| More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to... by Adam BeckerMany of today’s tech industry leaders advance wildly optimistic visions of a future in which people will live on Mars, become immortal, and exist in simulation. Interrogating these scenarios with real science, journalist Adam Becker runs through the multitude of reasons why they aren’t achievable, and why we wouldn’t want them to be. Try this next: Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis. |
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| Fatal Abstraction: Why the Managerial Class Loses Control of Software by Darryl CampbellTech insider Darryl Campbell concludes that the era of ubiquitous computing has so far failed to deliver on its promise to humanity due to lack of oversight and profit-obsessed executives. Without sweeping industry regulations, Campbell foresees a time when applications actually impede human well-being in this “disturbing look at the evolution of digital technology” (Kirkus Reviews). |
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| Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance by Laura DelanoLaura Delano shares her experiences as an over-prescribed psychiatric patient. After being diagnosed with several psychiatric “conditions” starting in her teens, Delano came to the stark realization in her late twenties that the combination of psychotropic drugs that she was taking was causing a cascade of interrelated symptoms. Unshrunk is an emotionally powerful cautionary tale, suitable for readers who enjoyed Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne. |
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| Slither: How Nature's Most Maligned Creatures Illuminate Our World by Stephen S. HallScience writer Stephen S. Hall has been fascinated by snakes since childhood, and his enthusiasm comes through in this sweeping overview of all things herpetological. Hall covers topics including people’s fear of snakes, snake venom, locomotion, evolutionary history, religious symbolism, and the ease with which snakes adapt to their surroundings. An enticing choice for snake lovers (and haters!). |
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| In Praise of Floods: The Untamed River and the Life It Brings by James C. ScottAgrarian scientist James C. Scott urges the reader of his posthumously published book to think of a river watershed as a vast organism, expanding and contracting with an annual flood pulse, and supporting a complex biodiverse ecology through the seasons. This biome enables the flourishing of humans and other animals, but is grievously harmed by dams, levees, and artificial canals. Try this next: Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane. |
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| Nine Minds: Inner Lives on the Spectrum by Daniel TammetEssayist and memoirist Daniel Tammet, a writer who is himself on the autism spectrum, focuses on the lives of nine autistic individuals, highlighting the diversity of their various talents. It’s a sweeping and inspiring own voices journey that “captures the unique modes of autistic thought with sensitivity and lyrical flair” (Publishers Weekly). For fans of: We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation by Eric Garcia. |
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A Crack in Everything : How Black Holes Came in from the Cold and Took Cosmic Centre Stage
by Marcus Chown
What is space? What is time? Where did the universe come from? The answers to mankind's most enduring questions may lie in science's greatest enigma: black holes. A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. This can occur when a star approaches the end of its life. Unable to generate enough heat to maintain its outer layers, it shrinks catastrophically down to an infinitely dense point. When this phenomenon was first proposed in 1916, it defied scientific understanding so much that Albert Einstein dismissed it as too ridiculous to be true. But scientists have since proven otherwise. In 1971, Paul Murdin and Louise Webster discovered the first black hole: Cygnus X-1. Later, in the 1990s, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope found that not only do black holes exist, supermassive black holes lie at the heart of almost every galaxy, including our own. It would take another three decades to confirm this phenomenon. On 10 April 2019, a team of astronomers made history by producing the first image of a black hole. A Crack in Everything is the story of how black holes came in from the cold and took cosmic centre stage. As a journalist, Marcus Chown interviews many of the scientists who made the key discoveries, and, as a former physicist, he translates the most esoteric of science into everyday language. The result is a uniquely engaging page-turner that tells one of the great untold stories in modern science.
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