Book Reviews
"Must read" or "Don't buy" - critical reviews of new science books
- Developmental Biology by Scott F. Gilbert
- The growth and development of organisms is a thrilling thing, in theory as well as in reality. Just ask professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton. ... more
- Tropical Rain Forest Ecology by Jaboury Ghazoul and Douglas Sheil
- The incredible biological profusion of tropical rain forests has long inspired adventurers and writers to expound on their majesty. Even hard-nosed scientists are in awe of the evergreen home to half the living animal and plant species on Earth. ... more
- The Evolution of the Human Head by Daniel Lieberman
- Grafted onto a slim neck, we carry around an energy-wasting appendage that torments us with headache, hair-loss and protruding ears. However, we can’t get by without it. Daniel Lieberman, Professor of human evolutionary biology, explains in a heady volume, how our most important body part evolved ... more
- Brock Biology of Microorganisms by M. Madigan, J. Martinko, D. Stahl & D. Clark
- The smaller the leading actors, the heavier their appearance. The 13th edition of the “bible” of microbiology is devoted once again to the first, smallest and most widespread creatures on earth ... more
- Acceptable Risk / The Drug, by William Graham (DVD)
- This educational film for biomedical scientists provides, besides atrocity, homicide and fire raising, many interesting insights into life science research conducted in shady basements. Along with laughs for lovers of B movies ... more
- Freaks of Nature, by Mark S. Blumberg
- The shape of an animal is not as predefined as some may think. The disfigured of today may be the ordinary of tomorrow ... more
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
- HeLa cells have been manipulated by thousands of scientists around the world. Few ever thought about where they came from and even fewer about the circumstances under which they were taken. Now is the time ... more
- Ecological Developmental Biology by Scott F. Gilbert & David Epel
- It’s nutrition that makes a bee larva become a huge, fertile queen or a tiny, sterile worker. And it’s hot weather that makes unborn turtles become female. A didactic masterpiece about environmental effects on embryonic development ... more
- 3D molecular modelling kits that appeal to every scientist’s inner child
- 3D modelling kits appeal to every scientist’s inner child. Your Lab Times reporter checked out three common systems, each with a rather different character ... more
- Lost Sex: The Evolutionary Biology of Parthenogenesis, by I. Schön, K. Martens & P. Van Dijk
- Even though many animals and plants reproduce sexually, plenty of creatures don’t need males to procreate. Maybe they have chosen an even better way ... more
- Living in a Microbial World, by Bruce V. Hofkin
- Here comes a huge textbook with sometimes unscientific and occasionally even inaccurate information. But it’s not all bad ... more
- E.O.Wilson: Anthill
- After controversial and groundbreaking books on social insects, biodiversity and human behaviour, myrmecologist and twofold Pulitzer Prize winner, E. O. Wilson, has written his first novel. Unsurprisingly, ants are the protagonists ... more
- Boris Mikhaylovich Kozo-Polyansky: Symbiogenesis: A New Principle of Evolution
- In the 1920s, the Russian biologist Boris Mikhaylovich Kozo-Polyansky recognised symbiogenesis – the merging of two separate organisms to form a single new organism – as an important evolutionary tool. 86 years after the publication of his historic 1924 opus, Symbiogenesis, an English translation is available ... more
- Craig B. Stanford: The Last Tortoise: A Tale of Extinction in Our Lifetime
- The future of tortoises is uncertain and their biggest threat is human predation. Craig Stanford takes us closer to these creatures, showing us their biology and analysing their current situation ... more
- Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis (Eds.)
- Evolution. The First Four Billion Years ... more
- DVD: Life in Cold Blood, produced by David Attenborough
- A British TV legend proves, with never weakening enthusiasm and stunning scenery, that skilfull knowledge transfer hasn’t anything to do with excessive special effects ... more
- Built by Animals, written by Mike Hansell
- While posing countless interesting and profound questions about the technical skills of animals, the author, an emeritus professor of animal architecture, unfortunately fails to answer them ... more
- Alice Roberts
- The Incredible Human Journey 2 DVDs ... more
- Petra Seeger
- In Search of Memory. The Neuroscientist Eric Kandel.
To be released as a special edition double
DVD in May 2010 ... more
- By M. Ruse & R. J. Richards (Eds.)
- The Cambridge Companion to “The Origin of Species” ... more
- Colin Tudge
- The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor ... more
- Jennifer Rohn
- Experimental Heart ... more
- David Goodsell
- The Machinery of Life ... more
- Jeffrey Lockwood
- Six-legged Soldiers ... more
- Peter Badge
- Nobels ... more
- S. Stearns and J. Koella
- Evolution in Health and Disease ... more
- Charles Darwin (edited by Frederick Burkhardt)
- The Beagle Letters more
- Wolfgang Stuppy and Rob Kesseler
- Fruit ... more
- Calendars
- Three great 2009 calendars for life scientists and nature lovers ... more
- K.C. Nicolaou & T. Montagnon
- Molecules that Changed the World ... more
- Jürgen Tautz, Photographs Helga Heilmann
- The Buzz about Bess - Biology of a Superorganism ... more
- Rosa Margesin et al.
- Psychrophiles. From Biodiversity to Biotechnology ... more
- Ralph Rapley and David Whitehouse (eds.)
- Molecular Forensics ... more
- Tibor Braun (ed.)
- The Impact Factor of Scientific and Scholarly Journals ... more
- Eric Bertrand & Michel Faupel (eds.)
- Subcellular Proteomics ... more
- Victor R. Alekseev et al.
- Diapause in Aquatic Invertebrates: Theory and Human Use (2.2008) ... more
- Reinhard Renneberg
- Biotechnology for Beginners (2.2008) ... more
- Luis M.Chiappe
- Glorifed Dinosaurs (1.2008) ... more
- G. Gottsberger & I. Silberbauer-Gottsberger
- Life in the Cerrado (5.2007)ext ... more
- Sapid Science
- New Publications (4.2007) ... more
- Thomas Hager
- The Demon under the Microscope (4.2007) ... more
- Matt Ridley
- Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code (3.2007) ... more
- Kesseler/Stuppy
- Seeds - Time Capsules of Life (3.2007) ... more
- Nicolas Fraser & Douglas Henderson
- Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2.2007) ... more
- Timothy D. Veenstra & John R. Yates
- Proteomics for Biological Discovery (2.2007) ... more
- Michael Stebbins
- Sex, Drugs & DNA (1.2007) ... more
