Changes

[[Category:New Reviews|Popular Science]]==Popular science==__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Niall McCrae1787333175|title=The Moon and MadnessYou Don't Have to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse|rating=45

|summary=A book entitled I was tempted to read ''The Moon and MadnessYou Don'' has the potential t Have to be a pile of New Age hokum. Mad to Work Here'' after enjoying Adam Kay's first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This learned and academic treatise by Niall McCrae is very far from hokumGoing to Hurt}}, and there is not a whiff glorious mixture of insight into the workings of New Age hanging over itthe NHS, humour and autobiography. We probably all have an old folklore image in our minds of lunatics in the asylum howling at the full moon''You Don't Have to be Mad... Of course, the very word 'lunatic' has its origins in promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the moonwork of a psychiatrist. McCrae tries I did wonder whether it was acceptable to separate myth and fact be looking for humour in this fascinating booksetting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845402146</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John L Locke1788360702|title=Duels and DuetsCharles, The Alternative Prince: Why Men and Women Talk So DifferentlyAn Unauthorised Biography|author=Edzard Ernst

|genre=Popular ScienceBiography|summary=LockeFor over forty years, Prince Charles has been an ardent supporter of alternative medicine and complementary therapies. 's subtitle 'Charles, The Alternative Prince'Why Men and Women Talk So Differently'critically assesses the Prince' might lead you s opinions, beliefs and aims against the background of the scientific evidence. There are few instances of his beliefs being vindicated and his relentless promotion of treatments which have no scientific support has done considerable damage to think that this the reputation of a man who is just another selfproud of his refusal to apply evidence-help based, logical reasoning to his ambitions.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0192779230|title=Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Invisible World of Germs|author=Isabel Thomas|rating=5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary='Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'Germs' tomeseems to have become a catch-all word to cover anything unpleasant which has the potential to make you ill. It's notIn the first book in what looks to be a very promising new series, OUP and Isabel Thomas have provided a clear and accessible introduction to the world of germs. Rather than focussing upon We get an informed look at how people originally thought about diseases and what we all know from experience – that men they thought caused them and women do not communicate very well because how the thinking has developed over time. The vocabulary can be confusing but Thomas gives a regular box headed 'speak like a scientist' which explains some of some fundamental difference in their respective approach to verbal expression – the New York City University Professor of Linguistics sets out to explain WHY that might trickiest concepts and you'll soon befamiliar with bacteria, fungi, protists and viruses – and how we should protect ourselves.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0521887135</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Steven Connorgareth_steel|title=Paraphernalia: The Curious Lives of Magical ThingsNever Work With Animals|author=Gareth Steel

|genre=Popular ScienceAnimals and Wildlife|summary=I don't often begin my reviews with a warning but with ''Never Work With Animals'' it seems to be appropriate.Stories of a vet's life have proved popular since ''All Creatures Great and Small'' but ''Never Work With Animals'' is definitely not the companion volume you've been looking for..In which our As a TV show the author considers the smallerwould argue that ''All Creatures'' lacked realism, less noticeable items in our lives. He finds such objects as sticky tape, combs and keys magical, because "we can do whatever we like to things, but magical things are things other similar programmes. Gareth Steel says that we allow the book is not suitable for younger readers and expect - after reading - I agree with him. He says that he's written it to do things back to us. Magical things all do moreinform and provoke thought, and mean more than they might be supposed toparticularly amongst aspiring vets." Principally these are the little flotsam that wash up on our desks, the handy things we keep in our pockets It deals with some uncomfortable and about our persondistressing issues but it doesn't lack sensitivity, although there are occasions when you would be best choosing between reading and never think about - wave about, flick about, fiddle with, but never think abouteating.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682703</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael Brooks0241480442|title=Free RadicalsHealthy Vegan The Cookbook: Vegan Cooking Meets Nutrition Science|author=Niko Rittenau and Sebastian Copien

|genre=Popular ScienceCookery|summary=We often have an image of scientists as quietly plodding awayEmotionally, with small breakthrough after small breakthroughI am a vegan. When the big breakthroughs come Mentally, they downplay things, and insist upon logical and level-headed cautionI am a vegan. It's all very mild I read [[How to Love Animals in a Human-mannered Shaped World by Henry Mance]] and politewas appalled by the way in which we treat animals in our search for (preferably cheap) food. Practically, I am not a vegan...Or is it? The history of science is splattered It worked for a while apart from the odd blip with radicals, who'll do anything for success. There are those who mercilessly put down their rivals, those who use drugs regard to stimulate their breakthroughs, cheese but then a perfect storm of those who put themselves events which you hope don't occur too often in harmyour lifetime tempted me back to animal-based protein. It wasn's way in t the pursuit of truth, and those who taste - I know that I can get plant-based food that tastes just plain go about things their own way, regardless as good as anything plundered from the animal kingdom - it was the ease of what anyone else saysbeing able to get sufficient protein when meals were often snatched in a few spare moments.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684056</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Andrew WheenDaniel Gibbs with Teresa H Barker|title=Dot-Dash To Dot.ComA Tattoo on my Brain|rating=43.5|genre=Popular ScienceAutobiography|summary=You know exactly what you're getting when you read the summary of Andrew WheenAlzheimer's ''Dot-Dash To Dot.Com''. ''How Modern Telecommunications Evolved from the Telegraph to the Internet'' sums it up perfectly. This is a history disease that slowly wears away your identity and sense of technology self. I have been directly affected by this cruel disease, as have many. Your memories and personality worn away like a statue over time affected the people involved in creating that technologyelements. It serves seems as if nature wants that final victory over you and your dignity. This is what makes Daniel Gibbs' memoir so admirable. Daniel Gibbs is a primer for anyone neurologist who was diagnosed with an interest or need to know about telecommunicationsAlzheimers and has documented his journey in ''A Tattoo on my Brain''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1441967591</amazonuk>1108838936

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stephanie Pain0099551063|title=Farmer Buckley's Exploding Trousers|rating=4.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=The history Wisdom of science is filled with many miraculous discoveries. ...It's also filled with exploding trousersPsychopaths: Lessons in life from Saints, self-experimentation, a coachman's leg that becomes a museum piece Spies and gas-powered radios. ''Farmer Buckley's Exploding Trousers'' regales us with fifty odd events on the way to scientific discovery. Part popular science book, part trivia, each article is a treat to read, either as a fun-sized nugget, or when reading from cover to cover.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685087</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewSerial Killers|author=Jonah Lehrer|title=Proust Was a NeuroscientistDr Kevin Dutton

|summary=In Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare wrote,'Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, wherin he puts alms for oblivion'. This fully accords with the discoveries of modern brain science. Proust in his famous novel, 'In Search of Lost Time' anticipates such discoveries by neuroscientists, such as Rachel Hertz, that smell and taste are the only senses that connect directly to the hippocampus. Thus the taste of a petit madeleine evokes a rediscovery by Proust of Combray and a flow of associations - it is the part of the brain in which long term memory is centred. Lehrer in ' Proust was a NeuroscientistDonald Trump outscores Hitler on psychopathic traits' weaves an intriguing argument about the relationship between recent neuroscientific discoveries and the novels of George Eliot, Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolfclaims Oxford University researcher. A scientist, who has researched with Nobel Prize-winning, [[:Category:Eric R Kandel|Eric Kandel]], has a taste for philosophy; Lehrer intends to heal the rift between what C.P.Snow termed the 'Two Cultures'. He wishes to accord respect to the truths and the intuitive discoveries, especially of modernist writers and painters.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847677851</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=John Lister-Kaye|title=At Until the Waterevents of 6 January 2021 that might have surprised, even shocked many readers: now they's Edge: A Walk in the Wild|rating=3|genre=Popular Science|summary=This is a book re probably convinced that readers feel strongly about, and one with which I must confess to having a love/hate relationship! they knew it all along. I loved the detailed observation, the sharing of knowledge that Lister-Kaye The statement has built from lost a lifetime little of close study its shock value but it does help us to understand more about the nature of the countrysidepsychopathy. He delights in and pays as much attention to the structure of a spiderIt's web as too easy to associate psychopathy with the rarest of meetings with Yorkshire Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Saddam Hussein or Robert Maudsley, the real-life Hannibal Lecter, but the truth is that having psychopathic traits can sometimes be a Scottish wildcatgood thing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847674054</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ian Stewart1849767343|title=Mathematics of Life|rating=3.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=Mathematics and biology don't traditionally mix. As science develops, the boundaries between maths and physics, physics and chemistry and chemistry and biology have become more and more blurred. As it is now, biology requires many mathematical techniques, and it's fair to assume that major biological breakthroughs over the next hundred years will also have a strong basis in maths too. Ian Stewart looks at the major steps forward in the history of biology, and the areas where maths is at the forefront of development.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681987</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewCount on Me|author=Anthony James|title=The Happy Passion: A Personal View of Jacob BronowskiMiguel Tanco

|genre=Popular ScienceChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=Jacob Bronowski was a scientific administrator, poet, philosopher, dramatist, radio The title and TV personality, best remembered for the series 'The Ascent format of Manthis book might lead you to think that it'. This short book, s either about 90 pages long, is partly biographical sketch, partly – in fact largely – an overview of his major published works, occupying about tworesponsibility - or it's a basic 1-2-thirds of 3 book for those just starting out on the booknumbers journey. In the authorIt isn't: it's words, it is intended as a personal view hymn of Bronowski as a philosopherpraise to maths. It's about why maths is so wonderful and how you meet it in everyday life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845402200</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sean CarrollB08B39QNRH|title=From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory Curious History of TimeWriter's Cramp: Solving an age-old problem|author=Michael Pritchard|rating=4.5

|summary=The Prologue sets out what this book is about. It's about ' ... the nature of time, the beginning of the universe, and the underlying structure of physical reality.' OK? Bring Society is based on those questions. Yes, it's a weighty tome in terms of size and subject matter, speech but I would certainly describe the front cover as reader-friendly, so therefore should have broad appeal. I love civilisation requires the title of this book, lots of thought has been put into it and it certainly grabbed my attention - and Iwritten word'm no scientist. The classic movie from the classic book ... I also loved Carroll's language - 'The Elegant Universe' and 'a preposterous universe' These are phrases to make you stop and think. And I certainly did.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1851687955</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Robert Rowland Smith|title=Driving with Plato: I came to Michael Pritchard's ''The Meaning Curious History of LifeWriter's Milestones|rating=4.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=Cramp''Driving by a rather strange route. I have problems with Platomy hands which orthopaedic surgeons refer to as 'interesting' is a companion book to [[Breakfast with Socrates by Robert Rowland Smith|Breakfast with Socrates]], in which former Oxford Fellow Robert Roland Smith took various elements of a : I prefer the word 'typicalpainful' day and provided insight into what a collection of thinkers might but I have to offer to make these mundane routines more interestingan interest in the way that hands work. Here, in An exploration of the company history of a similarly eclectic range problem which has defeated some of writers and thinkers, he considers the key aspects of a life, from birth, through school and riding a bike, to your first kiss, losing your virginity, having a family before a midbest medical minds for some three-hundred-life crisis, leading to divorce, old age years seemed liked excellent background reading and death. Montaigne said that to philosophise was to learn how to dieso it proved, with the book being as much about the doctors treating the sufferers and here Roland Smith ensures that we think about each stage leading up to that momentthe changing medical attitudes as the problem itself.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668305X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mark Stevenson1776572858|title=An Optimist's Tour of the FutureHow Do You Make a Baby?|author=Anna Fiske and Don Bartlett (translator)|rating=4.5|genre=Popular ScienceHome and Family|summary=In 1968, the film It's more than sixty years since I asked how babies were made. My mother was deeply embarrassed and told me that she'2001 d get me a book about it. A Space Odyssey' had an optimistic view couple of days later I was handed a pamphlet (which delivered nothing more than the future we would soon be living basics, in clinical language which had never been used in. In terms of technological advancement weour house before) and I was told that it wouldn're not quite there yet, even though that date has a decade since passed, so maybe t be discussed any further as it's time for a revised view of what is to come'wasn't something which nice people talked about''. Enter Mark Stevenson, a stand up comic slash scientist. It I ''knew''s perhaps not the most familiar of combinationsmore, but take the best bits of each and the result is this wonderful book that combines humour and fun with proper nittywas little ''wiser''. Thankfully, gritty, science stufftimes have changed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683564</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-CondeDanny Dorling|title=Sleights of MindSlowdown|rating=3.54|genre=Popular SciencePolitics and Society|summary=I have We are living in a passing interest in both magic time of rapid change, and neurosciencewe're worried about it. Not only am I ''quite'' the hit with Dorling tells us that the ladieslatter is normal, but I was also very keen natural and probably good for us. We are designed to read ''Sleights of Mind: What worry and with the Neuroscience current state of Magic Reveals About Our Brains'what we're doing in the world we have much to be worried about. Husband and wife team Stephen Macknik However, over the next three-hundred-and Susana Martinez-Conde work at some pages, if you can follow the Barrow Neurological Institute arguments, it sets out in Arizona, and scientific detail why either we shouldn't be as worried as a way of promoting their field of visual neurosciencewe are, developed or in some cases that we're worrying about the [http://illusioncontestwrong things.neuralcorrelate Mostly.com/ Illusion of the Year contest] Because mostly, things are not changing as rapidly as we think they are. From this In fact, they slipped into the world rate of magic, investigating, discussing change in many things is slowing down and researching the neuroscience direction of magic with James Randi, Mac King, Teller (of Penn and...) and Johnny Thompsonchange will in some cases go into reverse.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846683890</amazonuk>0300243405

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sam KeanLangford_Emily|title=The Disappearing Spoon|rating=4.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=If the disappearing spoon of the title doesn't pique your interest, the subtitle is bound to get your juices flowing: ''and Other True Tales of Madness, Love and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements''. As far as popular science books goes, itEmily's got all the umm... right elements (sorry, sorry, sorry). We're taken on a tour through the periodic table, hearing exciting tales of scientific discovery and marvel.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857520261</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewNumbers|author=Martin Cohen|title=Mind Games: 31 Days to Rediscover Your BrainJoss Langford

|genre=Popular ScienceChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=The sub-title of Martin CohenEmily found words ''useful''s latest book, Mind Gamesbut counting was what she loved best. Obviously, promisesyou can count anything and there's no limit to how far you can go, rather optimistically but then Emily moved a step further and began counting in twos. She knew all about odd and even numbers. Then she began counting in my case I feltthrees: half of the list were even numbers, but the other half was odd and it was this list of odd numbers which occurred when you counted in threes which she called ''threeven'31 days to rediscover your brain'. It is rather presumptuous (Actually, this confused me a little bit at first as they're a subset of him the odd numbers but sound as though they ought to assume that I had ''discovered'' it in be a subset of the first placeeven numbers, but it all worked out well when I appreciate his confidencereally thought about it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444337092</amazonuk>)

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Marcus Chown1910593508|title=We Need To Talk About KelvinApollo|author=Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and Mike Collins|rating=4.5|genre=Popular ScienceHistory|summary=Sporting This incredible graphic novel is a love letter to the best title Moon landings and the passion for the subject drips off every Apollo by Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and Mike Collins. This is a popular science book story we know well and because of this side of [[:Category:Alex Bellos|Alex Bellos']] ''Here's Looking At Euclid'', Marcus Chown shows us what everyday things tell us about the universe. You'll find out how your reflection authors take a few narrative shortcuts knowing that we can fill in a window shows the randomness of blanks. These shortcuts are the universe, how only downside to the abundance book. If you've ever read a comic book adaptation of iron shows a 4film you will be familiar with the slight feeling that there are scenes missing and that dialogue has been trimmed.5bn degree furnace exists in space, This is a graphic novel that could easily have been three times as long and how most of the world's astronomers are wrong about what the darkness of night shows usstill felt too short.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571244033</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mick O'Hare1999308719|title=Why Can't Elephants Jump?Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments|author=Adrian Cull

|genre=Popular ScienceLifestyle|summary=Well? Why canFor many years now I't elephants jump? And while you're pondering ve (half) joked that I intended to live forever and thatso far, think about why James Bond wanted his martini shaken, not stirredit was working out OK. Why is frozen milk yellow? Does eating bogeys do you any harm? What Time has passed though and although I's the hole for in m a ballpoint pen? How long great deal fitter and healthier than most people of my age there were a line could you draw with few nagging health problems which were tipping my life out of balance. It was time to look for a single pencil? For answers to all these questions, new approach and as so many moreoften happens, then do yourself a favour and pick up the latest collection from reviewing gods brought me the New Scientist's [http://wwwbook I needed.last-word.com/ Last Word column]. Mick O 'Hare was also kind enough to be [[The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Mick O'Hare|interviewed by Bookbag]].|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668398X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Henry Nicholls|title=The Way of the PandaLive Forever Manual: The Curious History of China's Political Animal|rating=4|genre=Popular Science|summary=The book cover alone, with its panda hugging a tree, says ethics and companies behind the new anti-ageing treatments'buy me', 'read me.' A good start. The sections are divided into noseemed like the answer to my problems -nonsense headings: Extraction, Abstraction and Protection. Maps and Prologue give a flavour of what's to come. The inside front cover states boldly that 'Giant pandas have been causing a stir ever since their formal scientific discovery only you get so much more than just over 140 years ago.' I think it safe to say that many of us would probably say automatically, without thinking, that the panda has immense appeal101 tips. But is it only because of the beautifully marked eyes which give the animal a cuddly, teddy bear look?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683688</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Cindy M Meston and David Buss1847941834|title=Why Women Have Sex: Understanding Sexual Motivation from Adventure to Revenge (and Everything in Between)Atomic Habits|author=James Clear

|genre=Popular ScienceLifestyle|summary=Many many years ago, a man who was far too young to be the fusty, dusty RE teacher he was shaping to be, asked my best friend and I why we were each having sex with our girlfriends. Even aged fifteen I thought something along the lines of 'well, if he doesn't know by now, he never will've said this before but there are some books that you seek out, and listed some books that it was great fun, a very enjoyable sensation, showed an appetite for the relationship, you stumble across and some books that sex proved the ultimate in bonding - how much closerdrop into your life because you really MUST read them, to be bluntlike, could you be to someone than actually inside them? right now! I'll come clean now and admit said girlfriend was not real, but several have been since, and I have had heaps of fun finding out how - and perhaps why - women have sex. 'Atomic Habits'' I was never to know, until now, there are 237 reasons for itis in the last category.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099546639</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mary RoachHoneyborne BlueII|title=Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in SpaceBlue Planet II|author=James Honeyborne and Mark Brownlow

|genre=Popular ScienceAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Space is big. Really big. And itYou may well remember when the sticking of a number '2's after a long way away, toofilm title was suggesting something of prestige - that the first film had been so good it was fully justified to have something more. I meanThat has hardly been proven correct, I'm having enough trouble deciding what but it has until recently almost been confined to pack for the cinema - you barely got a TV series worthy of a year numbered sequel, and never in Africathe world of non-fiction. IIf someone has made a nature series about, say, Alaska (and boy aren'd be hopeless if I were off t there are a lot of those these days) and wants to Marsmake another, why she just makes another - nothing would justify the numeral. But thensome nature programmes do have the prestige, nothe energy and the heft to demand follow-one's written a book on what to stick in your suitcase for Sierra Leoneups. And Mary Roach ''has'' written a book on what to take to after five years in the red planet... Exceptmaking, this is so much more than a shopping list. This is the definitive inside scoop for anyone who BBC's Blue Planet series has ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in delivered a world that is, well, out of this worldsecond helping.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1851687807</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Richard Conniff1783099593|title=Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time: My Life Doing Dumb Stuff with AnimalsSpeaking Up|author=Allyson Jule

|summary=This isn't quite the book it seems. From the subtitle, I inferred Speaking Up' has a memoir or autobiography. Instead Richard Conniff has chosen twentyfascinating subject matter -three how language reflects and shapes our notions of his journal articles to reprint from a clutch gender. It looks at our use of prestigious magazineslanguage in media, education, including ''National Geographic'' religion, the workplace and ''Smithsonian''personal relationships. Taken together, they illustrate his wide range Author Allyson Jule calls on an encyclopedic body of interests in research from the mid-twentieth century to the animal worldpresent day. While this glimpse of some of the most peculiar creatures Reading it, we feel that she has studied everything that has ever been said on gendered linguistics; she references Foucault and the planet makes for fascinating reading, it's definitely not a book to be galloped through in a single sittingKardashians with equal rigour.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393304574</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Russell Foster and Leon KreitzmanCampbell_Astra|title=Seasons of LifeAd Astra: The Biological Rhythms That Living Things Need An illustrated guide to Thrive and Survive|rating=3.5|genre=Popular Science|summary="Seasons of Life" aims to present a rounded picture of the way seasonality affects human life as well as the rest of nature. Covering everything from Seasonal Affective Disorder to the potential for animals to adapt to climate change, this book would be an interesting read for anyone with an enquiring mind and an interest in leaving the natural world.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>186197969X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewplanet|author=Mark van Vugt and Anjana Ahuja|title=Selected: Why some people lead, why others follow, and why it mattersDallas Campbell|rating=4|genre=Business and Finance|summary=''Selected'' is based on the psychology of leadership. Some of us may ask the perfectly reasonable question 'Does it matter who leads and who follows?' Well, apparently it not only matters but it matters greatly. And the co-authors go to great lengths to tell us why. The useful prologue informs us that the whole area of leadership can be traced back in time, by no less than several million years. Vugt and Ahuja explain that the rather innocent (and even a bit airy-fairy to some) word 'leader' is evolved from various academic disciplines. Including the more obvious psychology, there is also biology and anthropology in the mix. Heady stuff. And yes, I did want to read on.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683270</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Adam Phillips|title=On Balance|rating=4|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Essential for a tightrope walker, prized as an intellectual objective, balance is generally considered something to which we can aspire. We praise someone who makes a balanced decision, we envy people who have a 'good work/life balance' we offer an opinion 'on balance' to demonstrate that we have considered various arguments and options.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241143888</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Geoffrey Miller|title=Must-Have: The Hidden Instincts Behind Everything We Buy|rating=45

|summary=If no one can tell So… you want to leave the difference, why shell out $30 000 for planet? Before you do you'd better study the whole history of human space flight to get up to speed. That could take a real Rolex when while… if only there was a 'mere' $1200 will get handy guide that could condense it all down for you a virtually identical replica? Why do luxury manufacturers such as BMW spend money advertising in mass media whose typical readership most likely won't ever be able . Enter Dallas Campbell with this book: An illustrated guide to afford their products? And just why is leaving the ''i'' in iPod so important?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099437929</amazonuk>planet.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Bruce Bueno de MesquitaAdrian_Sock|title=Prediction: How to See and Shape the Future with Game TheorySock (Object Lessons)|author=Kim Adrian

|summary=As a rather mediocre recreational poker player IThe subject of this book has been around for several millennia, and yet my partner've often s daughter has been intrigued by game theoryemployed for several years designing it, or them. The academic discipline used by politicos during the chilliest It's something I use for about 200 days of every year, at a guess (well, I have my self-diagnosed over-active eccrine glands and other people to think about) – which clearly puts me at the Cold War has been utilised by opposite end of the more mathematically minded players on scale to well-known mass-murderer of women, Ted Bundy, who was into stealing credit cards to fund his desire of having a fresh pair every single day. On which subject, the professional circuit amount of them we create every year could stack to improve profitabilitythe freaking moon and more. Rather Some idiots buy more than pokersix pairs a year, apparently, which is plain stupid. I'm talking, author and politics professor Bruce Bueno de Mesquita uses game theory models to forecast politicalas you can tell, economic and international security scenarios and in Prediction he shares some of his secretsthe humble sock.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099531844</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tim DeeGermano_Eye|title=The Running Sky: A Bird-Watching LifeEye Chart (Object Lessons)|author=William Germano|rating=4.5

|summary=Tim Dee may already be known It's happened to me, and like as not it has or will happen to you as a distinguished critic and adjudicator , too. I mean the receipt of contemporary poetrycertain little numerical results, with a positive or for producing BBC Radio 4's 'Poetry Please'negative before them to prove the correction needed to my vision to make me see with the intended clarity and normality. So itI's hardly surprising ve had that gizmo that photos the back of my first impression of his birdwatching memoireye to check for diabetes and other problems, I've had different tests to check the pressure inside my eye, and I'The Running Skyve come away with glasses I don'' is of poetic exactitude transferred t need to another genrewear all the time, but certainly benefit from on holiday, or when watching TV or a cinema or theatre production. But And above and beyond that I remain dazzled by 've stared at – and got wrong – the sustained quality of his writing over 80simple,000 words. Opened at any pageseemingly ageless test, paragraphs of graceful prose enclose figurative language capturing various letters in various configurations that diminish in size, to prove to the very essence of flight (hence the title, from a Philip Larkin poem)relevant scientist at what stage things get blurry for me. To DeeOf course, flight is the nub of a birdit's independence. He describes and wonders poetically – be not ageless, but the scientific progress that led to it , the collective sweep of flock formationschanges other people made to it, and the mysteries of migration, or individual observations of nightjars, carrion crows or peregrinescultural impact it's had are all on these eye-opening small pages.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099516497</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Paul BloomBall_Wonders|title=How Pleasure WorksWonders Beyond Numbers: The New Science A Brief History of Why We Like What We LikeAll Things Mathematical|author=Johnny Ball

|summary=How much would you pay for Like many people of a jumper that used to belong to Brad Pitt? What about if I had it dry cleaned for you first? Chances are, if you were considering the first offer, you've just been put off somewhat. But why? The jumper hasn't changedcertain age, after all. Do you honestly and rationally, believe that dry cleaning would destroy some of Brad's 'essence', thus making I have fond memories of tuning in to watch Johnny Ball enthusiastically extolling the item less valuable?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847921434</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=John Farndon|title=Do You Think You're Clever?: The Oxbridge Questions|rating=3.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=My history virtues of interviews with Oxbridge colleges forms a very short dialogue. Me, to university admissions representative, ''You don’t maths and science; succeeding where our schoolteachers had failed and actually do media studies per se, do you?making these subjects '' He, ''No – our graduates run the mediafun.'' Had I got a lot further, and sat in front of a potential tutor, I would Although decades have faced a question designed to bafflepassed since those classic TV shows, provoke, bewilder – or to inspire a flight of intuitive intelligence. Thus is the media-running wheat separated from the media-consuming chaff. And thus is this his latest book given its basis – sixty proves that he has lost none of the more remarkable questions, answered as our erudite author might have wished to answer themhis passion and enthusiasm for his subject. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>184831132X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lisa SandersYong_Contain|title=DiagnosisI Contain Multitudes: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Medical Mysteries|rating=4|genre=Popular Science|summary=Fans of ‘’House, M.D.’’ may recognise the name of Lisa Sanders. She’s the technical advisor to the TV show as well as being the writer of the ‘’Diagnosis’’ column in the New York Times. Many of the stories which appear in the column are recounted in this book, which is a look at the way in which doctors reach a diagnosis microbes within us and how the method has changed (or not) over the years. I’m not a fan grander view of the hospital dramas which seem to be a major feature of the TV schedules, but I was fascinated by what is, essentially, a series of medical detective stories.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848311338</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewlife|author=Stefan Klein|title=Leonardo's Legacy: How Da Vinci Reinvented the WorldEd Yong

|summary=Take fifty of science's most The world you know is a lie. There is no such thing as good or bad microbes. Sickness and health are all far more complex than we thought-provoking theories, . Things designed to save us may kill us and try to explain each in thirty seconds or one pagethings we think would kill us may save us. It's all here, from Schrodinger's cat, Welcome to cosmic topology, via the Gaia hypothesis and chaos theorymodern study of microbes.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184831129X</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Mark Griffiths|title=The Lotus Quest|rating=4|genre=Travel|summary=Mark Griffiths is one of Britain's leading plant experts. I know this because his brief biog in the front of The Lotus Quest tells me so; just as it tells me that he is the editor of The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening 'the largest work Move on horticulture ever published'. His prior works list includes five other plant book credits, three of them for the RHS. I shall take all of this on trust, since attempts to find out more about the author and his background through the usual internet search mechanisms has failed miserably. He remains as elusive as the sacred flower that is the subject of this latest work: the lotus.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184595100X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Glenn Murphy|title=Science: Sorted! Evolution, Nature and Stuff|rating=5|genre=Children's Non-Fiction|summary=Ever wanted to know about evolution, nature and stuff? Unsurprisingly, this is the book for you. If you're interested in [http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0330508938?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0330508938 space, black holes and stuff], then Glenn Murphy has also written a sister book in the ''Science: Sorted!'' series packed full of all the information you'd want to know. It's all written with the fabulous quality that made [[Why is Snot Green? by Glenn Murphy|Why is Snot Green?Newest Reference Reviews]] such a must-read.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330508946</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Alex Bellos|title=Alex's Adventures In Numberland|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=Maths is a wonderful thing. ...Wait, don't run away. It really is. The way numbers interact with each other, the way counting systems developed, how mathematical breakthroughs are coming from the world of crochet, and how people can mentally calculate the 13th root of a 200 digit number in almost less time than it takes to read it out loud. There's all sorts of weird and wonderful stuff going on in Numberland.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747597162</amazonuk>}}