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Review

A good read

For gift ideas, or just some compelling
reading over the holiday season, try
some of our favourites of 1999.

A Fish Caught in Time
by Samantha
Weinberg (Fourth
Estate, £7.99; Harper
Collins, $24.00).
The coelacanth, an
intriguing fish,
previously believed

to be extinct, was re-discovered off
the Comoros in 1938 by Marjorie
Latimer. An amateur ichthyologist,
J.L.B. Smith, then spent the rest of
his life hunting more specimens.
This book describes the frantic dash
to preserve and keep in South Africa
the first specimen, and the dramatic
way in which it was won from the
French. You don’t have to be a fan of
fish to be consumed by this tale.

The Man who Loved Only Numbers by
Paul Hoffman (Fourth Estate, £7.99;
Little Brown, $12.95). Part
biography, part popular maths text,
this is a racy tale of a weird man, the
mathematical genius Paul Erdös. It is
an affectionate and funny portrait of
a true eccentric, who had no home
and lived out of two tattered
suitcases for more than 60 years, as
he travelled the world collaborating
with fellow mathematicians.

Paper by John
McCabe (Granta
Books, £9.99).
Highly qualified,
incompetent, oddball
geneticist Darren
White stumbles on
evidence of a crime

— a welcome change from pipetting
water and avoiding colleagues such as
the Tea Break Terminator. Caught
between hallucination and confusion,
he pieces the bizarre clues together.

I Wish I’d Made you Angry Earlier by
Max Perutz (Oxford University
Press, £19.99; Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory Press, $42.00). A gem of a
collection of essays and book reviews
that brings to life the stories of some
of the greatest scientists of this
century. Perutz brings a particular
sense of pathos and personal struggle
to his history of the science and
scientists of the Second World War.
Always fascinating, often moving,
this is a riveting read.

The Voyage of the
Narwhal by Andrea
Barrett (Flamingo,
£6.99; W.W. Norton
$14.00).
An absorbing novel
describing the
voyage of the
Narwhal to the

Arctic in 1855, in the wake of
Franklin’s infamous expedition. The
dynamics of a group of very different
characters aboard, and families back
home, are handled lucidly and
somewhat in the style of
19th-century writing.

Consilience by Edward
O. Wilson (Abacus,
£8.99; Random
House, $14.00).
Just out in
paperback, this is
Wilson’s impassioned
and thorough
argument for the

fundamental unity of all knowledge.
It’s thought-provoking stuff, for
scientists and non-scientists alike.
Don’t be put off by the scope; dive
in and ponder.

Secondary Immunization by
B.B. Jordan (Prime Crime, $5.99).
Sex, drugs and immunology loom
large in this ‘biomystery’ from the
pen of UCSF immunologist, Frances
Brodsky. It features Dr Celeste
Braun, Californian immunologist and
‘90s woman, who becomes
embroiled in a sinister experiment
that could prove fatal.

The Anatomist by
Federico Andahazi
(Anchor Books,
£6.99; $12.95).
An exploration of the
(pre)discovery of the
clitoris by an Italian
Renaissance

physician. Part-fantastic, part-realistic,
the story shifts along like a whodunnit.
Even for those who already know how
to find it, this is an evocative
description of how it was found.

Dorothy Hodgkin: A
Life by Georgina
Ferry (Granta, £9.99).
A sensitive portrayal
of Hodgkin the
scientist and
Hodgkin the woman,
explaining the theory

behind X-ray crystallography along
the way. Now out in paperback.

Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist
and his Quest for the Origins of Behavior
by Jonathan Weiner (Alfred A.
Knopf, $27.50; Faber & Faber,
£18.99). Long before it became de
rigeur to look to the genes for the
basis of fundamental behaviours, the
geneticist Seymour Benzer set
himself the daunting task of
unravelling circadian rhythms,
mating and learning. Weiner’s own
strong grasp of biology makes this
account of Benzer’s enormously
influential work both readable and
exciting. Give it to anyone who’s
curious about modern biology.

Mr Darwin’s Shooter
by Roger McDonald
(Anchor Books, £6.99;
Penguin, $13.95).
A novel based on the
life of Syms
Covington, who
worked as a servant
to Darwin during his

voyage on the Beagle. Intriguing
insights into possession and
professional rivalries, and
master–servant interactions. Learn
how to prepare and mount a bird skin.

R910 Current Biology Vol 9 No 24


	Review
	A good read