Reviews
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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
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BOOK REVIEW: Who’s in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain by Michael S. Gazzaniga
Review by Laura Sanders.
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BOOK REVIEW: My Beautiful Genome: Exposing Our Genetic Future, One Quirk at a Time by Lone Frank
Review by Tina Hesman Saey.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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BOOK REVIEW: How To Think Like A Neandertal by Thomas Wynn and Frederick Coolidge
Review by Bruce Bower.
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An Engineer’s Alphabet by Henry Petroski
A selection of quotations, anecdotes and other engineering trivia is arranged into a mini-encyclopedia of the profession. Cambridge Univ., 2011, 360 p., $21.99
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Galileo’s Muse by Mark A. Peterson
A physicist and mathematician argues that Renaissance art spurred the scientific revolution that laid the foundations of modern science. Harvard Univ., 2011, 336 p., $28.95
