Essays & Commentary Books - Page 3

How Shall I Live My Life?: On Liberating the Earth from Civilization

Derrick Jensen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Want to do more than voting and recycling? 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I was not surprised to see that Derrick Jensen would be a great interviewer, He also picked a great bunch of people to interview. Thier personal beliefs and the way the express them with word and actions really made me look at myself and wonder what else I can do.

Impacting Answers I've always Wanted to Know... 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Derrick Jensen selected an amazing range of diverse people, in a way that seems to tie them all together, like different colors of threads in a blanket.
Many of different people's answers finally answered some of my 30 years lingering questions collecting dust. Many of my personal observation of the world were finally aligned with other's similar observations and it's now in print. For example; Jan Lundberg commented how it's too bad that economics and the real world so rarely intersect. After meeting so many people trying to convince me that more business, more money, more junk is the way to go, it's truly validating to have all of DJ's interviewees to confirm what I've suspected all along.
Another great example, regarding to problematic relationships in the modern world; David Abram: Another human cannot possibly provide all of the outrageously diverse and vital nourishment with dragonflies and swallowtails and stones and lichen and wolves. It's just not possible. We used to carry on personal relationships with the sun and the moon and the stars!
Derrick's interview was refreshing in that he bravely counterattacked some people reminding them alternative views that even that they did not think of, thus challenging them to stretch their own minds a bit.

At last, interviewing a Native American Indian lawyer, named Vine Deloria blew me away with stories of multiple tribes; once again, confirming a lot of what I knew deep down but had no direct proof but my own intuition. I find this reader friendly and great for holiday or birthday gifts for those who care about our world.
Thanks, Derrick, for a splendid job!

Editorial Review:

Derrick Jensen discusses the destructive dominant culture with ten people who have devoted their lives to undermining it in this collection of interviews.


Whether it is Carolyn Raffensperger and her radical approach to public health, or Thomas Berry on perceiving the sacred; be it Kathleen Dean Moore reminding us that our bodies are made of mountains, rivers, and sunlight; or Vine Deloria asserting that our dreams tell us more about the world than science ever can, the activists and philosophers interviewed in How Shall I Live My Life? each bravely present a few of the endless forms that resistance can and must take.

Year Million: Science at the Far Edge of Knowledge

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Leading and up-and-coming scientists and science writers cast their minds one million years into the future to imagine the fate of the human and/or extraterrestrial galaxy.

This volume of fifteen new, specially commissioned essays by notable journalists and scholars such as Rudy Rucker, Jim Holt, and Gregory Benford presents a series of speculations on the most radical but well-grounded ideas they can conceive, projecting the universe as it might be in the year 1,000,000 C.E. Their collective effort—first attempted by H. G. Wells in his 1893 essay "The Man of the Year Million"—is an exploration into a barely conceivable distant future, where the authors confront far-flung possibilities, at times bordering on philosophy of science. How would the galaxy look if it were redesigned for optimal energy use and maximized intelligence? What is a universe bereft of stars?

Contributors include Amara D. Angelica, Catherine Asaro, Gregory Benford, Robert Bradbury, Sean M. Carroll, Anne Corwin, Dougal Dixon, Robin Hanson, Steven B. Harris, Jim Holt, Lisa Kaltenegger, Wil McCarthy, Rudy Rucker, Pamela Sargent, and George Zebrowski.

A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition

Bill Bryson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 44 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This new edition of the acclaimed bestseller is lavishly illustrated to convey, in pictures as in words, Bill Bryson’s exciting, informative journey into the world of science.

In A Short History of Nearly Everything, beloved author Bill Bryson confronts his greatest challenge yet: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as his territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. The result is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it.

Now, in this handsome new edition, Bill Bryson’s words are supplemented by full-color artwork that explains in visual terms the concepts and wonder of science, at the same time giving face to the major players in the world of scientific study. Eloquently and entertainingly described, as well as richly illustrated, science has never been more involving or entertaining.

The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History

Stephen Jay Gould

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Two Panda's Thumbs up!! 5 out of 5 stars.
11 of 14 people found this review helpful.

The "argument from design" traces back at least to the medieval theology as a favorite proof for the existence of God. The argument runs that the exquisite design and interrelation of earthly organisms can be explained only by the existence of an Intelligent Designer.

I continue to believe in God, but Stephen Jay Gould's essays in "The Panda's Thumb" is a rather large nail in the coffin of this argument.

In essay after essay, Gould describes nature's mistakes and improvisations, seeming proof against the work of an intelligent designer. For instance, the "thumb" of pandas -- a specialized appendage to strip leaves from bamboo shoots -- is not a true thumb, but a weirdly-designed extension of a wrist bone. Gould demonstrates many other animal adaptations, from orchids to hermit crabs, that use unlikely body parts to perform survival tasks required by later generations of organisms.

Gould's explanation of neoteny - the tendency of organisms to retain anatomical features from childhood - is one of his most fascinating chapters. With a simple mutation, the basis for much uniquely human behavior and anatomy comes in to focus. We humans don't develop elongated snouts like other mammals; we retain our capacity to play throughout our lives rather than abandoning it at puberty; our brains continue to grow after birth; we are helpless and dependent on our parents far longer than other mammals. And in a typically Gouldian play of ideas, he charts the changing facial features of Mickey Mouse over the years to show him being drawn with more infant -like (and therefore human-like) features - rounder head, bigger eyes, shorter snout.

Though Gould is not a theist, "Panda's Thumb" is not an argument against God, but *for* the appropriate use of science to describe the natural world. We theists are well-served by books like this, which give us the ammunition needed to battle cultural forces that seek to blind us to the truth that lies right in front of us in the natural world and of which we are a part.

Editorial Review:

With sales of well over one million copies in North America alone, the commercial success of Gould's books now matches their critical acclaim. Reissued in a larger format, with a handsome new cover, The Panda's Thumb will introduce a new generation of readers to this unique writer, who has taken the art of the scientific essay to new heights. Illustrations.

The Best American Science Writing 2006 (Best American Science Writing)

Atul Gawande

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good essays, on average 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The overall result is positive, some essays not that good, some nice, and a few nicer. By the end, it is worth to go through them and discover one by one.

Yay for science! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Delivers what it promises; engaging informative scientific papers from the year. Good read! These books get better every year

really good 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is the first edition of this series that I have read. It's pretty good, although, this is more science reporting than science writing. There is a difference, but the articles were well researched and interesting. And they cover a wide variety of topics. Not as good as the Best American Science and Nature Writing, but a great layman's source for the world of science.

science book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great series. Don't miss any of it. Back order old issues... it's worth it.

Editorial Review:

Together these twenty-one articles on a wide range of today's most leading topics in science, from Dennis Overbye, Jonathan Weiner, and Richard Preston, among others, represent the full spectrum of scientific inquiry, proving once again that "good science writing is evidently plentiful" (American Scientist).

Sex, Drugs, Einstein & Elves: Sushi, Psychedelics, Parallel Universes and the Quest for Transcendence

Clifford A. Pickover

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 55 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Einstein, Elves & Clifford A.Pickover 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The book in question is basically a mingle-mangle of different ideas floating through Mr.Pickovers mind while he's walking around his neighbourhood. From linguistic theory, to seducing woman. From psychedelics to Jeffersons Bible. Jefferson tried to extract the teachings of jesus Christ by cutting out all religious , supernatural aspects, in case you didn't know.

In the same way, I'd love to see a Version of this book minus Mr.Pickovers constant self appraisal and self-advertising. He can't stop talking about how he is the most prolific writer, that his obscure SF Novels are awesome, that he prolific writer..oh did I mention? He's a prolific writer! Short: Mr.Pickover is full of himself.

Nevertheless, his collection of ideas is certainly entertaining and stimulating to the mind and I've enjoyed them. He's not quite the deep thinker, prophet and philosoph he paints himself. But his work was enjoyable despite his annoying antics.

Well..."you shouldn't care about it, as long as the book is good itself, right?" Wrong. It just annoys me. He paints his book as some sort of "reality carnival" but "ego carneval" would be more suitable.

The "talking" reaches it's climax as he confesses to never have taken DMT, yet he talks about the importance of establishing a center for DMT elve reasearch. But here's the real kicker: He says the reason for never taking the substance is because he is so "psychedelic himself" just like dali. To undermine his opinion, he lets his readers know, that his Artwork is featured at erowid alongside other psychedelic artists - go figure!

And just as you think it couldn't get any more ridiciolous he carrys on to talk about proust (he never stops to talk about him during the course of this book, he should be in the title!) and how Proust is so much better than a psychedelic trip (he's never taken, because he's psychedelic himself, remember!)....

Well, but still a nice collection of colorful ideas and I don't regret buying it. What I regret is, reading all his self praise, but that's hard to cut out. Jefferson had an easier job with his version of the bible - he used a razor.

Editorial Review:

From the acclaimed author of over 20 popular books, Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves serves up a smorgasbord of subjects designed to bend reality and stretch the reader's mind. Musing over everything from humanity’s place in the universe to movie closing credits, Clifford A. Pickover contemplates such topics as fugu sushi, zombies, French writer Marcel Proust (not to mention cartoon guides to Proust), parallel universes, hallucinogenic worms, religious states, uncommon psychiatric disorders, Albert Einstein, shamanist Terence McKenna, Burning Man, the business of book publishing (including famous rejected books), quantum theory, and the humming toadfish, whose incessant underwater droning at a perfect A-flat was a mystery for years. Complete with illustrations, Pickover's book entertains, informs, and invites his readers — old and new — to test their powers of lateral thinking and to see the world in a fresh way.

Life Is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition

Wendell Berry

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

One of America's most respected and celebrated writers provides a thought-provoking analysis of, and a concise rebuttal of, E. O. Wilson's Consilience

"[A] scathing assessment...Berry shows that Wilson's much-celebrated, controversial pleas in Consilience to unify all branches of knowledge is nothing more than a fatuous subordination of religion, art, and everything else that is good to science...Berry is one of the most perceptive critics of American society writing today."-Lauren F. Winner, Washington Post Book World

"I am tempted to say he understands [Consilience] better than Wilson himself...A new emancipation proclamation in which he speaks again and again about how to defy the tyranny of scientific materialism."-Colin C. Campbell, Christian Science Monitor

"Berry takes a wrecking ball to E. O. Wilson's Consilience, reducing its smug assumptions regarding the fusion of science, art, and religion to so much rubble."-Kirkus Reviews

In Life Is a Miracle, the devotion of science to the quantitative and reductionist world is measured against the mysterious, qualitative suggestions of religion and art. Berry sees life as the collision of these separate forces, but without all three in the mix we are left at sea in the world.

The Science of Dune: An Unauthorized Exploration into the Real Science behind Frank Herbert's Fictional Universe (Science of Pop Culture series)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Science in science fiction! 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Who knew? The book is a mostly informative/entertaining compendium of essays on the science really found in Dune. Did Herbert really mean to have science in the canon? Who cares! It's there to be had. The don't miss essays are the Stars of Dune (with mileage charts) and My Tleilaxu Eyes (the most creative essay in the book). Pick it up, give it a read and enjoy the science!

Editorial Review:

With Sandworms of Dune—the last title in the bestselling Dune science fiction series—due to be released in August 2007, sci-fi fans wanting to brush up on their Dune trivia and analyze the books from a fresh viewpoint will be able to do so with this definitive reference. Delving into the world of Dune, this guide offers fascinating scientific speculation on topics including physics, chemistry, ecology, evolution, psychology, technology, and genetics. It also scrutinizes Frank Herbert’s science fiction world by asking questions such as Is the ecology of Dune realistic? Is it theoretically possible to get information from the future? Could humans really evolve as Herbert suggests? and Which of Herbert’s inventions have already come to life? This companion to the Dune series is a must-have for any fan who wants to revisit this science fiction world and explore it even further.

Darwin (Norton Critical Edition)

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"The best Darwin anthology on the market" (Stephen Jay Gould, Harvard) has just become better, in this newly revised version of the now classic Norton Critical Edition, first published in 1970. The impact of Charles Darwin's work on Western civilization has been broad and deep. As much as anyone in the modern era, he changed human thought, and his influence is still felt in virtually all aspects of our lives. This new edition, larger and more varied than the previous ones, includes more of Darwin's own work and also presents the most recent research and scholarship on all aspects of Darwin's legacy. The biological sciences, as well as social thought, philosophy, ethics, religion, and literature, have all been shaped and reshaped by evolutionary concepts. Excerpts from the most important books and articles of recent years confirm this Darwinian heritage. New work by Richard Dawkins, Edward O. Wilson, Kevin Padian, Eugene C. Scott, Steven Pinker, Daniel Dennett, Michael Ruse, Frans de Waal, Noretta Koertge, George C. Williams, George Levine, Stephen Jay Gould, Gillian Beer, Ernst Mayr, and many others illuminates this exciting intellectual history. A wide-ranging new introduction by the editor provides context and coherence to this rich body of engaging material, much of which will be shaping human thought well into the new century. This edition will be useful to scientists and historians alike: "The Norton Darwin explains Darwinian evolution and illustrates the social and intellectual conflicts of the past two centuries better than any other book that I am aware of." (Charles Taylor, Professor of Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, University of California, Los Angeles) And it will be of great value to the humanities and social sciences as well: "The edition provides the sharpest and most exciting access to Darwin we have ever had. It shows all of us interested in the heart of our intellectual heritage how that heritage is sustained, manipulated, and honored." (James R. Kincaid, Aerol Arnold Professor of English, University of Southern California) A Selected Bibliography and an Index are included.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehenive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.

The Genie in the Bottle: 64 All New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life

Joe Schwarcz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Think of the word "chemistry." What comes to mind? "Difficult?" "Boring?" "Pollution?" The adjectives "Interesting," "Exciting," "Amazing" almost never roll of the tongue. Until, that is, one picks up The Genie in the Bottle. In 67 delightful essays, popular science writer Joe Schwarcz reminds us that with every breath and feeling we are experiencing chemistry. A sequel to Schwarcz’s best-selling Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs, this collection of essays blends quirky anecdotes about everyday chemistry with engaging tales from the history of science. Inside, readers will . . .

Get a different twist on licorice and travel to the dark side of the sun. Control stinky feet and bend spoons and minds. Learn about the latest on chocolate research, flax, ginkgo biloba, magnesium, and blueberries. Read about the ups of helium and the downs of drain cleaners. Find out why bug juice is used to color ice cream, how spies used secret inks and how acetone changed the course of history. "Dr. Joe" also solves the mystery of the exploding shrimp and, finally, he lets us in on the secret of the genie in the bottle.

Infused with the author’s humor, show-biz savvy, and magic, The Genie in the Bottle celebrates some of the least visited corners of the science universe.