New Books Network

New Books in Science
Mark Stephen Meadows, “We Robot: Skywalker’s Hand, Blade Runners, Iron Man, Slutbots, and How Fiction Became Fact” (Lyons Press, 2011)
Mark Stephen Meadows
We, Robot
Skywalker's Hand, Blade Runners, Iron Man, Slutbots, and How Fiction Became Fact
Palgrave Macmillan, 2011

New Books in Arts & LettersNew Books in Big IdeasNew Books in ScienceNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science FictionNew Books in TechnologyNew Books Network July 6, 2011 Chris Baraniuk

If technology is the site of digital culture, then robots are the future platforms of our social projections and interactions. In fact, that future is already here in small but fascinating ways. Mark Stephen Meadows is one of a handful of curious authors who have begun to explore the social... Read More
Alex Vilenkin, “Many Worlds in One: The Search for Other Universes” (Hill and Wang, 2006)
Alex Vilenkin
Many Worlds in One
The Search for Other Universes
Hill and Wang, 2016

New Books in ScienceNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books Network April 1, 2011 Jenny Attiyeh

[This interview is re-posted with permission from Jenny Attiyeh’s ThoughtCast] Want to know how the world is going to end? Just ask Russian cosmologist Alex Vilenkin. If it’s our own universe you’re talking about, well, it’s called the big crunch, and it’s going to be hot hot hot! But if... Read More
Ian Sample, “Massive: The Missing Particle that Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science” (Basic Books, 2010)
Ian Sample
Massive
The Missing Particle that Sparked the Greatest Hunt in Science
Basic Books, 2010

New Books in HistoryNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in ScienceNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books Network January 14, 2011 Marshall Poe

You’ve probably read about the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It’s the largest (17 miles around!), most expensive (9 billion dollars!) scientific instrument in history. What’s it do? It accelerates beams of tiny particles (protons) to nearly the speed of light and then smashes them into one another. That’s cool, you... Read More
Ann Fabian, “The Skull Collectors: Race, Science and America’s Unburied Dead” (University of Chicago, 2010)
Ann Fabian
The Skull Collectors
Race, Science and America's Unburied Dead
University of Chicago Press, 2010

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in AnthropologyNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in ScienceNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books Network December 17, 2010 Marshall Poe

What should we study? The eighteenth-century luminary and poet Alexander Pope had this to say on the subject: “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan; The proper study of mankind is man ” (An Essay on Man, 1733). He was not alone in this opinion. The philosophers of the... Read More
James Fleming, “Fixing the Sky: The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control” (Columbia UP, 2010)
James Fleming
Fixing the Sky
The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control
Columbia University Press, 2010

New Books in Environmental StudiesNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in Public PolicyNew Books in ScienceNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in Science, Technology, and SocietyNew Books Network October 20, 2010 Marshall Poe

In the summer of 2008 the Chinese were worried about rain. They were set to host the Summer Olympics that year, and they wanted clear skies. Surely clear skies, they must have thought, would show the world that China had arrived. So they outfitted a small army (50,000 men) with... Read More
Abigail Foerstner, “James Van Allen: The First Eight Billion Miles” (University of Iowa Press, 2007)
Abigail Foerstner
James Van Allen
The First Eight Billion Miles
University of Iowa Press, 2007

New Books in American StudiesNew Books in BiographyNew Books in HistoryNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in ScienceNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books Network February 26, 2008 Marshall Poe

This week we feature an interview with Abigail Foerstner about her new book, James Van Allen: The First Eight Billion Miles (University of Iowa Press, 2007). Dr. Foerstner teaches news writing and science writing at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. In addition, Dr. Foerstner served as a staff reporter... Read More