Great Science books to read

[CutthroatX]

I love to read about science: all aspects of it. But I am not very mathematically inclined. Does anyone here know of any great science books for the average reader?

I like Physics, Biology, Theory, ect... I like just about everything to do with science. I especially like Q&A science books.

 

Any suggestions?

[iNow]

I enjoyed "Black Holes and Time Warps" by Kip Thorne. It taught me a lot about a many things I had no background in.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=I3GjbsTsOv0C&dq=black+holes+time+warps+thorne&pg=PP1&ots=Val_a0S5uF&sig=mh6CPKEkLb2KyzKhwcqwH25qk2I&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3Dblack%2Bholes%2Btime%2Bwarps%2Bthorne&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail

 

 

I also enjoyed "The Magic Furnace" by Marcus Chown.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Furnace-Search-Origins-Atoms/dp/0195143051

 

 

And anything by Richard Feynman is great.

[CutthroatX]

Yeah, I heard Feynman was awesome.

[Snoggums]

Lawrence M. Krauss has a few good reads. Such as The Physics of Star Trek and Atom. I think you'd enjoy him, I'd reccomend his books to anyone.

[CDarwin]

When you're tired of rotting your mind with physics mumbo-jumbo:

 

What Evolution Is, by Ernst Mayr

 

The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey(with a grain of salt), by Chris Beard

 

Anything by Craig Stanford, because he's s good writer, but with a very, very large grain of salt because he is religiously devoted to his meat-sharing idea and puts it in everything. I've read Upright and The Hunting Apes.

 

Coming of Age in Samoa, by Margaret Mead

 

Mutants, By Armand Marie Leroi

 

And if you're interested in science as a profession: Advice for a Young Investigator, By Santiago Ramon y Cajal

[CutthroatX]

Okay, I'm making a list so if anyone has any more suggestions; just tell me and I'll add them to my list the more the merrier. By the way I also like Botany if you have any suggestions for that.

 

So far I have:

 

What Evolution Is, by Ernst Mayr

The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey(with a grain of salt), by Chris Beard

Anything by Craig Stanford

Coming of Age in Samoa, by Margaret Mead

Mutants, By Armand Marie Leroi

Advice for a Young Investigator, By Santiago Ramon y Cajal

Anything by Lawrence M. Krauss

"Black Holes and Time Warps" by Kip Thorne (This name sounds familiar)

And

"The Magic Furnace" by Marcus Chown.

[lucaspa]

Yeah, I heard Feynman was awesome.

 

Dear God, NO! Avoid Feynman until you learn quite a bit in the field. Feynman liked being outrageous. He once said "I love to see how far I can lead people by the nose before they notice." If you don't know anything in the field, Feynman can lead you quite far.

 

What Evolution IS by Mayr, as someone noted.

The Whole Shebang by Timothy Ferris

Theories on the Scrapheap by John Losee (also his Philosophy of Science: An Historical Perspective)

Evolution by Mark Ridley

[Riogho]

The Theory of Almost everything, celebrating the standard model, the unsung triumph in modern physics

 

Robert Oerter

[JaKiri]

If you're interested in how science operates, then "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas S Kuhn and "Conjectures and Refutations" by Karl Popper are two books of scientific philosophy that describe how things go on.

 

You're almost certainly not, though. It doesn't have much of a wow factor.

[Reaper]

-Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins

http://www.amazon.com/Climbing-Mount-Improbable-Richard-Dawkins/dp/0141026170/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195879059&sr=8-1

 

-Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos by Michio Kaku

http://www.amazon.com/Parallel-Worlds-Journey-Creation-Dimensions/dp/1400033721/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195879162&sr=1-1

 

-The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe by Roger Penrose

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Reality-Complete-Guide-Universe/dp/0679776311/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195879197&sr=1-1

 

-The End of the World: The Science and Ethics of Human Extinction by John

Leslie

http://www.amazon.com/End-World-Science-Ethics-Extinction/dp/0415184479/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195879238&sr=1-1

 

-Richard Feynman's Nobel Lecture

http://users.wpi.edu/~ck/feynman_Nobel_Lecture.pdf

[Sigthror]

"The Selfish Gene"- Richard Dawkins

"Cosmos"- Carl Sagan

"The Ascent of Man"- Jacob Bronowski

"The Beak of the Finch"- Jonathan Weiner

"The Dragons of Eden"- Carl Sagan

 

And yes, I agree with the above comments. Richard Feynman is incredible!

[iNow]

-Richard Feynman's Nobel Lecture

http://users.wpi.edu/~ck/feynman_Nobel_Lecture.pdf

Thanks for that.

[Ophiolite]

Three excellent popular works on geology:

 

The Map That Changed The World - Simon Winchester

How William Smith more or less invented stratigraphy, correlation by fossils, and the practice of geological mapping.

 

The Dinosaur Hunters - Deborah Cadbury

This is not only great insight to the discovery of the first dinosaurs, but a great exploration of human character. Why this hasn't been filmed is beyond me. It has everything: the penniless girl who made money by selling fossils to tourists in Lyme Regis and went on to discover some of the major British dinosaur finds; the ambitious and unethical Richard Owen, at the centre of the scientific establisment; the country doctor Gideon Matell, whose careful descriptions yielded a better understanding of the nature of the beasts.

 

Trilobite - R.A.Fortey

Even if you don't thinkk much of arthropods you will likely be carried away by the enthusiasm of the author.

[bascule]

Here's my list, by subject. This is a list of basic overviews for laymen:

 

Physics

Relativity and QM - Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene

String theory - The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

Loop quantum gravity - Three Roads to Quantum Gravity by Lee Smolin

Status of modern physics - The Trouble with Physics by Lee Smolin

 

Biology

Operation of natural selection - The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

Emergent progress in evolution - The Blind Watchmaker and Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins

History of life on earth - The Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins

 

Yeah, guess you can tell who my favorite authors are

[Reaper]

Some more for you guys here:

 

-Surely You're Joking Mr.Feynman along with his sequel What do YOU Care What Other People Think

 

-Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays by Steven Hawking

 

-Contact by Carl Sagan

 

*On the side note, I had a teacher (in high school) who lived on the same street as Carl Sagan at one time.

[CDarwin]

Add Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind, by Don Johanson and Maitland Edey to my list. And old one but beautifully written and a nice introduction to the (pre-1980) history of paleoanthropology and the personalities involved.

[sofian]

thanks

[Reaper]

I cannot believe I forgot this one:

 

Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan

[iNow]

Good book. Click my username in my sig to see what inspired me to read that Carl Sagan beauty referenced above by Lockheed.

[coollokesh]

If u love science ... You'll surely love this site

sciencefreaks.co.cc

[s pepperchin]

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is good also.

[swansont]

"Why We Get Sick" by Nesse and Williamson

[antimatter]

"The Elegant Universe"

by Brian Greene

[Riogho]

The Theory of Almost Everything - Robert Oerter

 

The God Particle - Leon Lederman

 

The Road to Reality (Math) - Roger Penrose