Books
jlynch | July 23, 2008(Another review that was published a few years back, in this case in Isis in 2001. Alter's book is still in print and still worth reading.)
Charles Darwin's Origin of Species was written in a vivid style and, as such, is frequently studied as much as literature as scientific text. Particularly notable is Darwin's use of analogy and metaphor. In the work under review, Stephen G. Alter focuses on two of Darwin's literary devices - the metaphor of the tree and the analogy between languages and species - and in so doing demonstrates how both the supporters and opponents of transmutation used…
jlynch | July 22, 2008(The following is the text of a review I wrote that appeared in Journal of the History of Biology in 2000. As both of the books are still in print - and the Gould book is his exposition of Nonoverlapping Magesteria - I thought the review was worth posting.)
Most of us are familiar with the icons of warfare between science and religion, and have grown up hearing the stories of Bruno, Galileo, and Scopes. The two works under review offer differing viewpoints on the relationships between science and religion, and are aimed at differing audiences. Conkin's volume is part of an academic series…
laelaps | July 22, 2008Writing a post about feathered dinosaurs yesterday gave me the shot in the arm I needed to jump back into my book project. I've spent so much time reading old papers and concerning myself with the thoughts of Victorian scientists that I had almost forgotten that I needed to bring the chapter up to date with the latest information. Sifting through the literature on dinosaurs like Dilong and Sinosauropteryx allowed me to set up the end-point that I want the birds/dinosaurs chapter to reach (it does help to know where you're going). I will have to do a little more research on Mesozoic birds as I…
laelaps | July 21, 2008John and Chad both have updates about their books, and even though I'm tempted to join the club I figure there's been enough meta on here lately (I wrote two different posts about the current status of my writing but scrapped them both). Instead I thought I would ask what you have been reading lately. It is the summer, after all, and I hope that those inclined to do so have had some time to take in some good books.
This past weekend I polished off Rex Appeal and Tyrannosaurus Sue, a bit of a digression from what I should have been reading but it was difficult to resist. Reading Tyrannosaurus…
laelaps | July 20, 2008
If I got paid to do reviews of books, movies, websites, and products I definitely could turn it into a full-time job. Almost every day something turns up in my inbox telling me about a new website or product that someone wants me to take a look at and plug here. I end up deleting most of them (sometimes wondering why some of these people think I'm fit to review websites about herbal remedies and other such things), but a few are interesting enough that I do want to take a look. Some things I know I'm going to like before I even receive the materials, others I end up being pleasantly…
grrlscientist | July 20, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase. If you despair of ever having enough summer reading material, this issue is just for you because you will find that the total page count in these books is 4277 pages!
FEATURED TITLE:
Olsen, Penny. Glimpses of Paradise: The Quest…
grrlscientist | July 18, 2008tags: Microcosm, microbiology, bacteria, E coli, evolution, Carl Zimmer, book review
I lived through Seattle's outbreak of the "killer E. coli strain O157:H7" that charged into the world's consciousness after it mercilessly destroyed the kidneys and other vital organs of hundreds of children and adults who consumed contaminated fast food. During this time, I worked as a lab microbiologist in several human and veterinary hospitals in the Seattle area while I earned my bachelor's degree in microbiology, so I have a strong background in both the practical realities and the scientific lore of…
laelaps | July 16, 2008It's been nearly a month since I posted my last book progress update. When I posted the last update the summer still seemed to stretch ahead of me, yet now it's the middle of July with the beginning of the fall semester feeling imminent. What's worse, I don't think I'll be able to hit my goal of having the first draft completed by the end of the summer.
There are a few reasons for this. First is my precalc class, which has met for three hours a night, three nights a week, since the beginning of June. I go to the lectures the same days that I work an eight hour day so by the time I get home at…
clock | July 14, 2008Henry Gee has published drafts of his new SF trilogy The Sigil on Lulu.com. Apparently, publishers have no problem with this tactic - the final version will be published by them in the end.
I have ordered the trilogy and all three books arrived here about a week ago. I'll let you know what I think once I find some time to read them.
grrlscientist | July 13, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history, animal and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
FEATURED TITLE:
Resh, Vincent H. and Ring T. Carde (editors). Encyclopedia of Insects. 2003. Academic Press. Hardbound: 1266 pages. Price: $114.00 U.S. [Amazon $91.20]. SUMMARY: A very detailed encyclopedia that anyone…
clock | July 12, 2008Triggered by noticing who was very obviously missing from the most recent Dawkins' book that collects the best essays in modern science writing, Larry has been writing recently about other people who are excellent science writers. I have been a fan, for a long time, of the writings by Richard Lewontin, Niles Eldredge, David Raup, Jacques Monod and Steven Vogel. I am afraid I did not read enough by Eugenie Scott and should also check out Brent Dalrymple, Helena Curtis and David Suzuki.
And of non-modern science writers, I always found Darwin fun to read.
So, who do you like? Carl Sagan,…
laelaps | July 12, 2008
It's only been in the last year that I've obtained a deeper appreciation for the history of science. Natural history is utterly enthralling, of course, but the history of the naturalists that have shaped our understanding of the world are just as fascinating. For my own part, the essays of Stephen Jay Gould (particularly in The Lying Stones of Marrakech, which I first picked up last year) have given me a deeper appreciation for the history of thought in paleontology and evolution. In fact, I was so struck with Gould's titular essay from Lying Stones that I immediately ordered a copy of The…
laelaps | July 8, 2008As I poked around the shelves of the Cranbury Bookworm a few weeks ago, picking up dusty and tattered copies of discarded volumes, I couldn't help but wonder what may eventually become of my own work. There were some classics on the shelves, earlier editions of books that have been printed and reprinted numerous times, but many more are books that have largely been forgotten. What would the authors think about what has become of their work? Not everything is important enough to repackage and retain as a keystone in the literature of one topic or another (in fact most things are not), and…
scientificactivist | July 8, 2008The Animal Research War
by P. Michael Conn and James V. Parker
Palgrave Macmillan: 2008, 224 pages.
Buy now! (Amazon)
In a dark room, buried in a nondescript building somewhere in London, an orderly array of new trainees sits silently, listening intently as a senior police official delivers a security briefing. Clicking through slide after slide of photos of activists, extremists, and terrorists, the official carefully explains who each person is, what organization(s) he or she is associated with, and what level of threat that person poses. All of this would probably look like business as…
laelaps | July 6, 2008
A clip from the Nature documentary "Murder in the Troop."
Before June of last year I didn't particularly like baboons. They seemed to be aggressive, ill-tempered monkeys that more often provoked a small sense of revulsion in me than curiosity. (In fact, for most of my life I thought primates were pretty boring; didn't they just sit around eating leaves and picking ticks off each other?) Then I happened to pick up Robert Sapolsky's A Primate's Memoir and that all changed. There was so much I didn't know about them and by the time I put down Sapolsky's book I had an interest and affection…
grrlscientist | July 6, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
New and Recent Titles:
Shubin, Neil. Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. 2008. Pantheon. Hardbound: 229 pages. Price: $24.00 U.S. [Amazon: $16.32]. SUMMARY: Details the discovery of…
mikethemadbiologist | July 4, 2008I'm approaching the tail end of grant writing season, and I've had to update my CV, put it in NIH format, and so on. It occurred to me while doing this is that there is very little professional incentive to write book chapters, since most (although not all) are not peer-reviewed, and consequently aren't viewed as publications by many funding agencies. So why write them?
Sometimes I've written a book chapter because it allows me to grind an ax that desperately needs grinding; other times, I've done so because it allows me to develop an argument or an agenda that can then be cited later (you…
pharyngula | July 2, 2008
I'm very fond of Chris Turney's book, Bones, Rocks, and Stars. It's a slender, simple description of the many tools scientists use to figure out how old something is, and when arguing with young earth creationists, it's become the first thing I recommend to them. It's short and easy to read, and focuses on explaining how dating methods work.
Turney has a new book out: Ice, Mud and Blood: Lessons from Climates Past(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). This is the one you'll be able to hand to climate change denialists, and it's a winner.
Its virtues are the same as his previous book, the careful…
aardvarchaeology | June 29, 2008Since some time in the early 80s I've laboured delightedly and intermittently to catch up with Ursula K. LeGuins oeuvre. I've covered her collections of short fiction and essays, and I will soon have her novels done, leaving the poetry and short kids' books.
Apart from her latest novel, I've yet to read 1980's The Beginning Place. In fact, I'm reading it now. And it's a good read so far, a critique of modern US society foreshadowing Always Coming Home. But there's one curious bug in the logic.
Imagine a gate to another world. When you pass the gate your perceptions continue without break: you…
grrlscientist | June 29, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
FEATURED TITLE:
Tennyson, Alan and Paul Martinson. Extinct Birds of New Zealand. 2006. Te Papa Press. Hardbound: 180 pages. Price: $54.95 U.S. (available in the USA from Pacific Island Books and Buteo Books or for $63.95 and up…