Two pop science books

Among the several popular science books that have been coming out during the last few decades, two of the easiest to read are Bill Bryson’s “A short history of everything” and Robin Dunbar’s ‘The human story”. Bryson is a journalist-writer of several popular books who suddenly realized one day that he did not know much about the physical (and biological world) and spent 3-4 years reading and talking to experts and produced a very readable book about earth, cosmos, evolution etc. It is one of those books that cannot be put down and gives a quick view of our world. It has won Aventis prize and is a best seller. Robin Dunbar is a scientist who has written a few popular books and is probably best known for Dunbar number which gives a limit to the number of individuals with whom any person (in a species) can maintain stable relationships. His theory is that this is limited by the mental capacity which in turn measured by the neocortex size. For humans this number (the mean) is supposed to be 150. For a discussion of this number with respect to online communities, see: http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/03/the_dunbar_numb.html
Dunbar develops similar ideas about mind, music and culture which are somewhat speculative but insightful. In the early part of the book, there is a quick review of human origins(out of Africa theory) and human aggression. Some of it is hard science from several disciplines and some speculative but overall a very readable book giving glimpses of our origins and instincts and a taste of some of the recent research. Similar ideas backed by more quantitative research seems necessary to understand economic matters described in Paul Seabright’s “The Company of Strangers: a ntural history of economic life”.
Swarup
I will be away on a trip until May 15. I hope to return to these topics when I come back.