Created by Barbara Reisner, James Madison University (reisneba@jmu.edu) and posted on
http://www.ionicviper.org on May 6, 2009. Copyright Barbara Reisner 2009. This work is licensed under
the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike License. To view a copy of this license
visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/.
Chem 481: Book Review Assignment
ASSIGNMENT. For this assignment, you will need to write a book review on a biography, commentary, or history
of science that has been written for a general reader.
GUIDELINES. Guides on writing a book review can be found at Indiana University
(http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/bookreview.html)
and the University of Alberta (http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/bookreview/index.cfm).
Length
Audience
Substance
At least 1000 words
Scientists from all disciplines and nonscientists with a strong interest in science
These are the general guidelines given by American Scientist on writing a book review; 1 “The book
should be evaluated as a whole so that our readers, scientists and nonscientists alike, can gain a
sense of the book’s purpose and its place in the world of ideas. Please give readers enough
general background to understand what may be unfamiliar territory. If you quote from the book,
please indicate for the editor the page number of the quotation.”
DUE DATE. Last day of classes this semester. Book reviews will be accepted any time this semester.
CHOOSING A BOOK. Please choose a book you have not already read. The first person to email Dr. Reisner
(and get acceptance of) a book title can use that book; no duplicates will be allowed. I will periodically post
peoples’ selections on Blackboard. Books must be chosen, at the very latest, before Thanksgiving break.
SOME SUGGESTED TITLES. Other titles can also be used; please check with Dr. Reisner for acceptability.
Agosta
Angell
Atkins
Bell
Benfey, Morris
Bhushan, Rosenfeld
Bryson
Buckingham
Butler, Nicholson
Byers, Williams
Carson
Collman
Curie
Davidson
Dawkins
Djerassi
Emsley
Faigman
Ferry
Friedman
Garfield
Gordin
Gould
Greenberg
Greene
Groueff
1
Thieves, Deceivers and Killers: Tales of Chemistry in Nature
The truth about the drug companies : how they deceive us and what to do about it
Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science
Neuroscience and the Law: Brain Mind and the Scales of Justice
Robert Burns Woodward
Of Minds and Molecules: New Philosophical Perspectives on Chemistry
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Chasing the Molecule
Life, death and nitric oxide
Out of the shadows
Silent Spring
Naturally Dangerous: Surprising Facts about Food, Health, and the Environment
Madame Curie: A biography
Carl Sagan: A Life
The Selfish Gene
The Pill, Pygmy Chims and Degas’ Horse
The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus
Vanity, Vitality, and Virility: The Science Behind the Products You Love to Buy
Legal Alchemy: The Use and Misuse of Science in the Law
Dorothy Hodgkin: A life
Politics of Excellence: Behind the Nobel Prize in Science
Mauve: How one Man Invented a Color that Changed the World
A well-ordered thing : Dmitrii Mendeleev and the shadow of the periodic table
The Mismeasure of Man
Science, Money and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion
The Elegant Universe
Manhattan Project
http://americanscientist.org/bookshelf/guidelines.html
Hargittai
Hawking
Herkin
Hofman, Ghioroso, Seaborg
Howes, Herzenberg
Hunter
Hunter
Israel
Keller, Freeman
Kelly
King, Rouvray
Kornberg
Kornberg
Kuhn
Levere
Mann
McGrayne
McGrayne
McHughen
Mead, Hager
Nye
Olah
Park
Parker
Perkins
Piel
Plotkin
Popper
Poundstone
Quinn
Rhodes
Ridley
Rifkin
Robbins-Roth
Sachs
Sagan
Sass
Schwarcz
Schweber
Seaborg, Seaborg
Shermer
Sime
Smil
Strathern
Stoltzenberg
Tanford, Reynolds
Thomas
Candid Science
A Brief History of Time
Brotherhood of the Bomb: The Tangled Lives and Loyalties of Robert
Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence, and Edward Teller
The Transuranium People: The Inside Story
Their Day in the Sun: Women of the Manhattan Project
Vital Forces: The Discover of the Molecular Basis of Life
Light is a messenger: A biography of William Lawrence Bragg
Edison: A Life of Invention
A Feeling for the Organism: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock
Gunpowder : alchemy, bombards, and pyrotechnics : the history of the explosive
that changed the world
The Periodic Table: Into the 21st Century
For the Love of Enzymes
The Ascent of Science
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball
Life saving drugs: the elusive magic Bullet
Prometheans in the Lab: Chemistry and the Making of the Modern World
Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles and Momentous
Discoveries
Pandora’s Picnic Basket: The Potential and Hazards of Genetically Modified
Foods
Linus Pauling: Scientist and Peacemaker
Before Big Science: The Pursuit of Modern Chemistry and Physics, 1800-1940
Technology matters: questions to live with
A Life of Magic Chemistry: Autobiographical Reflections of a Nobel Prize Winner
Vodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud
Einstein’s Dream: The Search for a Unified Universe Theory
Archimedes’ Bathtub: The Art and Logic of Breakthrough Thinking
The Age of Science: What Scientists Learned in the Twentieth Century
Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets
The Logic of Scientific Discovery
Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos
Marie Curie: A Life
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
The Hydrogen Economy
From Alchemy to IPO
Uncle Tungsten
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
The Pale Blue Dot
The Demon-Haunted World
The Substance of Civilization: Materials and Human History from the Stone Age to
the Age of Silicon
Radar, Hula Hoops and Playful Pigs
In the Shadow of the Bomb: Oppenheimer, Bethe, and the Moral Responsibility of
the Scientist
Adventures in the Atomic Age: From Watts to Washington
The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense
Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics
Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World
Food Production
Mendeleyev’s Dream: The Quest for the Elements
Fritz Haber: Chemist, Nobel Laurate, German, Jew
Nature’s Robots: A History of Proteins
The Lives of a Cell
Thornton
Vagelos, Galambos
Waltar
Wasserman
Watson
Whitehead
Welsome
Pandora’s Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy
Medicine, science, and Merck
Radiation and Modern Life
The Door in the Dream: Conversations with Eminent Women in Science
The Double Helix
Avoid Boring People: And Other Lessons From a Life in Science
Science and the Modern World
The Plutonium Files: America’s Secret Medical Experimentations in the Cold War