Christmas Reading Room 2008

Inherit the Wind starring Spencer Tracy

“If you are looking for a classic film to watch over Christmas or to put in someone’s stocking, then “Inherit the Wind” is now available on DVD. Spencer Tracy stars in this courtroom drama based on the Scopes “Monkey Trial”, in which evolution was in the dock.”

Can Reindeer Fly? by Roger Highfield

“Can Reindeer Fly? is a very festive piece of science writing. Roger Highfield investigates all the scientific aspects of Christmas with wit and charm.”

“During the past year, like many others, I have become increasingly aware of the major challenges and tragedies facing the African Nations both politically and in terms of food security and have read two books which really opened my eyes to the problem.

One is The Bottom Billion: why the poorest countries are failing and what can be done about it by Paul Collier”

“The other one is Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is being kept of Africa by Robert Paarlberg

It shows how a recent withdrawal of donor support for modern agricultural science in Africa, plus outright opposition to new farm science on the part of some global pressure groups is contributing directly to the continued growth of poverty and hunger. He further suggest that low-income, food deficit nations are being advised by governments and pressure groups in privileged nations to reject agricultural, GREEN biotechnology, mostly because this is a technology the rich countries themselves do not at the moment happen to need. When it comes to new applications of medical science, which prosperous countries still need and value, genetic engineering (RED biotechnology) is not seen as a threat. This is a rich world argument that is hurting the poor.”

And another vote for “Starved for Science”!

“I recommend Robert Paarlberg’s Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is being kept of Africa I haven’t read a more important book about science for some years.  And if I am allowed a second choice, get a DVD of Mr Deeds goes to Town a lovely heart-warming, wonderfully funny film, with Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur - perfect Christmas fare.”

The Science of Fear by Daniel Gardener

“The minimal cover of The Science of Fear caught my eye - as I started to read it the time started to fly by. The messages were wonderfully expressed and explained. Gardener is certainly not an “apologist” for the popular alleged evils and conspiracy theories of big business (US or multinational) - probably (originally) quite the opposite, I would guess. Yet as you read the narrative it is refreshing to watch his personal journey of discovery and revelation that most of the myths and scare stories peddled by the media and various single-issue pressure groups are completely unfounded, and frequently the complete reverse of scientific evidence and the truth. The other fascinating feature of The Science of Fear is the way in which it exposes the technological paralysis being caused by over-regulation and the distortion or exaggeration of hazard versus risk that so many self-interested pressure and lobby groups use to terrify the general public by exploiting the media’s desire for sensationalistic journalism.”

“I’d definitely recommend either of Khaled Hosseini’s two recent books, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.  Not what to pick up for a cheery read but two great books.”

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

“For a fun book I’d definitely recommend A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.  And for a bit of a different Christmas gift how about buying someone membership of the Cloud Appreciation Society. What I like about the Society is that it brings a philosophical approach to appreciating the environment more and draws links with the arts (painting, poetry etc) - it’s a more interesting organisation than it perhaps looks by name!”

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

This is a very popular book this year!

“I’d recommend A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It’s a wonderful book, very powerful and moving, at times harrowing. But don’t let that put you off reading it - Hosseini is a brilliant storyteller and manages to convey the power of human friendship and love, and its ability to help the human spirit survive almost anything. The setting is again, like The Kite Runner, Afghanistan and the story spans 30 years, giving a real insight to what life was and is like for the people who live there, and the effects war has had. This is a book you won’t want to put down or finish.”

Motherhood, the Elephant in the Laboratory edited by Emily Monosson

“I’m looking forward to dipping into Motherhood, the Elephant in the Laboratory - a collection of 34 personal stories written by women in various scientific careers. It starts with women who began their careers in the 1970s and goes through the decades, ending with those who have recently qualified. It’s about managing to create a balance between work and family so is probably just as relevant to men as to women.I’ll also be taking the opportunity over the Christmas holiday to read Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, and persuading all my family and friends that they should also read it.”

Dry Store Room 1 by Richard Fortey

“I have just read Dry Store Room 1 - about a life in science at the Natural History Museum. It is not a thriller but it gives a real impression of what a research career is like and how you put together what you need to advance an area of knowledge (in his case, trilobites - but the message is the same for all of us).  As a minor point, I think that the collective of researchers at the NHM is even odder than that in the medical school where I worked.”

“My reading this year has been quite backward-looking! In Sense About Science’s early days back in 2002 I read as much as I could about science and civic society to orientate myself. This year, as we underwent a review of our work and plans, I went back to two of the books that most influenced my thinking and found that they still provide inspiration and clarity. They were Voodoo Science by the physicist Robert Park, which made me realise how people end up defending dodgy science and which really helped to make sense of the MMR vaccine controversy that was raging back then.”

“And, something that used to be difficult to get hold of but has just been republished: The Common Sense of Science by Jacob Bronowski, which first put me onto the challenge of developing a public language of science - something that has become increasingly central to our work. It was Bronowski’s book that made me realise there was an alternative way to create critical social space to discuss science and evidence to the more cynical and relativistic approaches that have been prevalent.”

“And if, like me, you spend a noisy Christmas in a whirl of excited kids and visitors, then I recommend something fun that’s easy to pick up and put down and irritate everyone by reading bits out: Dear Customer Services by Terry Ravenscroft, the world’s most troublesome shopper’s correspondence, from taking up the absence of Fat Controllers in Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends spaghetti shapes to insisting on visiting Yorkshire Tea’s plantations in Harrogate.”

“I have a couple of books to recommend. My first is Cormac McCarthy’s The Road - a story of father and son’s journey across a ravaged post-apocalyptic America.  Strangely, given the themes and setting of the novel, this is a profoundly moving book.  McCarthy’s narrative is sparse, poetic, eminently readable and ultimately redemptive. The Road is quite possibly my favourite book of the year.”

“My second book is Trilobite by Richard Fortey. This is a book I read a number of years ago but still remember it fondly. Fortey discusses this enduringly iconic, yet somewhat misunderstood, group of extinct arthropods. Fortey is an avowed fan of the trilobite. His enthusiasm and knowledge makes for an informative and charming piece of popular science. A great read and highly recommended for any budding palaeontologists.”

“I’m really looking forward to Christmas this year and the film that properly gets me in the festive spirit is It’s a wonderful life by Frank Capra. James Stewart is one of my favourite actors and his depiction of a man on the brink of giving up on life and then being saved after seeing what the world would have been like without him is fantastic. It’s a great Christmas classic and if you haven’t seen it go out and buy it right now (and for all your friends)!”

“The book that I’m most hoping for in my stocking is The Tiger That Isn’t: Seeing Through A World Of Numbers - as interpreting statistics is such a minefield. The office copy is always disappearing and it’s time that I had one all to myself.”

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“I bought this book earlier this year for a friend that was working in Nigeria, where it’s set. She already had the book so I kept it to read myself. The storytelling is gripping and brilliant. I was left with a curiosity to find out more about Nigeria and Biafra, which I knew next to nothing about before. I found it’s one of these books you can’t put down and you wish your tube journey was just that bit longer to read one more chapter. The book is set at the time of the Nigerian Civil War, and though this is central to the plot of the book, for me it was the way she describes the characters and especially the main female character that I really loved.”

Defeating Autism: A Damaging Delusion by Mike Fitzpatrick

“I found this book really interesting. The case of MMR is a defining moment in the relationship between the public and science. I remember reading about it all at the time, but this book really helped me understand some of the claims that had been made and are being made, and it really exposes the lack of evidence behind all these ‘biomedical’ treatments. Realising how the relationship between parents and their autistic child varies depending on how they view autism was really quite eye-opening.”

“If you find, like I did when reading Defeating Autism, that you are getting slightly wound up by some of the claims made about autism, why not de-stress by squishing this little neutrino? He wears a mask as he is really quite undetectable! You can also get dark matter (which is stuffed with gravel as it is very massive) or little gluons from this website called Particle Zoo. I think they’re really cute, but maybe that’s just the physicist in me!”

Resistance by Owen Sheers

“This book is set in Wales in a fictional future where Germany invades England and Churchill and the cabinet have fled to Canada. It tells the story of a group of farmers wives who wake up to find their husbands have disappeared and the Germans have invaded. The book is partly about the true story of how farmers were trained to go to ground and become resistance fighters, but it also focuses on the relationship between the women and the soldiers. As you read it you are drawn to all the characters and their stories and it is very hard to put down.”

Healing, Hype or Harm?: A Critical Analysis of Complementary or Alternative Medicine edited by Edzard Ernst

“Some slightly heavier reading is Edzard Ernst’s collection of essays Healing, Hype, or Harm?: A Critical Analysis of Complementary or Alternative Medicine. This is a great book to dip in and out of and perfect if you have regular journeys to make.”

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

“If your family starts driving you round the bend this Christmas… this may help you see the funny side! I loved this book. It made me laugh out loud. Its combination of tragedy and comedy gives a touching portrait of a dysfunctional American family.”

Oxygen: The Molecule That Made the World by Nick Lane

“Though it was released in 2002 I loved this book when I read it in 2005 and though theories are evolving at an amazing pace, I think it’s still worth to read. So many different scientific disciplines all combined to make a romance out of the history of oxygen, it’s discovery, it’s role on scientific knowledge development, it’s importance on the evolution and the double character food/poison to our lives and health. Great!”

Nine Crazy Ideas in Science: A Few Might Even Be True by Robert Ehrlich

“Also found this one in 2005 at the Liverpool Library and it’s also a must. The subjects discussed range from “More Guns Means Less Crime” to “Time Travel Is Possible” passing by “AIDS Is Not Caused by HIV”. Besides, Ehrlich’s cuckoos rating idea is quite amusing.

The portable atheist, essential reading for the non-believer edited by Christopher Hitchens

“This book is essentially a tour of Atheist and Agnostic thought over the last 2000 years, although I’m not really sure how “portable” the book is (stretching to around 500 pages). It’s a fantastic selection of work from philosophers, scientists and authors with helpful introductions and explanations from Christopher Hitchins, author of God is not great. Since the book is arranged in chronological order it’s important to get too disheartened while reading the first couple of examples but perseverance will be rewarded with entertaining and informative reading from the likes of Marx, Orwell, Dawkins and Rushdie. A thought provoking read for anyone regardless of their beliefs.”

Decoding the Heavens by Jo Marchant

“Imagine archaeologists finding a fossilised mobile phone while excavating a Neanderthal’s cave and you are not far off grasping the significance of the Antikythera mechanism. The rusty clockwork device was found amongst a haul of stolen booty on an ancient Greek ship that sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean 2000 years ago. “Decoding the Heavens” by Jo Marchant is the story of how a century of work by scientists and engineers has revealed the true significance of this enigmatic clump of interlinked cogs. It represents a forgotten technology that was 1800 years ahead of its time and is arguably the world’s oldest known computer. Marchant brilliantly explores the cast of characters who have become captivated by the Antikythera mechanism. The book bristles with scientific obsession, intense rivalry and low skullduggery and will furnish you with a wealth of tell-your-friends-at-dinner-parties type facts. I ended up falling under the Antikythera mechanism’s spell too.”

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre

“There are very few books that both make me laugh out loud and also teach me something, but Ben Goldacre’s book does both in spades so loads of my mates are getting it for Christmas.  Apparently booksellers report that people are generally buying in bulk and there seems to be an element of us all hoping that Bad Science might improve the scientific literacy of our mates… a bit like Jamie Oliver’s ‘Pass it On’ campaign in Rotherham but less pompous and more effective!”

Panic Nation: Unpicking the Myths We’re Told About Food and Health by Stanley Feldman and Vincent Marks

“Panic Nation is a fascinating dissection of the REAL science behind the headlines (junk food, obesity, MMR, Genetically Modified Crops, cholesterol etc) and a damning expose of the tricks used by the media and campaigners to manipulate statistics and unscientifically sourced data to promote their sales and/or their point of view. A thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying read!”