A New History of Life: The Radical New Discoveries about the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth

Peter Ward and Joe Kirschvink. Bloomsbury (2015)

9781608199075

Since Richard Fortey's landmark Life (HarperCollins, 1997), the science on life's origins and evolution has itself evolved. Here, palaeobiologist Peter Ward and geobiologist Joe Kirschvink weave decades of findings into an audacious retelling, hingeing on catastrophic transformation; the roles of oxygen, hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide as well as carbon; and the importance of ecosystems. They speculate chillingly about future impacts of the biodiversity drain, and query our own evolutionary capacity.

The Man Who Touched His Own Heart: True Tales of Science, Surgery, and Mystery

  • Rob Dunn
Little, Brown (2015) 9780316225793 | ISBN: 978-0-3162-2579-3

Its beat drives our lives, yet the heart — that “meat in the middle of you”, as biologist Rob Dunn puts it — remains only half understood. Dunn punctuates his chronicle of cardiac biology with stories of explorers in the “human wilderness”: nineteenth-century African American heart-surgery pioneer Daniel Hale Williams; Nobel laureate Werner Forssmann, who ran a catheter through a vein to touch his own heart; Helen Brooke Taussig, who studied avian hearts to understand human pathologies; and many more.

Is Shame Necessary?: New Uses for an Old Tool

  • Jennifer Jacquet
Pantheon (2015) 9781846146114 | ISBN: 978-1-8461-4611-4

In an era when fat-cat bonuses coincide with social-service cutbacks, the baselines of shame seem to have irrevocably shifted. Yet public exposure remains a driving force for social change, argues environmental social scientist Jennifer Jacquet. In her reframing of shame, Jacquet draws on evolutionary biology, public-health research and more to examine its evolution and function, and to formulate “seven habits of highly effective shaming”. Surprises are few, but the case studies add zip — not least, the mimes hired in the 1990s by Bogotá mayor Antanas Mockus to ridicule reckless drivers.

The Internet Is Not the Answer

  • Andrew Keen
Atlantic Monthly Press (2015) 9780802123138 | ISBN: 978-0-8021-2313-8

Silicon Valley insider Andrew Keen joins the ranks of Internet watchers such as Nicholas Carr and Jaron Lanier with this sizzling critique of claims by the web's supporters. Although he lauds some advances, Keen argues that industry billionaires and social-media cheerleaders create a “reality distortion field”, where wealth distribution is the rhetoric and monopolies the reality. The portraits of plutocrats running 'disruptive' companies in San Francisco, California — a city with 7,000 homeless people and an open-defecation problem — is a salutary reminder of the need to redefine success in a digitized world.

This Idea Must Die: Scientific Theories That Are Blocking Progress

Edited by:
  • John Brockman
Harper Perennial (2015) 9780062374349 | ISBN: 978-0-0623-7434-9

John Brockman, founder of virtual science salon Edge.org, gathers essays from luminaries in science and the arts for this latest in his series on the big questions of our era. This time, he asks which scientific theory is due for the dustbin. Those pitching in include neuroscientist Patricia Churchland and astronomer Martin Rees. There is plenty of pith on show, from cosmologist Max Tegmark poking holes in infinity to psychologist Paul Bloom trashing the concept of science ever maximizing happiness.