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Tag Archives: history of science
An Elegant Defense
An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System © 2019 Matt Ritchel 488 pages Back in January, long before the pandemic was on my mind (or anyone else’s outside of China), I watched a charming and educational … Continue reading
The Weather Machine
The Weather Machine: How We See Into the Future © 2019 Andrew Blum 224 pages How do we know what the forecast will be? Well, we don’t — yesterday my chances of afternoon rain were supposedly minimal, and yet by … Continue reading
The Ice at the End of the World
© 2019 Jon Gertner 418 pages My reading journeys have taken me to Greenland recently, but instead of reading more about the Viking settlements there, I wanted to read about another tribe: the explorers and scientists who willingly endured months … Continue reading
She Has Her Mother’s Laugh
She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity© 2018 Carl Zimmer672 pages Overhearing discussion of heredity a few hundred years ago would have meant only one thing: being in the presence of noblemen, who stood to … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, science
Tagged biology, Carl Zimmer, genetics, history of science, science
2 Comments
Seeing Further
Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society© 2010 Bill Bryson512 pages Although Bill Bryson is chiefly known for his humorous travelogues, he has been known to venture into other nonfiction at times, and … Continue reading
Empires of Light
Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World © 2004 Jill Jonnes464 pages Empires of Light is less a history of how the United States became electrified and more a biography of three electrical titans – … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged biography, energy, history, history of science, infrastructure
1 Comment
The Disappearing Spoon
The Disappearing Spoon© 2010 Sam Kean400 pages A massive poster of the periodic table is as elemental to the image of a science classroom as the rows of graduated cylinders and microscopes, but there is considerably more to that table … Continue reading
Lost Enlightenment
Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane © 2015 S. Frederick Starr618 pages Lost Enlightenment takes readers back to a time when Central Asia was the crossroads of the world, a hub of both commercial and … Continue reading
Posted in history, Reviews
Tagged Central Asia, China, history, history of science, India, Medieval, Middle East, Persia-Iran, philosophy
2 Comments
Genome
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters© 1999 Matt Ridley317 pages The human genome is a recipe book, divided into 23 chapters, but considerably larger than Matt Ridley’s Genome. Were it to scale, he writes, a genuine … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews, science
Tagged biology, evolution, genetics, history of science, science, sociobiology
4 Comments