatling was a product of this era and would live to see the brutal Civil War and the beginning of America's rise as a military power. This fascinating account focuses on a very gifted and largely forgotten inventor. The author is a cultural critic at the Chicago Tribune and the winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and has taught at Princeton University.
A Perfect Red Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Butler Greenfield. HarperCollins Publishers New York: 2005. Few in the general public are aware of the importance of the color red during the rise of the textile industry in Europe. Red was a coveted color, and a true red was difficult to dye onto a fabric. The best red in the world was produced in Mexico by the cultivation of the cochineal insect. However, Spain controlled Mexico, which in turn affected the entire textile industry through its cochineal monopoly. The author, whose grandfather and great-grandfather were dyers, renders a fascinating account about other European attempts to produce cochineal and hence- a perfect red. Amy Butler Greenfield studied Imperial Spain and Renaissance Europe as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford.
Missing Microbes:How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues by Martin J. Blaser, MD. MacMillan :2014. We are approaching a post antibiotic era of increased antibiotic resistance. Despite the recent development of life-saving antibiotics, there is a significant rise in bacterial resistance to these drugs. Extensive research demonstrates that the overuse of antibiotics has wiped out beneficial bacteria which formerly could resist the invasion of harmful bacteria. This is evident in the rise of bacterial resistance in hospitals with the outbreaks of C.Difficile. The author also attributes the obesity epidemic to the increased presence of antibiotics in the food chain, and their over-use in Pediatric care. The increase of reflux disease could also be triggered by the decimation of good bacteria due to antibiotic overuse. This is a well-researched book which will serve as a cautionary tale to the general readership. The author is the director of the Human Microbiome Project at New York University and served as the chair of Medicine there. Dr. Blaser was President of the Infectious Disease Society of America and has been an important advisor to National Institute of Health. His web site is martinblaser.com
Autism's false prophets : Bad science, risky medicine, and the search for a cure by Paul Offit, MD. Columbia University Press New York: 2008. The MMR ( Measles, Mumps, Rubella,) vaccine has been a concern amongst parents of young children who believe that it may be a cause of autism. The mercury in the vaccine has been allegedly linked to rising rates of autism by a prominent British physician and other leading figures in the bio-medical fields. The book illustrates numerous scientific studies which reveal no link to autism from the MMR vaccine. Two salient points: studies reveal that the rates of autism increased after Thimersol, the mercury compound used in the vaccines, was removed from the MMR. Mercury is a natural element and more mercury is present in breast milk than in the vaccine. There is also an exposé of profit-motivated individuals who have stirred up public sentiment for removal of the vaccine. The author is the chief of Infectious Diseases and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and professor of pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is the co inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, Rotateq. The royalties from this book are donated to autism research.
Vaccinated One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases by Paul A. Offit,MD.Smithsonian Books, Harper Collins Publishers New York:2007. This fascinating books focuses on Dr. Maurice Hilleman, a native of Montana, who helped to develop vaccines which are commonly used today. Trained as a microbiologist at the University of Chicago, he eventually worked on childhood vaccines for mumps, rubella, and measles at Merck, the pharmaceutical company. This book outlines the struggle to find vaccines which would prevent disease and have no serious side-effects. The author provides the reader with a history of vaccines, and details the difficulties of developing them in the post World War ll era. The reader will find the background information enlightening, especially concerning the controversy surrounding childhood vaccination and autism. The author is chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. His previous three books include The Cutter Incident, a history, Vaccines, What You Should Know, and Breaking The Antibiotic Habit.
The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Re-invented Sex and Launched a Revolution. by Jonathan Eig. Norton : 2014. Four disparate personalities collaborated over a number of decades to develop the birth control pill. Margaret Sanger, an ardent feminist, envisioned birth control as the best method for alleviating the burdens of low-income mothers forced by marriage to bear too many children. Katherine McCormick, who was the wife of the schizophrenic son of the founder of International Harvester, invested in the project. Gregory Pincus, a highly talented and obsessed scientist dismissed by Harvard for his experiments with in vitro fertilization, worked tirelessly developing the drug into a safe marketable product. John Rock, a Catholic Doctor from Boston, advocated for the pill to the public, despite disapproval by the church hierarchy. This is an important history of a drug, which changed the lives of millions of women- ushering in the Feminist movement and greater career opportunities for women whose lives in other eras would be restricted to childcare. The author other books include Luckiest Man, and Get Capone. His web site is jonathaneig.com
The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Baba Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America. by Don Lattin. Harper Collins New York:2010. The sixties unveiled a new era of psychological pioneering: a quest for understanding the frontiers of the human mind and its unlimited consciousness. At the forefront of this inquiry were four individuals: Timothy Leary, Harvard professor and future high priest of LSD, his Harvard colleague, Richard Alpert, later known as Ram Dass, a Harvard student, Andrew Weil, who would become a commerically successful spokesperson for integrated medicine, and Huston Smith, a well-known religious writer. Leary and Alpert led psychedelic experiments at Harvard and in the Boston area. There were conflicts and controversy in the aftermath. Leary, a national figure in the psychedelic movement, would eventually become a fugitive. Alpert had lifelong issues with Weil, whose cooperation with Harvard authorities about the experiments eventually led to Leary and Alpert's dismissal. Huston's participation in the experiments placed him in the role as teacher- he introduced the Dalai Lama to the world and is a proponent of a tolerant viewpoint towards others religions. The Harvard Group's experiments blossomed into a significant cultural impact which reengineered the consciousness and life attitudes of future generations. The author is a leading journalist writing about alternative and mainstream religious movements. He has been a commentator for Dateline, Nightline, and PBS's Relgion and Ethics Newsweekly. His web site is donlattin.com
Successful Intelligence How Practical and Creative Intelligence Determine Success In Life by Robert J. Sternberg. Simon and Schuster, New York:1996. The author illustrates how successful intelligence, which differs from IQ, involves three distinct types of thinking: creative, practical, and analytic. Individuals who possess successful intelligence are "smart" at achieving. The book rails against the conventional emphasis given to high test scores, which do not reflect an individuals full intelligence and capabilities. Successful Intelligence is especially resourceful and inspiring to creative minded individuals who think "outside the box". The author is the former IBM Professor of Psychology and Education in the Yale University Department of Psychology. He is currently the Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Psychology at Tufts University.
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown and Company New York, Boston: 2005. A fascinating account of the importance of the adaptive unconscious: the reservoir of the psyche which is involved in making quick analyses. The author illustrates how the adaptive unconscious is involved in decisive conclusions that are equal in importance to those brought about by long involved deliberation. Diverse examples illustrate this concept: art curators making an immediate analysis about the authenticity of a Greek statue; a psychologist predicting the eventual outcome of the relationships of married couples on video within fifteen minutes; the snap choice of an instrumentalist auditioning for an orchestra behind a screen. Mr. Gladwell is the author of The Tipping Point. He is a staff writer for The New Yorker. He is formerly a science and business reporter at The Washington Post.
The Quest for Immortality Science at the Frontiers of Aging by S. Jay Olshansky and Bruce A. Carnes.WW Norton and Company, New York and London: 2001. The authors offer a scientific perspective to the realities of contemporary aging, and debunk the pseudo-scientific longevity industry claims to extending the human life span. S. Jay Olshansky is currently a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Research Associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Bruce Carnes is a senior research scientist at the Center On Aging at the University of Chicago. Chicago Public Radio broadcasts an interview with the authors.
The Last Lone Inventor: A Tale of Genius and Deceit, and the Birth of Television by Evan I. Schwartz. HarperCollins Publishers, New York: 2002. This is a lively and compelling account of the birth of television. Electronic television was invented by Philo Farnsworth, who conceived it while plowing his father's field in Idaho, and later fulfilled his dream in a lab in San Francisco in the 1920s. At the same time, David Sarnoff, who lead RCA's domination of radio manufacture and broadcasting, foresaw the emerging role of television in the coming decades. RCA labs researched and developed television technology and eventually court battles over the patents ensued. The heated litigation between the inventor and the corporate executive is chronicled in detail throughout the book. Philo Farnsworth, in the spirit of Thomas Edison, was truly a "last lone inventor": he was weary of corporations and attempted to retain his influence over his invention. Mr. Farnsworth also experimented with cold fusion near the end of his life. He is a truly forgotten American scientific pioneer. This is a highly informative and engaging book, a worthwhile addition to an individual or public library collection. The author has written Digital Darwinism and Webonomics. He is a former staff editor at Business Week, and he has written for the New York Times, Wired, and Technology Review. Visit the book's website at www.lastloneinventor.com.
Copernicus' Secret How the Scientific Revolution Began by Jack Repcheck. Simon & Schuster New York: 2007. The great Polish astronomer, Nicholas Copernicus, published a theory of heliocentrism which was scientifically and mathematically based, and displaced the earth as the center of the solar system and the universe (their distinction not understood until modern times). Copernicus worked quietly in the academic backwater of Frombork, where he served as a Canon. Johann Rheticus, a Lutheran mathematician from the Reformation town of Wittenberg, studied with Copernicus and published the first book about Copernican astronomy. The reader is drawn into the historical intrigue of the era, and how an obscure astronomer from Poland would eventually forge the path to modern science. This is an excellent introductory book to the life of Copernicus. The author is an editor at WW& Norton & Company, where he publishes the work of leading scientists and economists. His previous book was The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton and the Discovery of the Earth's Antiquity.
Chasing Venus: The Race To Measure the Heavens by Andrea Wulf.Knopf- Random House 2012. An international effort in 1761 to observe the Transit of Venus was inspired by the 1716 essay of Sir Edmond Halley, who hypothesized that the distance between the earth and sun could be calculated by this observation. Scientists in Europe and North America attempted to observe the transit in different parts of the world in order to accurately calculate this astronomical measurement. However there were many obstacles: the precariousness of international travel, war, and viewing conditions. The second viewing of the Transit in 1769 was more successful and led to determining the distance between the earth and the sun. This is a fascinating read which will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers who will be enlightened by the importance of these scientific expeditions. An excellent video on the book is on the the author's web site
The Healing of America A Global Quest for Better ,Cheaper, And Fairer Health Care by T.R. Reid. Penguin Press New York: 2009. America is at a crossroads: it has some of the finest health care in the world, yet sixteen percent of its population does not have health insurance; America's life expectancy and infant mortality ranking is far below other industrialized nations. The author traveled to Japan, France, Germany, Korea, Britain, and Canada to investigate their different approaches to health care coverage. Doctors in these countries are paid far less, paperwork is at a minimum, and the public attitude towards providing health care is in stark contrast to the U.S where health care is a market open only to those can pay. This informative and insightful book will serve as an inspiration to Americans who envision a more equitable health care system. The author is a longtime correspondent for the Washington Post, and a commentator on National Public Radio His books include: The United States of Europe, The Chip, and Confucius Lives Next Door.
What To Eat by Marion Nestle. MacMillan New York: 2006. An indispensable guide to navigating the aisles of supermarkets. The typical shopper may wonder about the dubious claims of food labels. The author covers the whole gamut: produce, dairy, meat, fish, breads, juices, desserts, and snacks. She also informs the reader about good food choices while decoding the salubrious hype of various food companies. Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita at New York University. She was featured in the movie Supersize Me, and is the author of Food Politics (2002), and Safe Food (2003).
Chew On This by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson. Houghton Mifflin, Boston:2006. Americans now spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers and recorded music combined. This book discloses the vast business network of the giant fast food industry. Overcrowded slaughter houses, drinks with chemical additives, stealthy marketing practices, et al: the fast food industry is exposed as a powerful business force in both the US and overseas. One will think twice about eating at a well known fast food restaurant after reading this book. Eric Schlosser has investigated the fast food industry for years. His book, Fast Food Nation was a New York Times Bestseller. Charles Wilson has written for several magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He has also worked on the staffs of the New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker.