What We Are Reading Today: ‘On Task’

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Updated 03 August 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘On Task’

  • In “On Task,” cognitive neuroscientist David Badre presents the first authoritative introduction to the neuroscience of cognitive control—the remarkable ways that our brains devise sophisticated actions to achieve our goals

Author: DAVID BADRE

Why is it hard to text and drive at the same time? How do you resist eating that extra piece of cake?  Why can your child expertly fix the computer and yet still forget to put on a coat ? In “On Task,” cognitive neuroscientist David Badre presents the first authoritative introduction to the neuroscience of cognitive control—the remarkable ways that our brains devise sophisticated actions to achieve our goals. 

We barely notice this routine part of our lives. Yet, cognitive control, also known as executive function, is an astonishing phenomenon that has a profound impact on our well-being.

 


What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Mathematical Mechanic’ by Mark Levi

Updated 14 December 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Mathematical Mechanic’ by Mark Levi

Everybody knows that mathematics is indispensable to physics—imagine where we’d be today if Einstein and Newton didn’t have the math to back up their ideas.

But how many people realize that physics can be used to produce many astonishing and strikingly elegant solutions in mathematics?

Mark Levi shows how in this delightful book, treating readers to a host of entertaining problems and mind-bending puzzlers that will amuse and inspire their inner physicist.