Science and Inquiry discussion
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What science book is your most recent read? What do you think about it? Pt. 2
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David wrote: "I just finished reading a fascinating book, The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science, by Will Storr. Why do some people have these very strange, non-traditional be..."That sounds great.
Just finished Extinction: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago. Very enjoyable and mostly well-written book. Ties in nicely with recent research announcements. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Am about to start reading Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars. Anybody else reading, or read, it?
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Thanks for the suggestion, Steve--I had not heard of this book. It's on my "to read" list now!
Douglas Erwin, author of Extinction: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago also has another book that came out last year titled The Cambrian Explosion: The Construction of Animal Biodiversity. I definitely plan to read this since I've read at least five or six books on the Cambrian "explosion."
I read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. I admit I found much of it validating. As an adult I'm very comfortable with my introversion and "fake" extroversion as a tool for succeeding at work. Public school, on the other hand, was hell for me in 70s and 80s. :) I definitely identified with some of the author's stories.
Rohan wrote: "Finished reading How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown. It was an amazing book. Loved Author's writing style. A must read for all of you science lovers in this group. Here is my..."Have you read "The Pluto Files" by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and if so what did you think? I just finished it. Enjoyed it ... informative, well-written and at times downright funny.
I am almost finished with "The Omnivore's Dilemma." I am impressed with the logical and fair-minded position of the author. An extremely relevant book for all of us. Radically changed how I think about food. Most of us stuff things into our mouths without a second thought of where it comes from and even what, exactly, it IS. The author draws conclusions as he goes along based on what he discovers firsthand, from working on two radically different kinds of farms, spending time on a feed lot, hunting and gathering food, and ultimately preparing it and eating it. I find it hard to put down.
In the book I am currently reading, the author is describing the formation of the solar system from the primordial nebula when he states: "Microscopic grains of metal, rock, ice and tar rained out from the whirling disk as it slowly cooled."Tar? I thought tar was an organic substance made from distilled coal, wood or other organic matter. Is there some kind of tar that would/could have existed in the solar nebula?
Steve wrote: "In the book I am currently reading, the author is describing the formation of the solar system from the primordial nebula when he states: "Microscopic grains of metal, rock, ice and tar rained out ..."Interesting..
Metal. That’s metal.
Ice. That’s water.
Rock. That’s simple non-organic compounds.
…
They say there could have been short chains of carbohydrates in that media.
Maybe the author is referring to viscous materials made out of those carbohydrates?
I wonder how long will it take for a chunk of that goo to cool down into a solid?
Though, there were constant collisions producing a lot of heat. And the gradients of temperature must have been enormous through the media, establishing different types of environment. Interesting place to visit some day. Or just take a peek.
I can't find a precise chemical definition of "tar," but it seems like a real stretch to label the hydrocarbons in space as tar.
Well, I just finished Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars, and aside from the "tar" business, it was a pretty good read (4 stars) although he does go off on several seemingly unrelated tangents at times. But he's young, he can write, and I expect good things from him in the future. Here's my review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I've now read two books by Nicholas Wade and rated them both 5 stars. The one just finished was The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures. The book made me uncomfortable and a bit nervous at times but the way he wraps it up in the final chapter is phenomenal.Here's my review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker. A lot going on here. I think her husband evidence that language and intelligence are not as closely related as we might believe. He shows that there is a language module which has developed in our brains And which of course has obvious evolutionary advantages. I have often wondered if there are universal rules of grammar, And I'm delighted To find that pinker presents almost irrefutable evidence that there are. pinker also good naturedly bashes is the language mavens and their outdated inconvenient grammatical rules.Pinker's prose is clever and funny throughout the book, and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the examples he gives. he talks about the amazing capacity that children have in acquiring language and the Q's and logical errors that they make. (" the ants are my friends, they're blowing in the wind." Bob Dylan. " I don't want to go to your ami." from "Miami.")
Pinker Compares these errors to errors which are never made: "Kelvin dined the pizza." it seems we are almost born knowing that the verb dying it does not require an object , while the verb devoured does always require an object: one would never say "Kelvin devoured."
I am fascinated by neurolinguistics so this book has been an absolute joy for me, but I recommend it to anyone who likes wordplay. " Child's school great for use in garden." " columnist gets urologist in trouble with his Peers." priceless!
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I recently read The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology. I liked it but not as much as I hoped to. My short review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...And I just finished THE NATURE OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD, which I really enjoyed. Here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Steve wrote: "I've now read two books by Nicholas Wade and rated them both 5 stars. The one just finished was The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures. The book..."Interesting. I've just about given up on Before the Dawn. I enjoyed the first half, but when he started using phrases like "prized freedom" when speaking of the transition from nomadic life to sedentary life, he lost me. It's hard enough to gather the information about physical and cultural changes. Attributing psychological motivations is the bane of anthropology.
It's been a while since I posted on this thread. I took a break from reading Science books towards the later part of last year specifically from Sept 2013 -December. Anyhow, since then I have read some good and some really good books on Science:The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind by Michio Kaku
Electric Universe: How Electricity Switched on the Modern World
Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It
Super Brain: Unleashing the Explosive Power of Your Mind to Maximize Health, Happiness, and Spiritual Well-Being
Automate This: How Algorithms Came to Rule Our World
The God Delusion
The Selfish Gene
I didn't quite like Super Brain because of all the spiritual elements mentioned by Deepak Chopra and also didn't like "Electric Universe" for simply not providing enough information about major topics related to it. Apart from these two, all other books are good reads.
You can get my reviews of these books here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Rohan
David wrote: "eHead wrote: "The last really great book I read was Moral Tribes, by Joshua Greene (?). It's about moral psychology and philosophy, and the two modes of moral thinking (fast intuitions and slow rat..."That does sound interesting. Enough to be a book club read.
Nancy wrote: "David wrote: "eHead wrote: "The last really great book I read was Moral Tribes, by Joshua Greene (?). It's about moral psychology and philosophy, and the two modes of moral thinking (fast intuition..."I agree Nancy.
I'm currently reading Deborah Blum's The Poisoner's Handbook The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Being a chemist, my views are probably subjective. Nevertheless, I believe that this is quite a readable book for non-experts as well. Discussed by the author are the birth and development of forensic toxicology, especially as engendered by certain perplexing and surprising incidents in the U.S. of A. Deborah Blum discusses at length eleven chapters in all - each of them pertaining to a certain poisonous compound/element. The book is very informative and kindles the curiosity of the reader, especially if the reader happens to be someone interested in the chemistry of drugs and poisons.
It is not a great popular science book, but it certainly is a good one.
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We read that as a group a couple years ago. I agree, I really enjoyed it. And I'm not a chemist, but it was interesting on several levels.
Here is the discussion thread for it:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Adharsh wrote: "I'm currently reading Deborah Blum's The Poisoner's Handbook The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Being a chemist, my views are ..."
As a chemistry student and a fan of true crime stories, this is def going on my to-read list.
Just read "Does God Play Dice? The New Mathematics of Chaos." I really enjoyed it, it is extremely well written, but it did not really explain the mathematics very well, to me. Beautiful and fascinating pictures of fractels but only a vague explanation of how they come about. Still don't "get" how equations involving complex numbers come out like that on a graph. Anyone?
I've just read Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love. Actually, I listened to an audio version of the book. I found the first third of the book a bit boring but enjoyed the rest of it. Worth reading if you'd like to feel the mindset of the era and to get a not-so flattering insight into Galileo Galilei both as a philosopher/scientist and as a human being.Here's the link to my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Different Languages. by Guy Deutscher. very cool.
The Beginning of Infinity by Davis Deutsch (apparently a physical philosopher or philosophical physicist). Interesting, if somewhat Eurocentrically biased, about the evolution of homo sapiens, it's technology, and whether it can continue.
David wrote: "I just finished reading a fascinating book, The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science, by Will Storr. Why do some people have these very strange, non-traditional be..."Oh, I'm going to have to put that one on my list.
Here is the link to the book Bill mentioned.The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World
And the one Nancy mentioned.
Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages
will someone please tell me again how to underline the title to the book, so people can go to the link?
On the right side of the comment box is "add book/author". If you click that, a dialogue box appears. Type in the name of the book and search. When you see the book on the left side, click "add" on the right side. The default is the link to the book. The underline is automatic. If you want to add the cover, click "add book/author" again. Once again the dialogue box appears, but this time you will see the book already listed. At the bottom of the dialogue box are two buttons. One is "link" and one is "cover". Click "cover" and the info link to cover will be added to the comment box after the link to the book. Now post and you should see the link followed by the cover.
Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other LanguagesThrough the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages
Aha! Thank you Stan. I think the comment box in the mobile version does not have this option!
Hummm. I've heard talk about this mobile version. Is that in Alabama?
Nancy wrote: "Just read "Does God Play Dice? The New Mathematics of Chaos." I really enjoyed it, it is extremely well written, but it did not really explain the mathematics very well, to me. Beautiful and fascin..."
Stan wrote: "Hummm. I've heard talk about this mobile version. Is that in Alabama?"Well, right now it is in Erie, Pa.! and before that, Minneapolis, and before that, Winnepeg ... how did we ever survive without wireless? :-)
Stan wrote: "Hummm. I've heard talk about this mobile version. Is that in Alabama?"LOL!
Nancy wrote: "Aha! Thank you Stan. I think the comment box in the mobile version does not have this option!"I just tried it on my phone....you're right I don't see the option on the reply on the mobile version, but I switched to the desktop version and it works just the same. YMMV
I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature. Here's the link to my opinion of this book:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Thank you, Kenny and David, for your participation and great contribution in Science and Inquiry discussions!!!
My most recent read was Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll. I enjoyed it a lot, especially with all the excitement around the discovery of the Higgs Boson.Parts of the book were too technical for me, especially the sections where he speaks about the possibility of more than one Higgs and how this links to concepts of super-symmetry, among others, but it is still a good read.
Currently reading The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code, which is very good.
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Krishna, which book did you read about Fermat's last theorem? (There are a few of them.)
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Looks intriguing. I've put the book on hold at the library. Thanks for the suggestion!