August 2020, ScientificAmerican.com 73RECOMMENDED
By Andrea GawrylewskiThe End of Everything
(Astrophysically Speaking)
by Katie Mack. Scribner, 2020 ($26)The cosmos might end by
drifting into uniform chaos.
Or the finale could involve
an expanding bubble universe
with new laws of physics.
The very space between galaxies, stars, planets
and atoms may even spread so much that it rips
everything apart from within. If the world’s cur-
rent troubles weren’t worrying enough, astrophys-
icist Mack offers a whirlwind tour of our possible
demises and what investigating the options can
reveal about physics. Through informal but rigor-
ous prose, she describes the weird wrinkles and
implications of these potential endings—for
instance, how expansion makes the most dis tant
galaxies actually look larger or how quantum
changes could prompt new physical laws—
and what they would look like from our only
vantage point. — Sarah Lewin FrasierSix Days in August:
The Story of Stockholm Syndrome
by David King. W. W. Norton, 2020 ($26.95)American historian and au-
thor King shares remarkable
on-the-ground details of the
famed Norrmalmstorg robbery
of 1973 in this smart cross be-
tween a true-crime thriller and a psychological in-
vestigation. During the nearly weeklong ordeal, Jan-
Erik Olsson held four people hostage in a Stockholm
bank and demanded his friend, career criminal Clark
Olofsson, be released from prison and brought to
the scene. In the event’s aftermath, the hostages re-
ported surprisingly fond feelings for their captors, in-
spiring the term “Stockholm syndrome.” Use of the
expression is still widely popular, although little
research exists. Some suggest it confuses hostage
allegiance to a captor with the desperate need to
survive. Others allege that because the incident in-
volved three women hostages, misogynist biases led
psychologists to label these victims with an illness.The End of the River: Why the Long
Struggle to Hold Back the Mississippi
May Soon Be Lost, Wreaking Trillion-
Dollar Chaos across the American South
by Simon Winchester. Scribd Originals, 2020
(by subscription)
In the early 1800s people
be gan straightening the Mis-
sissippi River to make it more
navigable and to control flood-
ing. Now, in a stretch at the border of Louisiana and
Mississippi, the water, in clined to follow the easiest
path to the sea, is straining to jump over its human-
made channel and into the neighboring Atchafalaya
Basin. If it does, the downstream remnant passage
of the Mississippi will stag nate, disrupting ports and
city water sources. In this slim volume, writer Win-
chester describes how hu man hubris caused this
predicament, as he explores the engineering feats
that are struggling to keep the river in place. The
situation, he writes, has turned the waterway into
“the nation’s Achilles’ heel.” — Andrea ThompsonOvert sexual advances are just one form of harassment against women in the sciences; the bulk of offenses are made up of quiet acts of discrimi-
nation and bullying that accumulate over time. This essential documentary by filmmakers Shattuck and Cheney gives disturbing first-person
accounts of such abuse and mistreatment by prominent male researchers—from the rocky fields of Antarctica to the genetic laboratories of
Harvard—and offers a powerful contribution to the larger conversation about inherent bias, unseen prejudice and personal accountability. The film
uniquely captures the emotion of the battle that women in science—especially women of color—have had to wage simply to do the work they love.
It is a stark reminder that although some progress has been made, equal representation—and treatment—in research science has a long way to go.Picture
a Scientist
by Sharon Shattuck
and Ian Cheney.
Visit pictureascientist.com
for screenings.
In limited release,
starting June 12, 2020BIOLOGIST Nancy Hopkins organized a cohort of women at M.I.T.
to bring attention to gender imbalance in the science departments
there during the 1990s. Her story is featured in the film.UPRISING LLC
© 2020 Scientific American