New Popular Science Titles
All highly recommended by our reviewers!

Almost Heaven: The Story of Women in Space. Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles. NY: Basic Books, 2003. 256pp. Order

There are so many women in the U.S. astronaut corps today that it is easy to forget how difficult it was for them to get there. Almost Heaven is a wonderful history of the U.S. space program, with special emphasis on, and stories about, the women who have had the courage to venture into space. Each one is special, the book reveals; yet they all share a spirit of adventure and a willingness to put up with hardship in order to fulfill their dream.

The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature. David Baron. NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003. 320pp. Order

The Beast That Walks Like Man: The Story of the Grizzly Bear. Harold McCracken. Roberts Rinehart, Inc., 2003. xii+320pp. Order

Elephas Maximus: A Portrait of the Indian Elephant. Steven Alter. NY: Harcourt Inc., 2004. 336pp. Order

Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory. Edward J. Larson. NY: Random House, 2004. 256pp. Order

The Dollhouse Murders: A Forensic Expert Investigates 6 Little Crimes. Thomas P. Mauriello. (Photographs by John Consoli.) Pi Press, 2004. 176pp.
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In this volume, noted criminalist Thomas Mauriello and fiction writer Ann Darby have collaborated to create one of the most innovative, practical, and charming presentations on forensic crime scene investigations. Over the past 11 years, Mauriello developed the practical use of miniature dioramas as teaching aids in his criminology course at the University of Maryland. The diorama approach proved to be an excellent method of testing whether and how prospective investigators recognized evidence and coordinated the overall crime scene investigation. In the book, Mauriello takes his successful approach one step further. He commissioned the construction of six miniature diorama dollhouses with different crime scene scenarios. Mauriello then collaborated with Darby and created hard-boiled characters and gritty narratives to complement each scenario. The “Detective with No Name” appears at each scene and brings the enthralled reader into the complex world of forensic crime scene investigation by evaluating the collection of evidence and theorizing whether a violent homicide has occurred or whether the apparent violent crime can be explained by accidental death or suicide.

Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science. Peter Atkins. Oxford University Press, 2003. 380pp. Order

The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World. James Shreeve. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. 384pp. Order

The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World, by James Shreeve, chronicles the tale of the parallel efforts of two groups to sequence the human genome. What began as a collaboration of several academic groups in the United States and the Welcome Trust in the United Kingdom devolved into a bitter confrontation between J. Craig Venter of Celera, Inc., and the U.S. government's Human Genome Project. The animosity created by distrust on both sides ultimately became the driving force that guided, or perhaps misguided, the race towards the prize for both the public and private efforts. The Genome War takes us through the months from 1998 to June of 2000, when a tenuous truce was reached and President Clinton, together with Venter and Collins, announced that both teams had "completed the first survey of the entire human genome". The author of this volume was granted exclusive access to Celera's inner workings throughout its establishment and its race to completion. The Human Genome Project did not grant such access. In spite of this inequity, Shreeve has written a balanced presentation, giving credit and criticism as deserved.

Great Feuds in Technology: Ten of the Liveliest Disputes Ever. Hal Hellman. NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2004. ix+248pp. Order

This is a work that details 10 of the most significant technology disputes that have occurred between the opening of the 19th century and the close of the 20th century. The text opens with a chapter detailing the initial and violent social conflict between the capitalists, who were pushing the Industrial Revolution forward, and the Luddites, who were trying to preserve jobs and a way of life. It closes with a chapter exploring the contemporary conflict between the Monsanto Company and attorney Jeremy Rifkin over biotechnology and bioengineered food. The chapters between these opening and closing stories cover disputes involving pioneers in mine safety, telegraphy, electric-power distribution, automobile manufacturing, powered flight, television, and nuclear-powered naval ships. Each chapter provides the historical context of the conflict, describes the activities and goals of the contestants, and guides the reader through thoughtful analyses of the legacies each of these conflicts have left to the modern world.

The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon. Robert Whitaker. NY: Basic Books, 2004. 288pp. Order

The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors. John Gribbin. NY: Random House, 2003. xxii+648pp.
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This remarkable and valuable book displays well John Gribbin’s excellent, logical, and entertaining look at the history of Western science. Gribbin recounts some tales about the scientists portrayed that I have not read in any previous biographical work covering the topic. This is a truly fresh approach to discussing such an important piece of history. The well-written, engaging book traces the development of Western science in a well-connected chronology of the events and the people that caused them. Gribbin makes use of many points of interconnection and interdependency among various scientific discoveries, as well as among their discoverers, to guide us through a complete understanding of the development of Western science.

Sherlock Holmes in Babylon and Other Tales of Mathematical History. Marlow Anderson, Victor Katz, and Robin Wilson (Eds.). Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America, 2004. 420pp.
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Spix's Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird. Tony Juniper. Atria Books, 2003. 288pp. Order