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[[Category:Popular Science|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|Popular Science]]==Popular science==__NOTOC__ <!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Dr Aaron Carroll and Dr Rachel Vreeman1787333175|title=You Don't Swallow Your GumHave to be Mad to Work Here|author=Benji Waterhouse
|rating=5
|genre=LifestylePopular Science|summary=I was tempted to read ''You Don'BANGt Have to be Mad to Work Here'''. Thatafter enjoying Adam Kay's the sound first book {{amazonurl|isbn=1509858636|title=This is Going to Hurt}}, a glorious mixture of copious urban myths being shot down. '''BANG'''. That's insight into the sound workings of the old wives slamming the doorNHS, as their tales get revealed as baselesshumour and autobiography. ''You Don'CLICKt Have to be Mad...'''. That's promised the same elements but moved from physical problems to mental illness and the noise lots work of ill-informed websites make as they get closed downa psychiatrist. All noises come due I did wonder whether it was acceptable to be looking for humour in this brilliant booksetting but the laughter is directed at a situation rather than a person and it is always delivered with empathy and understanding.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141043369</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Robert Rowland Smith 1788360702|title=Breakfast with SocratesCharles, The Alternative Prince: An Unauthorised Biography|author=Edzard Ernst
|rating=4
|genre=Popular ScienceBiography|summary=In ''Breakfast with Socrates''For over forty years, subtitled A Philosophy Prince Charles has been an ardent supporter of Everyday Life, former Oxford Fellow Robert Roland Smith takes various elements of a alternative medicine and complementary therapies. 'typical' day and provides insight into what an eclectic collection of thinkers might have to offer to make these mundane routines more interesting. After allCharles, as Socrates declared The Alternative Prince''critically assesses the unexamined life is not worth living'.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682371</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=James Hannam|title=GodPrince's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid opinions, beliefs and aims against the Foundations background of Modern Science|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=Everybody knows that the Medieval people thought the world was flat and that it wasn't until Columbus proved otherwise that they found out it was a spherescientific evidence. Everybody knows that the inquisition burned people at the stake for their scientific ideas There are few instances of his beliefs being vindicated and that Copernicus lived in perpetual fear his relentless promotion of persecution. Everyone knows that treatments which have no scientific support has done considerable damage to the Pope banned human dissection and the number zeroreputation of a man who is proud of his refusal to apply evidence-based, and everybody is wronglogical reasoning to his ambitions.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848310706</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sally Kindberg and Tracey Turner0192779230|title=Very Short Introductions for Curious Young Minds: The Comic Strip History Invisible World of SpaceGerms|author=Isabel Thomas
|rating=5
|genre=Children's Non-Fiction
|summary=Sally Kindberg and Tracey Turner treated us 'Germs' seems to have become a [[The Comic Strip History of catch-all word to cover anything unpleasant which has the World by Sally Kindberg and Tracey Turner|Comic Strip History of potential to make you ill. In the World]]first book in what looks to be a very promising new series, OUP and Isabel Thomas have now turned their attention provided a clear and accessible introduction to space. They explain to children everything from the origins world of the universe, to germs. We get an informed look at how people originally thought about diseases and what ancient civilisations they thought caused them and 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 the starstrickiest concepts and you'll soon be familiar with bacteria, through astronomers discovering the truth about planetsfungi, right up to current space missionsprotists and viruses – and how we should protect ourselves.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747594325</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ian Stewartgareth_steel|title=Professor Stewart's Hoard of Mathematical Treasures|rating=4.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=Ian Stewart has been collecting mathematical curiosities, puzzles and stories since he was 14. He published his ''Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities'' in 2008, and hot on its success, he's sharing this second volume with us.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682924</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewNever Work With Animals|author=Mick O'Hare|title=How To Make A TornadoGareth Steel
|rating=4
|genre=Popular ScienceAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Another year, another must-read book from 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 New Scientist. Wecompanion volume you've been here before with [[Do Polar Bears Get Lonely? by Mick Olooking for. As a TV show the author would argue that 'Hare|polar bears]], [[Why Don't PenguinsAll Creatures' Feet Freeze? by Mick O'Hare|penguins]] lacked realism, as do other similar programmes. Gareth Steel says that the book is not suitable for younger readers and [[How To Fossilise Your Hamster by Mick O- after reading - I agree with him. He says that he'Hare|hamsters]]s written it to inform and provoke thought, particularly amongst aspiring vets. Now It deals with some uncomfortable and distressing issues but itdoesn's time to turn our attention to how to make a tornadot lack sensitivity, although there are occasions when you would be best choosing between reading and all the other crazy experiments that scientists have done over the yearseating.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682878</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Eva Hoffman0241480442|title=Time (Big Ideas)Healthy Vegan The Cookbook: Vegan Cooking Meets Nutrition Science|author=Niko Rittenau and Sebastian Copien
|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular ScienceCookery|summary=''Time'' is one of ''Big Ideas'' series of books aiming Emotionally, I am a vegan. Mentally, I am a vegan. I read [[How to revisit Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World by Henry Mance]] and was appalled by the greatest notions and concepts and to provide them with way in which we treat animals in our search for (preferably cheap) food. Practically, I am not a modern summary and understandingvegan. The series strives It worked for a while apart from the odd blip with regard to cause people to think and debate, cheese but then a perfect storm of those events which you hope don't occur too often in your lifetime tempted me back to reanimal-evaluate and doubtbased protein. Another It wasn''Big Ideas'' books deal with topics such t the taste - I know that I can get plant-based food that tastes just as good as ''Democracy'', ''Identity'' and ''Bodies''anything plundered from the animal kingdom - it was the ease of being able to get sufficient protein when meals were often snatched in a few spare moments.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846680387</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Brian Cox and Jeff ForshawDaniel Gibbs with Teresa H Barker|title=Why Does E Equal mc Squared?A Tattoo on my Brain|rating=43.5|genre=Popular ScienceAutobiography|summary=Why does E=mc² Alzheimer's is a disease that slowly wears away your identity and why should we care? Two questions that every intelligent person should be able to answersense of self. I have been directly affected by this cruel disease, but I'll bet as have many. Your memories and personality worn away like a statue over time affected the elements. It seems as if nature wants that 95% couldnfinal victory over you and your dignity. This is what makes Daniel Gibbs'tmemoir so admirable. Brian Cox Daniel Gibbs is a neurologist who was diagnosed with Alzheimers and Jeff Forshaw explain this most famous of equations to the layperson has documented his journey in such a way that they won't need anything more complicated than Pythagoras' theorem to understand itA Tattoo on my Brain''.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0306817586</amazonuk>1108838936
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tadg Farrington0099551063|title=The Average Life Wisdom of the Average Person|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=Back Psychopaths: Lessons in schoollife from Saints, we would often bemoan the idea of 'average', saying that like being 'normal', if there were such a thing, who would even want to be it? There could be nothing worse, we thought, than being average. Except...there is by definition a whole lot worse than 'average' – the exact same amount that is better than average, in fact. And that was the problem.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224086235</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewSpies and Serial Killers|author=Richard D Ryder|title=Nelson, Hitler and DianaDr Kevin Dutton
|rating=4
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Was Horatio Nelson, a navy officer of great renown, forever thrusting himself into the limelight, doing it because his mother passed away when he was nine? Was '' 'Donald Trump outscores Hitler overly affected by his father dying in a time of paternal disapproval, and a kind of Oedipal reaction to being the man in the house making him suffer when she herself died? And can Diana, Princess of Waleson psychopathic traits' claims Oxford University researcher.' parents' divorce lead to a claim she was a sufferer of borderline personality disorder?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845401662</amazonuk>}}
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stuart Sutherland1849767343|title=IrrationalityCount on Me|author=Miguel Tanco
|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular ScienceChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=The belief that humans are, essentially, rational dates to the Greek antiquity, title and although intellectual and philosophical fashions changed throughout the epochs, the capacity format of this book might lead you to reason and behave in think that it's either about responsibility - or it's a rational manner is often considered to be basic 1-2-3 book for those just starting out on the numbers journey. It isn't: it's a defining characteristics hymn of mature humanitypraise to maths. Irrational behaviours have been seen as an evidence of psychiatric or otherwise pathology It's about why maths is so wonderful and how you meet it in everyday life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1905177070</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Brian DunningB08B39QNRH|title=Skeptoid 2The Curious History of Writer's Cramp: More Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena Solving an age-old problem|author=Michael Pritchard
|rating=4
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Brian Dunning ''Society is based on speech but civilisation requires the author responsible for a series of weekly podcasts debunking and analysing a variety of dubious, pseudo-scientific, un-scientific and downright loony ideas, claims and myths common or persistent in the pop (and not so pop) culture. 'written word'Skeptoid 2'' is essentially a written version of those podcasts, a collection of fifty pieces of which many can be also read or listened to at his [http://skeptoid.com/ website].|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1440422850</amazonuk>}}
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Iain McCalman1776572858|title=Darwin's Armada: Four Voyagers to the Southern Oceans and Their Battle for the Theory of Evolution|rating=3.5|genre=Biography|summary=A look at Darwin's journey on The Beagle, as well as journeys by Joseph Hooker, Thomas Huxley and Alfred Wallace. Darwin's Armada provides a broad overview that strikes a different tone to other books in How Do You Make a crowded market. Casual readers who usually steer clear of non-fiction will enjoy it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184737266X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewBaby?|author=Jerry A Coyne|title=Why Evolution is TrueAnna Fiske and Don Bartlett (translator)
|rating=5
|genre=Popular ScienceHome and Family|summary=This book should not be neededIt's more than sixty years since I asked how babies were made.The theory of evolution has huge explanatory My mother was deeply embarrassed and predictive powers and it is also, philosophically, told me that she'd get me a wonderful one to behold: it shows a unity of all living things and our human connection to them all; through the billions of years and millions of generations, from the first bacteria to the human beings capable of understanding the story of life as book about it unfolded on this planet, the story told by the evolution theory is an exhilarating one; possibly the greatest story ever told by science. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0199230846</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Philip Ball|title=Shapes|rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=''Shapes'' is one volume A couple of days later I was handed a new trilogy born out of pamphlet (which delivered nothing more than the author's 1999 book 'The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature'basics, in clinical language which he surveyed a range of contemporary scientific investigation into the extent of naturehad never been used in our house before) and I was told that it wouldn's patterning with examples taken from areas such t be discussed any further as plant growth, minerals, shells, desert sands, lightning, galaxies and atoms. This book has been restructured into the stand-alone volumes it ''Shapeswasn't something which nice people talked about', ''Flow. I '' and knew''Branches'', with new material added.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0199237964</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=John Gribbin and Michael White|title=Darwin: A Life in Science|rating=4.5|genre=Biography|summary=This straightforward and likeable biography of Charles Darwin charts the evolution of his theories of evolution, while providing solid insights into the man in the context of his upbringingmore, education and family life. Importantly, it makes you want to read but was little ''On the Origin of the Specieswiser'', acting as a primer for the ideas introduced in that famous volume. ''Darwin: A Life in Science'' is pitched beautifully for the reader of popular scienceThankfully, yet gives plenty of signposts enabling future studytimes have changed. It also gives a very believable picture of Darwin, based on convincing evidence and without falling into florid psychological speculation.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847391494</amazonuk>
}}
|rating=4
|genre=Politics and Society
|summary=If you've ever wondered why young people join gangsWe are living in a time of rapid change, and what we're worried about it's like to bring up a family surrounded by armed drug dealers. Dorling tells us that the latter is normal, you'll find ''Gang Leader For The Day'' fascinatingnatural and probably good for us. Sociology student Sudhir Venkatesh wanted We are designed to learn by observing worry and with the poor, baulking at the abstract, mathematical research methods used by his professors current state of what we're doing in the University of Chicagoworld we have much to be worried about. In 1989 However, armed with a clipboard over the next three-hundred-and a questionnaire-some pages, he visited if you can follow the Robert Taylor Homesarguments, a notorious housing project. Instead of neatly answering his carefully-prepared questions - it sets out in scientific detail why either we shouldn'How does it feel to t be black and poor?' by selecting from 'very badas worried as we are, somewhat bad, neither bad nor good, somewhat good, very goodor in some cases that we', he finds himself held hostage overnight by members of re worrying about the Black Kingswrong things. Mostly. Because mostly, a crack-dealing gangthings are not changing as rapidly as we think they are. In fact, at the behest rate of its charismatic local leader, J.Tchange in many things is slowing down and the direction of change will in some cases go into reverse.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0141030917</amazonuk>0300243405
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Michael BrooksLangford_Emily|title=13 Things That DonEmily't Make Senses Numbers|author=Joss Langford
|rating=4
|genre=Popular ScienceChildren's Non-Fiction|summary=Did Emily found words ''useful'', but counting was what she loved best. Obviously, you can count anything and there's no limit to how far you know 96% can go, 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 threes: half of the cosmos is unaccounted for? That list were even numbers, but the Pioneer probes seem to be violating the laws other half was odd and it was this list of physics? That we might have already found life on Mars? That aliens might have made contact with us? Oh, and why do we die? Why do we have sex? (Hopefully not odd numbers which occurred when you counted in that order). Do we really have free will? threes which she called ''13 Things That Donthreeven't Make Sense'. (Actually, this confused me a little bit at first as they' might not make complete sense re a subset of all thesethe odd numbers but sound as though they ought to be a subset of the even numbers, but it'll certainly fascinate you as all worked out well when I really thought about it explains these and other questions.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1861978170</amazonuk>)
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Adrian Desmond and James Moore 1910593508|title=Darwin's Sacred Cause: RaceApollo|author=Matt Fitch, Slavery Chris Baker and the Quest for Human OriginsMike Collins
|rating=5
|genre=Popular ScienceHistory|summary=This probably won't be incredible graphic novel is a love letter to the Moon landings and the passion for the only time you are told through 2009 that it would have been Charles Darwin's 200th birthday this yearsubject drips off every Apollo by Matt Fitch, Chris Baker and that it Mike Collins. This is 150 years since ''On The Origin a story we know well and because of Species'this, the authors take a few narrative shortcuts knowing that we can fill in the blanks. These shortcuts are the only downside to the book. If you' first appeared. This ve ever read a comic book however declares that second anniversary to be slightly adaptation of less importance, when a film you factor in will be familiar with the biggest section of his evolutionary thinking Darwin left out of slight feeling that there are scenes missing and that book – dialogue has been trimmed. This is a graphic novel that of human evolutioncould easily have been three times as long and still felt too short.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846140358</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Marcus Chown1999308719|title=Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You|rating=4|genre=Popular Live Forever Manual: Science|summary=Classical physics, for the most, was concerned with (ethics and reasonably good at explaining) medium-scale phenomena: and still now, as when they were discovered, Newton's laws allow us to quite accurately predict behaviour of roughly human-scale objects. Newton's laws and classical physics in general, fail when dealing with extremes of the largest and the smallest, companies behind the fastest and the slowest. ''Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You'', subtitled ''A Guide to the Universe'' actually presents two revolutionary theories of modern physics: Quantum Mechanics which deals with the tiniest, atomic and subnew anti-atomic scales and Einstein's general relativity which deals with the largest, cosmological scale.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571235468</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewaging treatments|author=Paul Martin |title=Sex, Drugs and Chocolate: The Science of PleasureAdrian Cull
|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular ScienceLifestyle|summary=True For many years now I've (half) joked that I intended to its title, ''Sex, Drugs live forever and Chocolate'' is all about pleasure: sensual as well as cerebral, low level and fairly innocent as well as orgiastically excessive and decidedly not-that so-innocent. It explores social as well as biological aspects of pleasure and throughout the book the historicalfar, sociological and anecdotal is interspersed with medical, physiological and psychologicalit was working out OK.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007127081</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Nick Tasler|title=The Impulse Factor: Why Some Of Us Play It Safe and Others Risk It All|rating=4|genre=Popular Science|summary=Nick Tasler works for TalentSmart®, an American company which provides research, testing Time has passed though and training for the business world. The companyalthough I's core business promotes Emotional Intelligence, so whether impulsivity in decision-making is good or bad is an interesting sideline. The American edition has already won m a Best Career Book great deal fitter and healthier than most people of 2008 award, so my perception is that up-and-coming managers may find it useful in their personal development portfolio. A more general readership may find it less riveting.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847374220</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Martin Lindstrom|title=Buyology: How Everything We Believe About Why We Buy Is Wrong|rating=3.5|genre=Politics and Society|summary=Considering the amount of money spent on advertising and the staggering sizes of corporate marketing budgets, it's astonishing to what extent it's unclear what exactly those huge amounts of money buy. Lord Lever famously said that half of the money spent on advertising is wasted - but he had no way of knowing age there were a few nagging health problems which half.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847940110</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=John D Barrow|title=Cosmic Imagery: Key Images in the History were tipping my life out of Science |rating=5|genre=Popular Science|summary=John Dbalance. Barrow is one of the most passionate popularisers of science It was time to look for a new approach and as so often happens, and he's also one of the most noticeably filled with wonder and joy of reviewing gods brought me the discovery and capable of transmitting this joy and wonder to his readersbook I needed. ''Cosmic Imagery'' is veritably filled with such wonderLive Forever Manual: Science, ethics and following companies behind the old adages of one picture being worth a thousand words and each picture telling a story, it's subtitled new anti-ageing treatments''key images in seemed like the history of science'': each of the eighty nine essays making up the book indeed has an image as a starting pointanswer to my problems - only you get so much more than just 101 tips.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224075233</amazonuk>
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|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular ScienceLifestyle|summary=Having dallied with the odd CND march back in the '70s-80s, and while not normally a huge sci-fi fan (yet inordinately fond of certain creaky films like The Day The Earth Stood Still - which as well as offering underwhelming special effects, grapples with huge ideas about the death of humankind) I found a great deal to enjoy in ''Doomsday Men'' and its history of weapons which may now be capable of entirely destroying the planet.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141019158</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Charles Darwin and David Quammen (Author and Editor)|title=On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition |rating=4.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=There ve said this before but there are some books I think that you have to readseek out, some books that you stumble across and there are some books that drop into your life because you have to really MUST read. them, like, right now! ''Atomic Habits'' This is one of the latter, and finally in a volume that goes a long way to making it one you have to own – with the approach to this classic making this edition the definitive one for a long time to comelast category.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1402756399</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mike Toms and Paul SterryHoneyborne BlueII|title=Garden Birds and Wildlife|rating=5|genre=Home and Family|summary=''Garden Birds & Wildlife'' has been created and published under the auspices of British Trust for Ornithology (though the actual publisher is, possibly in the spirit of penance for damage inflicted on wildlife by the motorcar, the AA). Accordingly, the main focus of the guide is, indeed, on birds. It contains a wealth of information: from birdwatching to bird biology and behaviour, including visual guides to eggs and nests; practical tips and guides to bird watching, feeding (what, how and where), creating a bird-and-wildlife- friendly garden and building nest boxes; it's all there, with copious illustrations, clear text and more interesting or practically relevant facts and tips in separate insert boxes.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749559128</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewBlue Planet II|author=Manjit Kumar|title=Quantum: Einstein, Bohr James Honeyborne and the Great Debate About the Nature of RealityMark Brownlow
|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular ScienceAnimals and Wildlife|summary=Two theories You may well remember when the sticking of a number '2' after a film title was suggesting something of prestige - that the first film had been so good it was fully justified to have shaped modern physics something more. That has hardly been proven correct, but it has until recently almost been confined to the cinema - you barely got a TV series worthy of a numbered sequel, and thus our understanding of never in the world: quantum mechanics and general relativityof non-fiction. The relativity deals with huge scale systems If someone has made a nature series about, say, Alaska (and gravity - boy aren't there are a lot of those these days) and workswants to make another, while in why she just makes another - nothing would justify the process creating its own well know paradoxesnumeral. Quantum mechanics applies at But some nature programmes do have the prestige, the atomic (energy and lower) levelsthe heft to demand follow-ups. Of And after five years in the twomaking, itthe BBC's the quantum mechanics that is - and Blue Planet series has been - the most mind boggling for scientists and laymen alikedelivered a second helping.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848310293</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Maryanne Wolf1783099593|title=Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain|rating=3.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=It took me a while to get hold of this book. It arrived, I opened it, and my other half (who is not an avid reader) took it straight out of my hands. The next day, my parents arrived, and spent their weekend visiting me taking it in turns to read chapters. It dissects the magic of reading in a way that does not detract from the wonder of the achievement that is humans learning to read; it made me laugh, it made me sad, and, I have to admit, I threw it across the room more than once. It's a book that provokes, at least from me – and from those around me – strong reactions.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848310307</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewSpeaking Up|author=Carol and Dinah Mack|title=A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels and Other Subversive SpiritsAllyson Jule
|rating=4
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=I should probably mention before I start this review that I have 'Speaking Up' has a bit fascinating subject matter - how language reflects and shapes our notions of an obsession with mythology and folkloregender. A casual glance It looks at my bookshelf shows a selection our use of thick reference bookslanguage in media, education, religion, the workplace and many of my favourite fiction books have their roots in some personal relationships. Author Allyson Jule calls on an encyclopedic body of research from the mid-twentieth century to the various mythologies from around present day. Reading it, we feel that she has studied everything that has ever been said on gendered linguistics; she references Foucault and the worldKardashians with equal rigour.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681391</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mick O'HareCampbell_Astra|title=Do Polar Bears Get Lonely?Ad Astra: An illustrated guide to leaving the planet|author=Dallas Campbell
|rating=5
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Have So… you ever noticed that just before Christmas want to leave the bookshops are swamped with books of triviaplanet? TheyBefore you do you're usually full d better study the whole history of interesting (or otherwise) facts which can be bandied around in the pub or over the dinner party table, promptly human space flight to get up to be forgotten by speed. That could take a while… if only there was a handy guide that could condense it alldown for you. ''Do Polar Bears Get Lonely?'' is '''not''' in Enter Dallas Campbell with this classbook: it's popular science with a hundred and one intriguing science questions of An illustrated guide to leaving the type that you might have pondered yourself, or if you haven't, you wonder why notplanet.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846681308</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Oliver SacksAdrian_Sock|title=Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the BrainSock (Object Lessons)|author=Kim Adrian
|rating=3.5
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Oliver Sacks is a physician The subject of this book has been around for several millennia, and neurologist by profession, but yet my partner's daughter has an extremely keen ear been employed for musicseveral years designing it, or them. He is supremelyIt's something I use for about 200 days of every year, if not almost uniquelyat a guess (well, qualified I have my self-diagnosed over-active eccrine glands and other people to tell us in think about) – which clearly puts me at the opening pages opposite end of this book that the power scale to well-known mass-murderer of music occupies more areas women, Ted Bundy, who was into stealing credit cards to fund his desire of our brain than language doeshaving a fresh pair every single day. This is by way On which subject, the amount of a prelude them we create every year could stack to the freaking moon and more. Some idiots buy more than six pairs a book consisting largely year, apparently, which is plain stupid. I'm talking, as you can tell, of case histories of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditionsthe humble sock.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330418386</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ben GoldacreGermano_Eye|title=Bad ScienceEye Chart (Object Lessons)|author=William Germano|rating=4.5
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Bad science is everywhereIt's happened to me, and like as not it has or will happen to you, too. People buy more expensive brand name aspirin than an equal dose in I mean the receipt of certain little numerical results, with a different packet. Cosmetic adverts are peppered positive or negative before them to prove the correction needed to my vision to make me see with pseudoscientific breakthroughs the intended clarity and ostensibly positive statisticsnormality. Newspapers I've had that gizmo that photos the back of my eye to check for diabetes and TV news (other problems, I've had different tests to check the pressure inside my eye, and sadly not just I've come away with glasses I don't need to wear all the tabloids) are riddled with scare stories of cannabis being 25 times strongertime, but certainly benefit from on holiday, or miracle cures when watching TV or a cinema or theatre production. And above and beyond that will make everyone I've stared at – and everything fit and healthy immediatelygot wrong – the simple, seemingly ageless test, of various letters in various configurations that diminish in size, to prove to the relevant scientist at what stage things get blurry for me. Ben Goldacre (NHS doctor and Guardian columnist) cuts through Of course, it's not ageless, but the scientific progress that led to it, the bullshit changes other people made to it, and gives people the tools to spot such nonsense for themselvescultural impact it's had are all on these eye-opening small pages.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007240198</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Catherine DawsonBall_Wonders|title=Wonders Beyond Numbers: A Practical Guide to Research MethodsBrief History of All Things Mathematical|author=Johnny Ball|rating=45
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Before I review the actual bookLike many people of a ''certain age, '' I feel I need have fond memories of tuning in to deal with watch Johnny Ball enthusiastically extolling the what I think is the biggest problem with virtues of maths and science; succeeding where our schoolteachers had failed and actually making these subjects ''A Practical Guide to Research Methodsfun.''. It's external to the Although decades have passed since those classic TV shows, his latest book itself proves that he has lost none of his passion and to do with a lack of clear indication of who the book is enthusiasm for: because it certainly is not for ''anyone who needs to put together research projects quickly and effectively'' as the back cover blurb claimshis subject.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1845282302</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Richard Dawkins Yong_Contain|title=The Oxford Book I Contain Multitudes: the microbes within us and a grander view of Modern Science Writing life|author=Ed Yong
|rating=5
|genre=Popular Science
|summary=Popular science The world you know is a huge field nowadays, populated by both writers who turn lie. There is no such thing as good or bad microbes. Sickness and health are all far more complex than we thought. Things designed to science save us may kill us and scientists who took things we think would kill us may save us. Welcome to writing. The collection I have the pleasure of reviewing contains samples of writing by scientists, most modern study of it at least illuminating, some truly excellentmicrobes.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0199216800</amazonuk>
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