Except for a taste for anecdotes describing individuals experiencing a miraculous transformation, Adam delivers a sensible,...
An exploration of how “modern brain science is not just observing anymore,” but can now “intervene, to change the way the brain and the mind works.”
Despite the perfervid title, this is not just another cheerful guide to spiritual self-improvement, but rather a fine journalistic account of how science can make you smarter. British science writer Adam (The Man Who Couldn't Stop: OCD and the True Story of a Life Lost in Thought, 2015), an editor at Nature, emphasizes that modern medicine, not content with curing the sick, is turning its attention to improving the already healthy. Viagra, the fastest-selling drug of all time, has been working its magic for 20 years. More to the author’s point, even if your ability to concentrate is normal, Provigil will make it better. Adam begins by defining intelligence and discovers that experts disagree bitterly. Ignorance hasn’t discouraged them from trying to measure it for two centuries, with generally deplorable results. The best of a bad lot turns out to be the widely denounced IQ test. Whatever it measures, people with more do better in school, careers, and life than those with less. Genetics influences intelligence, but so many genes are involved that, despite dramatically improved techniques for altering DNA, no one has figured out a viable approach. Delivering electricity or magnetism to the brain seems to work. Adam recounts studies that have reported dramatic results treating mental illness as well as boosting mood, focus, and even learning ability—so much so that amateur enthusiasts are zapping themselves, often with kits purchased over the internet. The author tried one and thinks that he benefited.
Except for a taste for anecdotes describing individuals experiencing a miraculous transformation, Adam delivers a sensible, often skeptical review of his subject. Most readers will agree that techniques to supercharge our brains are inevitable—but not yet.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68177-674-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Pegasus
Review Posted Online: Oct. 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A magnificent account of a central reality of our times, incorporating deep scientific expertise, broad political and social knowledge, and ethical insight, and Idled with beautifully written biographical sketches of the men and women who created nuclear physics. Rhodes describes in detail the great scientific achievements that led up to the invention of the atomic bomb. Everything of importance is examined, from the discovery of the atomic nucleus and of nuclear fission to the emergence of quantum physics, the invention of the mass-spectroscope and of the cyclotron, the creation of such man-made elements as plutonium and tritium, and implementation of the nuclear chain reaction in uranium. Even more important, Rhodes shows how these achievements were thrust into the arms of the state, which culminated in the unfolding of the nuclear arms race. Often brilliantly, he records the rise of fascism and of anti-Semitism, and the intensification of nationalist ambitions. He traces the outbreak of WW II, which provoked a hysterical rivalry among nations to devise the bomb. This book contains a grim description of Japanese resistance, and of the horrible psychological numbing that caused an unparalleled tolerance for human suffering and destruction. Rhodes depicts the Faustian scale of the Manhattan Project. His account of the dropping of the bomb itself, and of the awful firebombing that prepared its way, is unforgettable. Although Rhodes' gallery of names and events is sometimes dizzying, his scientific discussions often daunting, he has written a book of great drama and sweep. A superb accomplishment.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0684813785
Page Count: 932
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986
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