Fine Tuning a bit Off Key

Oxygen: The molecule that made the world (Popular Science) by Nick Lane

A very mind expanding and thought provoking book.

There is a lot more here than you might be expecting even from the title.  What you get are new perspectives on life and death, why we age and what we might be able to do about it.

Two main themes are the evolution of life and the various health claims surrounding vitamin C and anti-oxidants.  Regarding this later theme you shouldn't be surprised to hear that the actual science is very different from the version of it you may have gathered from either the popular press or from those trying to sell you vitamin C or other products with anti-oxidant properties.

Almost as a casual aside we find out about how and why there is sex, how life made earth liveable and the likely cause of many diseases.

This chap likes to argue rationally and he certainly follows the evidence, but what I also like about him is that he is prepared to look just  a little bit further and speculate sensibly about how he thinks things may be found to be in the near future.

Science writing at its best.

A great book from a great author.  Read all his stuff .

Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities by Ian Stewart

Great fun.

Silly, serious and everything in between to do with Maths.  Dip into it or, if you are sad like me, read it cover to cover.

No maths ability required.

Three and a half out of five stars.

The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule by Michael Shermer

A really quite seriously beautiful look into this huge and well travelled subject.

What can Shermer add to the huge pile of debate and polemic already out there on this topic?  Rational inquiry based upon evidence. This makes his contribution very different to most.  Evolutionary theory, morality and determinism are examined thoughtfully.

Next he examines the religious claims on this topic and develops "provisional ethics" as a rational alternative to blind faith and obedience.

If only more folks would prefer thinking about morality rather than judging others based on the morality they think has been dictated to them, then I think the world would be a far better place.

So go and read this, and then think about it.

Four out of five stars.

I Have Landed: Splashes and Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould

Another excellent collection of thought provoking essays.

As a stimulating bit of additional flavour we are also given bits of his family history and obscure historical anecdotes to season the usual diet of evolutionary science.

This is what he is best at.

Three and a half out of five stars.

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson

An excellent read.

Enjoyable, thought provoking, touching and inspiring. At six hundred odd pages including a comprehensive index and sources list this is not a quick read. Nevertheless, once I had started I did not consider the size of it until I reached the end, and then it was only in disappointment that I had finished already.

Sumptuous detail about the man and the times in which he lived. Human, frail even naive but with a fiercely glowing flame of character and strong basic principles of goodness.

So we get a fascinating view of a thoughtful and fundamentally peaceful man, living as best he can through a confused and violent period of history, with fame piled on to his shoulders together with the weight of the expectation of the easy and regular dispensation of wisdom in any area of human concern.

Some of the stranger aspects of his life, that I had previously read about, certainly seemed to make more sense when viewed in the totality of his life even though total empathy is impossible from the written word alone. I also found this inspiring as someone trying to learn about science, and as a father.

Go read it.

Four and a half out of five stars.

Do Ants Have Arseholes?: And 101 Other Bloody Ridiculous Questions by Jon Butler

Bought it by mistake - doh!  This is NOT part of the series on science questions which includes "how to fossilise your hamster".

A bit of fluff with a couple of decent shaggy dog stories.

Two out of five stars.

Darwin: A Life in Science by Michael White & John Gribbin

I have read so many potted Darwin biographies in the press, especially in this multi anniversary year for Darwin, that I thought I ought to at least attempt to do the job properly and read a full biography as well.

What attracted me to this one was the fact that it covers off the science as well as the scientists, and the fact that I knew I enjoyed John Gribbin's work already (he is a co-author).

This book was well worth the effort.  The shortened biographies in the press tend to exist just to hang someones particular brand of politics on to the man but this book is comprehensive enough to avoid that altogether.

One of the greatest lives in science is revealed in all it's vulnerable humanity.

Enjoyable, yet still a useful source for future reference with a decent index and further reading list.

Four out of five stars.

How to be a Bad Birdwatcher: To the Greater Glory of Life by Simon Barnes

A lovely book. Short, quick, light and uplifting.

Not about what it is supposed to be about. Well kind of. It is about bird watching, but mainly it is about enjoying the fact that birds exist and how we can all get along together on planet earth.

Try this if you have a hankering after birds or if you have no interest at all.

The book walks us through various easy to get your head around concepts in the word of birding, whilst at the same time giving out hints about how to be a decent human being. A few anecdotes about sudden death from the skies and how to get along with your dad sit comfortably side by side. We do also get some useful birding advice for beginners.

I enjoyed this.

Three and a half out of five stars.

Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould

Collected essays.

This is what Gould is best at. Enjoy them for the writing ability, the beautiful linking of apparently disparate facts and anecdotes or the key thought provoking messages that usually involve some form of humbling perspective on the universe or human beings.

Particular highlights for me were the writings on the evolution of the bones of the inner ear and an exposition on the philosophical bond between Darwin and right wing economics.

Well worth a read.

Three and a half out of five stars.

The Rough Guide to Evolution by Mark Pallen

An excellent overview of the many scientific, political and religious aspects of this topic.

To get the one negative comment out of the way, I must say that the "style" of having lots of information boxes and separate little bits of texts annoyed me as I kept having to flick back and forth to keep things in any kind of order. To be fair, I guess that such things are a "feature" of this whole series of books, so I can't and won't hold this against the author.

We get an excellent potted history of the theories before Darwin and a great introduction to what his theory actually entails. The facts are put across succinctly but then Pallen also manages to include a strong narrative sense and, together with his very light touch with the scientific explanations this shows off his abilities as a writer. So I would recommend this book to someone who wants to know what all the fuss is about and as a good way to get a great first taste of a huge topic.

We then take a large step back to enable us to get a sightly wider angled view on a little thing like the whole history of life on this planet and the story of human evolution. Again this is packed full of facts but rises well above a simple recounting of them. I would like to see this guy tackle something more limited in scope but in greater depth, I think he would do a good job of it.

Next we get an assessment of the impact of the theory outside of scientific circles. This will perhaps be the most interesting to the non science orientated readers as they will learn quite a lot about the current creationist movement that may surprise them (and for that matter, might surprise many creationists) such as the fact that young earth creationism is less than 100 years old for example.

Finally we get a list of "resources" ranging from tourists guides to lists of music on the subject.

All in all this was very enjoyable for me, even though I have read a lot on these subjects. I would think that it would be an excellent read for someone who wants a good overview of all the angles on the story so far, perhaps because someone is trying to tell their kids that most scientists in the world are lying to them (or is that just me?).

Four out of five stars.

The Evolution of Confusion and the Development of Deepity

Well worth the hour . . .

Concentrated bullshit about diluted bullshit

Genius: Richard Feynman and Modern Physics by James Gleick

I don't have much a track record for reading biographies, so I can't judge this book against many others.  But I do know that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Having read most of Feynman's own materials (albeit stuff that was knocked into shape by others) and having viewed his messenger lectures (thanks to Bill Gates - well done Bill) like a giggling twit, you can guess that I am already a fan of the guy.

I think that the fact this book took some of the gloss and polish away from some of his better known adventures just made him all the more human and likeable and certainly didn't make me feel like the wizards curtain had been pulled to one side.

The book is easy to read yet comprehensive and detailed.  Told with brutal honesty and yet still sensitively written and far more than a simple recounting of diary dates and events.

PS the science is great too.

Four out of five stars.

Grab that ashtray!

Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up by John Allen Paulos

Simple, quick, neat, elegant, stylish, readable, and comprehensive.

Takes the most common, popular and "strongest" arguments for a god and gives them a logical seeing to.

Thank god it's also full of humour.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Language Instinct: The New Science of Language and Mind by Steven Pinker

This guy is very clever. He is even cleverer at explaining the clever things he thinks about in such a clever way that you don't need to be nearly as clever as him to get to grips with them.

I confess to getting completely lost in the grammar discussions and skipping forwards a little. But even then I found the rest of the book very rewarding indeed.

The main reason I like this chaps books is because they are all about me.

They are about you as well so go and read them now.

Beautifully written with a naughty sense of humour and one hell of a profound message.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Universe Next Door: Twelve Mind-blowing Ideas from the Cutting Edge of science by Marcus Chown

A good old fashioned romp through some of the daftest things that might just actually be true. All those silly things you have heard cosmologists, physicists and trekkies talking about are covered here for you in an easy to understand and fun style.

Impress the geeks in your life and confuse the crap out of everybody else with tales of immortality, multiple realities and alien fly tipping.

Enormously good fun - just not long enough.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Evidence for the supernatural?

Matter by Iain M. Banks

Another excellent Culture novel from Banks.  An interesting theme of perspective echoed at various levels through the plot and characters.  His usual dollop of hugely massive imagination still impresses.

Ultimately he still manages to show good triumphing over evil, even if he keeps you guessing which is which until the very end.

Great science fiction that makes you think.

4 out of 5 stars.