Book Tasting
Science Reads of the week
Chance
By: New Scientist
Publisher: Hachette
Pages: 266
Price: RS 399
Chance follows on from the bestselling Nothing and Question Everything bringing together some of New Scientist’s sharpest minds to explore tantalising questions. From statistics and probability to the perfect bet, from randomness and coincidence to sexual attraction, freak accidents, freak weather, it gives fascinating insights into what we call chance.
10 Physicists who Transformed our Understanding of Reality
By: Rhodri Evans & Brian Clegg
Publisher: Hachette
Pages: 258
Price: Rs 399
Science writer Brian Clegg and TV and radio astronomer Rhodri Evans bring a Top Ten list of physicists as the central theme to build an exploration of the most exciting breakthroughs in physics, looking not just at the science, but also the fascinating lives of the scientists.
We Are All Stardust
By: Stefan Klein
Translated by: Ross Benjamin
Publisher: Speaking Tiger
Pages: 264
Price: Rs 399
In We Are All Stardust, a collection of intimate conversations with 19 of the world’s best-known scientists, Stefan Klein lets us listen in as today’s leading minds reveal what they still hope to discover—and how their paradigm-changing work entwines with their lives outside the laboratory.
Asap Science: Answers to the World’s Weirdest Questions, Most Persistent Rumours & Unexplained Phenomena
By: Mitchell Moffit & Greg Brown
Publisher: Speaking Tiger
Pages: 248 Price: Rs 499
Does being cold make you sick? Why does time seem to speed up as we age? The creators of the wildly popular YouTube channel AsapScience explain the true science of how things work in this book.
Today’s Pasts
By: Bhisham Sahni
Publisher: Penguin
Translated by: Snehal Shingavi
Pages: 434
Price: Rs 499
In addition to being the story of Sahni’s life, the book chronicles great cultural highpoints of modern India: the Progressive Writer’s Association, the Nayi Kahani movement. The stars of Hindi and Urdu literature enter and exit the text as friends and familiars. In Sahni’s hands a life story is transformed into a history of our present.
The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore
By: Manu S. Pillai
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 694
Price: Rs 699
The book focuses on the remarkable life and work of Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, the last, and forgotten, queen of the House of Travancore. The supporting cast includes the flamboyant painter Raja Ravi Varma, his wrathful wife, scheming matriarchs, court favourites, vigilant English agents, quarrelling consorts and lustful kings.