Best Reads 2017 at BCIT Library: Best New Books

For any layperson who wants to understand why we behave the way we do, Sapolsky has created an immensely readable, often hilarious, romp through the worlds of psychology, primatology, sociology and neurobiology.
From The Washington Post

Young’s enthralling and essential history is both exhaustive and unapologetically subjective — not to mention timely. Again and again, he plumbs the undercurrents of a hoax to discover the fearfulness and racism that often lurk inside.
From NYT

Remember when it all seemed to be getting better? Before Trump happened? What went wrong, and what can we do about it? Naomi Klein - scourge of brand bullies, disaster capitalists and climate liars - shows us how we got to this surreal and dangerous place, how to stop it getting worse and how, if we keep our heads, we can seize the opportunity to make it better. She reveals how Trump is not a freakish aberration, but an extension of the most powerful trends of the last century: celebrity and CEO-worship, Vegas and Guantanamo, soft porn and hard power, fake news and vulture bankers, all rolled into one. His election was not a peaceful transit but a corporate takeover, by people who've knowingly harmed people, societies and our planet. Now their deliberate shock tactics are generating wave after wave of crises, designed to disorientate us and stop us fighting back. This book is the toolkit for shock resistance, giving all of us what we need (including tips such as 'how to jam the brand' and 'kill your inner Trump') to win the argument and right their wrongs. Don't let them get away with it."-- Provided by publisher.

Prize Winner
Testosterone, so we’re told, is the very essence of masculinity, and biological sex is a fundamental force in our development. Not so, says psychologist Cordelia Fine, who shows, with wit and panache, that sex doesn’t create male and female natures. Instead, sex, hormones, culture and evolution work together in ways that make past and present gender dynamics only a serving suggestion for the future – not a recipe. Testosterone Rex brings together evolutionary science, psychology, neuroscience and social history to move beyond old ‘nature versus nurture’ debates, and to explain why it’s time to unmake the tyrannical myth of Testosterone Rex. (From Royal Society site)

Peter Godfrey-Smith tells a bold new story of how nature became aware of itself.
Tracking the mind’s fitful development from unruly clumps of seaborne cells to the first evolved nervous systems in ancient relatives of jellyfish, he explores the incredible evolutionary journey of the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous molluscs who would later abandon their shells to rise above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so – a journey completely independent from the route that mammals and birds would later take. (From Royal Society site)

Even small children know there are infinitely many whole numbers – start counting and you'll never reach the end. But there are also infinitely many decimal numbers between zero and one. Are these two types of infinity the same? Are they larger or smaller than each other? Can we even talk about 'larger' and 'smaller' when we talk about infinity? In Beyond Infinity, musician, chef, and international maths sensation Eugenia Cheng answers all these questions (and more) by exploring the inner workings of infinity.(From Royal Society site)

Neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli, determined to save other families from the experiences that had rocked his, set out to write the book that explained what happened to his grandfather. Far more than the story of a disease, In Pursuit of Memory zooms inside the human brain to see how Alzheimer's works and out again to show, entwined with the history and science, a thrilling hunt for answers. Jebelli's compelling insider's account shows vividly why he feels so hopeful about a cure but also why our best defence in the meantime is to understand the disease. In Pursuit of Memory is the definitive book on Alzheimer's: its past, present and future. (From Royal Society site0

In I Contain Multitudes, Ed Yong opens our eyes and invites us to marvel at ourselves and other animals in a new light, less as individuals and more as thriving ecosystems. We learn the invisible and wondrous science behind the corals that construct mighty reefs and the squid that create their own light shows. We see how bacteria can alter our response to cancer-fighting drugs, tune our immune system, influence our evolution, and even modify our genetic make-up. And we meet the scientists who are manipulating these microscopic partners to our advantage. (From Royal Society site)

In To Be a Machine, Mark O'Connell presents us with the first full-length exploration of transhumanism: its philosophical and scientific roots, its key players and possible futures. From charismatic techies seeking to enhance the body to immortalists who believe in the possibility of 'solving' death; from computer programmers quietly re-designing the world to vast competitive robotics conventions; To Be a Machine is an Adventure in Wonderland for our time. A stunning new non-fiction voice tackles an urgent question...what next for mankind? (From Royal Society site)