Guest Author • Mar 01, 2021 •
John Schwartz Elizabeth Kolbert lives her stories. In the course of reporting her new book, “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future,” she got hit by a leaping carp near Ottawa, Illinois (“It felt like someone had slammed me in the shin with a Wiffle-ball bat”) and visited tiny endangered pupfish at Devils Hole, a … Read More
Guest Author • Jan 20, 2021 •
Sara Luterman Growing up autistic in a non-autistic world can be very isolating. We are often strange and out of sync with peers, despite our best efforts. Autistic adults have, until very recently, been largely absent from media and the public sphere. Finding role models is difficult. Finding useful advice for navigating life’s problems, even more so. In … Read More
Jean Balchin • Mar 20, 2018 •
When I was a child, I was rather prone to misbehaving. On occasions when I was particularly naughty, my father would sit me down with a copy of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and would order me to rewrite four of my favourite entries. It wasn’t actually that bad a punishment; being rather childish and petulant, … Read More
Paul Walker • Jan 22, 2018 •
At the Marginal Revolution blog Tyler Cowen writes on the new biography of economist Edith Penrose, No Ordinary Woman: The Life of Edith Penrose, by Angela Penrose. Cowen writes, What a dramatic and eventful book. Edith Penrose (1914-1996) is a not so well-known but highly underrated economist, with her … Read More
Guest Author • Dec 22, 2017 •
Reviewed by Susan Rapley Modern zoos exist at a difficult intersection: whether their containment and treatment of animals is morally and ethically justified, juxtaposed against an increasing need within the wider world for their research and conservation efforts. In Zoo Ethics: The Challenges of Compassionate Conservation, Jenny Gray seeks to investigate these conflicting concerns, a task she is well … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Dec 02, 2017 •
Book review: Cat Zero. This book purrs. It does that thing that cats do, “playing” with their toy, gently poking at it, softly lobbing it in the air, then, eventually, lunging. I’d recommend it for those who’d like the interplay of scientific lives, permeated with motives and mystery. Jennifer Rohn’s strength is her characters, their changing foibles—sometimes more … Read More
John Kerr • Dec 11, 2016 •
John T Lang’s new book tackles a tough question: What’s so controversial about genetically modified food? The answer is: It’s complicated. While far from satisfying, this conclusion isn’t a cop out. The staggering complexity of our modern food systems is a returning theme in Lang’s small treatise on genetic modification (GM) and food. His observations and insights are … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Jul 06, 2016 •
Adventures in the Anthropocene Gaia Vince Vintage 2014. ISBN 9780099572497. 390 pages of body text, excluding illustrations, end notes and index. Adventures in the Anthropocene is an investigative travelogue of responses to the challenges posed by human alterations to our plant, including climate change. Her book offers … Read More
Peter Griffin • May 31, 2016 •
If Tangata Whenua, the fantastic illustrated history of Māori from Pacific origins to modern day, is the coffee table book every Kiwi family should own, The First Migration is the truncated desk reference for the office. Both are published by Bridget Williams Books and The First Migration, by acclaimed archaeological researcher Professor Atholl Anderson, draws heavily on the first two … Read More
Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Jan 14, 2016 •
Two people apply for a job managing a science lab: a male and a female. Who’s more likely to be hired and who will be deemed most worthy of a higher starting salary? You might already know the answer to this question (spoilers: the bloke) but what’s behind the answer is what Dr Nicola Gaston has tackled in her book, … Read More