Carl Zimmer is an excellent writer. In Soul Made Flesh (Arrow, £7.99) he is on the trail of revolutionary science. He engages from the start by conjuring up the smell of the past as he leads you by the nose from dung heap and botanist to the “freshly cracked skull” of a nobleman, the brain smelling of curds. There is a point to this stench trail. We are in 17th-century Oxford, where brain science began. How the brain was thought of changed utterly in under a century, and Zimmer is a great guide to the story.
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Mind
‘Remarkable’ discovery upends our understanding of how brains store memories
News
Humans
DNA reveals a society organised around women in pre-Roman Britain
News
Physics
Quantum entanglement is key to solving 250-year-old maths problem
News
Space
The most breathtaking photos of the total solar eclipse
News
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles