When I set out to write a book about the natural history of breasts, I knew I'd have to answer some awkward questions about my book topic. At a...
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This book not only tells the story of the great influenza, but places it in historical context, so that you understand _why_ the flu was so hard to find, and how it spread to kill so many people so quickly -- plus the follow-on effects that we're feeling to this day. Within this sweeping history, it's the tiny, fascinating details that pull the reader into the action. You'll leave this book with a better understanding of medical history, early 20th-century life, PR and marketing ... it all interconnects in this utterly fascinating story.
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(4 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
Jill Tarter just won the TED Prize for asking the same question this book asks: Once we've heard a sign of intelligent life from elsewhere in the universe, how will _we_ change? Lem's book is dense and fascinating, funny and entirely plausible, as his very human characters -- scientists, mathematicians, military types -- react variously to this worldview-changing event. (Some turn philosophical, others careerist; and some get right down to the business of war.) Lem has a gift for moving his characters through complex spaces and ideas, inviting the reader to think deeply on questions without simple answers.
If you watch Jill Tarter's TEDTalk and then read this, ask yourself which outcome you'd prefer: that we do, or that we don't, find what she's looking for...
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UnofficialRose has commented on (2) products.
The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M Barry
UnofficialRose, March 15, 2009
This book not only tells the story of the great influenza, but places it in historical context, so that you understand _why_ the flu was so hard to find, and how it spread to kill so many people so quickly -- plus the follow-on effects that we're feeling to this day. Within this sweeping history, it's the tiny, fascinating details that pull the reader into the action. You'll leave this book with a better understanding of medical history, early 20th-century life, PR and marketing ... it all interconnects in this utterly fascinating story.(4 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
His Master's Voice by Stanislaw Lem
UnofficialRose, February 22, 2009
Jill Tarter just won the TED Prize for asking the same question this book asks: Once we've heard a sign of intelligent life from elsewhere in the universe, how will _we_ change? Lem's book is dense and fascinating, funny and entirely plausible, as his very human characters -- scientists, mathematicians, military types -- react variously to this worldview-changing event. (Some turn philosophical, others careerist; and some get right down to the business of war.) Lem has a gift for moving his characters through complex spaces and ideas, inviting the reader to think deeply on questions without simple answers.If you watch Jill Tarter's TEDTalk and then read this, ask yourself which outcome you'd prefer: that we do, or that we don't, find what she's looking for...
(2 of 4 readers found this comment helpful)