Recommendations Corner

Book, movie, TV, art, and life recommendations from many of our interview subjects. From one scientist to another.

Fiction

1. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
   “I took a week off last year. I started reading novels again and fell in love with reading all over again. I really like science fiction, especially anything that has to do with space, but this one has elements of biology in it. It's the most unique blend of science and science fiction and humor and drama and very, very heartwarming moments. I think it's the best book I've ever read.” - Dr. Matt Anderson-Baron

2. Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy

   “One of my favorite pieces of science fiction of all time—this comes from a class I took at the beginning of my PhD at UChicago called Feminist Science Fiction. It's an incredible novel, but it’s all about trying to imagine more just futures, really in detail imagining an alternative society where more communal and caring politics play out.” - Jasmine Lu

Nonfiction

1. Our Stolen Future: Are We Threatening Our Fertility, Intelligence, and Survival?—A Scientific Detective Story by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers

   “I would recommend reading Silent Spring and the continuing story of environmental contaminants Our Stolen Future. Effectively, it’s about endocrine disruptors. Originally, they were discovered because of cancer research. They were trying to investigate how estrogen impacts breast cancer cells, and they kept getting this really high signal of estrogen from their tissue culture polystyrene. It turned out that it was a plastic-associated chemical that was leading to that effect. When they called up Corning and got them to recall and change their tissue culture plastic formulation, that signal went away. Right there, you have some biomedical scientists helping us inform our understanding of chemical toxicity and environmental exposures.” - Dr. Bryan D. James

2. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
   “It details the life experiences of a surgeon, a neurosurgeon in particular. It gives a lot of insight into the medical field today and some of the challenges that come with medical practice and patient care. It was one of the first pieces that I read that really shook me and made me realize that there's a lot of work we can do to improve that state right now.” - Dr. Elaine Lui

Hobbies

1. Tennis (or that helps you focus on being in the moment)

   “I use tennis as an opportunity to forget everything. I do need to be able to turn off my brain, and I do it by playing tennis. Because when you play tennis, you really need to focus on the ball. I use those two hours to completely lose myself in that game.” - Dr. Vassie Ware

2. Entomology (bugs!)
   As an “amateur insect cowboy,” Dr. James Henstock believes “there’s a whole load of things you can learn from biology that’s outside the things we normally study,” those things being mammalian cells and tissue systems. “Vertebrates, for example, have completely different ways of solving life’s challenges than we do for mammalian systems and human systems. I certainly think it’s worth learning about vertebrate biology that can teach us about human biology.” - Dr. James Henstock