Science and Inquiry discussion
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What science book is your most recent read? What do you think about it? Pt. 2
GoodReads is changing the authors on all lectures to "NOT A BOOK" & not even listing the author as a narrator. They're deleting them entirely! I don't know why lectures suddenly aren't books. They have an ISBN & are distributed by libraries & resellers as books. They often come with an ebook full of notes. I've spent a lot of hours reading & writing reviews for them here. I often refer to those in discussions of other books by the same author here in various groups.
I've never been happy with they way GR has handled audio books. Listing the number of CDs or tapes as pages was stupid from the start & yet they don't list the number of files as pages. They should just list a minute per page, IMO. I think that's close to an average reading speed & would work for me. As it is, I never pay attention to that data.
Anyway, could you please send an email to support@goodreads.com & ask them to keep lectures as books? Apparently this is a staff decision & maybe if enough of us complain they'll change their minds. Making the author a narrator would be fine, but deleting them entirely really sucks.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
I loved The Hidden Life of Trees by this author, so I am anxious to read this one. Just a few pages into it and hooked.
Jim - don't think this is anything this group could help with - you need to post this at the Librarian's group. And you may not get the answer you want.
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "Jim - don't think this is anything this group could help with - you need to post this at the Librarian's group. And you may not get the answer you want."It's there too, but I thought users would like to know & weigh in with GR support since that's where the change has come from. The librarians seem dead set on the change for some reason & yet it affects regular users. I have quite a few science lectures that have the authors changed & may be deleted.
My most recent read was I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life. I was fascinated— mostly I think because so much of the microbe science has exploded since I was in school. Not even something I encountered a lot in my infrequent adult reads of science magazines and other nonfiction reads. Approachable and interesting. I'm not qualified to even begin to judge how accurate, but it was all logical.
I am also reading I Contain Multitudes - absolutely fascinating.
Debbie's Spurts (D.A.) wrote: "My most recent read was I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life. I was fascinated— mostly I think because so much of the microbe science has exploded..."I am glad you guys like it, I just loved it, it is amazing
Debbie's Spurts (D.A.) wrote: "My most recent read was I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life. ..."I've been wanting to get that as an audiobook. I think I read about it in connection with Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal where she talks about how the maternal line can be traced back due to the mix of bacteria in the colon. Apparently it's very specific to each person & is inherited from the mother.
That influence comes largely in breastmilk.
To all those enjoying "I contain multitudes", I always direct people to read Ed Yong's articles and columns (at National Geographic and The Atlantic). Easily one of the best science writers of today!
Hello all, Long time no post! I've been busy with Grad school and haven't had much time to read anything besides journal articles.
I did finish Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything recently and thoroughly enjoyed it. The authors cover a wide variety of topics from medical cannibalism to blue light. They had tons of artwork and photos of the advertisements.
I saw an interesting article yesterday (I think) on how researchers think "missing microbes" can help cause childhood cancer: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-44199844 .
Mod
I just read Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks and would highly recommend it. Such a delightful account of how he pursued his passion for chemistry as a school boy in post-war London.
Susan wrote: "I just read Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks and would highly recommend it. Such a delightful account of how he pursued his passion for chemistry as a school boy in post-..."I liked that one too! Anything by Oliver Sacks. There are some cool books that are a mixture of science and autobiography ...
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickham, Rocket Boys
The Periodic Table
Must read is Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard Feynman.I also recently read and enjoyed Walter Lewin's For the Love of Physics: From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge of Time: A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics. It's somewhat autobiographical.
Nancy wrote: "Susan wrote: "I just read Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks and would highly recommend it. Such a delightful account of how he pursued his passion for chemistry as a schoo..."Yes, am a huge fan of Sacks' writing. He sure knew how to make science come alive!
I recently found a copy of Levi's Periodic Table and planning to read it soon.
I liked it, it was thought provoking. As far as Dr. Sacks, after reading
. I read a book written by the title character, Temple Grandin,
If you found her story to be interesting in Sacks' book, as I did, you will find her book fascinating. They also made a movie about her, called simply "Temple Grandin" I believe, and also very good.
I find it intriguing to read about people whose minds work differently than the average human brain.
Redefining Reality by Steven Gimbel is a fantastic lecture series about how science has changed our point of view through the ages. Gimbel gives great explanations of a variety of sciences. Anyone can understand them & then he puts them in their social context. Highly recommended. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural HistoryDoes an excellent job covering different topics in extinction. From "discovery" of extinction to how to prevent extinction all the way to extracting DNA from already extinct animals.
There are a few chapters that made it difficult to read- primarily discussion of the Great Auk extinction and the bat fungus- but it was overall an enjoyable read.
I haven't finished it just yet, but I'm far enough through that I feel that I can give a review of Mary Roach's Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal
I started off with mixed feelings about her style. I got a few chuckles out of her jokes, but I found them somewhat corny and extraneous. To me, a good author, and science author in particular, is one that can present great content with engaging and easily digestible style. Humour helps a lot - that's what I really like about Bill Bryson - but in the case of Mary Roach, I didn't find that her style helped to make the book any more readable.
I also found her habit of describing her subjects' clothing and facial features a bit frivolous. I get that she's trying to go for the narrative nonfiction style, but most of the time I found the narrative parts trivial and didn't help the book along at all. Another weakness in her writing is her awkward chapter transitions.
But as the content grew more and more interesting, the pace started to pick up, my chuckles grew into guffaws, and the book started to grow on me. I came to appreciate the deep, in-your-face research undertaken by the author, even though I didn't think it was necessary for her to describe it as she did. I've seen other authors attempt it - like Helen Czerski, but most are not able to pull it off the way Roach does. She really is a master of the genre, and while her style might not be my personal favourite, I think that other popular science authors can learn a lot from her about how to make science hands-on and fun.
Joel wrote: "I haven't finished it just yet, but I'm far enough through that I feel that I can give a review of Mary Roach's Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal..."I really like her writing. My wife & I always got a kick out of her column in Reader's Digest which was about the daily struggles of a couple my age. She often hit the nail on the head & had us chortling with laughter.
When I found her first book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, I was thrilled & liked it so much that I've bought & read every book she's published since then. Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex is probably my favorite. 'Gulp' & Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void are right up there, though. 'Spook' & 'Grunt' weren't as good, but still worth reading.
Mod
Betsy wrote: "Just finished The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler and really enjoyed it. Here is my re..."Phenomenal book. You must check out his other one too - The Demon Under the Microscope: From Battlefield Hospitals to Nazi Labs, One Doctor's Heroic Search for the World's First Miracle Drug.
I am just starting Steven Pinker's "the blank slate" and already can tell it's going to be a provocative read. From the intro: "the denial of Human Nature has not just corrupted the world of critics and intellectuals but has done harm to the lives of real people. The theory that parents can mold their children like clay has inflicted child-rearing regimes on parents that are unnatural and sometimes cruel. it has distorted the choices faced by mothers as they try to balance their lives, and multiply the anguish of parents whose children haven't turned out the way they hoped. The belief that human tastes are reversible cultural preferences has led social planners to write off people's enjoyment of ornament, natural light, and human scale and force millions of people to live in drab cement boxes. The Romantic notion that all evil is a product of society has Justified the release of dangerous Psychopaths who promptly murdered innocent people. And the conviction that Humanity could be reshaped by Massive social engineering projects led to some of the greatest atrocities in history."
Nancy wrote: "I am just starting Steven Pinker's "the blank slate" and already can tell it's going to be a provocative read. From the intro: "the denial of Human Nature has not just corrupted the world of critic..."That's the next one on my list. I heard many of his talks before I started reading his books. Started with 'The Language Instict' because I like linguistics - really liked Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, John McWhorter's The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language (as well as his talks), Guy Deutscher's The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention. I actually didn't like Steven Pinker as much as those because he focused much more on the psycology rather than how languages change throughout history, which I found very interesting about those other books.
At that point, I figured I better read his books is order (except the more academic ones). Already read How the Mind Works, and The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature is next. I already own The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined, and The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century (which I really think I'll enjoy).
I was also inspired to read The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do by Judith Rich Harris and Edward O. Wilson, as well as Jonathan Haidt. I think with those authors, you have a quite complete theory of psycology, linguistics, and evolutionary psycology.
I just loved both How the Mind Works and The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language.Love everything I've read by McWhorter; I think it was you who recommended him to me in the first place.
Interesting quote from We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, regarding the chimp Viki who lived as a family member with some humans:
"A few years ago I found something on the Web that Viki's father had said. He was complaining about the way Viki is always held up as an example of a failed experiment. Doomed to failure, because they tried to teach her to speak orally, which, of course, a chimp is physiologically incapable of doing. As we now know.
"But Mr. Hayes said the the significant, the critical finding of their study, the finding everyone was choosing to ignore, was this: that language was the ONLY way in which Viki differed much from a normal human child."
Nancy wrote: "Love everything I've read by McWhorter; I think it was you who recommended him to me in the first place..."Indeed, I was! :)
Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley.My review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Life and Times of the Telescope by Fred Watsonhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...
Not necessarily an example of the latest thing going around in 'science and inquiry', but I found it an interesting background to the instrument that has perhaps had the most profound impact on scientific discovery, humble as it might be.
Mod
My review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Joel,
Thanks for mentioning this book. I am putting it on my "To Read" list. And your review is great!
Mod
this is one of the best science books i have read so far.... :-)"
Krishna, that looks like a wonderful book. Thanks for bringing it to our attention!
I'm reading The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World and so far it is great! I loved dinosaurs as a kid, and now my 3 year old is obsessed so I was very glad to find this book.
David wrote: "Krishna wrote: "The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptographythis is one of the best science books i have read so far.... :-)"
Krishna, that looks..."
Read this book when I was younger and it had a huge influence on me. Simon Singh has several other good book, including Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem and Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe and you can find videos of him on YouTube on the Numberphile channel.
David wrote: "Joel wrote: "Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley.My review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Joel,
Thanks for men..."
Thanks David!
Betsy wrote: "Just finished The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler and really enjoyed it. Here is my re..."Excellent book and I also recommend the other Hager book, Demon Under the Microscope.
My recently read book is similar too:
The Barbary Plague: The Black Death in Victorian San Francisco
Excellent public health mystery at the intersection of racial history, politics, and science. The mystery that tugs the plot along is: How do the scientists prevail over the plague spreading through San Francisco while being blocked by the local politicians who think their investigation bad for business and without support from the locals who mistrust their motives?
Jim wrote: "The 30th anniversary edition of The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins was fantastic. Besides reading the origin story of the 'meme', the whole concept of how complex proces..."So I got that as an audiobook and I could not listen to it. Dawkins constantly interrupted the (female, hmm) narrator and talked about inane footnotes that they added in for this edition. Completely lost any narrative coherence and worse, so many of the footnotes were vociferous refutations against criticism. It sounded like he was being overtly defensive about his work and it just came across as whiny especially when he would punch down at critics like lay reviewers and university students. I know there's seminal work in it, but I just can't get past the constant interruptions and holier-than-thou attitude.
Sid wrote: "So I got that as an audiobook and I could not listen to it. Dawkins constantly interrupted the (female, hmm) narrator and talked about inane footnotes that they added in for this edition...."Wow, Sid, we had completely different takes on the book & this edition. I really liked the switch to Lalla Ward's narration which is a feature of all his audiobooks that I've listened to. I also found the footnotes fascinating nor did I have any trouble keeping the narrative coherent. They weren't all refutations against criticism, either. Many pointed to new studies that took his ideas further & proved them out. He also points out a few places where he was wrong or better studies.
This book, along with The God Delusion have both generated a lot of negative comments & press from the Religious Right. This edition was used to answer & clarify some of his arguments which is made clear in the introduction. It's one reason I liked it so much since those twisted arguments are often used around here. If you can't get past the interruptions, perhaps you should listen to the original edition or get it in another format.
I recently found that I can't read Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World in ebook format, so I got the hardback which allows sticky notes to mark sections & underlining. Francis has a lot of footnotes plus other sections that I want/needed to refer to quickly & I just can't do that in an ebook. I'm really glad I didn't try listening to it.
I am almost finished reading How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics and it is really mind-blowing, sorry for the pun. A 5 star book for me because it Pollan describes and explains as much as possible the way psychedelic substances work. Great treatment of a politically sensitive subject. Overturns many commonly held beliefs that have been instilled in us over the past few decades, and describes experimental data indicating that these drugs probably have significant therapeutic value.
Mod
Nancy, I agree with you--it is a wonderful book. I learned a lot from the book, and my attitude towards psychedelics is completely turned around.
David wrote: "Nancy wrote: "I am almost finished reading How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics and it is really mind-blowing, sorry for the pun. A 5 star book for me because it..."Mine as well. I think we were brainwashed back in the 60s-70s. Lot of misinformation out there.
I finally finished Domesticated: Evolution in a Man-Made World & really enjoyed it. It was a bit over my head, but fascinating. I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I recently finished I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life (hope I linked right, haha). I enjoyed it, and it really made me think about all the parts of us and what it means to be human/alive. I am currently reading Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable, and What We Can Do About It, which may not exactly be science but falls into the broader category of STEM. I cannot believe all the hacks that I've never heard of, how vulnerable we are, and that something worse has not yet happened.
Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation by Steven Johnson.
My review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist about a week ago. Overall, it's an okay book but I felt like it could have been better written. It reminded me of an old war hero just recounting his war tales. I would like to see a comparison on how forensic anthropology has changed in the past two decades and I am interested in if the government is still doing continued efforts for finding missing soldiers.
Courtney wrote: "I finished Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist about a week ago. Overall, it's an okay book but I felt like it could have been bette..."I liked it & gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
He was pretty stiff & somewhat pompous, but his age & experience made that somewhat understandable. One of the best things was that I stumbled across the Doe Network which makes me realize just how 'best case' some of the identification shown in this book & TV shows really is.
http://www.doenetwork.org/
Mod
David wrote: "I just finished reading Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters, by Matt Ridley. Mr. Ridley has written a number of books about evolution, and this one is very good. My on..."Glad I brought you over to the dark side ;)
That's the one complaint I had about it too. Looking at the suggested reading in the back it becomes very apparent. The problem is that the most serious attempt at an update - The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee fell short. I like The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean. The other thing to note is that the fact that the literature was so sparse when Ridley wrote this book is actually a testament to his accomplishment. Also, his political commentary doesn't grow old.
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