Essays & Commentary Books - Page 5

The Triple Helix: Gene, Organism, and Environment

Richard Lewontin

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Editorial Review:

There is the Richard Lewontin nonbiologists know, the author of acerbic, thoughtful, witty, unhesitatingly leftist books such as Not in Our Genes and the essays from The New York Review of Books collected in It Ain't Necessarily So. This is the other Lewontin, the hardcore scientist, one of the most insightful evolutionary biologists going.

The Triple Helix is a manifesto for the life sciences: "The time has come when further progress in our understanding of nature requires that we reconsider the relationship between the outside and the inside, between organism and environment." Lewontin is not arguing for what he calls "obscurationist holism," but for a more complex interaction between gene, organism, and environment, in which they construct each other:

.... It is the biology, indeed the genes, of an organism that determines its effective environment, by establishing the way in which external physical signals become incorporated into its reactions.... Whatever the autonomous processes of the outer world may be, they cannot be perceived by the organism. Its life is determined by the shadows on the wall, passed through a transforming medium of its own creation.

Lewontin argues for a life science that faces up to reality, that tackles the problems of studying subtle processes in complex systems where three-dimensional shape is crucial. The journal Nature "cannot recommend [the book] too highly for the many commentators and headline writers who think that DNA is the blueprint for the organism"--or for their readers. --Mary Ellen Curtin

Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think

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With the publication of the international bestseller The Selfish Gene some thirty years ago, Richard Dawkins powerfully captured a newly emerging way of understanding evolution--a gene's eye view. Dawkins went on to publish five more bestselling books, including The Blind Watchmaker and Unweaving the Rainbow. He is one of the most high profile public intellectuals today and any attempt to understand the scientific view of the world must grapple with his ideas.
Now, in this exciting collection of original essays, some of the world's leading thinkers offer their take on how Dawkins has changed the way we think. Readers will find stimulating pieces by Daniel Dennett, the renowned philosopher of mind and author of Darwin's Dangerous Idea; Steven Pinker, the brilliant Harvard linguist who wrote The Language Instinct and The Blank Slate; Matt Ridley, author of the bestselling Genome; and James Watson, who with Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA, arguably the greatest scientific discovery of the last century. Dawkins' widely admired literary style forms the subject of several pieces, including one from novelist Philip Pullman (author of the bestselling His Dark Materials trilogy). As one of the world's best known rationalists, Dawkins' stance on religion is another theme in this collection, explored by Simon Blackburn, Michael Ruse, Michael Shermer, and the Bishop of Oxford. Numbering twenty in all, these articles are not simply rosy tributes, but explore how Dawkins' ideas have shaped thinking and public debate, and include elements of criticism as well as thoughtful praise.
Richard Dawkins' work has had the rare distinction of generating as much excitement outside the scientific community as within it. This stimulating volume is a superb summation of the depth and range of his influence.

Intelligent Thought: Science versus the Intelligent Design Movement

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Terse, Well-Written Rebukes of Intelligent Design from Eminent Scientists and Philosophers 5 out of 5 stars.
26 of 30 people found this review helpful.

In "Intelligent Thought: Science Versus The Intelligent Design Movement" editor and literary agent John Brockman has assembled sixteen insightful, quite well-written, essays from leading scientists and philosophers regarding the so-called "Evolution vs. Intelligent Design creationism" debate. While most essays offer ample refutations of Intelligent Design, others explore other, related issues, ranging from the evolution of human consciousness and whether there is indeed evidence supporting the very idea of a "designed" universe. Noted evolutionary geneticist Jerry Coyne distinguishes between "soft" scientific Intelligent Design, and its harder "religious" version, in the opening essay, "Intelligent Design: The Faith That Dare Not Speak Its Name". Eminent philosopher David Dennett explains why Intelligent Design is a hoax in "The Hoax of Intelligent Design and How It Was Perpetrated", discussing at length, favorite Intelligent Design rhetorical techniques like "insisting" that a scientific controversy exists when one doesn't, simply by criticizing or misinterpreting valid published scientific research (One that is clearly a favorite pastime of Discovery Institute mendacious intellectual pornographer William Dembski.). Paleontologists Tim D. White and Neil H. Shubin weigh in with succinct essays on, respectively, the hominoid fossil record ("Human Evolution: The Evidence") and the evolutionary transition from fish to tetrapods ("The `Great" Transition"). Historian of science Frank J. Sulloway explains "Why Darwin Rejected Intelligent Design". Distinguished physicist Lisa Randall compares and contrasts evolutionary theory with Intelligent Design ("Designing Words"), discussing both the extensive evidence for evolution and the history of evolutionary thought, while also noting why Intelligent Design fails scientifically. These sixteen essays are an excellent overview of the mendacious intellectual pornography known as Intelligent Design; for this very reason alone, they deserve to be read by as wide a readership as possible.

Editorial Review:

Evolutionary science lies at the heart of a modern understanding of the natural world. Darwin’s theory has withstood 150 years of scientific scrutiny, and today it not only explains the origin and design of living things, but highlights the importance of a scientific understanding in our culture and in our lives.

Recently the movement known as “Intelligent Design” has attracted the attention of journalists, educators, and legislators. The scientific community is puzzled and saddened by this trend–not only because it distorts modern biology, but also because it diverts people from the truly fascinating ideas emerging from the real science of evolution. Here, join fifteen of our preeminent thinkers whose clear, accessible, and passionate essays reveal the fact and power of Darwin’s theory, and the beauty of the scientific quest to understand our world.

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004 (The Best American Series)

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Excellent writing and varied subjects make this a stand-out 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

There are a lot of fine essays in this wide ranging collection, but my favorite is a piece from "Scientific American" by neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, "Bugs in the Brain." In cogent, lively, humorous prose this short piece opens the reader's eyes to the marvelous and horrible ability of some microscopic parasites to infiltrate the host's brain and change its behavior.

The rabies virus, for instance. "There are lots of ways rabies could have evolved to move between hosts." Sneezing, for one. Instead it invades the brain, zeroes in on aggression, and stomps the pedal to the floor. Lots of scientists study aggression; there are whole conferences on various aspects of the phenomenon. But no one studies rabies to see how the trick works.

Even more beauteous is the diabolical specificity of the toxoplasma protozoan. The bug gets eaten by a rat where it creates cysts until the rat is eaten by a feline. The cat is the only animal taxoplasma can reproduce in; so it behooves the bug to make sure the right predator eats the rat. How does it do this? Simple. It deprives the rat of its congenital, hard-wired, instinctive fear of cats. Nothing else in the rat's behavior is affected.

As Sapolsky puts it: "This is akin to someone getting infected with a brain parasite that has no effect whatsoever on the person's thoughts, emotions, SAT scores, or television preferences but, to complete its life cycle, generates an irresistible urge to go to the zoo, scale a fence and try to French-kiss the pissiest-looking polar bear."

Expanding infinitely outward, Max Tegmark's "Parallel Universes" (also "Scientific American) argues quite reasonably for infinite versions of you on infinite earths. "If anything the Level I multiverse sounds trivially obvious. How could space not be infinite?" From Level I this elegant theory moves through physics, with some progressive changes in initial conditions, constants and particles (Level II), quantum mechanics (Level III) and different physical laws (Level IV). It's the kind of article that makes you aware of how limited our mental constructs and perceptions are.

Atul Gawande's profile of maverick doctor Francis Daniels Moore, ("Desperate Measures," "The New Yorker") inspired by the horror of Boston's Cocoanut Grove fire and an innovative treatment at his hospital, Mass General, to embark on a career of aggressive pioneering, is a dynamic, riveting view of a dedicated, driven, sometimes ruthless man.

Austin Bunn's "The Bittersweet Science," ("The New York Times Magazine") is an illuminating portrait of diabetes and early treatment, told through one patient's life story, and Ronald Bailey's "The Battle for Your Brain" ("The New York Times") discusses the pros and cons of neuropharmaceuticals. Other medical articles profile DNA's James Watson and discuss obesity in sympathetic terms of the biological imperative.

Genes crop up in Horace Freeland Judson's "The Stuff of Genes," ("Smithsonian), a celebration of its 50th anniversary and, more engagingly, in two "New York Times" articles from Nicholas Wade, "In Click Languages, an Echo of the Tongues of the Ancients," and "A Prolific Genghis Khan, It Seems, Helped People the World."

There are whimsical psychological musings, like Peggy Orenstein's "Where Have All the Lisas Gone," ("The New York Times Magazine") on changing fads in baby names, Virginia Postrell's "The Design of Your Life," on the personalization of design and Jonathan Rauch's "Caring for Your Introvert," ("Atlantic Monthly"), which is basically a justification for peace and quiet.

"We're All Gonna Die!" ("Wired") by Gregg Easterbrook reviews the latest doomsday theories and

Mike O'Connor's "Bird Watcher's General Store" (The Cape Codder") is a hilarious and informative selection of bird watcher columns, and other animal pieces include "Through the Eye of an Octopus" ("Discover"), a poignant portrait of a creature who doesn't live long enough to be as smart as it is, and anthropologist Meredith F. Small's contemplative "Captivated" ("Natural History") on visiting monkeys at the zoo.

Editor Steven Pinker's bias for clear, informative and entertaining writing serves us well. There's a bit of something for everyone in this balanced and eclectic collection and every piece is well written, many are witty, and a few are as funny as they are informative.

Editorial Review:

Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind. The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004, edited by Steven Pinker, is another "provocative and thoroughly enjoyable [collection] from start to finish" (Publishers Weekly). Here is the best and newest on science and nature: the psychology of suicide terrorism, desperate measures in surgery, the weird world of octopuses, Sex Week at Yale, the linguistics of click languages, the worst news about cloning, and much more.

The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2000

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Editor David Quammen's approach with The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2000 is broad. So broad that he juxtaposes Mormon archaeology with wild African dogs, computer science with the origins of HIV. As a whole, the collection should be awkward, but it's not. Quammen's insistence that nature is bigger than we think, that science rests within culture, which rests within nature, allows each of these pieces to fit. The focus is on good writing, writing that might change your mind, or make you shout "YES!" or even make you angry. In narrowing the field, Quammen considered straight science reporting, book reviews and excerpts, and articles published in 1999.

One of the best pieces in the book is Natalie Angier's essay "Men, Women, Sex, and Darwin"--which became Woman: An Intimate Geography--a lucid and sharp challenge to the prevailing notions of evolutionary psychologists about what women want. Wendell Berry's "Back to the Land" praises the notion of an agrarian mindset, in contrast to the prevailing industrialism, and urges no less than a consumer revolt. Atul Gawande addresses the myth of the cancer cluster, Anne Fadiman recalls her reaction to a young boy's drowning, and Edward Hoagland imagines life in the third millennium in his elegant piece, "That Sense of Falling:"

Science is not sluggardly yet seems devoid of grief, because this would be a life without Mozart or other succulent choices at our fingertips, but oddly truncated, with so little sky and green and random sound or scent blowing in. We may need to grow not only hydroponic vitamins, but also oxygen, if the forests and oceanic vegetation are mauled beyond resuscitation: breathing units, to complement what may be denoted as affection units once the components of a child's emotional needs have been mapped precisely.

Millennialism drives several of the works, as a testament to our 1999 obsession with Y2K. Brief chronicles of the year's scientific revolutions are here, like Paul Ewald's work on microbiological evolution, as are more personal accounts, like Peter Matthiessen's pure naturalist prose and Oliver Sacks's "Brilliant Light," telling of his childhood obsession with chemistry. Browsers will find wonderful excerpts from the two major schools of science and nature writing that Quammen calls "Stay Home and Observe with a Gentle Heart" and "Go Forth and Observe with a Probing Mind." This collection is a very worthy addition to Houghton Mifflin's Best American series, and a science reader's dream come true. --Therese Littleton

Mind, Life and Universe: Conversations with Great Scientists of Our Time (Sciencewriters)

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Editorial Review:

Nearly forty of the world's most esteemed scientists discuss the big questions that drive their illustrious careers. Co-editor Eduardo Punset—one of Spain's most loved personages for his popularization of the sciences—interviews an impressive collection of characters drawing out the seldom seen personalities of the world's most important men and woman of science. In Mind, Life and Universe they describe in their own words the most important and fascinating aspects of their research. Frank and often irreverent, these interviews will keep even the most casual reader of science books rapt for hours.

Can brain science explain feelings of happiness and despair? Is it true that chimpanzees are just like us when it comes to sexual innuendo? Is there any hard evidence that life exists anywhere other than on the Earth? Through Punset's skillful questioning, readers will meet one scientist who is passionate about the genetic control of everything and another who spends her every waking hour making sure African ecosystems stay intact. The men and women assembled here by Lynn Margulis and Eduardo Punset will provide a source of endless interest.

In captivating conversations with such science luminaries as Jane Goodall, James E. Lovelock, Oliver Sachs, and E. O. Wilson, Punset reveals a hidden world of intellectual interests, verve, and humor. Science enthusiasts and general readers alike will devour Mind, Life and Universe, breathless and enchanted by its truths.

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003 (The Best American Series)

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundred of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to the twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind.
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003, edited by Richard Dawkins, is another "eloquent, accessible, and even illuminating" collection (Publishers Weekly). Here are the best and brightest writers on science and nature, writing on such wide-ranging subjects as astronomy's new stars, archaeology, the Bible, "terminal" ice, and memory faults.

Natalie Angier
Timothy Ferris
Ian Frazier
Elizabeth F. Loftus
Steven Pinker
Oliver Sacks
Steven Weinberg
Edward O. Wilson

I Wish I'd Made You Angry Earlier: Essays on Science, Scientists, and Humanity (Science & Society)

Max F. Perutz

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Editorial Review:

Max Perutz is an extraordinary scientist. After training in chemistry at the University of Vienna during the 1930s, he went to Cambridge and became fascinated by biochemistry just as that discipline was becoming ripe for conquest by scientific heroes. He knew and worked with many of them: William Bragg, J.D. Bernal, Crick and Watson--and became one himself, through his discovery of the structure of hemoglobin, which led to his Nobel Prize in 1962.

Such are the credentials Perutz brings to this wonderful collection of essays, credentials that he uses always to illuminate, never to dominate. In prose that rolls by like countryside seen from the window of a train, Perutz takes the reader traveling through his own life and that of many other leading scientists, giving fresh insights into the workings of first-rate minds.

We meet such characters as Leo Szilard, the inventor of the atomic bomb, who devoted his life to preventing its use, and the German chemist Fritz Haber, the very mirror image of Szilard, who became a real-life Faust. We also learn much about Perutz's own approach to science--including his involvement in a project to harness icebergs in the fight against the Nazis.

With its combination of subject choice and light, often humorous, style, this is one of the best collections of scientific essays to emerge for years. --Robert Matthews, Amazon.co.uk

The Best of Technology Writing 2007 (Best of Technology Writing)

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great collections of tech essays. 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Superb collection of tech essays with some emphasis on the information technology/internet side of things. Nicely touches on the human element (social networking) and the changes that connected computers have brought to this aspect of human behavior. Very funny in parts.

A Great Collection Of Essays From The Blogosphere 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is a great collection of essays from the blogosphere covering tech topics and some integrating tech into very funny stories.

This is written pretty much as the who's who amongst bloggers for 2006-2007.

Great bedtime reading.

Editorial Review:

The year's best writing on tech: a collection as imaginative and compelling as its dynamic subject. Together these essays capture the versatility and verve of technology writing today. Solicited through an open online nominating process, "The Best of Technology 2007" explores a wide range of intriguing topics - from "crowdsourcing" to the online habits of urban moms to the digital future of movie production. It will appeal to anyone who enjoys stellar writing.

Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, 3rd Edition (Bradford Books)

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Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2007.

These essays by leading scientists and philosophers address conceptual issues that arise in the theory and practice of evolutionary biology. The third edition of this widely used anthology has been substantially revised and updated. Four new sections have been added: on women in the evolutionary process, evolutionary psychology, laws in evolutionary theory, and race as social construction or biological reality. Other sections treat fitness, units of selection, adaptationism, reductionism, essentialism, species, phylogenetic inference, cultural evolution, and evolutionary ethics.

Each of the twelve sections contains two or three essays that develop different views of the subject at hand. For example, the section on evolutionary psychology offers one essay by two founders of the field and another that questions its main tenets. One sign that a discipline is growing is that there are open questions, with multiple answers still in competition; the essays in this volume demonstrate that evolutionary biology and the philosophy of evolutionary biology are living, growing disciplines.

Contributors:
Robin O. Andreasen, Kwame Anthony Appiah, David A. Baum, John H. Beatty, David J. Buller, Leda Cosmides, James Donoghue, Steven J. Farris, Joseph Felsenstein, Susan K. Finsen, Joseph Fracchia, Stephen Jay Gould, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, David L. Hull, Philip Kitcher, R. C. Lewontin, Elisabeth Lloyd, Ernst Mayr, Michael Ruse, John Maynard Smith, Elliott Sober, John Tooby, C. Kenneth Waters, George C. Williams, David Sloan Wilson, E. O. Wilson