Selvbiografier: videnskab, teknologi og medicin

FACTFULNESS handler om verden, og hvordan vi kan blive bedre til at forstå den, som den virkelig er. Når man stiller folk simple spørgsmål om globale tendenser, giver de altid de forkerte svar. Hvor mange piger går for eksempel i skole? Hvor stor vil Jordens befolkning være i 2050? Og lever størstedelen i rige eller fattige lande? I FACTFULNESS viser Hans Rosling sammen med Ola Rosling og Anna Rosling Rönnlund, hvorfor misforståelserne sker. De beskriver 10 fundamentale menneskelige instinkter, som konsekvent forhindrer os i at have et faktabaseret verdenssyn. Læs denne bog, og dit syn på verden vil blive forandret for altid. "En af de vigtigste bøger jeg nogensinde har læst - en uundværlig vejledning i at tænke klart om verden." Bill Gates

Peter Lund Madsen tager os med på en rejse gennem hjernens evolutionshistorie og forklarer, hvorfor alle moderne mennesker bærer kimen til mental ubalance i sig. Peter Lund Madsen fortæller også om dengang, han selv var bange for at blive sindssyg. Men hvad sker der egentlig i hjernen, når virkelighedsopfattelsen forsvinder, og man ikke kan kende sig selv i spejlet? Når man bliver så angst, at hjertet hamrer, gulvet forsvinder, og man ikke kan trække vejret? Læs om den betydning hjernens funktionsevne har for stress, demens, angst, skizofreni og meget mere.

Lydbog indlæst af Lone Frank selv.I sin nye bog sammenstykker Lone Frank brikker fra naturvidenskab, psykologi og kulturforskning til at kortlægge kærlighedens natur.Hvad er kærlighed? Ja, hvad er kærlighed egentlig?Spørgsmålet rammer Lone Frank hårdt, da hun pludselig mister den, kærligheden. Hendes kæreste er død, familien er for længst borte, og vennerne er ikke så tæt på, som hun troede. Midt i livet går det op for hende, at hun har taget kærligheden for givet og forstået meget lidt af dens væsen og store betydning. Sædvanligvis retter vi de store spørgs- mål om kærligheden til digtere, kunstnere og filosoffer, men i sin åbne søgen efter svar vælger Lone Frank at gå nye veje. Sammen med en psykolog gransker hun sit ophav, og deres samtaler sender hende ud på en anderledes rejse – en videnskabelig undersøgelse af kærlighedens natur.Kærlighedens videnskab er en ny disciplin. Den afdækker en historie, som strækker sig fra de evolutionære kræfter, der har sat rammerne for arten, til den spidsfindige hjerneaktivitet, der i sidste ende former det enkelte menneskes kærlighedsliv.Størst af alt – Om kærlighedens natur er en mosaik, hvor Lone Frank sammenstykker brikker fra naturvidenskab, psykologi og kulturforskning til at kortlægge kærlighedens natur, og samtidig en personlig opdagelsesrejse, der fører hende til et nyt sted i livet.

JAGTEN PÅ VERDENS ÆLDSTE DNA følger Eske Willerslev, fra han som ung studerende sammen med sin specialemakker finder DNA direkte i jorden og grundlægger feltet environmental DNA – og til det næsten tyve år senere lykkes ham og hans kolleger at trække de mest overraskende hemmeligheder ud af en ufatteligt gammel jordprøve, som han mener vil ændre vores liv.Eske Willerslevs store opdagelse er, at DNA ikke er bundet til kroppen, men findes overalt omkring os. Vi vader bogstavelig talt rundt på DNA, som vi afsætter, hver gang vi rører ved noget – og graver vi i jorden, kommer vi ned til fortidens DNA, der er bundet til jordens mineraler.Da Eske Willerslev som ung rejser til Grønland, tager han en jordprøve fra nogle ældgamle aflejringer, som det ikke tyder på, han kan få noget ud af. Men efter utallige mislykkede forsøg sker det ufattelige: små ødelagte DNA-fragmenter kommer til syne som en hilsen fra en fjern forhistorisk verden.Da fragmenterne til sidst kan samles som et gigantisk puslespil, vækkes et fuldstændig ukendt forhistorisk økosystem til live for øjnene af de måbende forskere. Elefantlignende mastodonter, rensdyr og harer græssede engang side om side i en grøn og frodig nordgrønlandsk skov, mens taskekrabber vandrede sidelæns i havbugtens tempererede vand.I dag er mastodonternes skov forvandlet til en gold og øde isørken. Men verden bliver varmere – og Eske Willerslev har en vision om, at hans forskning kan være med til at redde os fra klimaforandringerne. Hans plan er at bruge fortidens DNA som nøgle til fremtiden.

From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of Elon Musk, the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter. When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist. His father’s impact on his psyche would linger. He developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, an epic sense of mission, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive. At the beginning of 2022—after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one satellites, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earth—Musk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. “I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life,” he said. It was a wistful comment, not a New Year’s resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the world’s ultimate playground. Over the years, whenever he was in a dark place, his mind went back to being bullied on the playground. Now he had the chance to own the playground.For two years, Isaacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries. The result is the revealing inside story, filled with amazing tales of triumphs and turmoil, that addresses the question: are the demons that drive Musk also what it takes to drive innovation and progress?

When Oliver Sacks was twelve years old, a perceptive schoolmaster wrote in his report: 'Sacks will go far, if he does not go too far'. It is now abundantly clear that Sacks has never stopped going. From its opening pages on his youthful obsession with motorcycles and speed, On the Move is infused with his restless energy. As he recounts his experiences as a young neurologist in the early 1960s, first in California and then in New York, where he discovered a long-forgotten illness in the back wards of a chronic hospital, as well as with a group of patients who would define his life, it becomes clear that Sacks's earnest desire for engagement has occasioned unexpected encounters and travels - sending him through bars and alleys, over oceans, and across continents.With unbridled honesty and humour, Sacks shows us that the same energy that drives his physical passions - bodybuilding, weightlifting, and swimming - also drives his cerebral passions. He writes about his love affairs, both romantic and intellectual, his guilt over leaving his family to come to America, his bond with his schizophrenic brother, and the writers and scientists - Thom Gunn, A. R. Luria, W. H. Auden, Gerald M. Edelman, Francis Crick - who influenced him.On the Move is the story of a brilliantly unconventional physician and writer - and of the man who has illuminated the many ways that the brain makes us human.

`Locked-in syndrome: paralysed from head to toe, the patient, his mind intact, is imprisoned inside his own body, unable to speak or move. In my case, blinking my left eyelid is my only means of communication.'

A scientist's journey from observation to discovery is anything but straightforward. It is littered with failure, unexpected diversions and joyous realizations. Science helps us to understand ourselves - but what we know about the world around us, what has already been explored and discovered, is only half of science's story. Dr Camilla Pang will look at some of the biggest mysteries facing science today and how some of the best, most cutting-edge scientists can illuminate our own approaches to observation, hypothesis, exploration, troubleshooting and discovery in our own lives.

From the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, a remarkable journey into the practice of groundbreaking science 'Giorgio Parisi is renowned for his scientific creativity, originality, and power. In this exhilarating little book, he shows his human side, too. By its end, readers will feel they've made a charming, witty new friend' Frank WilczekThe world is shaped by complexity. In this enlightening book, Nobel Prize winner Giorgio Parisi guides us through his unorthodox yet exhilarating work to show us how. It all starts with investigating the principles of physics by observing the sophisticated flight patterns of starlings. Studying the movements of these birds, he has realized, proves an illuminating way into understanding complex systems of all kinds - collections of everything from atoms to planets to other animals like ourselves. Along the way, Parisi reflects on the lessons he's taken from a life in pursuit of scientific truth: the importance of serendipity to the discovery of new ideas, the surprising kinship between physics and other fields of study and the value of science to a thriving society. In so doing, he removes the practice of science from the confines of the laboratory and into the real world. Complexity is all around us - from climate to finance to biology, it offers a unique way of finding order in chaos. Part elegant scientific treatise, part thrilling intellectual journey, In a Flight of Starlings is an invitation to find wonder in the world around us.

'If you did not think that gallium and iridium could move you, this superb book will change your mind' The Times In Uncle Tungsten, Oliver Sacks evokes, with warmth and wit, his upbringing in wartime England. He tells of the large science-steeped family who fostered his early fascination with chemistry. There follow his years at boarding school where, though unhappy, he developed the intellectual curiosity that would shape his later life. And we hear of his return to London, an emotionally bereft ten-year-old who found solace in his passion for learning. Uncle Tungsten radiates all the delight and wonder of a boy's adventures, and is an unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary young mind.

“Sygt ung” er den ærlige og rørende fortælling om Magnus, der nægter at lade sygdom definere hans liv. Gennem modgang og udfordringer fra 2019 til nu tager Magnus dig med på en rejse, hvor lægevidenskabens komplekse verden rejser spørgsmål om, hvorvidt man stadig kan være et menneske undervejs, og hvordan man som patient skal navigere gennem lægens opfordringer og teoretiske tilgange. Dette er bogen set fra patienten, hvor praktiske råd til sund livsstil og overlevelse er baseret på functional medicine. Med bidrag fra bestsellerforfatteren og lægen Pia Norup, der deler ud af sin ekspertise, er bogen både en personlig beretning og en guide til, hvordan du kan skabe positive forandringer trods livets udfordringer. “Sygt ung” er mere end bare en historie – det er en invitation til at tage styringen over dit eget liv og skabe en sundere, mere meningsfuld fremtid.Om forfatteren: Magnus Tuse Hansens karriere spænder fra iværksætteri til partner og rekrutteringsleder i en softwarevirksomhed. Med en uddannelse i International Business og Politik fra Copenhagen Business School har han formået at kombinere forretning med sin passion for mennesker. Til daglig bor han i Aarhus, men befinder sig typisk dér, hvor drømme spirer.En barsk kamp med alvorlig sygdom blev startskuddet til hans refleksioner – tanker, der nu er samlet i hans debutbog. Kun seks måneder før bogens udgivelse bliver han diagnosticeret med en hjernetumor, en oplevelse, der ændrede både hans liv og bogens fortælling. Midt i en svær tid blev skrivningen en ventil og et livsvigtigt redskab, som nu inviterer læserne ind i samtaler om det svære.Nu ønsker han at bruge sine erfaringer til at hjælpe andre unge gennem livets modgang og vise, at der, selv i de mørkeste stunder, kan findes lys og håb.

Glæden ved at kæmpe er en selvbiografi skrevet af den kvinde, der blev den første kvindelige professor i medicin på Rigshospitalet i 1990, som havde en international forskerkarriere, og som siden bestred en række bestyrelsesposter i både offentligt og privat regi i en relativ nær fortid, hvor mænd stadig satte dagsordenen. Glæden ved at kæmpe er en stimulerende fortælling om at ville gøre en forskel på trods af modstand fra nedgroede fagtraditioner.Hvad Gunhild Lange Skovgaard har opnået baserer sig på engagement og stædighed og at insistere på at blive ved på trods af modstand. At hun er kvinde, har igennem hendes karriere fra især 1970’erne til og med 1990’erne været ensbetydende med megen nedladenhed, obstruktion og had fra modkønnets side, men det kvalte ikke hendes lyst til at kæmpe videre. Tværtimod. Gunhild Lange Skovgaard (f. 1945) er speciallæge i dermato-venerologi og blandt pionererne i AIDS-forskningen og fra 1990-2007 professor ved Københavns Universitet på Rigshospitalet. Hun har beklædt en række poster på Bispebjerg Hospital, Finseninstituttet og Rigshospitalet og er tildelt en række priser heriblandt International Award of AIDS Research, USA 1988. Hun har siddet i en række bestyrelser, bl.a. som formand i Mødrehjælpen fra 1992-1995, formand i Care Danmark 1998-2006, i DSB’s bestyrelse 1995-2010 og DSB S-tog A/S 2008-2013. Derudover er hun stadig engageret som formand i den private velgørende forening Hellebro, der hjælper unge hjemløse og udsatte mennesker mellem 18-29 år.

An insightful memoir with careful reflection on the theory and practice of psychiatry, case studies and selected articles published over a diverse career.

Die autobiographische Reihe "Lebenswerke in der Chemie" gibt Einblicke in das Leben und Denken herausragender Forscher im Spiegel der Zeit. Welche Rolle spielt in der chemischen Spitzenforschung die ununterbrochene Folge von Hypothese, Experiment und Interpretation, welche Rolle spielen die Impulse von Mentoren, Mitarbeitern und Studenten oder auch die von Konkurrenten? Erfolgreiche Wissenschaftler beschreiben authentisch und persönlich, wie Neues in den Naturwissenschaften entsteht.Herausgegeben vom Beirat der Fachgruppe Geschichte der Chemie in der Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh). l-i-c.org

"The story of one woman's remarkable work with a trio of charismatic, endangered bird species-and her discoveries about the devastating threats that imperil them. In Feather Trails, wildlife biologist and birder Sophie A. H. Osborn reveals how the harmful environmental choices we've made-including pesticide use, the introduction of invasive species, lead poisoning, and habitat destruction-have decimated Peregrine Falcons, Hawaiian Crows, and California Condors. In the Rocky Mountains, the cloud forests of Hawai'i, and the Grand Canyon, Sophie and her colleagues work day-to-day to try to reintroduce these birds to the wild, even when it seems that the odds are steeply stacked against their survival. With humor and suspense, Feather Trails introduces us to the fascinating behaviors and unique personalities of Sophie's avian charges and shows that what endangers them ultimately threatens all life on our planet. More than a deeply researched environmental investigation, Feather Trails is also a personal journey and human story, in which Sophie overcomes her own obstacles-among them heat exhaustion, poachers, rattlesnakes, and chauvinism. Ultimately, Feather Trails is an inspiring, poignant narrative about endangered birds and how our choices can help to ensure a future not only for the rarest species, but for us too"--

Using real-life medical case studies from his work as an intensive care doctor, Dr Matt Morgan (author of Critical) shows us how much we can learn from animals, and why they matter.

When she was twenty-four years old, Ellen Anderson Penno lost her partner in a climbing accident while they were ascending Mount Baker in Washington's Cascade Range. The avalanche hid his body in a crevasse just weeks before Anderson Penno was slated to begin medical school, and she soon found herself torn between deferring her studies for a year, or starting right away with a full course load.Rather than succumbing to grief and risk never beginning her medical education at all, she plunged deep into her studies, surrounded by death on all sides, struggling to maintain her way through her turbulent emotions and a rigorous med school schedule.In this stirring and often mordantly funny new memoir, Ellen Anderson Penno structures a story of mourning, loss, despair and love through the lens of the classic medical text Gray's Anatomy, showing readers what becomes of those who must rebuild their lives after tragedy strikes.

In 2006, Daniel Gibbs, author of A Tattoo on my Brain: A Neurologist's Personal Battle against Alzheimer's Disease (soon to be a documentary produced by MTV.Paramount+), first noticed symptoms which he now knows to have been early signs of his Alzheimer's Disease. Daniel still writes every day, something he credits with keeping his mind sharper and his demons at bay. This book is a personal collection of essays written over the past two years that describe his own personal experiences, first treating patients with Alzheimer's, and now living with the disease himself. The book presents an up-to-date discussion of recent advances and setbacks in Alzheimer's research. Humane and hopeful, this book offers evidence-based information on how it may be possible even now to slow progression of the disease.

"An inspiring anthology of writings by trailblazing women astronomers from around the globe ... [this work] is an internationally diverse collection of autobiographical essays by women who broke down barriers and changed the face of modern astronomy. Virginia Trimble and David Weintraub vividly describe how, before 1900, a woman who wanted to study the stars had to have a father, brother, or husband to provide entry, and how the considerable intellectual skills of women astronomers were still not enough to enable them to pry open doors of opportunity for much of the twentieth century. After decades of difficult struggles, women are closer to equality in astronomy than ever before. Trimble and Weintraub bring together the stories of the tough and determined women who flung the doors wide open. Taking readers from 1960 to today, this triumphant anthology serves as an inspiration to current and future generations of women scientists while giving voice to the history of a transformative era in astronomy"--

In 1859 werd het baanbrekende boek van Charles Darwin over het ontstaan van soorten door middel van natuurlijke selectie gepubliceerd, met het baanbrekende idee dat alle soorten op aarde het resultaat zijn van een langzaam evolutieproces en zich blijven ontwikkelen als onderdeel van de strijd die nu algemeen bekend staat als de overleving van de sterkste. Darwins conclusies waren het resultaat van vele jaren zorgvuldige observatie, maar bleken controversieel omdat ze het heersende religieuze dogma in twijfel trokken en een revolutie teweegbrachten in ons begrip van de wereld om ons heen. In slechts 50 minuten leert u de bijdragen van Darwin en Alfred Russel Wallace aan de biologie kennen en begrijpt u de grote invloed die hun ideeën hadden op het wetenschappelijk denken in de 19e eeuw. Dit eenvoudige en informatieve boek geeft een grondige bespreking van de ideeën in On the Origin of Species en de waarnemingen waarop ze gebaseerd zijn. Het bevat ook biografieën van Darwin en Wallace, een waardevolle inleiding tot de politieke, sociale en economische context en een evaluatie van de impact van de evolutietheorie, waardoor u alle essentiële informatie krijgt over de ontwikkeling van het Darwinisme. Over Darwins evolutietheorie : De evolutietheorie stelt dat de soorten niet onveranderlijk zijn, zoals het creationisme impliceert, maar dat zij het resultaat zijn van een langzaam evolutieproces vanuit een gemeenschappelijke voorouder. Darwin deed de waarnemingen die de basis legden voor zijn theorie van natuurlijke selectie tijdens zijn reis aan boord van de Beagle, en werkte de volgende 20 jaar voortdurend aan de verfijning ervan voordat hij zijn revolutionaire boek publiceerde.

The moving memoir of a scientist coming of age as an immigrant in America who finds her calling at the forefront of the AI revolution.Wired called Dr. Fei-Fei Li "one of a tiny group of scientists-a group perhaps small enough to fit around a kitchen table-who are responsible for AI's recent remarkable advances."Known to the world as the creator of ImageNet, a key catalyst of modern artificial intelligence, Dr. Li has spent more than two decades at the forefront of the field. But her career in science was improbable from the start. As immigrants, her family faced a difficult transition from China's middle class to American poverty. And their lives were made all the harder as they struggled to care for her ailing mother, who was working tirelessly to help them all gain a foothold in their new land.Fei-Fei's adolescent knack for physics endured, however, and positioned her to make a crucial contribution to the breakthrough we now call AI, placing her at the center of a global transformation. Over the last decades, her work has brought her face-to-face with the extraordinary possibilities-and the extraordinary dangers-of the technology she loves.The Worlds I See is a story of science in the first person, documenting one of the century's defining moments from the inside. It provides a riveting story of a scientist at work and a thrillingly clear explanation of what artificial intelligence actually is-and how it came to be. Emotionally raw and intellectually uncompromising, this book is a testament not only to the passion required for even the most technical scholarship but also to the curiosity forever at its heart.

An insightful memoir with careful reflection on the theory and practice of psychiatry, case studies and selected articles published over a diverse career.

Gareth Steel wants you to understand vets in a way you never could have before.How it feels to watch a healed dog bound into their owner's arms. The joy of breathing life into the fluid-filled lungs of a newborn calf after a difficult labour. The satisfaction of rescuing a distressed sheep from the high-tide line.What it's like to work 100-hour weeks for less than the minimum wage. How it can scar your soul to euthanize a beloved puppy with its grieving family beside you. The pressure of having to know such a diverse range of medicine, that one hour you can be protecting yourself from a dangerously distressed horse and the next you can be performing delicate surgery on a tiny mouse. How all these pressures have built up to the extent that vets have four times the national suicide rate, and why.Gareth Steel has been a vet for nearly twenty years and has worked all over the UK, across both rural and city practices, dealing with all manner of household pets and farm animals. This is his fascinating raw account of just how involved the job is and the toll the extreme emotions that come with it can take, but it also a heart-warming and often humorous story of the desperate lengths we go to for the love of animals.

This unique collection examines 'the acting person' as an important unit of analysis for science studies, using an integrative approach of in-depth case studies to explore the cognitive, social, cultural, and personal dimensions of a series of key figures in the sciences, from Goethe to Kepler to Rachel Carson.