Most Popular Book Reviews 2016
By The Editors
It’s been another great year of reviewing books at American Scientist. Here are the highlights!
December 20, 2016
From The Staff Communications Scientists Nightstand
In compiling a top-10 list of the year’s most popular book reviews on American Scientist, we decided to look at what you—our readers—have been searching for, not only among our most recent issues but in our archives as well. So here are the most popular book reviews on our website for 2016.
| #10 | Becoming a Better Reasoner |
Logic Made Easy: How to Know When Language Deceives You. Deborah J. Bennett. 256 pp. W. W. Norton, 2004. $24.95.
| #9 | Poetry for the Apocalypse |
The Xenotext: Book 1. Christian Bök. 200 pp. Coach House, 2015. $19.95.
| #8 | Not So Black and White |
Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It. Jon Entine. 400 pp. Public Affairs, 2000. $25.
| #7 | Benjamin Franklin's Science |
Bolt of Fate: Benjamin Franklin and His Electric Kite Hoax. Tom Tucker. xx + 297 pp. Public Affairs Press, 2003. $25.
An Entertainment for Angels: Electricity in the Enlightenment. Patricia Fara. vi + 177 pp. Columbia University Press; first published in the United Kingdom by Icon Books in 2002. $19.50.
Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment. Michael Brian Schiffer. xiv + 383 pp. University of California Press, 2003. $34.95.
| #6 | Despicable, Yes, but Not Inexplicable |
Sexual Coercion in Primates and Humans: An Evolutionary Perspective on Male Aggression Against Females. Edited by Martin N. Muller and Richard W. Wrangham. xii + 483 pp. Harvard University Press, 2009. $55.
| #5 | Legacy of Frankenstein: The Monster Is the One in the White Lab Coat |
Frankenstein's Footsteps: Science, Genetics and Popular Culture. Jon Turney. 270 pp. Yale University Press, 1998. $30.
| #4 | The Benefits of a Long Childhood |
Why Youth Is Not Wasted on the Young: Immaturity in Human Development. David F. Bjorklund. xii + 276 pp. Blackwell Publishing, 2007. $24.95.
| #3 | Manufactured Ignorance |
Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. x + 355 pp. Bloomsbury Press, 2010. $27.
| #2 | Race Finished |
Race?: Debunking a Scientific Myth. Ian Tattersall and Rob DeSalle. xviii + 226 pp. Texas A&M University Press, 2011. $35.
Race and the Genetic Revolution: Science, Myth, and Culture. Edited by Sheldon Krimsky and Kathleen Sloan. xiv + 296 pp. Columbia University Press, 2011. $105 cloth, $35 paper.
| #1 | What Makes a Good Scientist? |
Letters to a Young Scientist. Edward O. Wilson. 244 pp. W. W. Norton and Company, 2013. $21.95.
American Scientist Comments and Discussion
To discuss our articles or comment on them, please share them and tag American Scientist on social media platforms. Here are links to our profiles on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
If we re-share your post, we will moderate comments/discussion following our comments policy.