the Book Brothel

Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 304 pages, 2003

Rating: 10/10

Reason for Reading: I kept seeing it mentioned on BookCrazy, so I finally scored myself a copy at a boxing day sale.

Synopsis: When we die, what happens to us…physically? Roach explores the lives of cadavers, varying from medical uses to human crash test dummies to cannibalism to just plain burial or cremation. The book looks at a lot of weird history, including body snatching; current oddities, like the science/art exhibits in Body Worlds; and possible futures in environmentally friendly burials.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Trade, 328 pages, 2006

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: I didn’t realize there was a book to go along with Gore’s movie of the same name until he was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Synopsis: Global warming: proof that it exists; proof that we’re seeing the damage now and not just in future generations; and hope that something can be done. Gore based this book on lectures he’s been giving steadily over the past six years, and presents everything in quick snippets of photos, graphs, and accompanying explanations of what they mean to the planet, and to us.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 258 pages, 2005

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: I love seemingly strange coincidences, so why not find out how strange they really are?

Synopsis: You’re playing poker and can’t decide whether to stay in or fold; or maybe you’re wondering how impressed you should really by be the latest medical report; or perhaps you’re wondering if that man walking behind you that matches the description of a loose serial killer actually is the serial killer. What do you do? If you’re Jeffrey Rosenthal, you turn to probability theory for answers (and more likely than not, reassurance). In Struck by Lightning, Rosenthal examines the questions that plague us in every day life, explaining what probability theory is, how it works, and why life might be a lot less frightening than you’ve been led to believe.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover, 314 pages, 2004

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: I noticed this one while browsing

href="http://www.amazon.ca">Amazon’s best-of lists for 2004. I am far too acquainted

with the night myself, so of course I had to hear from a fellow night owl.

Synopsis: Dewdney serves as the tour guide through a typical 12-hour night, in

which he touches on what people are likely to be doing at a given hour; creatures of the

night; myths, stories and music inspired by the darkness of night; as well as a broad range

of other night-related topics.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in trade), 248 pages, 1988

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: I’ve got to admit I found the thought of reading a book by one of the world’s greatest physicists intimidating, but I figured if it became such a widespread bestseller it had to be (more or less) accessible.

Synopsis: Renowned theoretical physicist Prof. Stephen Hawking presents a look at the universe to people who are curious about how things work and how we fit into the scheme of things, but don’t necessarily have the scientific background to deal with overly-technical terms or mathematical equations. Topics covered include the beginning and the end of the universe, black holes, the quest for a grand unified theory, and the possibility of time travel.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in trade), 233 pages, 1985

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: I loved the title of this one when I saw it in the bookstore I worked at so I had to check it out.

Synopsis: In this series of case studies of neurological patients, Sacks looks at people who have lost certain neurological capacities, or gained extreme capacities, and examines how it affects them in their day-to-day living. Occasionally, Sacks explores treatments such as medication, or music, but often it is simply a recounting of the patient’s unusual neurological makeup.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in trade), 337 pages (including 117 pages of notes, guide to further reading, etc), 2000

Rating: 8/10

Reason for Reading: I was curious about what that magical equation actually means.

Synopsis: Bodanis breaks down the famous E=mc² equation in a very accessible way. Each component of the equation gets its own chapter explaining its history and the scientists who discovered it, and then moves on to how the equation has been used in the past hundred years from the atom bomb to powering emergency exit signs to the eventual demise of the sun and the universe as we know it.

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Reviewed by L.D.Y.

Hardcover (available in trade), 544 pages (including 65 pages of notes, bibliography and index), 2003

Rating: 9/10

Reason for Reading: In a Sunburned Country, the first book of Bryson’s I read, was full of fun science-related facts, and I loved his sense of humour. I’ve always liked science, so long as it doesn’t involve math calculations.

Synopsis: Bryson takes a detour from his usual travel literature writing and walks us through the world of science. Everything, in this case, includes biology, geology, chemistry, physics, and several other fields of science. Unlike a typical science book, however, Bryson is as interested in how we got to know what we know as much as what it is we actually know, resulting in gleefully quirky stories and the kinds of offbeat tidbits Bryson is renowned for.

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