Why it hurts

When she was in her teens, American journalist Melanie Thernstrom developed persistent pain in her neck after swimming.

From the blurbs

Forest Ecology In India: Colonial Maharashtra 1850–1950, Neena Ambre Rao, Cambridge University Press, Rs 795

Perils of herd mentality

Twenty years ago, when Tim Berners-Lee linked up a community of scientists in what came to be known as the worldwide web, Jaron Lanier was an enthusiast of the project.

From the blurbs

Re-visioning Indian Cities, The Urban Renewal Mission by K C Sivaramakrishnan, Sage, Rs 695

Rock stars

Rocks and fossils tell many stories. They contain records of life on earth. But the geological record is fundamentally patchy. Even the most rapidly deposited sedimentary rock is marked by periods of non-deposition, or even erosion. So rocks need a narrator to tell their story. Science journalist Brian Switek is one.

Plant non-grata

Most of us detest weeds. They have a tendency to pop up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Debates on atom

Put simply, entanglement means two things are forever connected no matter the distance between them once they interact.

From blurbs

INDIA’S ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY, VOLUMES 1 AND 2,

From the blurbs

The stem cell hope by Alice Park, Penguin, US $25

Chimera of free speech

If you believe that progress of human civilisation depends on individual expression of new ideas, especially unpopular ideas, then the principle of freedom of speech is the most important value society can uphold.