Reviews

Book Review: Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions by Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde, with Sandra Blakeslee

Review by Laura Sanders.

Book Review: Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives by Annie Murphy Paul

Review by Bruce Bower.

Octopus by Jennifer A. Mather, Roland C. Anderson and James B. Wood

An in-depth look reveals the uncanny smarts and elegant adaptations of these eight-armed wonders. OCTOPUS Timber Press, 2010, 208 p., $25.95.

The Dog Who Couldn’t Stop Loving by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Not just an animal lover’s tale, this book looks at recent scientific research on how humans evolved to care for canine companions. THE DOG WHO COULDN’T STOP LOVING BY JEFFREY MOUSSAIEFF MASSON Harper, 2010, 249 p., $25.99.

The Music Instinct by Philip Ball

A journalist draws on neuroscience, anthropology and philosophy to explore the universal human experience of music. THE MUSIC INSTINCT BY PHILIP BALL Oxford Univ. Press, 2010, 452 p., $29.95.

The Man Who Invented the Computer by Jane Smiley

The best-selling author tells a quirky tale of John Atanasoff, an Iowa physics professor who in the 1930s pursued the dream of faster calculations. THE MAN WHO INVENTED THE COMPUTER BY JANE SMILEY Doubleday, 2010, 256 p., $25.95.

Portraits of the Mind by Carl Schoonover

From hand-drawn sketches to high-tech views of single neurons, a neuroscientist unpacks the visual history of brain imaging. PORTRAITS OF THE MIND BY CARL SCHOONOVER Abrams, 2010, 239 p., $35.

The Weather of the Future by Heidi Cullen

Review by Sid Perkins.

Book Review: Proofiness: The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception by Charles Seife

Review by Alexandra Witze.

Book Review: The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean

Review by Rachel Ehrenberg.

The 50 Most Extreme Places in Our Solar System by David Baker and Todd Ratcliff

Tour Earth’s hottest, coldest, stormiest and stinkiest neighbors, plus the solar system’s weirdest phenomena. THE 50 MOST EXTREME PLACES IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM BY DAVID BAKER AND TODD RATCLIFF Harvard Univ. Press, 2010, 290 p., $27.95.

Spider Silk by Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L. Craig

Arachnid evolution is woven into this history of one of the strongest natural materials. SPIDER SILK BY LESLIE BRUNETTA AND CATHERINE L. CRAIG Yale Univ. Press, 2010, 229 p., $30.