Love Letter To My Library

a tribute to great non-fiction books across multiple genres

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“Breakthrough”

Thea Cooper and Arthur Ainsberg’s book Breakthrough: Elizabeth Hughes, the Discovery of Insulin, and the Making of a Medical Miracle is about medical science’s triumph over insulin-dependent diabetes.   Breakthrough follows one of America’s first recipients of insulin, Elizabeth Hughes, but the book is only partly about her personal story. The book takes you on […]

Posted in "PopSci", Biological Science, History, History of Science, Medical Science, Memoirs, Science Tagged Allen Treatment, Banting and Best Institute, Banting Lectures, Canadian medicine, Charles Best, Charles Evans Hughes, Charles Hughes, cure, diabetes, diabetes mellitus, diet, Elizabeth Hughes, Elizabeth Hughes Gossett, Frederick Allen, Frederick Banting, insulin, insulin shot, Insulin-dependent diabetes, John James Rickard Macleod, Juvinile diabetes, medicine, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, science, starvation, the Physiatric Institute, Type I diabetes Leave a comment

“Bonk”

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach is typical of her other books: it’s full of fun, interesting science, and is a little bit of crazy and a lot of hilarity. Having already traveled to the morgue and outer space with Roach, I was more than enthusiastic to follow her into […]

Posted in "PopSci", », Biological Science, History of Science, Medical Science, Pop Culture, Science Tagged Alfred Kinsey, anatomy, fertility, gender issues, hormones, impotence, Mary Roach, Masters & Johnson, medicine, porn star, psychology, science, science history, scientific research, scientist, sex, sexual dysfunction, sexuality, sociology Leave a comment

“The Disappearing Spoon”

Of the dozens of books I’ve read this year, The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean is my easily my favourite. It was very fun to read, accessible, and written with a refreshing cleverness that was […]

Posted in "PopSci", », Chemistry, History, History of Science, Science Tagged chemist, chemistry, element, Perl, Sam Kean, science, science history, scientist Leave a comment

Good Books: on Richard Feynman

I’m going to break my standard format here and talk about two books in the same entry: Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think? They are both collections of autobiographical stories and accounts from famed physicist Richard Feynman’s life. I’m combining discussion of these because they are both […]

Posted in "PopSci", », American History, Autobiography, Biography, History, History of Science, Memoirs, Modern History, Physics, Science, Technology Tagged "Great Explainer", atomic bomb, autobiographical, Bethe-Feynman formula, bongos, Brazil, Caltech, cancer, Challenger shuttle, codes, electrodynamics, Feynman Diagrams, Feynman Lectures on Physics, freshman lectures, frigideira, IBM, lockpicking, Manhattan Project, memoirs, MIT, NASA, Nobel Prize, Oersted Medal, particle physics, physicist, physics, Princeton, puzzles, QED, quantum mechanics, quantum physics, Richard Feynman, Rogers Commission, Royal Society, safecracking, science, scientist, Six Easy Pieces, superfluidity, Synesthesia, textbook committee, trinity, tuberculosis, Tuva, weak decay Leave a comment

“Deadly Choices”

My latest read was Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All. This is a short book, written for the layman, about the anti-vaccination movement that has seen growing media attention in recent years. The book is written by a Dr. Paul Offit, a well-known pediatrician who specialises in infectious diseases and has worked […]

Posted in "PopSci", », Biological Science, Medical Science, Pop Culture, Science Tagged alt med, alternative medicine, Andrew Wakefield, anti-vaccination, autism, Barbara Loe Fisher, big pharma, Brian Deer, chicken pox, communicable disease, controversial, diseases, doctor, DPT, immunization, immunology, inoculation, Jenny McCarthy, medicine, MMR, Paul Offit, pediatrics, pertussis, polio, quarantine, rubella, smallpox, The Lancet, thiomersal, vaccination, vaccine, VICP, virology, virus, woo Leave a comment

Good Books: Science

There are a lot of great books that I’ve read in the past that I want to give a quick nod to. Eventually, I may go back and write a dedicated entry for any I re-read them. In the meantime, I feel I owe them a few words here: The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum […]

Posted in "PopSci", », African-American Studies, Biography, Biological Science, Chemistry, Cognitive Science, Crime, History of Science, Medical Science, Science, Technology Tagged abnormalities, Apache, autopsy, blindness, brain, brain mapping, cadaver, cadaver research, cancer, cognitive science, computers, CSI, Deborah Blum, DNA, Eric Raymond, ethics, evolution, exploration, forensics, free software foundation, genes, genetics, Glyn Moody, GNU, hacker, Haiti, HeLa, Henrietta Lacks, infectious disease, Linus Torvolds, Linux, Mars, Mary Roach, medical care, medicine, MIT, murder, NASA, neo-darwinian, Netscape, neurology, neuroplasticity, neuroscience, Oliver Sacks, open source, origin of life, pain, patient consent, patient rights, Paul Farmer, Perl, phantom limb, photography, poison, prohibition, radium, Ramachandran, Rebecca Skloot, research, Richard Dawkins, Richard Stallman, Rwanda, sex, software, space, Stanley Burns, Tracy Kidder, tuberculosis, V.S. Ramachandran Leave a comment

    I LOVE NON-FICTION!

    I am always looking for good non-fiction books to read! Please leave me suggestions in the comments here.

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