Here are 100 books that Mathematical Ideas in Biology fans have personally recommended if you like
Mathematical Ideas in Biology.
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I became enthused about using mathematical models to understand the natural world as an undergraduate, got trained to do so, and spent my career working on a wide variety of applications. Most recently, I translated ideas from disease modeling to understand cyber variability and security.
To maximize success when applying mathematics to the natural or (for cyber) operational world, one needs to master the appropriate mathematical tools and have a deep knowledge of the subject matter. My recommendations are three really great books that will help you gain proficiency in the needed mathematical tools and how to apply them, and two equally great books on cyber systems.
There is no better starting point for preparing yourself to work on disease biology as it applies to cybersecurity than The Feynman Lectures on Physics, which are incredible and I have read (as have some Nobel prize-winning physicists) multiple times over my career.
Most recently, I read the chapters on optics and vision in the first part of 2025 because of research I am now doing on octopuses.
Richard Feynman has been a well-deserved hero in science for at least 65 years. He became a broader cultural hero in the mid 1980s with the publication of Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman and then in the 2000s when Alan Alda starred in essentially a one-person play about Feynman.
These lectures were originally given to first-year physics students at the California Institute of Technology, and you might think that they are not appropriate for most people. Well, yes and no. It…
The whole thing was basically an experiment," Richard Feynman said late in his career, looking back on the origins of his lectures. The experiment turned out to be hugely successful, spawning publications that have remained definitive and introductory to physics for decades. Ranging from the basic principles of Newtonian physics through such formidable theories as general relativity and quantum mechanics, Feynman's lectures stand as a monument of clear exposition and deep insight. Timeless and collectible, the lectures are essential reading, not just for students of physics but for anyone seeking an introduction to the field from the inimitable Feynman.
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I became enthused about using mathematical models to understand the natural world as an undergraduate, got trained to do so, and spent my career working on a wide variety of applications. Most recently, I translated ideas from disease modeling to understand cyber variability and security.
To maximize success when applying mathematics to the natural or (for cyber) operational world, one needs to master the appropriate mathematical tools and have a deep knowledge of the subject matter. My recommendations are three really great books that will help you gain proficiency in the needed mathematical tools and how to apply them, and two equally great books on cyber systems.
This is one of two books (the other is Cyberspace in Peace and War) that I think anybody seriously interested in cyber security (which should be everybody) should have on their shelf.
It is filled with insights on a wide range of topics. I refer to it many times in my book, including why biology is a better metaphor for cyber defense than war, how people new to analytical thinking about cyber systems should approach the topic, the general meaning of cyber security, what it means for a cyber system to be resilient, and the need for operational cyber drills (analogous to experiments in biology).
The writing in this book is accessible, and it is both fun to read and really informative.
Dependence on computers has had a transformative effect on human society. Cybernetics is now woven into the core functions of virtually every basic institution, including our oldest ones. War is one such institution, and the digital revolution's impact on it has been profound. The American military, which has no peer, is almost completely reliant on high-tech computer systems. Given the Internet's potential for full-spectrum surveillance and information disruption, the marshaling of computer networks represents the next stage of cyberwar. Indeed, it is upon us already. The recent Stuxnet episode, in which Israel fed a malignant computer virus into Iran's nuclear…
I became enthused about using mathematical models to understand the natural world as an undergraduate, got trained to do so, and spent my career working on a wide variety of applications. Most recently, I translated ideas from disease modeling to understand cyber variability and security.
To maximize success when applying mathematics to the natural or (for cyber) operational world, one needs to master the appropriate mathematical tools and have a deep knowledge of the subject matter. My recommendations are three really great books that will help you gain proficiency in the needed mathematical tools and how to apply them, and two equally great books on cyber systems.
This is a wonderfully informative introduction to cyber system variability, and is something to both read from cover to cover and have on your shelf (physical or electronic) to dip into from time to time, as I do.
Libicki’s ideas appear throughout my book, including the advice he gives on page 1 that "…when facing a problem such as the threat from cyberspace it pays to be serious but not desperate."
If you seriously want to understand how to use disease models to understand cybersecurity and variability, the books by Libicki and Singer and Friedman provide a fantastic background in the subject matter.
This updated and expanded edition of Cyberspace in Peace and War by Martin C. Libicki presents a comprehensive understanding of cybersecurity, cyberwar, and cyber-terrorism. From basic concepts to advanced principles, Libicki examines the sources and consequences of system compromises, addresses strategic aspects of cyberwar, and defines cybersecurity in the context of military operations while highlighting unique aspects of the digital battleground and strategic uses of cyberwar.
This new edition provides updated analysis on cyberespionage, including the enigmatic behavior of Russian actors, making this volume a timely and necessary addition to the cyber-practitioner's library.
In 1913, a 15-year-old pregnant girl was found dead of apparent suicide. Dr. James Wilson, a new graduate and the first doctor ever to start a practice in this rural town, feels guilty over her death because of his delayed intervention.
I became enthused about using mathematical models to understand the natural world as an undergraduate, got trained to do so, and spent my career working on a wide variety of applications. Most recently, I translated ideas from disease modeling to understand cyber variability and security.
To maximize success when applying mathematics to the natural or (for cyber) operational world, one needs to master the appropriate mathematical tools and have a deep knowledge of the subject matter. My recommendations are three really great books that will help you gain proficiency in the needed mathematical tools and how to apply them, and two equally great books on cyber systems.
This is a short (about 100 pages) and relatively new (2020) book showing how mathematical modeling of the dynamics of populations can be used to give new insights to the classic experiments by the scientist Georgy Gause on predation by one kind of single-celled organism called Didinium on another single celled organism Paramecium (which may sound familiar from high school biology), where the populations are the numbers of the two species and to the outcomes of classical military battles like Trafalgar, where the populations are the sizes of the forces of each side.
McCue’s book is very well written and most of it is accessible with relatively simple mathematics. It will also show you how we can include the randomness that is inherent to nature (and to all operational situations) in models.
McCue is a top flight operations analyst; as with Feynman and Maynard Smith, reading this book – even…
F.W. Lanchester famously reduced the mutual erosion of attrition warfare to simple mathematical form, resulting in his famous "Square Law," and also the "Linear Law." Followers have sought to fit real-world data to Lanchester's equations, and/or to elaborate them in order to capture more aspects of reality.In Beyond Lanchester, Brian McCue--author of the similarly quantitative U-Boats In The Bay Of Biscay--focusses on a neglected shortcoming of Lanchester's work: its determinism. He shows that the mathematics of the Square Law contain instability, so that the end-state it predictes is actually one of the least likely outcomes.This mathematical truth is connected to…
I have lived a life filled with diverse life experiences and have encountered people in very different professions who could think effectively and deeply understand topics unrelated to their profession. My life changed for the better when I finally started to develop a deep understanding of math, which empowered me to believe that I could develop a deep understanding of things I encountered. However, this change did not occur in me until my late twenties. My current passion is to empower people to think more effectively early in their lives.
I love this book because it illustrates how a deep understanding of one subject area (mathematics) can help develop a deeper understanding of another (biology). This is a common theme in my teaching. I love how the author links the two fields of mathematics and biology in a way that is accessible to people in both fields.
This book will extend the knowledge of anyone working in the interdisciplinary area of mathematical biology and encourage the reader to see the value of viewing the world through interdisciplinary eyes.
Biologists have long dismissed mathematics as being unable to meaningfully contribute to our understanding of living beings. Within the past ten years, however, mathematicians have proven that they hold the key to unlocking the mysteries of our world--and ourselves. In The Mathematics of Life, Ian Stewart provides a fascinating overview of the vital but little-recognized role mathematics has played in pulling back the curtain on the hidden complexities of the natural world--and how its contribution will be even more vital in the years ahead. In his characteristically clear and entertaining fashion, Stewart explains how mathematicians and biologists have come to…
I’m just a book-loving girl working in a corporate world who’s sick to death of the inaccurate representations of technology in fiction. FYI, tracing a phone call is instantaneous, no need to keep that pesky murderer on the line these days. Technology is so ingrained in our daily lives and most people have very limited knowledge of what it actually does, so I became fascinated with the idea of using real modern-day tech in murder mysteries. I got so obsessed with the idea I decided to write it. No Sci-Fi of future tech, it may seem farfetched, but all the electronic wizardry used in my novels is real and accurately represented.
Ah, Dan Brown. Love him or hate him, he’s a paragon of the modern thriller. Let’s go way back to 1998. It was pre-DaVinci Code, and he released his first novel, Digital Fortress. For the time period, it was a unique idea. A woman cryptologist at the NSA gets embroiled in a high-stakes murder mystery and the only way through is to solve the code. There are a lot of issues with this book, primarily that the author couldn’t be bothered to check his work and misuses bits and bytes throughout the whole novel which makes the code-breaking premise ridiculous. But to be fair, this was 1998 and for a first novel, it’s still a fun ride. So, if you’re a Dan Brown fan or love a fast-paced easy read give it a try. If you have even a basic understanding of how encryption works you may…
A former National Security Agency programmer threatens to release a mathematical formula that will allow organized crime and terrorism to skyrocket, unless the code-breaking computer that is used to keep them in check but that violates civil rights is not exposed to the public.
Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977, and Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977. Both began a historic journey with unique 'time capsules' on board intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record 12-inch gold-plated disk…
As a kid, I used to do all the math problems in my textbooks just for fun, even if they weren’t part of a homework assignment. My grandchildren cringe when I tell them this. I am a researcher and educator in secure software engineering and have enjoyed a productive career in software development and management, software engineering and software security research, and software and secure software engineering education.
Although strictly speaking, this book is not on software security, it is so well-known in the field as a general reference that it deserves to be on this list. It discusses the important issues of computer security and can be used as either a textbook or a reference. No doubt that many, if not most, students of computer security are familiar with this book.
Today, everyone recognizes the importance of safeguarding computer systems and networks from vulnerability, attack, and compromise. But computer security is neither an easy art nor a simple science: its methodologies and technologies require rigorous study, and a deep grounding in principles that can be applied even as technologies change. Moreover, practitioners must understand how to align concepts with real policies, and then actually implement those policies -- managing inevitable tradeoffs such as "How secure do our devices really need to be, and how much inconvenience can we accept?"
In his extensively updated Computer Security: Art and Science, 2nd Edition,…
As a kid, I used to do all the math problems in my textbooks just for fun, even if they weren’t part of a homework assignment. My grandchildren cringe when I tell them this. I am a researcher and educator in secure software engineering and have enjoyed a productive career in software development and management, software engineering and software security research, and software and secure software engineering education.
The title says it all. This is probably one of the first, if not the first book on secure coding, by a pioneer in the field. Robert worked tirelessly to make this happen. Although the book has been superseded by the secure coding standards that evolved from it, it is still a good read and contains a lot of useful information for developers.
Learn the Root Causes of Software Vulnerabilities and How to Avoid Them
Commonly exploited software vulnerabilities are usually caused by avoidable software defects. Having analyzed tens of thousands of vulnerability reports since 1988, CERT has determined that a relatively small number of root causes account for most of the vulnerabilities.
Secure Coding in C and C++, Second Edition, identifies and explains these root causes and shows the steps that can be taken to prevent exploitation. Moreover, this book encourages programmers to adopt security best practices and to develop a security mindset that can help protect software from tomorrow's attacks,…
As a kid, I used to do all the math problems in my textbooks just for fun, even if they weren’t part of a homework assignment. My grandchildren cringe when I tell them this. I am a researcher and educator in secure software engineering and have enjoyed a productive career in software development and management, software engineering and software security research, and software and secure software engineering education.
Gary McGraw has been an advocate for the importance of developing secure software during the more than 15 years that I have known him, and before that! He has written a number of books, but this one captures his philosophy on how to develop secure software. It’s an excellent resource for practitioners and management.
"When it comes to software security, the devil is in the details. This book tackles the details." --Bruce Schneier, CTO and founder, Counterpane, and author of Beyond Fear and Secrets and Lies
"McGraw's book shows you how to make the 'culture of security' part of your development lifecycle." --Howard A. Schmidt, Former White House Cyber Security Advisor
"McGraw is leading the charge in software security. His advice is as straightforward as it is actionable. If your business relies on software (and whose doesn't), buy this book and post it up on the lunchroom wall." --Avi Rubin, Director of…
Deputy Jenna Hart has only been working in her sleepy hometown of Pearl Springs for seven months when city officials begin to be targeted by a killer. Twenty years ago, the construction of a dam caused people to lose their land to eminent domain. That wound has not healed with…
Being able to understand and change reality through our knowledge and skill is literal magic. We’re building systems with so many exciting and unexpected properties that can be exploited and repurposed for both good and evil. I want to keep some of that magic and help people engineer – build great systems that make people’s lives better. I’ve been securing (and breaking) systems, from operating rooms to spaceships, from banks to self-driving cars for over 25 years. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that if security is not infused from the start, we’re forced to rely on what ought to be our last lines of defense. This list helps you infuse security into your systems.
Loren’s been contributing to security for over 40 years, and this book captures his hard-won wisdom in a way that’s both humble and accessible. It scales from principles and design approaches to in-depth explanations of exactly how things go wrong and how to avoid those problems. (Also, I was honored to write the foreword.)
Designing Secure Software consolidates Loren Kohnfelder's more than twenty years of experience into a concise, elegant guide to improving the security of technology products. Written for a wide range of software professionals, it emphasizes building security into software design early and involving the entire team in the process. The book begins with a discussion of core concepts. The second part, perhaps this book's most important contribution, covers the process of designing and reviewing a software design with security considerations in mind. The final section details the most common coding flaws that create vulnerabilities, making copious use of code snippets written…
