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[[Category:New Reviews|Popular Science]]==Popular science==__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Steve Backshall1787333175|title=Predators|rating=4|genre=ChildrenYou Don's Non-Fiction|summary=Many readers would probably know that on the simple count of humans they helped t Have to dispatch, mosquitoes may be the most deadly animals ever. But did you know that if you take into account the success rate of hunts, diversity and spread, ladybirds are more successful predators than tigers? |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444004174</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMad to Work Here|author=Sam Leith|title=You Talkin' To Me?: Rhetoric from Aristotle to ObamaBenji Waterhouse|rating=4.5

|summary=Over the years Iwas tempted to read ''You Don've trained myself (fairly successfully) not t Have to judge a book by its cover. Ibe Mad to Work Here''ve added after enjoying Adam Kay'not judging a s first book by its {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title' =This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of insight into the training, but what do you do when your first impressions workings of a book - the title NHS, humour and autobiography. ''You Don'andt Have to be Mad...'' promised the cover - scream 'trivia'? Well, I put this one same elements but moved from physical problems to one side on mental illness and the basis that it really wasn't likely to be work of a book which would interest mepsychiatrist. Picking I did wonder whether it up and was acceptable to be looking for humour in this setting but the laughter is directed at the contents was almost accidental - a situation rather than a person and then I discovered that this book it is a gold minealways delivered with empathy and understanding.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683157</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gordon Grice1788360702|title=Charles, The Book of Deadly AnimalsAlternative Prince: An Unauthorised Biography|author=Edzard Ernst|rating=4.5|genre=Popular ScienceBiography|summary=Animals and humans have long mixedFor over forty years, even though the one Prince Charles has almost always proven capable been an ardent supporter of being lethal to the otheralternative medicine and complementary therapies. Many scientists in ''Charles, The Alternative Prince'' critically assesses the past decided animals killing humans were aberrantPrince's opinions, beliefs and that aims against the real animal knew it was second best to humans, having been saved in background of the Ark, and respected our dominion over themscientific evidence. Even now, it seems, there There are opinions that creatures attacking mankind are somehow rogue few instances of his beliefs being vindicated and need destroying. But where is the wrong in an animal behaving as its nature compels it? Similarly, the human wandering around the wilderness, or even the idiot woman feeding a black bear her own toddler's honey-dripping hand (true story - what the bear thought his relentless promotion of treatments which have no scientific support has done considerable damage to the taste reputation of honeyed fingers we don't know) a man who is just the same in reverse proud of his refusal to apply evidence- humans behaving as only humans canbased, logical reasoning to his ambitions.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0670919675</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Thomas Byrne and Tom Cassidy0192779230|title=How to Save the Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Invisible World with Salad Dressingof Germs|author=Isabel Thomas|rating=35|genre=Popular ScienceChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=The world is under threat from 'Germs' seems to have become a manic Bondcatch-type baddieall word to cover anything unpleasant which has the potential to make you ill. YouIn the first book in what looks to be a very promising new series, my friendly reader, are OUP and Isabel Thomas have provided a clear and accessible introduction to the only person with world of germs. We get an informed look at how people originally thought about diseases and what they thought caused them and how the smarts enough to save itthinking has developed over time. YouThe vocabulary can be confusing but Thomas gives a regular box headed 'd better not be one of my less intelligent friends, because according to this book one needs speak like a lot scientist' which explains some of physics-inclined lateral thinking to carry out the dangerous tasks ahead. Youtrickiest concepts and you'll need to know about gravity and other forcessoon be familiar with bacteria, buoyancyfungi, friction, acceleration protists and viruses – and more to get through the puzzles herehow we should protect ourselves.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1851688552</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gary Haydengareth_steel|title=You Kant Make it Up!: Strange Ideas from History's Greatest PhilosophersNever Work With Animals|author=Gareth Steel|rating=3.54|genre=Popular ScienceAnimals and Wildlife|summary=In You Kant Make I don't often begin my reviews with a warning but with ''Never Work With Animals'' it Up, journalist and philosopher Gary Hayden takes his readers through some seems to be appropriate. Stories of the biggest a vet's life have proved popular since ''All Creatures Great and most important ideas right from Small'' but ''Never Work With Animals'' is definitely not the very beginnings of philosophical thought up to companion volume you've been looking for. As a TV show the philosophy of author would argue that ''All Creatures'' lacked realism, as do other similar programmes. Gareth Steel says that the modern daybook is not suitable for younger readers and - after reading - I agree with him. He gives a brief explanation says that he's written it to inform and discussion of each ideaprovoke thought, particularly amongst aspiring vets. It deals with some uncomfortable and shows how through the ages philosophers have argued pretty much everything distressing issues but it doesn't lack sensitivity, although there are occasions when you could think of, much of which seems bizarre to the modern thinkerwould be best choosing between reading and eating.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1851688455</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stephen H Segal0241480442|title=Geek WisdomHealthy Vegan The Cookbook: Vegan Cooking Meets Nutrition Science|author=Niko Rittenau and Sebastian Copien

|genre=Popular ScienceCookery|summary=Emotionally, I am by no means a fully fledged geekvegan. Mentally, but on the Big Bang scale I'm probably more of a Leonard than am a Pennyvegan. I read [[How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World by Henry Mance]] and was weaned on ''Star Trek ''appalled by the way in which we treat animals in our search for (preferably cheap) food. Practically, chose ''Hitchhiker’s GuideI am not a vegan... '' as my reading aloud piece It worked for a Year 7 exam, and think it would be more than a little fun while apart from the odd blip with regard to take cheese but then a trip perfect storm of those events which you hope don't occur too often in your lifetime tempted me back to Comic Conanimal-based protein. At It wasn't the same time, there are gaping holes in my knowledge. My first celeb crush might have been ''Blake’s 7’s'' Villa but taste - I've never seen a ''Batman'' film, never read a comic book, never quite understood what all the ''Star Wars'' fuss was about. If Sci Fi is a religion, then this is the book know that I can fill me in one get plant-based food that tastes just as good as anything plundered from the stories, the parables, animal kingdom - it was the rules, as it were, ease of geekdom. I had being able to have itget sufficient protein when meals were often snatched in a few spare moments.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1594745277</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Mick O'HareDaniel Gibbs with Teresa H Barker|title=Why Are Orangutans Orange?A Tattoo on my Brain

|genre=Popular ScienceAutobiography|summary=Another year has passed, and once again we're treated to another offering from New ScientistAlzheimer's Last Word columnis a disease that slowly wears away your identity and sense of self. We've I have been here before, with [[Why Don't Penguins' Feet Freeze? directly affected by Mick O'Hare|Penguins]]this cruel disease, [[Do Polar Bears Get Lonely? by Mick O'Hare|Polar Bears]], [[How To Make A Tornado by Mick O'Hare|Tornadoes]], [[Why Can't Elephants Jump? by Mick O'Hare|Elephants]] as have many. Your memories and [[How To Fossilise Your Hamster by Mick O'Hare|Hamsters]]. Now it's personality worn away like a statue over time for affected the orangutan to find out why heelements. It seems as if nature wants that final victory over you and your dignity. This is what makes Daniel Gibbs's orangememoir so admirable.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685079</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=David Crystal|title=The Story Of English In 100 Words|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=Crystal Daniel Gibbs is a god when it comes to language. I’ve known that since I neurologist who was quoting him during English diagnosed with Alzheimers and has documented his journey in ''A Level, since Tattoo on my university studies, since my TEFL days when students ask Brain'Why?' and you need an answer other than 'Because'. This is his new book, but you don’t need a degree in linguistics to find it fascinating, and in addition to the intriguing revelations and chummy writing style, it looks just lovely and would make a fab Christmas present.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1846684277</amazonuk>1108838936

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Niall McCrae0099551063|title=The Moon Wisdom of Psychopaths: Lessons in life from Saints, Spies and MadnessSerial Killers|author=Dr Kevin Dutton

|summary=A book entitled ''The Moon and Madness'Donald Trump outscores Hitler on psychopathic traits' has the potential to be a pile of New Age hokumclaims Oxford University researcher. This learned and academic treatise by Niall McCrae is very far from hokum, and there is not a whiff of New Age hanging over it. We probably all have an old folklore image in our minds of lunatics in the asylum howling at the full moon. Of course, the very word 'lunatic' has its origins in the moon. McCrae tries to separate myth and fact in this fascinating book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845402146</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=John L Locke|title=Duels and DuetsUntil the events of 6 January 2021 that might have surprised, even shocked many readers: Why Men and Women Talk So Differently|rating=4|genre=Popular Science|summary=Lockenow they's subtitle ''Why Men and Women Talk So Differently'' might lead you to think re probably convinced that this is just another self-they knew it all along. The statement has lost a little of its shock value but it does help ''Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'' tomeus to understand more about the nature of psychopathy. It's not. Rather than focussing upon what we all know from experience – that men and women do not communicate very well because of some fundamental difference in their respective approach too easy to verbal expression – associate psychopathy with the New York City University Professor of Linguistics sets out to explain WHY Yorkshire Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Saddam Hussein or Robert Maudsley, the real-life Hannibal Lecter, but the truth is that might having psychopathic traits can sometimes bea good thing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0521887135</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Steven Connor1849767343|title=Paraphernalia: The Curious Lives of Magical Things|rating=4|genre=Popular Science|summary=...In which our author considers the smaller, 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 that we allow and expect to do things back to us. Magical things all do more, and mean more than they might be supposed to." Principally these are the little flotsam that wash up Count on our desks, the handy things we keep in our pockets and about our person, and never think about - wave about, flick about, fiddle with, but never think about.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682703</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMe|author=Michael Brooks|title=Free RadicalsMiguel Tanco

|genre=Popular ScienceChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=We often have an image The title and format of scientists as quietly plodding away, with small breakthrough after small breakthrough. When the big breakthroughs come, they downplay things, and insist upon logical and levelthis book might lead you to think that it's either about responsibility -headed caution. Itor it's all very milda basic 1-mannered and polite2-3 book for those just starting out on the numbers journey. ...Or is It isn't: it? The history 's a hymn of science is splattered with radicals, who'll do anything for successpraise to maths. There are those who mercilessly put down their rivals, those who use drugs to stimulate their breakthroughs, those who put themselves in harm It's way about why maths is so wonderful and how you meet it in the pursuit of truth, and those who just plain go about things their own way, regardless of what anyone else sayseveryday life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684056</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Andrew WheenB08B39QNRH|title=DotThe Curious History of Writer's Cramp: Solving an age-Dash To Dot.Comold problem|author=Michael Pritchard

|summary=You know exactly what you're getting when you read 'Society is based on speech but civilisation requires the summary of Andrew Wheenwritten word''. I came to Michael Pritchard's ''Dot-Dash To Dot.ComThe Curious History of Writer's Cramp''by a rather strange route. I have problems with my hands which orthopaedic surgeons refer to as 'interesting'How Modern Telecommunications Evolved from : I prefer the Telegraph to the Internetword 'painful' sums it up perfectlybut I have an interest in the way that hands work. This is An exploration of the history of a history problem which has defeated some of technology the best medical minds for some three-hundred-years seemed liked excellent background reading and so it proved, with the people involved in creating that technology. It serves book being as a primer for anyone with an interest or need to know much about telecommunicationsthe doctors treating the sufferers and the changing medical attitudes as the problem itself.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1441967591</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stephanie Pain1776572858|title=Farmer Buckley's Exploding TrousersHow Do You Make a Baby?|author=Anna Fiske and Don Bartlett (translator)|rating=4.5|genre=Popular ScienceHome and Family|summary=The history of science is filled with many miraculous discoveries. ...It's also filled with exploding trousers, self-experimentation, more than sixty years since I asked how babies were made. My mother was deeply embarrassed and told me that she'd get me a coachman's leg that becomes book about it. A couple of days later I was handed a museum piece pamphlet (which delivered nothing more than the basics, in clinical language which had never been used in our house before) and gas-powered radiosI was told that it wouldn't be discussed any further as it ''wasn't something which nice people talked about''. I ''Farmer Buckleyknew's Exploding Trousers' more, but was little ''wiser'' regales us with fifty odd events on the way to scientific discovery. Part popular science book Thankfully, part trivia, each article is a treat to read, either as a fun-sized nugget, or when reading from cover to covertimes have changed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846685087</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jonah LehrerDanny Dorling|title=Proust Was a NeuroscientistSlowdown

|genre=Popular SciencePolitics and Society|summary=In Troilus We are living in a time of rapid change, and Cressida, Shakespeare wrote,we'Time hathre worried about it. Dorling tells us that the latter is normal, my lord, a wallet at his back, wherin he puts alms natural and probably good for oblivion'us. This fully accords We are designed to worry and with the discoveries current state of modern brain science. Proust what we're doing 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 world we have much to the hippocampusbe worried about. Thus However, over the taste of a petit madeleine evokes a rediscovery by Proust of Combray next three-hundred-and a flow of associations - some pages, if you can follow the arguments, it is the part of the brain sets out in which long term memory is centred. Lehrer scientific detail why either we shouldn't be as worried as we are, or in some cases that we' Proust was a Neuroscientist' weaves an intriguing argument re worrying about the relationship between recent neuroscientific discoveries and the novels of George Eliotwrong things. Mostly. Because mostly, Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolfthings are not changing as rapidly as we think they are. A scientist, who has researched with Nobel Prize-winning In fact, [[: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 rate of change in many things is slowing down and the intuitive discoveries, especially direction of modernist writers and painterschange will in some cases go into reverse.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1847677851</amazonuk>0300243405

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John Lister-KayeLangford_Emily|title=At the WaterEmily's Edge: A Walk in the WildNumbers|author=Joss Langford|rating=34|genre=Popular ScienceChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=This is a book that readers feel strongly aboutEmily found words ''useful'', but counting was what she loved best. Obviously, you can count anything and one with which I must confess there's no limit to having how far you can go, but then Emily moved a love/hate relationship! step further and began counting in twos. I loved She knew all about odd and even numbers. Then she began counting in threes: half of the detailed observationlist were even numbers, but the sharing other half was odd and it was this list of knowledge that Lister-Kaye has built from odd numbers which occurred when you counted in threes which she called ''threeven''. (Actually, this confused me a little bit at first as they're a lifetime of close study subset of the countryside. He delights in and pays odd numbers but sound as much attention though they ought to the structure be a subset of a spider's web as to the rarest of meetings with a Scottish wildcateven numbers, but it all worked out well when I really thought about it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847674054</amazonuk>)

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ian Stewart1910593508|title=Mathematics of LifeApollo|author=Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and Mike Collins|rating=3.5|genre=Popular ScienceHistory|summary=Mathematics This incredible graphic novel is a love letter to the Moon landings and biology don't traditionally mix. As science develops, the boundaries between maths and physicspassion for the subject drips off every Apollo by Matt Fitch, physics and chemistry and chemistry and biology have become more Chris Baker and more blurredMike Collins. As it This is nowa story we know well and because of this, biology requires many mathematical techniques, and it's fair to assume that major biological breakthroughs over the next hundred years will also have authors take a strong basis few narrative shortcuts knowing that we can fill in maths toothe blanks. Ian Stewart looks at These shortcuts are the major steps forward in only downside to the history book. If you've ever read a comic book adaptation of biology, a film you will be familiar with the slight feeling that there are scenes missing and the areas where maths that dialogue has been trimmed. This is at the forefront of developmenta graphic novel that could easily have been three times as long and still felt too short.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681987</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anthony James1999308719|title=The Happy PassionLive Forever Manual: A Personal View of Jacob BronowskiScience, ethics and companies behind the new anti-aging treatments|author=Adrian Cull

|genre=Popular ScienceLifestyle|summary=Jacob Bronowski For many years now I've (half) joked that I intended to live forever and that so far, it was working out OK. Time has passed though and although I'm a scientific administrator, poet, philosopher, dramatist, radio great deal fitter and TV personality, best remembered for the series 'The Ascent healthier than most people of my age there were a few nagging health problems which were tipping my life out of Man'balance. This short bookIt was time to look for a new approach and as so often happens, about 90 pages long, is partly biographical sketch, partly – in fact largely – an overview of his major published works, occupying about two-thirds of the reviewing gods brought me the bookI needed. In ''Live Forever Manual: Science, ethics and companies behind the authornew anti-ageing treatments's words, it is intended as a personal view of Bronowski as a philosopher' seemed like the answer to my problems - only you get so much more than just 101 tips.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845402200</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sean Carroll1847941834|title=From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of TimeAtomic Habits|author=James Clear

|genre=Popular ScienceLifestyle|summary=The Prologue sets out what I've said 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 on those questions. Yes, it's a weighty tome in terms of size and subject matter, before but I would certainly describe the front cover as reader-friendly, so therefore should have broad appeal. I love the title of this book, lots of thought has been put into it and it certainly grabbed my attention - and I'm no scientist. The classic movie from the classic book ... I also loved Carroll's language - 'The Elegant Universe' and 'a preposterous universe' These there are phrases to make some books that you stop and think. And I certainly did.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1851687955</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Robert Rowland Smith|title=Driving with Plato: The Meaning of Life's Milestones|rating=4.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=''Driving with Plato'' is a companion book to [[Breakfast with Socrates by Robert Rowland Smith|Breakfast with Socrates]]seek out, in which former Oxford Fellow Robert Roland Smith took various elements of a 'typical' day some books that you stumble across and provided insight some books that drop into what a collection of thinkers might have to offer to make these mundane routines more interesting. Here, in the company of a similarly eclectic range 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 mid-life crisisbecause you really MUST read them, leading to divorcelike, old age and death. Montaigne said that to philosophise was to learn how to die, and here Roland Smith ensures that we think about each stage leading up to that moment.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668305X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Mark Stevenson|title=An Optimist's Tour of the Future|rating=4.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=In 1968, the film '2001 A Space Odysseyright now! ' had an optimistic view of the future we would soon be living in. In terms of technological advancement we're not quite there yet, even though that date has a decade since passed, so maybe itAtomic Habits's time for a revised view of what is to come. Enter Mark Stevenson, a stand up comic slash scientist. It's perhaps not the most familiar of combinations, but take the best bits of each and the result is this wonderful book that combines humour and fun with proper nitty, gritty, science stuff.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683564</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde|title=Sleights of Mind|rating=3.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=I have a passing interest in both magic and neuroscience. Not only am I ''quite'' the hit with the ladies, but I was also very keen to read ''Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Brains''. Husband and wife team Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde work at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona, and as a way of promoting their field of visual neuroscience, developed the [http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/ Illusion of the Year contest]. From this, they slipped into the world of magic, investigating, discussing and researching the neuroscience of magic with James Randi, Mac King, Teller (of Penn and...) and Johnny Thompsonlast category.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683890</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sam KeanHoneyborne BlueII|title=The Disappearing SpoonBlue Planet II|author=James Honeyborne and Mark Brownlow

|genre=Popular ScienceAnimals and Wildlife|summary=If You may well remember when the disappearing spoon sticking of a number '2' after a film title was suggesting something of prestige - that the title doesn't pique your interestfirst film had been so good it was fully justified to have something more. That has hardly been proven correct, but it has until recently almost been confined to the subtitle is bound to get your juices flowing: ''and Other True Tales cinema - you barely got a TV series worthy of Madnessa numbered sequel, Love and never in the History world of the World from the Periodic Table non-fiction. If someone has made a nature series about, say, Alaska (and boy aren't there are a lot of those these days) and wants to make another, why she just makes another - nothing would justify the Elements''numeral. As far as popular science books goesBut some nature programmes do have the prestige, it's got all the ummenergy and the heft to demand follow-ups... right elements (sorryAnd after five years in the making, sorry, sorry). Wethe BBC're taken on s Blue Planet series has delivered a tour through the periodic table, hearing exciting tales of scientific discovery and marvelsecond helping.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857520261</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Martin Cohen1783099593|title=Mind Games: 31 Days to Rediscover Your BrainSpeaking Up|author=Allyson Jule

|summary=The sub'Speaking Up' has a fascinating subject matter -title how language reflects and shapes our notions of Martin Cohen's latest bookgender. It looks at our use of language in media, Mind Gameseducation, promisesreligion, rather optimistically in my case I felt, '31 days to rediscover your brain'the workplace and personal relationships. It is rather presumptuous Author Allyson Jule calls on an encyclopedic body of him research from the mid-twentieth century to assume the present day. Reading it, we feel that she has studied everything that I had ''discovered'' it in has ever been said on gendered linguistics; she references Foucault and the first place, but I appreciate his confidenceKardashians with equal rigour.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444337092</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Marcus ChownCampbell_Astra|title=We Need To Talk About KelvinAd Astra: An illustrated guide to leaving the planet|author=Dallas Campbell|rating=4.5

|summary=Sporting So… you want to leave the best title for a popular science book this side of [[:Category:Alex Bellos|Alex Bellosplanet? Before you do you']] ''Here's Looking At Euclid'', Marcus Chown shows us what everyday things tell us about d better study the universewhole history of human space flight to get up to speed. You'll find out how your reflection in That could take a window shows the randomness of the universe, how the abundance of iron shows while… if only there was a 4handy guide that could condense it all down for you.5bn degree furnace exists in space, and how most of Enter Dallas Campbell with this book: An illustrated guide to leaving the world's astronomers are wrong about what the darkness of night shows usplanet.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571244033</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mick O'HareAdrian_Sock|title=Why Can't Elephants Jump?Sock (Object Lessons)|author=Kim Adrian|rating=43.5

|summary=Well? Why canThe subject of this book has been around for several millennia, and yet my partner't elephants jump? And while you're pondering thats daughter has been employed for several years designing it, think about why James Bond wanted his martini shaken, not stirredor them. Why is frozen milk yellow? Does eating bogeys do you any harm? WhatIt's the hole something I use for in about 200 days of every year, at a ballpoint pen? How long a line could you draw with a single pencil? For answers guess (well, I have my self-diagnosed over-active eccrine glands and other people to think about) – which clearly puts me at the opposite end of the scale to all these questionswell-known mass-murderer of women, and so many moreTed Bundy, then do yourself who was into stealing credit cards to fund his desire of having a favour and pick up fresh pair every single day. On which subject, the latest collection from amount of them we create every year could stack to the New Scientist's [http://wwwfreaking moon and more.last-word.com/ Last Word column]Some idiots buy more than six pairs a year, apparently, which is plain stupid. Mick OI'Hare was also kind enough to be [[The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Mick O'Hare|interviewed by Bookbag]]m talking, as you can tell, of the humble sock.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668398X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Henry NichollsGermano_Eye|title=The Way of the Panda: 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 'buy me', 'read me.' A good start. The sections are divided into no-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 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 appeal. But is it only because of the beautifully marked eyes which give the animal a cuddly, teddy bear look?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846683688</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewEye Chart (Object Lessons)|author=Cindy M Meston and David Buss|title=Why Women Have Sex: Understanding Sexual Motivation from Adventure to Revenge (and Everything in Between)William Germano

|summary=Many many years agoIt's happened to me, and like as not it has or will happen to you, too. I mean the receipt of certain little numerical results, with a man who was far too young positive or negative before them to be prove the fusty, dusty RE teacher he was shaping correction needed to be, asked my best friend vision to make me see with the intended clarity and I why we were each having sex with our girlfriendsnormality. Even aged fifteen I thought something along 've had that gizmo that photos the lines back of my eye to check for diabetes and other problems, I'wellve had different tests to check the pressure inside my eye, if he doesnand I've come away with glasses I don't know by nowneed to wear all the time, he never will'but certainly benefit from on holiday, or when watching TV or a cinema or theatre production. And above and listed beyond that it was great funI've stared at – and got wrong – the simple, a very enjoyable sensationseemingly ageless test, showed an appetite for the relationship, and of various letters in various configurations that sex proved the ultimate diminish in bonding - how much closersize, to be bluntprove to the relevant scientist at what stage things get blurry for me. Of course, could you be to someone than actually inside them? Iit'll come clean now and admit said girlfriend was s not realageless, but several have been sincethe scientific progress that led to it, the changes other people made to it, and I have the cultural impact it's had heaps of fun finding out how - and perhaps why are all on these eye- women have sex. I was never to know, until now, there are 237 reasons for itopening small pages.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099546639</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mary RoachBall_Wonders|title=Packing for MarsWonders Beyond Numbers: The Curious Science A Brief History of Life in SpaceAll Things Mathematical|author=Johnny Ball|rating=4.5

|summary=Space is big. Really big. And itLike many people of a ''s a long way awaycertain age, too. I mean, I'm having enough trouble deciding what to pack for a year in Africa. I'd be hopeless if I were off have fond memories of tuning in to Mars. But then, no-onewatch Johnny Ball enthusiastically extolling the virtues of maths and science; succeeding where our schoolteachers had failed and actually making these subjects ''s written a book on what to stick in your suitcase for Sierra Leonefun. And Mary Roach ''has'' written a Although decades have passed since those classic TV shows, his latest book on what to take to the red planet... Except, this is so much more than a shopping list. This is the definitive inside scoop for anyone who proves that he has ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes in a world that is, well, out lost none of this worldhis passion and enthusiasm for his subject.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1851687807</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Richard ConniffYong_Contain|title=Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding TimeI Contain Multitudes: My Life Doing Dumb Stuff with Animals|rating=4|genre=Popular Science|summary=This isn't quite the book it seems. From the subtitle, I inferred microbes within us and a memoir or autobiography. Instead Richard Conniff has chosen twenty-three grander view of his journal articles to reprint from a clutch of prestigious magazines, including ''National Geographic'' and ''Smithsonian''. Taken together, they illustrate his wide range of interests in the animal world. While this glimpse of some of the most peculiar creatures on the planet makes for fascinating reading, it's definitely not a book to be galloped through in a single sitting.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393304574</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewlife|author=Russell Foster and Leon Kreitzman|title=Seasons of Life: The Biological Rhythms That Living Things Need to Thrive and SurviveEd Yong|rating=3.5

|summary="Seasons of Life" aims to present The world you know is a rounded picture of the way seasonality affects human life lie. There is no such thing as well as the rest of naturegood or bad microbes. Sickness and health are all far more complex than we thought. Covering everything from Seasonal Affective Disorder Things designed to the potential for animals to adapt save us may kill us and things we think would kill us may save us. Welcome to climate change, this book would be an interesting read for anyone with an enquiring mind and an interest in the natural worldmodern study of microbes.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>186197969X</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Mark van Vugt and Anjana Ahuja|title=Selected: Why some people lead, why others follow, and why it matters|rating=4|genre=Business and Finance|summary=''Selected'' is based Move 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=4|genre=Popular Science|summary=If no one can tell the difference, why shell out $30 000 for a real Rolex when a 'mere' $1200 will get 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 to afford their products? And just why is the ''i'' in iPod so important?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099437929</amazonuk>}}[[Newest Reference Reviews]]