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  Lives of the Scientists: or How...

  Rivka Galchen

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  One of our most brilliant, acclaimed novelists turns to nonfiction with a mind-expanding, slyly humorous personal exploration of the scientific imagination.In Lives of the Scientists: or, How to Predict the End of the World, Rivka Galchen offers a profound and playful exploration of the lives of scientists, the persistence of error, and the quixotic faith required to make sense of a turbulent reality. She finds both hope and warning—and many startling stories—in those who have devoted themselves to searching for the truth about our world, facing the unpredictable and the uncertain, and the occasional authoritarian leader.Galchen’s father—a spacy, otherworldly meteorologist—sends her a box containing two oversize T-shirts (one with the image of Shakespeare, the other of Einstein) and a copy of Don Quixote. The riddle of the gift, received only weeks before his death at fifty-three, becomes the catalyst for a journey into the minor mysteries of individual lives. We encounter the tragic genius of Nikolai Vavilov, who sought to conquer famine only to die of starvation in a Soviet prison; the eccentric Lewis Fry Richardson, who imagined a "forecast factory" of 64,000 human computers to predict both weather and war; and Ignaz Semmelweis, the doctor who discovered that washing hands could save lives, only to be dismissed as a madman by his peers. Part memoir, part history, part political meditation, Lives of the Scientists spans everything from the "Infinite Hotel" of the mathematician David Hilbert to the "memory palace” of a man who could never forget. Science, Galchen discovers, is much like the knight-errantry of Don Quixote: a fantasy that works back to improve the reality we are trying to evade.With the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist, Galchen bridges the gap between the "scuffle of the small" and the cosmic scale of the universe. Whether discussing the Semmelweis Reflex (humans’ tendency to irrationally reject the truth), the evolution of "Good Enough" mothers, or the "many worlds" of quantum physics where our lost dogs are still alive, she offers a "light to the soul"—a much-needed antidote to the blue light of our smartphones and their endless scroll of bad news.

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  Better Never to Have Been - The...

  David Benatar

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  Most people believe that they were either benefited or at least not harmed by being brought into existence. Thus, if they ever do reflect on whether they should bring others into existence—rather than having children without even thinking about whether they should—they presume that they do them no harm. Better Never to Have Been challenges these assumptions. David Benatar argues that coming into existence is always a serious harm. Those who never exist cannot be deprived. However, by coming into existence one does suffer quite serious harms that could not have befallen one had one not come into existence. Drawing on the relevant psychological literature, the author shows that there are a number of well-documented features of human psychology that explain why people systematically overestimate the quality of their lives and why they are thus resistant to the suggestion that they were seriously harmed by being brought into existence. The author then argues for the "anti-natal" view—that it is always wrong to have children—and he shows that combining the anti-natal view with common pro-choice views about fetal moral status yield a "pro-death" view about abortion. Although counter-intuitive for many, that implication is defended, not least by showing that it solves many conundrums of moral theory about population.

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  A Book of Noises - Notes on...

  Caspar Henderson

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  Sound shapes our world in invisible but profound ways, and here Caspar Henderson brings his characteristic curiosity, knowledge and sense of wonder to the subject to take us on an exhilarating journey through the heard universe. 
  A Book of Noises gathers together sounds from the cosmos, the natural world, the human world, and the invented world, and contains quiet pockets of silence. From the vast sound of sand in the desert to the tuneful warble of a songbird, to the meditative resonance of a temple bell and the improvisational melodies of jazz, this is a celebration of all things auricular. 
  The preface is read by Cerys Matthews, and the rest of the book by the author

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  Dopamine Serotonin Oxytocin: 7...

  The Knowledge Society

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  You hear 'dopamine' in every headline, get told cortisol is ruining your life, and quietly wonder if anyone actually knows what these molecules do. You want the real science, told by someone who can explain it without a lecture hall or a supplement pitch.
  
  Press play and you get seven commute-sized chapters, one per molecule, each built on a single vivid analogy you will never unlearn. Dopamine turns out to be your brain's wanting compass, not its pleasure button. Oxytocin is the handshake chemical with a darker tribal side. Cortisol is a morning alarm clock that only becomes a villain when nobody switches it off. Adrenaline, serotonin, endorphins and melatonin each get their own wow moment, the kind you repeat at dinner.
  
  By the last chapter, the headlines make sense, your own moods make more sense, and brain chemistry feels like a story you can follow. Start with dopamine on your next commute.

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  Later With Jools Holland: 30...

  Mark Cooper, Jools Holland

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  ’You never knew what you were going to be confronted with when you went on Later…’ Nick Cave‘Later… is a voyage of discovery for us as well as the viewers’ Dave Grohl 
  Dave Grohl and Alicia Keys loved it, Björk treasured it, Ed Sheeran’s life was changed by it, Kano felt at home while Nick Cave was horrified but inspired, and they all kept coming back. 
  This first-hand account of the BBC’s Later… with Jools Holland takes you behind the scenes of one of the world’s great musical meeting places. Legends including Sir Paul McCartney, Mary J. Blige and David Bowie found a regular welcome, alongside the next generation of superstars including Adele, Ed Sheeran and Amy Winehouse. Part of what has made the show so special is the format – all those bands, singers, stars and newbies brought together to listen as well as to perform in Jools’ circle of dreams. But there’s always been plenty of mayhem alongside the magic of convening a room full of musicians hosted by one of their own. 
  Written by the show’s co-creator and 26-year showrunner, music journalist Mark Cooper, this is the story of how Later… grew into a musical and TV institution. It was Mark who had to explain to Jay-Z why he couldn’t just do his numbers and split, who told Seasick Steve why he had to play ‘Dog House Boogie’ on the Hootenanny and persuaded Johnny Cash that he simply had to come in, even when The Man in Black wasn’t feeling well. 
  From Stormzy to Björk, from Smokey Robinson to Norah Jones, from Britpop to trip hop, here is the word on how Later… began, evolved and has endured, accompanied by exclusive interviews with some of the show’s regular stars as well as the unique pictorial record of Andre Csillag who photographed the show for over 20 years. A must-read for music fans everywhere, Later… with Jools Hollandpulls back the curtain on classic performances to reveal that the show is just as magical, if even more chaotic, than you imagined. 
  This top-rated biography, steeped in television history, offers a unique insight into the culture of popular artists. It's a captivating autobiography that showcases the best of the music industry, as seen through the eyes of photographers and critics. 
  For fans of Elijah Wald (Jelly Roll Blues), Daniel De Visé (The Blues Brothers), Paul Mccartney (The Lyrics), Michael Palin (Pole To Pole), and Dylan Jones (David Bowie). 
  HarperCollins 2022

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  Inside the Stargazer's Palace -...

  Violet Moller

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  Enter the mysterious world of sixteenth-century science, where astronomers and alchemists shared laboratories.In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus declared the earth revolved around the Sun, overturning centuries of scholastic presumption. A new age was coming into view—one guided by observation, technology and logic.But omens and elixirs did not disappear from the sixteenth-century laboratory. Charms and potions could still be found nestled between glistening brass instruments and leather-bound tomes. The line between the natural and supernatural remained porous, yet to be defined.From the icy Danish observatory of Tycho Brahe, to the smoky, sulphur-stained workshop of John Dee, Violet Moller tours the intellectual heart of early European science. Exploring its rich, multidisciplinary culture, Inside the Stargazer's Palace reveals a dazzling forgotten world, where all knowledge, no matter how arcane, could be pursued in good faith.

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