Popular Sicence books

nacho libre

http://listverse.com/2012/07/02/10-great-popular-science-books/

Do you agree with his list? If not, what others books would you recommend reading. I think one of the best introductions to the wonders science for the average joe(me) was A Short History of Nearly Everything. I found that book so enthralling, i read it twice.

Beeker

nacho libre wrote: »

http://listverse.com/2012/07/02/10-great-popular-science-books/

Do you agree with his list? If not, what others books would you recommend reading. I think one of the best introductions to the wonders science for the average joe(me) was A Short History of Nearly Everything. I found that book so enthralling, i read it twice.

Some good books listed there ok. Cosmos from Carl Sagan is a real gem! I would add every other book from Carl Sagan, he was a real genius who understood how to explain science to the gereral public.

Morbert

Regarding Physics, two short pop-science books will give you great insight.

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by Richard Feynmann

The Character of Physcial Law by Richard Feynmann

Daisies

nacho libre wrote: »

http://listverse.com/2012/07/02/10-great-popular-science-books/

Do you agree with his list? If not, what others books would you recommend reading. I think one of the best introductions to the wonders science for the average joe(me) was A Short History of Nearly Everything. I found that book so enthralling, i read it twice.

A Short History of Nearly everything is up their on my top 10 books ever. It's one I will read again and again. I'm interested to read the number 1 of that list. Love particle physics and all that it entails. Sometimes I think I should have done a physics degree.

Ziphius

The only book on the list I've read is Matt Ridley's Genome which is very good.

If you want some more books on evolutionary biology I'd recommend the Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and Life Ascending by Nick Lane. Both are very accessible introductions to how evolution works.

steddyeddy

I would strongly recommend "the epigentic revolution" by Nessa Carey. Your inner fish is a fantastic book about evolution aswell.

Ziphius

steddyeddy wrote: »

Your inner fish is a fantastic book about evolution aswell.

Another vote for Your Inner Fish. Great little book about the evolution of the human body. Neil Shubin is the author.

bisset

The Undercover Scientist by Bentley is good if you want something light

Loanshark Blues

Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You by Marcus Chown is really good too.

Ziphius

Found another list on New Scientist.

It's the 25 'popular science books that changed the world'. I've only read three or four of them.

Ziphius

Ziphius wrote: »

Found another list on New Scientist.

It's the 25 'popular science books that changed the world'. I've only read three or four of them.

Thought I'd bump this thread as the New Scientist short list I posted earlier has been reduced to ten popular science books.

In order of influence they are:

1. Origin of Species Darwin
2. A Brief History of Time Hawking
3. The Selfish Gene Dawkins
4. The Double Helix Watson
5. Silent Spring Carson
6. The Naked Ape Morris
7. Chaos Gleick
8. Gaia Lovelock
9. An Essay on the Principle of Population Malthus
10. The Ascent of Man Bronowski

Not many surprises, though I've only read two on the list (1 & 3).

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/10/top-10-most-influential-popular-science-books.html

marketty

I highly recommend the disappearing spoon by sam kean. A great book about the elements and the history of their discoveries

Capt'n Midnight

Mod Note - I've moved the discussion to another thread Lamarkianism and antibiotics etc.

krd

The Math Book - Clifford Pickover

It's a good read, kind of a short history and encyclopedia of maths.

I like this kind of book because it's quick enough to read and you cover ground in such the ideas are closer together in your head (did any of that sense makes the slightest bit of sense).


http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/math-book.html

I haven't looked at his other books, but I think I will now.

Heres Your Future

Morbert wrote: »

Regarding Physics, two short pop-science books will give you great insight.

QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by Richard Feynmann

The Character of Physcial Law by Richard Feynmann

Yeah Feynman is good, if interested in quantum physics then I would recommend John Gribbins book 'In Search of Schrodingers Cat', it goes back a but but is still relevant and very accessible for the casual reader.

krd

A 1960s home experimentation chemistry book for children. From back in a time where if a chemist sold a child some compound, and the child proceeded to blow their fingers off, it was tough luck for the child.

http://chemistry.about.com/library/goldenchem.pdf

Detailed instructions on how to improvise a lab and how to source dangerous chemicals from common household items.

No mention of asking for adult supervision. Pure mayhem.

Tells you to pour your waste materials down your kitchen drain.

There are interesting errors - brass and glass are listed as solutions. Glass being a liquid, is one of those little odd science facts that gets repeated by people who should know better - as glass is very obviously not a liquid. The flow marks on old glass are down to the manufacturing. The marks gave people the impression glass was slowly flowing like syrup.


One of the experiments in the book. Is to brew a pint of water/sugar/yeast, and then distill the alcohol, using a tin can as your kettle and another tin can as your condenser.

krd

Not really popular science. But I just found an interesting collection of text books. And they're all free


http://bookboon.com/en/textbooks/chemistry-chemical-engineering