Tag: non-fiction

Review – Metazoa

Posted December 6, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Metazoa, Peter Godfrey-Smith

I really loved Godfrey-Smith’s Other Minds, so I was expecting something pretty readable and entertaining here. Godfrey-Smith is using the opportunity to dig further into how he thinks minds are formed, and it’s a mixture of science, speculation and philosophy, as was Other Minds. I found, though, that it just didn’t keep my attention very well. It felt like he was taking ages to dig into each point, and like this was a much more self-consciously Serious Book instead of something that shared the wonder and excitement of an animal he loves.

Where he does lean on science, I don’t know anything to his detriment, but it’s not really a field I enjoy very much. I did have a module in my undergrad called “the science of the mind”, but it didn’t really go into this area much at all. There are definitely interesting anecdotes, but sometimes I wanted him to dig into them more — for instance, split brain patients.

A bit disappointing for me, overall, though probably enjoyable for someone who likes grappling with the problem of the evolution of minds.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, non-fiction, Peter Godfrey-Smith, science

Review – Murderous Contagion

Posted November 16, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Murderous Contagion: A Human History of Disease, Mary Dobson

I’d expected this to be right up my alley, but in the end, it was too general to really serve up the kind of titbits I’m looking for. Each chapter is a pretty high-level summary of the disease, its effects, its place in history and the current state of affairs, and though here and there some snippets were new to me, on the whole it just wasn’t deep enough for me. There’s some sourcing and recommended further reading, which is worth digging into, but it’s very much a layperson’s book.

As a layperson’s book, because of course I’m not a layperson in this field, it’s a pretty good overview of some very important diseases. The section on SARS and MERS is, well, not prophetic, but an intelligent person mentioning a warning they were aware of which we should all have heeded. The information in the book, as far as my own knowledge goes, is correct and interesting, though I wondered now and then if some things might be apocryphal (Albert Szent-Györgyi calling vitamin C “godnose”, for example).

I think the writing style might be a bit dry at times, though. I can’t tell if I thought so because so little of the information was new, or whether it was genuinely boring.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, history, Mary Dobson, non-fiction, science

Review – How to Tame a Fox (And Build A Dog)

Posted November 14, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

How to Tame a Fox (And Build A Dog), Lee Alan Dugatkin, Lyudmila Trut

This book discusses one of the most famous experiments on the domestication of animals: the silver fox experiment, originally conceived by Dmitri Belyaev. Generations of foxes were bred during this experiment, selecting from each generation only the tamest animals… and quickly, the experimenters found the behaviour and appearances of their subjects converging on that of dogs. Floppy ears, curly tails, play behaviour even in adults, interest in humans, affection — even protective behaviour.

This book discusses these experiments and their context (shadowed at the start by Lysenko’s hold on the government, their funding fluctuating according to who was in power), and some of their implications. It discusses the morphological and behavioural changes, picking apart some of the known or hypothesised causes (like differences in levels of hormone production, including melatonin and serotonin).

It doesn’t go into any of the criticism of the project’s far-reaching conclusions, which I’ve been seeing a bit of around now Google knows I’m interested in this subject. For instance, at least one study has suggested that the foxes used in the experiment weren’t wild to begin with; though it was always acknowledged that they were from fur farms (and the descriptions of their behaviour, per the book, certainly don’t make it sound like any tameness had been selected for)… it’s still a confounding variable. The book is wildly positive about the experiments, so it’s worth noting that slant and the fact that the story here definitely isn’t the full story. It’s very much a story, though, including a touching tale from Belyaev’s funeral and snippets about the lives of those who worked with the foxes, so it’s pretty much to be expected.

It’s a very clear and easy to follow read, and I think it would be perfectly fine for a complete layperson, even when it dips into the science. It makes me wonder very much about whether these foxes will become common pets in future.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, non-fiction, science

Review – House of Fiction

Posted November 11, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

House of Fiction, Phyllis Richardson

I was hoping for something that was totally disconnected from current events, something like stepping back into the bubble that was my BA/MA at Cardiff University… and I got it. This is a history of houses in British literature, what houses might have inspired the authors and what the houses meant to them — and what, perhaps, they were trying to say with their fiction. It gets a bit infodumpy, which may or may not bother you: the books it mentions are comprehensively spoilered, which may or may not spoil the stories for you. (For me, no; it probably enhances them most of the time.)

It is, consequently, not a book about the history of houses, per se. Some of that creeps in, of course. Some of the books and stories are more focused on houses than others, and some books felt included here as an afterthought — but it’s nice to have some signposting to other relevant reading, should I care.

I don’t, really; I wanted this for my wide-but-shallow knowledge acquired by pleasure reading, and so it was an end in itself, something that demanded very little of me. As far as I can tell, the theories and arguments about the influence of certain houses on certain writers (and the intent of the writers in shaping their stories) were well-argued and plausible. Richardson writes clearly and made me interested in books and authors I’ve not read yet, and makes some interesting points.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, non-fiction, Phyllis Richardson

Review – Fake Law

Posted November 1, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Fake Law: The Truth About Justice in an Age of Lies, the Secret Barrister

I enjoyed the Secret Barrister’s first book, earlier this year, but I took it a chapter at a time. Something about my particular mood at the moment meant I absolutely devoured Fake Law in under 24 hours, though, even as the Secret Barrister was tweeting about the PM’s presser today.

Fake Law is about the many misconceptions people have about the way British law works, and the way those misconceptions have been fostered by unscrupulous reporting, ignorant MPs, and a general lack of perspective. The various chapters deal with well-known cases and examples, discussing human rights law, sentencing, legal aid entitlements, immigration… and yes, the infamous (and unlawful) prorogation of Parliament on the advice of Boris Johnson. It’s definitely hot water, here: some people don’t want to hear that, yes, everybody should be entitled to a fair defence in court, and no, the government is not allowed to curtail Parliament when there is relevant business they should be attending to. People don’t want to hear that human rights law largely protects the deserving, that Charlie Gard could never have survived even with nucleoside therapy (which had not ever been tested in humans at that point anyway).

Of course, I’m a sympathetic ear to pretty much everything the Secret Barrister discusses which I was already aware of, and ready to trust their word on other points. Nonetheless, I think they make it plain that they’re not trying to play politics, here, except insofar as earnestly wanting to educate all British people about their legal rights goes. I might be able to make some guesses about where SB sits politically, but this book is not about that — it’s not intended to vindicate those who voted Remain, or excoriate a particular party (actually, people from both Labour and the Tories are roundly criticised at various points). It tries to explain why the things the tabloids want you to get outraged about are a bit more complicated than that.

I think it’s really readable, and accessible; I think it might be more broadly of interest and more useful to people than SB’s first book, though I think that’s a good read too. The Secret Barrister is right: ordinary people do not know enough about the law, not even to know our own rights, and it’s time that we learned.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, non-fiction, The Secret Barrister

Review – How To Change Your Mind

Posted October 31, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics, Michael Pollan

If you’re interested in the recent findings that psychedelic drugs (like LSD and magic mushrooms) could help treat forms of depression that have proven themselves resistant to the usual standard of care, this is pretty helpful in many ways as a survey of how LSD et al were originally perceived, how and why things changed, how a psychedelic experience feels, and where things are right now with research (roughly, given that anything based on research can be refined or retracted by the time the book’s printed).

It is also, however, very much about the author: his experiences with various different psychedelic substances take up a whole chapter, and another chapter is given over to the hunting of mushrooms (and the descriptions of a psychedelic trip based on those, too). It’s a very personal history, though I feel that Pollan does make his biases and prejudices — and how they changed with the research — pretty clear, so the unwary reader is still aware that some of this is coloured by opinion.

It sounds like psychedelics are a pretty promising avenue not just for treatment-resistant depression, but for quite a few other mental health issues too. I don’t think that I’m ever likely to see out psychedelics recreationally: the described dissolution of the ego and changed perceptions don’t really appeal to me, and I’d rather find my oneness with the universe through meditation and just trying to be a good person. The one way in which it appeals to me is the finding that it often changes people’s relationship to death (having been used with great success as part of palliative care). As someone with 10-15 years of constant anxiety about my health and anxious predictions of my imminent death under my belt, the idea of feeling able to let that go to some extent sounds very appealing… if only there were an exact science to having the kind of trip that leads to that outcome.

There are a few things that bother me about the current perception that psychedelics could be a panacea for almost all mental health problems, and to his credit, Pollan does discuss them despite his enthusiasm. One is the near-impossibility of randomised controlled studies; another is the impossibility of tightly controlling all the variables when psychedelic drugs are used, because people’s experiences depend highly on their setting and their mental state beforehand, and crucially, what they expect to happen. As soon as you’ve got someone’s informed consent for a psychedelic to be administered, you’ve changed the outcome of their trip.

Finally, we’ve had seemingly amazing breakthroughs in mental health treatments before, but over time they have lost their efficacy — repeat studies on antidepressants like fluoxetine (Prozac) now find far smaller effects, even when everything is carefully controlled. It’s not entirely clear why that is, so it is also unclear whether that will apply to psychedelics as well, and to what extent.

In any case, Pollan’s book is an interesting survey of the history and the state of the field now, and well worth it if you’re interested in the topic.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, history, Michael Pollan, non-fiction, science

Review – The CBT Toolbox

Posted October 28, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

The CBT Toolbox, Jeremy Crown

A friend who knows I studied a little bit of the science around mental health, and am also currently seeing a therapist for CBT, asked whether I thought this book would work as a self-guided treatment. It’s available cheap on Kindle, and free on Kindle Unlimited, so it’d be kind of nice to think it’s an easy answer.

Well, I’m not discounting the power of a good book, ever, but I don’t think it’s likely to ever be a very good idea to try to do CBT on yourself. A therapist can slice through a whole crowd of issues to pick out the one which sounds important right now; you’re the one stuck in your head with the dizzing number of possibilities. If you know yourself really, really well, then maybe you can pick out the right thing… but even then, it can be hard to take things seriously, and give things a proper try, without someone to report back to. It can be hard to see your progress without having someone to help you see it, even if you self-administer the GAD7 or the PHQ9 or whatever other diagnostic.

And this particular book… no, it’s not a replacement for CBT. It can help introduce you to some of the ideas, but mostly it explains what a therapist will focus on, and a really high-level version of what they might choose to work on. My “deferred worry” system isn’t mentioned, for instance, even though it’s what my therapist identified as the most likely thing to help me. (Not sure. Maybe it is helping.) It has a worksheet for each type of problem that it mentions, but I don’t think it is (or could be) a replacement for the expertise of someone who has treated all kinds of people in their practice, and who can hone things down to what you need.

It would be a good one to read if you’re feeling a little sceptical about CBT and what it might offer; I still wouldn’t turn down CBT based on how you feel about it after reading this book, but it gives you a bit of a frame of reference for what CBT can be used for, and how broadly efficacious it is considered to be. So, it’s of use, but not a treatment plan unto itself.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, mental health, non-fiction

Review – Stuck

Posted October 17, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Stuck: How Vaccine Rumours Start — And Why They Don’t Go Away, Heidi J. Larson

I was really interested to read this, partly because Heidi J. Larson’s position at LSHTM (where I now study) caught my eye. Hey, I’ve picked books for worse reasons, and the issue this book is trying to dissect is really, really important — and something I might perhaps be interested in working on someday in terms of trying to reconcile people to vaccines.

Anyway, the gist of the argument is that scientists and government officials aren’t listening to the concerns of people who are worried about vaccination. At the same time, it points out that when governments have listened to such concerns and paused vaccination schemes, it’s legitimised that view — often again years of studies — and resulted in even more people losing their trust in vaccines. It pings around between those points a bit and comes to no conclusions.

There’s no additional wisdom here: Larson never manages to get beyond “people feel their [fictional, unscientific, ungrounded in fact] concerns about vaccines should be listened to and investigated very carefully, and they’re mad that governments aren’t doing so… but it’s also bad when governments do so.” Thanks, I figured that out. Somehow governments/health officials need to listen to people with concerns and made them feel valid, without actually making those concerns sound valid.

I get that it’s a difficult subject, but this book — short though it is — takes too long to tell me nothing I didn’t already know. If you’ve never thought about why vaccine refusal happens, and never tried to dig into the consequences, then this book will be useful, though.

Rating: 2/5

Tags: book reviews, books, non-fiction, science

Review – Entangled Life

Posted October 7, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures, Merlin Sheldrake

I’ve been looking forward to Entangled Life for quite a while, so hurrah! It’s finally here. I read it pretty quickly, and then had to put it aside and think whether it actually met my expectations. Sheldrake’s really, really keen on fungi, that much is obvious; sometimes I was less interested in his poetic hands-on eagerness to understand them close up — I wouldn’t wax lyrical about Mycobacterium tuberculosis in quite the same way, however wonderful and terrible I find it.

In the main, it’s accessible and interesting, and centres fungi completely in a way that normally doesn’t happen. There are lots of books about microbiology and few are the ones that really delve into fungi, partly for the good reason that we don’t actually understand fungi very well and have a lot to learn. There are a lot of interesting facts in this book, and some interesting speculations as well.

I just… I don’t know, I ended it feeling that Sheldrake was more interested in evangelising for fungi than anything else. The bit at the end where he says he’s going to seed a copy of the book with spores and dampen it, and then eat the mushrooms that grow… and then pulp another book to make alcohol out of it — I don’t know, it had me pulling back a lot and saying “y’what, mate?” There’s something very performative about it, and if someone were to tell me he were being mind-controlled by our secret fungal overlords, well… In fiction, that’s exactly what’s going on.

It’s odd for me that I ended the book with that strong feeling of “…dude, what?” instead of fascination with the genuinely interesting scientific titbits newly learned.

Rating: 3/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Merlin Sheldrake, non-fiction, science

Review – X+Y

Posted October 4, 2020 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

X+Y: A Mathematician’s Manifesto for Rethinking Gender, Eugenia Cheng

X+Y is a pretty accessible book, despite being written by a mathematician and professing to be a mathematical approach to the problem. It doesn’t involve much mathematics in the sense of numbers: instead, it uses “category theory”, Cheng’s particular specialism, to try to look anew at the problem of gender inequality. She writes well and makes the concepts very clear, sometimes with the judicious use of diagrams and examples. Not being a numbers person, I expected to be thrown by all of it, but actually I found it quite an enjoyable read.

In the end, what it does is take gender out of the question, and view the problem of inequality as being to do with traits that are associated fairly strongly with feminity and masculinity, but which don’t need to be. In the end, she calls the two extremes “ingressive” (competitive, self-focused) and “congressive” (cooperative), and her suggestions revolve around both individuals and society becoming more congressive.

It’s not that I disagree, because the situations she describes sound wonderful — I’d kind of like to see if she could teach me mathematics, or rather if an approach like this could teach me and get through my aversion. And she mentions disliking the feeling that she had become “ingressive” in order to succeed, and changing that, and I agreed with some of those points too. I think it could indeed be transformative to promote congressive behaviours in your everyday dealings and in the things you have responsibility over.

I’m not sure if it’s an answer to gender inequality per se; I think it is a bit overly optimistic in stripping away factors to claim that congressive behaviour is all we need. At best, what she suggests will be a slow climb.

So an interesting read, and I agree with her in principle — and I’m certainly happy to make the experiment in my own life. I think for many mired in the consequences of binary and gendered thinking, though, it’s a hard sell that it’s all about these simplified behaviours and that we can just promote better ones.

Rating: 4/5

Tags: book reviews, books, Eugenia Cheng, non-fiction