December 2007 Archives
This book is about biomechanics: it compares the mechanical solutions used by people and by nature. There are huge differences between the two, and perhaps something we could learn from the nature. Of course, that's what people have tried to do for thousands of years, with varying success - flying is probably one of the best examples of cases where not emulating nature lead to success.
Vogel has plenty of material and while it all is rather interesting in theory, I found the book somewhat boring and finished it by browsing through it rather swiftly. The dry text just couldn't hold my interest. I wouldn't recommend the book unless you're really interested in the topic. This isn't one of those excellent popular science books that makes you interest in its topic: I believe you need to have previous interest in mechanics to make Cat's Paws and Catapults work. (Review based on the Finnish translation.) [ Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People at Amazon.co.uk ]
This book is about human imagination: according to the author, that is the one thing that separates humans from other animals. Our power to imagine makes it possible for us to come up with all these possibilities and futures. And perhaps some happiness, too? Yet so very often we make bad decisions, misestimate, choose the wrong option. Why?
It turns out our marvelous brains are a shoddy tool. According to research - and Gilbert quotes plenty of that - humans are really bad at knowing how we feel: we might know how we feel now, but both estimating how we will feel in the future and remembering how we felt about something in the past are surprisingly hard tasks. Our brains come up with all these details - all fake, because we can't remember everything. Yet our brains are so good at what they do that we don't even realize we're remembering stuff our brains just made up. No wonder we make bad decisions.
Stumbling upon happiness isn't as inspiring as the best popular science books are, but nevertheless, it's a fine look at what modern psychology has to offer. It gives some rather delicious anecdotes, has some rather good insight and is certainly entertaining enough. Stumbling on happiness is worth reading, if you're interested in figuring out how you think the way you do. [ Stumbling on Happiness at Amazon.co.uk ]
Have you ever wondered about the chemistry behind everyday materials like salt, fuels, caffeine or medicine? This book takes a bunch of molecules familiar to most people, either from their everyday life or from news headlines and explores them from a chemist's point of view.
The result is an intriguing book, written in an enthusiastic and friendly style. It doesn't take much understanding of chemistry to follow Emsley and he offers interesting perspectives to everyday materials. Molecules at an Exhibition is a good and entertaining way to increase one's knowledge on chemistry. (Review based on the Finnish translation.) [ Molecules at an Exhibition: Portraits of Intriguing Materials in Everyday Life at Amazon.co.uk ]
For a debut novel, this one's pretty amazing. Duncan mixes mythology, parallel worlds, real-world history, literature references and whatnot into a mess of ideas and intertwining plotlines. Making sense of this book is hard, harder than with most books, but it's well worth it, as Duncan writes well.
He has this habit of recycling characters: most storylines, whether they're set in, say, World War I or the North Carolina in 2017, tend to feature similar cast playing similar roles with some twists involved. I suppose it all wraps up somehow, though reading the book once left me a bit dazzled. A second reading might be helpful.
I know some people will hate Vellum: if you want straight plots, this one isn't for you. Amazon reviews certainly prove this: as I'm writing this, out of 40 reviews this book has ten five-star review and ten one-star reviews. I for one didn't love the ending, which seemed a bit - stale, perhaps? But I'm hoping Ink, the sequel, will fix that. In any case I'm falling towards five stars: I think this is one of the more impressive fantasy novels I've read. [ Vellum: The Book of All Hours at Amazon.co.uk ]
The Perry Bible Fellowship has long been one of my favourite online comics. The author has a brilliantly twisted sense of humour and a good sense of style. PBF is PBF, even though the illustrations vary a lot between strips, as Gurewitch experiments with different styles and techniques.
This book compiles almost hundred pages worth of strips: not all of them, but most. Few of my personal favourites are missing, yet I'm quite satisfied with the collection. There's some material that's previously unpublished, but it's nothing really interesting. So, if you've already read everything that's on the web site and don't want to buy stuff you've already read, this book offers very little. However, I'm rather glad to have it on my bookshelves.
If you've never heard of Perry Bible Fellowship, I envy you: you have a world of sickly sweet pleasure to explore. Check the web site or buy the book: whichever you do, you won't be disappointed. [ The Perry Bible Fellowship: Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories at Amazon.co.uk ]
Colour is easy to take as grant. However, the great painters of the history worked often with a very limited palettes, as good pigments simply weren't invented. The best blues and reds were very valuable, which defined the ways they were used in medieval painting. There's plenty of detail in the history of art that can be explained by the economics and chemistry of paint.
Philip Ball is a chemist and painters will learn a lot of chemistry from this book. Chemists will learn about art and painting and curious reader will learn both. The book is clearly written, entertaining and educational: an excellent example of good popular science. There are plenty of interesting details, as Ball goes through the history of art and pigments from the stone age cave paintings to modern art. (Review based on the Finnish translation.) [ Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Colour at Amazon.co.uk ]
