Joanne gives a beautiful review of The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes. Joanne’s Top Model doll is wearing a dress representing something a woman would wear in the mid 1840s.
Joanne’s back with three book reviews on video for Science Cheerleader readers. If you haven’t read any of the books she reviews, you may be motivated to do so after viewing her video reviews. At the very least, be sure to place these books on your coffee table where all your friends will see them. Look smart even if you’re not book smart 
Stephen Hawkings’ three versions of A Brief History of Time, Bill Bryson’s two versions of A Short History of Nearly Everything and two great ways to enjoy Einstein by Walter Isaacson.
SciCheer book reviewer Joanne Manaster tells us what she thinks about the soft-on-science-but-heavy-on-social-etiquette book, I See Rude People. If I get this book as a gift, I’ll know why (hint: texting while talking to others. I know! I know!). One cool reminder Joanne pulls from the book deals with the brain’s limited capacity to communicate with large numbers of people. How many people do you interact with on a given day (factor in the folks at the supermarket, school, online friends, etc)? More than 150? If so, your brain’s probably being compromised. Back when we ran with traditional tribes, our brains nimbly handled communications among 150 *or fewer* other tribesmen (the average size of a tribe was 150). Fast-forward to today, and it turns out our brains haven’t evolved all that much in this regard: the ability to communicate well begins to break down after our circle extends past 150 people.
From our lovely Joanne Manaster:
In excitement of the start up and successful proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Joanne reviews Paul Halpern’s book Collider:The Search for the World’s Smallest Particles and Voyage to the Heart of Matter : The Atlas Experiment at CERN by Anton Radevsky and Emma Sanders.
If you know nothing about these projects, this is a good place to start!
I’m thrilled to announce a collaboration between the Science Cheerleader (Darlene Cavalier) and the Science Goddess (Joanne Manaster). Joanne has quite a talent for making science entertaining and accessible. Check out what she does with a Gummy Bear in this short video. Science Cheerleader will distribute Joanne’s popular video book reviews. Here’s the first of her occasional series:The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology and The Cartoon Guide to Genetics!
Meet Faye Flam, a talented journalist and media personality who makes science sexy AND makes sex “sciencey”. We have much in common though she actually has a degree in science (Physics, CalTech), she’s an amateur circus acrobat, and she’s a much stronger writer than I am (or is it “than me”?).
I met Faye a few months ago, here in Philadelphia where she’s a popular columnist at the Inquirer. Check out the archives of her controversial (although no longer running) column, “Carnal Knowledge,” where you can find answers to practically anything you’ve ever wanted to ask about sex, through the lens of the sciences: anthropology, genetics, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, psychology and even botany. That’s right. Botany. Test your Sex IQ with Faye’s Sex Quiz.
Her book, The Score: How the Quest for Sex Shaped the Modern Man was published this summer. I read it at the beach where no fewer than a dozen people offered remarks about my book choice. The most common comment: “What’s to learn? You have four kids don’t you?”
This book is much richer than I anticipated. There’s a terrific storyline to hold the reader’s interest involving a Boot Camp for men who wish to bed women, quickly. But the heart of the book is a deconstruction of evolution down to its primordial form where we learn, through Faye’s wicked sense of humor and gift for analogies, how some species fumbled their way into reproduction while others developed deliberate (sometimes comical) rituals and protocols.
Playgirl gave it this review: (more…)
Does this look like a scientist?
It’s my friend Randy Olson.
He’s an avid surfer but he’s better known as Randy-the-scientist-turned-Hollywood-producer. His films Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy and Flock of Dodos are “must see flicks”.
Here’s Occam with a review of Olson’s new book, Don’t Be Such A Scientist!
Yes, just like jelly donuts, Super Bowl-winning touchdown drives, and this odd, recurring dream I have of Neil Degrasse Tyson in a bathrobe repeating the words “dark matter,” Randy Olson gets me going where it counts.
Why am I admitting this? you ask. How can this be so? you wonder. Who is Randy Olson, is he single, and what’s his address? you are thinking. Randy came to prominence with his documentary Flock of Dodos, on the evolution/intelligent design debate. He has the unique pedigree of being perhaps the only tenured science professor in history to resign from such a cushy post, move to LA, and enroll in film school. Randy fashions himself an expert on communicating science to the general public and has recently written Don’t Be Such a Scientist, chastising the profession for its shortcomings in communications and suggesting how scientists can be better at this task.
Yesterday, New Scientist published this review of Olson’s book calling it “Engaging and timely”. RealClimate.org says it’s “a MUST read” and popular blogger PZ Meyers adds “there are lessons worth learning” in this book. (more…)
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