What I most appreciated about this book was the humanity and insight that the author brought to portraying people and communities that have been devastated by opioid addiction. Beyond that it was a gripping story, compelling told.
Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prizefighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise.
In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty isn't an idea, it's as natural as the grass grows. For a generation growing up in this world, at the heart of the modern opioid crisis, addiction isn't an abstraction, it's neighbours, parents, and friends. 'Family' could mean love, or reluctant foster…
It was fascinating to learn about recent advances in neuroscience and they ways in which they are revising our understanding of how the brain works, how adaptive it is, and they ways in which this knowledge can be put to use. The author is deeply involved in this research, but manages to convey this information in a non-technical and easily understood way.
'This is the story of how your life shapes your brain, and how your brain shapes your life.'
Join renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman on a whistle-stop tour of the inner cosmos. It's a journey that will take you into the world of extreme sports, criminal justice, genocide, brain surgery, robotics and the search for immortality. On the way, amidst the infinitely dense tangle of brain cells and their trillions of connections, something emerges that you might not have expected to see: you.
At a time when the President wants to assert that gender/sex is strictly binary, nothing could be more important or relevant than a book making a deeply scientifically grounded argument for the complexity of gender/sex. In this book the author melds the science of evolution and genetics with queer, feminist theory, taking both strands of thought seriously, to argue that every cell, and every organism is a performance of the instructions in the DNA it contains. In other words, that genetics is not destiny, but something much more contingent and reflective of circumstances.
The exposition could get pretty technical at times, and I found parts of the book hard going, given my lack of knowledge about any of the disciplines involved, but the overall message of the book is clear and compelling. And Prum is an exceptionally engaging writer who often enlivens the technical information with piercing insights.
As much as anything it is inspiring to see a scholar who is so clearly committed to scientific discovery that he is willing to take on learning entire new fields of scholarship and question many accepted orthodoxies.
An award-winning biologist and writer applies queer feminist theory to developmental genetics, arguing that individuals are not essentially male or female.
The idea that gender is a performance-a tenet of queer feminist theory since the nineties-has spread from college classrooms to popular culture. This transformative concept has sparked reappraisals of social expectations as well as debate over not just gender, but sex: what it is, what it means, and how we know it. Most scientific and biomedical research over the past seventy years has assumed and reinforced a binary concept of biological sex, though some scientists point out that male…
I am one of the co-editors of this collection of essays by students, friends and colleagues of economic historian Gavin Wright. Wright is always able to see new angles and uncover hidden perspectives on topics he studies, and many of the essays in this volume reflect his influence on the profession, offering new insights about a broad range of topics. I feature it here because I enjoyed my role as a co-editor of this volume so much. It was a pleasure to work with so many insightful colleagues to produce this book.
