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List Price: £19.99
Our Price: £10.71
Author:
Bjørn Lomborg
By Cambridge University Press
According to The Skeptical Environmentalist the hole in the Ozone Layer is healing. The Amazon has shrunk by only 14 per cent since the arrival of Man. Only 0.7 per cent of species will be driven to extinction over the next 50 years. Even the poorest humans are getting richer by the year. Things are not good enough; but they are far, far better than we have been taught to believe. Lomborg, a professor of statistics and a former Greenpeace member, reveals the complexity, confusion, and (rarely) misuse of data behind the current Litany of approaching environmental Armageddon. But this is not a comforting or reassuring read. Nor is it a bible for lackeys and do-nothings. Lomborg uses the same figures everyone else uses, from national governments to the Kyoto summit to Greenpeace. Rarely have the raw data been discussed in such detail: their history, how they are calculated, their strengths, and their weaknesses. Lomborg argues persuasively that our sense of approaching human and environmental disaster is an artefact of the valid work of modern scientific, environmental and media institutions. There is, he asserts, no one to blame for our growing sense of despair, but everything...
 A truly excellent book, 2008-07-26
This is one of those books which change the course of things.
It is hugely impressive not only because of the absolutely massive amount of research involved, but because the entire work comes from someone who had, initially, entirely opposite convictions to those reflected in the book and had the intellectual honesty to understand that he was wrong, accept it and spread the word.
More notable is the book also for the unbelievable smearing campaign and the attempt at character assassination of which the author has been made object from his former companions, a truly sobering experience about the ways of "idealists","world savers" and apostles of "tolerance".
And mind, this is not someone just pretending to have been converted to sell a bit more; the author was very active in his academic milieu and certainly not the conservative type (openly and vocally leftist, openly and vocally homosexual). This gives the claims in the books, apart from the huge and ruthlessly accurate research - though the occasional mistake may have slipped here and there - the more credibility.
The environmental hype is now slowly ebbing down; common sense starts to prevail; the mayor of London with his ecoterrorist agenda (actually populism and class warfare with another name, as it is often the case) lost his job and all other british politicians listened to the message; in general, politicians have become more and more timid in trying to "look good" by imposing new taxes "to save the planet". This book shares a part of the merit.
Buy it and will you never regret it.
List Price: £15.75
Our Price: £13.15
Author:
John Adds, Erica Larkcom, Ruth Miller
By Nelson Thornes
 The perfect accompaniment to the edexcel A-level, 2004-08-26
This book is the perfect accompaniment to the edexcel A-level syllabus as it has been written the leading examiners of the edexcel board. Although some of the information contained within this book is generic to all biology A-level students I would not recommend this book to anyone who is not going to study edexcel as some of the information is very 'board specific'. This book comes with past exam questions and answers to match which I have found other such books to be lacking in. However it would be always useful for the book to have more questions as it seems quite limited.
List Price: £8.00
Our Price: £4.39
Author:
Jared Diamond
By Harper Perennial
"It helps us understand what it means to be human", 2007-08-15
This is a brilliant examination of the rise of mankind from just another species of big mammal to our current domination of the earth, and an important exposition of our position in the world today.
Diamond combines many disciplines to produce a riveting dissection of humanity to dispel any myths of inimitable human nature, presenting examples of "human" nature in the animal kingdom, and the reasons for our sudden rise in The Great Leap Forward.
Diamond continues by warning the reader of the severe consequences of ignoring the destruction of the environment, ideas he pursued further in Collapse. Diamond, however, remains optimistic of our ability to learn from our mistakes and those if fallen civilisations, sentiments I don't share.
Like all of Diamond's books, this is immensely readable, and tackles a subject of great importance to how we perceive ourselves, our place in the universe, and the world around us.
List Price: £17.50
Our Price: £7.77
Author:
Donna Rae Siegfried
By John Wiley & Sons
Superb, 2007-04-12
As with all Dummies books, this one is excellent. Covers all areas of Anatomy and Physiology from A'Level and through to at least 2nd Year Degree level. Physiological Systems and Anatomy are explained in a humorous way with many well thought out analigies to really give you a understanding of complex subjects. once again if you are doing A'Level or starting a degree in any human based science then this is a must have. Superb
List Price: £12.99
Our Price: £5.99
Author:
Daniel Nettle
By OUP Oxford
Understand the new science of personality, 2008-07-07
I've been trying to find a book on personality that does justice to the emerging consenus around the Big 5 factors (extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to experience)... and here it is. Nettle writes clearly and lucidly for the general reader while persuasively arguing for his own interpretations of contentious issues.
Most impressively, for each of the 5 factors he;
(i) describes them in greater detail than other authors bother to do
(ii) links extreme scores to heightened risk of developing particular disorders
(iii) relates each factor to a particular psychological mechanism
(iv) links these to structures in the brain
(v) explains why variation continues to exist for each factor
There's also a clear explanation of the evidence on the causes of personality differences and the shortest Big 5 personality test ever.
One of those books that makes you feel smart for understanding it.
List Price: £9.99
Our Price: £4.19
Author:
Mel Cash
By Ebury Press
A little handy primer, 2005-01-09
This book is a great handy primer for those on anatomy & physiology courses who need something to carry around with them as they learn the muscular-skeletal system of the body.The big plus for this book is the comb binding which allows the book to be opened flat, or worse, folded over. The artwork is clear, and covers the major muscles and bones, with additional tables setting out the origins and insertions, and the origins of ennervating nerves. In short, a good buy.
List Price: £36.99
Our Price: £27.23
Author:
Gillian Pocock, Christopher D Richards
By OUP Oxford
First point of call, 2007-05-29
Well laid out. easy to read. lots of nice diagrams. ok so it won't get you honours points but should contain enough to pass and is far less intimidating than those huge physiology texts. great for preclinical medics. not enough detail for pure physiology students though.
List Price: £9.99
Our Price: £5.09
Author:
Stephen Oppenheimer
By Robinson Publishing
Robust science in a charmingly written package, 2006-07-31
The book is trying to decipher one of the major questions faced by the paleontological scientific community today, namely the when, how and why Homo Sapiens, our species, managed to get to every last corner of the planet.
Such a vast problem requires, by default, a multidisciplinary approach, and that is exactly the author's method. He combines archaeological data, climate history studies and the latest in biological-genes research, in order to painfully and methodically reconstruct first the Exodus from Africa - birthplace of our species - and then the various phases of human diffusion. He proposes a single exodus from Africa theory, around 80.000 years ago and then follows the combined evidence (fossil record, tools, locations and genes) to trace the human voyage to Southern Asia, Australia, Northern Asia and Europe and finally the Americas.
The author makes a persuasive case and one may agree or disagree with his proposals or parts of them. Irrespective of that, one has to admire the robustly scientific approach to each and separate problem faced during this fascinating journey. Mr. Oppenheimer is the first to state the doubtful of his position in many instances and never passes mere hypotheses as facts. And, most important of all, since this is a book aimed at interested laymen, not scientists of the field, his prose is clear, as free of scientific jargon as possible and downright charming. The illustrations, maps and color plates complement the text in a most satisfying way, making for an excellent and very interesting read.
List Price: £8.99
Our Price: £3.53
Author:
Chris Stringer
By Penguin Books Ltd
AHOB advances an alert, 2008-01-04
For a good many schoolchildren [too many, IMV], the history of Britain begins with Julius Caesar crossing the Channel. Confronted by resistance by the "blue people", he forcefully pushed the Island Kingdom into the historical arena. This outlook is regrettably shortsighted, as Chris Stringer makes vividly clear in this stunning account of pre-historic Britain. Although the first early human finds didn't occur there, the concept of "Stone Age" was vigorously debated in Britain as the artefacts and fossils emerged in view, particularly in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Moreover, it was British scholars like John Hutton and Charles Lyell who took the lead in extending the age of the Earth. That extension led to speculation and investigation of who and what had come before, demolishing the view of yet another Englishman, James Ussher who had postulated an Earth "created" in October of 4004 BCE. In short, stratigraphy began replacing Scripture.
Stringer explains how Britain was subjected to several "invasions" long before the Roman political martyr was glorified, then assassinated. These invasions weren't for booty or slaves, but for dinner. Changes in climate resulted in changes in sea level, with Britain forming a peninsula of Europe many times over the millennia. Another result of climate led to large parts of that peninsula being sheathed in ice, rendering it uninhabitable to human or other invaders. They made it, finally, with the first human artefacts being dated at 700 000 years ago. They weren't dining on mutton, however. It was deer, rabbits, and astonishingly, hippopotamus. The image Stringer offers of hippos crossing the Mediterranean and swimming along the Atlantic littoral to reach what is now Suffolk, isn't one easily dismissed from memory. They thrived in "Britain", along with wolves, lions and other tropical animals. And they were hunted by the humans who had followed them from Africa - albeit by a different route. Until the cold returned. Then it was reindeer, woolly mammoth and fur-bearing rhinos. As the ice advanced, such species, along with their hunters, vanished from the landscape.
These cycles of habitability over the British Peninsula have occurred several times just in the period of human occupation. The worst ice age there was 450 000 years ago, and it was severe enough to keep the peninsula free of humans for 50 thousand years after its retreat. After a temperate period allowing new settlement, humans were again pushed into Europe only twenty thousand years later. Other shifts led to inexplicable vacating by humans for a lengthy period, even though life abounded in Europe. Neanderthal arrived about 60 thousand years ago. A large-brained species, they worked out how to keep warm by burning bones in their hearths. The accumulation of fossil evidence, subject to close analysis and dating techniques, is providing an entirely new story of early human habitation in Northwest Europe. Mobility was a major factor - it's almost presumptuous to title this book "Homo Britannicus".
As a founder of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain [AHOB] research project, Chris Stringer is at once one of the driving forces and spokesmen of studies of the distant human past. For a time, it seemed this span reached back half a million years, but a recent underwater find at Pakefield pushed the earliest date back another 200 millennia. Stringer handles such challenges with ease. He's able to convey to the reader immense time leaps, yet apparently not leaving any gaps in the narrative. The information about palaeoclimates, changes in the British - European shoreline are well explained and supported by excellent maps depicting the era under discussion. How long have we known that the Thames was once a tributary of the Rhine? There are photographs - some portentous - about the conditions in Britain over time. One of the photos shows the edge of a village which will soon drop into the sea as a new climatic event - this one human enhanced - brings the sea ever further inland. The message is clear - climate has cleared humans from Britain or encouraged their settlement more than once. What does today's climate change portend for the British Isles - and for the rest of us? [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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