Dr. Fred Bortz

THE SCIENCE SHELF
REVIEWS BY TITLE


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Dear Science Readers,

This site is a continuously growing archive of my book reviews. It is self-funded, with part of the cost covered by your purchases through my Amazon.com links. Thanks to an increasing number of visitors, revenues now cover most of my cost. I appreciate your support.


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Scientifically yours,
Fred Bortz

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Reviews of Books Alphabetically by Title
(neglecting initial "a/an" or "the")

[A-D] [E-G] [H-L] [M-O] [P-S] [T-Z]


After Dolly: The Uses and Misuses of Human Cloning by Ian Wilmut and Roger Highfield

The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence by Ray Kurzweil

Alpha and Omega: The Quest for the Beginning and End of the Universe by Charles Seife

The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution by Richard Dawkins

Apocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology, and the Wrath of God by Amos Nur with Dawn Burgess

The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman: The Marvel of the Human Body Revealed by Alexander Tsiaras*

Archives of the Universe: A Treasury of Astronomy's Historic Works of Discovery edited and with Introduction by Marcia Bartusiak*

Are We Unique? A Scientist Explores the Unparalleled Intelligence of the Human Mind by James Trefil

Astro Turf: The Private Life of Rocket Science by M. G. Lord

Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service by Maryn McKenna

Beyond UFOs: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Its Astonishing Implications for Our Future by Jeffrey Bennett

Billions and Billions by Carl Sagan

Biography of a Germ by Arno Karlen

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker

Bodies We've Buried: Inside the National Forensic Academy, the World's Top CSI Training School by Jarrett Hallcox and Amy Welch, Foreword by Dr. Bill Bass

Bones Rock: Everything You Kneed to Know to be a Paleontologist by Peter Larson and Kristin Donnan*

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex by Mary Roach

The Born-Einstein Letters, 1916-1955: Friendship, Politics, and Physics in Uncertain Times by Max Born, with the original introduction by Werner Heisenberg, the original foreword by Bertrand Russell, and new preface by Diana Buchwald and Kip Thorne

The Botanist and the Vintner: How Wine Was Saved for the World by Christy Campbell

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier

Captured by Aliens: The Search for Life and Truth in a Very Large Universe by Joel Achenbach

Carl Sagan: A Life by Keay Davidson

Carl Sagan: A Life in the Cosmos by William Poundstone

Cell of Cells: The Global Race to Capture and Control the Stem Cell by Cynthia Fox

Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming by Mark Bowen

Centauri Dreams: Imagining and Planning Interstellar Exploration by Paul Gilster

The Change in the Weather: People, Weather, and the Science of Climate by William K. Stevens

Civilized Life in the Universe: Scientists on Extraterrestrial Intelligence by George Basalla

Climate Crash: Abrupt Climate Change and What It Means for Our Future by John D. Cox

The Cloudspotter's Guide: The Science, History, and Culture of Clouds by Gavin Pretor-Pinney

Comets: Creators and Destroyers by David H. Levy

A Contract with the Earth by Newt Gingrich and Terry L. Maple

Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming by Bjorn Lomborg

Countdown: A History of Space Flight by T. A. Heppenheimer

The Coming Storm: Extreme Weather and Our Terrifying Future by Bob Reiss

Copies in Seconds: Chester Carlson and the Birth of the Xerox Machine by David Owen

The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth by E. O. Wilson

The Curvature of Spacetime: Newton, Einstein, and Gravitation by Harald Fritsch, translated from the German by Karin Heusch

The Dancing Universe: From Creation Myths to the Big Bang by Marcelo Gleiser

Darwin and the Barnacle: Story of One Tiny Creature and History's Most Spectacular Scientific Breakthrough by Rebecca Stott

Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics by Bruce A. Schumm

Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia by Gregory Benford

Defining the Wind: The Beaufort Scale and How a 19th-Century Admiral Turned Science into Poetry by Scott Huler

The Design of Future Things by Don Norman

The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer by Doron Swade

A Different Universe: Reinventing Physics from the Bottom Down by Robert Laughlin

Distant Wanderers: The Search for Planets Beyond the Solar System by Bruce G. Dorminey

DNA: The Secret of Life by James D. Watson*

Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain by Michael Paterniti

The Dynamic Great Lakes by Barbara Spring

E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis

The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms by Amy Stewart

The Earth Policy Reader by Lester R. Brown

Earth Story: The Shaping of Our World by Simon Lamb & David Sington

Edison and the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death by Mark Essig

Einstein 1905: The Standard of Greatness by John S. Rigden

The Einstein Almanac by Alice Calaprice

Einstein's Universe: The Layperson's Guide by Nigel Calder

The End of the Certain World: The Life and Science of Max Born, The Nobel Physicist Who Ignited the Quantum Revolution by Nancy Thorndike Greenspan

The End of Oil: On the Edge of a Perilous New World by Paul Roberts

Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century by G. Pascal Zachary

Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend by Barbara Oakley

The Evolution-Creation Struggle by Michael Ruse

Evolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion by Barbara J. King

Extinction: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago by Douglas H. Erwin

Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz

Fanfare for Earth: The Origin of Our Planet and Life by Harry Y. McSween, Jr.

Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life by Leonard Mlodinow

Field Notes From A Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert

A Fish Caught in Time: The Search for the Coelacanth by Samantha Weinberg

FitzRoy: The Remarkable Story of Darwin's Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast by John and Mary Gribbin

The Five Ages of the Universe: Inside the Physics of Eternity by Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin

Fleeing Fundamentalism: A Minister's Wife Examines Faith by Carlene Cross

Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Us by Rodney A. Brooks

Flight 427: Anatomy of an Air Disaster by Gerry Byrne

A Force of Nature: the Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford by Richard Reeves

Forces of the Wild by Victoria Coules

From Conception to Birth: A Life Unfolds by Alexander Tsiaras

The Fly in the Cathedral: How a Group of Cambridge Scientists Won the International Race to Split the Atom by Brian Cathcart

Futures: 50 Years in Space, The Challenge of the Stars by David A. Hardy and Sir Patrick Moore

The Gendered Atom: Reflections on the Sexual Psychology of Science by Theodore Roszak (foreword by Jane Goodall)

Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley

Goodbye, Descartes: The End of Logic and the Search for a New Cosmology of the Mind by Keith Devlin

The Grand Tour: A Travelers Guide to the Solar System by Ron Miller and William K. Hartmann

Gravity: Tilted Perspectives on Rocketships, Rollercoasters, Earthquakes, and Angel Food by Joseph Lanza

Heavenly Knowledge: An Astrophysicist Seeks Wisdom in the Stars by Dr. Fiorella Terenzi

Heisenberg Probably Slept Here: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Physicists of the 20th Century by Richard P. Brennan

Hitler's Scientists: Science, War, and the Devil's Pact by John Cornwell

The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered Over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything by K. C. Cole

How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker

How to Build a Time Machine by Paul Davies

Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect by Paul R. Ehrlich

The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey: Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans by Chris Beard

Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth by Dr. Bob Sheets and Jack Williams

Imagining Space: Achievements * Predictions * Possibilities 1950-2050 by Roger D. Launius and Howard McCurdy with foreword by Ray Bradbury

The Impact of the Gene: From Mendel's Peas to Designer Babies by Colin Tudge

The Infinite Journey: Eyewitness Accounts of NASA and the Age of Space by William E. Burrows with foreword by Walter Cronkite

Infinite Worlds: An Illustrated Voyage to Planets Beyond our Sun by Ray Villard and Lynette R. Cook, illustrator

Inside the Hurricane: Face to Face with Nature's Deadliest Storms by Pete Davies

An Intimate Look at the Night Sky by Chet Raymo

Is Pluto a Planet? A Historical Journey Through the Solar System by David A. Weintraub

It's a Bunny-Eat-Bunny World: A Writer's Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Today's Competitive Children's Book Market by Olga Litowinsky

Jacobson's Organ and the Remarkable Sense of Smell by Lyall Watson

The Lady Tasting Tea: How Statistics Revolutionized Science in the Twentieth Century by David Salsburg

The Last Man on the Moon by Eugene Cernan with Don Davis

Laughter: A Scientific Investigation by Robert R. Provine

The Last Sorcerers: The Path from Alchemy to the Periodic Table by Richard Morris

A Left-Hand Turn Around the World: Chasing the Mystery and Meaning of All Things Southpaw by David Wolman

Letters to a Young Mathematician by Ian Stewart

The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World by Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee

Life As We Do Not Know It: The NASA Search for (and Synthesis of) Alien Life by Peter Ward

Life's Matrix: A Biography of Water by Philip Ball

The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850 by Brian Fagan

Living with Polio: The Epidemic and Its Survivors by Daniel J. Wilson

The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization by Brian Fagan

Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators, and Human Evolution by Donna L. Hart and Robert W. Sussman

The Magic Furnace: The Search for the Origin of Atoms by Marcus Chown

The Man Who Changed How Boys and Toys Were Made: The Life and Times of A. C. Gilbert, the Man Who Saved Christmas by Bruce Watson

Managing Martians by Donna Shirley with Danelle Morton

Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, and the Birth of a World by Oliver Morton

Mars: The Living Planet by Barry E. DiGregorio

Master Mind: The Rise and Fall of Fritz Haber, the Nobel Laureate Who Launched the Age of Chemical Warfare by Daniel Charles

The Master Plan: Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust by Heather Pringle

Math and the Mona Lisa: The Art and Science of Leonardo Da Vinci by Bulent Atalay*

A Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals About the Past and Future of Our Species, Planet, and Universe by Gino Segre

The Meaning of Relativity by Albert Einstein, with a new introduction by Brian Green

The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error that Transformed the World by Ken Alder

Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements by Paul Strathern

Meteorites, Ice, and Antarctica: A Personal Account by William Cassidy

Millions of Monarchs, Bunches of Beetles: How Bugs Find Strength in Numbers by Gilbert Waldbauer

Mind Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence by Hans Moravec

Mind Matters: Exploring the World of Artificial Intelligence by James P. Hogan

Mission Jupiter: The Spectacular Journey of the Galileo Spacecraft by Daniel Fischer

The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle by Eric Lax

Monkey Business: The True Story of the Scopes Trial by Marvin Olasky and John Perry

The Mystery of Flight 427: Inside a Flight Investigation by Bill Adair

Nature Out of Place: Biological Invasions in the Global Age by Jason van Driesche and Roy van Driesche

Nearest Star: The Surprising Science of Our Sun by Leon Golub & Jay M. Pasachoff

The Neptune File: A Story of Astronomical Rivalries and the Pioneers of Planet Hunting by Tom Standage

The New Quotable Einstein, edited by Alice Calaprice with a foreword by Freeman Dyson

The Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the Twenty-First Century edited by John Brockman

Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law by Peter Woit

Ocean's End: Travels Through Endangered Seas by Colin Woodard

On the Shoulders of Giants: The Great Works of Physics and Astronomy edited with comments by Stephen Hawking

Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul by Kenneth R. Miller

Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith*

Other Worlds: the Search for Life in the Universe by Michael D. Lemonick

Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning; How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind's Future in This Century On Earth and Beyond by Martin Rees

Our Inner Ape: A Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are by Frans de Waal

Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil by David Goodstein

Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth's Ancient Atmosphere by Peter Ward

Pandora's Baby: How the First Test Tube Babies Sparked the Reproductive Revolution by Robin Marantz Henig

Paradigms Regained by John L. Casti

The Path: A One-Mile Walk Through the Universe by Chet Raymo

Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman edited by Michelle Feynman

Planet Quest: The Epic Discovery of Alien Solar Systems by Ken Croswell

The Planets by Dava Sobel

Polio: An American Story by David M. Oshinsky

The Prism and the Pendulum: The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments in Science by Robert P. Crease

Probable Tomorrows: How Science and Technology Will Transform our Lives in the Next Twenty Years by Marvin Cetron and Owen Davies

The Radiation Sonnets: For My Love, in Sickness and in Health by Jane Yolen

Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe by Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee

The Real Mars by Michael Hanlon*

Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future by Gregory Stock

The Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney

Riddled With Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites that Make Us Who We Are by Marlene Zuk

Robot: Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind by Hans Moravec

Rocket Dreams: How the Space Age Shaped Our Vision of the World Beyond by Marina Benjamin

Science, Evolution, and Creationism by the U. S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Institute of Medicine

Science, Money, and Politics: Political Triumph and Ethical Erosion by Daniel Greenberg

The Science of Harry Potter: How Magic Really Works by Roger Highfield

The Scientist as Rebel by Freeman Dyson

The Search for Life on Other Planets by Bruce Jakosky

The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things by Hannah Holmes

The Secret Life of Numbers: 50 Easy Pieces on How Mathematicians Work and Think by George G. Szpiro

Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth From Interplanetary Peril by Timothy Ferris

Sensuous Seas: Tales of a Marine Biologist by Eugene H. Kaplan

Sharing the Universe: Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life Seth Shostak

Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial by Alison Bass

The Social Atom: Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Usually Looks Like You by Mark Buchanan

Space and the American Imagination by Howard E. McCurdy

Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio by Jeffrey Kluger

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach

Sputnik: The Shock of the Century by Paul Dickson

Stardust: Supernovae and Life -- The Cosmic Connection by John Gribbin with Mary Gribbin

Stargazer: The Life and Times of the Telescope by Fred Watson

State of the World 2003 by the Worldwatch Institute

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming by Chris Mooney

Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons by George Pendle

Strange Matters: Undiscovered Ideas at the Frontiers of Space and Time by Tom Siegfried

Stuff: The Materials the World is Made of by Ivan Amato

Sudden Origins: Fossils, Genes, and the Emergence of Species by Jeffrey H. Schwartz

The Substance of Civilization by Stephen L. Sass

Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are by Joseph LeDoux

Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz

Take Joy: A Book for Writers by Jane Yolen

Tested: An American School Struggles to Make the Grade by Linda Perlstein

This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession by Daniel J. Levitin

This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age by William E. Burrows

Tornado Alley: Monster Storms of the Great Plains by Howard B. Bluestien

The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, The Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next by Lee Smolin

True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen by Lillian Hoddeson and Vicki Daitsch

The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth Century Chess Playing Machine by Tom Standage

Turn Right at Orion: Travels Through the Cosmos by Mitchell Begelman

Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and the Secret Palace of Science that Changed the Course of World War II by Jennet Conant

Universal Foam: From Cappuccino to the Cosmos by Sidney Perkowitz

The 23rd Cycle: Learning to Live with a Stormy Star by Sten Odenwald

The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking

A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attenttion, and the Four Theaters of the Brain by John J. Ratey, M.D.

Venus Revealed: A New Look Below the Clouds of Our Mysterious Twin Planet by David H. Grinspoon

The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God by Carl Sagan, edited by Ann Druyan

The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos by Joel R. Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams

Voices of the Rocks: A Scientist Looks at Catastrophes & Ancient Civilizations by Robert M. Schoch, Ph. D. with Robert Aquinas McNally

Voyage to Mars: NASA's Search for Life Beyond Earth by Laurence Bergreen

Vulcan's Fury: Man Against the Volcano by Alwyn Scarth

Walking Zero: Discovering Cosmic Space and Time Along the Prime Meridian by Chet Raymo

Water: The Fate of our Most Precious Resource by Marq de Villiers

The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What it Means for Life on Earth by Tim Flannery

The Whale Book: Whales and Other Marine Animals as Described by Adriaen Coenen in 1585

What Bugged the Dinosaurs? Insects, Disease, and Death in the Cretaceous by George Poinar, Jr., and Roberta Poinar

What Does a Martian Look Like? The Science of Extraterrestrial Life by Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart

What Einstein Told His Cook 2: The Sequel, Further Adventures in Cooking Science by Robert L. Wolke with 35 recipes by Marlene Parrish

What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life by Avery Gilbert

What Your Doctor Hasn't Told You and the Health Store Clerk Doesn't Know: The Truth About Alternative Treatments and What Works by Edward L. Schneider, M.D., and Leigh Ann Hirschman

Where We Stand: A Surprising Look at the Real State of Our Planet by Seymour Garte

Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love by Helen Fisher

The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report by Timothy Ferris

Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth, and the Land by Jan DeBlieu

A World Without Time: The Forgotten Legacy of Goedel and Einstein by Palle Yourgrau

The Worlds of Galileo: The Inside Story of NASA's Mission to Jupiter by Michael Hanlon with Foreword by Arthur C. Clarke

The World of Gerard Mercator: The Mapmaker Who Revolutionized Geography by Andrew Taylor*

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife