The Body: A Guide For Occupants - Bill Bryson An interesting look at what we’re made of. Also a very sobering discourse on resistant bacteria and the failure of the drug companies to engage in research for new antibiotics. We’re all doomed.
Thanks for going into detail on this. I’ve had my eye on that book because it sounded like an interesting premise, but the only Gladwell book was a long time ago so I don’t have a good idea of what to expect from him.
A couple weeks ago I finished reading Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky. That book was a treasure, and I first found out about it on this forum! He explores a lot of things that influence human behavior, including hormones, genetics, culture … I forget everything, but it was a whole bunch of different things. Two ideas in particular jumped out at me.
One was the chapter on Us Vs. Them thinking, and how that’s a biological construct. The author mentions several times in the book that the book was inspired by the concept of war. That he wanted to understand human behavior, to understand how horrible things like genocide happen, and also how we might be able to use our natural inclinations to become better as a species. And since it’s generally considered pretty impolite to point out that someone is obviously of a different race or social class, it was interesting to read that this tendency to notice differences and group ourselves according to like characteristics is something innate to our biology. And then it talks about working within these biological constructs to change our behavior. For example, the author talks about the Christmas truce during World War 1, and how even though the soldiers were fighting on opposing sides, they were in such close quarters that they were able to see the similarities and humanity in one another.
The other one was the chapter on genetics. This was a pretty technical chapter, and I didn’t follow the whole conversation, but I will try my best to explain the key thing that stood out to me: you have certain traits in your DNA. But your DNA does not only include traits, it also includes genetic markers that are turned on by different environmental variables. The author used the analogy of a plant. Say a plant has some genetic variant that allows it to grow 1.5 times taller than the average plant of its species. Well, put a plant with that genetic variant in the rainforest, and it might grow way more than 1.5 times taller because it has such great access to light and water and nutrients. Put that same plant in the desert, and it might be a stubby little thing in spite of its genetics, because it doesn’t have the environment to stimulate growth. The author than acknowledged that this was a weird analogy, because not many plants can grow in both the desert and the rainforest, they’re typically unique to certain types of environmental conditions. But then the author points out that humans are reared in a huge variety of geographic locations, and, perhaps even more importantly, a huge variety of economic circumstances. The book cited one study that showed a correlation between a certain genotype and your IQ – provided you were raised in an affluent household. Anyways, this chapter got longer than I intended, but the point is that even those traits that are determined by your genes are often still influenced by your environment, since your environment affects your gene expression. I found that concept fascinating.
The other book I recently finished is Petals in the Wind by V.C. Andrews, the sequel to Flowers in the Attic. It was a disappointment. I know some people like to call that whole series garbage, but the first book in the series had me hooked. Since I knew the second book in the series was wildly popular as well, I was hoping it’d be a strong second offering, but it wasn’t. So I think I’m done with the series now.
Finished Restless Lightning by Richard Baker. Not bad, and definitely better than the first book in the series, Valiant Dust.
Now I’m reading The Hundred Penny Box, by Sharon Bell Mathis.
I just finished The Robots of Dawn, previously one of my favorite Isaac Asimov sf novels, and it just didn’t hold up all that well. Poor characterization and plodding dialogue; several times the supposedly-brilliant detective hero just seemed like a clumsy fool.
Next up: There There by Tommy Orange, a novel about Native Americans in contemporary society, wrestling with prejudice, crime and unwanted assimilation.
You might enjoy Yuval Harari’s Sapiens, about how humanity came to dominate the globe. Anthropology and longterm history at the gallop, and very interesting.
I enjoyed it in my 20s but reading it again at 47ish, my take away impression was that it was just an excuse for Asimov to talk about sex for 300 or so pages…
It certainly has more sex (although still not all *that *much) than any of his previous books - or his later ones, as I recall. Asimov in his 1950s sf would certainly never write about masturbation, orgasm or human-robot sex.
Thanks!
You’re welcome! Let me know how you like it.
Gave up on this after my customary 50 pages. Depressing and not interestingly-enough written to make it worthwhile.
I’ve now started an audiobook of Joe Haldeman’s military sf classic The Forever War, about a centuries-long interstellar war in which Earth’s soldiers become more and more disconnected from human society as they’re away for decades at a time due to time dilation. Good stuff.
Oh if we’re also mentioning the books in those category, I attempted The Couple Next Door earlier in the week. Gave up after 50 pages because the writing style irritated me. The author deliberately describes the scene without actually showing the main characters’ thoughts, because we as readers are supposed to be suspicious of them and wonder what they’re hiding. But it makes for an unfortunate writing style where I just can’t bring myself to care about the story or the outcome.
Finished The Hundred Penny Box, by Sharon Bell Mathis, which was okay.
Now I’m reading School Days, edited by Clancy Strock. It’s a collection of people’s anecdotes of going to school (or teaching school) in the first half of the twentieth century. I’m enjoying it a lot.
Sure - this thread isn’t just for books you absolutely loved.
Absolutely! We appreciate fair warnings…
At the moment, I’m reading both fiction and non-fiction.
Fiction: Saul Bellow’s Humboldt’s Gift. Just began a couple of days back when I heard Philip Roth described Bellow as a “heavy, heavy drinker” in an interview, and I thought I just had to read some of his works. Strangely enough, it matters to me whether or not a writer uses. As for the book, it is terrific so far. Reminds me–just a little–of The Great Gatsby.
Non-Fiction: Gwartney, Stroup, et al’s Macroeconomics: Private and Public Choice. It deals with questions such as privatization and nationalization, and also asks if certain services and entitlements should be provided by the state only. Also focuses on positive economics, a section I am yet to begin.
I’m currently fiddling with this one. I won’t finish it, not because it isn’t interesting, but I’ve read enough non-fiction lately and I just want to hear a story.
Oh yes, that series is just awful. I should know, I read it over and over as a teenager. 
I hear there’s a prequel out now…
Recently finished:
If I Were You, The Swoop! and “The Military Invasion of America” – all by P G Wodehouse. In The Swoop! (published in 1909), Britain is invaded by nine countries – not a coalition; it was pure coincidence that all nine decided to invade on the same day. “The Military Invasion of America”, published in 1915, is a much shorter rewrite in which Germany and Japan invade the US. The Boy Scouts save the day in both versions.
Now reading:
The Day of Their Return – SF, by Poul Anderson; part of his future history.
Coming soon:
The Girl Who Heard Dragons – short stories (mainly, I think, SF) by Anne McCaffrey.
Daybreak Zero – post-apocalyptic SF, by John Barnes.
Finished Nevada Barr’s What Rose Forgot. Not part of the Anna Pigeon series, and not in the same vein at all. Rose Dennis, a recent widow in her sixties, has been committed to a memory care unit because of early- and sudden-onset dementia. Turns out that she may be getting drugged in a way that imitates the features of dementia. Rose has just enough awareness to stop taking her meds and breaks out of the MCU. With the help of her granddaughter, her sister the computer hacker, a friendly Lyft driver, a hit man, and a few other miscellaneous people, Rose tries to figure out what’s going on before the bad guys, whoever they are, show up again.
On the whole, I liked it. Rose certainly has a good deal of grit, and it’s interesting to see her questioning her sanity, which she does at intervals throughout the book–if you’re in a memory care facility doesn’t that mean you must be demented? The book’s well written and gets quite gripping toward the end. There are also some very funny parts, mostly involving the hit man. On the other hand, for someone who can barely walk at the beginning of the book, Rose is way too physically active (not to say acrobatic); and the granddaughter is entirely too good, smart, and compassionate for age 13. Not a great novel by any means, but a fun potato chip book.
Finished School Days, edited by Clancy Strock, which was a lot of fun.
Now I’m reading a science fiction novel, Autonomous, by Annalee Newitz, which is excellent so far.
I survived my reading of The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. A very well-written book, but it just wasn’t for me. The plot is extremely depressing and none of the characters are sympathetic. In fact, they’re all raging sociopaths except for the protagonist, who’s a miserable pathetic drunk.
I never should have read this directly after finishing In the Woods.
You did better than I did; I gave up on that girl on that train after about 75 pages. I didn’t think it was all that well written either, but maybe that’s because I got too depressed by it.
I recently read “A Walk in the Woods” about Bill Bryson and his friend Katz’s attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail. It was funny, interesting, and sent me to the dictionary more times that any other book I’ve read recently. I swear there seems to be at least two words in there that Bryson may have just made up!
I’'l check later and see if I still have my notes on that book.