Review: A Brief History of Time

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At this point reading this is more a chance to see how much of the book is still true and how much has changed. Of course, I'm the wrong person to do that since I know next to nothing of new scientific discoveries.

Having said that, I did find many of the explanations very clarifying. For example, I always knew nothing could travel faster than the speed of light, but his explanation of how this is because any object gains more mass as the speed increases and at the speed of light its mass would be infinite, is much more clear than anything else I've ever heard.

So it was a great review of everything we knew about science when it was written. It would be nice to have an update.

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Review: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Probably a must-read for parents these days. Unfortunately the effects of social media are only now being understood, and they are much more profound than we could have thought, especially since they are pervasive and, thanks to the smartphone, omnipresent.


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Review: Oranges

Oranges by John McPhee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well, I now know more than I ever wished or thought I needed to know about oranges.

This book is replete with facts and anecdotes about oranges, and it is interesting throughout. I actually wish the author wrote a book on just about anything, since it would be a great way to learn.

Obviously the book is a bit outdated now, so I wonder what changes have been occurring since then.


Still, the anecdotes involve Christopher Columbus, Harriet Beacher Stowe, William Tell, the Medici family, the Last Supper (although I can't say I agree with what he said in these last two cases) and a lot more.


Definitely give it a read if you get the chance, whether you like oranges or not (I can't say I do).




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Review: Of Wolves and Men

Of Wolves and Men by Barry Lopez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have no idea why this was on my wishlist, but I'm very glad it was. 

As another commenter mentioned, this is just as much a book about the relationship between humans and wolves as it is a book about wolves. It also discusses the evolution of this relationship and how it differs from place to place. 

Reading this book is probably as close as I will ever get to entering the mentality of wolves. Even though it is second hand (I'm entering the mentality of someone endeavoring to enter the mentality of wolves) it is still an eye-opening experience. 

The focus of the chapters will run the gamut, from history to folklore to science to hanging out with Native Americans to the author raising wolves himself, so some chapters will go by more quickly than others. But all in all it will almost certainly be worth it. 

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Review: Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don’t know enough about the science here to give a real critique, but my impression was that it was all over the place. Exercise is good; just look at plants, which never move, and don’t have a brain, while animals move and they have brains (he brings up the example of the sea squirt, which finds a place to plant itself and then “eats” its brain because, since it isn’t moving, it doesn’t need one). Also, Exercise is good because, evolutionarily speaking, if something “stressed us out” (i.e. a lion wanted to eat us) we’d run. So if we run we get rid of stress preemptively (Sounds a bit too much like how all Cretans are liars, and I’m a Cretan). Then it jumps to how exercise makes us more social, so that’s good for us. 

I get the impression he’s trying a bit of everything just to see what sticks, rather than sticking to one overlying thesis. 

Still, I come away from this pretty convinced that exercise in general is better than no exercise. Although, I doubt many people disagree with that nowadays. 

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Review: The Origins of You: How Childhood Shapes Later Life

The Origins of You: How Childhood Shapes Later Life by Jay Belsky

I was reading this purely from a practical, personal point of view (I have a 4 year old and we're trying to raise her well). I confess that, although this was created for the layperson, I found myself skipping to the conclusion of the chapter for several of these, since I wasn't all that interested in the nitty gritty of the study methodology (I'm in no position to reject or accept any of their findings, regardless). 

Some of the most interesting takeaways have to do with self-control of the child, and how important this is later in life, and has more on a bearing on their life than raw intelligence. 

The findings on daycare were interesting too (possibly one of the few positives of Covid, then, may be that our daughter didn't have nearly as much daycare as she would have otherwise). While quality of daycare matters somewhat, pure quantity is much more important (broadly put, the more the worse). 

I'm not really in a position to give it a rating, but I found it mildly to just a little useful, and moderately interesting. 

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Review: How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain

How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For some reason I thought this would be some book about raising your EQ, but it turned out to be quite interesting. It sounds like it could be quite revolutionary in psychology/neuroscientific circles, but I'm not really in a position to comment one way or the other. Still, very interesting to see how what we see as very basic emotions might be culturally learned, rather than innate. 

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Review: The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal

The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared Diamond
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm really not sure why I owned this nor why I read it in its entirety. For some reason I thought this book came out after Collapse. 

I guess it was rather interesting to see what we knew back in the early 90s, and what our goals were (pretty much the same as now I guess). 

Still, his topics are dealt with more in-depth in Guns, Germs and Steel and in Collapse. And (especially after having read Who we are and How we got here, by David Reich) I noticed how many of his points were out of date (also, did he really say we evolved from Apes?)

Probably 2.5 stars at this point, since it's a 30-year-old book. 

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Review: Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past

Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past by David Reich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Basically it turns out that Out of Africa was a gross oversimplification. We came out, in various waves, some went back in, many died out after coming out, we came out at least twice and confronted Neanderthals. Then we spread around, the Denisovans were pretty big, but died out, but there's still some of their DNA going around. Same with Neanderthals. Plenty of ghost populations (populations we know must have existed due to DNA, but with no traces). Also within Africa there was a ton of movement, and plenty of people who were out of Africa returned to Africa, many times way back down to South Africa. The migration into America is no less complicated, with plenty of movement over many waves, including at least one major one back to Siberia. And all of these are quite recent discoveries, with much more analysis going on now in Asia, and plenty to come in Africa and elsewhere, so this will probably be hopelessly out of date by the time I finish writing this review. 

Re: the Denisovans, I'm wondering if they represent the first Indigenous Taiwanese, since these then spread throughout the Pacific in more or less the same regions we find Denisovan DNA. Although, again, it's all a hodgepodge.

The book ends with a caveat re: classifying people into races, but also NOT classifying them into races, which is well-rounded and probably needed. 

If you're interested in language families this book also has plenty of material. 

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Review: Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What an excellent book. I read this all in one setting (ok, listened to it. Long wait at the doctor's) and enjoyed it immensely. 

At first it seemed a bit all over the place, but it was a great memoir / insight into David Starr Jordan's life / taxonomy / a couple of other poignant issues. 

I confess I had completely forgotten why it was in my library, but I just started it on spec. The audiobook version is narrated by the author and includes the author's toddler saying the word "fish" for the first time at the end! 

I should forget why I buy more books and start reading them randomly more often. If they are as pleasant a surprise as this one was, at least. 

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Review: The Longevity Diet: Discover the New Science Behind Stem Cell Activation and Regeneration to Slow Aging, Fight Disease, and Optimize Weight

The Longevity Diet: Discover the New Science Behind Stem Cell Activation and Regeneration to Slow Aging, Fight Disease, and Optimize Weight by Valter Longo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very interesting, although the fmd seems a bit hardcore for most people (and he specifies to check with a doctor before setting out). 

Anyway, I like his points re: eating what your ancestors ate, and also about starving cancer (where had I heard that before?) 

Otherwise it seems to make sense. He seems quite down on all meat, except fish, and very big on veggies, legumes and nuts & seeds. Not so much fruit. 

I might try the fmd with my wife at some point (maybe checking with a doctor first), and, if so, I'll update on that as well. 

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Review: The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have no idea why I had this ebook. I seriously don't remember buying it or having it gifted. Regardless, it is fascinating in its own way. There is a whole unknown parallel world with parallel lives taking place all around us. 

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Review: Democritus

Democritus by Paul Anthony Cartledge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a 2nd read-through for me, and I think I enjoyed it more this time (I gave it 3 stars last time). 

It is rather short, also given the fact that we don't have much information about Democritus. He is credited with coming up with the idea of the indivisible "atom", making up everything. 

Interesting how he states that thoughts are also made up of atoms:

"We know nothing truly about anything, but for each of us opining is a rearrangement (of soul atoms). (p. 10)

Also, he talks about how bodies and worlds are held together by "a membrane", which seems like his version of explaining gravity, and which seems to work quite well. 

Some of my  other notes:

"All those who make their pleasures from the belly, exceeding the right time (or measure) for food, drink or sex, have short-lived pleasures - only for as long as they eat or drink - but many pains." (p. 30)

"Poverty in a democracy is preferable to so-called prosperity among dictators to the same extent as freedom is to slavery. (p. 38)

Apparently Karl Marx wrote his doctoral thesis on a scholarly comparison between Democritus and Epicurus. 

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Review: Chaos

Chaos by James Gleick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading books like this (and like Antimatter, by Frank Close), give me the impression that there is a fascinating world of mathematics and physics that lies just beyond my comprehension, and if I had the time and motivation to learn just that bit more I would be enthralled by some of these discoveries.
As it is, I can't help share in some of the excitement, but I know it's mostly over my head.

I really like the emphasis on how Chaos was discovered by intersecting the two separate worlds of physics and math, and how those who specialized in one and not the other were blind to it in their own ways.


And someone needs to try the chaos game detailed in p. 236. I'm very curious to see if it works.

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Review: Secrets of Sleep Science: From Dreams to Disorders

Secrets of Sleep Science: From Dreams to Disorders by H. Craig Heller
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rather than "Secrets of Sleep Science" this should probably be called "Science of Sleep Secrets". There is a lot of scientific information to wade through, which I'm sure is all accurate and fascinating to people in the field, but it was pretty much over my head.

I suffer from periodic insomnia and have been doing so for years, so I'm always interested in anything pertaining to sleep, generally the more scientific the better. And yet I found this a bit too heavy on the science.

However, later on it started focusing more on the conclusions, and the sections on insomnia, parasomnia and how sleep affects pretty much everything were fascinating. Including the section on sleeping and learning.

I hate to take points away because of too much science (or too much information), but much of this would have been perfect in the end notes, not in the first half of the book.


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Review: The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - But Some Don't

The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - But Some Don't by Nate Silver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was afraid much of this would be outdated, but, while it obviously talks about issues only until 2012, the information is pretty evergreen. Obviously much has happened since then (Trump, Coronavirus), but most of the information still stands. He mentions how forecasters who don't inform themselves about the issues cannot hope to do well (just looking at charts isn't enough, and you need to understand the human factor).

I also really like his explanation of probabilities and Bayes' theorem, and how they work (and should be taught more in school).

Probably a must-read for people interested in forecasting and prediction in any field.

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Review: Antimatter

Antimatter by Frank Close
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Although much of the detail and most of the explanations were over my head, it was good to learn more about Antimatter. I get the impression that a big part of the impetus for writing this book was as a response to everyone getting excited over Antimatter after Dan Brown's novel "Angels and Demons" (anyone remember that?). In fact, the last chapter is pretty much dedicated to debunking all of the "FACTS" from that book. Part of this seems directed at the US military, which seemed to be considering using Antimatter as a weapon, possibly after having read that book.

I think this book's explanation of the theory of relativity finally got through to me, at least in terms of how we can't travel faster than the speed of light:
"In Einstein’s theory of relativity the mass of a body gets larger and larger the faster it travels. As it approaches the speed of light, the mass grows extremely fast, making the object ever more resistant to acceleration. Eventually, as one tries to reach the speed of light, the mass becomes infinite. It is thus impossible to accelerate a massive object to the speed of light; the only things that travel at light speed are things with no mass, such as light itself! (p. 28)

It is also interesting to see how unique earth really is, in terms of all the perfect elements available in one place, as illustrated by this footnote (p. 115): "if you selected at random a volume of the universe that is millions of light years in diameter, atomic elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, iron, silver, and gold would be all but absent"

Regardless, every time I read about physics I seem to understand marginally more. Maybe after a couple hundred more books I'll get it. I do wonder how out of date this book is, however. Maybe a new edition is in order?


Interesting passage about Paul Dirac:
"During a lecture at the University of Toronto a member of the audience asked politely ‘I do not understand how you derived that formula on the board’. There was a long silence, and it was only after being prompted by the chairman to give an answer that Dirac responded ‘It was not a question; it was a statement’." (p.35)

The whole section "Don't shake hands with an Anti-alien" (p. 110) was fascinating

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Review: Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking

Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking by Cecilia Heyes
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

To be frank, I don't think I'm smart enough to understand this book. As least with regards to its subject matter. I probably should have given up after a chapter or two. I only stuck with it because what little I did understand was interesting, and I was curious about the chapter on language (which also confused me).

Keeping all that in mind, this is probably a moronic comment, but it seemed to me that many of her conclusions could have been reached by just noting the differences between various cultures, which would show proof of cultural evolutionary psychology as opposed to purely biological evolution. Then, taking that as a starting point, we could analyze whether the commonalities evolved from a fixed proto-human culture or not.

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Review: The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I confess I read this out of guilt. Humboldt's name is one that I had heard before and thought I should probably know something about, but really didn't. Anyway, I'm very glad I picked up this book.

Humboldt was certainly a character, and probably one of the first to decide to live freely, and not be confined by states or politics, in order to discover the world. He also was pretty much the precursor to Darwin's theory of evolution.

The last section of the book seemed like a bit of a stretch, since it dealt with people who were inspired by Humboldt, and then people who were inspired by the people who were inspired by Humboldt, etc. But it was all very enlightening.

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Review: Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child's Developing Immune System

Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child's Developing Immune System by Jack A. Gilbert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The first chapters seemed to be explaining what the microbiome is. This was too scientific for me (and I'm not going to be researching the veracity of all of their studies), but I can see how they need to establish the science ahead of time. The middle of the book has the some great advice. Then the end of the book seems to get a bit too much into detail in terms of scientific detail (whether and how to conduct a fecal matter transplant, etc.). In fact, the conclusion seems to target scientists themselves, when it asks them not to get "drunk with power" in terms of their findings and wishing to help people, thereby giving unreliable information.

I really liked the advice that was given, although I feel like it could have gone into more detail as to what average parents should be doing (and trust us to be mature enough to understand everything is based on probabilities, so nothing is 100%). For example, the book says that newborns should be kept clear of strangers' microbes, while older children should be exposed to them. When should this transition occur? Should it occur all at once? Are there stages? Also, what about other settings? Are there studies regarding feeding store-bought food, just buying fruits or veggies, restaurant leftovers, organic stuff (apparently freshly killed chickens are fine)? Any differences there? Does it even matter? What about sunshine? rain? etc.

I'm not saying all of these things worry me, but I just think the useful information seemed to be crowded out by the more rare scientific questions.

Conversely I liked how readily they admit that we don't have enough data available. This should be standard practice (and would be great answers to my questions above as well). I'll also be interested in seeing what results from probiotics, which seem to hold promise but don't have enough studies quite yet.

Some of the notes I took:
- Dogs are slightly better than cats, but any pet or animal helps (in terms of asthma, hay fever, etc.)
- Going to farms is great
- Playing with all types of dirt is good
Only sterilize after hospital visits, using raw meat, etc.
Sanitizer can get rid of all microbes (including good ones, which are needed for protection)
- First month or so: keep baby separate from other people


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