Volume 96 | Number 1 | January-February 2008
Roger L. Geiger
A review of Science for Sale: The Perils, Rewards, and Delusions of Campus Capitalism, by Daniel S. Greenberg. This revealing study of the effects of industry on university-based research contains both surprises and suggestions for improving the system
Jeremi Suri
A review of Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race, by Richard Rhodes. A vivid description of the Chernobyl disaster is the best thing in the book, says Suri, who finds fault with the political and strategic analysis Rhodes offers
Sylvia N. Tesh
A review of Barry Commoner and the Science of Survival: The Remaking of American Environmentalism, by Michael Egan. Egan recounts the transformation of a Ph.D. chemist into an environmental activist
Michael Corballis
A review of The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language, by Christine Kenneally. This engaging survey of current ideas about the evolution of language is lucid and readable, says Corballis
Jill North
A review of Concepts of Simultaneity: From Antiquity to Einstein and Beyond by Max Jammer. Is the simultaneity of events a real feature of the world, or does it depend on choice of reference frame? With the advent of general relativity and quantum mechanics, the subject gets murky, says North
Robert L. Dorit
A review of Building Genetic Medicine: Breast Cancer, Technology, and the Comparative Politics of Health Care, by Shobita Parthasarathy. The incorporation of genetic testing for breast cancer into medical practice in the United Kingdom and the United States has been far from straightforward; here it serves as a unique case study in the social construction of illness and cure
George Lakoff
A review of Language, Consciousness, Culture: Essays on Mental Structure, by Ray Jackendoff. Lakoff is hopeful that Jackendoff will help the transition from a brain-ignoring symbol-manipulation paradigm to a brain-based neural theory of thought and language
Gilbert Harman
A review of Mind as Machine: A History of Cognitive Science, by Margaret A. Boden. This lively full-scale history, the first of its kind, describes the ways cognitive scientists have tried to find computational or informational answers to frequently asked questions about the mind
James P. Kossin
A review of Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming, by Chris Mooney. With refreshing objectivity and humanity, Mooney guides readers through the major areas of disagreement over the possible effects of global warming on hurricanes
Ethan Remmel
A review of Young Minds in Social Worlds: Experience, Meaning, and Memory, by Katherine Nelson. In this overview of cognitive and language development in the first five years of life, Nelson argues that children gradually construct concepts through linguistic interaction