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 [...]

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 [...]

Finishing Flatland, a novella published by British mathematician and teacher Edwin Abbott a good 20 years before Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity and the growth of quantum mechanics, leaves the reader wondering what Abbott could possibly have known about these later figures and events. But the book’s very existence underscores just how fundamental those 20th [...]

At one point in my academic career, I was an eager pre-med student faced with making a difficult decision: MD or PhD? On the one hand, I was interested in orthopedics/sports medicine, and on the other hand, I wanted to be elbow-deep in disease research. One brainiac even suggested pursuing an MD/PhD: a good idea [...]

I found Thomas Kuhn’s book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” quite a challenge to get through. Normally, if a book doesn’t keep my attention, or I find it difficult to read after the first few pages, I give up. However, I was determined to persevere with this book, especially given that the Times Literary supplement [...]

If there is one certainty in life, it is that time has always been there, and will always remain. But although it is a basic fact of our existence, most people don’t tend to reflect much on the characteristics and implications of time. Neither do I, as I realised when I read Eva Hoffman’s book [...]