Context rules from maths to history. John Cornwell鈥檚 Hitler鈥檚 快猫短视频s (Penguin, 拢8.99/$16) contemplates science in Germany from its flowering in the 19th century, its perverse role as helpmate of Nazis, to its collapse at the end of the second world war. Laying bare the vulnerability of research to its funders and consumers forces the reader to consider what kind of ethical controls and balances we now possess. The modern context for science is near-market profitability without much of an ethical take on outcomes.
Penguin has less harrowing books out: physicist Len Fisher explores everyday life with a scientist鈥檚 eye from bath foam to egg boiling in the amusing How to Dunk a Doughnut (Orion 拢6.99/$14); and Colin Tudge鈥檚 call for action over the world鈥檚 food, So Shall We Reap (拢8.99), is an important and engrossing book. But it is clear that simple solutions 鈥� going organic 鈥� are not enough, as Julie Guthman points out in Agrarian Dreams: The paradox of organic farming in California (University of California Press, 拢13.95/$21.95). Here, the scale of production damages the ideals of organic farming, transforming it into just another industrial process.