Blogcritics Category: Books: Science

Book Review: Doctor Olaf van Schuler's Brain by Kristen Menger-Anderson

Lynda Lippin — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 14:19:59 EST

Quirky, sometimes disturbing, and often disjointed, this book is still worth reading for the well-researched history of medicine.
Doctor Olaf van Schuler, recently arrived in New Amsterdam with his lunatic mother, two bags of medical implements, and a carefully guarded book of his own medicines, moved into a one-room house near White Hall and soon found work at the hospital on Brugh Street. There, surrounded by misshapen bottles containing tinctures of saffron, wild...

Book Review: Visions of Paradise edited by Bronwen Latimer

El Bicho — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:14:31 EST

National Geographic reveals heaven on Earth.
Published by the National Geographic Society, Visions of Paradise is a glorious collection of black and white and color photographs taken all over the world based on editor Bronwen Latimer’s question, “where is heaven on Earth?” The 88 participants submitted snapshots of the assignment that not only cover the obvious natural...

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Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:14:31 EST

Book Review: Confessions of an Eco-Sinner by Fred Pearce

James Carson — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:16:20 EST

From Bangladesh to Brazil, Pearce seeks out the origins worldly goods.
"What does chocolate taste like?" An unexpected question, and all the more poignant coming from a young boy whose father works on a West African cocoa plantation.It's one of many revelations uncovered by Fred Pearce as he tracks the lifecycle of his belongings, from the shirt on his back to the coffee in his cup. But in mapping his...

Book Review: Know It All - The Little Book of Essential Knowledge by Susan Aldridge, Elizabeth King Humphrey, and Julie Whitake

Fitz — Fri, 5 Dec 2008 03:51:17 EST

Test YOUR knowledge of nine major subject areas! (Including bumblebee bats and ball bearings to boot.)
While reading Know It All: The Little Book of Essential Knowledge by by Susan Aldridge, Elizabeth King Humphrey, and Julie Whitake, it quickly became very apparent that I don't know nearly as much as I thought I did. Even with all the trivia floating around in my brain, this book contains more useful facts in a quick, all in one place, easy to...

Google Searches Can Also Track Intellectual Outbreaks

Robert K. Blechman — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:26:42 EST

Simple steps to avoid an epidemic of cognitive activity.
An article in today's New York Times discusses how Google queries can anticipate the rise in reported flu outbreaks and beat the forecasts of the CDC, sometimes by weeks at a time.A similar technique could be used to track intellectual activity through Google queries. A recent article in The Atlantic suggested that using Google is making us...

Book Review Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence by Irene M. Pepperberg

Ruthie — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:38:47 EST

A very personal account of a brave woman's journey into the scientific unknown.
Alex & Me is a touching memoir of a special relationship between a scientist and a bird that will forever change the way we think about animal intelligence. Dr. Irene Pepperberg spent 30 years conducting research on Alex, an African grey parrot. The research with Alex ended abruptly due his unexpected death in September of 2007. I was taken on...

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Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:38:47 EST

Book Review: Stiff - The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Bekah Terry — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 03:26:09 EST

Before reading this, I never knew dead people could be so "lively."
Normally, a person dies at the conclusion of the book. End of life usually equals end of story. But, for author Mary Roach (Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex), death is just the beginning. Her book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, released in 2003, takes kicking the bucket to a whole new...

Book Review - Myxomatosis: A History of Pest Control and the Rabbit by Peter W.J. Bartrip

Natalie Bennett — Thu, 6 Nov 2008 20:56:12 EST

Offers an insight into 50s Britain, its agricultural and official communities, and its ecological balance.
For an Australian who's studied agriculture, the sight of a book titled Myxomatosis at the London Library was irresistible. Subtitled "A History of Pest Control and the Rabbit", Peter W.J. Bartrip's monograph is in fact more of a political and economic study of the relationship between humans and rabbits in the second half of the 20th century than...

Book Review - The Score: How the Quest for Sex Has Shaped the Modern Man by Faye Flam

Gray Hunter — Thu, 6 Nov 2008 16:13:57 EST

Sex, sex, sex - is it all men think about? If so, why? And should you visit Iceland's penis museum?
When I saw the press release for this book, it had the title "Men Are Scum" or something along those lines. I thought it would be a humorous book, full of exaggerated stories of how men are foolish and inept, etc. I'd looked forward to mocking it relentlessly. Also, it had something about sex in the title. In my vanity, I figured...

Book Review: British Weather and the Climate of Enlightenment by Jan Golinski

Natalie Bennett — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:52:37 EDT

Extreme weather events came to be regarded as natural phenomena to be explained. Of course some have still to catch up.
I've lived in three flats in London that have led me into regular, if short, contact with large numbers of neighbours whom I've barely got to know. Consequently, I've got very good at talk about the weather (although I remain extremely bad at predicting it.) The British talk about the weather, a lot, perhaps because theirs is so...

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Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:52:37 EDT