Book Reviews April 2008

Coral : a pessimist in paradise Steve Jones Little, Brown, 2007 ISBN: 0316729418 You may have come across coral in a piece of jewellery, or you may even have seen living coral while diving, but you probably wouldn't have thought of all of the links between coral and humans which Steve Jones describes in his new book Coral : a pessimist in paradise. Continued..

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The New Alchemists Charles Handy Hutchinson, 1999 ISBN: 0091802156 There have been plenty of books for entrepreneurs, giving advice on how to run their business. The New Alchemists by Charles and Elizabeth Handy is somewhat different, in that it is a series of short articles on existing entrepreneurs, and so aims to give an example for aspiring entrepreneurs to follow. Continued..

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How to Fossilise Your Hamster Mick O'Hare Profile Books, 2007 ISBN: 9781846680441 If you think that science can only be done using expensive materials and equipment then you should take a look at How to Fossilise Your Hamster: And Other Amazing Experiments For The Armchair Scientist. Mick O'Hare will give you plenty of ideas for experiments which you can do using everyday things. Continued..

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Gut Feelings Gerd Gigerenzer Allen Lane, 2007 ISBN: 9780713997514 To make a decision we should carefully consider all aspects of the question before coming to a conclusion, shouldn't we? Not according to Gerd Gigerenzer. In Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious he argues that the quick, off the cuff decision will often be better than that reached by long deliberation. Continued..

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Engines of creation Eric Drexler Fourth Estate, 1990 ISBN: 1857024869 Sometimes the pace of technological change might seem to overwhelm us - but for nanotechnology there has been plenty of time to get used to the concept. Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology, written nearly 20 years ago, is Eric Drexler's classic work on the promises and dangers of this technology. Continued..

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Hare Brain Tortoise Mind Guy Claxton Fourth Estate, 1998 ISBN: 1857027094 When we are trying to solve a problem, we may feel that we need to put all of our efforts into the solution, and to stick at it until it is cracked. But in Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: Why Intelligence Increases When You Think Less Guy Claxton claims that often we need to step back and let our unconscious come up with the answer. Continued..

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The Salmon of Doubt Douglas Adams Macmillan, 2002 ISBN: 0333766571 Before his untimely death in 2001, Douglas Adams had started writing a new Dirk Gently novel. The Salmon of Doubt contains the first few chapters of this novel. Continued..

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Nets, Puzzles and Postmen Peter M Higgins Oxford University Press, 2007 ISBN: 9780199218424 In Nets, Puzzles, and Postmen: An exploration of mathematical connectionsPeter M Higgins shows how the theory of networks has a surprisingly wide range of applications Furthermore that you don't need to be a professional mathematician to find out how to apply ideas from this theory to your everyday life. Continued..

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Midas World Frederik Pohl Gollancz, 1983 ISBN: 0575033746 Scarcity seems to be a fact of life, and we might imagine that most of our problems would be solved in a world in which scarcity was abolished. But would they really disappear? Frederik Pohl's Midas World: A Novel considers what new problems might arise. Continued..

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The Common Thread John Sulston and Georgina Ferry Bantam Press, 2002 ISBN: 0593048016 From 1993 to 2000 John Sulston was director of the Sanger centre, which played a major part in the sequencing of the human genome. In The Common Thread : A story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome Sulston (with coauthor Georgina Ferry) tells his story. Continued..

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A theory of natural philosophy Ruggero Giuseppe Boscovich MIT Press, 1763 ISBN: B00085HPL4 We hear a lot of talk of the 'Theory of Everything' - an all embracing physical theory of which quantum mechanics and general relativity are only approximations. Einstein spent much of his life trying to construct such a theory. But the quest goes a lot further back than that. In the mile of the eighteeth century Ruggero Boskovich constructed his own version of a Theory of Everything, and it is described in his work A theory of natural philosophy Continued..

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Fantastic Voyage Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman Rodale, 2004 ISBN: 1405077603 With each new advance in medicine we gain the possibility of living a bit longer - but it seems that death will eventually come to us all. But can we be so certain of this? In Fantastic Voyage: Live long enough to Live For Ever Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman claim that immortality is a possibility for many of those alive today. Continued..

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Mr Strangelove Ed Sikov Pan books, 2002 ISBN: 0330482602 Peter Sellers is well known, not only as the star(s) of Dr Strangelove, but in many other films including the Pink Panther series. And of course there's also The Goon Show. In Mr Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers Ed Sikov tells his story. Continued..

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The Paradox of Choice Barry Schwartz ecco, 2004 ISBN: 0060005688 We all want the opportunity to decide things for ourselves, rather than having our lives determined by others. However, the choices available in today's society can be overwhelming, and you may begin to wonder whether choice is such a good thing. In The Paradox of Choice:Why More is Less Barry Schwarz argues that it is not, and give some advice on what we can do about it. Continued..

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Identity and Violence Amartya Sen Allen Lane, 2006 ISBN: 0713999381 When we hear of a conflict, we want to know who the two sides are - we need to categorize people in order to work out the reason for the conflict. But In Identity and Violence:The Illusion of Destiny Amartya Sen warns us that we need to take care when attaching labels to people in this way, since the labelling itself can easily become a reason for violence. Continued..

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The Comprehensible Cosmos Victor J Stenger Prometheus Books, 2006 ISBN: 1591024242 When you start studying physics, you realise that it's a big subject - lots of seemingly arbitrary laws to learn. In The Comprehensible Cosmos: Where the Laws of Physics Come FromVictor J. Stenger claims that in fact it's much simpler than it seems. Continued..

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God's Funeral A N Wilson Abacus, 1999 ISBN: 0349112657 The gap between religious believers and non-believers is surprisingly wide - arguments on one side or the other often seem to be just 'preaching to the converted'. So how did this gap come about. In God's Funeral, A N Wilson shows how this the legacy of nineteenth century thinkers has a lot to do with it. Continued..

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A Life Decoded J Craig Venter Allen Lane, 2007 ISBN: 9780713997248 Craig Venter has caused quite a stir in the scientific community, in that he turned the sequencing of the Human Genome into something of a race. He has also been criticised for his part in the commercialisation of the genome. In A Life Decoded:My Genome:My Life Venter tells his side of the story. Continued..

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