This hub gets you started on WRITING! Simon Garfield is a prolific writer whose work has traversed disparate subjects such as cartography, war, memoir, AIDs and, now, time or more specifically, timekeeping. I have recommended it to countless students over the 6 or so years I have been Thesis Whispering, many of whom write Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. More than any book on this list, The Beautiful Brain shows us exactly what it looks like when science and art converge. Paul Kalanithi a neurosurgeon by profession and philosopher by temperament died of lung cancer in 2015 at the age of thirty-seven. The crux of Garfields argument is that, perhaps more than any period in our history, we are obsessed with time, and it isnt a benign obsession: according to Garfield our modern fondness for productivity and disdain for idleness is making us hyperconscious of times passage and constantly anxious that we are wasting what little time we have. Roach is no stranger to gruesome topics: her first book dealt with the science and utility of corpses. This book collects hundreds of his mesmerising illustrations of neural cells and provides brief explanations of whatever we're looking at (which can be as bizarre as "muscle cells from the leg of a scarab beetle"). These are the best in popular science from the past year books that will enlighten, entertain, terrify and make you feel bad about how little you remember from school. 2. Its great even for non-social scientists, and I particularly love the stylishness of it, and the way it draws back the curtain on how even the best writing needs revising and editing. Black Hole Blues: And Other Songs From Outer Space by Janna Levin: 17.99, The Bodley Head. Apply ethical standard and principles in research involving subjects. This was the first book I ever bought on the subject, which probably accounts for my fondness for it. A book I recommend a lot in my writing workshops, though not specifically aimed at doctoral students, is Howard S Beckers Writing for Social Scientists. As Stephen Fry has commented, memorable facts pervade every chapter of this book, whether about the magnitude of our neural networks (two-year-olds have over one hundred trillion synapses, two times as many as an adult) or the power of conversation in warding off Alzheimers. Mukherjees immense knowledge of genetics and formidable fluency in prose shows that there are few people more suited to tackling a subject as complicated, delicate and indeed dangerous the pseudoscience of genetics and race has often led to catastrophe as that of the gene. You dont normally read a science book twice because its going to be out of date a year-and-a-half from now. One of the most extraordinary things about this book is its sheer breadth. Getting started can often be the hardest bit, with reading being the easiest! Montgomery, who at this point in her career still thinks the plural of octopus is octopi, dips her arm into Athenas tank and spends a few minutes letting the octopus wrap her tentacles around her arm until an employee gently removes her. Perhaps more than any author on this list, Levin is a master of storytelling: the programmes origins, its purpose, its eccentric architects and its wider significance for humanity all feature in this book as themes, converging to form a novel-like narrative that keeps the reader hooked in awe page after page. The memoir follows him from his birth through his youth in a desert town (which nourished his scientific curiosity) through medical school, his residency and, finally, through his illness. This is an interesting take on our troubled relationship with timekeeping. 1.3 Referencing the work of others in ones own writing In academic writing, you will almost always draw on the work of other writers: knowing how to reference is key. If you want to boost your understanding of the brain, read this book. The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery: 8.99, Simon & Schuster. He places the gene in a triumvirate of scientific ideas that dominated the twentieth century, alongside the atom and the byte. A good and easy read. Much of Montgomerys book strives to rescue the octopus from its unfairly unflattering reputation as a vicious monster from the deep. Sustainable and organic kids' clothing brands, Paraben and sulphate free shampoo & conditioner, 6 best LGBT-inclusive books for kids and young adults. Of course Levin is not the only author who expertly captures the macro and microcosmic in one book: Siddhartha Mukherjee and Adam Rutherford prove equally capable at balancing the two, though all of the authors on this list provide full and fascinating portraits of their respective fields. This ability to blend the grandest science there is with the minutest details of human interaction is what makes this book the exceptional piece of work it is. Another of the books core attractions is its wealth of mini-facts. Here are a few non-Word options I have come across in my search for the best dissertation-writing software that seem to be favorites: LaTeX. The Brain: The Story of You by David Eagleman: 9.99, Canongate Books. Of all the titles listed, my favorite is probably Allan Glatthorn's Writing the Winning Dissertation. Siddhartha Mukherjee is a physician, researcher, biologist, geneticist, oncologist, a few more -ists, and, importantly for us, an excellent writer. LaTeX is an open-source document preparation system that was designed for scholarly and technical writing, and is great for handling large documents. 3. Cost: free. Timekeepers: How the World Became Obsessed with Time by Simon Garfield: 16.99, Canongate Books. Sy Montgomery is an American naturalist and author, and her latest book opens with a surprisingly moving encounter between the author and a giant Pacific octopus called Athena. 4. At university he studied biology before completing a postgraduate degree in English literature, and only then did he decide that while literature may offer some answers to lifes big questions, it offers little in the way of practical remedies. Mary Roachs book about the science of soldiery takes a subject that we think we know a fair bit about in this case war, a subject about which countless books, movies and video games are released every year and hones in on one dark zone where our knowledge is probably nil. The book also includes an excellent biographical essay by Larry W Swanson, a neuroscientist at the University of Southern California, in which we learn much about Ramn y Cajal's work, his character and his insatiable drive to discover the secrets of the brain. Kalanithi often ponders the big questions that led him to medicine in the first place: the origin of personality, the nature of neuroscience, his spiritual quandaries and his rediscovery of Christianity all feature. Whatever the facts, its difficult to come away from Montgomerys book without a newfound appreciation of the octopus. Rutherford, a writer and geneticist who has written previously on the subject, weaves from our genes a fascinating tapestry of human history from its most primitive origins to its sophisticated present, and beyond. In this book, Janna Levin like many of the authors on this list, a writer trapped in a scientists body tells the story of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (or Ligo) and the long journey that led to the detection of Einsteins hitherto theoretical gravitational waves. How to write a better thesis by Paul Gruba and David Evans. Finally, write a list of books, jour nals, reports that you eed to read. Finally, I would like to recite from the famous English writer of the 17 th century, Francis Bacon, "Reading (In the first chapter he refers to human penises as the immodest instruments of biological transition). This book contains within it the essay that turns up in every science writing anthology, On Being the Right Size. All science books get overtaken. (The Roman author Pliny wrote: No animal is more savage in causing the death of man in water.) Thankfully, despite its reputation the octopus has been receiving a good deal of scientific interest recently for its remarkable powers of cognition, which Montgomery and other scientists now argue amount to consciousness. True to its title, Rutherfords overview of genetics is brief: at 300 pages it is considerably shorter than Mukherjees, meaning that if youre after just a quick though comprehensive survey of genetics, this is the book for you. The best dedications ever written: Haroun And The Sea Of Stories, by Salman Rushdie Zembla, Zenda, Xanadu: All our dream-worlds may come true. 7. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. Writing a doctoral thesisthe culmination of years of research workcan be a daunting endeavor. Brains, black holes and betentacled beasts all that and more in these engagingly accessible reads. Any of us without the knowhow might be totally lost if it werent for the talented writer-scientists who take the time to pen popular science books about their respective fields. Born in Madrid in 1852, Santiago Ramn y Cajal was a pioneering Spanish neuroscientist who studied slices of brain under the microscope and drew this being a time before neuroimaging whatever he saw. These are all subjects that demand a lifetime of study if they are to be properly understood, and we who dont have lifetimes to spare should be grateful that there are scientists out there with the will and talent to write the excellent books that they do. Verified Purchase. 30, 2018 , 3:00 PM. You might skip past the dedication in a book, ready to dig into the good stuff. Popular science is a protean genre spanning hundreds of topics, and this article tries to reflect that fact we have books on neuroscience, books on genetics, books that blend neuroscience with memoir, books that blend genetics with memoir, books on the octopus, books on time and books on black holes. I teach a workshop on the dissertation writing process and I have a bibliography of resources that I give my students. How to write your Ph.D. thesis. 1. In Black Hole Blues, Janna Levin deals with a subject of literally cosmic proportions while managing to maintain the human fears and hopes of the characters who made Ligo and the detection of ripples in space-time possible. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. 5. In her latest book Roach investigates the various ways that the US military tries to protect the health of its soldiers, moving between topics like penis construction surgery to military apparel to the threats that birds pose to military aircraft (we learn that the US military bombards aircraft propellers with chicken carcasses in order to determine the machines sturdiness against avian onslaught). One of the first things that Garfield stresses to the reader is that he is not attempting a chronicle and examination of time itself la Hawking, but instead a history of how we came to record and (as the subtitle suggests) grow obsessed with time. It is one of those rare books that youll finish thinking you havent wasted a single second. Black Hole Blues is a captivating study of the process of scientific discovery. Jan 2, 2018 - This Hub helps you get started on writing for your Ph.D. or dissertation. The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramn y Cajal by Larry W Swanson: 25, Abrams Books. Books Best Sellers & more Top New Releases Deals in Books School Books Textbooks Books Outlet Children's Books Calendars 4.0 out of 5 stars A good book to get thesis writing help. 8. By Elisabeth Pain Apr. With the Juno spacecraft arriving at Jupiter, a piece of amber-enclosed dinosaur tail showing up in a Burmese market, a child being born of three parents and, of course, the unprecedented detection of ripples in space-time, the past year has been a fruitful one in scientific achievement and discovery. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi: 8.99, Vintage. Stay safe and healthy. Perhaps for the piercing prose alone, Kalanithis book is one of the few must-reads of 2016. Of his previous work which includes the best-selling Incognito Eagleman has been praised for making otherwise inaccessible topics (brain surgery and the like) accessible to lowly laymen like us. A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived by Adam Rutherford: 20, Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Brains, black holes and betentacled beasts all that and more in these engagingly accessible reads . One of the charms of his latest book on the brain is Eaglemans casual approach to his subject. But dont forget theres often writing worthy of your attention before the story even beginsand heres your proof! Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach: 12.99, Oneworld Publications. Like a quirky tour guide in a gallery he leads us around the cranium explaining the brains biological mechanisms, pondering the differences between the brain and mind and discussing questions about reality and consciousness that make the reader suffer from spells of existential doubt well, we did, at least. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? My favourite resources to recommend on scientific writing are Matthews and Matthews, Successful Scientific Writing, 3rd ed (Cambridge UP) and the Gopen and Swan The Science of Scientific Writing For those who have read his previous book, the style in The Gene will seem familiar: Mukherjee is at once embedded with and estranged from his subject, carefully chronicling the story of genetics while including bits of his own personal history with hereditary illness, the intimate history suggested by the subtitle. The Selection of the Research Topic . The writing is concise and often funny, and Rutherford never takes himself or his subject too seriously. Follow the principles and rules of scientific writing. I like how the sections are divided and put together. This will help you provide the foundation for your writing /assignment/project. problems associated with scientific writing. The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee: 25, The Bodley Head. This book was written in the months leading to Kalanithi's death, and he writes with an eloquence that befits his love of the literary. 8 . Six years ago he published a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on cancer The Emperor of all Maladies in which he strove to expel the mythology around cancer, to make it less the colossal affliction we imagine it to be and instead show it as something that can and likely will be overcome by scientists. IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. 6. The Alley book I dont use much although I have it on my scientific writing list. Windows, Mac OS X, Linux/Unix. And so he began his career in medicine. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing. 9. Her chosen topic is the science of keeping soldiers safe and healthy. Please practice hand-washing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2016 . 9 best popular science books.