What is your most recently read science book? What did you think of it? Part 3

[Camelia Rose]

Just finished Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs

A timely book about the new weight-loss drugs. I totally enjoyed it. My review

[CatReader]

Camelia Rose wrote: "Just finished Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs

A timely book about the new weight-loss drugs. I totally enjoyed it. My review"

Glad you enjoyed Magic Pill, Camelia! I keep thinking it would be a great book of the month for this group and I've nominated it several times, though it's yet to win.

[CatReader]

For folks that enjoyed our 2024 book club picks Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future and/or Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization, you'll probably also enjoy Vince Beiser's Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future. My review can be found here.

[Camelia Rose]

CatReader wrote: "For folks that enjoyed our 2024 book club picks Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future and/or [book:Material World: The Six Raw Materials Th..."

Fascinating review

[Shrike58]

Knocked off Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis. Already somewhat dated, but if you're looking for a memoir explaining how someone gets into the field, you might get something out of this book.

[Shrike58]

Wrapped up Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture, an interesting collection of essays examining the impact of space flight on Soviet social attitudes.

[David]

I just finished reading A Silent Fire: The Story of Inflammation, Diet, and Disease by Dr. Shilpa Ravella. Inflammation--especially chronic low-level inflammation, does not seem to get a lot of attention by the general public. It turns out that inflammation is an extremely important component of our health. This book delves into the history of research into the topic, and contains valuable insights into how to reduce inflammation.

Here is my review.

[Shrike58]

Knocked off Sealab: America's Forgotten Quest to Live and Work on the Ocean Floor. While it's probably becoming dated, one would expect this book to be in the bibliography of anyone taking up the subject of the golden age of human free diving again.

[Fadel]

I finished reading Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will. The book is rich and intriguing.
Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Shrike58]

Finished The Great Quake: How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet, which did a good job of filling in my questions about the event, besides demonstrating how the field work immediately after the quake helped to validate Plate Tectonics as a theory.

[Victor]

I recently finished "The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World" by David Deutsch. *** My opinion is that This book is HIGHLY ONE-SIDED (Despite 4.18 rating on Goodreads). My review is here (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...).
^^^^^
This book is HIGHLY ONE-SIDED.
David Deutsch stated, "This knowledge consists of explanations: assertions about what is out there beyond the appearances and how it behaves." "The principal of optimism - All evils are caused by insufficient knowledge." Basically, David Deutsch's view is that sufficient knowledge can solve any problem.

Such a view is one-sided because David Deutsch does not mention what happens with the acquired knowledge - Is anything done with knowledge, or is that knowledge just sitting on a shelf as some static entity? Who or what are judges about knowledge? How do we or somebody else find out if that knowledge is sufficient or not sufficient? Sufficient regarding what? If someone or something is using knowledge, then who are the beneficiaries of that usage, and is it possible that there are some victims, not beneficiaries, of the usage of the knowledge? Just look at examples of how different groups used available expertise in humankind's long, bloody history. For example, The Inquisition had knowledge of torture and bonfires. The Inquisition used this knowledge to torture and burn people alive.

The answers to such questions can be skipped in an idealized, theoretically imagined world. But those answers are necessary in the real world. Without such answers, it is hard to subscribe to David Deutsch's optimism.

[CatReader]

I just reviewed Neil Shubin's latest book, Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future -- my review is here. This might make a fun book club pick once some more time passes and it crosses 500 ratings.

[Shrike58]

Finished up Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds, which I thought to be a very good survey in the state of play of what we know of past epochs of life on Earth.

[Camelia Rose]

My recent science read:

1. I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine, the interaction between music and neuroscience, here is My review

2. Close to Home: The Wonders of Nature Just Outside Your Door, urban ecology, here is My review

[Camelia Rose]

Shrike58 wrote: "Finished up Otherlands: A Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds, which I thought to be a very good survey in the state of play of what we know of past epochs of life on Earth."

This one is on my TBR

[CatReader]

I recently read Atomic Dreams: The New Nuclear Evangelists and the Fight for the Future of Energy about the battle over California's last remaining nuclear power plant - here is my review.

[David]

CatReader wrote: "I recently read Atomic Dreams: The New Nuclear Evangelists and the Fight for the Future of Energy about the battle over California's last remaining nuclear power plant - here is my..."

Thanks for the mention of this book, CatReader. I've put it on my list of books to read!

[CatReader]

David wrote: "CatReader wrote: "I recently read Atomic Dreams: The New Nuclear Evangelists and the Fight for the Future of Energy about the battle over California's last remaining nuclear power ..."

You're welcome, David - I hope you enjoy it!

[Sayori]

I’m currently reading Chaos making of a new science. It’s very interesting so far!

[Betsy, co-mod]

Sayori wrote: "I’m currently reading Chaos making of a new science. It’s very interesting so far!"

We read this in 2015 and there was a substantial discussion, though a lot of seemed to be about math. Anyway, check it out, and please add your thoughts if you want.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Shrike58]

Just wrapped up The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom, which while might be more "science adjacent" than "science" per se, is still a very entertaining work.

[Camelia Rose]

Shrike58 wrote: "Just wrapped up The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom, which while might be more "science adjacent"..."

Oh, this book has been on my TBR since forever.

[Camelia Rose]

Recently I've read two very good science books:

1. The Ocean's Menagerie: How Earth's Strangest Creatures Reshape the Rules of Life
Here is My review

2. When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals, and Evolution's Greatest Romance
Here is My review

[George P.]

Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World by John Vaillant. The content isn't 100% on the science but that's the main focus. I liked it a lot and plan to read another of his books sometime, probably The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed.

[Camelia Rose]

Recently finished Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI. It's not science, but a book about AI as technology and industry.

Here is My review

[Camelia Rose]

Not strictly a science book, but related to computer science and Virtual Reality. Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality and Virtual Reality, a part memoir, part tech history of 1980s. Interesting read in contrast to today's tech world. My review

[Andreanne]

I just closed the cover on Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. As a medical student, most of what I’ve officially learned about TB boils down to “RIPE for six months” and a footnote that certain regions remain endemic. That thin slice of knowledge felt painfully inadequate after reading John Green’s 208 page wake up call.

What struck me most is how he dismantles the myth that TB is purely bacterial. Green shows that poverty, politics, and Big pharma monopoly are just as pathogenic. He even hands readers a practical primer on why the RIPE regimen exists and where it fails, making the book useful for clinicians while still totally accessible to non healthcare friends.

Bottom line: if you think TB is an illness confined to the pastel walls of ancient sanatoriums, read this. If you already know it isn’t, read it anyway. The storytelling will re-ignite your sense of urgency. I’ll be recommending Everything Is Tuberculosis to classmates, profs, and my book club outside the hospital. It reminds us that diseases don’t just persist; we let them.

[Chris]

I've recently finished (and reviewed) Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology by Jim Al Khalili and Johnjoe McFadden.
Although I thought the analogies used to 'explain' quantum mechanics were often oversimplified to the point of being misleading, this is basically a fascinating and painless read. The natural world case studies are a delight and, notwithstanding the above reservation, the descriptions of potential quantum effects at the molecular level are both lucid and revealing. I especially liked the space they gave to Schroedinger's 1944 'order from order' argument.

[Tomislav]

Seeing as Everything Is Predictable: How Bayesian Statistics Explain Our World has lost out in the poll two months in a row, I decided to just read it on my own. I found it interesting with some qualification. Also, it could have used a little better editing. Here's my review -

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Shrike58]

Knocked off Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World. Not bad for what it is but also now a bit dated; badly so in regards to self-serving political machinations of the "Billionaire Boys Club."

[Shrike58]

Wrapped up Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life, which at its best is a consideration of the great interactions between our physical planet and the actions of the life-forms that inhabit it; mostly at the bacteriological level and the acts of humanity. However, this is journalism that's going to date fast.

[Herman]

Sorry for the lack of comments, I've been busy:

-On 1/10/25, I posted my 57th pair of reviews, 1 for Wild Predators (Wild Kratts) (which is great: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) & 1 for "The Magic School Bus Gets All Dried Up: A Book About Deserts" (which is bad: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ).

-On 3/8/25, I posted my 58th pair of reviews, 1 for Dinosaur!: Based on the Acclaimed Four-Part Television Series Hosted by Walter Cronkite (which is great: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) & 1 for "Too Big to Walk: The New Science of Dinosaurs" (which is terrible: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ).

-On 7/3/24, I posted my 59th pair of reviews, 1 for Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior: What They Did and How We Know (which is good: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) & 1 for "Dinosaur Behavior: An Illustrated Guide" (which is bad: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ).