科普
The Selfish Gene 豆瓣 Goodreads Goodreads
The Selfish Gene
9.0 (16 个评分) 作者: Richard Dawkins OUP Oxford 2006 - 5
Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands of readers to rethink their beliefs about life.
In his internationally bestselling, now classic volume, The Selfish Gene , Dawkins explains how the selfish gene can also be a subtle gene. The world of the selfish gene revolves around savage competition, ruthless exploitation, and deceit, and yet, Dawkins argues, acts of apparent altruism do exist in nature. Bees, for example, will commit suicide when they sting to protect the hive, and birds will risk their lives to warn the flock of an approaching hawk.
This 30th anniversary edition of Dawkins' fascinating book retains all original material, including the two enlightening chapters added in the second edition. In a new Introduction the author presents his thoughts thirty years after the publication of his first and most famous book, while the inclusion of the two-page original Foreword by brilliant American scientist Robert Trivers shows the enthusiastic reaction of the scientific community at that time. This edition is a celebration of a remarkable exposition of evolutionary thought, a work that has been widely hailed for its stylistic brilliance and deep scientific insights, and that continues to stimulate whole new areas of research today.
2013年6月12日 已读
I personally think that I will benefit more from reading a textbook than this popular science book. Admittedly, Dawkins did a fantastic job in writing the dry knowledge into an interesting read. Also, I have to admit that I buy his arguments, but don't believe them.
biology 科学 科普
The Obesity Code 豆瓣
作者: Dr. Jason Fung Greystone Books 2016
Why you’ve never been able to lose weight, and how that can change now
Everything you believe about how to lose weight is wrong. Weight gain and obesity are driven by hormones—in everyone—and only by understanding the effects of insulin and insulin resistance can we achieve lasting weight loss.
In this highly readable and provocative book, Dr. Jason Fung sets out an original, robust theory of obesity that provides startling insights into proper nutrition. In addition to his five basic steps, a set of lifelong habits that will improve your health and control your insulin levels, Dr. Fung explains how to use intermittent fasting to break the cycle of insulin resistance and reach a healthy weight—for good.
“Fung zeroes in on why insulin resistance has become so prevalent and offers specific outside-the-box solutions that have emerged as the key to maximizing health."
—Jimmy Moore, author, Keto Clarity and Cholesterol Clarity
If Our Bodies Could Talk 豆瓣
作者: James Hamblin Doubleday 2016
"If you want to understand the strange workings of the human body, and the future of medicine, you must read this illuminating, engaging book." —Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Gene
In 2014, James Hamblin launched a series of videos for The Atlantic called "If Our Bodies Could Talk." With it, the doctor-turned-journalist established himself as a seriously entertaining authority in the field of health. Now, in illuminating and genuinely funny prose, Hamblin explores the human stories behind health questions that never seem to go away—and which tend to be mischaracterized and oversimplified by marketing and news media. He covers topics such as sleep, aging, diet, and much more:
• Can I “boost” my immune system?
• Does caffeine make me live longer?
• Do we still not know if cell phones cause cancer?
• How much sleep do I actually need?
• Is there any harm in taking a multivitamin?
• Is life long enough?
In considering these questions, Hamblin draws from his own medical training as well from hundreds of interviews with distinguished scientists and medical practitioners. He translates the (traditionally boring) textbook of human anatomy and physiology into accessible, engaging, socially contextualized, up-to-the-moment answers. They offer clarity, examine the limits of our certainty, and ultimately help readers worry less about things that don’t really matter.
If Our Bodies Could Talk is a comprehensive, illustrated guide that entertains and educates in equal doses.
The Book of Why Goodreads 豆瓣
6.8 (10 个评分) 作者: Judea Pearl / Dana Mackenzie Basic Books 2018 - 5
A Turing Award-winning computer scientist and statistician shows how understanding causality has revolutionized science and will revolutionize artificial intelligence
“Correlation is not causation.” This mantra, chanted by scientists for more than a century, has led to a virtual prohibition on causal talk. Today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution, instigated by Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has cut through a century of confusion and established causality–the study of cause and effect–on a firm scientific basis. His work explains how we can know easy things, like whether it was rain or a sprinkler that made a sidewalk wet; and how to answer hard questions, like whether a drug cured an illness. Pearl’s work enables us to know not just whether one thing causes another: it lets us explore the world that is and the worlds that could have been. It shows us the essence of human thought and key to artificial intelligence. Anyone who wants to understand either needs The Book of Why.
2019年1月14日 已读
Heckman, Rubin, Pearl的爱恨情仇啊。From Gelman, Pearl’s obnoxiousness obstructs the disemmination of his ideas. And works by economists are swept under the rug. 画图容易,但用Rubin亦可。同样的问题仍是我们有哪些x该放进来?然后如何从ate到更有意义的参数是根本的识别问题也是modelling problem,这个用图难以。另外经济学家最大的一个贡献(语出Hausman)就是sem;Pearl似乎不能领会我们为何要用sem。端看pearl能不能用dag来写一个市场均衡模型. Imbens最近写了一篇review说经济学家们不用学图论 用处不多
econometrics economics statistics 科普