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jasonfurman's reviews
1367 reviews
Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins by Carl Zimmer
4.0
Like a series of Discover articles, up-to-date, lots of nice photos, graphs, and charts. A useful primer on the topic.
A Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals abt Past Future Our Species PlanetUniverse by Gino Segrè
4.0
It would be quite pleasant to spend an evening in the company of Segre. Although I enjoyed Faust in Copenhagen more, this conveyed much of the same passion and interest. Exploring the role of temperature in everything from biology to oosmology was an interesting concept. It makes me want to read a book on archaea.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
5.0
An amazing book. I learned an awful lot from it that will change the way I think about America's pre-contact history. What I appreciated most and the reason for the five stars is that although Mann was conveying a clear and major thesis, he didn't do it by overstating or oversimplifying the evidence. Instead he took you right up the cutting edge by presenting the debates in archeology and a number of related fields that are all trying to make sense of millennia of history that are a lot less definitively understood than one would like.
Perhaps the most interesting chapter was the one on the ways that much of the "pristine" and "natural" wilderness we see was really the deliberate product of thousands of years of effort by Indians. And that includes one of the most supposedly wild places in the world -- the Amazon -- with its many edible fruit trees likely the result of deliberate cultivation by the large population living there.
I'm tempted to follow up with a subscription to Latin American Antiquity so I can follow the sequel to this book in real time.
Perhaps the most interesting chapter was the one on the ways that much of the "pristine" and "natural" wilderness we see was really the deliberate product of thousands of years of effort by Indians. And that includes one of the most supposedly wild places in the world -- the Amazon -- with its many edible fruit trees likely the result of deliberate cultivation by the large population living there.
I'm tempted to follow up with a subscription to Latin American Antiquity so I can follow the sequel to this book in real time.
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan by Robert Kanigel
5.0
A really fantastic book. I appreciated a biography that had a lot of equations. But even without the equations not only was Ramanujan a wonderfully drawn portrait but it also really conveyed collaboration and the very interesting story of Hardy as well.
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross
5.0
Excellent. I listened to most of the book on audible, it's a shame you just get the text and not interspersed music.
The middle section on the period surrounding World War II worked te best because of the integration of history, mini-biography and music. The chapter on Benjamin Britten, focusing on Peter Grimes, was also very strong, but essentailly functioned as a standalone chapter rather than an integrated part of a larger narrative. Which is true of much of the book. But also true of much of 20th Century classical music -- which isn't exactly Alex Ross's fault.
The middle section on the period surrounding World War II worked te best because of the integration of history, mini-biography and music. The chapter on Benjamin Britten, focusing on Peter Grimes, was also very strong, but essentailly functioned as a standalone chapter rather than an integrated part of a larger narrative. Which is true of much of the book. But also true of much of 20th Century classical music -- which isn't exactly Alex Ross's fault.
Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life by Carl Zimmer
5.0
An outstanding book, highly recommended. I loved his Parasite Rex years ago and this is much better than that book -- or at least than my memory of that book. It is an intensive look at E. coli, everything from the details of how we have learned about it, how it functions, how it has evolved, what we understand about it genetics, the role it plays in normal human functioning and human disease, how it is being used to produce new proteins and provide the basis for synthetic life.
All along the way you get to feel like you know E. coli (albeit with a bit too much anthropomorphizing at times) and are getting an illuminating window into a number of subjects, some familiar and some unfamiliar. Much more successful than many "how the tricycle changed the world" types of books.
All along the way you get to feel like you know E. coli (albeit with a bit too much anthropomorphizing at times) and are getting an illuminating window into a number of subjects, some familiar and some unfamiliar. Much more successful than many "how the tricycle changed the world" types of books.
The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments by George Johnson
4.0
The table of contents was not promising. The book promises the ten "most" beautiful experiments but doesn't have Rutherford discovering the nucleus? But it does have Galvani chopping up frogs to find out if they transmit electricity.
But as I read, I came to appreciate Johnson's idiosyncratic selections. Rather than reading the Nth treatment of classic experiments, he presents some very interesting and well-told vignettes. Especially of Galvani and the frogs. And Pavlov, who turns out to have loved his dogs.
Still, some of the vignettes, like Harvey Lavosier, were less engaging. And at some point, and this is a comment about the entire science history genre, you just do not want to spend the amount of effort the books requires to try to understand theories of two fluids pumped by the heart, phlogiston, and caloric just to learn how they were discovered to be wrong.
A final thought: someone should write a book on ten experiments that failed -- and discovered something much more important as a result. Michelson and Morley would be in it, not sure the other nine, which is why someone should write it.
But as I read, I came to appreciate Johnson's idiosyncratic selections. Rather than reading the Nth treatment of classic experiments, he presents some very interesting and well-told vignettes. Especially of Galvani and the frogs. And Pavlov, who turns out to have loved his dogs.
Still, some of the vignettes, like Harvey Lavosier, were less engaging. And at some point, and this is a comment about the entire science history genre, you just do not want to spend the amount of effort the books requires to try to understand theories of two fluids pumped by the heart, phlogiston, and caloric just to learn how they were discovered to be wrong.
A final thought: someone should write a book on ten experiments that failed -- and discovered something much more important as a result. Michelson and Morley would be in it, not sure the other nine, which is why someone should write it.
What Is Life? with Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches by Erwin Schrödinger
5.0
I had been meaning to read this for a long time. The book is not nearly as exciting as it must have been in the 1940s, many of the ideas are reasonably familiar. And some of the interest one gets is watching Schrodinger grope around the concept of Gene's and digital, discrete information without the benefit of knowing about DNA and how it functions. But other than mistaking the source of gene's for a protein, he did not miss much and another 60 years of molecular biology would have added relatively little to his analysis.
All that said, the careful, methodical reasoning from first principles about how biology should ultimately be explicable from first principles was still very exciting. That and learning that some restaurants in the 30s and 40s actually printed calories on the menu. Which Schrodinger objects to, pointing out that our existence is premised not on the consumption of calories but the absorption of negative entropy.
All that said, the careful, methodical reasoning from first principles about how biology should ultimately be explicable from first principles was still very exciting. That and learning that some restaurants in the 30s and 40s actually printed calories on the menu. Which Schrodinger objects to, pointing out that our existence is premised not on the consumption of calories but the absorption of negative entropy.
What Is Life?: Investigating the Nature of Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology by Ed Regis
4.0
Not the most original book, but then again you might have guessed that from a book that repeats the title of a classic 60 year old book and has chapters that repeat the titles of some classic papers (e.g., The Spandrels of Saint Marco).
But it is a thoughtful, excellent, enjoyable, if occasionally journalist, overview of the title question. And most important it is completely up-to-date, having been published this year (2008) and including substantial reflections motivated by recent progress in synthetic biology.
At 173 pages it is worth reading it yourself. And if you don
But it is a thoughtful, excellent, enjoyable, if occasionally journalist, overview of the title question. And most important it is completely up-to-date, having been published this year (2008) and including substantial reflections motivated by recent progress in synthetic biology.
At 173 pages it is worth reading it yourself. And if you don