Great Reads for Any Biologist:
23 Jun 2008
Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed, 2005 by Jared M. Diamond and Freakonomics: A
rouge economist explores the hidden side of everything. 2005 by
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
Both of these books deal with very slow or subtle changes and why the effects
are disconnected from the cause making it very difficult to analyze or make
corrections to avoid disaster.
Guns Germs and Steel: the fates of human
societies, 1997 by
Jared M. Diamond, W. W. Norton, New
York . This classic treatment explains how disease
causing organisms are carried by immigrants into pristine environments to cause
devastation. It is as pertinent at SARS and the next flu epidemic.
Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed,
2005 by Jared M. Diamond, The Penguin Group, New York. Examination of the cause of
failure of certain civilizations or groups of settlers including Mayan and
Anasazi native Americans, the Viking settlement of Greenland and the survival
of others including Viking settlement of Iceland. Although weather plays a
role, a recurring element is sustainability of resource use. Lessons from the
past are pertinent today; extremely well-written and enjoyable to read.
The Untied States of America: Polarization, fracturing, and our future, 2005 by Juan Enriquez, Crown
Publishers, New York.
Bob Staten told me about this book. He said it is a collection of statements
instead of prose and instead of expecting to be bored quickly; it kept his
attention on long airline flights. I had to agree; it is very captivating
reading. He covers immigration, religion, technology and borders between
nations. I have fun showing this book because newcomers almost always miss the
spelling of the second word in the title. The book is a lot the same way;
unexpected and well worth your time.
Blowback: The
Costs and Consequences of American Empire, 2004
by Chalmers Johnson, Holt paperbacks. 2nd edition. When preparing
for a trip to Korea, Dave
Lampe suggested reading this because it contains a description of USA policy in Korea and gives insight into present policy.
The Population Bomb, 1968 by Paul R. Ehrlich,
Ballantine Books, New York
. I like this book as an example of how pessimistic views lead up a distorted
path. Ehrlich did not take into account technological innovation. He wondered,
for example, what would happen when we ran out of copper to make telephone
lines. In fact the silicon and laser revolutions replaced telephones with cell
phones and metals with sand, a cheap and widely available resource. A related
modern comment is, “the stone age did not end because we ran out of stones.” If
water replaced petroleum as an energy source, imagine what the world would be
like.
Hot, Flat, and Crowded, why we need a green revoluiton and how it can renew America, 2008 by Thomas L. Friedman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York. This informative book describes Milankovitch cycles and CO2
cycles behind natural global warming, p. 118; buys into man-made
global warming; explains The First Law of Petropolitics, pp. 79-80 and
related graphs, pp 95-100; the madrasah, Islamic schools, p. 78;
agricultural subsidies, p. 41; and chapter six is on biodiversity. I
place this next to the Ehrlich book about population explosion because
it is a similar topic, the consequences of over-population and effect
on natural resources. It is also in the same vein as Collapse by Jared Diamond and is a counterfoil to the controversial book, State of Fear by Michael Crichton.
The Importance of Feeling Inferior, 1957 by Marie B. L. Ray, Harper, New York . My mother
recommended I read this book just after my teen years when I entered a period of self-doubt. The message then is as pertinent as it is
today. Years later I learned the hard way that the most powerful force in the
university is not brilliance, but persistence. This book did not particularly
mention that, but it gave me the courage to accept myself as I am.
To Know a Fly, 1962
by Vincent G. Dethier, McGraw-Hill
, New York . I first read this
little (119 pages) book as a graduate student and was greatly inspired by it.
It is about a young faculty member organizing studies on how a fly feeds and
about a graduate student coming up with creative ways to find out how flies
feed. Dethier wrote another winner later called The Hungry Fly, but I like the
tone and casualness in this one. I first learned the word propensity (to
respond) in this book because Dethier used it to explain why flies sometimes did not
respond as expected when presented a stimulus.
The Buzz about Bees: Biology of a Superorganism 2008 by Jurgen Tautz. Original German
edition published by Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2007, 2008,
XIV, 284 p. 230 illus. in color, Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-540-78727-3. Available:
July 4, 2008
The Hot Blooded Insects: strategies and
mechanisms of thermoregulation, 1993 by
Bernd Heinrich , Harvard University Press, Cambridge , MA
. Bernd was a graduate student at UCLA with G. A. Bartholomew when I was in
graduate school at Riverside
. His discovery of the impedance converter as a method of measuring insect
heartbeat was superior to anything else before it and he used it to describe
nervous regulation of bumblebee and moth dorsal vessel during thermoregulation.
I use Bernd's elegant and classic 1970 Science paper on Manduca thermoregulation in class every
year.
Of Moths and Men: the untold story of science and the
peppered moth, An Evolutionary Tale, 2002
by Judith Hooper. I picked this book up at a small bookstore at
Los Angeles Airport
on the way a week's holiday in Hawaii
. I could not put it down. Peppered or melanic or darkened moths are thought to
have been selected for in industrial areas of England because the trees near
factories were blackened by industrial soot and the pale counterparts stood out
in contrast. In rural areas away from industrial centers, the reverse is
supposed to have occurred with the pale strains taking precedence. The book
suggests this explanation was never proven, but that view itself is
controversial. You learn a lot about scientific personalities in this book.
Silent Spring, 1962
by Rachel Carson, Houghton Mifflin, Boston . This book was largely responsible
for galvanizing thought and action into what became the Environmental
Protection Agency in the USA
. Miss Carson documented several well-known incidents of area-wide use of
insecticide by the USDA in attempts to control invasive pests, such as myrex
treatments to eradication the fire ant. Miss Carson called for better methods
of application of insecticides to reduce non-target side-effects. Before the
environmental movement congealed into a world force, DDT was considered a
miracle; after Silent Spring was published, DDT was considered by some the
worst example of modern technology, and the word pesticide took on negative
connotations, despite many years of successful health and crop protection by
compounds many still consider miracles.
Insects, Experts and the Insecticide Crisis: the quest for new
pest management strategies, 1982 by
John H. Perkins, Plenum Press, New
York . This book introduces many of the people
involved in developing integrated methods of controlling insects. Vern Stern
and Edward Knipling are highlighted for their innovations in pest control,
Stern for the Integrated Pest Management concept and Knipling for development
of the sterile insect technique. Perkins pointed his finger at the organization
and regulation of pest control as being largely responsible for the insecticide
crisis, which is a refreshing viewpoint; yet I can't help notice that years
later, some are calling for resurrection of DDT for use in Malaria control in
the third world (19 December 2005, C & E News).
Nature Wars: people vs. pests, 1997 by Mark L. Winston, Harvard
University Press, Cambridge
, Mass. This is a very
provocative look at controlling pests at the urban interface and perceptions
people have as a result of the environmental movement.
Xenobiosis: foods, drugs, and poisons in the human body, 1987 by Adrian Albert, Chapman and
Hall, London and New York . Everything we eat is either a
food, a drug or a poison, sometimes all three. Albert describes in historical
terms how man has reduced the poison effect and enhanced the nutrient value of
food. He explains why you have to eat beans and rice together to realize the
maximum nutritive value from each.
The Selfish Gene, 1989 by Richard Dawkins, Oxford University
. The title is the message. Reading this interesting book gives one fresh
insight into why you view your relatives differently from everyone else. If you
view DNA as the ultimate controlling force, human and animal behavior takes on
a whole new meaning.
Evolution by Association: A history of
symbiosis. 1994 by Jan
Sapp, Oxford University
Press, New York.
Another must read, the author of this book backtracks to show similarities
between biological evolution (survival of the fittest) and economic theory. I
has much valuable information about the early pioneers in symbiosis.
Influential Passengers: Inherited microorganisms and arthropod
reproduction. 1997 by Scott L. O'Neill, Ary A. Hoffmann and John H.
Werren, Oxford University
Press, Oxford.
This is where I first read about Wolbachia bacteria and the effect of it
and other endosymbiotic bacteria on the biology of insects. Like Parasite Rex,
this should be required reading for every biologist.
Parasite Rex: inside the bizarre world of nature's most
dangerous creatures by Carl Zimmer , Free Press, NY, 2000 . After reading this book I now
consider all organisms a bag of other organisms walking around. Once you
realize how thoroughly integrated each organism is with the microbial and
symbiotic world, you understand that there is no such thing as a foreign gene.
Microcosm, E. coli and the New Science of Life, 2008 by
Carl Zimmer, Pantheon Books, New York.
243 pp. Carl Zimmer’s latest book describes the genomics of E. coli bacteria
as a dynamic interaction with phage viruses and transformation events. With a
few changes, bacteria go from symbiont to pathogen and back again as a
constantly changing life form.
Power Unseen: How microbes rule the world, 1994 by Bernard Dixon, W. H.
Freeman, New York.
This is a very readable introduction to microbes, especially how they
influenced history and lead to the field of biotechnology.
Big Fleas have Little
Fleas: how
discoveries of invertebrate diseases are advancing modern science 2006 by Elizabeth W. Davidson. I found
this book through an advertisement that was mailed from University of Arizona Press.
It is 198 pages of paper back and was inexpensive. Professor Davidson is at Arizona State
University in Tempe, AZ and
the fact that I know and respect her had something to do with me ordering the
book. Although this book is about the pioneers of invertebrate pathology, and
about invertebrate microbes, it is also about symbionts (mentioned in chapter
14). Most of the examples are insects starting with the famous discovery of the
cause of commercial silkworm disease by Louis Pasteur. I highly recommend the
book. It is a shorter version of and similar to “Power Unseen.”
The Genius Within: discovering the intelligence of every
living thing, 2002 by
Frank T. Vertosick, Harcourt, New
York . This book follows on the Dawkins concept of an
inner drive and extends it, giving meaning to all organisms.
The Seven Daughters of
Eve: the science
that reveals our genetic ancestry. 2001 by
Bryan Sykes. Hugh Gardner, our campus PC expert, loaned me this book in January
of 2007. It traces the mitochondrial DNA of human beings back to seven clans in
Europe, which ultimately originated from one of 13 clans in Africa.
The book also describes the controversy associated with accepting this new
method of following evolution of humans and compares it with evidence from
classical paleontology. It is well-written and easy to follow. The author also
explains the methods in molecular biology because they add to the drama. Some
believers in intelligent design will not understand this book because it deals
with the sweep of human evolution through several ice ages from 150,000 years
ago and includes the development of agriculture some 10,000 years ago.
Pandora’s Picnic
Basket: the
potential and hazards of genetically modified foods, 2000 Alan McHughen, Oxford University Press, Oxford
UK.
This is an extremely readable description of transgenic foods cleverly written
as table-setting chapters. There is a great deal here even something on
toxicity on page 92 from the dietary exposure viewpoint similar to Xenobiosis
by Adrian Albert.
Dangerous Liaisons? When cultivated plants mate with
their wild relatives, 2003 by Norman
C. Ellstrand. This is a description of
just exactly how genes move from cultivated crops to wild relatives. Sometimes
the movement is frequent; sometimes it is infrequent. The reader will learned
about hybridization and world food crops.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A natural history of four meals 2006 by Michael Pollan, the Penguin
Press, New York.
This book is about food; where it comes from and what it takes to produce it. It
is also a look at what human manipulation has done to plants and the
environment and includes the odd fact that following President Nixon’s trip to China in 1972,
“the first major order the Chinese government placed was for thirteen massive
fertilizer factories. Without them, China would probably have starved.”
(page 43). He described microbes, such as the 0157:H7 pathogenic strain of E.
coli that has adapted to mass-cultured animals for human use. This is a theme
of Zimmer as well (Microcosm).
The Botany of Desire: A plant’s-eye view of the world 2002 by Michael Pollan, Random House, New York. Following the
apple, tulip, marijuana and potato. I learned a lot about Johnny Appleseed
(John Chapman). He discussed on page 148 “meme” a unit of memorable cultural
information, coined by Richard Dawkins in “The Selfish Gene.” Pollan claimed (p
150) he thought of the effect of psychoactive chemicals inducing memes while reading
the Dawkins book “high on marijuana.” Presumably he inhaled.
Michael Pollan is the author,
most recently, of "In Defense of
Food: An Eater's Manifesto." His previous book, "The Omnivore's
Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals", was named one of the ten best
books of 2006 by the New York Times and the Washington Post. http://journalism.berkeley.edu/faculty/pollan/
Beyond Beef: the rise and fall of the cattle culture, 1992 by Jeremy Rifkin, Dutton , New York.
Jeremy Rifkin, the famous advocate attorney, has written a number of
informative books. I picked this one because we often forget how something as
common as hamburger is produced at great energy cost and that a great deal of
the cereals production goes into growing beef and pork.
Your Inner Fish: A journey into the
3.5-billion-year history of the human body, 2008 by Neil Schubin, Random House, New York. I found this in a bookstore while
looking for something else. Since I teach introductory biology with an
entomology background, I wanted examples of how all animals are related. This
book does a good job of that. Right there on page 109 is a figure comparing Hox
genes responsible for body shape in flies with their counterparts in people. He
also reminds us that fish don’t have necks; not something I normally keep in
mind, and that if you find a fish-like fossil with a neck, it is something
extraordinary.
The End of Agriculture
in the American Portfolio, 1998 by Steven C. Blank,
Quorum Books, Westport,
CT. Page 14 of this profound work as Exhibit 2.1, “The Economic Food Chain.” Every
responsible parent of pre-college children should read this exhibit and the
reasons for it. You will find messages in this treatment that complement the
Enriquez work, The Untied States of America. I work in an Agricultural
Experiment Station; a remnant of the original land grant university system arguably
one of the most successful of Congressional programs. This book explains what
is happening to us.
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