Take a break with a prizewinning book from this year鈥檚 Aventis Science Book Prize. Chris McManus, professor of psychology at University College London, won 鈥� having already received a Wellcome Trust prize to write his book, publication guaranteed. Right Hand, Left Hand: The origins of asymmetry in brains, bodies, atoms and cultures (Weidenfeld & Nicolson/Harvard, $20) was reviewed by Douglas Palmer (29 June 2002, p 57). McManus tackles laterality from the most familiar 鈥� your left and right hands 鈥� to the twist in a molecule.
The runners-up in a strong list all offer rewarding reads. Liz Sourbut commended Gerd Gigerenzer鈥檚 Calculated Risks: How to know when numbers deceive you (Simon & Schuster, $20.95) for an eye-opener on how we fall into idle assumptions when faced with statistics (25 May 2002, p 52). Small Worlds by Mark Buchanan was published as Nexus in the US (Weidenfeld & Nicolson/W. W. Norton, 拢18.99/ $25.95) and John Casti reviewed it here (27 July 2002, p 58). Buchanan goes for the guts of numbers, the power laws that underlie every network from the Kevin Bacon game connecting Hollywood stars to worms鈥� nervous systems.
Stephen Webb鈥檚 Where is Everybody? Fifty solutions to Fermi鈥檚 paradox (Praxis, 拢17.50/鈧�24.95) is a light-hearted look at that big question: are we alone? Marcus Chown recommended it (26 April, p 53).
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For a serious and engrossing book, try The Blank Slate: The modern denial of human nature by Steven Pinker (Penguin/Viking, 拢7.99/$16). University of Cambridge philosopher Simon Blackburn reviewed this 鈥渕essianic book鈥� (7 September 2002, p 56). 鈥淧inker believes that this bad idea infuses a whole cocktail of practical mistakes, including utopian politics鈥� and ludicrous views about gender.鈥� A brilliant book, he concluded, but suggested that the role of philosophers was underplayed.
The Extravagant Universe: Exploding stars, dark energy, and the accelerating cosmos by Robert P. Kirshner (Princeton University Press, 拢19.95/$29.95) says it all in the title.