Books

A selection of new and notable books of scientific interest

MEDICAL APARTHEID: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present

HARRIE T A. WASHINGTON

Beginning in colonial times, blacks were seen as
property that could be experimented upon and dis-
posed of at will by slave owners
and unscrupulous medical practi-
tioners. Much of the early
research performed on blacks,
especially by southern doctors,
was done to outline the per-
ceived fundamental biological dif-
ferences between blacks and
whites, which were viewed as
two separate species. Washington

outlines white fascination in the early 19th century with black anatomy and skin color. She details the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study as well as the use of nonconsenting black prisoners, children, and medical patients in experiments examining the effects of radiation, contraceptive techniques, and bioterrorism agents. Finally, Washington examines current racial inequities in access to medical care, testing, and advanced treatments. She offers recommendations for combating the widespread mistrust between the medical community and African Americans. Doubleday, 2006, 501 p., b&w plates, hardcover, $27.95.

SAXONS, VIKINGS, AND CELTS: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland

BRYAN SYKES

Sykes, the founder of an organization that
sequences individuals’ DNA so they can explore
their roots, here recounts the

genetic history of the people of the British Isles. At the forefront of what he calls genetic history, Sykes has participated in archaeological research throughout Great Britain. By sampling the DNA of more than 10,000 volunteers from Britain, Ireland, and the United States, Sykes has attempted to

solve the mystery of who the British Isles’ first inhabitants were and how they arrived. His book explores the traditional accounts passed on in England and Ireland and uses the DNA evidence to sort fact from fiction. Sykes looks to modern DNA evidence to sort the genetic legacies of the Vikings, Romans, Saxons, Celts, and other groups. Norton, 2006, 306 p., b&w plates, hardcover, $26.95.

EXPLORATOPIA
PAT MURPHY, ELLEN MACAULAY, AND THE STAFF OF
THE EXPLORATORIUM
Located in San Francisco, the Exploratorium is a
world-renowned science center full of interactive
exhibits. Murphy, a 20-year employee of the center,
and her colleagues bring its educational and
exploratory spirit to this book. More than 400 exper-
iments encourage young people to take a close look

at themselves and the world around them. Readers explore why two eyes are better than one, how the folds of the outer ear help a

person locate the source of a
sound, and how to improve
memory. Other fanciful experi-
ments include mummifying a
hot dog, making a rocket
launcher, and building a 20-
foot-high tower out of paper
and tape. The authors explore
the principles of physics

behind roller coasters, optical illusions, lenses, and magnets. Throughout, they include tools for exploration and tips for becoming a better observer. Little, Brown, 2006, 373 p., color images, hardcover, $29.99.

DEATH BY BLACK HOLE: And Other Cosmic Quandaries

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

In this collection of more than 40 essays taken
from Natural History magazine, Tyson, director of
the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum
of Natural History in New York City, shares his
affection for the oddities of our
universe. He traces the history of
astrophysics, explores the possi-
bility of life on other planets, and
introduces the idea of antimatter.
The essays are collected into
seven separate sections ranging
from “The Nature of Knowledge”
to “Science and God.” In the for-
mer section, Tyson explains how

people discovered our solar system’s planets and what their continued exploration can reveal about the past and future of Earth. In the section titled “When the Universe Turns Bad,” the author enumerates the many ways in which life as we know it could end, such as by asteroid collisions and “death by black hole.” Norton, 2007, 384 p., hardcover, $24.95.

DREAMING IN CODE:

Two Dozen Programmers,

Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software

SCOTT ROSENBERG

Our modern lives rely on the proper functioning of
billions of lines of software code to run everything
from laptops to on-board automobile computers to
the latest toasters and toys. It can be a daunting
responsibility for programmers to create software
that serves a unique function and that works con-
sistently. Rosenberg, journalist
and cofounder of Salon.com,
gives an inside view of the
evolving process of software
development. Why is it so hard
to get computers to think like
people? Why are bugs a persist-
ent problem in computer pro-
grams? Rosenberg surveys the
history of programming suc-

cesses and programming failures. Rosenberg spent 3 years following a group of programmers working on software for a personal-information-manage-ment program called Chandler. The author recounts the many advances and missteps that the innovative programmers made as they tried to reconcile human behavior with a computer’s operation. Crown, 2007, 400 p., hardcover, $25.95.

LETTERS

Sea tales

In “Dashing Rogues” (SN: 11/18/06, p. 328) on rogue waves, you make no mention of the use of satellite data, which is ideal for this sort of study. Two projects, in particular, are of great relevance: the European Union’s Max Wave study and the subsequent WaveAtlas project. The former, with just 3 weeks’ data, identified 10 rogue waves above 25 meters in height. WaveAtlas aims to prepare a worldwide atlas of rogue waves.

STORM DUNLOP, EAST WITTERING, WEST SUSSEX, ENGLAND

Your excellent report brought to memory a huge-wave event when I was in the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in December 1945. Midway in the Atlantic Ocean, we encountered waves that broke at least 50 feet higher than the flight deck. I lashed myself to the handrail behind the superstructure to prevent being washed overboard.

GLEN D. CARTER, HILLSBORO, ORE.

The article didn’t mention the counterpart to rogue waves, rogue troughs. Not much is known of these. If a ship is positioned where a rogue trough occurs, the ship falls in and is gone without a trace. JOHN SINK, COSTA MESA, CALIF.

Sorry, wrong number “Ancient Gene Yield: New methods retrieve Neandertal’s DNA” (SN: 11/18/06, p. 323) reads: “… a huge chunk of Neandertal DNA, covering more than 1 million of the roughly 3 million paired chemical constituents of an individual’s genetic makeup.” That 3 million should be 3 billion. HEATHER TRUMBOWER, UCSC GENOME BIOINFORMATICS GROUP, SANTA CRUZ, CALIF.

Way outside the box It would seem difficult to distinguish between the repulsive force that dark energy proposes and the regular gravitational pull of ordinary matter (“Dark Fingerprints: Hubble sheds light on cosmic expansion,” SN: 11/18/06, p. 323). Somehow, the idea of multiple universes surrounding our universe, embodying the known laws of physics and providing the gravitational pull, is easier for me to accept than a mysterious dark energy nobody can explain. VERN SHELLMAN, DENVER, COLO.

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