Elusive Cures
Nicole C. Rust Princeton Univ. Press (2025)
Over the past few decades, brain research has produced effective treatments for pain, insomnia, postpartum depression, paralysis and spinal muscular atrophy, but some trials for Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, or for depression, have not been successful — notes neuroscientist Nicole Rust. “There’s a growing sense that we’ve been oversimplifying the brain,” her fascinating book accepts. To develop treatments, “we must stop dreaming of magic bullets and embrace complexity”, understanding brain function through feedback loops.
The Board of Longitude
Alexi Baker, Richard Dunn, Rebekah Higgitt, Simon Schaffer & Sophie Waring Cambridge Univ. Press (2025)
In 1714, the UK Parliament announced a financial reward for “such Person or Persons as shall discover the Longitude at Sea”. In due course, a Board of Longitude was established. In this intriguing book, five historians of science working with various museums relate the board’s history. In its time, it supported many navigators, instrument makers, surveyors and clockmakers — including John Harrison and his invention of the marine chronometer.
Indus Signs and Graffiti Marks of Tamil Nadu
K. Rajan & R. Sivanatham Government of Tamil Nadu (2025)
The exquisite script of the Indus civilization (2500–1800 bc) has remained undeciphered for a century. However, scholars agree that its language is probably related to the Dravidian languages of southern India, notably the state of Tamil Nadu, not to those of northern India, such as Sanskrit. This elegantly illustrated book by archaeologists K. Rajan and R. Sivanatham offers some tantalizing visual similarities between various Indus signs and Iron-Age graffiti found in Tamil Nadu — although without proving any historical link.
The Solar System
William Sheehan & Clifford J. Cunningham Reaktion (2025)
