Reviews

Auroras by Dan Bortolotti

Striking images illuminate this exploration of one of nature’s greatest light shows. Firefly, 2011, 143 p., $29.95

You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You’re Deluding Yourself by David McRaney

Forty-six of the brain’s everyday fallacies and cognitive biases are highlighted in an expansion of the author’s blog about the neuro­science of self-delusion. Gotham Books, 2011, 300 p., $22.50

Mushroom by Nicholas P. Money

Mushroom lore and history mingle with science and medicine in a biologist’s exploration of the fungal kingdom. Oxford, 2011, 201 p., $24.95

Part Wild: One Woman’s Journey with a Creature Caught Between the Worlds of Wolves and Dogs by Ceiridwen Terrill

The cultural history and genetic story of dog domestication is told through the adventures of a wolf-husky hybrid adopted by a science writer. Simon & Schuster, 2011, 274 p., $25

50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True by Guy P. Harrison

A journalist turns a skeptical eye on beliefs ranging from astrology to Atlantis, showing that scientific discovery can be just as fascinating as myth. Prometheus, 2011, 458 p., $18

BOOK REVIEW: Who’s in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain by Michael S. Gazzaniga

Review by Laura Sanders.

BOOK REVIEW: My Beautiful Genome: Exposing Our Genetic Future, One Quirk at a Time by Lone Frank

Review by Tina Hesman Saey.

The Physics Book: From the Big Bang to Quantum Resurrection, 250 Milestones in the History of Physics (Sterling Milestones) by Clifford A. Pickover

Ideas and subjects ranging from Maxwell’s demon to the rings of Saturn are highlighted in short encyclopedia-style entries with attractive illustrations. Sterling, 2011, 528 p., $29.95

Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why It Matters by Gordon M. Shepherd

A neuroscientist explores how the brain creates the sensation of flavor and discusses the effects of taste perception on healthy eating. Columbia Univ., 2011, 267 p., $24.95

Magical Mathematics: The Mathematical Ideas that Animate Great Magic Tricks by Persi Diaconis and Ron Graham

Learn the secrets behind card tricks, including step-by-step instructions for performing them, along with the mathematical ideas the tricks illustrate. Princeton Univ., 2011, 244 p., $29.95

Bird on Fire: Lessons from the World’s Least Sustainable City by Andrew Ross

The prospects for sustainability look bleak for the city of Phoenix in this environmental analysis of the desert oasis. Oxford Univ., 2011, 304 p., $27.95

Drive and Curiosity: What Fuels the Passion for Science by Istvan Hargittai

The stories of 15 leading scientists are examined for clues to what makes some scientists exceptional and what fuels discovery. Prometheus Books, 2011, 338 p., $26