Experiment Eleven: Deceit and Betrayal in the Discovery of the Cure for Tuberculosis

  • Peter Pringle
Bloomsbury 288 pp. £18.99 (2012)

The 1943 discovery of a drug treatment for tuberculosis did much to kick-start big pharma. But this is a knotted tale, deftly unpicked by investigative journalist Peter Pringle. We learn that Albert Schatz, a US graduate student, found streptomycin in the eponymous 11th experiment on a farmyard bacterium — but that his research director, Selman Waksman, took the credit, along with patent royalties and a Nobel prize. A chance rediscovery brought Schatz the reputation he deserves.

The Forever Fix: Gene Therapy and the Boy Who Saved It

  • Ricki Lewis
St Martin's 336 pp. $25.99 (2012)

This popularized examination of gene therapy hinges on a breakthrough case: Corey Haas's recovery from Leber's congenital amaurosis type 2, which had made him virtually blind at the age of eight. Medical writer Ricki Lewis interweaves science, the history of medical trial and error, and human stories. The contrast can be intense, running from the death in 1999 of teenager Jesse Gelsinger, from a reaction to gene therapy intended to combat his liver disease, to radical successes in some children with adenosine deaminase deficiency.

Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You're So Tired

  • Till Roenneberg
Harvard University Press 288 pp. $26.95 (2012)

Time really is of the essence, says medical psychologist Till Roenneberg. By neglecting our body clocks — which rarely run in synchrony with the crazily cranked-up pace of modern life — we can develop “social jetlag”, endangering our health and careers. Roenneberg has built his book on decades of research in everything from fungi and single-celled organisms to humans. In brilliantly minimalist terms, he explains the temporal mismatches behind teen exhaustion, early birds and night owls, and sleep phobia.

Why Animals Matter: Animal consciousness, animal welfare, and human well-being

  • Marian Stamp Dawkins
Oxford University Press 224 pp. £16.99 (2012)

Too little science and too much anthropomorphism have made our approaches to animal welfare a shambles, says ethologist Marian Stamp Dawkins. Her radical rethink involves linking their welfare with our own to harness a powerful driver of change: human self-interest. Dawkins advises sidestepping the question of animal consciousness to focus on animal health and hard-wired 'wants' such as foraging, to benefit both groups. Also key is never letting up on research into our intertwined existences, she says.

Subliminal: The Revolution of the New Unconscious and What it Teaches Us About Ourselves

  • Leonard Mlodinow
Pantheon 272 pp. $25.95 (2012)

Perception “below the threshold of consciousness”, as Carl Jung put it, is here pushed into the limelight. Physicist Leonard Mlodinow shows how humans have “parallel tiers” of a conscious brain superimposed on an unconscious mind. Drawing on research and anecdotes, Mlodinow explores the pattern-matching, gap-filling role of the unconscious in perception, memory, sociality, emotions and self-estimation. An illuminating journey through a hidden world.