RaveFinancial Times (UK)Seth covers complex topics, such as neurosurgery, mind-altering drugs, animal consciousness and artificial intelligence, with skill and warmth ... Seth’s fluent and accessible analysis, to be joined next year by a new book by David Chalmers on the nature of reality, leaves me optimistic that science will eventually unveil how, in Koch’s words, \'a three-pound organ with the consistency of tofu exudes the feeling of life\'.
Adam Kucharski
PositiveThe New StatesmanKucharski is ideally placed to enlighten readers: as a biostatistician, he has been involved in modelling disease outbreaks, such as Ebola and the 2015 Zika epidemic ... It is testament to how well Kucharski understands his topic that he chose not to attempt a panicked update ... It is particularly pleasing that Kucharski decided not to gamble on guessing the coronavirus picture correctly: his previous book, about the mathematics of wagers, was entitled The Perfect Bet. This follow-up work stands on its own as an impressively fluent, fascinating and accessible introduction to how epidemics, trends, behaviours and ideas start, spread – and end ... Kucharski has made an extremely respectable stab at something broader, producing a work of contemporary relevance that Malcolm Gladwell devotees would enjoy: a blend of biology, mathematics, history, behavioural science and anecdote that reveals how diseases, ideas and behaviours are transmitted. His nicely observed analysis deserves to catch on.
Susannah Cahalan
RaveFinancial Times (UK)Cahalan’s exasperation with the investigative dead ends, particularly on the identities of Rosenhan’s faux-mad accomplices, leaps off the page ... This is a well-crafted, gripping narrative that succeeds on many levels. Cahalan, who gained the trust of Rosenhan’s family, is meticulous and sensitive in her research; compelling and insightful in her writing. She accurately conveys the troubles that have haunted psychiatry over the past half-century ... her book, which I hope wins awards, has immense value as a historical account.