These are all the books I read the summer after my sophomore year and the first term of my junior year.
Books on this page are codified on an Amazon list which I maintain.
The Emperor of Scent: A Story of Perfume, Obsession, and the Last Mystery of the Senses by Chandler Burr. I read this book again because, after three more terms as a biology major, I thought I would have a better ground from which to evaluate Turin's theory. I still find it scientifically sound.
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley. Again. What can I say? This is one of the best biology books I've ever read tailored to a non-technical audience. And every time I reread it, I discover that I understand the molecular arguments better and better, because we've talked about almost all of them in one class or another.
Advice for a Young Investigator by Santiago Ramon y Cajal. Ramon y Cajal is considered to be one of the finest neuroanatomists of all time, and in this short but fabulous book he dispenses advice to the next generation(s) of biologists. He firmly believes that hard work is more important in the career of a scientist than raw intelligence, which makes me feel a lot better about my chances of success in a research career.
Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues by Paul Farmer. Another book I'm reading for Adam's HASS. Farmer, who works at Brigham and Women's here in Boston when he's not working for at his free clinic in Haiti, combines anthropology and epidemiology with a great deal of very real passion. It's somewhat depressing to read about the normally unpublicized plaugues of the world's poverty-stricken, but certainly enlightening.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. A book I'm reading for Adam for 21A.215 this term, I was intrigued by the storyline of this book. An epileptic child of Laotian immigrants eventually becomes severely brain-damaged due to incompatibilities between Western medicine and her parents' spiritual beliefs. I guess I would say I came out of this book with a lot less sympathy for the parents than the author did; in my opinion, since they didn't give her the epilepsy-controlling drugs the doctors prescribed, it's their fault that she's now a vegetable.
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky. I've read all of Sapolsky's popular books this summer, and I am just in love with the man and his sense of scientific humor. I liked this book so much, in fact, that I went to the Stanford website to see if I have a prayer of getting into Sapolsky's lab for grad school...
Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences by Edward Tenner. An interesting, if somewhat dated, account of the "revenge effects" of modern-day technology and medicine. I don't know that it really solves what it sets out to solve (as in, why these things bite back), but it does a good job of putting together examples.
A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis by David M. Friedman. After reading this book, I have the dubious distinction of knowing more about the penis and its history in the human psyche than most men do. I'm not sure whether I should be proud or ashamed. This wasn't a masterpiece like The Woman That Never Evolved, but it was at least entertaining.
The Woman That Never Evolved by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy. This book, a classic of evolutionary anthropology, was considered radical and feminist at the time it was published. The fact that it doesn't read that way now is a testament to how right Sarah Blaffer Hrdy was that anthropology needed to revise its concepts of female primate sexuality. A spectacular work.
The Thermodynamics of Pizza: Essays on Science and Everyday Life by Harold J. Morowitz. Although this isn't Gould-quality science essay writing, I did find this book amusing and occasionally even informative. The title essay on pizza thermodynamics was particularly cute.
Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms by Stephen Jay Gould. I tried to read Gould's entire collection of essays last summer, but the DC public library is not necessarily the best place to look for science books published within the last ten years. The Boston public library isn't either, but at least they had this one. I love Gould!
A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons by Robert Sapolsky. I was absolutely entranced by this book, authored by the man who brought me The Trouble with Testosterone. I was so engrossed, I delayed going to lunch for fifteen minutes so I could finish the book... anyone who knows me will realize this was a colossal feat.
Mind Wide Open: Your Brain and the Neuroscience of Everyday Life by Steven Johnson. This was one of those books that I read avidly and with interest, but practically forgot the moment I set it down. Informative, but not captivating.
Fly: The Unsung Hero of Twentieth Century Science by Martin Brookes. The rare popular science book that is devastatingly witty as well as scientifically accurate, I liked this book so much that I decided to buy it for my favorite Drosophila researcher, Tulasi.
A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love by Richard Dawkins. I absolutely devoured this book as soon as it came from Amazon... I'm terribly glad I went ahead and bought it sight unseen. Dawkins is a fabulous writer, no matter how idealogically rigid he can be, and this is some of his finest writing to date.
Pluto's Republic by Peter Medawar. I read Medawar's The Threat and the Glory last summer, and loved it so much that this summer I'm reading all of his books I can get my hands on. He's a classic 40-years-ago British biologist: educated, articulate, and devastating to his intellectual opponents. His books are also mostly out of print, so thank heavens for the out-of-date Boston Public Library book collection.
The Ape and the Sushi Master: Cultural Reflections of a Primatologist by Frans de Waal. An engaging and informed account of the cultural complexity of non-human primates from one of the most influential and brilliant primatologists in the world.
Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins. Although this isn't my favorite of Dawkins' books, it is a lucid and informative account of some of the complexities of evolutionary theory.
The Child of the Holy Grail by Rosalind Miles. The final book in a fabulous trilogy... and with a happy ending, too!
Right Hand, Left Hand: The Origins of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms, and Cultures by Chris McManus. I really enjoyed this book, probably because I like trying to figure out exactly why I'm such a left-handed freak. It's a little biochemically intensive in the chapters on chirality, but is also very well-informed on the more psych-related chapters.
Tears of the Cheetah: And Other Tales from the Genetic Frontier by Stephen J. O'Brien. What a great book! A lab chief at the NIH's NCI, O'Brien has been involved in some of the most exciting genetic research of the past 15 years, and he's fabulous at telling stories about it.
The Knight of the Sacred Lake by Rosalind Miles. This is a great trilogy! I was really disappointed when I finished the book, because I wanted the third one right at that moment and it hasn't arrived from Amazon yet.
Sex: A Natural History by Joann Ellison Rodgers. Overall, this was a good, thorough book about sexual biology, although it contained a bit too much soft psychology for my liking... and sometimes didn't explain the biochemical stuff correctly enough.
Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country by Rosalind Miles. I've always loved Arthurian legend, and when I saw this book in Logan Airport, I knew it would be a good read for the plane. And a good thing, too: this book had the task of keeping me entertained while my flight was delayed two and a half hours... and it performed that task with flying colors.
Next up: There's a new book out about the childhoods of eminent scientists and why, in their own opinions, they decided to pursue a scientific vocation. I'm all over that.