August 24, 2005

Reading assignment

Here's an interesting book list: the scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Research Center have recommended science books for their lay friends.

The Center's scientists narrowed down their favorites to books they would readily recommend to their typical non- scientist friends. The chosen books had to be in print and selected from the categories of biography/autobiography, emerging science and scientific history.

  • "Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment" By James H. Jones
  • "The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time" By Jonathan Weiner
  • "The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World" By Michael Pollan
  • "Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science" By Dr. Atul Gawande
  • "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" By Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan
  • "Gene Machines (Enjoy Your Cells, 4)" By Frances R. Balkwill and Mic Rolph
  • "Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War" By Judith Miller and William Broad
  • "The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story" By Richard Preston
  • "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales" By Oliver Sacks
  • "Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World" By Tracy Kidder
  • "Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA" By Brenda Maddox
  • "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" By Anne Fadiman

Gulp. I've read "The Hot Zone" and Tracy Kidder's earlier "The Soul of a New Machine," but that's it. Homework!

Posted by Linkmeister at August 24, 2005 11:02 AM | TrackBack
Comments

I'm way behind on my homework here too. I've only read Sacks' book, Sagan's, The Botany of Desire, and parts of The Beak of the Finch. I did check Kidder's book out of the library when it came out. Kept it for three whole weeks too. Maybe I picked up some of what was in it by osmosis.

Interesting that there's no Stephen Jay Gould or Daniel Dennett on the list.

Posted by: Lance Mannion at August 25, 2005 04:39 AM

I don't know if it really qualifies, but the book I first thought of is "And the Band Played On." I read it in college in a communications class for the media coverage aspect, but there are some scientific theories in there as well. I don't know how well it's aged since the early 90s, but it was an eye-opener.

Posted by: Skatemom at August 25, 2005 02:53 PM

Skatemom, seems to me that would certainly qualify as scientific history. A specific period and a specific disease, but nonetheless...

Posted by: Linkmeister at August 25, 2005 02:56 PM

can't wait to get my hands on "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales"!!

Posted by: Toxiclabrat at August 26, 2005 07:37 AM

A few months ago I made up my own list of favourite science books for (more or less) lay readers.

Posted by: coturnix at August 30, 2005 09:15 AM