38 books like Blight

By Emily Monosson,

Here are 38 books that Blight fans have personally recommended if you like Blight. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales Of Love, War, And Genius, As Written By Our Genetic Code

Elizabeth Reed Aden Author Of The Goldilocks Genome: A Medical Thriller

From my list on compelling medical nonfiction books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a biomedical anthropologist/epidemiologist with a post-doctoral studies in Human Genetics. I learned about pharmacology and medicinal chemistry at a large Swiss pharmaceutical company. There, we developed some of the first precision medicines in oncology—treating tumors with a specific protein signature. We took the next step to personalize prescription medicine, which is in its infancy. The goal is to prescribe the right drug, the first time—prescribing drugs that work with patient genes. As VP, Global Research Strategy and SVP, Global Pharmaceutical Strategy, this has been my vision for decades, and why I wrote The Goldilocks Genome to introduce personalized medicine to the lay public in a compelling read.

Elizabeth's book list on compelling medical nonfiction books

Elizabeth Reed Aden Why did Elizabeth love this book?

Paganini was an extraordinary violinist because of his exceptionally flexible thumb. Why was his thumb so “bendy”? Genetics. His genes provided an opportunity, and he learned how to exploit it.

Each of us is genetically unique. Our challenge is to understand our genes, which can be positive or negative. The Violinist’s Thumb is a nice introduction to the importance of DNA and the impact of genes in history. Inbreeding in the European royals led to hemophilia and ultimately contributed to the fall of the Czar and the Russian Empire. Genes have played a major role in history, art, and science.

It is a fun book with a novel perspective. 

By Sam Kean,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Violinist's Thumb as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes incredible stories of science, history, language, and music, as told by our own DNA.

In The Disappearing Spoon, bestselling author Sam Kean unlocked the mysteries of the periodic table. In The Violinist's Thumb, he explores the wonders of the magical building block of life: DNA.

There are genes to explain crazy cat ladies, why other people have no fingerprints, and why some people survive nuclear bombs. Genes illuminate everything from JFK's bronze skin (it wasn't a tan) to Einstein's genius. They prove that Neanderthals and humans bred thousands of years more…


Book cover of Before Prozac: The Troubled History of Mood Disorders in Psychiatry

Elizabeth Reed Aden Author Of The Goldilocks Genome: A Medical Thriller

From my list on compelling medical nonfiction books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a biomedical anthropologist/epidemiologist with a post-doctoral studies in Human Genetics. I learned about pharmacology and medicinal chemistry at a large Swiss pharmaceutical company. There, we developed some of the first precision medicines in oncology—treating tumors with a specific protein signature. We took the next step to personalize prescription medicine, which is in its infancy. The goal is to prescribe the right drug, the first time—prescribing drugs that work with patient genes. As VP, Global Research Strategy and SVP, Global Pharmaceutical Strategy, this has been my vision for decades, and why I wrote The Goldilocks Genome to introduce personalized medicine to the lay public in a compelling read.

Elizabeth's book list on compelling medical nonfiction books

Elizabeth Reed Aden Why did Elizabeth love this book?

My mother was a Freudian psychiatrist who prescribed antidepressants as a last resort, while my brother, also a psychiatrist, turns to antidepressants as first-line therapy. I wanted to learn more about why my family members took these different approaches.

Before Prozac is a wonderful history and behind-the-scenes look at the medical treatment of depression and related disorders. I learned about the politics behind restricting access to benzodiazepines (like Valium®), how Prozac® was designed to be an anti-histamine until Lilly found a better indication and much more.

This is the first book I recommend to my friends who have a personal or academic interest in depression. I couldn’t put it down and suggest it to friends who are interested in the history of modern medicine. 

By Edward Shorter,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Before Prozac as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of The End of Alzheimer's: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline

Elizabeth Reed Aden Author Of The Goldilocks Genome: A Medical Thriller

From my list on compelling medical nonfiction books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a biomedical anthropologist/epidemiologist with a post-doctoral studies in Human Genetics. I learned about pharmacology and medicinal chemistry at a large Swiss pharmaceutical company. There, we developed some of the first precision medicines in oncology—treating tumors with a specific protein signature. We took the next step to personalize prescription medicine, which is in its infancy. The goal is to prescribe the right drug, the first time—prescribing drugs that work with patient genes. As VP, Global Research Strategy and SVP, Global Pharmaceutical Strategy, this has been my vision for decades, and why I wrote The Goldilocks Genome to introduce personalized medicine to the lay public in a compelling read.

Elizabeth's book list on compelling medical nonfiction books

Elizabeth Reed Aden Why did Elizabeth love this book?

Like most people, the two diseases of aging that scare me the most are ischemic stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. I don’t want to lose my ability to think, and I want to preserve my memory. So...there is no time like the present to explore what I can do to learn how to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Bredesen is the first neuroscientist I’ve encountered who describes different types of Alzheimer’s and offers practical diagnostic and dietary advice. I’ve explored his recommendations, and I think they’re sound. I’ve suggested this to many of my friends for them and/or for their parents and loved ones.

By Dale Bredesen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The End of Alzheimer's as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller

A groundbreaking plan to prevent and reverse Alzheimer’s Disease that fundamentally changes how we understand cognitive decline.
 
Everyone knows someone who has survived cancer, but until now no one knows anyone who has survived Alzheimer's Disease. 
 
In this paradigm shifting book, Dale Bredesen, MD, offers real hope to anyone looking to prevent and even reverse Alzheimer's Disease and cognitive decline.  Revealing that AD is not one condition, as it is currently treated, but three, The End of Alzheimer’s outlines 36 metabolic factors (micronutrients, hormone levels, sleep) that can trigger "downsizing"…


Book cover of In the Blood: How Two Outsiders Solved a Centuries-Old Medical Mystery and Took on the US Army

Elizabeth Reed Aden Author Of The Goldilocks Genome: A Medical Thriller

From my list on compelling medical nonfiction books.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a biomedical anthropologist/epidemiologist with a post-doctoral studies in Human Genetics. I learned about pharmacology and medicinal chemistry at a large Swiss pharmaceutical company. There, we developed some of the first precision medicines in oncology—treating tumors with a specific protein signature. We took the next step to personalize prescription medicine, which is in its infancy. The goal is to prescribe the right drug, the first time—prescribing drugs that work with patient genes. As VP, Global Research Strategy and SVP, Global Pharmaceutical Strategy, this has been my vision for decades, and why I wrote The Goldilocks Genome to introduce personalized medicine to the lay public in a compelling read.

Elizabeth's book list on compelling medical nonfiction books

Elizabeth Reed Aden Why did Elizabeth love this book?

Who doesn’t love a true story of David and Goliath? Who really believes that the inventor of the “better mousetrap” always wins? This is a real-life medical thriller when the properties of a mineral were found to be a cheaper, better solution to stopping battlefield bleeding.

The “Davids” took on “Goliath,” who supported their vested interests in an inferior product that cost the lives of infantrymen. It took a courageous whistle-blower to come forward and change the trajectory. Ultimately the mineral was adopted and used effectively in the Iraq War. The better trauma medicine won, but it took years. The story is, sadly, all too real—but good does triumph!

By Charles Barber,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In the Blood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The "high-stakes" true story of how an absent-minded inventor and a down-on-his-luck salesman joined forces to create a once‑in‑a‑generation lifesaving product: "Suspenseful storytelling helps us see and feel the struggle and frustration, the sweat and tears . . . Inspiring” (Robert Kolker, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hidden Valley Road).
 
At the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, dramatized by the popular film Black Hawk Down, the majority of soldiers who died were killed instantly or bled to death before they could reach an operating table. This tragedy reinforced the need for a revolutionary treatment that could transform trauma medicine.…


Book cover of Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures

Thalia Verkade Author Of Movement: how to take back our streets and transform our lives

From my list on letting you perceive the world differently.

Why am I passionate about this?

Writing my first book, I found out how dependent my thinking about the world beyond my doorstep was on language made up by engineers (“Please don’t block the driveway”). Engineering language defined how I saw the street. It was a shock to realize how severely this had limited my thinking about public space but also a liberation to become aware of this: now I could perceive streets in completely new and different ways. The books I recommend all have made me perceive the world differently. I hope they do the same for you. Also, see the recommendations by my co-author, Marco te Brömmelstroet.

Thalia's book list on letting you perceive the world differently

Thalia Verkade Why did Thalia love this book?

This book made me see life on Earth in a new way.

Fungi live mostly underground, much less visible than plants or animals. When Merlin Sheldrake started studying fungi at Cambridge, he did this in the Department of Plant Sciences. There is no Department of Fungi Sciences, which helps explain why scientists know so little about them and why society keeps regarding them as less important than plants or animals.

Merlin explains fungi are closer to animals than plants. They are crucial, fascinating, and intelligent beyond ways Western man has words for. He uses language in a sensitive and creative new way to describe and visualize the fungi world. This book is not for fungi lovers (I’m not one); it is for anyone who wants to expand his view of life.

By Merlin Sheldrake,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked Entangled Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “brilliant [and] entrancing” (The Guardian) journey into the hidden lives of fungi—the great connectors of the living world—and their astonishing and intimate roles in human life, with the power to heal our bodies, expand our minds, and help us address our most urgent environmental problems.

“Grand and dizzying in how thoroughly it recalibrates our understanding of the natural world.”—Ed Yong, author of I Contain Multitudes

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR—Time, BBC Science Focus, The Daily Mail, Geographical, The Times, The Telegraph, New Statesman, London Evening Standard, Science Friday

When we think…


Book cover of Mushrooms and Toadstools, A Study of the Activities of Fungi

Nicholas P. Money Author Of The Rise of Yeast: How the Sugar Fungus Shaped Civilization

From my list on microbes and their amazing world.

Why am I passionate about this?

Microorganisms have bewitched me since childhood when I remember seeing floating dust particles glinting in sunbeams and wondering what they were and if they were alive. Decades later, my research has included experiments on the amazing mechanisms that shoot fungal spores into the air to form part of that dust, which is one of several odd coincidences in my life. As an educator (Miami University in Ohio) and science writer my interests in biology go beyond the fungi, but I never stray too far from my obsession with the smallest organisms. Microbes are everywhere and will outlive us by an eternity.

Nicholas' book list on microbes and their amazing world

Nicholas P. Money Why did Nicholas love this book?

Viruses and bacteria attract all the attention from microbiologists and fungi are given short shrift in most textbooks. This needs to change because fungi are bona fide microbes that grow as budding yeast cells and colonies of slender threads and spin the planet’s carbon cycle. There are plenty of popular books on fungal biology, but John Ramsbottom’s Mushrooms and Toadstools, first published in 1953, has not been bettered. It captivates the reader with a succession of marvelous stories without losing grip on the science. This book is a great place to begin a lifetime of learning about fungi.

By John Ramsbottom,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mushrooms and Toadstools, A Study of the Activities of Fungi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Britain's neglect of fungi as table delicacies has perhaps been responsible for our surprising ignorance of the natural history of such fascinating plants. This edition is exclusive to newnaturalists.com

Britain's neglect of fungi as table delicacies has perhaps been responsible for our surprising ignorance of the natural history of such fascinating plants. Puff-balls, more than a foot in diameter; mouls in jam-pots; dry rot; truffles; these are examples of the wide range of the Group, comprising over 100,000 species.

Many are of economic importance - for example, the rusts that attack wheat and other crops, and the yeasts which ferment…


Book cover of The Mushroom Hunters: On the Trail of an Underground America

Becky Selengut Author Of Shroom: Mind-Bendingly Good Recipes for Cultivated and Wild Mushrooms

From my list on a journey into the fantastic world of fungi.

Why am I passionate about this?

My first favorite food was a mushroom and as a budding young chef, my first dish, made at 6, was a terrible take on mushrooms on toast points made with Wonder Bread, margarine, and a sad can of mushrooms. My father pretended to eat it. For his sake, I’m glad he didn’t. Things have improved for me since then and I turned my passion for mushrooms into a lifelong love of cooking them which led to my book Shroom, a cookbook for both mushroom lovers and avowed fungiphobes. Mushrooms have distinct culinary personalities and the diversity in edible mushrooms is as vast as that between a salinic, ocean-kissed oyster and a smoky, meaty grilled ribeye. 

Becky's book list on a journey into the fantastic world of fungi

Becky Selengut Why did Becky love this book?

Full disclosure, the author Langdon Cook is a friend of mine based out of Seattle where I live and we’ve foraged together, taught classes together, and made a spectacularly crappy batch of blackberry wine together but that’s not why I’m recommending his excellent book The Mushroom Hunters. Langdon takes the reader on a rollicking ride to places we didn’t at first think we wanted to go and then leaves us wanting more when he moves on. He skillfully teases apart the myths versus facts behind historical turf wars and gun violence in matsutake patches in one chapter and shadows Doug, a self-described redneck, throughout the book as he traverses the changing demographics of pickers and buyers, now firmly in the hands of many in the Southeast Asian community. The characters that frame his book, the pickers, buyers, and chefs that occupy the universe of wild and foraged foods are…

By Langdon Cook,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Mushroom Hunters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“A beautifully written portrait of the people who collect and distribute wild mushrooms . . . food and nature writing at its finest.”—Eugenia Bone, author of Mycophilia
 
“A rollicking narrative . . . Cook [delivers] vivid and cinematic scenes on every page.”—The Wall Street Journal
 
In the dark corners of America’s forests grow culinary treasures. Chefs pay top dollar to showcase these elusive and beguiling ingredients on their menus. Whether dressing up a filet mignon with smoky morels or shaving luxurious white truffles over pasta, the most elegant restaurants across the country now feature one of nature’s last truly wild…


Book cover of A Cook's Initiation into the Gorgeous World of Mushrooms

Becky Selengut Author Of Shroom: Mind-Bendingly Good Recipes for Cultivated and Wild Mushrooms

From my list on a journey into the fantastic world of fungi.

Why am I passionate about this?

My first favorite food was a mushroom and as a budding young chef, my first dish, made at 6, was a terrible take on mushrooms on toast points made with Wonder Bread, margarine, and a sad can of mushrooms. My father pretended to eat it. For his sake, I’m glad he didn’t. Things have improved for me since then and I turned my passion for mushrooms into a lifelong love of cooking them which led to my book Shroom, a cookbook for both mushroom lovers and avowed fungiphobes. Mushrooms have distinct culinary personalities and the diversity in edible mushrooms is as vast as that between a salinic, ocean-kissed oyster and a smoky, meaty grilled ribeye. 

Becky's book list on a journey into the fantastic world of fungi

Becky Selengut Why did Becky love this book?

Sometimes you just need a coffee table sort of book and though it is paperback, Frédéric Raevens photography in this book is worth the purchase alone. When I’m buying cookbooks I make sure to buy cookbooks written by chefs from other countries as it offers a lovely diversity of ingredients, techniques, and approaches. Emanuelli lives in Brussels and I found their perspective refreshing. The first fifth of the book is full-page mushroom porn in the best possible way. You could stop right there, but there’s so much more; recipes such as Glazed pork belly with truffled honey and Caramelized Belgian endive with black trumpet mushrooms, and Porcini and Chestnut soup. When I decided to write a mushroom cookbook, I was so pleased that my book stayed away from many of the others on the market by simply adding butter and cream to every recipe and calling it good. And then…

By Philippe Emanuelli, Frédéric Raevens (photographer),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Cook's Initiation into the Gorgeous World of Mushrooms as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This French buy-in is an extremely beautiful guide to buying and cooking mushrooms. More an evocative pleasure-read for mushroom lovers than a straight-up reference book for serious foragers, this book contains more than 120 uniquely French stream-of-consciousness recipes and colour photographs on every spread, with more than 200 photographs throughout.


Book cover of Epping Forest: With Chapters on Forest Management, Geology of the District, Prehistoric Man and the Ancient Fauna, Entomology, Pond Life, and Fungi of the Forest

Nicholas Hagger Author Of A View of Epping Forest

From my list on Epping Forest.

Why am I passionate about this?

I arrived in Epping Forest when I was four and quickly came to love its trees and ponds. I saw Churchill speak in Loughton in 1945. We were taken on fishing expeditions to the Forest Ponds, and I got into my next school by writing an essay on ‘Newts’. When older I regularly walked to look at the two ponds on Strawberry Hill. Later still I brought my children to the Forest. My two sons were baptised in the church in the Forest, Holy Innocents. I am a woodlander through and through with an instinctive love of the Tudor aspects of the Forest when Fairmead was Henry VIII’s deer park.

Nicholas' book list on Epping Forest

Nicholas Hagger Why did Nicholas love this book?

This is a guide to Epping Forest at the end of the First World War, and covers its history, topography (many routes through the Forest), wildlife, and geology of the Forest, with maps. It is fascinating to see what parts of Epping Forest looked like a hundred years ago, and what birds and wildlife could be seen then.

By Edward North Buxton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Epping Forest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Excerpt from Epping Forest

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books.

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. This text has been…


Book cover of Fantastic Fungi: How Mushrooms Can Heal, Shift Consciousness, and Save the Planet

Vincent Doumeizel Author Of The Seaweed Revolution: How Seaweed Has Shaped Our Past and Can Save Our Future

From my list on the world is getting better and the best is yet to come.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an optimistic citizen of the world, I travelled the globe to witness famine in Africa and seaweed farming in Asia. Having worked on food systems for twenty-five years and being the father of three children, I was looking for solutions to feed the coming generation with hopes instead of fears! That’s how I ended up working for a visionary charity (Lloyd’s Register Foundation) and leading a “Seaweed Revolution” for United Nations Global Compact as well as writing book to spread the gospel of neglected Ocean Based Solutions. The books I have recommended here all give hope through examples from the past and present and provide readers with practical toolkits for creating positive change.

Vincent's book list on the world is getting better and the best is yet to come

Vincent Doumeizel Why did Vincent love this book?

I chose this amazing book because fungi are the “other” greatest untapped resource that can help save the world.

I was approached by fungi specialists after releasing the French edition of The Seaweed Revolution because there are quite a lot of similarities and expectations around those two forgotten resources that encompass an incredibly wide range of organisms.

While there is much we still don’t know about fungi, it is a fundamental part of our ecosystem. Edited by the fungi “guru”, Paul Stamets, the book explains how fungi create a network that covers the entire planet that are crucial for land and the life forms that depend on it to exist.

This network shows astonishing similarities to the Internet, to the neural arrangement of our brain, and even to the structure of the entire universe. It is a spiritual and remarkable book, which also introduces a wide range of beneficial applications,…

By Paul Stamets (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Fantastic Fungi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

2020 IBPA Awards Winner!

“Louie Schwartzberg’s lightly informative, delightfully kooky documentary, “Fantastic Fungi,” offers nothing less than a model for planetary survival.” –Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times

“Gorgeous photography! Time-lapse sequences of mushrooms blossoming forth could pass for studies of exotic flowers growing on another planet.”  –Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal

The Life-Affirming, Mind-Bending Companion Book to the Smash Hit Documentary FANTASTIC FUNGI 

Viewed in over 100 countries and selling hundreds of thousands of tickets on the way to finishing 2019 with a rare 100% Tomato meter rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Schwartzberg’s documentary Fantastic Fungi has brought the…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in fungus, infection, and mushrooms?

11,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about fungus, infection, and mushrooms.

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