Episode · The Book Review · 2020-08-21
Books mentioned on The Life of a Brilliant, Suffering Scientist
Pamela Paul recommended The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson and others and A Dominant Character by Samanth Subramanian, and discussed H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. Parul Sehgal discussed The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson, and Are you my mother? by Alison Bechdel. Jennifer Szalai discussed Time of the Magicians by Wolfram Eilenberger, At the Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell, and The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Book of Eels
The Book of Eels by Patrik Svensson, translated by Alex Wyndham, is an international bestseller that blends natural history, science writing, and personal memoir to explore humanity's enduring fascination with one of the most enigmatic creatures in the natural world.
Recommended“Patrick Svensson will be here to talk about his international bestseller The Book of Eels”
Where to get it
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A Dominant Character
A Dominant Character is a biographical non-fiction work by Samanth Subramanian that explores the life, radical science, and restless politics of the prominent scientist J.B.S.
Recommended“The book again is called A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of J.B.S. Haldane”
Where to get it
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H Is for Hawk
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald is a critically acclaimed memoir that chronicles the author's harrowing journey through grief following the sudden death of her father, which she processes by training a notoriously aggressive goshawk.
Discussed“And of course it reminded me as a reader and I think other readers have brought up this analogy of Helen Macdonald's book H Is for Hawk which is also about grieving for a father and an animal”
Where to get it
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The Erratics
The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie is a darkly funny and astonishing memoir detailing the author's harrowing experiences growing up with an intensely abusive and mentally unstable mother in rural Canada.
Discussed“I reviewed a memoir called The Erratics by a writer named Vicki Laveau-Harvie”
Where to get it
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Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson is a deeply moving and searingly honest memoir in which the acclaimed author explores her traumatic adoption, her fierce intellectual awakening, and the lifelong quest to heal from emotional wounds inflicted by her fiercely religious adoptive mother.
Discussed“I love Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?”
Where to get it
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Are you my mother?
Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel is an acclaimed graphic memoir that explores the complex psychological relationship between a daughter and her mother through literature, psychoanalysis, and art.
Discussed“I like Alison Bechdel's book Are You My Mother?”
Where to get it
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Time of the Magicians
Discussed“So I recently reviewed a book called Time of the Magicians by a German philosopher and writer named Wolfram Eilenberger”
Where to get it
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At the Existentialist Café
Sarah Bakewell's "At the Existentialist Café" is a lively group biography that chronicles the lives and ideas of the prominent existentialist philosophers of the twentieth century.
Discussed“You know, there was Sarah Bakewell's At the Existentialist Cafe from a few years ago”
Where to get it
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The Metaphysical Club
The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand is a Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural history that explores the origins of pragmatism through the lives of remarkable figures like Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Discussed“A couple of decades ago, I think it was Louis Menand's The Metaphysical Club”
Where to get it
