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!

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.

Randy brings the thinking of story-telling and communication he learned in Hollywood to this book and notes that the four organs of mass communication are the head, heart, gut and the “lower organs.” It’s these lower organs that Randy says need to be aroused for people to truly pay attention, and while he notes they are a universal driving force, I’m probably not alone in wondering how much the scientists who I’ve come across understand about them. Of course, since this is science, instead of speculating about this I would have to do an experiment and fortunately (again, given the scientists that I know), in the interest of proper research this would have to be a double blind experiment (whew). Although I could recruit from this pool of scientists, which is just brimming with talent, I think you’d agree. Hmm…I see an untoward spin on the Milgram experiments in my near future…

Scientists can get aroused, of course, as evidenced by 1. their passionate determination to drive cross-country in, uh, less-than-ideal circumstances (in a diaper, no less); 2. their study of sexual topics, such as these observations that the voice of a woman can make a…er, stem grow faster; and 3. this out-of-character and candid excerpt from Isaac Newton’s diary: “Upon its fall the apple dideth so rolleth on the ground as to beckon me close to it…its curves and sheen causeth the rising of a quizzical feeling inside mine body…by the throne of King Charles it was softeth to the touch! And the smell…the soft, feminine smell….Had my gout not been so enflamethed I would have taken that ripe, red fruit home with me that instant on the mere principia of it.”

What Randy wants scientists to do is to take this ability to get excited about their own work and turn it into effective communication, arousing the public about science as well. He spends a lot of the book admonishing scientists for being bad at this, with some cute Hollywood anecdotes thrown in. Curiously, he strongly attacks scientists’ proclivity to condescend and alienate (even when clearly in the right) without once giving explanation to his documentary title, Flock of Dodos, which seems to imply those in support of intelligent design are idiots. Further, while mocking a list of interview tips from the Union of Concerned Scientists to its membership for being overly negative, his own chapter titles and themes are a bit biting: Don’t be this…don’t be that… He does end with a chapter on what scientists can be, which is the voice of science in a positive, effective manner.

But “arouse and fulfill” is Randy’s theme and he does a good job of that…he aroused this reader to be concerned about the pitfalls and easy mistakes that those of us who try to communicate about science make; he fulfilled by offering examples and anecdotes on how to be better and by providing a framework for what effective communication can look like (he also fulfills with a sexually itemized photo of a certain actor-governor!). Most science communicators will take something useful away from this read. In fact, we can all put this book down and be motivated to deliver that talk, create that powerpoint, give that interview, even drive cross country to passionately reconnect with a loved one/astronaut (note to self: pack the Pampers).