Skip Navigation

Book Reviews

Here is a list of the latest articles

'The AIDS Pandemic: The Collusion of Epidemiology with Political Correctness' and 'The Invisible Cure: AIDS in Africa'

Author: James Chin; Helen Epstein

Publisher: Radcliffe; Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Publication date: 2007

EN | 中文

Information and Communication Technologies for Development and Poverty Reduction: The Potential of Communications

Author: Maximo Torero and Joachim von Braun

Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Publication date: April 2006

EN

The Knowledge Society: Trompe-l’oeil or accurate perspective?

Alexander Borda-Rodriguez says this collection will interest those working on development and knowledge initiatives more so if they read both English and French.

Author: Michel Carton and Jean-Baptiste Meyer (editors)

Publisher: L’Harmattan Paris, France

Publication date: 2006

EN

Race to the Finish: Identity and governance in an age of genomics

Jenny Reardon explores how a well-intentioned project to record the DNA of indigenous peoples around the planet collapsed under the weight of accusations of racism.

Author: Jenny Reardon

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Publication date: 2005

EN

Climate Change and Biodiversity

Paul Colinvaux says that in the face of apathetic governments, the "intelligent system of science" may be the only resource we have against the threat that global warming is to biodiversity.

Author: Thomas E. Lovejoy and Lee Hannah

Publisher: Yale University Press

Publication date: 2005

EN

Improving Impacts of Research Partnerships

Ritu Sadana says these case studies on research collaborations help identify the key components of research for development.

Author: Daniel Maselli, Jon-Andri Lys and Jacqueline Schmid

Publisher: Swiss Commission for Research Partnerships with Developing Countries (KFPE)

Publication date: 2004

EN

Poison Arrows: The amazing story of how Prozac and anaesthetics were developed from deadly jungle poison darts

The nerve poison curare revolutionised anaesthetics, but this error-filled book does not do this important scientific story justice, says John Carmody.

Author: Stanley Feldman

Publisher: Metro

Publication date: 2005

EN

Dryland conservation and development: striking a balance

Ehsan Masood reviews a series of case studies of the fine balance between conserving biodiversity and promoting development in the world's arid regions.

Publisher: United Nations Development Programme

Publication date: 2004

EN

Maize and Grace: Africa's Encounter with a New World Crop 1500–2000

Robert Tripp reviews a history of how a New World crop contributed to the emergence of modern-day Africa.

Author: James C. McCann

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Publication date: 2005

EN

Inventing Global Ecology: Tracking the biodiversity ideal in India, 1947–1997

Deepak Apte reviews a 50-year history of conservation of biodiversity in India, and finds that the text is academic but also eloquently written and forthright in opinion.

Author: Michael L. Lewis

Publisher: Ohio University Press

Publication date: 2004

EN

Venomous Earth: The World's Worst Mass Poisoning

Roger P. Smith reviews a book that catalogues the history of arsenic, in particular its role in contaminating drinking water in Bangladesh.

Author: Andrew A. Meharg

Publisher: Macmillan Science

Publication date: 2005

EN

Plants and Empire: Colonial Bioprospecting in the Atlantic world

Stuart McCook reviews a book describing the incorporation of traditional medicines from the Caribbean into European medicines in the 18th century.

Author: Londa Schiebinger

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Publication date: 2004

EN

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Jared Diamond's latest book looks at the factors that lead to the collapse of societies, underlining the central role of environmental decay.

Author: Jared Diamond

Publisher: Viking/Allen Land

Publication date: 2005

EN

Double Standards in Medical Research in Developing Countries

Udo Schuklenk reviews a book that analyses, from different perspectives, standards of care that those in the developed world need to adopt when undertaking research in the developing world.

Author: Ruth Macklin

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Publication date: 2004

EN

Strong Medicine: Creating Incentives for Pharmaceutical Research on Neglected Diseases

Pierre Chirac reviews a book that looks for ways of boosting research and development for diseases that primarily affect developing countries.

Author: Michael Kremer and Rachel Glennerster

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Publication date: 2004

EN

Farmer’s Bounty: Locating Crop Diversity in the Contemporary World

Stuart Pimm reviews a book that discusses biodiversity in relation to human activities including agricultural distribution, patenting and preservation.

Author: Stephen Brush

Publisher: Yale University Press

Publication date: 2004

EN

The Retreat of the Elephants: An Environmental History of China

Crispin Tickell reviews a book that illustrates the transformation of China's environment, from 4,000 years ago to the end of pre-industrial times.

Author: Mark Elvin

Publisher: Yale University Press

Publication date: 2004

EN

The New Global Threat: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and its Impacts

Richard Kirk reviews a collection of essays by doctors, academics and clinicians, which looks at the factors that allowed SARS to spread between species and countries.

Author: Tommy Koh, Aileen Plant and Eng Hin Lee

Publisher: World Scientific

Publication date: 2004

EN

Our Affair with El Niño: How We Transformed an Enchanting Peruvian Current into a Global Climate Hazard

Michael J. McPhaden reviews a book that elegantly describes the science behind El Niño, and the ways its profound impacts on climate have captured public attention.

Author: S. George Philander

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Publication date: 2004

EN

Climate Change and Human Health: Risks and Responses

Cathy Read reviews a World Health Organisation book that examines the ways that climate change could impact human health, especially in poor countries.

Author: A.J. McMichael et al, eds

Publisher: Earthscan

Publication date: 2004

EN