Poor Ash’s Almanack > Book Reviews > Science, Engineering, Technology, Math/Medicine
★★★★★★★ (7/7) (life-changing)
T: The Story of Testosterone by Carole Hooven: Review and Analysis – Buy T: The Story of Testosterone on Amazon
“A female scientist decides to specialize in researching testosterone” sounds like it could be the setup for a joke, but it’s actually the setup for one of the best books I’ve read in years. With a blend of scientific rigor, thoughtful intellectual exploration, and laugh-out-loud humor, Hooven provides a comprehensive exploration of testosterone (T), arguing that it is the single most important hormone driving the average biological and behavioral differences between the sexes. One of the foundations for our new nature vs. nurture mental model.
Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker: Review and Analysis – Buy Why We Sleep on Amazon
An engaging exploration of the fascinating science of sleep; sleep deprivation is destroying the health and productivity of 70% of adults (and the vast majority of adolescents). Mental models include: sleep, structural problem solving, culture / status quo bias, local vs. global optimization, cognition / intuition / habit / stress, and memory.
Internal Time by Till Roenneberg: Review and Analysis – Buy Internal Time on Amazon
Peter Thiel often asks: “tell me something true that nobody agrees with you on.” My answer: chronotypes matter. This is a fascinating exploration of the science of our internal clocks – why some of us are early birds and some are night owls, and what it means for our health and productivity. Mental models include: sleep, culture / status quo bias, trait adaptivity, local vs. global optimization, and utility.
Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith: Review and Analysis – Buy Other Minds on Amazon
Intelligence is convergent – it evolved multiple times, and one of the most fascinating examples is the octopus. What can we learn from octopus cognition and consciousness about our own? Mental models include: trait adaptivity, n-order impacts, feedback, tradeoffs, scientific thinking, agency, social connection, nonlinearity, and bottlenecks.
★★★★★★ (6/7) (standout for its category)
Dog is Love by Clive Wynne: Review and Analysis – Buy Dog is Love on Amazon
A thought-provoking and informative science book that will also make you cry, “Dog is Love” challenges the idea that dogs have an innate cognitive “genius,” arguing instead that their unique “hypersociability” – a genetic trait linked to Williams-Beuren syndrome in humans – is the key to their bond with us. It explores the behavioral and biological evidence for this deep capacity for love, reframing domestication and our ethical responsibilities to dogs.
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman: Review and Analysis – Buy The Genius of Birds on Amazon
A book that is as delightful as it is educational: Ackerman explores avian intelligence and its implications for our own. Mental models include: culture / status quo bias, social proof, tradeoffs, trait adaptivity, utility, product vs. packaging, novelty-seeking, fairness, and hyperbolic discounting.
Rust: The Longest War by Jonathan Waldman: Review and Analysis – Buy Rust: The Longest War on Amazon
Rust: about as sexy as mold – thus often overlooked, despite costing us billions per year. Waldman explores rust and how we fight it in one of the best-written nonfiction books I’ve read. Mental models include: culture / status quo bias, humans vs. econs, empathy, local vs. global optimization, incentives, salience, margin of safety, nonlinearity.
Paleofantasy by Marlene Zuk: Review and Analysis – Buy Paleofantasy on Amazon
Paleofantasy is a scientific critique of the popular idea that our modern lives are dangerously out of touch with the way humans evolved. It challenges the notion that we are “stuck” with ancient genes and must live more like our Paleolithic ancestors to be healthy.
The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver: Review and Analysis – Buy The Signal and the Noise on Amazon
Data alone can’t solve our problems – we imbue our numbers (and occasional pair of wayward underwear, too) with meaning. Mental models include: Bayesian reasoning, sample size, survivorship bias, nonlinearity, utility, precision vs. accuracy, overconfidence, and probabilistic thinking.
To Engineer is Human by Henry Petroski: Review and Analysis – Buy To Engineer is Human on Amazon
The premise of engineering is the obviation of failure – which resonates far beyond CAD drawings of skyscrapers and bridges. In a thoughtful, well-written analysis, civil engineer Henry Petroski explores: margin of safety, bottlenecks, n-order impacts, humans vs. econs, salience, and structural problem solving.
How Not To Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg: Review and Analysis – Buy How Not To Be Wrong on Amazon
Where should you put armor on fighter planes, and why is it all your cute dates are mean and your nice dates are plain? Mathematician (and novelist) Jordan Ellenberg takes an engaging journey through models like: dose-dependency, availability bias, survivorship bias, sample size, prior probabilities, utility, and opportunity costs.
Scale by Geoffrey West: Review and Analysis – Buy Scale on Amazon
Hidden “power laws” – of a mathematical, rather than sociopolitical nature – underlie much of our lives, at both the cellular and community level. Former Santa Fe Institute President Geoffrey West engagingly and accessibly explores models like: scaling, complexity, exponential growth, disaggregation, and emergence.
Deadly Choices by Dr. Paul Offit: Review and Analysis – Buy Deadly Choices on Amazon
Why is there pushback against childhood vaccines? Dr. Paul Offit investigates.
★★★★★ (5/7) (solid for its category)
How We Got To Now by Steven Johnson: Review and Analysis – Buy How We Got To Now on Amazon
Explores the hidden histories of modern innovations like glass, artificial cold, clean water, and precise time. It reveals how these technologies emerged from unexpected connections and “slow hunches,” leading to massive, unforeseen social and political change.
The Vaccine Race by Meredith Wadman: Review and Analysis – Buy The Vaccine Race on Amazon
How could a single cell culture supply enough raw material to make vaccines for hundreds of years – and why did well-educated scientists stubbornly dig in their heels and fight its use tooth-and-nail? Mental models in this fascinating story include: exponential growth, confirmation bias, envy, trait adaptivity, inversion, and tradeoffs.
The Violinist’s Thumb by Sam Kean: Review and Analysis – Buy The Violinist’s Thumb on Amazon
How does our DNA genetic code pull the strings of our everyday life? Kean explores fascinating – and unintuitive – lessons from genetics through the ages. Mental models include: trait adaptivity, utility, disaggregation, feedback, luck, complexity, margin of safety, and tradeoffs.
Bellevue by David Oshinsky: Review and Analysis – Buy Bellevue on Amazon
Why did it take a dead President to get doctors to believe in Germ Theory, why didn’t hospitals update their backup infrastructure post-Katrina, and why is routine infant circumcision widespread in the US today? Surprising answers to those can be found in this 300-year medical history, covering salience, scientific thinking, incentives, selection bias, and more.
Intelligence by Stuart Ritchie: Review and Analysis – Buy Intelligence on Amazon
Why do smart people paradoxically dismiss IQ – and what lessons are there to learn from our cognition? Models covered here range from correlation vs. causation to the availability heuristic, base rates, memory, multicausality, and trait adaptivity.
Curious by Ian Leslie: Review and Analysis – Buy Curious on Amazon
Humans are uniquely curious, making the seemingly evolutionarily maladaptive decision to seek out information with no utility – but why? In an exploration that is at first fascinating (and later off-track), Ian Leslie covers some infrequently-encountered concepts and hits mental models like: memory, empathy, confirmation bias, novelty-seeking, and more.
“The Anatomy of Love” by Helen Fisher: Review and Analysis – Buy “The Anatomy of Love” on Amazon
A fascinating exploration of how love is a neurological “addiction that distorts our cognition as powerfully as cocaine, heroin, or other hard drugs – and why humans, from hunter-gatherer days through the modern era, have supplemented monogamy with extramarital pursuits.
★★★★ (4/7) (acceptable for its category)
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn: Review and Analysis – Buy The Structure of Scientific Revolutions on Amazon
The landmark classic that brought the term “paradigm shift” into our vocabulary. Kuhn’s analysis is dense, dry, repetitive, and difficult to read, but it does contain some interesting and useful conclusions that hold true many decades later. Mental models include: product vs. packaging, sunk costs, confirmation bias, and more.
“The Gene” by Siddhartha Mukherjee: Review and Analysis – Buy “The Gene” on Amazon
A 500 page book on genetics that mixes science with an unfortunate dose of the author’s politics.
★★★ (3/7) (mediocre)
“Thinking in Systems” by Donella Meadows: Review and Analysis – Buy “Thinking in Systems” on Amazon
Mediocre and uninsightful; too elementary to be of any real interest or use.
“Seven Brief Lessons on Physics” by Carlo Rovelli: Review and Analysis – Buy “Seven Brief Lessons on Physics” on Amazon
An extremely brief book that doesn’t help the reader learn very much.
“The Joy of X” by Steven Strogatz: Review and Analysis – Buy “The Joy of X” on Amazon
Not useful and at times babyish. Too elementary to be of any real interest or use. Instead see something like How Not To Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg.
“The Information” by James Gleick: Review and Analysis – Buy “The Information” on Amazon
Learning-rich but written in a highly technical, inside-baseball tone that makes it extremely difficult for lay readers to understand any of the insights.
★★ (2/7) (meaningfully flawed)
None at this time, thankfully!
★ (1/7) (run, Forrest, run!)
None at this time, thankfully!