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Sense About Science's Trustees
Lord Taverne recommends...
“Feeling gloomy because the world seems to be going from bad to worse? Well, here’s the antidote; Stephen Pinker’s majestic and very readable The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and Its Causes. Believe it or not - and if you don’t, I’m afraid you can’t be someone who Asks for the Evidence – mankind is making progress. Over the centuries society in most of the world has become less violent, more compassionate and more tolerant. And if you are squeamish, you can skip the bits where he records the horrible things we used to do to each other that mostly we have given up.”
Professor Dame Bridget Ogilvie recommends...
“I have been rereading Gerrald Durrell’s wonderful autobiography, My Family and Other Animals (Penguin Essentials) which also comes as The Corfu Trilogy. It describes a child besotted by natural history living with a very odd but interesting family in Corfu in the most engaging way. To me it is actually rather sad as it describes what is now almost a lost world of nature as the sixth great extinction of biodiversity intensifies. But few books capture the delight of observing nature as this does-hence it is a powerful story in the effort to interest folk to help the effort to preserve our environment. Not just for adults for sure!”
“A thought provoking book for those who believe, as I do, that the current model of consumption-led economic growth is unsustainable. The author makes the case that the call for Asia to emulate the Western economic model must be challenged and that an alternative life style must be found in which all of us on this overcrowded planet must "shrink and share".”
“In a world where the application of science and technology has over the last century increased our life expectancy and quality of life there is a growing mistrust among the general public on the role of science in addressing the many man-made challenges facing society today. All scientists must take the responsibility of listening to public concerns and establish a dialogue to explain what they do and why. This co-edited book contains a collection of informative chapters from experts in the field and should be required reading by all young (and 'mature') aspiring scientists.”
“This was a very well deserved recent winner of the Royal Society’s Winton Book Prize, and a follow up to his best seller the
The Cloudspotter's Guide. Gavin is the founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society – they oppose blue sky thinking and encourage everyone to have their head in the clouds!”
Baroness O’Neill recommends…
“My nomination is Philip Kitcher's Science in a Democratic Society (Prometheus Prize), published in August 2011. Philip Kitcher is Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, but you don't have to be an avid reader of philosophy to enjoy this one. He writes engagingly about the division of 'epistemic labour' between experts and citizens in thinking about science and science policy. He is just as incisive in writing about democracy and rights as he is in thinking about science—in my view a test that a lot of writing on this topic fails. Too often public debates in this area bandy around slogans like 'transparency' or 'right to know', or assume untenable views of 'value neutrality' in science. Here is the antidote. And it is on Kindle."
"If Christmas is your moment for a novel, I can name three that I have admired this year: Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending, which confirmed my judgement by winning the Booker Prize, Sebastian Barry's On Canaan's Side and Francesca Kay's The Translation of the Bones."
"The first two explore the limits and betrayals of memory. 'Sense of an Ending' explores how the carapace of memory can highlight wrongs we suffer and elide those we inflict. 'On Canaan's Side' explores Barry's familiar theme of the damaged lives of those taken to have been on the 'wrong' side in Irish politics, but this time the aftermath plays out in the USA (incidentally when I looked there were several reviews on Amazon, but none that showed awareness of the political aspects of the book ). 'The Translation of the Bones' is set in the minutiae of Catholic parish life in contemporary London, and reaches an unsettling understanding of disastrous deed whose perpetrator is not guilty and of the crippling guilt of those who were not perpetrators.”
Nick Ross recommends…
“If you’ve ever wondered how doctors know what they know – and why medical mistakes still happen – you can’t do better than Testing Treatments: Better Research for Better Healthcare. It’s an insight that could only have come from the pooled experience of three authors: a highly influential clinical scientist together with a splendidly inquisitive patient, and a properly skeptical medical journalist. Little wonder Testing Treatments is a best-seller round the world, and popular with physicians and surgeons as well as lay readers. It helps you chart you and your family’s way through the minefield of half-truth and misinformation on health, gives an easy and absorbing account of medical science and how to seek treatment wisely. It also convincingly answers challenging questions like why eminent consultants can sometimes be terribly wrong; or how it can be more ethicalto treat sick people arbitrarily, randomly giving some patients an experimental drug – or even sugar pills - rather than conventional therapy. As Testing Treatment says, understanding the methods of science and the wonders - and limitations - of medicine is far too important to be monopolised by people in white coats.”
Professor Janet Bainbridge OBE recommends...
"At this time of year when we think of open fires, nuts and nibbles and mulled wine and a far slower, gentle pace of life it is great to sit down with a traditional good read I am going to re-read My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier. It is sheer escapism far removed from the world of workaday rush and stress."
Dr Michael Fitzpatrick recommends...
"At a time when diverse initiatives in social and educational policy - and many in medical practice - are justified by appeals to the evidence provided by the disciplines of neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, Ray Tallis's Aping Mankind: Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity exposes the philosophical and scientific errors underlying these claims. A physician, a philosopher and a scientist, Tallis writes with wit, passion and erudition."
Sense About Science's Advisory Council
Professor Simon Wessely recommends...
“I can’t sleep on planes, so last week coming back from a dull conference in the States I adopted my usual tactic of buying a large dense hardback, downing three gin and tonics, and trusting that the combination of alcohol and boredom will finally have me in doze as we go over Greenland. My plan failed, because the book I bought on the way out was Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe by Norman Davies. I was hooked whilst we were still taxiing at JFK. By Boston I was relishing the story of Burgundy and as we passed Newfoundland totally gripped by the Commonwealth of Lithuania and Poland, at one time Europe’s largest country. Not only was I not asleep over Greenland, the tragedy of Galicia, once an extraordinary multicultural and polyglot nation, had me close to tears, and no, it wasn’t the third G &T. I was probably the only passenger not upset by the 30 minute holding delay over Heathrow wanting to learn what happened to the Kingdom of Aragorn. And then what about us? Davies concludes that the United Kingdom is already in the process of vanishing, even if time alone will tell exactly how and when. So if you want to stay up all night enjoying a masterly blend of wistful travelogue, superb scholarship and unforgettable anecdote, this is for you.”
Matt Ridley recommends…
“Steven Pinker's The Better Angels of Our Nature: The Decline of Violence in History and Its Causes may prove to be one of the great books of our time. Not only is it his surprising main theme — that all forms of violence have seen huge long-term declines — powerfully proven by his relentless and detailed analysis, but his exploration of the reasons for this, within psychology, neuroscience, politics and economics, is a subtle piece of natural philosophy to rival that of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment. He writes like an angel, too.”
Professor Colin Blakemore recommends…
“I've just picked up 1001 Inventions: That Changed the World, edited by Jack Challoner. From the Axe to the USB connector; from Automated DNA Sequencing to Velcro; this is a nerd's Bible of invention. What better testimony could there be to the power of people to put evidence into operation – to turn experiment and observation into utility and profit? A wonderful book to dip into, and to glory in the inventiveness of human beings.”
Dr Irene Hames recommends…
“Michael Nielsen’s eagerly-awaited book, Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science, doesn’t disappoint. He convincingly makes the case that there are now unprecedented opportunities to speed up the rate of scientific discovery. New tools are enabling highly productive mass online collaborations between scientists, harnessing latent expertise, amplifying collective intelligence and leading to creative problem-solving. Citizen science projects are using the skills of sometimes hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic volunteers, helping astronomers to classify galaxy images and biochemists to determine protein folding. This shift in the relationship between science and society can only be good. It’s a very thought-provoking book, filled with many interesting examples (my Kindle version is filled with highlighting). It’s also very readable, and you don’t need to be a scientist to understand it.”
Sense About Science's Staff
Tracey Brown, Director, recommends...
"The late Tom Bingham’s The Rule of Law has been the biggest influence of my year. I came to it from our work on libel reform. From habeas corpus to admission of evidence, it is a book about the origins and the future of justice. And if you’re following Garrow’s Law, it enables you to make knowing - yet apparently irritating - comments about the significance of his cases. Bingham’s book made me want to have my career again and become a lawyer... until I read Alex McBride’s Defending the Guilty: Truth and Lies in the Criminal Courtroom. A junior barrister’s life is deadly funny, deadly serious and involves more swearing than even I can manage."
"And I’m not recommending The Hare with Amber Eyes – the best evidence-hunt I’ve read and a moving, inspired journey through artistic discovery. It’s account of 19th Century anti-Semitism particularly so. I’m not recommending it because it seems most people I know have received more than one copy for their birthday this year. But I would if that weren’t the case, and if you have read it go and see the Stein exhibition of Matisse and Picasso in Paris before it finishes in mid January."
"P.S. At Sense About Science we’ve all been reading and discussing Philip Kitcher’s book Science in a Democratic Society, but I suspect that’s recommended elsewhere."
Emily Jesper, Assistant Director, recommends...
"Suckers: How Alternative Medicine Makes Fools of Us All was the first book about the evidence - or lack thereof - behind complementary and alternative medicines that I read. I hadn’t expected to hear of so many stories of human intrigue behind the different therapies and Rose Shapiro tells them with a great sense of humour. It is a good read for anyone who finds themselves in lively discussion (ok, arguing) with their friends and family about unproven treatments and nonsense."
Síle Lane, Campaigns Manager, recommends…
“By far my favourite book this year, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz is the story of an overweight New Jersey “ghetto nerd” called Oscar and the fukù or curse that followed his family to the US when they fled the Dominican Republic. Oscar is into comic books and role-playing games and seriously lacks Dominican machismo. The book chronicles his literary and romantic failures and sweeps us back to the D.R. of the 1950’s under dictator Rafael Trujillo to explain the origin of his family’s fukù. Oscar Wao (it’s the Dominican pronunciation of Oscar Wilde, his nickname) is vibrant, hilarious, magical and sad, and the absorbing snippets of Trujillo-era Dominican political history in the footnotes are worth the price of the book alone."
"There's just one more thing ... My favourite TV evidence hunter, who got to the solution by asking seemingly dumb but actually shrewd questions, died this year. I will be asking for a Columbo - Complete Series [DVD] for Christmas.”
Leonor Sierra, International Science and Policy Manager, recommends…
“Even though I haven’t yet finished reading The Histories (Oxford World's Classics)by Herodotus, I’m really enjoying them and would recommend them. One of the most interesting things is how modern his study of history was, and how he differentiates between different sources of evidence to try and judge how likely it is that something actually happened. Some events are unlikely to have occurred exactly how they were told to him, but they still make for good story telling!”
Julia Wilson, Programme Coordinator, recommends…
"I was given the book Nature’s Gifts: Popular Science Essays from South Africa as a present from researchers at the University of Witwatersrand during my trip to South Africa last September. It’s written by the South African scientist and politician, Professor Wilmot James, and includes all sorts of interesting stories about genetics. He draws on examples from South African history, politics, science and medicine and asks questions like “why do we have different skin colours?” and “why does the brain like music”. It’s very readable for scientists and non-scientists alike and covers a fantastically wide range of subject areas."
"For me, searching for hidden clues can mean only one thing this year: the wonderful Danish detective drama The Killing. Series 1 made staying cosy during last year’s snow a pleasure with a gripping storyline and (widely-cited) inspiration for woolly jumpers. With series 2 starting, I know what I’ll be watching with my mince pies…"
"And if you’re hunting for something to look forward to in the new year, after a lovely evening with Manchester Skeptics in the Pub last month I would look no further than their QED conference for a weekend of great company and thought-provoking ideas."
Mark Brook, Campaigns and Policy Officer, recommends...
"I really enjoyed Derren Brown’s Tricks of the Mind and found the chapter on “anti-science, pseudo-science and bad thinking” particularly enlightening. He provides some very understandable insights into ideas that are actually quite complex, such as the nature of the scientific method and why we often place so much faith in anecdotal evidence. He also gives good lay descriptions of some fairly technical concepts, such as confirmation bias and the placebo effect, and shows how they can help us trick ourselves into believing things that aren’t necessarily true."
"One book I would like to receive is David Salsburg’s The Lady Tasting Tea. The title comes from the story of a summer tea party in Cambridge. One lady suggests that tea tastes different depending on whether the milk is added before or after the tea is poured. R. A. Fisher, giant of 20th century statistics, was at the party and suggested he could test the lady’s claim. This book was recommended to me as a very readable story of the historical development of statistics and their necessity in informing recent scientific progress."
Victoria Murphy, Events and Campaigns Officer, recommends…
"I want to watch and watch again Sherlock - Series 1 [DVD] so hope to find it in my stocking this year. Sherlock Holmes is, in my opinion, the ultimate evidence hunter. He tends not to ask, but he just sees it all, and the shows have me on the edge of my seat. I will be sneaking away from the Christmas dinner table to watch it, and be giving it to others so they can do the same."
Sense About Science's Volunteers
Brian Blood recommends...
"Can cookbooks read like novels? Janet Theophano's Eat My Words: Reading Women's Lives Through the Cookbooks They Wrote showed that beyond the simple lists of ingredients with detailed instructions for turning them into palatable food, were soupçons of social commentary, moral guidance and culinary travelogue. John Lanchester's The Debt to Pleasure - winner of the 1996 Whitbread First Novel Award - has been described variously as 'Horribly funny', 'Dazzling and delicious', 'Gorgeously seductive'. This 'bonne bouche' of a book is part cookbook, part autobiography and part psychological thriller."
Go to the next page for recommendations by Ben Goldacre, Richard Wiseman, Julian Huppert MP and plenty more.
These books are personal recommendations and do not represent any endorsement by Sense About Science.
We've collected reading recommendations from some of Sense About Science's trustees, staff and friends. Every time you purchase an item using the links below, Amazon
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