A comment on Steve’s blog referring tangentially to one of my own effusions made me think of how many really great popular science books there are out there..
So, here’s an idea.
Why not post a few of your suggestions, and perhaps Richard could post an OT-wide page on the pop-science books that readers and contributors of OT really rate? Books that come with the OT seal of approval?
Here are a few of mine, in no particular order, and notwithstanding inasmuch as which, without having to think very hard…
Ben Goldacre – Bad Science
Bill Bryson – A Short History of Nearly Everything
He Who Must Not Be Named – Climbing Mount Improbable
Toby Appel – The Geoffroy-Cuvier Debate
Jared Diamond – Collapse
Jared Diamond – The Rise And Fall of the Third Chimpanzee
Oliver Sacks – The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat
John Gribbin – In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat
Stephen Jay Gould – Wonderful Life
James Gleick – Chaos
James Gleick – Newton
John and Mary Gribbin – James Lovelock: In Search of Gaia
Rebecca Skloot – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Steven Pinker – The Language Instinct
You’ve got several of mine, Henry – Goldacre, Gould, Bryson and the Diamonds.
One of my colleagues used to work in the same Department as Jared Diamond, and says JD is the only person he’s ever met in science who he thought really merited the (over-used) word “genius”.
Have to admit I’ve never read a science book by your Nemesis He Who Must Not Be Named, though I did once spend several airport hours chortling over The God Delusion.
And your list also reminds me that I really must get a copy of Rebecca Skloot’s book, which I remember Steven raving about a while back.
I’d also be tempted to add (as I’ve said elsewhere) John Diamond’s unfinished Snake Oil, though It isn’t really a science book. Definitely another one (along with Ben Goldacre’s) that everyone who encounters the Alt./Reality mob should read, though.
I guess I should post a list myself, shouldn’t I?. As I’m feeling a bit de-energised writing-wise it would also make for a “cheap” post.
I am very privileged to be able to say that I know Jared Diamond personally. He is the mot wonderful person – a true Renaissance Man. As for He Who Must Not Be Named – what I envy about him is his facility, and he is hard to match for the lucidity of his explanations. Skloot’s book is truly fabulous, in that she manages to get across a lot of quite tricky science without your being aware that you’re learning it – quite a feat. It’s probably a bit too personal and in-your-face for our somewhat reserved British tastes, but I think that this works in its favour.
And yes, I’d endorse John Diamond’s Snake Oil – for its frankness as a diary of a man dying from cancer. He was married to Celebrity Sex Goddess Nigella Lawson, you know.
Great idear-
Definitely can’t leave out “Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Childhood”, by Sacks, and several other great ones like “Island of the color blind”, “musicophilia” etc. Feynman’s “The pleasure of finding things out” should also be on the list, as well as “The scientist in the crib” by Gopnik, Meltzoff and Kuhl. I need to scrape the neurons up a bit to think of more that aren’t already on the list…
Island of the Color-Blind – another great book.
Feynman’s got to be in there somewhere. Surely You’re Joking, Mister Feynman is probably my all time favourite book by a scientist.
And Jim Watson’s The Double Helix rates a mention too.
Don’t you folks ever sleep on the udder side of the pond?
Never was much of a sleeper, Steve, even as a kid. I’m one of those late-into-bed-and-late-out people, so rarely asleep much before 2am .
Well, then–I just Tweeted to you a chess position that I faced some time ago, behind in material and under time pressure. Didn’t want to bore everyone here on OT…
Intriguing. Have tweeted a response!
Apologies to DR. Henry, Celebrity Nutritionist, for the hostile chess-takeover of his blog.
Good job, Austin-you are correct (that was fast!). 2…g6 loses to Rh8+ and then black loses his queen for a rook. Not altogether over, but all chances then favor white…
Right… I was getting fixated on 3 Rh8+ Kg7 4. R1h7+ trying to checkmate, when the K has the escape square on f6…. but like you say, 4 R8h7+ is the move, wins the Q and maybe mates too in some lines.
If you stick the position on your blog I’ll put the variations there! That way we won’t clog Henry’s book-talk with chess-ery.
Anyway, really must go to bed now…
I have a photo of a Scrabble game here somewhere….
Chess position? Sounds interesting.
I’m not a great fan of Diamond’s work, but if Bryson is included, I suppose he should be too.
One of my favourite books is Henry Gee’s In Search of Deep Time.
Which reminds me of yet another book I keep meaning to read but haven’t got around to…
Thanks John. The cheque is in the post.
I enjoyed Robert Sapolsky’s A Primate’s Memoir. On a recent program about stress, health, and lifespan, he said (of doing fieldwork in Africa) something to the effect that “It’s hard not to be happy out here” – I have to love him a little for that, because I’ve always dreamed of doing wildlife fieldwork in Africa. If natural history and environment books are included, I have a looonnng list, a few of which are below:
Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge
Bernd Heinrich, Why We Run, Winter World, Mind of the Raven etc.
Oliver Rackham, The History of the Countryside
Simon Schama, Landscape and Memory
Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert
Douglas Adams, Last Chance to See
lots of books by Edward Abbey, Rachel Carson, and Jacques Cousteau
I thought the title was leading us to a late review of Norwich City’s recent 2-1 home victory. As for science books, Fermat’s Last Theorem (and just about everything else by Simon Singh), is a wonderfully told story – if you accept the inclusion of maths.
I’d forgotten about the Reading game – driven out of my head by this week’s thrilling 3-1 win over Bristol. On The Ball City!!!
I’d like to include more biography and historical books, such as
John Gribbin Science: A History 1543 – 2001
Georgina Ferry Dorothy Hodgkin: A Life
Patricia Fara Sex, Botany and Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks
Adrian Desmond Huxley: The Devil’s Disciple
Adrian Desmond and John Moore Darwin
Desmond King-Hele Erasmus Darwin: A Life of Unequalled Achievement
Brenda Maddox Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA
Andrew Brown J. D. Bernal: The Sage of Science
Teach us a lot about how science has evolved and how we got to where we are….
I like science bios, but of those Athene listed I’ve only read the Dorothy Hodgkin one – which I also like because it has a couple of my mum’s photos in it! (an author one of Georgina Ferry and this one of Dorothy Hodgkin).
Really must read the Bernal bio, as he is one of my father’s scientific heroes, along with Francis Crick. I did once read Dorothy Hodgkin’s Royal Society obit/bio memoir of Bernal, which I imagine is one of the major sources.
Thanks everyone – keep ‘em coming….
Not strictly science, but science-inspired are Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum and The Island of the Day Before.
I had most of Cousteau’s books, and a biography of him by his son. Also probably saw most of his programs. Time to dig them out for the next generation…
Rather than come up with specific suggestions, take a look at the five star recommendations on the Popular Science website, here in reverse chronological order by year (though you can switch to alphabetic): http://www.popularscience.co.uk/bestbyyear.htm
but what are your personal favourites of all these, Brian?
I think when you’ve reviewed people’s books it’s invidious to have personal favourites, and they all appeal for such different reasons. I’d just say look through those 5 star ones, any one of which is excellent, and pick one that appeals to the would-be reader.
“Never mind Henry’s post–come and read my website!”
Nice idea, Henry. Maybe it’s the start of a project we could do jointly with Lablit?
Happy to post something on the main page.
Thanks! I was thinking more of pop-science rather than lablit, though.
Sure–but I’m thinking about longer term stuff. Hence ‘start of…’ — I need to ponder awhile.
Sorry, I tried to reply to this, but for some reason the system put the result at the bottom…
I am far too lazy to read through all of the comments, so I hope I don’t repeat too much. I did notice that you and others suggested a few that I will second: Sacks, Feynman and of course Bryson.
I’d also like to add Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel, and several by Jay Ingram (Talk, Talk, Talk: Decoding the Mysteries of Speech, The Science of Everyday Life, The Velocity of Honey: And More Science of Everyday Life and The Burning House: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Brain are all excellent).
If we’re getting as technical as The Double Helix, then I’d throw in The Third Man of the Double Helix by Maurice Wilkins, too – although I think this might be stretching the definition of “popular science” a bit (it’s a very good read though).
To Kristi’s recommendations I’d add the “new” Last Chance to See, from the recent follow-up BBC series – Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry. Every bit as good as the Adams original.
Finally, how about Invisible Frontiers: the race to synthesize a human gene, by Stephen S. Hall, which is historically interesting, and maybe even Nicholas Wade’s The Nobel Duel which was also a very good read.
I second “Galileo’s Daughter”, and also highly recommend Sobel’s “Longitude”. I’ve also just finished re-reading the original “Last Chance to See”, (what a fantastic book!), and I’ll be ordering the new one as soon as I’ve made my way through the stacks of unread novels all over my house! I’ll also buy “The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks” at that time.
“Gorillas in the mist” also made a great impression on me as a teenager – like Kristi, I’ve often dreamed of doing field work in Africa. Only natural, I suppose, given the influence David Attenborough had on me as a kid!
Jame’s Herriott’s books, which were the first to get me interested in anything scientific, probably don’t count…
Ah, thanks for that recommendation of Longitude.
As for LCTS and its sequel – anything with Kakapos in it is a-ok by me.
What about books that Carl Sagan wrote? Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors? Am I going to get gunned down for mentioning it?
sorry, the book authored by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan.
Where did that pink creature on the left come from?
Carl Sagan is great: I enjoyed ‘The Cosmic Connection’ when I was a lad. It was the first time I read that we were all made of ‘star stuff’.
And then there was Asimov. His books ‘The world of Carbon’ and ‘The world of Nitrogen’ taught me my first organic chemistry.
I used to love Asimov’s scientific short stories, and the scientific detective ones. There is a really great Asimov short story, which Henry probably knows, written as if by a scientist who is part of a secret goverment project studying a goose that really does lay golden eggs…
I do indeed. The story was Paté de Foie Gras.
The idea is that there’s this one goose that’s able to convert oxygen-18 into iron-56 by a kind of nucleosynthesis. The problem is that it’s hard, even in SF, to jump to gold-197 without a supernova. They only solution was to dissect the goose, which they daren’t, as there’s just the one – and it can’t reproduce, because all those heavy metals have made it sterile. So it’s just left hanging…
¿Where did that pink creature on the left come from?
I’ve always wondered the same thing, is my obsession, perhaps are the MMNVNR (Mutant Microscopic Nanotech Von-Neumann Replicator) created by Henry, which escaped from the sealed glass box of UFITOS of the Maison des Girrafes them.
¿Where did that pink creature on the left come from?
I’ve always wondered the same thing, is my obsession, perhaps are the MMNVNR (Mutant Microscopic Nanotech Von-Neumann Replicator) created by Henry, which escaped from the sealed glass box of UFITOS of the Maison des Girrafes them.
What, Richard, you’ve a problem with referring to people to site about popular science books, while plugging lablit below, which is about fiction? Bias some.
The point is, I edit the Popular Science site. The books with the five star ratings ARE my favourite popular science books – I just couldn’t whittle it down any more.
Yeah, I thought your first comment was shameless and unhelpful.
I didn’t point anyone to the lablit website–I simply said there might be a fun project involved.
I’d have thought that was for Henry to say, but since you own this place I suppose you feel it’s okay.
It’s a free world.
C’mon, play nice, chaps: Brian – I think it’s a fair question, though – you could add a few personal favourites here.
I nominate the recently published “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” by Siddhartha Mukherjee. I confess I’m still finishing it, but it’s a fantastic read and I daresay a future classic.
And I also loved the “Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot. (some similarities between the Skloot book and Mukherjee’s)
I heard Terry Gross interview him on “Fresh Air” on NPR a few months ago–if he writes as well as he speaks, I’m sure it’s a great book. Coincidentally, Terry is interviewing Rebecca Skloot on “Fresh Air” today…
Ha ha! Austin, yes, I remember that one. Very clever.
I forgot, Gregory Petsko in Genome Biology is very entertaining, and provides fascinating insights in e.g. the Human Genome Project. Available here, scroll all the way to the bottom for the free download.
I’d recommend these to students:
The Crucible of Creation: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals by Simon Conway Morris, read it with and compare it to its arch-rival, Wonderful Life: Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Steven Jay Gould.
Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe: The Story of Blue Babe by Guthrie. For any student to leaf through, not just palaeontologists, because it shows how much you can glean from one discovery. Guthrie examines one dead bison – yet draws from it conclusions in zoology, physiology, animal behaviour, predator-prey interactions, geological deposition, chemical changes, climatology, anthropology, etc.
Lucretius, On the Nature of the Universe, c50BC, to show that logical enquiry and fascination with the natural world is not new or specific to the scientific method. Lucretius observes everyday phenomena and deduces the existence of atoms…
Thanks for contributing, Steph. Blue Babe is a great suggestion. I read it as a graduate student, when I was studying Pleistocene mammals – it taught me a great deal about how palaeontologists come to cope with environments and circumstances that have now gone, such as the mammoth steppe – as such things are inherently hard to understand by comparison with what we now have.
I enjoyed “Longitude” too, and Bryson’s “Short History of Nearly Everything”.
Others:
Keith Thomas “Man and the Natural World: Changing Attitudes in England 1500-1800″
J E Gordon “The New Science of Strong Materials or Why You Don’t Fall Through the Floor”
“Metals in the Service of Man” William Alexander and Arthur Street
A F Chalmers “What is this thing called Science?”
There was another book we were encouraged to read before embarking on 1A Physics which was about the adventures of a man who could suddenly shrink and experience stuff at a molecular level like Brownian motion, but cannot remember author or title just that it was fun.
Oops, forgot to mention that In Search of Deep Time was excellent, and The Language Instinct (I came across when researching after my son was made deaf) was very interesting, although became irritated by Stephen Pinker’s style after a while!
Hi Sarah – welcome! I think Pinker’s style is rather Marmite-ish. I found the Language Instinct laugh-out-loud funny, and if anyone can do that with Chomskyian linguistics they deserve high praise from anyone. Mrs Crox will remember it as my beach reading one year and how I chortled my way through it.
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