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Recommendations based on Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brainby Oliver Sacks
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An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales
by Oliver Sacks
Study of human behavior, exploring the complexities of neurological conditions.
Paradoxical portraits of seven neurological patients, including a surgeon consumed by the compulsive tics of Tourette's syndrome unless he is operating; an artist who loses all sense of color in a ... (Goodreads)
Awakenings
by Oliver Sacks
Exploring the effects of a mysterious sleeping sickness, the power of hope and human resilience.
Awakenings is a 1973 non-fiction book by Oliver Sacks. It recounts the life histories of those who had been victims of the 1920s encephalitis lethargica epidemic. Sacks chronicles his efforts in the ... (Goodreads)
The Mind's Eye
by Oliver Sacks
An exploration of the mysteries of vision and perception, and the neurological basis of visual experience.
In Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks explored music and the brain; now, in The Mind's Eye, he writes about the myriad ways in which we experience the visual world: how we see in three dimensions; how we ... (Goodreads)
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by Jared Diamond
Tracing the origins of human civilizations through the lens of geography, technology, and biology.
"Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: ... (Goodreads)
Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind
by V.S. Ramachandran
An exploration of the human brain, examining its functions and mysteries.
Neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran is internationally renowned for uncovering answers to the deep and quirky questions of human nature that few scientists have dared to address. His bold insights about ... (Goodreads)
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
by Douglas R. Hofstadter
A complex exploration of logic, mathematics and art, exploring their relationships and interconnections.
Douglas Hofstadter's book is concerned directly with the nature of “maps” or links between formal systems. However, according to Hofstadter, the formal system that underlies all mental activity ... (Goodreads)
Cosmos
by Carl Sagan
Voyage through the vastness of space, unlocking the mysteries of the universe.
Cosmos has 13 heavily illustrated chapters, corresponding to the 13 episodes of the Cosmos television series. In the book, Sagan explores 15 billion years of cosmic evolution and the development of ... (Goodreads)
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
by Richard Dawkins
A detailed exploration of the evidence for evolution, and its implications for our understanding of the world.
***30th Anniversary Edition*** Cover note: Each copy of the anniversary edition of, The Blind Watchmaker, features a unique biomorph. No two covers are exactly alike. Acclaimed as the most ... (Goodreads)
The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins
Scientific exploration of the evidence for and against religious belief.
A preeminent scientist - and the world's most prominent atheist - asserts the irrationality of belief in God, and the grievous harm religion has inflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11. With ... (Goodreads)
The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
by Steven Pinker
An exploration of the origins and development of human language and its implications for cognitive science.
The classic book on the development of human language by the world’s leading expert on language and the mind. In this classic, the world's expert on language and mind lucidly explains everything you ... (Goodreads)
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson
A captivating overview of the natural sciences, spanning the history of the universe.
In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory ... (Goodreads)
A People's History of the United States
by Howard Zinn
An examination of American history from a perspective of marginalized people.
In the book, Zinn presented a different side of history from the more traditional "fundamental nationalist glorification of country". Zinn portrays a side of American history that can largely be seen ... (Goodreads)
How the Mind Works
by Steven Pinker
Exploration of the human mind, understanding the elements that make us think and act.
In this extraordinary bestseller, Steven Pinker, one of the world's leading cognitive scientists, does for the rest of the mind what he did for language in his 1994 book, The Language Instinct . He ... (Goodreads)
This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
by Daniel J. Levitin
A neuroscientist explores the relationship between music and the brain, revealing how music affects our emotions, memories, and overall well-being.
Whether you load your iPod with Bach or Bono, music has a significant role in your life—even if you never realized it. Why does music evoke such powerful moods? The answers are at last be- coming ... (Goodreads)
The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science
by Norman Doidge
Exploring the brain's remarkable ability to adapt, heal and change itself.
An astonishing new science called neuroplasticity is overthrowing the centuries-old notion that the human brain is immutable. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Norman Doidge, M.D., traveled the country ... (Goodreads)
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
by Susan Cain
An exploration of the power of introversion, examining the implications of modern society's emphasis on extroversion.
The book that started the Quiet Revolution, At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who innovate and create but dislike ... (Goodreads)
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
by Mary Roach
An exploration of the strange and often unknown history of cadavers, and their uses in science and medicine.
Okay, you're thinking: ,"This must be some kind of a joke. A humorous book about cadavers?", Yup — and it works. Mary Roach takes the age-old question, "What happens to us after we die?" quite ... (Goodreads)
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by Anthony Bourdain
A humorous and unflinching account of life in restaurant kitchens, exploring the culture and camaraderie of the culinary world.
A deliciously funny, delectably shocking banquet of wild-but-true tales of life in the culinary trade from Chef Anthony Bourdain, laying out his more than a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute ... (Goodreads)
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
by Elyn R. Saks
Story of a woman's struggles with schizophrenia and her journey of recovery.
Elyn Saks is a success by any measure: she's an endowed professor at the prestigious University of Southern California Gould School of Law. She has managed to achieve this in spite of being diagnosed ... (Goodreads)
Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything
by Joshua Foer
An exploration of the science of memory and its potential to unlock hidden abilities in the human mind.
The blockbuster phenomenon that charts an amazing journey of the mind while revolutionizing our concept of memory An instant bestseller that is poised to become a classic, Moonwalking with Einstein ... (Goodreads)
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
by Carl Sagan
Reflection on humanity's place in the universe, and its responsibility to protect life on Earth.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Carl Sagan traces our exploration of space and suggests that our very survival may depend on the wise use of other worlds. This stirring book reveals how scientific ... (Goodreads)
Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History
by Art Spiegelman
A graphic novel depicting the traumatic experiences of a Holocaust survivor and his son.
The first installment of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel acclaimed as “the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust” (Wall Street Journal) and “the first ... (Goodreads)
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey
by Jill Bolte Taylor
Neuroscientist's journey of recovery from a stroke, learning to rewire her brain and appreciate life.
Jill Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist when a blood vessel exploded in her brain. Through the eyes of a curious scientist, she watched her mind deteriorate whereby she could ... (Goodreads)
Just Kids
by Patti Smith
Chronicles of two young artists in New York City, finding friendship and inspiration in each other.
In Just Kids , Patti Smith's first book of prose, the legendary American artist offers a never-before-seen glimpse of her remarkable relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in the epochal ... (Goodreads)
Bad Science
by Ben Goldacre
A critical look at the misuse of scientific fact and the implications of bad science.
Full of spleen, this is a hilarious, invigorating and informative journey through the world of Bad Science . When Dr Ben Goldacre saw someone on daytime TV dipping her feet in an 'Aqua Detox' ... (Goodreads)
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
by Barack Obama
An exploration of the Obama family history, tracing the threads of identity and race.
In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New ... (Goodreads)
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
by Thomas Piketty
An economic analysis of wealth and inequality in the modern era.
What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic ... (Goodreads)
The Art of Loving
by Erich Fromm
Philosophical treatise on the power of love, exploring its various forms and roles in society.
The fiftieth Anniversary Edition of the groundbreaking international bestseller that has shown millions of readers how to achieve rich, productive lives by developing their hidden capacities for love ... (Goodreads)
Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
by Atul Gawande
A surgeon's exploration of medical excellence, uncovering the highest standards of care.
The struggle to perform well is universal: each one of us faces fatigue, limited resources, and imperfect abilities in whatever we do. But nowhere is this drive to do better more important than in ... (Goodreads)
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
by Richard Dawkins
An exploration of the evidence and science of evolution, highlighting its importance in understanding the history of life on Earth.
Charles Darwin’s masterpiece, On the Origin of Species , shook society to its core on publication in 1859. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke but he would ... (Goodreads)
