XKCD, by Randall Munro
《XKCD漫畫》，蘭達爾·門羅

A collection of posts from Munroe’s blog XKCD, which is made up of cartoons he draws making fun of things—mostly scientists and computers, but lots of other things too.
這本書收集了該作者與書同名的博客上的一些博文，主要是他所畫的搞笑卡通漫畫，大多是科學家，電腦，但也有很多其他的東西。

There’s one about scientists holding a press conference to reveal their discovery that life is arsenic-based. They research press conferences and find out that sometimes it’s good to serve food that’s related to the subject of the conference. The last panel is all the reporters dead on the floor because they ate arsenic. It’s that kind of humor, which not everybody loves, but I do.
其中有一處說的就是，科學家們召開新聞發布會，宣布他們發現了生命是以砷（砒霜）為基本元素構成的。科學家們認為，新聞發布會上提供與會議專題相關的食物會是一個不錯的主意。最后就是與會記者全都死在了地板上，因為他們服用了砒霜。這也是一種幽默，雖然不是所有人都喜歡，但我還蠻喜歡的。

On Immunity, by Eula Biss
《免疫》，作者：尤拉·比斯

When I stumbled across this book on the Internet, I thought it might be a worthwhile read. I had no idea what a pleasure reading it would be. Biss, an essayist and university lecturer, examines what lies behind people’s fears of vaccinating their children.
一開始我在網上看到這本書的時候，我只是認為這本書或許值得一讀。我還不知道這本書讀起來竟會讓人如此開心。比斯是名隨筆作家和大學講師。

Like many of us, she concludes that vaccines are safe, effective, and almost miraculous tools for protecting children against needless suffering. But she is not out to demonize anyone who holds opposing views. This is a thoughtful and beautifully written book about a very important topic.
她研究的是人們害怕給自己孩子接種疫苗這一背后說明的問題。和我們許多人一樣，她認為疫苗是安全有效，且幾乎是神奇的，能保護孩子免于無謂的病痛折磨。但她并沒有想要將持相反觀點的人妖魔化的意思。這本書講述了一個十分重要的主題，語言生動而縝密。

How to Lie With Statistics, by Darrell Huff
《統計數字會撒謊》，作者：達萊爾·哈夫

I picked up this short, easy-to-read book after seeing it on a Wall Street Journal list of good books for investors. I enjoyed it so much that it was one of a handful of books I recommended to everyone at TED this year.
我在《華爾街日報》向投資者推薦的書單上看到了這本書的名字，于是我就選中了它，這本書很短，讀起來也很簡單。我十分喜歡這本書，在今年的TED演講上，我向所有人推薦了它。

It was first published in 1954, but aside from a few anachronistic examples (it has been a long time since bread cost 5 cents a loaf in the United States), it doesn’t feel dated.
這本書最早出版于1954年，雖然書中有一些年代錯誤（一塊面包5美分在美國那是老早以前的事兒了），但它并不過時。

Should We Eat Meat?, by Vaclav Smil
《該吃肉嗎？》，作者：瓦科拉夫·斯米爾

The richer the world gets, the more meat it eats. And the more meat it eats, the bigger the threat to the planet. How do we square this circle? Vaclav Smil takes his usual clear-eyed view of the whole landscape, from meat’s role in human evolution to hard questions about animal cruelty.
世界越富裕，消耗的肉就越多。肉消耗多了，對地球造成的威脅就越大。我們又該如何對待這個問題? 瓦科拉夫·斯米爾通過他清晰的視角全方位審視了這個問題。從肉在人類進化過程中扮演的角色到虐待動物的殘酷性問題。

While it would be great if people wanted to eat less meat, I don’t think we can expect large numbers of people to make drastic reductions. I’m betting on innovation, including higher agricultural productivity and the development of meat substitutes, to help the world meet its need for meat.
雖然人少吃肉是件好事，但我不認為會有很多人大量減少肉食攝入。我覺得問題的關鍵在于創新，包括提高農業生產力，以及發展肉類替代品，從而滿足世界對肉類的需求。

（來源：滬江英語 編輯：許晶晶）