July 2023 MBR The Science Shelf

The Science Shelf

The Manga Guide to Physiology
Etsuro Tanaka, Keiko Koyama, and Becom Co., Ltd.
No Starch Press
www.nostarch.com
9781593274405 $24.99 pbk / $14.99 Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Manga-Guide-Physiology-Guides/dp/1593274408

Synopsis: Student nurse Kumiko has just flunked her physiology exam and has one last shot at passing her makeup test. Lucky for her, newbie health science professor Kaisei needs a guinea pig for his physiology lectures.

Join Kumiko in The Manga Guide to Physiology as she examines the inner workings of the body while training hard for the campus marathon. You'll learn all about:

How the digestive system and the Citric Acid Cycle break food down into nutrients and energy
How the body regulates temperature and vital fluids
The body's powerful cell defense system, led by helper T cells and enforced by macrophages
The architecture of the central nervous system
The kidneys' many talents: blood filtration, homeostasis, and energy production

You'll also gain insight into medical procedures like electrocardiograms, blood pressure tests, spirograms, and more.

Whether you're cramming for a test like Kumiko or just want a refresher, The Manga Guide to Physiology is your fun, cartoon guide to the human body.

Critique: Illustrated with a black-and-white manga (Japanese comics) framing story about a student nurse studying for her make-up exam with help from a neophyte health science professor, The Manga Guide to Physiology is a thoroughly accessible and user-friendly guide to physiology, the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living body. Chapters examine how different bodily systems work, including the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the digestive system, the sensory nervous system, the musculoskeletal system, the endocrine system, and much more. The Manga Guide to Physiology is an excellent text for classroom use or self-study, and especially ideal for students with a keen interest in careers related to health care! Highly recommended especially for high school, college, and public library science collections. It should be noted for personal reading lists that The Manga Guide to Physiology is also available in a Kindle edition ($14.99).

Fundamental Research in High Energy Density Science
Consensus Study Report
National Academies Press
500 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001
www.nap.edu
9780309694148, $28.00, PB, 148pp

https://www.amazon.com/Fundamental-Research-Energy-Density-Science/dp/0309694140

Synopsis: High energy density (HED) science has critical applications for society from fusion energy to sustaining the US nuclear deterrent, while also contributing to broader scientific questions such as understanding planets and their origins.

The next decade of HED science will be instrumental to growing our understanding and in the development of new technologies and processes. "Fundamental Research in High Energy Density Science" identifies key challenges and science questions for the field for the coming decade and proposes ways to address them.

Critique: A Consensus Study Report that is the joint project of the Committee on the assessment of High Energy Density Science, the Board on Physics and Astronomy, and the Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences, "Fundamental Research in High Energy Density Science" is enhanced for the reader with a four page Executive Summary, occasional illustrations, and seven Appendices. "Fundamental Research in High Energy Density Science" is unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, college and university library High Energy Density collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide expert advice on some of the most pressing challenges facing the nation and world. Our work helps shape sound policies, inform public opinion, and advance the pursuit of science, engineering, and medicine. (https://www.nationalacademies.org)

Biocivilisations
Predrag B. Slijepcevic
Chelsea Green Publishing Company
85 North Main Street, Suite 120, White River Junction, VT 05001
www.chelseagreen.com
9781645021384, $24.95, PB, 272pp

https://www.amazon.com/Biocivilisations-New-Look-Science-Life/dp/1645021386

Synopsis: What is life? Many scientists believe life can be reduced to 'mechanistic' factors, such as genes and information codes. Yet there is a growing army of scientists, philosophers and artists who reject this view. The gene metaphor is not only too simplistic but deeply misleading. If there is a way to reduce life to a single principle, that principle must acknowledge the creativity of life, turning genetic determinism on its head.

The term biocivilisations is the acknowledgement of this uncertainty of life, as opposed to a quasi-certainty of the human position governed by a narrow time window of the scientific revolution. Life existed without humans for more than 99.99 percent of the Earth's existence. Life will also continue without humans long after our inevitable extinction.

With the publication of "Biocivilisations: A New Look at the Science of Life", Dr Predrag Slijepcevic shows how bacteria, amoebas, plants, insects, birds, whales, elephants and countless other species not only preceded human beings but demonstrate elements of how we celebrate human civilization -- complex communication, agriculture, science, art, medicine and more.

Humans must try to adopt this wisdom from other biocivilisations that have long preceded our own. By rethinking the current scientific paradigm, Dr Slijepcevic makes clear that a transformation (from a naive young species into a more mature species in tune with its surroundings) will save us from our own violence and the violence we inflict on the rest of our living planet which, if unchecked, will result in the demise and extinction of our own species.

Critique: Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, and as fascinating as it is informative, thoughtful, and thought-provoking, "Biocivilisations: A New Look at the Science of Life" will have a very special appeal and relevance to readers with an interest in bacteriology, microbiology, evolution, nature and ecology. Enhanced with the inclusion of an two page Epilogue (A Report to an Academy), twenty-nine pages of Notes, and a six page Index, "Biocivilisations: A New Look at the Science of Life" will prove a highly prized and appreciated addition to personal, professional, community, college, and university library Biological Sciences collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted that "Biocivilisations: A New Look at the Science of Life" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $18.99) and as a complete and unabridged audio book (9781666638158, $24.99).

Editorial Note: Predrag B. Slijepcevic is a senior lecturer in the Department of Life Sciences at Brunel University London. He is bio-scientist interested in the philosophy of biology. In particular, Predrag investigates how biological systems, from bacteria to animals and beyond, perceive and process environmental stimuli (that is, biological information) and how this processing, which is a form of natural learning, affects the organism-environment interactions. He aims to identify those elements in the organization of biological systems that lead to forms of natural epistemology, or biological intelligence, that might qualify those systems as cognitive agents. He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals across all areas of this book. (https://www.chelseagreen.com/writer/predrag-b-slijepcevic)

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