#  Essays 

 



## The New Yorker  


*“*[*Seeing the Spectrum*](/file_url/211)*”* \[on autism\], The New Yorker (25 January 2016), pp. 65-69.

“[*The Man Who Forgot Everything*](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/10/henry-gustav-molaison-the-man-who-forgot-everything.html)” (on amnesia), [The New Yorker](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/10/henry-gustav-molaison-the-man-who-forgot-everything.html) (15 October 2013).

"[*Cancer World*](/file_url/143)" (on the history of the disease), <a>The New Yorker</a> (8 November 2010), pp. 78-83.

"[*Man With a Plan*](/file_url/144)" (on Herbert Spencer), <a>The New Yorker</a> (13 August 2007), pp. 75-79.

"[*What Else Is New?*](/file_url/145)" (on the history of technology), <a>The New Yorker</a> (14 May 2007), pp. 144-148.

"[*Vegetable Love*](/file_url/146)" (on the history of vegetarianism), <a>The New Yorker</a> (22 January 2007), pp. 80-84.

"[*Sick City*](/file_url/147)" (on cholera and the history of epidemiology), <a>The New Yorker</a> (6 November 2006), pp. 110-115.

"[Paradise Sold](/file_url/148)" (on the politics of eating), <a>The New Yorker</a> (15 May 2006), pp. 84-88.

"[*Eat and Run*](/file_url/149)*"* (on obesity), <a>The New Yorker</a> (16 January 2006), pp. 76-82.

"[*Liquid Assets*](/file_url/150)" (on the history of drinking), <a>The New Yorker</a> (1 August 2005), pp. 80-82.

"[*Cleanup Hitters*](/file_url/151)" (on steroids), <a>The New Yorker</a> (18 April 2005), pp. 191-194.

## London Review of Books

[“Heart, Head, Life, Fate”](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n05/steven-shapin/heart-head-life-fate) \[Alison Bashford, The Decoding the Hand: A History of Science, Medicine, and Magic\], London Review of Books, 48, no. 5 (19 March 2026), pp. 21-23.

[“Through the Trapdoor” ](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n11/steven-shapin/through-the-trapdoor)\[Patchen Barss, The Impossible Man \[biography of Roger Penrose\], London Review of Books, 47, no. 11 (26 June 2025), pp. 15-18.

[“Story of Eau”](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n13/steven-shapin/story-of-eau) \[Christy Spackman, The Taste of Water\], London Review of Books, 46, no. 13 (4 July 2024), pp. 29-32.

[“Paradigms Gone Wild”](https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n07/steven-shapin/paradigms-gone-wild) \[T. S. Kuhn, Last Writings\], London Review of Books, 45, no. 7 (30 March 2023), pp. 27-32.

"[*Loose Talk*](/file_url/228)" \[Alex Wellerstein, Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States\], London Review of Books, Vol. 43 No. 21 (4 November 2021).  
  
“[*Drain the Swamps*](/file_url/224)” \[Timothy Winegard, The Mosquito\], London Review of Books, 42, no. 11 (4 June 2020), pp. 52-56.

“[*Keep Him as a Curiosity*](/file_url/225)” \[Toby Musgrave, The Multifarious Mr. Banks\], London Review of Books, 42, no. 16 (13 August 2020), pp. 4-5, 7-8, 10.

“[*The Cinderella Molecule*](/file_url/222),” \[Venki Ramakrishnan, Gene Machine\], London Review of Books, 41, no. 2 (24 January 2019), pp. 19-20.

*"*[*Think Like a Neutron*](/file_url/212)” \[David Schwartz, The Last Man Who Knew Everything: The Life and Times of Enrico Fermi, Father of the Nuclear Age\], London Review of Books, 40, no. 10 (10 May 2018), pp. 13-15.

“[*Bare Bones*](/file_url/216)” \[Juan Pimentel, The Rhinoceros and the Megatherium\], London Review of Books, 40, no. 5 (8 March 2018), pp. 25-26.

“[*The Superhuman Upgrade*](/file_url/213)” \[Yuval Harari, Homo Deus\], London Review of Books, 39, no. 14 (13 July 2017), pp. 29-31.

“[*More than Machines*](/file_url/214)” \[Jessica Riskin, The Restless Clock\], London Review of Books, 38, no. 23 (1 December 2016), pp. 15-20.

“[*What Do You Mean by a Lie?*](/file_url/215)” \[Nick Hopwood, Haeckel’s Embryos\], London Review of Books, 38, no. 9 (5 May 2016), pp. 35-37.

“[*Confusion of Tongues*](/file_url/206)” \[Michael Gordin, Scientific Babel\], London Review of Books, 37, no. 23 (3 December 2015), pp. 23-26.

“[*What Do You Mean by a Lie?*](/file_url/207)*?*” \[Nick Hopwood, Haeckel’s Embryos\], London Review of Books, 38, no. 9 (5 May 2016), pp. 35-37.

“[*More than Machines*](/file_url/208)” \[Jessica Riskin, The Restless Clock\], London Review of Books, 38, no. 23 (1 December 2016), pp. 15-20.

"[*Pretense for Prattle*](/file_url/201)" \[Markman Ellis, Richard Coulton, Matthew Mauger,

Empire of Tea: The Asian Leaf that Conquered the World\] London Review of Books, 37 no. 15 (30 July 2015), pp. 17-18

“[*Libel on the Human Race*](/file_url/152)” \[Robert Mayhew, Malthus\], London Review of Books, 36, no. 11 (5 June 2014), pp. 26-29.

“[*How Worried Should We Be?*](/file_url/153)” \[Eric Schlosser, Command and Control\], London Review of Books, 36, no. 2 (23 January 2014), pp. 20-23.

“[*Fat Man*](/file_url/154)” \[Graham Farmelo, Churchill’s Bomb\], London Review of Books, 35, no. 18 (26 September 2013), pp. 36-39.

“[*Catastrophism*](/file_url/155)” \[Michael Gordin, The Pseudoscience Wars\], London Review of Books, 34, no. 21 (8 November 2012), pp. 35-38.

"[*Plus or Minus One Ear*](/file_url/156)" \[Robert Crease, World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement\], London Review of Books, 34, no. 16 (30 August 2012), pp. 8-10.

“[An Example of the Good Life](/file_url/157)” \[Mary Jo Nye, Michael Polanyi and His Generation\], London Review of Books, 33, no. 24 (15 December 2011), pp. 23-25.

“[*Gutted*](/file_url/158)” \[Ian Miller, A Modern History of the Stomach\], London Review of Books, 33, no. 13 (30 June 2011), pp. 15-17.

“[*What’s Your Dust Worth?*](/file_url/159)” \[Norman Cantor, After We Die\], London Review of Books, 33, no. 8 (14 April 2011), pp. 10-12.

"[Good Housekeeping](/file_url/160)" \[Ted McCormick, William Petty and the Ambitions of Political Arithmetic\], London Review of Books, 33, no. 2 (20 January 2011), pp. 17-19.

“[*Uncle of the Bomb*](/file_url/161)” \[K. C. Cole, Something Incredibly Wonderful Happens \[on Frank Oppenheimer\], London Review of Books, 32, no. 18 (23 September 2010), pp. 12-14.

“[*Down to the Last Cream Puff*](/file_url/162)” \[Michael Steinberger, Au Revoir to All That\], London Review of Books, 32, no. 15 (5 August 2010), pp. 3-6.

"[*The Darwin Show*](/file_url/163)" \[An extended essay on the events of “Darwin Year” 2009\], London Review of Books, 32, no. 1 (7 January 2010), pp. 3, 5-7.

"[*Against the Pussyfoots*](/file_url/164)" \[George Saintsbury, Notes on a Cellar-Book\], London Review of Books, 31, no. 17 (10 September 2009), pp. 32-33.

"[*Abishag's Revenge*](/file_url/165)" \[D. B. Haycock, Mortal Coil\], London Review of Books, 31, no. 6 (26 March 2009), pp. 29-31.

"[*Species Mongers*](/file_url/166)" \[J. Endersby, Imperial Nature\], London Review of Books, 30, no. 22 (20 November 2008), pp. 21-23.

"[*I’m a Surfer*](/file_url/167)" \[J. Craig Venter, A Life Decoded\], London Review of Books, 30, no. 6 (20 March 2008), pp. 5-8.

*"*[*Floating Medicine Chests*](/file_url/168)*"* \[H. Cook, Matters of Exchange\], London Review of Books, 30, no. 3 (7 February 2008), pp. 30-31.

*"*[*Possessed by the Idols*](/file_url/169)*"* \[D. Wootton, Bad Medicine\], London Review of Books, 28, no. 23 (30 November 2006), pp. 31-33.

*"*[*When Men Started Doing It*](/file_url/170)*"* \[B. Buford, Heat\], London Review of Books, 28, no. 16 (17 August 2006), pp. 3-5.

*"*[*At the Amsterdam*](/file_url/171)*"* \[B. Cowan, The Social Life of Coffee and M. Ellis, Coffee: A Cultural History\], London Review of Books, 28, no. 8 (20 April 2006), pp. 12-14.

*"*[*Tod aus Luft*](/file_url/172)*"* \[D. Charles, Between Genius and Genocide\], London Review of Books, 28, no. 2 (26 January 2006), pp. 7-8.

*"*[*What Did You Expect?*](/file_url/173)" \[A. Smith, Moondust\], London Review of Books, 27, no. 17 (1 September 2005), pp. 31-32.

*"*[*Milk and Lemon*](/file_url/174)*"* \[R. Feynman, Letters\], London Review of Books, 27, no. 13 (7 July 2005), pp. 10-13.

*"*[*Hedonistic Fruit Bombs*](/file_url/175)*"* \[R. Parker, Bordeaux, Parker’s Wine Buyer’s Guide and J. Nossiter, Mondovino\], London Review of Books, 27, no.3 (3 February 2005), pp. 30-32.

*"*[*The Great Neurotic Art*](/file_url/176)*"* \[R. Atkins, Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution and others\], London Review of Books, 27, no. 15 (5 August 2004), pp. 16-18.

*"*[*Talking with Alfred*](/file_url/177)*"* \[J. Conant, Tuxedo Park\], London Review of Books, 27, no. 8 (15 April 2004), pp. 20-22.

*"*[*Cheese and Late Modernity*](/file_url/178)*"* \[P. Boisard, Camembert: A National Myth\], London Review of Books, 25, no. 22 (20 November 2003), pp. 11-12, 14-15.

*"*[*Ivory Trade*](/file_url/179)*"* \[D. Bok, Universities in the Marketplace and H. Etzkowitz, MIT and the Rise of Entrepreneurial Science\], London Review of Books, 25, no. 17 (11 September 2003), pp. 15-19.

*"*[*Rough Trade*](/file_url/180)*"* \[S. Inwood, The Man Who Knew Too Much: The Strange and Inventive Life of Robert Hooke\], London Review of Books, 25, no. 5 (6 March 2003), pp. 14-16.

*"*[*One Peculiar Nut*](/file_url/181)*"* \[R. Watson, Cogito, Ergo Sum: The Life of René Descartes\], London Review of Books, 25, no. 2 (23 January 2003), pp. 17-18.

*"*[*Barbecue of the Vanities*](/file_url/182)*"* \[K. Albala, Eating Right in the Renaissance and M. Nestle, Food Politics\], London Review of Books, 29, no. 16 (22 August 2002), pp. 21-23.

*"*[*Megaton Man*](/file_url/183)" \[E. Teller, Memoirs\], London Review of Books, 29, no. 8 (25 April 2002), pp. 18-20.

*"*[*Dear Prudence*](/file_url/184)*"* \[S. Toulmin, Return to Reason\], London Review of Books, 29, no. 2 (24 January 2002), pp. 25-27.

*"*[*Guests in the President’s House*](/file_url/185)*"* \[D. Greenberg, Science, Money, and Politics\], London Review of Books, 23, no. 20 (18 October 2001), pp. 3, 6-7.

*"*[*A Man’s Man’s World*](/file_url/186)*"* \[A. Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential\], London Review of Books, 22, no. 23 (30 November 2000), pp. 19-20.

*"*[*Don’t Let That Crybaby in Here Again*](/file_url/187)*"* \[S. Schweber, In the Shadow of the Bomb and M. Palevsky, Atomic Fragments\], London Review of Books, 22, no. 17 (7 September 2000), pp. 15-16.

"[*Fat is a Manifest Tissue*](/file_url/188)" \[A. Guerrini, <a>Obesity and Depression in the Enlightenment</a>\], London Review of Books, 22, no. 15 (10 August 2000), pp.34-35.

"[*Trust Me*](/file_url/189)" \[P. Rabinow, <a>French DNA</a>\], London Review of Books, 22, no. 9 (27 April 2000), pp. 15-17.

"[*Scientific Antlers*](/file_url/190)" \[D. Kevles, <a>The Baltimore Case: A Trial of Politics, Science and Character</a>\], London Review of Books, 21 No. 5 (4 March 1999), pp. 27-28.

*"*[*Nobel Savage*](/file_url/191)*"* \[K. Mullis, Dancing Naked in the Mind Field\], London Review of Books, 21, no. 13 (1 July 1999), pp. 17-18.

“[*Sailing Scientist*](/file_url/192)” \[A. Cook, Edmond Halley\], London Review of Books, 20, no. 13 (2 July 1998), pp. 12-13.