SciReadr : Reading lists for biology students

Publisher: Flamingo
Year: 2001
ISBN: 0006551254

In Life at the Extremes Frances Ashcroft, Professor of Physiology at Oxford University, investigates the related questions: how much can the human body endure? What can it survive, what causes it to fail? Why can some creatures tolerate conditions that would kill others? The extremes in question, to which bodies are periodically subjected, either voluntarily or not, include the limits of endurable temperature and pressure; physical constraints on speed; the weightlessness, vacuum and utter cold of space; and a number of environments that, for various reasons, are so unpleasant as to limit drastically the options of life-forms that attempt to inhabit them. By its nature, such a subject does not lend itself to continuous narrative, and Life at the Extremes may be best regarded as a kind of anthology into which one can dip to pull out examples, cheerful or gruesome, of what can happen to living tissue at the extremes. Here is Mr Blagden, accompanied by some eggs, a raw steak and a dog, entering a room heated to 105 degrees C, in the late 18th century. Fifteen minutes later the steak and eggs were cooked but Mr Blagden and the dog were not. A clear and absorbing explanation of mammalian heat regulation follows. Here are dreadful pictures of frost-bitten extremities; Sir Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile; a frog frozen solid in a block of ice but still alive and well; divers and the bends; astronauts and the redistribution of bodily fluids in weightlessness; flamingos enduring their caustic soda lakes; the physiology of the chilblain. Frances Ashcroft writes warmly and with wit: her many illustrative anecdotes are well chosen and provoke much thought about how life copes with, and adapts to, the physical circumstances it finds itself in.

Publisher: Picador
Year: 2009
ISBN: 0330294911

‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is populated by a cast as strange as that of the most fantastic fiction. The subject of this strange and wonderful book is what happens when things go wrong with parts of the brain most of us don’t know exist . . . Dr Sacks shows the awesome powers of our mind and just how delicately balanced they have to be’ Sunday Times

Publisher: Phoenix
Year: 2003
ISBN: 0753813556

Chris McManus’ Right Hand, Left Hand will be of interest to lefties who may have slightly resented the historic association of right-handers as being correct and dextrous (Latin dexter: right-hand side) and left-handers as sinister and gauche (Latin sinister: left-hand side with the heraldic bend sinister indicating illegitimacy). Chris McManus could hardly be more appropriately named (Latin manus: hand) and, as a university professor and one of the world’s leading authorities the extraordinary and fascinating intricacies of our fundamental asymmetry. Wherever you look in nature there is asymmetry with an inclination to handedness and, like the law and life, it is almost impossible to be even-handed.

Publisher: Profile
Year: 2009
ISBN: 9781861978486

Powerful new research methods are providing fresh and vivid insights into the makeup of life. Comparing gene sequences, examining the atomic structure of proteins and looking into the geochemistry of rocks have all helped to explain creation and evolution in more detail than ever before. Nick Lane uses the full extent of this new knowledge to describe the ten greatest inventions of life, based on their historical impact, role in living organisms today and relevance to current controversies. DNA, sex, sight and consciousnesses are just four examples. Lane also explains how these findings have come about, and the extent to which they can be relied upon. The result is a gripping and lucid account of the ingenuity of nature, and a book which is essential reading for anyone who has ever questioned the science behind the glories of everyday life.

Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2002
ISBN: 0141007206

What is happening in the brain when we drink too much alcohol, get high on ecstasy or experience road rage? Emotion, says internationally acclaimed neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, is the building block of consciousness. As our minds develop we create a personalized inner world based on our experiences. But during periods of intense emotion, such as anger, fear or euphoria, we can literally lose our mind, returning to the mental state we experienced as infants. Challenging many preconceived notions, Susan Greenfield’s groundbreaking book seeks to answer one of science’s most enduring mysteries: how our unique sense of self is created.

Publisher: Rough Guides
Year: 2007
ISBN: 1843536641

Within our skulls resides an organ more powerful than the fastest supercomputer, the ultimate multi-tasker controlling everything from the retrieval of memories to complex reasoning – and even breathing. The Rough Guide to the Brain provides an absorbing and accessible introduction to the science of the mind. From how the human brain evolved over millions of years and how it differs from those of other animals to the power of positive thinking and extrasensory perception hypnosis. Illustrated throughout with photos and diagrams, this Rough Guide is guaranteed to get you thinking.

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
Year: 2007
ISBN: 9781405160223

Written by one of the world’s leading neuroscientists, Making Up the Mind is the first accessible account of experimental studies showing how the brain creates our mental world.
Uses evidence from brain imaging, psychological experiments and studies of patients to explore the relationship between the mind and the brain.
Demonstrates that our knowledge of both the mental and physical comes to us through models created by our brain
Shows how the brain makes communication of ideas from one mind to another possible.

Publisher: Yale University Press
Year: 2000
ISBN: 9780300075984

The authors have chosen to document what they consider to be the ten medical discoveries that have most affected humanity’s welfare. This text aims to interest the general reader and contains entertaining stories of ambition, jealously, lies and fraud in the name of science.

Publisher: Harper Perennial
Year: 2009
ISBN: 9780007284870

Guardian columnist Dr Ben Goldacre takes us on a hilarious, invigorating and informative journey through the bad science we’re fed by the worst of the hacks and the quacks…When Dr Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an ‘Aqua Detox’ footbath, releasing her toxins into the water and turning it brown, he thought he’d try the same at home. ‘Like some kind of Johnny Ball cum Witchfinder General’, using his girlfriend’s Barbie doll, he gently passed an electrical current through the warm salt water. It turned brown. In his words: ‘before my very eyes, the world’s first Detox Barbie was sat, with her feet in a pool of brown sludge, purged of a weekend’s immorality.’Dr Ben Goldacre is the author of the ‘Bad Science’ column in the Guardian and his book is about all the ‘bad science’ we are constantly bombarded with in the media and in advertising. At a time when science is used to prove everything and nothing, everyone has their own ‘bad science’ moments – from the useless pie-chart on the back of cereal packets to the use of the word ‘visibly’ in cosmetics ads. This book will help people to quantify their instincts – that a lot of the so-called ‘science’ which appears in the media and in advertising is just wrong or misleading. Satirical and amusing – and unafraid to expose the ridiculous – it provides the reader with the facts they need to differentiate the good from the bad.Full of spleen, this is a hilarious, invigorating and informative journey through the world of ‘bad science’.