Non Fiction Book Reviews #31

YES, WE HAVE NO NEUTRONS:

AN EYE-OPENING TOUR THROUGH THE TWIST AND TURNS OF BAD SCIENCE

by A. K. Dewdney

A. K. Dewdney explores eight infamous cases of bad science. Where highly touted discoveries or projects are astonishing examples of serious scientific slipups. A. K. Dewdney takes us behind the scenes to reveal why bad science occurs for a variety of reasons, whether due to faulty methodology or flawed interpretations of results. By neglecting key ingredients of the scientific method that leads to conclusions that were either not feasible or simply could not be reproduced. Or scientists in the pursuit of glory declare their conclusions without strong proof which can led to notorious findings. SETI (the search for extraterrestrial intelligence) can be called surfing the cosmos. The SETI projects, along with other schemes, has absorbed over a billion dollars in congressional apportions and has very little, if any, concrete evidence to justify the apportions, and is doubtful that it ever will. On September 2, 1991 started one of the biggest cons ever: Biosphere 2. Eight people entered a sealed environment for a two-year stay that was intended go down into scientific history. It was a disaster from the start. It was started by a cult to prepare for the end times and interplanetary colonization. But compromises were made in the Biosphere that would led to its failure, and by the end the eight people could barely stand each other. And then there is the I.Q. test. Just what does this test prove? Does it really measure a person's intelligence or merely a person's ability to take a test? And how many people have been ruined by I.Q. test? A readable account of bad science at its worst and how it gets that way.

BOTS:

THE ORIGIN OF NEW SPECIES

by Andrew Leonard

What is a bot? A bot is a software process that runs with little or no human supervision. A bot (short for robot) is a robot without a body. Bots come in a dazzling variety. There are Web robots, spiders, wanders and worms. Cancelbot, chatterbots, knowbots and mailbots. MrBot and MrsBot, Bartender bots, BalbooBear bots, crash bots, and so many more. Bots are cool, cruel, obedient, and wild. Bots are cyberspace's first indigenous species. These bots, mere strings of code, are now poised to change our lives. Bots are stand-ins for our drives and desires. They collect things for us. The do what we want them to do and what we don't want them to do. Bots will soon be as crucial to you as your car, your newspaper, your reference books, and your credit cards. Soon you will only be as good as you bot. This is the story of these software robots in all its quirkiness. From the trials and tribulations of artificial intelligence to the hilarious lifestyles of the first bots and the havoc they set in motion. Bots can be used in legitimate search for information, but bots can also be used in the illegal search for information, both uses are for the advantage of the user. Bots have also been used to overwhelm chat lines and other bots have been used to prevent chat lines from being abused and information from being illegally obtained. Bots are being used to make life more convenient as we are being drowned in a sea of information. Like it or not, bots are here to stay. So meet your new servants... and tormentors.

ALLERGIC TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

by Peter Radetsky

What is going on in our society today? What dangers affect our society? Science writer Peter Radetsky investigates the shocking increase of illness caused by our chemically saturated environment: An estimated 37.5 million people experience physical reactions to new paint, detergents, perfumes, and myriad other common products. More than 100,000 veterans have registered as suffers of Gulf War syndrome. Untold thousands suffer from sick building syndrome, and severe cases of multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS)--a debilitating disease that makes living with almost any chemical product an impossibility--are on the rise. Radetsky tackles the controversial and insidious new disease that is beginning to get the attention it deserves. MCS is a reaction to any of a number of toxic chemical compounds that are central to modern life as to be virtually inescapable. The offending agents can be insect sprays, new carpets, paints, building materials, perfumes, food preservatives, or a host of other chemicals that we are exposed to every minute of every day. When people started reporting MCS symptoms many were dismissed, but now that tens of thousands of Gulf War veterans are registering complaints that are haunting similar to those of MCS, the assumption that this new sickness is psychosomatic is being reevaluated. The symptoms range from conventional allergic reactions, such as sneezing and watery eyes, to chronic headaches, fatigue, memory loos, nausea, dizziness, and worse. With more than thirty-seven million people suffering from some degree of chemical sensitivity, just what is going on?

PLAYING THE FUTURE:

HOW KIDS' CULTURE CAN TEACH US TO THRIVE IN AN AGE OF CHAOS

by Douglas Rushkoff

Our kids are like those of any immigrant, fitting themselves more naturally into the Silicon Age than we can. For those of us who grew up before computers became ubiquitous, the world is like a foreign country and we are its immigrants. But there's no need for us to be caught unawares, if we only learn from today's children. Douglas Rushkoff demystifies the appeal of dozens of kids' cultural totems that have unnerved or baffled parents, pundits, and educators. These totems are Barney, Power Rangers, Pogs, skateboards, Nintendo, Beavas and Butt-head, gangsta rap, body piercing, and more. Our kids, that Rushkoff calls "screenagers," will flourish in the next millennium as we can too. He goes beyond mere explanations to prove how the trappings of screenagers' lives are preparing them for the future, a discontinuous realm where surprise is the only constant as information pours in from innumerable sources at warp speed. From the emergent guru of cyberculture come surprising answers to the questions: How can the Power Rangers get us jobs in the high-tech future?; Can a decreased attention span make us smarter consumers?; Could the ultraviolet world of Doom actually be good for our kids?;, and a look at our future as seen through the lifestyles of today's youth. Playing the Future draws a welter of conclusions about how we can learn from our kids to flourish in the next millennium... as they will. Wondering what the future holds? This book is a wealth of information and reassurance.

THE CULTURE OF SURVEILLANCE:

DISCIPLINE AND SOCIAL CONTROL IN THE UNITED STATES

by William G. Staples

It is not "big brother" that we have to worry about as warned by George Orwell in the novel 1984, but the series of "little brothers" we encounter each day. At the ATM, the supermarket, the bookstore, the casino, the workplace, in the home a small videocam, a small videocam sits high in a corner or out of sight, recording our actions. It's a sign of the times. The unblinking eye of the surveillance camera has become part of our cultural landscape. Our actions, movements, and thoughts are being watched. If you don't believe this, just look around. Scary isn't it? This provocative book traces a continuum of social controls, from the simple surveillance camera, the lie detector test, drug test at work and home, monitoring with computers, to home monitoring of individuals. Raising questions about freedom, privacy, and the power of state and private organizations, this book will help readers identify with and understand the consequences of social control, and a look at the ways in which people are increasingly monitored and controlled in everyday life. All this is being done for our own good. To protect ourselves and others, to monitor our productivity so that we don't cost the shareholders money, are the reasons give and we are willingly allowing this to be done. But what is not understood is the danger behind this monitoring. It will allow for the further erosion of our freedoms and led to totalitarian government. So be warned and do your part to stop the destruction of our freedoms.

Copyright (c) 1997 by MatrixZine (matrixzine@aol.com). All rights reserved. These reviews many be freely distributed with proper attribution. Copies may be printed for non-commercial use. Redistribution, publication, or archiving of these reviews on any other terms require my consent.