Reviews

Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age by Kurt W. Beyer

This biography explores the trials and triumphs of one of computer programming’s few female pioneers.MIT Press, 2009, 389 p., $27.95. GRACE HOPPER AND THE INVENTION OF THE INFORMATION AGE

The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution by Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending

Genetic changes reveal how culture has shaped recent human evolution, the authors argue. Basic Books, 2009, 288 p., $27. THE 10,000 YEAR EXPLOSION: HOW CIVILIZATION ACCELERATED HUMAN EVOLUTION

Instant Egghead Guide: The Universe by J.R. Minkel and Scientific American

Bite-sized knowledge on subatomic particles, supernovas, time dilation and more.St. Martin’s Griffin, 2009, 221 p., $14.99. INSTANT EGGHEAD GUIDE: THE UNIVERSE

Green Intelligence: Creating Environments that Protect Human Health by John Wargo

Pollution’s past effects could inform today’s environmental policy. Yale Univ. Press, 2009, 400 p., $32.50. GREEN INTELLIGENCE: CREATING ENVIRONMENTS THAT PROTECT HUMAN HEALTH

Mathematics in 10 Lessons: The Grand Tour by Jerry P. King

A few fundamental principles and an aesthetic awareness underlie all math, King shows. Prometheus, 2009, 394 p., $18.95. Instant Egghead Guide: The Universe by J.R. Minkel and Scientific American Mathematics in 10 Lessons: The Grand Tour by Jerry P. King

Book Review: Stories in Stone: Travels Through Urban Geology by David B. Williams

Review by Sid Perkins.

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