Science and Inquiry discussion
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What is your most recently read science book? What did you think of it? Part 3
1stly, many thanks to David for getting back to me.2ndly, on 1/14/22, I posted my 42nd pair of reviews, 1 for Sattler's Dinosaurs of North America (which is great: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) & 1 for Wenzel's Giant Dinosaurs of the Jurassic (which is very good: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ).
Everything All at Once: How to Unleash Your Inner Nerd, Tap Into Radical Curiosity, and Solve Any Problem by Bill Nye the Science Guy was my third book by him & my least favorite so far. It was a little too long, strident, & superficial to really blow any wind up my skirt. I gave it a 3 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister was fun & interesting. It was nice to get the feminist side even if she did go a bit far at times. I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I thought A Natural History of the Future: What the Laws of Biology Tell Us about the Destiny of the Human Species by Rob Dunn would be great since I really liked another of his books, but it was a bust. It got a 1 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
How Science Shapes Science Fiction by Charles L. Adler is one of the Great Courses & was a real pleasure to listen to. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Art of War may be the oldest book I've ever read, but it is truly a classic on warfare strategy. I can see why it's still taught today in military strategy curriculums.My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4562831953
Fighting Misinformation: Digital Media Literacy is a short Great Course that everyone should listen to. It's geared toward those who use Facebook & Twitter without understanding the dangers. I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jim wrote: "How Science Shapes Science Fiction by Charles L. Adler is one of the Great Courses & was a real pleasure to listen to. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.g..."
Sounds fancinating.
Recently I finished two very good science books:A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds, a study of migratory birds. Birds are my favorite animals. My Review
Immune: a Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive, the author is an excellent science communicator, I am impressed. My review
On 3/4/22, I posted my 43rd pair of reviews, 1 for Gaffney's "Dinosaurs: A Fully Illustrated, Authoritative and Easy-to-Use Guide" (which is great: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) & 1 for Guiberson's "The Greatest Dinosaur Ever" (which is terrible: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ).
Just finished
Our Biggest Experiment: An Epic History of the Climate Crisis by Alice BellReview: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli - a must read for those interested in political science or in Renaissance ItalyMy review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4481961636
Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past by David Reich had a lot of really interesting information in it, but was ultimately disappointing. The author's foibles might not bug others as much as they did me. I gave it a 3 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Coincidentally I happen to be reading Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past for the second time. I may amend my review because I too feel that some of his explanations were so convoluted and abstruse that I totally lost the thread. One suggestion would be to have provided more in the way of graphics instead of words. He provided some (even they were sometimes confusing) but he could have used more; e.g. pie charts or stacked bar charts to compare the mixtures of ancestral lineages, and perhaps cladistics-style branching diagrams to show branching and re-mixing. His written descriptions of these were long to the point that you lost your way before the sentence ended. Genetics is one of my favorite reading topics so I am prone to give good reviews even when I should probably be a little more critical.
Steve wrote: "Coincidentally I happen to be reading Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past for the second time. I may amend my review because I too feel..."That makes me feel less ignorant & curmudgeonly. I have the ebook too & would skim that after listening to his explanations. Often it didn't help much. Still, I almost gave this 4 stars & probably would have if he had been a bit more inclusive of all the work others in his lab did. His constant referrals to "MY LAB" just really set my teeth on edge. That might seem petty to some, but any science today is such a collaborative effort. It's not just expertise, but slogging through data. I do a lot of that in my own field (computers) so I know how difficult it can be.
To highlight the collaborative side, this morning I was reading an article about how the invasion of Ukraine is devastating so many scientific projects.
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireS...
Mod
That is so sad.
It is sad. Let's just hope school kids don't go back to hiding under their desk drills like we had when I was a kid. I'd hoped we left that behind us in 1989.
Mod
I remember drills in school during the Cuban Missile Crisis, in 1962. Sometimes we would hide under our desks, and sometimes in the hallways. A couple of times we all went home in the middle of the school day, to simulate an emergency.
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach was another fun look at some issues I hadn't known about before. Told with her charming wit, it was perfect for all the time I've spent waiting for doctors. I gave it a 4 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
We Are All Stardust: Leading Scientists Talk About Their Work, Their Lives, and the Mysteries of Our Existence by Stefan Klein was a really interesting dive into the scientists responsible for many outstanding scientific achievements. Highly recommended. I gave included the ToC in my 5 star review:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Recently finished Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas by Jennifer Raff. If you've read David Reich's book Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past you might enjoy this. Whereas Reich was only able to devote a chapter or so to the genetic history of indigenous Americans, it is the entire focus of Raff's book. And while Reich operates a very large international ancient DNA lab, Raff's is quite small by comparison. Raff spends quite a bit of time discussing the sensitive issues surrounding research into native American origins. Just read another article about the footprints in gypsum deposits found in New Mexico dated to possibly 21 to 23Kya. So the old theory of a single migration through an interior ice-free corridor less than 15Kya is being challenged, debated and revised.
This is a book by a geneticist:Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past, very informative My long review
This book is more of a history book:
Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History, very interesting, but probably the last book about diseases and pandemic I'd read in a long time. My short review
On 5/5/22, I posted my 44th pair of reviews, 1 for Wallace's Familiar Dinosaurs (which is great: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) & 1 for Brusatte's The Age of Dinosaurs: The Rise and Fall of the World’s Most Remarkable Animals (which is very good: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ).
Reality is Not What it Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity I like Carlo Rovelli a lot. He is so eloquent. My review
The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf was fantastic. I'd stumbled across von Humbolt's name numerous times, but never knew anything about him. What a shame! He was one of the most influential scientists of the 19th century & not just on the sciences, but also on art, poetry, politics, & more. Highly recommended. Here's my 5 star review with the ToC in it.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Camelia Rose wrote: "Reality is Not What it Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity I like Carlo Rovelli a lot. He is so eloquent. My review"
Such a good book:)
I'm currently reading This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession.I'm a singer-songwriter (obsessed with music) and a high school science teacher (obsessed with science, particularly biology) so this book is right up my alley. I'm enjoying making a playlist of all the songs mentioned as I go too.
Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina ThompsonThis was an ambitious book, and Thompson succeeded in writing an engaging book about the Polynesian settlements across the gargantuan Pacific Ocean.
My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4639910008
Recently finished The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins by Tom Higham, who runs with the David Reich-Svante Paabo crowd, but comes from the radiocarbon & radioactive decay dating side. His focus on paleoanthropology is from the point in time where there were at least four different groups of human species outside of Africa. Although not a molecular biologist I felt like he explained ancient DNA research better (for lay people like me) than some of those who are. Has the latest findings on Denisovans-surprising. When widely available it would make a good book club selection.
An Immense World A 10-star read! All about how all creatures see the world differently according to their senses, but how we all think we see the world complete! Very well written and interesting. I wrote half a review...
i read code breaker by Walter Isaacson
About a third of the way through https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... the author has a rather clunky and roundabout writing style, but it's an important topic so I'm marching forward.
i read Noise by Daniel Kahneman, found it a bit dry. Just before that read Cycles of Time by Roger Penrose and really loved it.
Steve wrote: "Recently finished The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins by Tom Higham, who runs with the David Reich-Svante Paabo crowd, but comes from the ..."Thank you for sharing. I read David Reich and liked it very much. Will definitely check this one out.
Finished Andrew Jewett's "Science Under Fire" yesterday evening. It's not lacking virtue but it doesn't represent the most incisive writing I've ever seen; and this is speaking as someone who loves a run-on sentence!
Just started A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by David Attenborough, and I am liking it so far.
Mod
It is a great book. There is a film also, produced by David Attenborough, which follows the book very closely.
George P. wrote: "Just started A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by David Attenborough, and I am liking it so far."I'm a fan of Attenborough's documentaries, so it's no wonder that I enjoyed it. It received 5 ☆ from me, something I infrequently bestow. His historical report of the percentage of earth that's still left "wild" was an unusual but appreciated approach.
On 7/2/22, I posted my 45th pair of reviews, 1 for Chuang/Yang's Age of Dinosaurs (which is great: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ) & 1 for Norell's All You Need to Know about Dinosaurs (which is very good: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ).
Immune: a Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive by Philipp DettmerAn unconventional but memorable nonfiction about the powerful Immune system. The author's style made the information accessible to many ages (teenaged and up) and regardless of the reader's knowledge level of biology.
My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4788409912
This Idea Is Brilliant: Lost, Overlooked, and Underappreciated Scientific Concepts Everyone Should Know is 175 short essays edited by John Brockman, another of his Edge Questions. As usual, it was fantastic. I gave it a 5 star review here:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Jim wrote: "This Idea Is Brilliant: Lost, Overlooked, and Underappreciated Scientific Concepts Everyone Should Know is 175 short essays edited by John Brockman, another of his Ed..."Added to my TBR...
Finished The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain. Annie Murphy Paul is a science journalist and this book is an exploration of the idea of extended mind proposed by Andy Clark, a philosopher and cognitive scientist. I have mixed feeling about it. I like the first part, thinking with your bodies, especially Chapter 1 about your intuition. The rest has nothing new. My review
I'm nearing the end of A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by (Sir) David Attenborough. Although the first half of the book which discusses all the ways in which we're destroying the environment is depressing. the second half gives hope by talking about what positive things are being done and what more could be done. 5 stars
A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them.Neil Bradbury wrote an interesting blend of hard science and accounts of poisoners from the 19th through 21st centuries and sprinkled them with allusions to writers such as Agatha Christie.
My review - www.Goodreads.com/review/show/4855383873
Mod
A Taste for Poison: Eleven Deadly Molecules and the Killers Who Used Them.[author:..."
I really enjoyed this book--very engaging!
Finished Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives, a comprehensive book on ageing. I like the author previous book on music and brain. My review
Recently I finished
, The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World by
Riley Black. This was an interesting read. Riley Black, the author, acknowledges that what she has written here is basically conjecture and some would even say fiction, but it is fiction based on science and she does a very good job, at least to my mind, of telling the story of the day the asteroid impacted the earth and the aftermath. Each chapter is an increment of time starting just before impact, the day of impact, the day after, a month after, a year, etc...The chapters also focus on specific species, both those that survived and may have ancestor species living today and those that went extinct because of the impact.
My only complaints are that at times she was repetitive, like she was reaching for things to say, and I felt the book became less interesting in the later chapters. Not to be missed, however, are the appendix pages where she talks in more detail about the science behind her speculations.
This is my review and I gave it 4 stars after I finished it. I feel it is definitely worth your reading time especially if you are a dinosaur fan like I am.
Finished up "Sputnik: The Launch of the Space Age" by Paul Dickson. What appears to still be the standard work on the event, with particular attention spent on the social and political nuances; especially how an open secret could turn into a huge shock.
Science and Inquiry
Books mentioned in this topic
Dinosaur!: Based on the Acclaimed Four-Part Television Series Hosted by Walter Cronkite (other topics)Wild Predators (Wild Kratts) (other topics)
Uncovering Dinosaur Behavior: What They Did and How We Know (other topics)
Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life (other topics)
Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Patchen Barss (other topics)James Bradley (other topics)
Peter Godfrey-Smith (other topics)
Brian Klaas (other topics)
Chris Lintott (other topics)
More...
Yes, Avi Loeb did publish a peer-reviewed paper (and some non-peer-reviewed papers) on the subject. See below. However, there have also been several peer-reviewed papers by other scientists, both for and against this hypothesis. Obviously, this is a controversial subject!
Bialy, Shmuel; Loeb, Abraham (October 26, 2018). "Could Solar Radiation Pressure Explain 'Oumuamua's Peculiar Acceleration?". The Astrophysical Journal. 868 (1): L1.
Loeb, Abraham (September 26, 2018). "How to Search for Dead Cosmic Civilizations". Scientific American. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
Loeb, Abraham (November 20, 2018). "6 Strange Facts about the Interstellar Visitor 'Oumuamua". Scientific American. Retrieved November 20, 2018.