The canonical motto in Toxicology is ‘the dose makes the poison.’ That is, enough of anything can kill you. But, as Deborah Blum notes in the end of her book, “poison by water doesn’t unnerve us. The real scare comes from those elements and compounds whose toxicity is measured in drips and drops.” In The [...]

This is not just one book, but loosely interconnected, two and a bit – a historical novel, a biological thriller and a science fiction short story – under one cover. The historical novel is about a girl growing up in Britain in the 5th century A.D., while the Roman rule disintegrates. Now, I am not [...]

From time to time on BitesizeBio you will find people writing about books that have influenced how they think about science. It seems only fitting, then, to have a review of the book that launched the idea at the root of all modern biology into the popular consciousness. The first edition of Charles Darwin’s The [...]

A few popular science books rise above the genre and become pop-stars of the book world – bestsellers. Even fewer among them change public discourse and, finally, culture. The Selfish Gene (TSG) by Richard Dawkins is one of these rare books. Published in 1976, TSG is not only still in print, but according to the [...]

E.O. Wilson is a biologist who has authored many titles, ranging from accounts of his personal field research on ant colonies to general titles on evolutionary biology and biodiversity. I picked up the “The Social Conquest of Earth” because I had enjoyed several chapters from his book “The Diversity of Life”, a poetic and informative [...]

Over the past year, we’ve published several book reviews on BitesizeBio. With the holidays approaching, we thought this would be a good time to highlight some of our favorite science reads. Why not add a few to your shopping list – a gift for a friend, or maybe yourself? Read on for our recommendations!   [...]

Making it into the top books of 2011, “Future Science: Essays from the Cutting Edge” edited by Max Brockman, proves that learning about science has become mainstream. Now, more than ever, it is critical for researchers to explain their work to the lay public. In these austere times, scientists may need to solicit creative sources [...]

We tend to take textbook knowledge for granted, but once upon a time these ‘facts’ were still to be discovered. Eric R. Kandel (1929) witnessed and importantly contributed to this small-step-by-small-step process in the field of neuroscience. His work culminated in being awarded the Nobel Prize in 2000, for unraveling the physiological basis of memory [...]

Before reading “The Demon in the Freezer”, I was rather ignorant about bioterrorism. The only instance of it that sprung to mind was the anthrax attacks on the United States shortly after 9/11. After reading Richard Preston’s book, I wish I was still as ignorant as I once was! Allow me to explain. Preston’s book [...]

Is it just me, or are there not many well-written scientific memoirs around? Even the words “scientific memoir” brings up an image of a long and boring book. There are a lot of good books written about scientists, but not by scientists. Maybe it’s because the scientists are trained to write logically, objectively and dispassionately: [...]