Wired Magazine - 8 Science Books to Read (or Gift) This Winter 12/8/2020
Phallacy: Life Lessons From the Animal Penis
by Emily Willingham
Amid all the awe—exploding sperm packages, prehensile penises, pheromone war—Willingham makes a big point (sorry): All this diversity means that the way we humans often see intromitta as symbols of masculinity, of strength, of worthiness, are (sorry again) bollux. It’s an organ. We use it to do a thing, and because of weird dangling cultural baggage (sort of sorry) the human penis has come (sorry!) to stand (sorry!) for sexism and oppression. But it doesn’t have to, and Willingham here means to liberate it—entertainingly, smartly, and expertly.
Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life
by Lulu Miller
Part biography, part memoir, part scientific adventure, Why Fish Don’t Exist is a wondrous fable about how to persevere in a world where chaos will always prevail.
A Best Book of 2020: The Washington Post * NPR * Chicago Tribune * Smithsonian
A “remarkable” (Los Angeles Times), “seductive” (The Wall Street Journal) debut from the new cohost of Radiolab, Why Fish Don’t Exist is a dark and astonishing tale of love, chaos, scientific obsession, and—possibly—even murder.
The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to the Hidden World of Everyday Design
by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt
Since 2010 they’ve managed to not just evoke but explain the reasons everything around us looks the way it does, the ghost world behind the built environment.
The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War, and Everest
by Ed Caesar
“An outstanding book.” —The Wall Street Journal * “Gripping at every turn.” —Outside * “A gem of a book.” —The Guardian * “A hell of a ride.” —The Times (London)
An extraordinary true story about one man’s attempt to salve the wounds of war and save his own soul through an audacious adventure.
This is the tale of an adventurer unlike any you have ever encountered: complex, driven, wry, haunted, and fully alive
The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World
by Virginia Postrel
If humans hadn’t learned to grow and optimize cotton to make thread, we wouldn’t have modern agriculture. If we hadn’t chased the capacity to make silk, we wouldn’t have modern international trade. No desire for brightly colored dyes? No chemistry. No weaving to make fabric and patterns in that fabric? You can forget about computers. Forget about arithmetic. Textile-making hasn’t gotten enough credit for its own sophistication, and for all the ways it undergirds human technological innovation—an error Virginia Postrel’s erudite and complete book goes a long way toward correcting at last.
Operation Moonglow: A Political History of Project Apollo
by Teasel Muir-Harmony
What if President Trump sent US astronauts to the Moon during his first term? Would he have won the 2020 election?
VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine
by Brennan Spiegel
Spiegel takes readers on a tour of the bleeding edge of VR medicine, where patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia literally battle their demons, soldiers relive traumatic experiences in virtual warzones, and the terminally ill confront their own mortality. Today physicians seem to spend more time consulting their computers than their patients, and Spiegel makes a compelling case that VR technologies can humanize medicine by helping doctors empathize with their patients. VRx is a powerful testament to the therapeutic potential of virtual worlds and a fascinating glimpse into the future of medicine. —Daniel Oberhaus
by Yuval Noah Harari
The first volume of the graphic adaptation of Yuval Noah Harari's smash #1 New York Times and international bestseller recommended by President Barack Obama and Bill Gates, with gorgeous full-color illustrations and concise, easy to comprehend text for adult and young adult readers alike.
One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?