The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

Title: The Selfish Gene

Author: Richard Dawkins

Publisher: Oxford 2006 (30th Anniversary edition)

Genre: Nonfiction -- Science

Pages: 523

Rating:  4 /5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey - 500s; Mount TBR; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: I own it

Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands of readers to rethink their beliefs about life. In his internationally bestselling, now classic volume, The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains how the selfish gene can also be a subtle gene. The world of the selfish gene revolves around savage competition, ruthless exploitation, and deceit, and yet, Dawkins argues, acts of apparent altruism do exist in nature. Bees, for example, will commit suicide when they sting to protect the hive, and birds will risk their lives to warn the flock of an approaching hawk. This 30th anniversary edition of Dawkins' fascinating book retains all original material, including the two enlightening chapters added in the second edition. In a new Introduction the author presents his thoughts thirty years after the publication of his first and most famous book, while the inclusion of the two-page original Foreword by brilliant American scientist Robert Trivers shows the enthusiastic reaction of the scientific community at that time. This edition is a celebration of a remarkable exposition of evolutionary thought, a work that has been widely hailed for its stylistic brilliance and deep scientific insights, and that continues to stimulate whole new areas of research today.

This is such a dense book.  Although I must say that I really enjoyed it.  Okay okay, I started to nod off here and there.  Basically those chapters that dealt with DNA and the really long explanations of genetics caused me to nod off a bit trying to read this before bed.  Once I got to the chapters on the applications of genetics on human behavior, I perked right up.  Those chapters sustained my interest through the rest of the book.  I love Dawkin's way of explaining using a ton of analogies.  This really did help me understand the topic.  After reading this one, I am debating about when to read his other books.  I'm intrigued, but I might need a month or two to decompress.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Title: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Author: Rebecca Skloot

Publisher: Broadway 2011

Genre: Nonfiction - Biography/Science

Pages: 382

Rating:   5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall into Reading

How I Got It: Loan from a friend

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

A friend gave me this book to read for our newly formed book club.  I had seen it on a ton of book lists.  I had heard that I should read it, but just didn't get around to it.  Even J's friend told J that he had to read it.  So I dove in without many notions of what it was actually about.  And I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved it.

My thoughts:

Skloot flips back and forth between the science of the HeLa cells and the life and rediscovery of Henrietta Lacks.  I instantly latched onto the science chapters.  I loved hearing the story of the HeLa cells and their impact on science and medicine.  I loved reading about the ensuing controversies over contamination, informed consent, and ethics.  I had known about the Tuskegee syphilis studies, but didn't realize how many more unethical experiments that were done in science's name.  I also had no knowledge of the so-called Nazi Law.  It was a revelation.  I felt that i added another piece in my understanding of society.  It was a fascinating read.  I would have loved to read what Skloot felt about the controversies, but she seemed to keep those parts much more factual.  The parts about Henrietta's life and death were heartbreaking.  The levels of misfortune, segregation, discriminationand just back luck pained me.  And then to see the cycle continue with her children was almost too much to bear.  At points the biography sections felt almost made up because they were so fantastic.  And yet, the characters inhabiting the story were all fantastic in their own ways.  True life can be more unbelievable than science fiction in many ways.  A fascinating book, now I'm off to book club to discuss.

Book club thoughts:

I'm back from book club to share some of our thoughts on the book...  We had a great discussion about many aspects of the book.  It's funny that the other ladies really loved the biography sections of the book and I gravitated toward the science sections.  But it did lead to some great discussions about the world of medicine and informed consent.  It seems we still don't have the issue clear.  Anyway, I had a lovely time and can't wait until the next meeting.  We're reading The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott for December.

Bonk by Mary Roach

Title: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science of Sex

Author: Mary Roach

Publisher: W.W. Norton 2008

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 319

Rating: 4 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Support Your Local Library; A to Z Authors: R

I gravitate toward books about taboo subjects: tattoos, body modifications, feminism (hee hee), conspiracy theories, mermaids, vampires, and especially zombies.  I loved Mary Roach's earlier books (Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers and Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife) so I jumped at the chance to read her new (well, new to me) book about sex.  It certainly didn't disappoint.

Roach has a great way of injecting humor into her recapping of scientific evidence.  I've read many scientific papers in my years in academia, but I still find them really dry.  The book was exhaustive.  I think Roach found every study having anything remotely to do with sex throughout history.  She even has writings from Aristotle and Hippocrates.  I found humor in her wonderful footnotes and personal adventures while writing the book.  However, it is definitely not for everyone.  Some of the passages get pretty graphic (in a "eww" way not a "I'm really turned on way") and some are down-right hard to read (who knew how creative scientists get while trying to avoid the word "sex?").

I enjoyed the book and texting J interesting factoids, but feel like it's time to get back to some fiction.  I think I'll start a series next...