Summer Book Review Assignment for Incoming IB Biology Seniors

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Science has been undermined in the news numerous times. As an book critic for The White Coat Patriot, the science journal of Schenectady High, you are assigned to do a critical analysis on one nonfiction science book of your choice – your job is to convince the community how the themes and messages in your book are important issues to consider. Your goal is to make your book SHINE as an important literary piece that EVERYONE must read!

Select your book by the year final, Friday 6/11/2010.
Article is due IN CLASS on first day of class

If you need for MsChien to print out your article, you must email her the document BEFORE the due date.

FORMAT OF ARTICLE – DO ALL OF THESE! – Word Count: 1600 words

SUMMARY
Offer a general summary of the book - your summary must be more detailed than the summary offered on Amazon and the paragraphs on the book description. Include in your summary:
  • USE EVIDENCE: Offer at least 3 multiple examples of your favorite parts of the book,
  • USE EVIDENCE: Identify themes and/or the "big messages" that the author is trying to portray. Offer at least 3 examples to support this theme.

DISCUSS SIGNIFICANCE: Why should we care?
  • Why are the themes and/or messages in this book significant to others? How is this book important? Use:
  • Current events connection
  • Statistical data

SELECT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TOK QUESTIONS that you think your book really supported. Answer it thoroughly.
  • “What separates science from all other human activities is its belief in the provisional nature of all conclusions” (Michael Shermer, www.edge.com). Critically evaluate this way of distinguishing the sciences from other areas of knowledge?
  • All knowledge claims should be open to rational criticism. On what grounds and to what extent would you agree with this assertion?
  • People need to believe that order can be glimpsed in the chaos of events" (adapted from John Gray, Heresies, 2004). In what ways and to what extent would you say this claim is relevant in at least two areas of knowledge?

Bibliography
  • In APA format

Hints for success:
  • You will be accessed based on a modified TOK Rubric. READ it before you read your book so that you know what to look out for.
  • Use MsChien’s Habits of Mind chart to help you write your review.
  • This project is counted as your first exam (exams are 40% of your grade) in the 1st quarter of your senior year.
Summer Assignment Book Selections: These book assignments has been approved by MsChien - they are indicated by the student name next to the books below. You must have your books approved first before you can do your assignments! You are not allowed to use a book already assigned to another student.

wcpatriot



Book Selections: Click on the Amazon Link

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers TAKEN BY CHRIS B
Mary Roach

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
Neil Shubin

Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography TAKEN BY DAHNI A.
Dominic Streatfeild

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Michael Pollen

The Story of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice TAKEN BY STEVEN
Trevor Corson

The Great Influenza: The story of the deadliest pandemic in history
John M. Barry

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
Steven Johnson

Woman: An Intimate Geography
Natalie Angier

Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA
Brenda Maddox

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales
William Bass

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
William McDonough

The Secret Life of Sharks
A. Peter Klimley

The Republican War on Science
Chris Mooney

The Demon in the Freezer
Richard PReston

The X in Sex: How the X Chromosome Controls our Lives TAKEN BY ALEX H.
David Bainbridge

Molecules of Emotion: The science behind Mind-Body Medicine TAKEN BY ANISA A
Candace B. Pert, Ph.D.

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife
Mary Roach

Migraine
Oliver Sacks

The Island of the Colorblind
Oliver Sacks

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales TAKEN BY OMA C
Oliver Sacks

The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket
Trevor Corson

The Parrot Who Owns Me
Joanna Burger

Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab
Christine Montross

Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture
Jeremy Rifkin

The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS
Edward Hooper

Absolute Zero and the Conquest of the Cold
Tom Shachtman