Michael D. Gordin
A review of Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle for the Soul of Science, by David Lindley, and Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics, by Gino Segrè. The story of how indeterminism became a central tenet of modern physics
David Colander
A review of The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters, by Diane Coyle. Coyle takes readers around the world of economics in 280 pages, but she fails to convince Colander that the field today has soul
Robert L. Rabin
A review of The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America, by Allan M. Brandt. The dramatic story of how the cigarette industry grew to prominence—and was eventually brought to a reckoning by scientific evidence that its products are harmful
Daniel Kennefick
A review of Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson. This comprehensive and readable biography is the first to include material from a recently unsealed cache of personal letters
Robert Levine
A review of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, by Philip Zimbardo. Zimbardo applies the lessons of his 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment to contemporary evils ranging from the fraudulence at Enron to the sadism at Abu Ghraib prison, showing how good people can succumb to situational forces that elicit evil actions
Anna Lena Phillips
A brief review of Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis, by Kim Todd. An imaginative account of Merian's travels, life and work
Carlos Castillo-Chavez, Carlos Castillo-Garsow
A review of Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life, by Martin A. Nowak. This hands-on account of the contributions of mathematics and simulation to the understanding of evolution covers topics ranging from quasispecies theory, fitness landscapes and game dynamics to disease progression, the virulence of infectious agents, and linguistic fitness
David W. Farmer
A review of Why Beauty is Truth: A History of Symmetry, by Ian Stewart. Stewart provides an entertaining historical account of mathematical symmetry from ancient Babylon to modern string theory, and of the people who did the math along the way
David Rosner
A review of The Great Lead Water Pipe Disaster, by Werner Troesken. The widespread introduction of lead-pipe water systems in the 19th century was one of the greatest environmental disasters of the past 200 years, suggests Troesken, who uses statistical analysis to show that lead poisoning from the water pipes likely killed or harmed large numbers of people
Dan Rockmore
A review of Mathematics and Common Sense: A Case of Creative Tension, by Philip J. Davis. The 33 essays in this book offer a bird’s-eye view of professional mathematics and reveal the subject to be not just useful but a source of mystery, beauty and pleasure
Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
A review of The Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began, by Stuart Clark. Amateur astronomer Richard Carrington—who in 1859 witnessed the first solar flare on record—is placed by Clark at the fulcrum of a century-long debate over the effects of sunspots
James Propp
A review of The Art of Mathematics: Coffee Time in Memphis, by Béla Bollobás. This collection of puzzles, which range from clever to fiendishly difficult, is not for the fainthearted, says Propp, but like potent espresso, the problems should have a stimulating effect on the mathematically prepared reader
Michael Corballis
A review of Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals about the Mind, by Margalit Fox, and The Gestural Origin of Language, by David F. Armstrong and Sherman E. Wilcox. Both of these books bear on the question of whether language evolved from manual gestures and then shifted to a vocal mode: Fox makes the case that the hands provide a more natural signaling system than the voice, and Armstrong and Wilcox propose that speech itself is a gestural system
Paul M. Barrett
A review of Glorified Dinosaurs: The Origin and Early Evolution of Birds, by Luis M. Chiappe. In this accessible, well-illustrated book, Chiappe first summarizes the evidence supporting the close relationship of birds and theropods and then guides readers through recent advances in understanding the sequence of evolutionary changes in early birds
Robert T. Pennock
A review of Darwin Loves You: Natural Selection and the Re-enchantment of the World, by George Levine, and Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think about Our Lives, by David Sloan Wilson. These two authors present evolution as a dynamic, relevant and even inspiring concept, applicable to our everyday lives and not exclusive of wonder or a sense of purpose
Marla V. Broadfoot, Anna Lena Phillips, Roger Harris
Short takes on three books: Hispaniola, Kitchen Literacy and Walking the Forest with Chico Mendes
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Ingrid D. Rowland
A review of The Science of Leonardo: Inside the Mind of the Great Genius of the Renaissance, by Fritjof Capra. In this poignant and compelling portrait, Capra shows that Leonardo used his drawings not just as a record of his observations but as a kind of investigative tool, breaking down individual motions with precision and then synthesizing them in images that are diagrams rather than snapshots