Behind the scenes of science

Roberta Kwok’s Lost in Curiosity does a great job of showing what science actually looks like underneath the headlines—an insightful and unusual approach that I’ve mentioned before. And it’s true: while progress sometimes comes through blinding insight, often it’s reliant on grinding lab work or weird coincidences… and sometimes it just doesn’t happen at all. 

Here are three other books I recommend that take you behind the scenes of the scientific life in different but interesting ways.

Lab Girl, Hope Jahren

[Buy via Bookshop.org]

You probably don’t know a lot about geobiology—studying the interaction between the living world and the physical earth—but Hope Jahren uses her personal story to illuminate what it means (she’s a specialist in fossil forest analysis, which gives you a clue.) She combines memoir and science in an unusual and intriguing way to explore the world around us, to capture the excitement and tedium of becoming a science professional, and some personal life… particularly the itinerant nature of academia, moving from Minnesota to California to Georgia to Maryland to Hawaii (and now she’s a professor at the University of Louisiana.)

Valley of Forgetting, Jennie Erin Smith

[Buy via Curious Reading Club]

Jennie Erin Smith’s tale of genetic detectives trying over and over to find a cure for Alzheimer’s was actually our pick of the month for January this year, so I’m biased in its favor. But Smith closely follows several researchers (mainly in Colombia but also in the United States) as they try over and over to locate and treat genetic causes of dementia. She also connects deeply with the subjects of the study, giving a really deep understanding of the heartbreaking damage that the researchers are trying to address. She isn’t a scientist, so this comes more from the perspective of an interested reporter, but this book follows the ups and downs of and brings a genuine sense of realism to this important and often frustrating quest. (This is something she spoke about when she joined us for a Q&A earlier in the year.) 

Sure You’re Joking, Mr Feynman, Richard Feynman

[Buy via Bookshop.org]

For years, Richard Feynman was one of America’s most foremost public scientists, managing the rare feat of being both a charismatic communicator and a first-rate researcher. This fuzzy, frenetic memoir often makes him sound like the brainiac’s equivalent of Forrest Gump, a magnet for the world’s weirdness who bumps into world historical moments with alarming frequency. From larking his way into secret files while working on the Manhattan Project to somehow leading a Brazilian carnival march, he constantly crosses paths with all manner of famous names and bumbling his way into ludicrous situations that raise the eyebrow.

Feynman faced accusations of being a sexist and teller of tall tales during his lifetime, and these stories haven’t aged well from that perspective: he holds meetings in strip clubs and creeps about, and the stories feel like they stretch credulity more and more as time passes. Yet despite all that, Feynman was the real deal—his lectures attended by the likes of Einstein, Pauli, and von Neumann—and it remains an engaging read from somebody who occupied a unique position in American science.

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As we close in on the end of the month, I’m preparing September’s book—it’s one that I’ve been wanting to share with everyone for a while now.

But I’m always on the lookout for more reads: if you have any suggestions of books that might be worth sharing with folks, then email me to let me know. Valley of Forgetting is one example of a book that was recommended by a club member!

Onwards

Bobbie