5 mittekirjanduslikku raamatut, mis aitavad eruditsiooni igas seltskonnas särada

If you’ve ever felt on the sidelines of a conversation, embarrassed that you can’t keep it going, good non-fiction books come in handy. The collections of interesting science facts in today’s selection can broaden your horizons enough to turn every dialog with you into an open science club lesson.

“The Unwestern History of Science: Discoveries We Didn’t Know About,” James Poskett

Today, China leads the top rice-producing countries, but it wasn’t always that way. In the 1960s, the country was plagued by a food crisis that left more than 15 million people starving to death. Scientists searched in vain for a way to increase the yield of the main cereal crop: rice plants were self-pollinating and left no room for genetic cross-breeding.

The situation was changed by the accidental discovery of agronomist Yuan Lunping – a variety of rice with a genetic mutation. The plant had no functioning male reproductive organs, meaning it could not self-pollinate; but female reproductive organs were present, allowing it to be crossed with another. The successful experiment led to the world’s first hybrid rice variety and increased productivity of the cereal in countries where it was a staple food.

Lunping is one of the few non-European scientists whose name is inscribed in the world history of science. For a long time, the myth was maintained that the key discoveries of modern science belonged exclusively to Europe. However, James Poskett’s book changes this perception. The author profiles scientists from around the globe – from Asia and Africa to the Americas and the Pacific Rim – to show how their ideas have influenced the development of world science.

“Fighting for Lunch: 50 More Tales from the Grotto,” Stanislav Drobyshevsky

Australopithecines were not often able to obtain meat. The dense forests that surrounded our ancestors hid not only food, but also deadly traps. In addition to the need to find, chase and overpower the victim, for her had to compete with other primates and avoid the threat of being in the teeth of a more agile predator. So every meal became another stage in the struggle for survival.

The fascinating book by Stanislav Drobyshevsky, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Department of Biology at Moscow State University, takes the reader millions of years back in time. With the help of paleontology and related sciences, modern scientists can understand not only the climatic conditions and features of the territories where our forefathers lived, but also what they ate and what troubles they got into.

Bone fragments and other finds can tell us that mom always led her cubs by the hand, a particular Australopithecus had a migraine, and a big flood killed a whole family overnight. Stanislav Drobyshevsky does not just describe the events of bygone days, he gives the reader the opportunity to look at them with his own eyes.

“The World Before Us: A New Look at the Origin of Man”, Tom Higham

It seems we learned biology in school for nothing. Everything we knew about evolution came into question back in the late 20th century and was reinforced by a discovery at Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains. In 2008, archaeologists found a tiny bone that turned out to be a fragment of the phalanx of the little finger of a child who lived about 120,000 years ago. The fragment, only 2.4 centimeters long, led to a sensational discovery: two different species of human ancestor – Neanderthal and Denisovan – had offspring.

This has forced the scientific world to take a new look at evolution. Until recently, it was believed that the different species of the genus Homo evolved sequentially, one after the other, with each new species replacing the previous one. However, the discovery of the Neanderthal-Denisovan hybrid has shown that the real picture is much more complex. Different species of archaic humans lived in parallel, had cross-cultural relationships and even offspring.

Tom Higham, archaeologist and radiocarbon dating expert, describes humanity’s journey through ancient eras to the present day. He undertakes to answer a series of challenging questions. Who are our ancestors really and what happened to them? Was the ancient world very different from the modern world? How deeply did different groups of ancestors contact each other? And what cultural and genetic legacy has modern humans inherited from them?

“Pop Gapon and Japanese rifles”, Andrei Aksyonov

The Russian Empire has a fame of a highly moral power, where everyone went to church and allowed close relations only with spouses. Of course, by the beginning of the XX century things were different. The adventures of men were rarely condemned, and on the loss of a girl’s innocence before marriage, they turned a blind eye: it was difficult to divorce, to tell about the debauchery of his wife – himself not profitable. But peasants were quite categorical about sex during Lent. If someone failed to cope with abstinence and became a father by December, the child was subject to a general superstition: he would grow up to be a brigand or a sick man.

This is just one of 15 curious facts about the lives of people and events of the XX century, collected by popularizer of science Andrei Aksyonov in the book “Pop Gapon and Japanese rifles”. All the stories, as well as episodes of the author’s podcast “Sunset of the Empire”, are sketches of the era of Nicholas II. Most curiously, Andrey Aksyonov goes beyond the facts of the history textbook and seeks to show living people and their fates.

“A History of Piracy: From the Vikings to the Present Day,” Peter Lehr

The average person’s knowledge of piracy is based largely on the book “Treasure Island” and movies about pirates of the Caribbean. However, these perceptions are very different from reality: maritime crime continues to threaten maritime security and lacks a romantic flavor. For example, in November 2005, pirates attacked a cruise ship off the coast of Somalia. The ship was aggressively attacked and escaped capture only thanks to the coordinated actions of the crew.

Pirate attacks have increased over the past 50 years. So why can’t we put an end to it when we now have the most powerful naval forces? Peter Lehr, a lecturer at the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews, suggests looking at piracy from a different angle.

In order to understand its causes and develop effective strategies to combat it, he examines the motivations of the people who choose this dangerous path and looks for links between the actions of today’s maritime plunderers and their predecessors. At the same time, he provides an interesting insight into the pirate trade.