Category Archives: science

The Grand Design

Posted on December 10, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Grand Design© 2010 Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow198 pages Though modern physics is considerably harder to understand than say, anthropology, I continue to be fascinated by it — for physics, it seems to me, is the most fundamental science. … Continue reading →

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Mapping Human History

Posted on November 30, 2010 by smellincoffee

Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past through Our Genes© 2002 Steve Olson292 pages Mapping Human History caught my attention a couple of weeks ago given my interests in evolution and anthropology. Author Steve Olson offers a quick history of human … Continue reading →

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The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head

Posted on November 26, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head: A Psychiatrist’s Stories of His Most Bizarre Cases© 2010 Gary Small & Gigi Vorgan267 pages In the summer of 2006 I read a fascinating book by V.S. Ramachandran called Phantoms of the … Continue reading →

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Packing for Mars

Posted on October 9, 2010 by smellincoffee

Packing for Mars: the Curious Science of Life in the Void© 2010 Mary Roach334 pages It’s a long way to Tipperary.  Humans are not extremophiles. We have very specific environmental requirements for not dying in all manner of unpleasant ways, … Continue reading →

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Spook

Posted on October 2, 2010 by smellincoffee

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife© 2005 Mary Roach311 pages Having so thoroughly enjoyed Stiff last week, I visited the library this past Wednesday with the intent of reading more by the same author. I’ve walked by this book hundreds of … Continue reading →

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African Exodus

Posted on September 29, 2010 by smellincoffee

African Exodus: the Origins of Modern Humanity© 1996 Christopher Stringer and Robin McKie282 pages “Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history…” Ever since Charles Darwin made that first and solitary reference to human evolution in … Continue reading →

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Stiff

Posted on September 24, 2010 by smellincoffee

Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers© 2003 Mary Roach303 pages Being dead is absurd. It’s the silliest situation you’ll find yourself in. Your limbs are floppy and uncooperative. Your mouth hangs open. Being dead is unsightly and stinky and embarrassing, … Continue reading →

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Disease Fighters Since 1950

Posted on August 30, 2010 by smellincoffee

Disease Fighters since 1950© 1996 Ray Spangenburg and Diane Kit Moser164 pages Spotting this excited me, as Spangenburg and Moser’s history of science series (On the Feet of Giants and its expanded and revised successor) were delights for me in … Continue reading →

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Don’t Know Much About Geography

Posted on August 17, 2010 by smellincoffee

Don’t Know Much about Geography: Everything You Need to Know about the World But Never Learned© 1992 Kenneth C. Davis384 pages I’ve taken several geography courses as part of my university education, a tribute perhaps to Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, … Continue reading →

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The Roving Mind

Posted on June 12, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Roving Mind© Isaac Asimov 1983350 pages In the first place, I type quickly — 90 words a minute, when I am happy, carefree, and in a good mood. And that’s my typing rate when I am composing, too, because I don’t … Continue reading →

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