Books about science - various topics

By popular request made this a new topic .

12 Science Books You Should Read Right Now by wired magazine.

https://www.wired.com/story/12-top-science-books-2019/

A second post on this topic , maybe it can function as a “catch all” area.

I am reading a textbook on cancer that has the advantage of being a new edition published only a few weeks ago. Molecular Biology of Cancer, Mechanisms, Targets and Therapeutics 5th edition by Lauren Pecorino. It is quite the slog for me as I have been out of school for decades but I have a recurring sarcoma that provides motivation (currently feeling ok, thanks Docs!).

The text is very informative and provides a lot of info on “Mechanisms, Targets, and Therapeutics” as stated, pointing the way to personalized cancer care through genome analysis. Explaining ways cancer can start and following some molecular pathways that lead to this in incredible detail you get an idea of what you are facing if afflicted. I find it encouraging that new directions/ideas for treatments are suggested after reviewing recent research.

My best technical comment is probably that I like the huge margins on the pages that give a lot of room for notes! I can’t read a page without looking up 3 or 4 things on the internet.

I preordered the text and at less than $50 it is a great bargain when compared with the typical $300+ cost of other science textbooks.

Interesting. I try to keep up on cancer treatments, but I’m always afraid a textbook will be out of date before I read it. The rate of change is so high now, but the field is fascinating. To paraphrase Mukherjee in The Emperor of All Maladies, now for the first time we have the potential to fight cancer at the level required: interventions with genetic targets. Very exciting. I know an academic professor of oncology who has more than a little regret that his career was spent when less was possible, prior to the developments of the last decade or so.

Interesting recent novel, The Island of Missing Trees:

https://harvardreview.org/book-review/the-island-of-missing-trees/

Another unknown picture book just published from the estate of the late author, Maurice Sendak:

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/06/1227594283/maurice-sendak-new-book-ten-little-rab...

It's a counting book.

A new book examines the reasons for increased anxiety levels among young people in recent years:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/729231/the-anxious-generation-by-jonath...

The author's website:

https://jonathanhaidt.com/anxious-generation/

On the CNN website, during the weekend of April 6-7, 2024, an interview with the author where he responds to criticisms and questions about his social science research:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tech/2024/04/06/smr-haidt-anxious-generation.cnn

>6 MaureenRoy: These are exactly the type books that should be in medical clinic waiting rooms - unless too much chance of germ spread.

Some time ago I was in a clinic waiting room & a 4 to 5 year old was literally running from wall to wall bored witless when he picked up “Vogue “ or some other ladies mag and jumped in a chair next to me asking me to read to him. I muttered something about “guys usually just look at pictures in these” but read a few paragraphs below photos he looked at. Then I told him I needed his help to read and got him go to the front desk , pat his hand on the counter and say “hey lady we need some service here” to the very busy nurse. This remark was not well received & elicited a curt response. I loudly explained we needed a kids book from across the room & she directed a laser like glare at me which dashed all hopes of me getting help with “big words” from the kid.

Not sure if the kid or his very quiet mom were ailing but a kids book would have helped with stress a lot I think.

>8 DugsBooks: Germ spread concerns from books? It depends on what the germ of concern is. Most germs do not do well on environmental surfaces. During the COVID-19 lockdowns in the US and Europe, many public libraries cleaned covers of returned books and isolated those returned books for 3 days, probably adequate for protection against fomite (surfaces) transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

But in the USA currently, there is still a lot of norovirus transmission. Norovirus survives much longer on fomites than SARS-CoV-2. Bleach is recommended for cleaning of surfaces for protection against norovirus. I have been cleaning grocery packages with spray bleach for the last few weeks, because there's still a wave of norovirus in Los Angeles county.

By the way, over the weekend on CNN, I saw a photo of Dr. Anthony Fauci at an indoor conference ... Dr. Fauci has resumed wearing an N-95 mask.

Five minutes of direct sunlight will destroy all viruses on a surface. Easy and cheap.

>10 wcarter: Great! I keep my mask on the dashboard of my car hoping for a sterilizing effect through the windows.

>11 DugsBooks:
Glass filters out most UVB rays, so not as effective as direct sunlight.
This is why you can get hot through glass, but cannot get sunburned.