I am searching for fancy books which could be of interest for broad biological community. Something like real stories behind great discoveries, biographical anecdotes from great scientist, etc.
Thank you for your hints!
Here is my list:
1. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (R. Skloot)
2. The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman (R. Feynman)
3. How the Dog Became the Dog: From Wolves to Our Best Friends (M. Derr)
4. Visual Complexity: Mapping Patterns for the Information Age (M. Lima)
There's a very interesting book titled Microbe Hunters by Paul de Kruif where I learned that most of the early investigators studying Rickettsia died. But on the up-side, they had microbial species named after them. The early development of microbiology is an engrossing compilation of stories of microbial diseases and the scientists that discovered the causes and developed the cures for many infectious diseases.
The Eighth Day of Creation, by Horace Freeland Judson. Quite interesting to see scientist from a personal point of view, not only as names in a research paper. Highly recommended.
Best bet to fit your search are first and last...but all put together bring the concept that food matters BIG Time in health and cancer
Lives of a cell - Lewis Thomas ( a must-read, a short-read, wonderful analogies related to 'societies and cells)
Genetics and the Manipulation of Life - Holdrege (thought you know about genes - a totally new view...genes don't lead...genes follow)
Natural Compounds in Cancer Therapy - Boik (deep and thorough...don't start here)
In Defence of Food - Pollan (not technical but oh so 'in your face' about our food system)
Emperor of all Maladies - Mukherjee (a inspiring and depressing read in one...super history on cancer and shows sad reality of the less then helpful influences of past and present)
Advice for a Young Investigator (ISBN-10: 0262681501) and letters to a young scientist (ISBN-10: 0871403773) are two great books about people who have been in Science, pretty much their entire life, done incredibly well, and look back on their career to share advice and lessons learned with the next generation of scientists.
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers (ISBN-10: 0805073698) and anything else by Robert Sapolsky was really enjoyable for me to read as well. The honesty of his writing along with his humor and passion as a skilled scientist who can also write makes his books easy to keep paging though till the end.
The Hot Zone: A terrifying True Story (ISBN-10: 0385495226), The Demon in the Freezer (ISBN-10: 0345466632), or any other books from people who used to work in emerging infectious diseases are also fun to read. The excitement, the fear, the suspense in hearing about flying into infected regions where people are dying from mysterious unknown diseases and their journey into discovery of the etiological agents read almost like thrillers to me.
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