Good reads: interesting scientific essays

Here are some suggestions for reading on various scientific issues. For now you’ll only find titles, as soon as there’s time I’ll fill in with more.

Who we are and how we got here, by David Reich

Published in 2018, this is a very detailed explanation of how our DNA works, and how the study of DNA has changed dramatically in the last few years.

The Cultural Lives of Whales and Dolphins, by  Luke Rendell, Hal Whitehead

An incredible, though not simple, essay on what is culture and how several cetaceans species have it. You will learn about the songs of blue waves, the different dialects and eating habits of tribes of killer whales, and the interactions of dolphins with some human populations. You will also learn how human beings are working hard to destroy all that.

The mating mind, by G.F. Miller

How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature.

Bates uses Darwin’s other theory of evolution – sexual selection, to suggest that the incredible variety of human culture originates in the need to impress mates, just like birdsong and peacock feathers.

Other minds, by Peter Godfrey-Smith

2016. The subtitle is The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness. You’ll never look at a squid the same way.

The age of wonder, by Richard Holmes

An essay on science in the Romantic era, with a great introduction to get rid of the notion that Romantics hated science, and ten chapters, each one on one great scientist: from Joseph Banks, father of anthropology and founder of the Royal Society, to the two Herschers, the German and the English astronomer; from balloon flying to anatomical research and the search for anesthetics that would put you to sleep, but not permanently.

Time, space and things, by B.K.Ridley

This fantastic book, first released in 1976, has now reached its third edition.

Its aim is to explain modern physics to the non-scientific reader, therefore giving up formulas and calculations, yet it isn’t exactly what you would call popular science. Every aspect of modern physics, from relativity to quantum physics to string theory is explained in beautifully written chapters, each introduced by a quotation from the works of literary works admired by English speaking scientist, from Carroll’s Alice books to Milton’s paradise lost to William Blake’s poetry.