Know This, This Will Make You Smarter, et al. by John Brockman:
The website, Edge, hosts numerous scientific intellectuals. I highly recommend browsing through it. Over the course of its life, the website has asked scientists and professors to answer one question relating to science which they think would enhance anyone’s scientific toolkit. The best answers are then curated into books. The books enlighten readers of existing niches within a variety of scientific fields, and the important concepts scientists are grappling with in their respective fields. Sometimes, scientists even rant. And they do it in a particularly admirable way. In these books, there is something for everyone.
The Tale of the Duelling Neurosurgeons by Sam Kean
I read a lot of books about neuroscience, and this is one of my favourites. Sam Kean’s writing style is reminiscent of grade school science teacher meets fiction writer. A rare combination, seeing as at the mention of anything concerning English, nearly every science teacher I’ve had stares into the distance as if vexed by the cosmos.
Anyway, interesting subjects are often described more complexly than necessary. It is a skill in and of itself to convey something of importance without sounding like a high-strung megalomaniac. Why use many word when little word do trick?
Sam Kean breaks down the complexities of the nervous system and humanity’s approach to it in a storytelling fashion. He relates it to the everyday man’s ailments, while also exploring the history behind it in detail. The first chapter deals with King Henry II of France’s condition, foreshadowing four centuries’ worth of neuroscience. Readers experience discoveries in real time.
Sometimes, the need to know everything about a subject can be overwhelming, compulsively maddening. In efforts to know more of the body, Vesalius took to dissecting animals before growing bored and robbing graves at midnight, sometimes even “fighting wild dogs over scraps.” For a healthier option, read this book.
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman —
A powerful book dubbed as a modern classic on mastering and knowing your psychology, Thinking primarily tackles the duality of the brain in its employment of two different modes of thought—“System 1” and “System 2.” The former is quick, intuitive, automatic, and impossible to shut off. The latter is slower, deliberately analytical, and logical. Nobel Prize winning author, Daniel Kahneman, shows how the push-and-pull between these competing thought processes leads to errors in real life (memory, judgement, etc.), and offers solutions. Read this book to hone your relationship with your thoughts, and, by extension, life.
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalianithi,
Did I finish this book, or did this book finish me?
In his devastatingly witty autobiography, Kalianithi writes of his relationship with science, classical literature, and philosophy in becoming a neurosurgeon, only to be diagnosed with cancer in his last year as a surgical resident. The universal insights in this book (success being an asymptote the human race ceaselessly strives towards, medicine being the juncture of science and philosophy, etc.) have rendered it one of my all-time favourites. I was intrigued by how this novel sparkled with Kalanithi’s wry humor one second and threatened to crush me with the weight of his reflections the next. The fact that the author passed before the work could be finished, only adds to its charm. I cannot do this book justice in one review, so just take my word for it and read it. Now. Run.
The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson:
True to its title, this is a body of work breaking down the human body. Interested in medicine, or being “painfully aware of how every day, it has been estimated, between one and five of your cells turn cancerous, and your immune system captures and kills them”? This is the book for you. Bryson is known for explaining complex scientific processes in a simplistic way, like in his book A Short History of Nearly Everything (he’s also known for his creative titles. Not.)
Memoirs of an Addicted Brain by Marc Lewis, Ph.D:
A neuroscientist applies his study in the field to his own personal story of addiction. This book is interesting in its autobiographical style—with descriptions of neurobiological effects from a plethora of drugs, and how these effects relate to the nervous system. If you are interested in neuroscience, this is a great way to explore the interdisciplinary nature of the field, because of its tangibly autobiographical approach.
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes:
This is perhaps one of the best contemporary science fiction novels ever written and is so undeservingly underrated. I wouldn’t call this book “underground,” but it does not get enough attention (it should be shelved by Brave New World, The Handmaid’s Tale, Fahrenheit 451, etc.).
Charlie Gordon is born with an unusually low I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) and is subject to an experimental surgery researchers hope will increase his intelligence, as it did when performed on the lab mouse, Algernon. As Charlie’s intelligence grows beyond expectation, readers are forced to confront society’s relationship to intelligence.
Written in a set of journal entries marking Charlie’s intellectual progress, Flowers For Algernon is about the human condition as much as it is about modern science. It is a timeless tale, touching upon many different ethical and moral themes. Mainly, it can be seen as a moral fable about society’s mistreatment of the mentally disabled.
The possession of intelligence —or lack thereof— is often detrimental and divisive due to society’s value system, something made apparent through Charlie writing how "Before, they had laughed at [him], despising [him] for [his] ignorance and dullness; now, they hated [him] for [his] knowledge and understanding."
The book also explores the apparent conflict between intellect and emotion. A higher intelligence does nothing to accelerate emotional development. Charlie’s highest level of emotional development is when he becomes aware of the dangers of dehumanization which accompany the scientific pursuit of knowledge. He writes that “intelligence not tempered by human affection isn’t worth a damn.”
The best science fiction has the potential to explore various philosophical ideas to do with ethics and responsibility. Flowers For Algernon does this masterfully. Go. Read!
The Biology Book and The Drug Book by Michael C. Gerald, with Gloria E. Gerald
The Medical Book and The Physics Book by Clifford A. Pickover:
Concerning a variety of topics, these books are all formatted like student-friendly encyclopedias, depending on which book you choose. The same publisher has several more books covering other STEM subjects. If you are interested in accumulating broad knowledge in a subject, this one’s for you.
Comments