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Interesting Pop Science Books

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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,100 ✭✭✭eightyfish


    Shabadu wrote: »
    Bill Bryson : A Short History of Nearly Everything

    Really loved this book. Read it in a week sitting out in the sun back when we had summers. Catalysed an interest in science that led to going back to college to get a science degree!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,151 ✭✭✭Thomas_S_Hunterson


    Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter is a must-read for anyone interested in philosophy and/or maths.
    link
    HIB wrote:
    Another Simon Singh one. "Fermat's Last Theorem". A very good read. Simply explained but really gets you thinking as well.
    I found this far too light on mathematical or scientific content.


  • Registered Users Posts: 89 ✭✭astroguy


    I would highly recommend "The Human Mind", by Robert Winston. It's like a short history of human thought on psychology, neuroscience, etc, with loads of interesting examples. I'd also recommend "Human Instinct", by the same author. It covers evolutionary psychology and is a very interesting introduction.


  • Registered Users Posts: 912 ✭✭✭chakotha


    marco_polo wrote: »
    The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene is a pretty good introduction to physics for the non scentific minded.

    Have just ordered this today - it looks good from the reviews.

    Surely your Joking Mr Feynman is a good read.

    Also The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report by Timothy Ferris.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,952 ✭✭✭magneticimpulse


    ArthurDent wrote: »
    Agree totally with this - anyone that goes off to teach in Brazil mainly to learn the the drums is fine by me.

    Would also recommend anything by Primo Levi - chemist and concentration Camp survivor , books aren't very "science" but very interesting none the less

    yeah i have his book - the periodic table


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  • Registered Users Posts: 1,952 ✭✭✭magneticimpulse


    chakotha wrote: »
    Have just ordered this today - it looks good from the reviews.

    Surely your Joking Mr Feynman is a good read.

    Also The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report by Timothy Ferris.


    i never read the fabric of the cosmos myself, but bought it for a boyfriend one time. he wasnt too impressed, wanted fiction instead. i did try to read it, but it does go into alot of detail.


  • Registered Users Posts: 131 ✭✭mcrdotcom


    nesf wrote: »

    "In Search of Schroedinger's Kittens"/"In search of Schroedinger's Cat" - John Gribbon.

    I havnt read it but I love the first title!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5 thayes93


    for more on feynman, james gleick's biography of him, genius is one of the best biographies i've ever read.

    I couldn't agree more =]


  • Posts: 0 ✭✭✭ Freya Quaint Guano


    The Code Book is one of my favourite popular science books. Then probably Dr. Riemann's Zeroes, or Big Bang.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,134 ✭✭✭FarmerGreen


    The snappily titled
    'Atomic energy for military purposes; the official report on the development of the atomic bomb under the auspices of the United States Government, 1940-1945'

    http://www.archive.org/details/atomicenergyform00smytrich


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 210 ✭✭mickydcork


    'The Big Bang' by Simon Singh is excellent.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 210 ✭✭mickydcork


    'The Making of the Atomic Bomb' is fascinating, but it's a hefty read


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 210 ✭✭mickydcork


    'Fabric of The Cosmos' by Brian Greene


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 210 ✭✭mickydcork


    'Cosmos' by Carl Sagan is superb


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 41 Wonder83


    Any of the Aventis prize winners or shortlists. Philip Ball- Critical Mass, Jared Diamond- Collapse, Dawkins, Bryson etc, checkout the website

    Critical Mass by Philip Ball was superb as was Biography of water, one of favourite popular science authors at present.


  • Registered Users Posts: 179 ✭✭Neodymium


    I don't think you could quite classify it as a popular science book but nevertheless I really enjoyed 'reading' "Dr. Euler's Fabulous Formula" by Paul Nahin. I say 'reading' but you really need to sit down with a pen and paper and work through the examples to enjoy it. This book is an excellent read if you are interested in maths and its applications.

    On the other end of the spectrum is "The 4% Universe". I bought this book hoping I would learn something about dark matter and dark energy. I found it amazing how the author managed to write a book about something as fascinating dark matter and make it an incredibly non-informative and dull read. The entire book is just filled with anecdotal hogwash about the lives and personalities of the scientists who made astronomical discoveries which lead to the formation of the theory of dark matter and dark energy. If you care about what the scientists ate for dinner or if you care about where they went on holidays, then read this book. I would suggest you look elsewhere if you want a book which provides an informative and scientific understanding of dark matter and dark energy.

    Another book which I found disappointing which was by the same publisher as the '4% perecent unviverse' was 'How to teach quantum physics to your dog', and with a name like that I should have known what I was getting myself into, but hey it was a present. This book as you would guess has been made far, far to simple, so much so that it doesn't provide much in the way of scientific reasoning behind the watered down facts. I found the 'Quantum Universe' by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw a much morre enjoyable and informative read.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,455 ✭✭✭krd


    Neodymium wrote: »
    I don't think you could quite classify it as a popular science book but nevertheless I really enjoyed 'reading' "Dr. Euler's Fabulous Formula" by Paul Nahin.

    Just got a copy on your advice. It's really good. I'm only a bit in and already I've had a few "aaaw haw....so that's what that does " moments.


    A book I would love to get my hands on is Zee's Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell. 56 quid is a little steep as I've seen quoted. If anyone has a second hand copy?


  • Registered Users Posts: 8 EventHorizon


    The price of altruism by Oren Harman and Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine both good reads.


  • Registered Users Posts: 30 Lector


    Books I would recommend as interesting pop science would include
    The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra
    The Sleepwalkers by Arthur Koestler
    The first half of Brian Greene's Elegant Universe (the second half disappears up its String Theory :-) )
    The Periodic Table by Primo Levi - not strictly a pop science book, but a great read and plenty of chemistry throughout
    Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
    Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything

    And a lighter one I'm reading now
    It's Not Rocket Science by Ben Miller (comedian and former physicist...)


  • Registered Users Posts: 5 senecafalls


    I'm not sure if it's been mentioned already, but 'The Demon Haunted World' by Carl Sagan was recommended to me by the (no longer) head of Physics in UCD; I read it and it changed my perspective on everything. I highly recommend it.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 8,779 ✭✭✭Carawaystick


    Science, by Azimov, sums up a huge swathe of science in one volume
    The Flamingos tale by Stephen Gould, lots of essays about biology

    again anything by Feynman

    the Ancestors tale by rDawkins is good, clearly explains evolution, but has a few political barbs, that are probably dated already


  • Registered Users Posts: 13 becklyncho


    :D:DThe origin of life is amazing totally agree! One of the best books I have ever written! :D:D


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