Reviews

Homage to a Pied Puzzler

Ed Pegg Jr., Alan H. Schoen and Tom Rodgers, eds.

Theo Gray’s Mad Science: Experiments You Can Do at Home — But Probably Shouldn’t by Theodore Gray

Dramatic experiments, captured in color photography with step-by-step instructions, demonstrate scientific principles from the everyday world. Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009, 239 p., $24.95. THEO GRAY’S MAD SCIENCE: EXPERIMENTS YOU CAN DO AT HOME — BUT PROBABLY SHOULDN’T BY THEODORE GRAY

Book Review: Science Under Siege: Defending Science, Exposing Pseudoscience edited by Kendrick Frazier

Review by Laura Sanders.

Book Review: Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA’s Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda by Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton with Henry Robert Schlesinger

Review by Jenny Lauren Lee.

Finding the Big Bang

P. James E. Peebles, Lyman A. Page Jr. and R. Bruce Partridge, eds.

From Axons to Identity: Neurological Explorations of the Nature of the Self by Todd E. Feinberg

A neuroscientist considers the intimate relationship between the brain and sense of self. W.W. Norton & Co., 2009, 304 p., $25.95. FROM AXONS TO IDENTITY: NEUROLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS OF THE NATURE OF THE SELF BY TODD E. FEINBERG

The Spirit of Invention by Julie M. Fenster

A historian explores the role of innovation in American history, illustrated with archival photos and news clippings. Smithsonian Books/Collins, 2009, 256 p., $29.99. THE SPIRIT OF INVENTION BY JULIE M. FENSTER

Poseidon’s Steed: The Story of Seahorse, from Myth to Reality by Helen Scales

A marine biologist distinguishes fact from fiction about these famous and elusive fish. Gotham Books, 2009, 254 p., $24. POSEIDON’S STEED: THE STORY OF SEAHORSE, FROM MYTH TO REALITY BY HELEN SCALES

What Bluebirds Do by Pamela F. Kirby

Young readers can learn basic facts about the life history and ecology of these familiar backyard birds. Boyds Mill Press, 2009, 48 p., $18.95. WHAT BLUEBIRDS DO BY PAMELA F. KIRBY

Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution by Nick Lane

Review by Sid Perkins.

Dark Side of the Moon: Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich, and the Space Race by Wayne Biddle

Review by Rachel Zelkowitz.

Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher

Reality consists of what you pay attention to, and new research is unraveling how the brain chooses some things over others. Penguin Press, 2009, 256 p., $25.95. Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher