Best Sci-Tech Books 2003: Beyond the Facts

French Mathematician Henri Poincaré wrote, "Science is built up with facts, as a house is with stones. But a collection of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house." The facts of science are sometimes esoteric, understood by only a few specialists, but its larger discoveries and their impact belong to everyone. One of the most important ways for the field to share its cultural significance is through books. Several of the following titles, selected as the best in science and technology for 2003, reflect readers' continuing fascination with the history of science and its lessons. Simon Winchester's Krakatoa reminds us of the earth's awesome power, while Amir Ac-zel's Pendulum, an account of an ingeniously simple experiment that proved the rotation of Earth, illustrates the scientific method.

Other books on the list address the frontiers of scientific theory. Gabrielle Walker's Snowball Earth documents evidence that many millions of years ago the earth was frozen solid, yet even so those icy conditions created a fertile ground for the evolutionary explosion described in Andrew Parker's In the Blink of an Eye. Looking to the future, João Magueijo's Faster Than the Speed of Light proposes the radical notion that the speed of light might vary, and George Johnson's A Shortcut Through Time considers how quantum theory might be applied to computer programming.

These books also provide direction and meaning. Richard Dawkins reflects upon the purpose of science in A Devil's Chaplain, and Edward Tenner wonders about how technology changes us in Our Own Devices.

Sims, Michael. Adam's Navel: A Natural and Cultural History of the Human Form. Viking. 342p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-670-03224-7. $24.95.

Designed by evolution, adorned by culture, the human physique is biologically and aesthetically complex. Sims's witty head-to-toe tour of the landscape of homo sapiens explores every pore for its purpose and meaning. (LJ 7/03)

Koppel Tom. Lost World: Rewriting Prehistory — How New Science Is Tracing America's Ice Age Mariners. Atria: S. & S. 300p. photogs. index. ISBN 0-7434-5357-3. $26.

Traditional theory holds that North America was settled by hunters who traversed a land bridge across the Bering Straight. Award-winning journalist Koppel reveals how advances in marine archaeology have enabled the gathering of evidence that supports a radical new idea: prehistoric seafaring peoples settled along the continent's Pacific coast. (LJ 6/15/03)

Gleick, James. Isaac Newton. Pantheon. 258p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-375-42233-1. $22.95.

There may never have lived a more brilliant scientist than Newton, nor one more eccentric. Gleick's richly detailed yet accessible biography (he tones down the math for general readers) is true to both aspects of the genius's persona. (LJ 5/1/03)

Gribbin, John. The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors. Random. 647p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 1-4000-6013-3. $35.

The prolific Gribbin has written the human history of the physical sciences. From the Renaissance to today, the cast of major scientific characters includes the exalted and the obscure, and their personal stories make this comprehensive history a page-turner. (LJ 11/1/03)

Le Couter, Penny & Jay Burreson. Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History. Tarcher: Putnam. 375p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 1-58542-220-7. $24.95.

The tin buttons on his army's uniforms may have led to Napoleon's disastrous defeat in Russia, for, unbeknownst to the French general, tin crumbles in the cold. This is just one of the entertaining accounts of how various objects' chemical properties might have changed history. (LJ 5/15/03)

Johnson, George. A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to the Quantum Computer. Knopf. 204p. illus. index. ISBN 0-375-41193-3. $24.

Computers are logic machines. Quantum theory twists logic by postulating that an atom can be in two opposite states at the same time. An award-winning New York Times science writer reports on how a machine programmed with quantum algorithms, then, could turn computer science upside down. (LJ 3/1/03)

Walker, Gabrielle. Snowball Earth: The Story of the Great Global Catastrophe That Spawned Life As We Know It. Crown. 270p. index. ISBN 0-609-60973-4. $24.95.

Even during the great ice ages, most of Earth was temperate. Walker writes of a startling new theory that, 700 million years ago, the entire planet was frozen solid, yet within this massive "snowball," an evolutionary explosion was being nurtured. (LJ 1/03)

Freese, Barbara. Coal: A Human History. Perseus. 320p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-7382-0400-5. $25.

Coal, the fuel that drove the Industrial Revolution, is burned in even larger quantities today. That situation is ecologically unsustainable, but, as Freese's clear and eloquent "human history" shows, economic considerations have usually prevailed. (LJ 2/1/03)

Weart, Spencer R. The Discovery of Global Warming. Belknap: Harvard Univ. 228p. index. ISBN 0-674-01157-0. $24.95.

Soon after the theory that Earth's climate is subject to cyclic changes became widely accepted in the late 1800s, some scientists began speculating that human activity can alter global climate—a proposition that was only confirmed in 2001.

Parker, Andrew. In the Blink of an Eye. Perseus. 316p. photogs. index. ISBN 0-7382-0607-5. $24.95.

The "Cambrian Explosion" of half a billion years ago was this planet's most prolific evolutionary event. What triggered it? Zoologist Parker's "light switch" theory posits that it was the development of animal vision. (LJ 5/15/03)

Jones, Steve. Y: The Descent of Men—Revealing the Mysteries of Maleness. Houghton. 252p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-618-13930-3. $25.

Possessing a "Y" chromosome turns out to be risky biological business. With sharp insight and irreverent zeal, geneticist Jones explains why, for a variety of biochemical, physiological, and even cultural reasons, men are the weaker sex. (LJ 4/1/03)

Ridley, Matt. Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human. HarperCollins. 325p. ISBN 0-06-000678-1. $25.95.

The debate is often framed in mutually exclusive terms—nature versus nurture. Science journalist Ridley doesn't see it is an either/or proposition; he writes "genes are designed to take their cue from nurture." (LJ 5/1/03)

Watson, James D. with Andrew Berry. DNA: The Secret of Life. Knopf. 446p. illus. index. ISBN 0-375-41546-7. $35.

After 50 years, the story of the discovery of the double helix still fascinates, and its full significance may yet be unknown. This anniversary volume by DNA's mercurial codiscoverer sheds new light on both. (LJ 4/1/03)

Hall, Stephen S. Merchants of Immortality: Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension. Houghton. 439p. index. ISBN 0-618-09524-1. $25.

Human life expectancy has steadily increased over recent decades, but there are limits—or are there? Hall, a well-respected science journalist, shows that as scientists learn more about why we age and as medical technology improves, "practical immortality" might be within reach. (LJ 6/1/03)

Hilts, Philip J. Protecting America's Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation. Knopf. 416p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-375-40466-X. $26.95.

Underfunded, understaffed, and often criticized, the Food and Drug Administration nonetheless monitors thousands of new products for their safety and efficacy. This fascinating history documents the complexities of the agency's dual mission to promote commerce and to protect consumers. (LJ 6/1/03)

Aczel, Amir. Pendulum: Léon Foucault and the Triumph of Science. Atria: S. & S. 275p. illus. index. ISBN 0-7434-6478-8. $24.

Foucault was an outsider with respect to the elite French scientific community of the Second Empire. Still, as Aczel's enthralling book recounts, Foucault triumphed over those who had shunned him when he proved—using just a pendulum—that Earth rotates. (LJ 8/03)

Black, Edwin. War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign To Create a Master Race. Four Walls Eight Windows. 550p. photogs. index. ISBN 1-56858-258-7. $27.

America in the early 20th century hosted an aggressive eugenics movement seeking to improve the gene pool by preventing "inferiors" from reproducing. Controversial author Black's (IBM and the Holocaust) exhaustive research shows that, when exported to Hitler's Germany, American eugenics led to Nazi atrocities. (LJ 7/03)

Galison, Peter. Einstein's Clocks, Poincaré's Maps: Empires of Time. Norton. 389p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-393-02001-0. $23.95.

Synchronize your watches. In the late 19th and the early 20th century, that was almost impossible to do. Science historian Galison explains how the practical challenge of coordinating time across distance raised still unresolved philosophical questions. (LJ 8/03)

Winchester, Simon. Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. HarperCollins. 432p. illus. index. ISBN 0-06-621285-5. $25.95.

In 1883, on an uninhabited island between Sumatra and Java, a massive volcano erupted. The blast, heard from hundreds of miles, fueled giant tsunamis that killed 36,000 people. The fallout affected global climate for years. Winchester's engrossing book also reveals how the disaster led to regional social and political upheaval, with consequences still felt today. (LJ 4/1/03)

Derbyshire, John. Prime Obsession: Bernard Riemann and the Greatest Unvolved Problem in Mathematics. Joseph Henry: National Academy. 304p. illus. index. ISBN 0-309-08549-7. $27.95.

Fermat's Last Theorem has been proven. Will Riemann's Hypothesis on prime numbers be next? A mathematician by training, Derbyshire considers the mathematical conundrum, its elusiveness, and the mathematicians who have dedicated themselves to solving it. (LJ 4/15/03)

Wallace, David Foster. Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity. Norton. (Great Discoveries). 319p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 0-393-00338-8. $23.95.

To ponder infinity requires a leap beyond common sense. That's where mathematics can be of service. In this literary science book, the novelist (and "nonprofessional math geek") does equal justice to the concept's intellectual abstraction and its mathematical precision. (LJ 11/1/03)

Hurd, Barbara. Entering the Stone: On Caves and Feeling Through the Dark. Houghton. 170p. ISBN 0-618-19138-0. $23.

Geologically, no two caves are the same. Exploring a new cave, then, is an intellectual discovery. Nature writer Hurd (Stirring the Mud) also observes that in the silence and darkness of a cave, a person can likewise discover oneself. (LJ 7/03)

Ellis, Richard. The Empty Ocean: Plundering the World's Marine Life. Shearwater: Island Pr. 375p. illus. bibliog. index. ISBN 1-55963-974-1. $26.

Since few people encounter the biodiversity of the oceans, most are oblivious to the serious declines in marine wildlife. Although these are direct results of human activity, we know little about the impacts that oceanic extinctions will have upon land environments. Noted marine author and artist Ellis's latest work should bring new attention to this serious problem. (LJ 4/15/03)

Dennett, Daniel C. Freedom Evolves. Viking. 347p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-670-03186-0. $24.95.

Dennett is a speculative philosopher who demands a physical scientist's standards of proof. His synthesis on human freedom, genetic determinism, and evolutionary biology will thus influence thought in several intellectual realms. (LJ 2/1/03)

Rees, Martin. Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning—How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humanity's Future in this Century. Basic Bks: Perseus. 228p. index. ISBN 0-465-06862-6. $25.

Don't say we weren't warned. When a scientist of the caliber of England's Astronomer Royal estimates that, due to any of a host of natural and/or human-made causes, humanity's chances of surviving the 21st century are about 50 percent, it is worth paying heed.

Magueijo, João. Faster Than the Speed of Light. Perseus. 277p. photogs. index. ISBN 0-7382-0525-7. $26.

Magueijo is one of the brightest young minds in theoretical physics, and he isn't shy about saying so. For all of his brashness and bravado, though, if his theory of a variable speed of light proves true, this book will become a classic. (LJ 2/15/03)

Broks, Paul. Into the Silent Land: Travels in Neuropsychology. Atlantic Monthly. 208p. ISBN 0-87113-901-4. $24.

One's "self" is a product of the interplay between the brain and the mind. Broks, a neuropsychologist, explores this subject by sharing examples from his practice and from his own thought processes. (LJ 5/1/03)

Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything. Broadway. 304p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-7679-0817-1. $27.50.

When Bryson started asking himself questions about why things are the way they are, he realized he didn't know. So, he decided to find out. His wide-eyed tour of the sciences overflows with facts. (LJ 5/15/03)

Dawkins, Richard. A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love. Houghton. 263p. index ISBN 0-618-33540-4. $24.

These essays are "love letters to science and rationality." As a fierce advocate of empirical science over superstition, he can sometimes flirt with invective, but even at his most uncompromising, he evokes a sincere sense of wonder at the physical world. (LJ 9/15/03)

Horgan, John. Rational Mysticism: Dispatches from the Border Between Science and Spirituality. Houghton. 292p. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-618-06027-8. $25.

What do the shaman and the scientist have in common? Horgan (The End of Science) approaches that question neither as a true believer with faith in mysteries, nor as a scientist requiring experimental proof, but as an objective journalist seeking answers that would satisfy both. (LJ 2/15/03)

Kevles, Bettyann Holtzmann. Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space. Basic Bks: Perseus. 274p. illus. ISBN 0-7382-0209-6. $25.95.

At its inception, the U.S. space program, rooted in military culture, explicitly denied that women had the "right stuff" to be astronauts. Historian Kevles shows that some extraordinary women were not dissuaded from reaching for the stars.

McKibben, Bill. Enough: Staying Human in an Engineered Age. Times Bks. 271p. index. ISBN 0-8050-7096-6. $25.

Philosophers, politicians, clergy, and others have expressed myriad opinions on the appropriate use of genetic technologies. McKibben's cautionary views are rooted in his environmentalism (The End of Nature) and offer a perspective that is unique. (LJ 4/1/03)

Tenner, Edward. Our Own Devices: The Past and Future of Body Technology. Knopf. 314p. ISBN 0-375-40722-7. $26.

The message linking Tenner's assorted essays on "body technologies" (eyeglasses, footwear, easy chairs, etc.) is that things designed for our comfort or improvement wind up changing us, in ways that we often fail to appreciate. (LJ 6/1/03)

Baron, David. The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature. Norton. 320p. illus. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-393-05807-7. $24.95.

Humans are not always good neighbors to other species, whose habitats can be severely disrupted by development. In suburban Boulder, CO, new housing projects pressured native mountain lions, with tragic results. Baron's "parable" speaks to the need for planned coexistence. (LJ 11/1/03)

Heinrich, Bernd. Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival. Ecco: HarperCollins. 347p. illus. ISBN 0-06-019744-7. $24.45.

In winter, when biologist Heinrich looks out of the window of his Vermont home, he sees not a barren, frozen environment but a world teeming with life. He shares his fascination with how animals have adapted to survive—even thrive—in frigid weather. (LJ 1/03)

Quammen, David. Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind. Norton. 515p. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-393-05140-4. $26.95.

To "alpha predator" species, a human being is just another prey—hence, the conflict between them. In some tribal cultures, though, they coexist, sometimes even symbiotically. Noted nature writer Quammen (The Song of the Dodo) observes four of these societies and eloquently speculates how the extinction of alpha predators would affect us. (LJ 8/03)