Big Ideas Reading Group Book Detail
This expanded version of our book list
includes a brief description of each.
- The Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the 21st
Century, edited, by John Brockman
- Conversations on Consciousness, a collection of interviews
conducted by Susan Blackmore
- Decoding the Universe, by Charles Seife
- The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human
Intelligence, by Ray Kurzweil
- Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel
Dennett
- Unweaving the Rainbow, by Richard Dawkins
- How We Believe, by Michael Shermer
- Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever, by Ray
Kurzweil and Terry Grossman
- 12-12-2009 The Political Mind, by George Lakoff
- 01-16-2010 Descartes Error:Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, by Antonio
Damasio
- 02-13-2010 The Monty Hall Problem: The Remarkable Story of Math's Most
Contentious Brain Teaser, by Jason Rosenhouse
- 03-13-2010 Good Calories, Bad Calories, by Gary Taubes
- 04-10-2010 Don't Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make
in Thinking, by Thomas Kida
- 05-08-2010 The Intelligent Universe, by James Gardner
- 06-12-2010 How We Decide, by Jonah Lehrer
- 07-10-2010 The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence for
Evolution, by Richard Dawkins
- 08-14-2010 Quantum Evolution, by Johnjoe McFadden
- 09-11-2010 Introducing Evolutionary Psychology, by Dylan Evans and Oscar Zarate
- 10-09-2010 If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens... Where Is Everybody?
Fifty Solutions to Fermi's Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial
Life, by Stephen Webb
- 11-13-2010 Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
- 12-11-2010 The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved & Why It Endures, by
Nicholas Wade.
- 01-08-2011 Visions, by Michio Kaku
- 02-12-2011 Fabric of Reality, by David Deutsch
- 03-12-2011 (no March meeting)
- 04-02-2011 Godel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter
- 05-14-2011 Godel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter
- 06-11-2011 The Grand Design, by Hawking and Mlodinow
- 07-09-2011 Unbounding the Future: The Nanotechnology Revolution, by Drexler, Peterson, and Pegamit.
First printed in 1991, there authors use futurist speculation to outline the future of nanotech.
A suggested supplemental read was "Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea."
by Mark and Daniel Ratner, Mark being the winner of the 2001 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology.
A fairly easy and short read of about 150 pages, it provides a good working vocabulary and overall picture of the nanotech world.
- 08-13-2011 Beyond AI, by J. Storrs Hall.
This is a must read for anyone interested in the future of the Human-Machine civilization.
- 09-10-2011 Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos,
by M. Mitchell Waldrop.
Scientific luminaries such as Nobel Laureates Mujrray Gell-Mann and Kenneth Arrow are studying complexity at a think tank called The Sante Fe Institute. Complexity reports their revolutionary research and discoveries.
- 10-08-2011 Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of A Cocktail Napkin, by Lawrence Weinstein.
An important skill of great use ... is the ability to derive an approximate result from insufficient data.
Guesstimation is a collection of [problems] gathered from everyday life and various fields.
Working out questions ... is both entertaining and enlightening.
It may also help foster your career ... because making correct guesses quickly establishes your reputation as an expert. -- Stephan Mertens, Science.
- 11-12-2011 Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs that Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime, by Aubrey de Gray.
"(Dr.) de Grey is hardly just another fountain-of-youth huckster. His it-might-work ideas are based on existing, published, peer-reviewed research. He thinks more like an engineer than a scientist. If even one of his proposals works, it could mean years of extended healthy living."
-- Paul Boutin, The Wall Street Journal
- 12-10-2011 Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe, by Peter D. Ward & Donald Brownlee.
"Do you feel lucky? Well do ya?" asked Dirty Harry.
Paleontologist Peter Ward and astronomer Donald Brownlee think all of us should feel lucky. Their rare Earth hypothesis predicts that while simple, microbial life will be very widespread in the universe, complex animal or plant life will be extremely rare.
This book covers in detail similar material to the last 19 arguments from one of our previous books, "Where is Everybody?"
Quote from "Where is Everybody":
Recently, Peter Ward and Don Brownlee, scientists from the University of Washington, wrote a stimulating and thoughtful book called Rare Earth. They presented a coherent argument about why complex life may be an unusual phenomenon.
- 01-14-2012 Physics for Future Presidents, by Richard Muller.
Should be required reading for all informed citizens, as well as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain. (Publishers Weekly )
A book so brilliant that I can't help feel (as a writer), "I wish I'd thought of that." (Brian Clegg - Popular Science)
- 02-11-2012 The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love,
Character, and Achievment, by David Brooks.
David Brooks is the New York Times columnist and bestselling author of Bobos in Paradise.
This is the story of how success happens.
It is told through the lives of one composite American couple, Harold and Erica -- how they grow, push forward, are pulled back, fail, and succeed.
Distilling a vast array of information into these two vividly realized characters, Brooks illustrates a fundamental new understanding of human nature. A scientific revolution has occurred -- we have learned more about the human brain in the last thirty years than we had in the previous three thousand.
- 03-10-2012 The War of Worldviews: Science vs Spirituality,
by Leonard Mlodinow with Deepak Chopra.
Two bestselling authors first met in a televised Caltech debate on "the future of God", one an articulate advocate for spirituality, the other a prominent physicist. This remarkable book is the product of that serendipitous encounter and the contentious -- but respectful -- clash of worldviews that grew along with their friendship.
- 04-14-2012 The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility. The ideas Behind the World's Slowest Computer, by Stewart Brand.
This is a book about the practical use of long time perspective: how to get it, how to use it, how to keep it
in and out of sight.
How do we make long-term thinking automatic and common instead of difficult and
rare?
- 05-12-2012 The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World, by David Deutsch.
The quest to improve explanations is the basic regulating principle not only of science but of all successful human endeavor. This stream of ever improving explanations has infinite reach, according to Deutsch: we are subject only to the laws of physics, and they impose no upper boundary to what we can eventually understand, control, and achieve.
- 06-16-2012 Note date change. Truth: A Guide, by Simon Blackburn.
Admirably sketching the battle lines currently staked out over the idea of objective truth, a Cambridge professor of philosophy makes his subject lively and accessible even as he parts some of its deepest waters, with absolutists-traditionalists-realists on the one side and relativists-postmodernists-idealists on the other.
- 07-14-2012 Do Not Go Gentle, Book One, Discovery [book one of three], by Mark Millstorm.
Mark Muhlestein, a member of our group,
is using the pen name of Mark Millstorm.
This is his new book that has just came out on Kindle.
You can download a free copy of Kindle and then
download the book at $0.99.
- 08-11-2012 Too Big to Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren't the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room, by David Weinberger.
This groundbreaking book shakes the foundations of our concept of knowledge -- from the role of facts to the value of books and the authority of experts -- providing a compelling vision of the future of knowledge in a connected world.
- 09-08-2012 Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman.
Daniel Kahneman, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his seminal work in psychology that challenged the rational model of judgment and decision making, is one of our most important thinkers. His ideas have had a profound and widely regarded impact on many fields -- including economics, medicine, and politics -- but until now, he has never brought together his many years of research and thinking in one book.
This will be our first meeting at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park. The meeting is scheduled for our regular time at 3:30P. We will have a pre-meeting speaker at 2P in the Pavilion there, BIRG hosting a Monthly Gathering for San Francisco Regional Mensa. The speaker will be Marty Nemko and he will be covering his new book, "What's the Big Idea?"
- 10-13-2012 Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World, by Lisa Randall.
The latest developments in physics have the potential to radically revise our understanding of the world: its makeup, its evolution, and the fundamental forces that drive its operation. Knocking on Heaven’s Door is an exhilarating and accessible overview of these developments and an impassioned argument for the significance of science.
- 11-10-2012 [4pm at Kepler's Books] The Evolution of Cooperation (Revised Edition), by Robert Axelrod with forward by Richard Dawkins.
Robert Axelrod is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. A MacArthur Prize Fellow, he is a leading expert on game theory, artificial intelligence, evolutionary biology, mathematical modeling, and complexity theory.
He describes a novel round-robin tournament in which various game-theoretic strategies were pitted against one another in the game known as the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma.
"The Evolution of Cooperation deserves to replace The Gideon Bible."--Richard Dawkins
- 12-08-2012 The Drunkard's Walk:How Randomness Rules Our Lives, by Leonard Mlodinow.
With the born storyteller's command of narrative and imaginative approach, Leonard Mlodinow vividly demonstrates how our lives are profoundly informed by chance and randomness and how everything from wine ratings and corporate success to school grades and political polls are less reliable than we believe.
Mlodinow bases his ideas on Kahneman's ideas in our September book, Thinking Fast and Slow.
Other related books:
Subliminal by Mlodinow;
Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences by John Paulos
- 01-12-2013 [4pm at Kepler's Books] The Perfect Swarm: The Science of Complexity in Everyday Life, by Len Fisher. "Self-organization" reveals itself in the inanimate worlds of crystals and seashells, but as Len Fisher shows, it is also evident in living organisms, from fish to ants to human beings. Fisher shows how we can manage our complex social lives in an ever more chaotic world. His investigation encompasses topics ranging from "swarm intelligence" to the science of parties and the best ways to start a fad.
Other related books:
Emergence by Steven Johnson;
Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution by Howard Rheingold;
The Smart Swarm by Peter Miller;
The Self Organizing Economy by Paul Krugman.
- 02-09-2013 Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics, by Jim Al-Halili.
How can a cat be both dead and alive at the same time? Why will Achilles never beat a tortoise in a race, no matter how fast he runs? And how can a person be ten years older than his twin?Al-Khalili narrates the enduring fascination of these classic paradoxes, he reveals their underlying logic. In doing so, he brings to life a select group of the most exciting concepts in human knowledge. Paradox is mind-expanding fun.
- 03-09-2013 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers, by John MacCormick.
Using vivid examples, John MacCormick explains the fundamental "tricks" behind nine types of computer algorithms, including artificial intelligence (where we learn about the "nearest neighbor trick" and "twenty questions trick"), Google's famous PageRank algorithm (which uses the "random surfer trick"), data compression, error correction, and much more.
- 04-13-2013 NOTE: The book originally scheduled has been set aside. The publisher has retracted it because of accusations of plagiarism etc.
In its place, we will discuss
Who's in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain, by Michael Gazzaniga.
- 05-11-2013 Models. Behaving. Badly.: Why Confusing Illusion with Reality Can Lead to Disaster, on Wall Street and in Life.
Emanuel Derman: Quants, physicists working on Wall Street as quantitative analysts, have been widely blamed for triggering financial crises with their complex mathematical models. Models.Behaving.Badly. exposes Wall Street's love affair with models, and shows us why nobody will ever be able to write a model that can encapsulate human behavior.
- 06-08-2013 The Mind: Leading Scientists Explore the Brain, Memory, Personality, and Happiness.
(Steve Pinker, V.S. Ramachandran, Alison Gopnik. Philip Zambardo, George Lakoff, Martin Seligman and others)
presented by The Edge.
Edited by John Brockman.
- 07-13-2013 The Future of Everything: The Science of Prediction, by David Orrell, Ph.D.
For centuries, scientists have strived to
predict the future. But to what extent have they
succeeded? Can past events-Hurricane Katrina, the
Internet stock bubble, the SARS outbreak-help us
understand what will happen next? Will scientists ever
really be able to forecast catastrophes, or will we
always be at the mercy of Mother Nature, waiting for
the next storm, epidemic, or economic crash to thunder
through our lives? David Orrell looks back at
the history of forecasting, from the time of the
oracle at Delphi to the rise of astrology to the
advent of the TV weather report, showing us how
scientists (and some charlatans) predicted the future.
- 08-10-2013 [4pm at Kepler's Books]
Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior, by Leonard Mlodinow.
Mlodinow gives us a startling and
eye-opening examination of how the unconscious mind
shapes our experience of the world and how, for
instance, we often misperceive our relationships with
family, friends, and business associates,
misunderstand the reasons for our investment
decisions, and misremember important events.
- 09-14-2013 [4pm at Kepler's Books]
The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos, by Brian Greene.
There was a time when "universe" meant all
there is. Everything. Yet, a number of theories are
converging on the possibility that our universe may be
but one among many parallel universes populating a
vast multiverse.
- 10-12-2013 The Golden Ticket: P, NP, and the Search for the Impossible, by Lance Fortnow.
The Golden Ticket provides a
nontechnical introduction to P-NP, its rich history,
and its algorithmic implications for everything we do
with computers and beyond. Lance Fortnow gives
examples of the problem from a variety of disciplines,
including economics, physics, and biology. He explores
problems that capture the full difficulty of the P-NP
dilemma, from discovering the shortest route through
all the rides at Disney World to finding large groups
of friends on Facebook. But difficulty also has its
advantages. Hard problems allow us to safely conduct
electronic commerce and maintain privacy in our online
lives. The Golden Ticket explores what we truly can
and cannot achieve computationally, describing the
benefits and unexpected challenges of the P-NP
problem.
- 11-02-2013 date change and [4pm at Kepler's Books]: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt.
As America descends deeper into
polarization and paralysis, social psychologist
Jonathan Haidt has done the seemingly
impossible -- challenged conventional thinking about
morality, politics, and religion in a way that speaks
to everyone on the political spectrum. Drawing on his
twenty five years of groundbreaking research on moral
psychology, he shows how moral judgments arise not
from reason but from gut feelings.
- 12-14-2013 The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — but Some Don't, by Nate Silver.
Drawing on his own groundbreaking work,
Silver examines the world of prediction, investigating
how we can distinguish a true signal from a universe
of noisy data. Most predictions fail, often at great
cost to society, because most of us have a poor
understanding of probability and uncertainty. Both
experts and laypeople mistake more confident
predictions for more accurate ones. But overconfidence
is often the reason for failure.
- 01-11-2014 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Bad Science, by Ben Goldacre.
Ben Goldacre has made a point of exposing
quack doctors and nutritionists, bogus credentialing
programs, and biased scientific studies. He has also
taken the media to task for its willingness to throw
facts and proof out the window. But he's not here just
to tell you what's wrong. Goldacre is here to teach
you how to evaluate placebo effects, double-blind
studies, and sample sizes, so that you can recognize
bad science when you see it. You're about to feel a
whole lot better.
See also this article.
We followed the discussion with a holiday celebration, a Chinese dinner.
- 02-08-2014 Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.
Based on fifteen years of original research
Acemoglu and Robinson marshall extraordinary
historical evidence from the Roman Empire, the Mayan
city-states, medieval Venice, the Soviet Union, Latin
America, England, Europe, the United States, and
Africa to build a new theory of political economy with
great relevance for the big questions of today.
- 03-15-2014 [date change and 4pm at Kepler's Books] The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the Race to Discover the Rest of Reality, by Richard Panek.
In recent years, a handful of scientists have been racing to explain a disturbing aspect of our universe: only 4 percent of it consists of the matter that
makes up you, me, our books, and every star and planet.
The rest is completely unknown.
Richard Panek tells the dramatic story of how scientists reached
this cosmos-shattering conclusion.
- 04-12-2014
Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better, by Clive Thompson.
There's good news in this dazzling book: Technology is not the enemy. Smarter Than You Think reports on how the digital world has helped individuals harness a powerful, collaborative intelligence—becoming better problem-solvers and more creative human beings. 353 pages.
- 05-10-2014 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Naked Statitistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data, by Charles Wheelan.
Once considered tedious, the field of statistics is rapidly evolving into a discipline Hal Varian, chief economist at Google, has actually called “sexy.” From batting averages and political polls to game shows and medical research, the real-world application of statistics continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Wheelan strips away the arcane and technical details and focuses on the underlying intuition that drives statistical analysis.
- 06-14-2014
How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed, by Ray Kurzweil.
Kurzweil presents a provocative exploration of the most important project in human-machine civilization—reverse engineering the brain to understand precisely how it works and using that knowledge to create even more intelligent machines. He discusses how the brain functions, how the mind emerges from the brain, and the implications of vastly increasing the powers of our intelligence in addressing the world’s problems, thoughtfully examining emotional and moral intelligence and the origins of consciousness. 346 pages.
- 07-12-2014 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Probably Approximately Correct: Nature Algorithms for Learning and Prospering in a Complex World, by Leslie Valiant.
Leslie Valiant presents a masterful synthesis of learning and evolution to show how both individually and collectively we not only survive, but prosper in a world as complex as our own. The key is “probably approximately correct” algorithms, a concept Valiant developed to explain how effective behavior can be learned.Offering a powerful and elegant model that encompasses life’s complexity, Probably Approximately Correct has profound implications for how we think about behavior, cognition, biological evolution, and the possibilities and limits of human and machine intelligence. 208 pages.
- 08-09-2014
Kinds of Minds:Toward An Understanding Of Consciousness, by Daniel C. Dennett.
Dennett explores how the human mind came into existence. Along the way, he investigates such questions as, How does the mind work? Can we know another's mind? Can a woman know what it's like to be a man (and vice versa)? What are nonhuman minds like? Could a robot ever be "conscious"? Philosopher that he is, Dennett continually raises and refines his questions about these and other subjects, attempting to tease us closer to understanding. By the end of the book, he confesses, he has not so much presented answers as found better questions to ask. 184 pages.
After the meeting, we met for dinner to celebrate 5 years of BIRG!
- 09-06-2014 [date change and 4pm at Kepler's Books] Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality, by Max Tegmark
Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. Fascinating from first to last—this is a book that has already prompted the attention and admiration of some of the most prominent scientists and mathematicians. 432 pages.
- 10-11-2014
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain.
At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking, reading to partying; who innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over brainstorming in teams. Although they are often labeled "quiet," it is to introverts that we owe many of the great contributions to society--from van Gogh’s sunflowers to the invention of the personal computer. Passionately argued, impressively researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people, Quiet shows how dramatically we undervalue introverts, and how much we lose in doing so. 368 pages.
- 11-08-2014 Computing with Quantum Cats: From Colossus to Qubits, by John Gribbin.
This is an easier substitute for (or a warmup for) the book we originally chose,
Quantum Computing Since Democritus, by Scott Aaronson.
Written by noted quantum computing theorist Scott Aaronson, this book takes readers on a tour through some of the deepest ideas of maths, computer science and physics. Full of insights, arguments and philosophical perspectives, the book covers an amazing array of topics. Beginning in antiquity with Democritus, it progresses through logic and set theory, computability and complexity theory, quantum computing, cryptography, the information content of quantum states and the interpretation of quantum mechanics. Aaronson's informal style makes this fascinating book accessible to readers with scientific backgrounds, as well as students and researchers working in physics, computer science, mathematics and philosophy. 398 pages.
- 12-06-2014 [date change and 4pm at Kepler's Books] Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe, by Lee Smolin
What is time? This deceptively simple question is the single most important problem facing science as we probe more deeply into the fundamentals of the universe. Embracing time as real, Smolin asserts, will allow cosmologists to convert laws once regarded as timeless into the contingent data they need to develop testable new theories of galactic evolution. More immediately, Smolin anticipates that this paradigm shift will help climatologists understand global warming and economists to ameliorate financial turbulence. A thrilling intellectual ride! 357 pages.
- 01-10-2015 [4pm at Kepler's Books] The Map & The Territory, by Alan Greenspan.
The Map and the Territory is nothing less than an effort to update our forecasting conceptual grid. It integrates the history of economic prediction, the new work of behavioral economists, and the fruits of the author’s own remarkable career to offer a thrillingly lucid and empirically based grounding in what we can know about economic forecasting and what we can't. 400 pages.
- 02-14-2015 Will You Be Alive 10 Years From Now? And Numerous Other Curious Other Questions in Probability, by Paul J. Nahin.
Nahin brings probability to life with colorful and amusing historical anecdotes as well as an electrifying approach to solving puzzles that illustrates many of the techniques that mathematicians and scientists use to grapple with probability. He looks at classic puzzles from the past--from Galileo's dice-tossing problem to a disarming dice puzzle that would have astonished even Newton--and also includes a dozen challenge problems for you to tackle yourself, with complete solutions provided in the back of the book. 242 pages.
- 03-14-2015 [4pm at Kepler's Books] The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day, by David J. Hand.
An irresistible adventure into the laws behind “chance” moments and a trusty guide for understanding the world and universe we live in, The Improbability Principle will transform how you think about serendipity and luck, whether it’s in the world of business and finance or you’re merely sitting in your backyard, tossing a ball into the air and wondering where it will land. 288 pages.
- 04-11-2015 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking, by Daniel Dennett.
Dennett offers seventy-seven of his most successful "imagination-extenders and focus-holders" meant to guide you through some of life’s most treacherous subject matter: evolution, meaning, mind, and free will. With patience and wit, Dennett deftly deploys his thinking tools to gain traction on these thorny issues while offering readers insight into how and why each tool was built. “The best new book I’ve read.” - Richard Dawkins. 512 pages.
- 05-09-2015 [4pm at Kepler's Books] How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It Happens, by Benedict Carey, 2014.
In How We Learn, award-winning science reporter Benedict Carey sifts through decades of education research and landmark studies to uncover the truth about how our brains absorb and retain information. Is a dedicated desk in a quiet room really the best way to study? Can altering your routine improve your recall? Are there times when distraction is good? Is repetition necessary? Carey’s search for answers to these questions yields a wealth of strategies that make learning more a part of our everyday lives -- and less of a chore. 272 pages.
- 06-13-2015 [4pm at Kepler's Books] A Skeptics Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves, by Robert A. Burton, M.D.
Burton retraces the history of neuroscience and directing readers' attention to future discoveries. He takes an unbiased look at the fundamentals of the field, and posits that, no matter how much the field advances, notions of consciousness and moral decision-making will always allow for some amount of speculation. 272 pages.
- 07-11-2015 [3pm at Le Boulanger, followed by 6th anniversary dinner] Explaining the Computational Mind, by Marcin Milkowski.
In this book, Marcin Milkowski argues that the mind can be explained computationally because it is itself computational -- whether it engages in mental arithmetic, parses natural language, or processes the auditory signals that allow us to experience music. Defending the computational explanation against objections to it -- from John Searle and Hilary Putnam in particular -- Milkowski writes that computationalism is here to stay. 256 pages.
[Note: This book is generally unavailable from book stores and libraries, but is available on Amazon.]
- 08-08-2015 Entanglement: The Unlikely Story of How Scientists, Mathematicians, and Philosophers Proved Einstein’s Spookiest Theory, by Amir D. Aczel.
Can two particles become inextricably linked, so that a change in one is instantly reflected in its counterpart, even if a universe separates them? Albert Einstein's work suggested it was possible, but it was too bizarre, and too contrary to how we then understood space and time, for him to prove. No one could. Until now. Entanglement tells the astounding story of the scientists who set out to complete Einstein's work. 253 pages.
- 09-12-2015 [4pm at Kepler's books] Quantum Computing Since Democritus, by Scott Aaronson.
Quantum Computing takes readers on a tour through some of the deepest ideas of math, computer science and physics. Beginning in antiquity with Democritus, it progresses through logic and set theory, computability and complexity theory, quantum computing, cryptography, the information content of quantum states and the interpretation of quantum mechanics.
... more
- 10-10-2015 [4pm at Kepler's books] The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning, by Marcelo Gleiser.
Do all questions have answers? How much can we know about the world? Is there such a thing as an ultimate truth? To be human is to want to know, but what we are able to observe is only a tiny portion of what’s “out there.” In The Island of Knowledge, physicist Marcelo Gleiser traces our search for answers to the most fundamental questions of existence. In so doing, he reaches a provocative conclusion: science, the main tool we use to find answers, is fundamentally limited.
- 11-14-2015 [4pm at Kepler's books] Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, by Mary Roach.
With her wry humor and inextinguishable curiosity, Mary Roach has crafted her own quirky niche in the somewhat staid world of science writing, showing no fear (or shame) in the face of cadavers, ectoplasm, or sex. In Packing for Mars, Roach tackles the strange science of space travel, and the psychology, technology, and politics that go into sending a crew into orbit. Packing for Mars is a book for grownups who still secretly dream of being astronauts, and Roach lives it up on their behalf. 336 pages.
- 12-12-2015 Social: Why Our Brains are Wired to Connect, by Matthew D. Leiberman, Ph.D..
Matthew Lieberman explores groundbreaking research in social neuroscience revealing that our need to connect with other people is even more fundamental, more basic, than our need for food or shelter. Because of this, our brain uses its spare time to learn about the social world – other people and our relation to them. It is believed that we must commit 10,000 hours to master a skill. According to Lieberman, each of us has spent 10,000 hours learning to make sense of people and groups by the time we are ten. 384 pages.
- 01-09-2016 [3pm at Le Boulanger] Nothing: Surprising Insights Everywhere from Zero to Oblivion, by Jeremy Webb.
It turns out that almost nothing is as curious—or as enlightening—as, well, nothing. What is nothingness? Where can it be found? The writers of the world's top-selling science magazine investigate—from the big bang, dark energy, and the void to superconductors, vestigial organs, hypnosis, and the placebo effect—and discover that understanding nothing may be the key to understanding everything. One of Brain Pickings’ Best Science Books of 2014. 272 pages.
- 02-13-2016 [4pm at Kepler's Books] How-Nature-Works-Self-Organized Criticality, by Per Bak.
Self-organized criticality, the spontaneous development of systems to a critical state, is the first general theory of complex systems with a firm mathematical basis. This theory describes how many seemingly disperate aspects of the world, from stock market crashes to mass extinctions, avalanches to solar flares, all share a set of simple, easily described properties. 212 pages.
- 03-12-2016 [4pm at Kepler's Books] The Perfect Theory: A Century of Geniuses and the Battle Over General Relativity, by Prof. Pedro Ferreira.
Einstein’s theory of general relativity is possibly the most perfect intellectual achievement of modern physics. The expanding universe, the light-speed barrier, black holes, wormholes, time travel—general relativity has allowed scientists’ imaginations to take flight with new possibilities, revealing a universe that is much stranger than anyone ever expected. Just in time for the theory’s hundred-year anniversary, physicist Pedro Ferreira’s The Perfect Theory explains just how staggering an achievement general relativity was while bringing to life the infighting that it sparked in the field of physics over the past century. 320 pages.
- 04-09-2016 The Science of Interstellar, by Kip Thorne.
Interstellar, from acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, takes us on a fantastic voyage far beyond our solar system. Yet in The Science of Interstellar, Kip Thorne, the physicist who assisted Nolan on the scientific aspects of Interstellar, shows us that the movie’s jaw-dropping events and stunning, never-before-attempted visuals are grounded in real science. In chapters on wormholes, black holes, interstellar travel, and much more, Thorne’s scientific insights -- many of them triggered during the actual scripting and shooting of Interstellar -- describe the physical laws that govern our universe and the truly astounding phenomena that those laws make possible. 336 pages.
- 05-15-2016 The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex, by Murray Gell-Mann.
From one of the architects of the new science of simplicity and complexity comes an explanation of the connections between nature at its most basic level and natural selection, archaeology, linguistics, child development, computers, and other complex adaptive systems. Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann offers a uniquely personal and unifying vision of the relationship between the fundamental laws of physics and the complexity and diversity of the natural world. 392 pages.
- 06-11-2016 Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, by Erik Brynjolfsson, and Andrew McAfee.
Information technology is the foundation of the next industrial revolution. Its often unarticulated dark side has been the widening of the economic divide. In this book, McAfee and Brynjolfsson do a masterful job of exploring both the promise of computer technology and its profound societal impact. 320 pages.
- 07-09-2016 [4pm at Kepler's Books] What Philosophy Can Do, by Gary Gutting.
With this splendid book, Gary Gutting joins the great tradition of leading philosophers who venture from the ivory tower to speak with the public. Covering a range of topics―politics, science, religion (including atheism), art, and more―What Philosophy Can Do never condescends, never tries to evade the difficult. With wit and flair, Gutting shows how philosophical thinking permeates life’s decisions and can enrich our overall personal sense of worth and happiness. 320 pages.
- 08-13-2016 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Climbing Mount Improbable, by Richard Dawkins.
The human eye is so complex and works so precisely that surely, one might believe, its current shape and function must be the product of design.
The metaphor of Mount Improbable represents the combination of perfection and improbability that is epitomized in the seemingly "designed" complexity of living things. Dawkins skillfully guides the reader on a breathtaking journey through the mountain's passes and up its many peaks to demonstrate that following the improbable path to perfection takes time. 352 pages.
- 09-10-2016 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Spooky Action at a Distance, by George Musser.
If space isn't what we thought it was, then what is it? In Spooky Action at a Distance, George Musser sets out to answer that question, offering a provocative exploration of nonlocality and a celebration of the scientists who are trying to explain it. Musser guides us on an epic journey into the lives of experimental physicists observing particles acting in tandem, astronomers finding galaxies that look statistically identical, and cosmologists hoping to unravel the paradoxes surrounding the big bang. 304 pages.
- 10-08-2016 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Symmetry: A Journey into the Patterns of Nature, by Marcus du Sautoy.
Symmetry is all around us. Of fundamental significance to the way we interpret the world, this unique, pervasive phenomenon indicates a dynamic relationship between objects. Combining a rich historical narrative with his own personal journey as a mathematician, Marcus du Sautoy takes a unique look into the mathematical mind as he explores deep conjectures about symmetry and brings us face-to-face with the oddball mathematicians, both past and present, who have battled to understand symmetry's elusive qualities. 384 pages.
- 11-12-2016 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think, by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier.
A revelatory exploration of the hottest trend in technology and the dramatic impact it will have on the economy, science, and society at large. Which paint color is most likely to tell you that a used car is in good shape? How can officials identify the most dangerous New York City manholes before they explode? And how did Google searches predict the spread of the H1N1 flu outbreak? In this brilliantly clear, often surprising work, two leading experts explain what big data is, how it will change our lives, and what we can do to protect ourselves from its hazards. Big Data is the first big book about the next big thing. 257 pages.
- 12-10-2016 Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie or Die, by Eric Siegel.
Eric Siegel, PhD, founder of the Predictive Analytics World conference series and executive editor of The Predictive Analytics Times, makes the how and why of predictive analytics understandable and captivating. In addition to being the author of "Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die," Eric is a former Columbia University professor--who used to sing educational songs to his students--and a renowned speaker, educator, and leader in the field. 356 pages.
- 01-14-2017 Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gwande.
Gawande, a practicing surgeon, addresses his profession's ultimate limitation, arguing that quality of life is the desired goal for patients and families. Gawande offers examples of freer, more socially fulfilling models for assisting the infirm and dependent elderly, and he explores the varieties of hospice care to demonstrate that a person's last weeks or months may be rich and dignified. 297 pages.
- 02-11-2017 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Evolution of the Social Contract, by Brian Skyrms.
Brian Skyrms uses evolutionary game theory to analyze the genesis of social contracts and investigates social phenomena including justice, communication, altruism, and bargaining.. He discusses topics including how bargaining with neighbors promotes sharing of resources, the diversity of behavior in ultimatum bargaining in small societies, the Prisoner's Dilemma, and an investigation into signaling games and the spontaneous emergence of meaningful communication. His book will be of great interest to readers in philosophy of science, social science, evolutionary biology, game and decision theory, and political theory. 164 pages.
- 03-11-2017 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, by Richard H. Thaler.
Richard Thaler's, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, is easily the best introduction to the subject available--for economists as well as for the general reader, largely because of the author's facility of explaining, in easy-to-grasp terms, the contribution that behavioral economics is making to problem solving. It is an often humorous account of the progress of Behavioural Economics by one of its most gifted practitioners. 432 pages.
- 04-08-2017 [4pm at Kepler's Books] A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down, by Robert Laughlin.
Nobel Laureate Robert Laughlin argues that the scientific frontier is right under our fingers. Instead of looking for ultimate theories, Laughlin considers the world of emergent properties-meaning the properties, such as the hardness and shape of a crystal, that result from the organization of large numbers of atoms. Laughlin shows us how the most fundamental laws of physics are in fact emergent. A Different Universe is a truly mind-bending book that shows us why everything we think about fundamental physical laws needs to change. 274 pages.
- 05-13-2017 Dinner on the Deck Now: The Physics of Time, by Richard A. Muller, author of Physics for Future Presidents.
Our expanding universe is continuously creating not only new space but also new time. The front edge of this new time is what we call “now,” and this moment is truly unique―it is the only moment in which we can exercise our free will. Muller’s thought-provoking vision is a powerful counter to established theories in science and philosophy, and his arguments will spark major debate about the most fundamental assumptions of our universe. 352 pages.
- 06-10-2017 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Void: The Strange Physics of Nothing (Foundational Questions in Science), by James Owen.
Isaac Newton thought of empty space as nothingness extended in all directions, a kind of theater in which physics could unfold. But both quantum theory and relativity tell us that Newton's picture can't be right. Nothing, it turns out, is an awful lot like something, with a structure and properties every bit as complex and mysterious as matter. In his signature lively prose, Weather explores the very nature of empty space--and solidfies his reputation as a science writer to watch. 224 pages.
- 07-15-2017 DATE CHANGE! and [4pm at Kepler's Books] The Big Picture: on the Origins of Life, Meaning and the Universe Itself, by Sean Carroll.
Sean Carroll brings his extraordinary intellect to bear not only on Higgs bosons and extra dimensions but now also on our deepest personal questions: Where are we? Who are we? Are our emotions, our beliefs, and our hopes and dreams ultimately meaningless out there in the void? Do human purpose and meaning fit into a scientific worldview? Carroll shows how an avalanche of discoveries in the past few hundred years has changed our world and what really matters to us. 434 pages.
- 08-12-2017 Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe, by Roger Penrose.
Acclaimed physicist and bestselling author Roger Penrose argues that researchers working at the extreme frontiers of physics are just as susceptible to fashion, faith and fantasy as anyone else. In this provocative book, he argues that fashion, faith, and fantasy, while sometimes productive and even essential in physics, may be leading today's researchers astray in three of the field's most important areas--string theory, quantum mechanics, and cosmology. 515 pages.
- 09-09-2017 [4pm at Kepler's Books with celebratory dinner] How Not to be Wrong The Power of Mathematical Thinking, by Jordan Ellenberg.
Math isn’t confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life, but rather touches everything we do—the whole world is shot through with it. Ellenberg chases mathematical threads through a vast range of time and space, from the everyday to the cosmic. From Steve Pinker “...Like Lewis Carroll, George Gamow, and Martin Gardner before him, Jordan Ellenberg shows how mathematics can delight and stimulate the mind. But he also shows that mathematical thinking should be in the toolkit of every thoughtful person—of everyone who wants to avoid fallacies, superstitions, and other ways of being wrong.” 466 pages.
- 10-14-2017 [4pm at Kepler's Books] How the Mind Works, by Steve Pinker.
How do we see in three dimensions? What makes us happy, afraid, angry, disgusted, or sexually aroused? Why do we fall in love? And how do we grapple with the imponderables of morality, religion, and consciousness? How the Mind Works synthesizes the most satisfying explanations of our mental life from cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and other fields to explain what the mind is, how it evolved, and how it allows us to see, think, feel, laugh, interact, enjoy the arts, and contemplate the mysteries of life. 565 pages.
- 11-11-2017 [4pm at Kepler's Books] The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone, by Steven Sloman and Philip Fernbach.
The human mind is both brilliant and pathetic. Each of us is error prone, sometimes irrational, and often ignorant. The fundamentally communal nature of intelligence and knowledge explains why we often assume we know more than we really do, why political opinions and false beliefs are so hard to change, and why individually oriented approaches to education and management frequently fail. But our collaborative minds also enable us to do amazing things. This book contends that true genius can be found in the ways we create intelligence using the world around us. 304 pages.
- 12-09-2017 [3pm at Le Boulanger] Brainwashed: the Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience, by Sally Satel, Scott O. Lilienfeld.
Since fMRI—functional magnetic resonance imaging—was introduced in the early 1990s, brain scans have been used to help politicians understand and manipulate voters, determine guilt in court cases, and make sense of everything from musical aptitude to romantic love. The increasingly fashionable idea that they are the most important means of answering the enduring mysteries of psychology is misguided—and potentially dangerous. 256 pages.
- 01-13-2018 [3pm at Le Boulanger with Dinner on the Deck] Capital in the Twenty-First Century, by Thomas Pikkety.
Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. In Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Piketty analyzes a unique collection of data from twenty countries, ranging as far back as the eighteenth century, to uncover key economic and social patterns. 577 pages.
- 02-10-2018 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Cyberspies: The Secret History of Surveillance, Hacking, and Digital Espionage, by Gordon Corera.
Corera’s compelling narrative takes us from the Second World War through the Cold War and the birth of the internet to the present era of hackers and surveillance. The book is rich with historical detail and characters, as well as astonishing revelations about espionage carried out in recent times by the UK, US, and China. 448 pages.
- 03-10-2018 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Language: The Cultural Tool, by Daniel L. Everett.
Combining anthropology, primatology, computer science, philosophy, linguistics, psychology, and his own pioneering—and adventurous—research with the Amazonian Pirahã, and using insights from many different languages and cultures, Everett gives us an unprecedented elucidation of this society-defined nature of language. In doing so, he also gives us a new understanding of how we think and who we are. 364 pages.
- 04-14-2018 at Kepler's Books] The Gene: An Intimate History, by Siddhartha Mukherjee.
What becomes of being human when we learn to “read” and “write” our own genetic information? Siddhartha Mukherjee has a written a biography of the gene as deft, brilliant, and illuminating as his extraordinarily successful biography of cancer. Weaving science, social history, and personal narrative to tell us the story of one of the most important conceptual breakthroughs of modern times, Mukherjee animates the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices. 496 pages.
- 05-12-2018 at Kepler's Books] I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and Grander View of Life, by Ed Yong.
A “microbe’s-eye view” of the world that reveals a marvelous, radically reconceived picture of life on earth. Every animal, whether human, squid, or wasp, is home to millions of bacteria and other microbes. Ed Yong, whose humor is as evident as his erudition, prompts us to look at ourselves and our animal companions in a new light—less as individuals and more as the interconnected, interdependent multitudes we assuredly are. Published 2018. 368 pages.
- 06-09-2018 [3pm at Le Boulanger] Artificial Intelligence: What Everyone Needs to Know, by Jerry Kaplan.
Over the coming decades, Artificial Intelligence will profoundly impact the way we live, work, wage war, play, seek a mate, educate our young, and care for our elderly. It is likely to greatly increase our aggregate wealth, but it will also upend our labor markets, reshuffle our social order, and strain our private and public institutions. Whether we regard them as conscious or unwitting, revere them as a new form of life or dismiss them as mere clever appliances, is beside the point. They are likely to play an increasingly critical and intimate role in many aspects of our lives. 192 pages Pub 2016
- 07-14-2018 [3pm at Le Boulanger with Dinner on the Deck] Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future, by Johan Norberg.
The daily news cycle reports the deterioration: divisive politics across the Western world, racism, poverty, war, inequality, hunger. While politicians, journalists and activists from all sides talk about the damage done, Johan Norberg offers an illuminating and heartening analysis of just how far we have come in tackling the greatest problems facing humanity. In the face of fear-mongering, darkness and division, the facts are unequivocal: the golden age is now. 288 pages Pub 2017
- 08-11-2018 at Kepler's Books] The Retreat of Western Liberalism, by Edward Luce.
Unless the West can rekindle an economy that produces gains for the majority of its people, its political liberties may be doomed. The West's faith in history teaches us to take democracy for granted. Reality tells us something troublingly different. Combining on-the-ground reporting with intelligent synthesis of the literature and economic analysis, Luce offers a detailed projection of the consequences of the Trump administration, the rise of European populism, and a forward-thinking analysis of what those who believe in enlightenment values must do to defend them from the multiple onslaughts they face in the coming years. 226 pages Pub 2017
- 09-15-2018 change and 4pm at Kepler's Books] Life Unfolding: How the Human Body Creates Itself, by Jamie A. Davies.
Based on the central principle of 'adaptive self-organization', Davies explains how the interactions of many cells, and of the tiny molecular machines that run them, can organize tissue structures vastly larger than themselves, correcting errors as they go along and creating new layers of complexity where there were none before. Life Unfolding tells the story of human development from egg to adult, from this perspective, showing how our whole understanding of how we come to be has been transformed in recent years. 311 pages Pub 2015
- 10-13-2018 at Kepler's Books] Superintelligence, by Nick Bostrom.
Superintelligence asks the questions: What happens when machines surpass humans in general intelligence? Will artificial agents save or destroy us? Nick Bostrom lays the foundation for understanding the future of humanity and intelligent life. This profoundly ambitious and original book breaks down a vast track of difficult intellectual terrain. After an utterly engrossing journey that takes us to the frontiers of thinking about the human condition and the future of intelligent life, we find in Nick Bostrom's work nothing less than a reconceptualization of the essential task of our time.
390 pages Pub 2016
- 11-10-2018 at Kepler's Books] A Crack in Creation, by Jennifer Doudna and Samuel Sternberg.
The cheapest, simplest, most effective way of manipulating DNA ever known, CRISPR may well give us the cure to HIV, genetic diseases, and some cancers, and will help address the world’s hunger crisis. Yet even the tiniest changes to DNA could have myriad, unforeseeable consequences -- to say nothing of the ethical and societal repercussions of intentionally mutating embryos to create “better” humans. Writing with fellow researcher Samuel Sternberg, Doudna shares the thrilling story of her discovery, and passionately argues that enormous responsibility comes with the ability to rewrite the code of life. 304 pages Pub 2017
- 12-08-2018 [3pm at Le Boulanger with Dinner on the Deck] Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, by Max Tegmark.
How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology—and there’s nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who’s helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial. 384 pages Pub 2017
- 01-12-2019 [3pm at Le Boulanger with Dinner on the Deck] The Great Unknown: Seven Journeys to the Frontiers of Science, by Marcus Du Sautoy.
Marcus du Sautoy takes us into the minds of science's greatest innovators and reminds us that major breakthroughs were often ridiculed at the time of their discovery. Then he carries us on a whirlwind tour of seven "Edges" of knowledge - inviting us to consider the problems in quantum physics, cosmology, probability and neuroscience that continue to bedevil scientists who are at the front of their fields. He grounds his personal exploration of some of science's thorniest questions in simple concepts like the roll of dice, the notes of a cello, or how a clock measures time. 458 pages Pub 2017
- 02-09-2019 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future, by Martin Ford.
“Compelling and well-written.... In his conception, the answer is a combination of short-term policies and longer-term initiatives, one of which is a radical idea that may gain some purchase among gloomier techno-profits: a guaranteed income for all citizens. If that stirs up controversy, that's the point. The book is both lucid and bold, and certainly a starting point for robust debate about the future of all workers in an age of advancing robotics and looming artificial intelligence systems.” - ZDNet 354 pages Pub 2016
- 03-09-2019 [4pm at Kepler's Books] Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson brings the universe down to Earth succinctly and clearly, with sparkling wit: from the Big Bang to black holes, from quarks to quantum mechanics, and from the search for planets to the search for life in the universe.
224 pages Pub 2017
- 04-13-2019 [4pm at Kepler's Books] The Order of Time, by Carlo Rovelli.
Time is a mystery that does not cease to puzzle us. Philosophers, artists and
poets have long explored its meaning while scientists have found that its
structure is different from the simple intuition we have of it. From Boltzmann
to quantum theory, from Einstein to loop quantum gravity, our
understanding of time has been undergoing radical transformations. Time
flows at a different speed in different places, the past and the future differ
far less than we might think, and the very notion of the present evaporates
in the vast universe. Carlo Rovelli unravels this mystery, inviting us to
imagine a world where time is in us and we are not in time. 176 pages Pub April
2019
- 05-11-2019 [4pm at Kepler's Books with celebratory dinner at Black Pepper] The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure, by Jonathon Haight & George Lukianoff
What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker; always trust your feelings; and life
is a battle between good people and evil people. These three Great Untruths
contradict basic psychological principles about well-being and ancient
wisdom from many cultures. Embracing these untruths—and the resulting
culture of safetyism—interferes with young people’s social, emotional, and
intellectual development. It makes it harder for them to become
autonomous adults who are able to navigate the bumpy road of life.
Lukianoff and Haidt investigate the many social trends that have intersected
to promote the spread of these untruths. This is a book for anyone who is
confused by what is happening on college campuses today, or has children,
or is concerned about the growing inability of Americans to live, work, and
cooperate across party lines. 352 pages Pub 2018
- 06-08-2019 [3pm at Le Boulanger with Dinner on the Deck] Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, by Hans Rosling
Factfulness reveals the ten instincts that distort our perspective―from our
tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and
them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive
progress (believing that most things are getting worse). Our problem is that
we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by
unconscious and predictable biases. It turns out that the world, for all its
imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. “One of the
most important books I’ve ever read --an indispensable guide to thinking
clearly about the world.” -- Bill Gates. 352 pages Pub 2018
- 07-13-2019 [2pm at Le Boulanger] Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, by Yuval Noah Harari
As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves,
and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects,
dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from
overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental
questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile
world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution.
This is Homo Deus. 450 pages Pub 2017
- 08-10-2019 [4pm at Kepler's Books] What Is Real?: The Unfinished Quest For the Meaning of Quantum Physics by Adam Becker
Every physicist agrees quantum mechanics is among
humanity's finest scientific achievements. For a century, most physicists
have followed Niels Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation and dismissed
questions about the reality underlying quantum physics as meaningless. And
yet, from the 1920s to today, physicists like John Bell, David Bohm, and
Hugh Everett persisted in seeking the true meaning of quantum mechanics.
What Is Real? is the gripping story of this battle of ideas and the courageous
scientists who dared to stand up for truth. 384 pages Pub. 2018
- 09-07-2019 [Date change and 4pm at Kepler's Books] Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain, by Antonio Damasio
A leading neuroscientist explores how the brain constructs the mind and how
the brain makes that mind conscious.
In his most ambitious and stunning work yet, he rejects the long-standing
idea that consciousness is somehow separate from the body, and presents
compelling new scientific evidence that posits an evolutionary perspective.
His view entails a radical change in the way the history of the conscious mind is viewed and told, suggesting that the brain’s development of a
human self is a challenge to nature’s indifference. This development helps to
open the way for the appearance of culture, perhaps one of our most
defining characteristics as thinking and self-aware beings. 416 pages Pub 2012
- 10-12-2019 [4pm at Kepler's Books] The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth, by Michio Kaku
Michio Kaku explores in rich, intimate detail the process by which humanity
may gradually move away from the planet and develop a sustainable
civilization in outer space. He reveals how cutting-edge developments in
robotics, nanotechnology, and biotechnology may allow us to terraform and
build habitable cities on Mars, to nearby stars, beyond our galaxy, and even
beyond our universe, to the possibility of immortality, showing us how
humans may someday be able to leave our bodies entirely and laser port to
new havens in space. 368 pages Pub 2018
- 11-16-2019 [Date change and 4pm at Kepler's Books] Brief Answers to the Big Questions, by Stephen Hawking
Now, As we face immense challenges on our planet—including climate
change, the threat of nuclear war, and the development of artificial
intelligence—Hawking turns his attention to the most urgent issues facing
us. Will humanity survive? Should we colonize space? Does God exist? These
are just a few of the questions Hawking addresses in this wide-ranging,
passionately argued final book from one of the greatest minds in history.
227 pages Pub 2018
- 12-14-2019 [2pm at Le Boulanger with Dinner on the Deck] A Bee in a Cathedral: and 99 other Scientific Analogies, by Joel Levy
Levy uses analogies to demonstrate 100 basic scientific truths and principles
in new and exciting ways, describing the unbelievably massive, the
inconceivably tiny and the unfathomably complex in everyday terms.
Readers will be drawn to the book by its combination of intuitive reasoning
and a highly visual presentation style. Each analogy is explained in direct
terms and clearly illustrated. A range of facts and figures -- presented in
uniquely accessible "infographics" -- complements the analogies. A bee in a
cathedral: the nucleus compared to the size of an atom . 224 pages Pub 2011
- 01-11-2020 [2pm at Le Boulanger with Dinner on the Deck] Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
In this “compelling and utterly convincing” [The Sunday Times] book,
preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a
revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of
our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific
breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice,
368 pages Pub 2018
- 02-08-2020 [4pm at Kepler's Books] The Consciousness Instinct, by Michael Gazzaniga
The problem of consciousness has gnawed at us for millennia. In the last
century there have been massive breakthroughs that have rewritten the
science of the brain, and yet the puzzles faced by the ancient Greeks are still
present. Michael Gazzaniga puts the latest research in conversation with the
history of human thinking about the mind, giving a big-picture view of what
science has revealed about consciousness. New research suggests the brainis actually a confederation of independent modules working together.
Understanding how consciousness could emanate from such an organization
will help define the future of brain science and artificial intelligence, and
close the gap between brain and mind. 288 pages Pub 2018
- 03-28-2020 [4pm Date change and held via Zoom * because of COVID-19] The Shape of Inner Space: String Theory and the Geometry of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions, by Shing-Tung Yau
String theory says we
live in a ten-dimensional universe, but that only four are accessible to our
everyday senses. According to theorists, the missing six are curled up in
bizarre structures known as Calabi-Yau manifolds. In The Shape of Inner
Space, Shing-Tung Yau, the man who mathematically proved that these
manifolds exist, argues that not only is geometry fundamental to string
theory, it is also fundamental to the very nature of our universe. The Shape
of Inner Space will change the way we consider the universe on both its
grandest and smallest scales. 400 pages Pub 2012
- 04-11-2020 [4pm held via Zoom * because of COVID-19] A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, by Adam Rutherford and Siddhartha Mukherjee
Geneticists have suddenly become historians, and the hard evidence in our
DNA has blown the lid off what we thought we knew. Acclaimed science
writer Adam Rutherford explains exactly how genomics is completely
rewriting the human story—from 100,000 years ago to the present. p. 416
Pub 2018
- 05-09-2020 [4pm by Zoom] Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life, by Naasim Taleb
In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one’s own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life.
As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights. p. 254 Pub 2018
- 06-13-2020 [4pm by Zoom] The Math of Life and Death: 7 Mathematical Principles That Shape Our Lives, by Kit Yates
In this eye opening and extraordinary accessible book, mathematician Kit Yates illuminates hidden principles that can help us understand and navigate the chaotic and often opaque surfaces of the world. Yates takes us on a fascinating tour of everyday situations and grand-scale applications of mathematical concepts, including exponential growth and decay, optimization, statistics and probability, and number systems. Along the way he reveals the mathematical undersides of controversies over DNA testing, medical screening results, and historical events such as the Chernobyl disaster and the Amanda Knox trial. Readers will finish this book with an enlightened perspective on the news, the law, medicine, and history, and will be better equipped to make personal decisions and solve problems with math in mind. p. 288 Pub 2020
- 07-11-2020 [4pm by Zoom] Mathematics: A Very Short Introduction, by Timothy Gowers
The aim of this book is to explain, carefully but not technically, the differences between advanced, research-level mathematics, and the sort of mathematics we learn at school. The most fundamental differences are philosophical, and readers of this book will emerge with a clearer understanding of paradoxical-sounding concepts such as infinity, curved space, and imaginary numbers. The first few chapters are about general aspects of mathematical thought. These are followed by discussions of more specific topics, and the book closes with a chapter answering common sociological questions about the mathematical community (such as "Is it true that mathematicians burn out at the age of 25?") It is the ideal introduction for anyone who wishes to deepen their understanding of mathematics. p. 160 Pub 2002
- 08-15-2020 [4pm by Zoom] Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden
Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online―a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic. p. 352 Pub 2019
- 09-12-2020 [4pm by Zoom] What the Future Looks Like: Scientists Predict the Next Great Discoveries―and Reveal How Today’s Breakthroughs Are Already Shaping Our World, by Jim Al-Khalili (Editor)
Every day, scientists conduct pioneering experiments with the potential to transform how we live. Yet it isn’t every day you hear from the scientists themselves! Now, award–winning author Jim Al–Khalili and his team of top-notch experts explain how today’s earthshaking discoveries will shape our world tomorrow—and beyond. They cover.genomics, robotics, AI, the “Internet of Things”, synthetic biology, transhumanism, interstellar travel, colonization of the solar system, teleportation, and much more. Will we find a cure to all diseases? The answer to climate change? And will bionics one day turn us into superheroes? The scientists in these pages are interested only in the truth—reality–based and speculation–free. The future they conjure is by turns tantalizing and sobering: There’s plenty to look forward to, but also plenty to dread. And undoubtedly the best way for us to face tomorrow’s greatest challenges is to learn what the future looks like—today. p. 240 Pub 2018
- 10-10-2020 [4pm by Zoom] Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past, by David Reich
Reich allows readers to discover how the human genome provides not only all the information a human embryo needs to develop but also the hidden story of our species. Provocatively, Reich’s book suggests that there might very well be biological differences among human populations but that these differences are unlikely to conform to common stereotypes. Drawing upon revolutionary findings and unparalleled scientific studies, Who We Are and How We Got Here is a captivating glimpse into humankind—where we came from and what that says about our lives today. p. 368 Pub 2019
- 11-14-2020 [4pm by Zoom] Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime, by Sean Carroll
Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world’s most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of 20th century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity changes, well, everything. p. 368 Pub 2019
- 12-12-2020 [4pm by Zoom] How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, by Michael Pollan
Pollan’s natural skepticism and wry humor is a good match for the detailed accounts he includes of mind-blowing, trip-induced revelations. Can magic mushrooms be used more broadly for “the betterment of well people”? Readers who begin reading Pollan’s book feeling doubtful about the responsible use of psychedelics may find their own minds changed by his engaging, enlightened, and persuasive combination of personal and journalistic research. p. 480, Pub 2018
- 01-09-2021 [4pm by Zoom] The Doomsday Calculation: How an Equation That Predicts the Future is Transforming Everything We Know About Life and the Universe, by William Poundstone
Thomas Bayes devised a theorem that allowed him to assign probabilities to events that had never happened before. Now, as the foundation of big data, Bayes' formula has become a linchpin of the digital economy. It can also be used to lay odds on the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence; on whether we live in a Matrix-like counterfeit of reality; on the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum theory being correct; and on the biggest question of all: how long will humanity survive? Drawing on interviews with thought leaders around the globe, it's the story of a group of intellectual mavericks who are challenging what we thought we knew about our place in the universe. p. 320 Pub 2019
- 02-13-2021 [4pm by Zoom] Good Economics for Hard Times, by Banerjee and Duflo
Figuring out how to deal with today's critical economic problems is perhaps the greatest challenge of our time. In this revolutionary book, renowned MIT economists Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo take on this challenge, building on cutting-edge research in economics explained with lucidity and grace. Original, provocative, and urgent, Good Economics for Hard Times makes a persuasive case for an intelligent interventionism and a society built on compassion and respect. It is an extraordinary achievement, one that shines a light to help us appreciate and understand our precariously balanced world. p.432 Pub 2019
- 03-13-2021 [4pm by Zoom] Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe, by Stephen Strogatz
Without calculus, we wouldn’t have cell phones, TV, GPS, or ultrasound. We wouldn’t have unraveled DNA or discovered Neptune or figured out how to put 5,000 songs in your pocket. Though many of us were scared away from this essential, engrossing subject in high school and college, Steven Strogatz’s brilliantly creative, down‑to‑earth history shows that calculus is not about complexity; it’s about simplicity. It harnesses an unreal number—infinity—to tackle real‑world problems, breaking them down into easier ones and then reassembling the answers into solutions that feel miraculous. p. 384 Pub 2019
- 04-10-2021 [4pm by Zoom] Lifespan: Why we Age -- and Why We Don’t Have To, by David A. Sinclair, Ph.D.
As he writes: "Aging is a disease, and that disease is treatable." This eye-opening and provocative work takes us to the frontlines of research that is pushing the boundaries on our perceived scientific limitations, revealing incredible breakthroughs-many from Dr. David Sinclair's own lab at Harvard-that demonstrate how we can slow down, or even reverse, aging. The key is activating newly discovered vitality genes, the descendants of an ancient genetic survival circuit that is both the cause of aging and the key to reversing it. Lifespan will forever change the way we think about why we age and what we can do about it. p. 432 Pub 2019
- 05-08-2021 [4pm by Zoom] Fundamentals: Ten keys to Reality by Frank Wilczek
Synthesizing basic questions, facts, and dazzling speculations, Wilczek investigates the ideas that form our understanding of the universe: time, space, matter, energy, complexity, and complementarity. He excavates the history of fundamental science, exploring what we know and how we know it, while journeying to the horizons of the scientific world to give us a glimpse of what we may soon discover. p. 272 Pub 2021
- 06-19-2021 [date change and 4pm by Zoom] Arrival of the Fittest: How Nature Innovates by Andreas Wagner
Renowned evolutionary biologist Andreas Wagner draws on over fifteen years of research to present the missing piece in Darwin's theory. Using experimental and computational technologies that were heretofore unimagined, he has found that adaptations are not just driven by chance, but by a set of laws that allow nature to discover new molecules and mechanisms in a fraction of the time that random variation would take. Meticulously researched, carefully argued, evocatively written, and full of fascinating examples from the animal kingdom, Arrival of the Fittest offers up the final puzzle piece in the mystery of life’s rich diversity. p 304 Pub 2015
- 07-10-2021 [4pm by Zoom] The Tyranny of Merit-- What’s Become of the Common Good by Michael J. Sandal
Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the polarized politics of our time, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalisation and rising inequality. He highlights the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind. He offers an alternative way of thinking about success - more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility, and more hospitable to a politics of the common good. p. 268 Pub 2020
- 08-14-2021 [4pm by Zoom] Livewired--The Inside Story of the Ever Changing Brain by David Eagleman
What does drug withdrawal have in common with a broken heart? Why is the enemy of memory not time but other memories? How can a blind person learn to see with her tongue, or a deaf person learn to hear with his skin? Why did many people in the 1980s mistakenly perceive book pages to be slightly red in color? Why is the world’s best archer armless? Might we someday control a robot with our thoughts, just as we do our fingers and toes? Why do we dream at night, and what does that have to do with the rotation of the Earth? In Livewired, you will surf the leading edge of neuroscience and new discoveries from Eagleman’s own laboratory, from synesthesia to dreaming to wearable neurotech devices that revolutionize how we think about the senses. p. 320 Pub 2020
- 09-11-2021 [4pm by Zoom] Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy, by Robert H. Frank
In recent years, social scientists have discovered that chance plays a much larger role in important life outcomes than most people imagine. Robert Frank explores the surprising implications of those findings to show why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in success―and why that hurts everyone, even the wealthy. Compellingly readable, Success and Luck shows how a more accurate understanding of the role of chance in life could lead to better, richer, and fairer economies and societies. p. 208 Pub 2017
- 10-09-2021 [4pm by Zoom] Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life, by Zena Hitz
Zena Hitz writes that few experiences are so fulfilling as the inner life, whether that of a bookworm, an amateur astronomer, a birdwatcher, or someone who takes a deep interest in one of countless other subjects. Today, when even the humanities are often defended only for their economic or political usefulness, Hitz says our intellectual lives are valuable not despite but because of their practical uselessness. Reminding us of who we once were and who we might become, Lost in Thought is a moving account of why renewing our inner lives is fundamental to preserving our humanity. p. 240 Pub 2020
- 11-13-2021 [4pm by Zoom] The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom, by Stephen M. Stigler
What gives statistics its unity as a science? Stephen Stigler sets forth the seven foundational ideas of statistics -- a scientific discipline related to but distinct from mathematics and computer science:
- aggregation, exemplified by averaging --is counterintuitive
- information measurement, challenges the importance of “big data”
- likelihood, the calibration of inferences with the use of probability
- Intercomparison
- regression, including Bayesian inference and causal reasoning
- experimental design
- residual: complicated phenomenon can be simplified
The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom presents an original, unified account of statistical science that will fascinate the interested layperson and engage the professional statistician. p. 240 Pub 2016
- 12-11-2021 [4pm by Zoom] Explaining Humans, by Camilla Pang
From the Royal Society--Through a set of scientific principles, this book examines life's everyday interactions including: decisions and the route we take to make them; conflict and how we can avoid it; relationships and how we establish them; etiquette and how we conform to it. Explaining Humans is an original and incisive exploration of human nature and the strangeness of social norms, written from the outside looking in. Camilla's unique perspective of the world, in turn, tells us so much about ourselves - about who we are and why we do it - and is a fascinating guide on how to lead a more connected, happier life. p. 256 Pub 2020
- 01-08-2022 [4pm by Zoom] Until the End of Time, by Brian Greene
Greene takes us on a journey from the big bang to the end of time, exploring how lasting structures formed, how life and mind emerged, and how we grapple with our existence through narrative, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and a deep longing for the eternal. From particles to planets, consciousness to creativity, matter to meaning—Brian Greene allows us all to grasp and appreciate our fleeting but utterly exquisite moment in the cosmos. p. 448 Pub 2020
- 02-12-2022 [4pm by Zoom] Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World, by Carol Bergstrom and Jevin West
Misinformation, disinformation, and fake news abound and it’s increasingly difficult to know what’s true. Our media environment has become hyperpartisan. Science is conducted by press release. Startup culture elevates bullshit to high art. We are fairly well equipped to spot the sort of old-school bullshit that is based in fancy rhetoric and weasel words, but most of us don’t feel qualified to challenge the avalanche of new-school bullshit presented in the language of math, science, or statistics. In Calling Bullshit, Professors Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West give us a set of powerful tools to cut through the most intimidating data. p. 314 Pub 2020
- 03-12-2022 [4pm by Zoom] At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe’s First Seconds, by Dan Hooper
Scientists in the past few decades have made crucial discoveries about how our cosmos evolved over the past 13.8 billion years. But there remains a critical gap in our knowledge: we still know very little about what happened in the first seconds after the Big Bang. At the Edge of Time focuses on what we have recently learned and are still striving to understand about this most essential and mysterious period of time at the beginning of cosmic history. p. 248 Pub 2019
- 04-09-2022 [4pm by Zoom] Successful Aging: a Neuroscientist Explores The Power and Potential of Our Lives, by Daniel J Levitin
Successful Aging delivers powerful insights:
- Debunking the myth that memory always declines with age
- Confirming that "health span"—not "life span"—is what matters
- Proving that sixty-plus years is a unique and newly recognized developmental stage
- Recommending that people look forward to joy, as reminiscing doesn't promote health
Throughout his exploration of what aging really means, using research from developmental neuroscience and the psychology of individual differences, Levitin reveals resilience strategies and practical, cognitive enhancing tricks everyone should do as they age. p. 400 Pub 2020
- 05-14-2022 [4pm by Zoom] Human Cultures through the Scientific Lens: Essays in Evolutionary Cognitive Anthropology, by Pascal Boyer
PDF
Boyer promotes the perspective of 'integrated' social science, in which social science questions are addressed in a deliberately eclectic manner, combining results and models from evolutionary biology, experimental psychology, economics, anthropology and history. It thus constitutes a welcome contribution to a gradually emerging approach to social science based on E. O. Wilson's concept of 'consilience'. Boyer spans a wide range of topics, from an examination of ritual behavior, integrating neuroscience, ethology and anthropology to explain why humans engage in ritual actions (both cultural and individual), to the motivation of conflicts between groups. As such, the collection gives readers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the applications of an evolutionary paradigm in the social sciences. p. 292 Pub 2021
- 06-11-2022 [4pm by Zoom] The Science and Technology of Growing Young: An Insider's Guide to the Breakthroughs that Will Dramatically Extend Our Lifespan ... and What You Can Do Right Now, by Sergey Young
Industry investor and insider Sergey Young demystifies the longevity landscape, cutting through the hype and showing readers what they can do now to live better for longer, and offering a look into the exciting possibilities that await us. By viewing aging as a condition that can be cured, we can dramatically revolutionize the field of longevity and make it accessible for everyone. Join Sergey as he gathers insights from world-leading health entrepreneurs, scientists, doctors, and inventors, providing a comprehensive look into the future of longevity in the near and far horizons. Pub 2021 pages 272
- 07-16-2022 [date change and 4pm by Zoom] The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do, by Eric J. Larson
Erik J. Larson is a computer scientist and tech entrepreneur. The founder of two DARPA-funded AI startups, he is currently working on core issues in natural language processing and machine learning. Many futurists insist that AI will soon achieve human levels of intelligence. The Myth of Artificial Intelligence argues that such claims are just that: myths. We are not on the path to developing truly intelligent machines. We don’t even know where that path might be. AI researchers and enthusiasts have equated the reasoning approaches of AI with those of human intelligence. Even cutting-edge AI looks nothing like human intelligence. Modern AI is based on inductive reasoning: computers make statistical correlations to determine which answer is likely to be right, allowing software to, say, detect a particular face in an image. But human reasoning is entirely different. Humans do not correlate data sets; we make conjectures sensitive to context—the best guess, given our observations and what we already know about the world. We haven’t a clue how to program this kind of reasoning, known as abduction.
Larson argues that all AI hype is bad science and bad for science. Pub 2021-pgs 304
- 08-13-2022 [4pm by Zoom] Think Again, by Adam Grant
Adam Grant makes it one of his guiding principles to argue like he's right but listen like he's wrong. He investigates how we can embrace the joy of being wrong, bring nuance to charged conversations, and build schools, workplaces, and communities of lifelong learners. Think Again reveals that we don't have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. It's an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility, humility, and curiosity over foolish consistency. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don't know is wisdom. Pub 2021 pages 320
- 09-10-2022 [4pm by Zoom] Science Fictions: Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth, by Stuart Richie
Stuart Ritchie’s own work challenging an infamous psychology experiment helped spark what is now widely known as the “replication crisis,” the realization that supposed scientific truths are often just plain wrong. Now, he reveals the very human biases, misunderstandings, and deceptions that undermine the scientific endeavor: from contamination in science labs to the secret vaults of failed studies that nobody gets to see; from outright cheating with fake data to the more common, but still ruinous, temptation to exaggerate mediocre results for a shot at scientific fame. Science Fictions a defense of the scientific method against the pressures and perverse incentives that lead scientists to bend the rules. By illustrating the many ways that scientists go wrong, Ritchie gives us the knowledge we need to spot dubious research and points the way to reforms that could make science trustworthy once again. Pub 2021 pages 368
- 10-08-2022 [4pm by Zoom] System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot, by Rob Reich
System Error exposes the root of our current predicament: how big tech’s relentless focus on optimization is driving a future that reinforces discrimination, erodes privacy, displaces workers, and pollutes the information we get. This optimization mindset substitutes what companies care about for the values that we as a democratic society might choose to prioritize. Well-intentioned optimizers fail to measure all that is meaningful and, when their creative disruptions achieve great scale, they impose their values upon the rest of us.
Troubled by the values that permeate the university’s student body and its culture, three Stanford professors worked together to chart a new path forward, creating a popular course to transform how tomorrow’s technologists approach their profession. Now, as the dominance of big tech becomes an explosive societal conundrum, they share their provocative insights and concrete solutions to help everyone understand what is happening, what is at stake, and what we can do to control technology instead of letting it control us. Pub 2021 pages 352
- 11-12-2022 [4pm by Zoom] A Thousand Brains A New Theory of Intelligence, by Jeff Hawkins and Richard Dawkins.
A bestselling author, neuroscientist, and computer engineer unveils a theory of intelligence that will revolutionize our understanding of the brain and the future of AI. For all of neuroscience's advances, we've made little progress on its biggest question: How do simple cells in the brain create intelligence? Jeff Hawkins and his team discovered that the brain uses maplike structures to build a model of the world-not just one model, but hundreds of thousands of models of everything we know. This discovery allows Hawkins to answer important questions about how we perceive the world, why we have a sense of self, and the origin of high-level thought. A Thousand Brains heralds a revolution in the understanding of intelligence. It is a big-think book, in every sense of the word. Pub 2021 pages 263
- 12-10-2022 [2pm by Zoom] Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain, by Shankar Vedantam and Bill Mesler
Self-deception does terrible harm to us, to our communities, and to the planet. But if it is so bad for us, why is it ubiquitous? The authors argue that, paradoxically, self-deception can also play a vital role in our success and well-being. The lies we tell ourselves sustain our daily interactions with friends, lovers, and coworkers. They can explain why some people live longer than others, why some couples remain in love and others don’t, why some nations hold together while others splinter. Filled with powerful personal stories and drawing on new insights in psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy, Useful Delusions offers a fascinating tour of what it really means to be human. Pub 2021 pages 264
- 01-14-2023 [4pm by Zoom] Being You: A New Science of Consciousness, by Anil Seth
Anil Seth's quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century science. Anil Seth is both a leading expert on the neuroscience of consciousness and one of most prominent spokespeople for this relatively new field of science. His radical argument is that we do not perceive the world as it objectively is, but rather that we are prediction machines, constantly inventing our world and correcting our mistakes by the microsecond, and that we can now observe the biological mechanisms in the brain that accomplish this process of consciousness. Pub 2021 pages 352
- 02-11-2023 [4pm by Zoom] What Is Life?: Five Great Ideas in Biology, by Paul Nurse
What is Life? is a shared journey of discovery; step-by-step Nurse illuminates five great ideas that underpin biology―the Cell, the Gene, Evolution by Natural Selection, Life as Chemistry, and Life as Information. He introduces the scientists who made the most important advances, and, using his personal experiences in and out of the lab, he shares with us the challenges, the lucky breaks, and the thrilling eureka moments of discovery. Nurse writes with delight at life’s richness and with a sense of the urgent role of biology in our time. To survive the challenges that face us all today―climate change, pandemic, loss of biodiversity and food security―it is vital that we all understand what life is. Pub 2021 pages 160
- 03-11-2023 [4pm by Zoom] Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment, by Daniel Kahneman
Noise: variability in judgments that should be identical. In Noise, Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein show the detrimental effects of noise in many fields, including medicine, law, economic forecasting, forensic science, bail, child protection, strategy, performance reviews, and personnel selection. Wherever there is judgment, there is noise. Yet, most of the time, individuals and organizations alike are unaware of it. They neglect noise. With a few simple remedies, people can reduce both noise and bias, and so make far better decisions. Packed with original ideas, and offering the same kinds of research-based insights that made Thinking, Fast and Slow and Nudge groundbreaking New York Times bestsellers, Noise explains how and why humans are so susceptible to noise in judgment—and what we can do about it. Pub 2021 pages 378
- 04-08-2023 [4pm by Zoom] A Series of Fortunate Events: Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You, by Sean B. Carroll (the biologist, not the physicist Carroll)
A Series of Fortunate Events tells the story of the awesome power of chance and how it is the surprising source of all the beauty and diversity in the living world. Like every other species, we humans are here by accident. But it is shocking just how many things―any of which might never have occurred―had to happen in certain ways for any of us to exist. From an extremely improbable asteroid impact, to the wild gyrations of the Ice Age, to invisible accidents in our parents' gonads, we are all here through an astonishing series of fortunate events. And chance continues to reign every day over the razor-thin line between our life and death. A Series of Fortunate Events is an irresistibly entertaining and thought-provoking account of one of the most important but least appreciated facts of life. Pub 2020 pages 224
- 05-13-2023 [4pm by Zoom] Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions, by Sabine Hossenfelder.
Physicists are great at complicated research, but they are less good at telling us why it matters. In this entertaining and groundbreaking book, theoretical
physicist Sabine Hossenfelder breaks down why we should care. Drawing on the latest research in quantum mechanics, black holes, string theory and particle physics, Existential Physics explains what modern physics can tell us about the big questions. This clear and yet profound book will reshape your understanding of science and the limits of what we can know. Pub 2022 pages 272
- 06-10-2023 [4pm by Zoom] The Biggest Ideas in the Universe, by Sean Carroll.
Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe but those insights come in the form of equations that often look like gobbledygook. Sean Carroll shows that they are really like meaningful poems that can help us fly over sierras to discover a miraculous multidimensional landscape alive with radiant giants, warped space-time, and bewilderingly powerful forces. High school calculus is itself a centuries-old marvel as worthy of our gaze as the Mona Lisa. And it may come as a surprise the extent to which all our most cutting-edge ideas about black holes are built on the math calculus enables. No one else could so smoothly guide readers toward grasping the very equation Einstein used to describe his theory of general relativity. In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago, this book is an inspiring, dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come. Pub 2022 pages 303
- 07-15-2023 [date change and 4pm by Zoom] Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, by Steven Pinker.
In this elegant assessment of the human condition in the third millennium Steven Pinker urges us to step back from the gory headlines and prophecies of doom, which play to our psychological biases. Instead, follow the data: In seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing. Pub 2018 pages 454
- 08-12-2023 [4pm by Zoom] Lessons in Stoicism: What Ancient Philosophers Teach Us about How to Live, by John Sellars.
In the past few years, Stoicism has been making a comeback. But what exactly did the Stoics believe? In Lessons in Stoicism, philosopher John Sellars weaves together the key ideas of the three great Roman Stoics -- Seneca, Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius -- with snapshots of their fascinating lives, to show us how their ideas can help us today. In vivid prose, Sellars shows how the works of these three Stoics have inspired readers ever since, speaking as they do to some of the perennial issues that face anyone trying to navigate their way through life. Their works, fundamentally, are about how to live -- how to understand one's place in the world, how to cope when things don't go well, how to manage one's emotions and how to behave towards others. Pub 2020 pages 96
- 09-09-2023 [4pm by Zoom] The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization, by Peter Zeihan.
Peter Zeihan maps out the next world: a world where countries or regions will have no choice but to make their own goods, grow their own food, secure their own energy, fight their own battles, and do it all with populations that are both shrinking and aging.The list of countries that make it all work is smaller than you think. Which means everything about our interconnected world - from how we manufacture products, to how we grow food, to how we keep the lights on, to how we shuttle stuff about, to how we pay for it all - is about to change. A world ending. A world beginning. Zeihan brings readers along for an illuminating (and a bit terrifying) ride packed with foresight, wit, and his trademark irreverence . Pub 2022 pages 400
- 10-14-2023 [4pm by Zoom] Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters, by Steven E. Koonin.
When it comes to climate change, the media, politicians, and other prominent voices have declared that "the science is settled." In reality, the long game of telephone from research to reports to the popular media is corrupted by misunderstanding and misinformation. Core questions—about the way the climate is responding to our influence, and what the impacts will be—remain largely unanswered. The climate is changing, but the why and how aren't as clear as you've probably been led to believe. Now, one of America's most distinguished scientists is clearing away the fog to explain what science really says (and doesn't say) about our changing climate. Koonin, former top science advisor to Obama, gives up-to-date insights and expert perspective free from political agendas. Pub 2021 pages 320
- 11-11-2023 [4pm by Zoom] The Blank Slate, by Stephen Pinker.
One of the world's leading experts on language and the mind explores the idea of human nature and its moral, emotional, and political colorings. With characteristic wit, lucidity, and insight, Pinker argues that the dogma that the mind has no innate traits-a doctrine held by many intellectuals during the past century-denies our common humanity and our individual preferences, replaces objective analyses of social problems with feel-good slogans, and distorts our understanding of politics, violence, parenting, and the arts. Injecting calm and rationality into debates that are notorious for ax-grinding and mud-slinging, Pinker shows the importance of an honest acknowledgment of human nature based on science and common sense. Pub 2003 pages 200
- 12-16-2023 [date change and 4pm by Zoom] A Brief History of Equality, by Thomas Piketty.
The world’s leading economist of inequality presents a short but sweeping and surprisingly optimistic history of human progress toward equality despite crises, disasters, and backsliding. A perfect introduction to the ideas developed in his monumental earlier books. It’s easy to be pessimistic about inequality. We know it has increased dramatically in many parts of the world over the past two generations. No one has done more to reveal the problem than Thomas Piketty. Now, in this surprising and powerful new work, Piketty reminds us that the grand sweep of history gives us reasons to be optimistic. Over the centuries, he shows, we have been moving toward greater equality. Pub 2022 pages 288
- 01-13-2024 [4pm by Zoom] What We Owe the Future, by MacAskill.
The fate of the world is in our hands. Humanity’s written history spans only five thousand years. Our yet-unwritten future could last for millions more — or it could end tomorrow. Astonishing numbers of people could lead lives of great happiness or unimaginable suffering, or never live at all, depending on what we choose to do today. In What We Owe The Future, philosopher William MacAskill argues for longtermism, that idea that positively influencing the distant future is a key moral priority of our time. From this perspective, it’s not enough to reverse climate change or avert the next pandemic. We must ensure that civilization would rebound if it collapsed; counter the end of moral progress; and prepare for a planet where the smartest beings are digital, not human. Pub 2922 pages 352
- 02-10-2024 [4pm by Zoom] Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters, by Steve Pinker.
We actually think in ways that are sensible in the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we’ve discovered over the millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, correlation and causation, and optimal ways to update beliefs and commit to choices individually and with others. These tools are not a standard part of our education, and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book--until now. Rationality also explores its opposite: how the rational pursuit of self-interest, sectarian solidarity, and uplifting mythology can add up to crippling irrationality in a society. Collective rationality depends on norms that are explicitly designed to promote objectivity and truth. Pub 2021 pages 432
- 03-09-2024 [4pm by Zoom] The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find our Place in the Universe, by Jeremy Lent.
Award-winning author, Jeremy Lent, investigates humanity's age-old questions – Who am I? Why am I? How should I live? – from a fresh perspective, weaving together findings from modern systems thinking, evolutionary biology, and cognitive neuroscience with insights from Buddhism, Taoism, and Indigenous wisdom. The result is a breathtaking accomplishment: a rich, coherent worldview based on a deep recognition of connectedness within ourselves, between each other, and with the entire natural world. It offers a compelling foundation for a new philosophical framework that could enable humanity to thrive sustainably on a flourishing Earth. Pub 2021 pages 383
- 04-13-2024 [4pm by Zoom] An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, by Ed Yong.
In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us. We encounter beetles that are drawn to fires, turtles that can track the Earth’s magnetic fields, fish that fill rivers with electrical messages, and even humans who wield sonar like bats. We discover that a crocodile’s scaly face is as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, that the eyes of a giant squid evolved to see sparkling whales, that plants thrum with the inaudible songs of courting bugs, and that even simple scallops have complex vision. We learn what bees see in flowers, what songbirds hear in their tunes, and what dogs smell on the street. We listen to stories of pivotal discoveries in the field, while looking ahead at the many mysteries that remain unsolved. Pub 2022 pages 464
- 05-11-2024 [4pm by Zoom] How The World Really Works: The Science Behind How We Got Here and Where We Are Going, by Vaclav Smil.
This book explains seven of the most fundamental realities governing our survival and prosperity. From energy and food production, through our material world and its globalization, to risks, our environment and its future, How the World Really Works offers a much-needed reality check—because before we can tackle problems effectively, we must understand the facts.
“A new masterpiece from one of my favorite authors… [How The World Really Works] is a compelling and highly readable book that leaves readers with the fundamental grounding needed to help solve the world’s toughest challenges.”—Bill Gates. Pub 2022 pg. 326
- 06-08-2024 [4pm by Zoom] Size: How It Explains the World, by Vaclav Smil.
Using the interdisciplinary approach that has won him a wide readership, Smil draws upon history, earth science, psychology, art, and more to offer fresh insight into some of our biggest challenges, including income inequality, the spread of infectious disease, and the uneven impacts of climate change. Size explains the regularities—and peculiarities—of the key processes shaping life (from microbes to whales), the Earth (from asteroids to volcanic eruptions), technical advances (from architecture to transportation), and societies and economies (from cities to wages). This book about the big and the small, and the relationship between them, answers the big and small questions of human existence: Pub 2023 pg. 303
- 07-13-2024 [4pm by Zoom] The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect, by Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie.
The causal revolution, instigated by Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has cut through a century of confusion and established causality -- the study of cause and effect -- on a firm scientific basis. His work explains how we can know easy things, like whether it was rain or a sprinkler that made a sidewalk wet; and how to answer hard questions, like whether a drug cured an illness. Pearl's work enables us to know not just whether one thing causes another: it lets us explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It shows us the essence of human thought and key to artificial intelligence. Pub 2018 pg. 423
- 08-10-2024 [4pm by Zoom] Third Millennium Thinking: Creating Sense in a World of Nonsense, by Saul Perlmutter, John Campbell, et al.
In Third Millennium Thinking, a physicist, a psychologist, and a philosopher introduce readers to the tools and frameworks that scientists have developed to keep from fooling themselves, to understand the world, and to make decisions. We can all borrow these trust-building techniques to tackle problems both big and small. Using provocative thought exercises, jargon-free language, and vivid illustrations drawn from history, daily life, and scientists’ insider stories, Third Millennium Thinking offers a novel approach for readers to make sense of the nonsense. Pub 2024 pg. 304
- 09-14-2024 [4pm by Zoom] Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy, by David J. Chalmers.
In a highly original work of “techno philosophy,” Chalmers conducts a grand tour of big ideas in philosophy and science. He uses virtual reality technology to offer a new perspective on long-established philosophical questions. How do we know that there’s an external world? Is there a god? What is the nature of reality? What’s the relation between mind and body? How can we lead a good life? All of these questions are illuminated or transformed by Chalmers’ mind-bending analysis. Studded with illustrations that bring philosophical issues to life, Reality+ is a major statement that will shape discussion of philosophy, science, and technology for years to come. Pub 2022 pg. 450
- 10-12-2024 [4pm by Zoom] On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory, by Thomas Hertog.
Peering into the extreme quantum physics of cosmic holograms and venturing far back in time to our deepest roots, Stephen Hawking and Thomas Hertog were startled to find a deeper level of evolution in which the physical laws themselves transform and simplify until particles, forces, and even time itself fades away. This discovery led them to a revolutionary idea: The laws of physics are not set in stone but are born and co-evolve as the universe they govern takes shape. As Hawking’s final days drew near, the two collaborators published their theory, which proposed a radical new Darwinian perspective on the origins of our universe. Pub 2023 pg. 338
- 11-09-2024 NOTE: [4pm by Zoom?] A Field Guide to Lies, by Daniel J. Levitin.
It's raining bad data, half-truths, and even outright lies. Info Literacy means understanding that there are hierarchies of source quality and bias that variously distort our information feeds via every media channel, including social media. We need to think critically about the words and numbers we encounter if we want to be successful at work, at play, and in making the most of our lives. Readers learn to avoid the extremes of passive gullibility and cynical rejection. Levitin's charming, entertaining, accessible guide can help anyone wake up to a whole lot of things that aren't so. And catch some weasels in their tracks! Pub 2019 pg. 236
- 12-14-2024 NOTE: [4pm by Zoom?] Quanta and Fields: The Biggest Ideas in the Universe, by Sean Carroll.
Starting with the basics of quantum mechanics itself, Sean Carroll explains measurement and entanglement before explaining how the world is really made of fields. You will finally understand why matter is solid, why there is antimatter, where the sizes of atoms come from, and why the predictions of quantum field theory are so spectacularly successful. Fundamental ideas like spin, symmetry, Feynman diagrams, and the Higgs mechanism are explained for real, not just through amusing stories. Beyond Newton, beyond Einstein, and all the intuitive notions that have guided homo sapiens for millennia, this book is a journey to a once unimaginable truth about what our universe is. Pub 2024 pg. 450
- 01-11-2025 NOTE: [4pm by Zoom?] Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will, by Robert M. Sapolsky
Determined offers a marvelous synthesis of what we know about how consciousness works—the tight weave between reason and emotion and between stimulus and response in the moment and over a life. One by one, Sapolsky tackles all the major arguments for free will and takes them out, cutting a path through the thickets of chaos and complexity science and quantum physics, as well as touching ground on some of the wilder shores of philosophy. He shows us that the history of medicine is in no small part the history of learning that fewer and fewer things are somebody’s “fault”; for example, for centuries we thought seizures were a sign of demonic possession. Pub 2023 pg. 450
- 02-08-2025 NOTE: [4pm by Zoom?] A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains, by Max Bennett.
Deploying a fresh perspective and working with the support of many top minds in neuroscience, Bennett consolidates this immense history into an approachable new framework, identifying the “Five Breakthroughs” that mark the brain’s most important evolutionary leaps forward. Containing fascinating corollaries to developments in AI, A Brief History of Intelligence shows where current AI systems have matched or surpassed our brains, as well as where AI systems still fall short. Simply put, until AI systems successfully replicate each part of our brain’s long journey, AI systems will fail to exhibit human-like intelligence. Pub 2023 Pg. 432
- 03-08-2025 NOTE: [4pm by Zoom?] I’ve Been Thinking, by Daniel Dennett.
Dennett’s relentless curiosity has taken him from a childhood in Beirut and the classrooms of Harvard, Oxford, and Tufts, to “Cognitive Cruises” on sailboats and the fields and orchards of Maine, and to laboratories and think tanks around the world. Along the way, I’ve Been Thinking provides a master class in the dominant themes of twentieth-century philosophy and cognitive science—including language, evolution, logic, religion, and AI—and reveals both the mistakes and breakthroughs that shaped Dennett’s theories. Dennett compels us to consider: What do I really think? And what if I’m wrong? This memoir by one of the greatest minds of our time will speak to anyone who seeks to balance a life of the mind with adventure and creativity. Pub 2023 pg. 451
- 04-12-2025 NOTE: [4pm by Zoom?] The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race, by Walter Isaacson.
The development of CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be joined by those who study genetic code. Should we use our new evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? Hmmm…Should we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ of their kids? After helping to discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020. Pub 2021 pg. 450
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