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BOOK: “The Future of Humanity” by Michio Kaku
The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality and Our Destiny Beyond Earth by Michio KakuMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Author Booksite
As the title suggests, this is one of the books for which theoretical physicist Michio Kaku dons his futurist cap to speculate about what is to come. Other of his books that might be included in this “series” are: Visions, Physics of the Future, The Future of the Mind, and Physics of the Impossible. This particular book focuses on how humanity will spread beyond the planet (and, perhaps, beyond the universe) to survive the (probably distant, but – also – inevitable) threats to the species. While there are other topics discussed, such as the search for immortality and transhumanism, those topics are often framed as necessities of interstellar expansion.
As one would expect of a physicist, the book is highly focused on the physics of the subject. There is little discussion of the psychological difficulties, nor of biological issues such as the fact that humanity is not so lone wolf as we think, and taking off to other planets and living in space without the Earthly life we are interdependent on would involve challenges we have difficult fathoming. All of the challenges that are usually treated with handwaves in science fiction are also handwaved off here.
The book is fun and interesting reading. It’s probably more insightful of science fiction than of our future, but that doesn’t make it less compelling. The seven years since this book was published have seen a lot of change, and there may be a book on this subject that has more of a finger on the pulse, but I still enjoyed reading it. [The downside of writing about the future, even with a focus on the distant future, is that one risks becoming obsolete rather quickly.]
If you’re interested in how humanity might survive into the future, I’d recommend this book. If you enjoy popular science and / or science fiction, you’ll probably find it intriguing.
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BOOK: “Long for this World” by Jonathan Weiner
Long For This World: The Strange Science of Immortality by Jonathan WeinerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Author’s book site
This book considers the science around the question: will there come a day when human beings live forever (or at least considerably longer than we’ve achieved to date? — i.e. hundreds or thousands of years.) A secondary question, explored in the last of the book’s three parts, is should we want to?
It was a courageous decision to write this book because it focuses heavily on the ideas of one particularly controversial figure, Aubrey de Grey. And by “controversial” I don’t mean to the general public, a public which has limited understanding of the science involved, but rather a man who is controversial to many (perhaps, most) of his peers. Of course, with a Pulitzer under one’s belt, one can afford to take a few chances. (Weiner won in 1997 for The Beak of the Finch, a popular science work on evolutionary biology.) To be fair, Weiner does not present Grey’s ideas from the perspective of an acolyte. On the contrary, he is clearly skeptical and not shy about presenting the countervailing arguments put out by others in the gerontological field.
I can see several reasons why Weiner chose to focus on Aubrey de Grey. First, De Grey is an eccentric figure, and that makes for more interesting reading. Second, De Grey also takes the boldest possible stance on the topic (i.e. that there is no reason humanity won’t be able to overcome aging and death, given sufficient time and effort.) Finally, De Grey has a readily digestible roadmap for eliminating aging. De Grey identifies seven problems that must be solved, arguing that the last — i.e. defeating cancer — is the only one that will present a true challenge in the long run.
While I wasn’t converted to a belief that immortality is inevitable (and that wasn’t the book’s objective, though it may be de Gray’s,) the book does offer interesting food-for-thought, both on the scientific question of what it would take and on the philosophical question of whether we should want to.
If you’re interested in aging and mortality, I’d recommend reading this book.
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BOOK: “The Mind Electric” by Pria Anand
The Mind Electric: A Neurologist on the Strangeness and Wonder of Our Brains by Pria AnandMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site — Simon & Schuster
There are A LOT of pop neuroscience books out there that reflect upon what we know about the brain from what goes wrong with it. I thought I was done reading such books because, while the first few are fascinating, they tend to retell the same stories.
That said, I’m glad I read this one, and what made it worth reading was that the science was explored in a very personal way, and I don’t just mean that the author recited her own personal experiences or those of her patients (though she does both,) but rather that the whole book is imbued with her worldview. She relates maladies of the mind to works of literature, of Greek and Hindu mythology, and to other aspects of culture in a relatable manner.
Another factor that sets this book apart is that its author shows a passion for language. In that sense, it reminded me of the works of Oliver Sacks (who she references a number of times,) rather than your average — articulate but linguistically conservative — neuroscientist.
I’d recommend this book for any readers interested in neuroscience, particularly anyone looking for a book that sets itself apart from the crowd. (I don’t recall it even mentioning Phineas Gage, which I thought was a requirement of all such books.)
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BOOKS: “Lost in the Twentieth Century” by Albert Szent-Györgyi
Lost in the Twentieth Century by Albert Szent-GyörgyiMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Available Online – NIH National Library of Medicine
This is the very brief autobiography of a fascinating man. Szent-Györgyi is most famous for work in biochemistry involving Vitamin C, work that won him a Nobel Prize. However, his life is not only notable for science before and after the Nobel (after he worked on the physiology of muscular activity, on electron activity in physiology, and on cancer.) He also performed important works outside the laboratory, notably he conducted an espionage / diplomatic mission during the Second World War (“Espionage” in that he traveled to Turkey under false pretenses, under cover of giving a lecture at a university, “diplomatic” in that the trip’s true objective was to negotiate with the Allied powers.)
Szent-Györgyi has some interesting quips and insights that make it worth reading this pamphlet-scale book, even though his Wikipedia page probably contains as much information. He had an interesting way of thinking about matters, both scientific and not, and was politically and socially engaged in the world.
If you’re curious about Szent-Györgyi or enjoy biographies, in general, I’d highly recommend reading this one.
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BOOK: “Gut Feelings” by Gerd Gigerenzer
Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious by Gerd GigerenzerMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher Website – Penguin
Like Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, Gut Feelings explores the circumstances under which intuitive decision-making has been shown to outperform rigorous and systematic reasoning. Gigerenzer is a psychologist and the Director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development.
The central idea of this book is that our brains have evolved to engage in intuitive decision making, and that sometimes what looks like sloppy thinking has underlying benefits. Take – for example – the fact that many times people are asked a question that they don’t know the answer to, but they exploit their selective ignorance in a way that allows them to not only outperform those more ignorant than they, but also those less ignorant. Gigerenzer uses the example of students asked whether Milwaukee or Detroit has a bigger population. Often those who’ve only heard of one of the cities will guess that the one they know is bigger, and this tends to be right more often than not. Students familiar with both cities (but not knowing the precise answer) are more likely to stumble.
The book suggests that we tend to decide based on one key factor rather than the full “pros and cons” list for which many teachers and leaders advocate. The book has a fascinating chapter on how this all applies to healthcare decision-making. It provides insight into why the American healthcare system is so screwed up (high cost, low health outcomes.)
If you are interested in decision-making and the divergence between what we are taught to do and what most of us actually do most of the time (and why,) I’d highly recommend this book.
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BOOK: “Breath” by James Nestor
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James NestorMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Author’s Book Site
In this book, James Nestor takes an immersion journalism approach to reporting on the art and science of better breathing. In addition to participating in trainings on particular breathwork (e.g. Tummo / Wim Hof, Buteyko breathing, Sudarshan Kriya, the DeRose method, etc.,) he participates in a scientific studying involving closing off his nostrils for a few weeks and then systematically nose breathing for a few more. (The first half of which he describes as torturous.) In between discussions of his own experiences, he explores both ancient breathwork teachings and the discoveries of modern science.
While there’s not really anything new in this book, it does a good job of presenting the information in a clear and readable form. In truth, it would be hard to say something both profound and new on the subject, given that yogis, tantrics, Daoists, and others have been systematically observing and altering breath for centuries to improve health, concentration, and emotional poise. Even the seemingly modern systems are by-and-large variants of the old ways (e.g. Wim Hof breathwork adapts the Tummo of Vajrayana Buddhism, DeRose worked from ancient yoga teachings, and Andrew Weil’s 4-7-8 breathing is pretty much the 1:2:2 vrtti pranayama that yogi’s have practiced for centuries.) Still, despite the basic information in the book being widely available, there remains a crisis of bad breathing and the cascade of ill-health that results, therefrom, and so it is a valuable book. (The key takeaways are: nose breathe, breathe slowly and deeply, hyperventilate only consciously and occasionally, and elongate exhalation to facilitate relaxation.)
The newest information to me, personally, was that of Chapter 7, which dealt with the role that shifting to softer, cooked foods played in humanity’s proclivity for breathing problems. Chapter 1, which deals with humankind’s unique breathing issues, also provides insight into why people have so many problems with something so fundamental to life as breathing. Nestor also presented some of the breath-relevant insights of Albert Szent-Györgyi, a Nobel-winning biochemist whose work offered some insight into the connection between electrons and both cancer and aging. So, in addition to some nice reminders and references, I did learn a thing or two as well.
This is a fine overview of breath and how to improve it for better living, and I’d recommend it for anyone looking to learn more on the subject.
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BOOK: “Masala Lab” by Krish Ashok
Masala Lab : The Science of Indian Cooking by Krish AshokMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – Penguin
Many books have come out in recent years that explore the intersection of science and cooking, but this is one of the few that I’ve seen take on the sub-theme of science’s role in a particular cuisine — in this case Indian. Indian food, while broad and diverse itself, does present a unique palette of considerations. Few cuisines can make claims to the same level of complexity as Indian with all its spices and such. Also, Indian food tends to use heat to a different extent / in different ways than other cuisines, which is partly why, while Indian food is as tasty as food gets, aesthetically it tends toward a visually unappealing gloopy-gloppyness.
Ashok examines what applied heat does to food and why, how flavors are balanced and enhanced and why, what acids do and why they are essential, what value added is gained by pressure cookers and other specialty equipment, and how an experimental approach can be taken in lieu of a recipe book? The book takes a few controversial stances, such as in favor of sodium bicarbonate and MSG, but to a large extent is a straightforward discussion of how science informs culinary technique and ingredients.
The author maintains a light and readable tone throughout the book. I’d recommend this book for readers interested in the intersect of science and food, doubly so if one has a particular interest in Indian food.
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BOOKS: “The Meaning of Travel” by Emily Thomas
The Meaning of Travel: Philosophers Abroad by Emily ThomasMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher Site – OUP
Of late, I’ve been reflecting upon the philosophical divides that exist between travelers and others (I call them “tribals,” but they are by far the majority of people — i.e. those who either don’t travel [unless required to] or who travel only in a tourist-like fashion.) As I’ve done so, I’ve been surprised to find how limited the literature is on the subject. I was, therefore, pleased to find this book. While Thomas confirmed my preliminary findings that there isn’t much of a travel-centric subdiscipline of philosophy, she also shows that it’s not for a lack of philosophers traveling and pondering travel.
While I’ve spent considerable time thinking about a philosophy of travel, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a number of topics in Thomas’s book to which I’d hardly given any thought. These were the most personally fascinating topics because they involved such uncharted territory. They include: maps as propaganda, the importance of travel to scientific discovery, the domination of male perspective in our collective understanding of travel, and the ethics of doom travel (going to vanishing places.)
The book also advanced my understanding of subjects that I’ve often contemplated — e.g. aesthetics and travel, innate / universal ideas v. culturally-tinted ones, and the connection between minimalism and travel.
If you’re interested in philosophy, travel, and the intersect of the two, this book is definitely for you. The author takes a light approach and the book’s readability is high — i.e. while it is thought-provoking, it’s aimed at a general readership rather than a scholarly one.
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PROMPT: Don’t Understand
Computational Fluid Dynamics. Also, Nuclear Lensing.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 