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The God Delusion

The God Delusion

April 2007

For many years now, Richard Dawkins has been an outspoken critic of religious faith and its pervasive influence on social attitudes and political processes. This time, however, he has taken an extra step: The God Delusion is a comprehensive, no-holds-barred attack on all forms of theistic religion.


Medical Marvels: The 100 Greatest Advances in Medicine

Medical Marvels: The 100 Greatest Advances in Medicine

April 2007

This book is not a simple list of scientific discoveries ó however worthy that would be in its own right ó but rather an explanation of all types of things which have improved human health, from the development of sewerage systems to patient advocacy and flashier modern scientific discoveries.


The Fruits of War

The Fruits of War

April 2007

That war advances technological progress is a cliché; proving that this accelerated process can benefit humanity is a very different matter. True, World War II gave us nuclear power and antibiotics; but what else has war contributed, apart from periodic cullings of the population?


Einstein for Dummies

Einstein for Dummies

April 2007

The "For Dummies" books have a schoolbag aura that could prove unappealing to a certain stratum of reader. But when you crack open this tome, written by U.S space agency NASA's senior research scientist Carlos I. Calle, you quickly realise that when it comes to the warping of space-time, maybe you are a bit of a dummy. Relatively speaking.


Unintelligent Design: Why God Isn’t As Smart As She Thinks She Is

Unintelligent Design: Why God Isn’t As Smart As She Thinks She Is

April 2007

Prior to reading Robyn Williams’ latest book, I dipped into one of the racier tomes on Intelligent Design/Creation Science. It confirmed that the only science in Creation Science is that which it tries, often petulantly, to disprove.


Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci

Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci

April 2007

Leonardo da Vinci will be long remembered after every copy of The Da Vinci Code has turned to dust, so it’s a shame that Bülent Atalay’s elegant book has a whiff of opportunism about it. Blame it on the cover art, because what lies within is a devoted work where the relationship between science and art is investigated, and it’s not until halfway that da Vinci becomes the primary focus.


Spying on the Bomb

Spying on the Bomb

April 2007

The development of nuclear weapons in the 20th century changed the world like no other scientific event. During WWII, U.S. spies in Europe found Germany’s nuclear secrets buried under a cesspit. The Nazis hadn’t been a serious threat, but the cooperation of spies and scientists had delivered results elsewhere.


Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel

Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel

April 2007

Leaving Earth is a meticulously researched history of the manned space stations: Skylab, the Salyuts, Mir and the current International Space Station (ISS). They were originally intended as a step towards interplanetary travel, their development spurred on by Cold War rivalry.


The Fabric of the Cosmos

The Fabric of the Cosmos

April 2007

In my admittedly limited experience, the science teachers most likely to be convinced of their rapier wit are invariably physicists. One in particular set about undermining my passion for chemistry by repeatedly telling me that my subject was merely “a branch of physics”.


Nature Revealed: Selected Writings 1949-2006

Nature Revealed: Selected Writings 1949-2006

April 2007

Eminent entomologist Edward Wilson, born in 1929, is one of the elder statesmen of science. Fascinated by natural history as a child, he chose to specialise in ants.


David Suzuki: The Autobiography

David Suzuki: The Autobiography

April 2007

In this chatty, charming autobiography, high-profile Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki covers his formidable life achievements from a personal perspective. Now in his seventies, Suzuki is best known for his long-running popular science TV series The Nature of Things, but as a respected scientist and author as well as an environmental campaigner, he is a television personality with true ‘street cred’.


Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic

Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic

April 2007

Marc Siegel is an American GP as well as a health writer, and deals with the concerns of the general public on a daily basis. Here he really does provide everything that most people need to know about ‘the next pandemic’ — particularly the fact that the current bird flu may well never become a human pandemic.


Science Friction

Science Friction

April 2007

In a world run by lawyers, in which opinions are inevitably moulded by the popular media, what chance does science have? In Science Friction, Californian writer Michael Shermer presents 14 essays in which he attempts to shine a truth-torch on the business of science being muddied and manhandled.


Where Did We Come From?

Where Did We Come From?

September 2006

Where Did We Come From? is the Australian edition of a book sold overseas as The Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins. It is a beautifully illustrated account of human evolution, from the first hominids to relatively recent times when Homo sapiens began to spread across the world.


Where Stuff Comes From

Where Stuff Comes From

September 2006

Where Stuff Comes From is interested not so much in objects themselves and how they work, as in the sociology of why we want 'stuff', how it fits into our lives, and how and why designers create it for us.