Scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have developed a book list featuring some of their favorite reads. The Life of Science Book List is a taste of what Nobel laureates and other acclaimed researchers like to read to get inspired or gain knowledge.
Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
James H. Jones
A compelling narrative of how the poor and illiterate afflicted with syphilis in 1930s America were deliberately deceived by a risky study of the effects of syphilis on Black males. This important book is considered a modern classic of race and medicine that raises moral and ethical questions about professionalism in medicine and research.
The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time
Jonathan Weiner
The Beak of the Finch is a dramatic, Pulitzer-Prize winning story about groundbreaking research on the evolution of the finches in the Galapagos Islands. Through their research since 1973, Peter and Rosemary Grant have discovered that the finches, first introduced by Darwin, are even more interesting than Darwin dreamed. Weiner's book following the scientists serves as an introduction to evolutionary science, while also proving that evolution is happening right now in the world around us — and we can watch.
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
Michael Pollan
A lively book that some readers describe as compelling as a mystery thriller, Pollan's narrative tells a story from the point of view of four domesticated species: the apple, the tulip, the potato, and marijuana. Blending science writing with history and memoir, the story illustrates how each plant has evolved a survival strategy based on satisfying humankind's most basic desires.
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
Dr. Atul Gawande
This collection of essays provides a candid glimpse into the day-to-day joys and challenges of surgical medicine. With gripping accounts of true cases, surgeon Atul Gawande explores the power and the limits of his profession, describing it as an "enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information, fallible individuals, and at the same time lives on the line."
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan
Learn Sagan's tactics for evaluating information presented by supposed experts, including a "baloney kit" for thinking about political, social, scientific, and other issues. This book professes that "some 95 percent of Americans are scientifically illiterate" and provides entertaining examples of pseudoscience, along the way debunking things like alien abductions and channeling.
Gene Machines (Enjoy Your Cells, 4)
Frances R. Balkwill and Mic Rolph
Colorful illustrations and unique, scientifically accurate but simple storytelling create a lively children's book that reveals the amazing world of genes.
Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War
Judith Miller and William Broad
Three New York Times investigative journalists team up in this report that uncovers the truth about biological weapons and shows why bio-warfare and bio-terrorism could make germs the weapon of the twenty-first century.
The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story
Richard Preston
In this fascinating and alarming report, Preston may change the way you view viruses and epidemics. The Hot Zone combines epidemiological fact with the terrifying true stories of an Ebola virus outbreak in a suburban Washington, D.C., laboratory, and other historical epidemics of rare and lethal viruses.
The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
Oliver Sacks
Neurologist Sacks, author of Awakenings, compassionately recounts the case histories of fascinating and unusual patients — real people who suffer from a variety of neurological syndromes that express symptoms such as amnesia, uncontrolled movements, and musical hallucinations. Sacks enables readers to enter the world of the neurologically impaired, to imagine what it must be like to live and feel as they do.
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World
Tracy Kidder
This powerful narrative introduces a hero who The New York Times says "… can be given credit for transforming the medical establishment's thinking about health care for the destitute …." Dr. Paul Farmer is a Harvard-trained physician who has battled AIDS and other infectious diseases in Cuba, Haiti, Russia, and Peru. Through interviews with family members and others, the author provides an account of Farmer's early life, as well as his time with Farmer as he travels to various cities worldwide where Farmer seeks funding and educates people about the conditions in Haiti.
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA
Brenda Maddox
In this biography Maddox presents the relatively unknown researcher Rosalind Franklin. Franklin conducted crucial research and took photographs that led to one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th century — the double helical structure of DNA. Her unpublished data and photographs enabled the infamous Francis Crick and James Watson to make the right connections and eventually win the Nobel prize, while she is rarely recognized.
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
Anne Fadiman
A compassionate account of the clash between Western medicine and the Hmong animist traditions of a refugee family from Laos, Fadiman's well-researched and suspenseful story provides a look at how ethnographically separated cultures and lack of understanding can lead to tragedy.
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