Cosmology and Astrophysics
Hubble: Window on the Universe, Gwyneth Snow. I didn't give full comments on this one because it's mostly exceptional for its bounty of full-page photos from the Hubble telescope. The contents are the sort of thing you'd read in a book version of Sagan's Cosmos: the lifespans of stars, the structure of galaxies, and the ins and outs of our local neighborhood.
Local Astronomy
First Light, Richard Preston. This was...also one I didn't comment on, partially because it was weird. Centered on the Hale telescope in the Palomar mountains, its story of scientific research often pretends to be a novel and switches back and forth between decades. It wasn't an approach that proved winning for me.
Geology
The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions, Peter Brannen.
Chemistry and Physics
Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World, Mark Miodownik. Fun microhistory.
Biology
Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ, Giulia Enders
Flora and Fauna
The Truth About Nature, Stacey Torno and Ken Keller
Anthropology
The Invaders: How Humans and their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction, Pat Shipman
Neurology and Psychology
This Is Your Brain on Parasites, Kathleen McAuliffe
Weather and Climate
The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, Jeff Goodell
History of Science
Seeing Further: The Story of Science and the Royal Society, edited by Bill Bryson
Science and Society
A Crack In Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution, Jennifer Doudna
Thinking Scientifically
50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True, Guy Harrison
great list, especially the books on geology (haha)... i used to try to keep up on quantum research but i got left behind at some point; i'm stil pretty interested in the ideas tho... the last one on the list seems to be pretty important... never heard of Harrison, but that just puts with all the other modern scientists i haven't heard of... i look forward to your posts on these...
ReplyDeleteHarrison isn't a scientist, more of a popularizer of skepticism and the like. I'm with you on quantum mechanics and the like..my grouping it with cosmology is a bit of cheating!
DeleteI'm trying to read more diverse science but I keep coming back to my comfort zones of Cosmology, Human biology, Evolution and QM.
ReplyDeleteThat was my problem, but with human biology, evolution, and brain books. I'm awed at the premise of QM being a comfort zone!
DeleteTo be honest QM is *so* out there it makes me laugh out loud. Once you stop fighting its strangeness and just go with it then it's just so bizarre (and yet at the same time perfectly true) that it both calms me and makes me giggle at the ultimate incomprehensibility of the Universe.
Deletewhat you see is what you get... literally...
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