Category Archives: science
Be Different: Adventures of a Free-Range Aspergian [ebook]
If you know of anyone with Asperger’s Syndrome, you will find this book by John Elder Robison (brother of Augusten Burroughs) immensely enlightening, positive, and honest. At the same time, it’s a profound commentary on man as a social being, what … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, Autobiography, relationships, science
Packing for Mars: the Curious Science of Life in the Void
I always thought it would be SO cool to be an astronaut–until now. Author Mary Roach bluntly expounds upon the problems of zero gravity and being outside the earth’s protective atmosphere. Our bodies were not made to live in a weightless environment, … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, science
Never Suck A Dead Man’s Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI
While I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t need to be given that advice even once, author Dana Kollmann did have a good reason for sticking a dead man’s fingers in her mouth–to rehumidify them so that prints could be taken. Having spent … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, crime, science
The Immortal Life of HEnrietta LAcks
Henrietta Lacks was a young, poor, tobacco-farming, African-American woman who died in 1951 of cervical cancer. During her treatments and after her death at Johns Hopkins, cancerous cells were taken from her body and grown in the lab. Amazingly, unlike most … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, Biography, science
My Stroke of Insight: a brain scientist’s personal journey
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor loves brains! Her amazement and wonder at the intricate workings of the human brain come through on every page of this very personal record of the massive stroke that almost took her life 13 years ago … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, Autobiography, medicine, science
Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind
A kluge (rhymes with huge) is a clumsy solution to a problem (see photo below), and that pretty much describes the workings of the human mind, according to author and psychology professor Gary Marcus. Instinct vs. reason, instant vs. delayed gratification, … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, science
Bonk: the curious coupling of science and sex
I was familiar with author Mary Roach from her previous book Stiff (no, not another one about sex–it’s about death), so I knew this would be funny and informative. Roach succeeds in presenting the science behind human sexuality in a humorous, conversational manner, … Continue reading
Filed under Adult nonfiction, science
Are We Born Racist? New Insights from Neuroscience and Positive Psychology
This collection of articles, mostly from Greater Good magazine, looks at racism from a biological standpoint as well as psychological and sociological bases. According to studies cited in this book, our brains are configured very early on to notice differences … Continue reading →
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