Blog |26 books

Factfulness by Hans Rosling

If Spock wrote a book to earthlings, it would probably be Factfulness, Hans Rosling’s swan song. It tells us that the world is a better place than we think, but that the way we think is dysfunctional.

The 10 Most Beautiful Experiments by George Johnson

In this short and interesting book George Johnson explains the ideas and experimental setup behind 10 experiments that changes our worldview through beautiful experiments.

What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger

In this little book from 1944, Erwin Schrödinger, of quantum mechanics and cat fame, derives principles of life from his knowledge of physics. The result is interesting and left me with a puzzling question: what role does quantum mechanics play in biology today?

Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant

Option B by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant is an autobiography and a self-help book aimed at helping people move on from grief and terrible circumstances. I should not have read it.

The Periodic Table by Primo Levi

The third book of January was Primo Levi’s semi-autobiographical “The Periodic Table”, which documents his eventful life as a chemist, resistance fighter and Auschwitz prisoner. It’s a book about chance, imperfections of human actions and the science of chemistry.

The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee

”The Gene” by Siddhartha Mukherjee is a must read for anybody interested in the history and science of one of the major scientific breakthroughs of the last century: the basis of heredity. But it’s Mukherjee’s sense for the future, the conflict between knowing and doing, that really makes this book a homerun. If you haven’t already, read it immediately!

Redesigning Life by John Parrington

I finished my first book! John Parrington has written a well-researched book on how the success of genome-engineering will affect not only our nature but the whole of our society.