Charbel's 2015 Science Challenge

[Bionic Jean]

It's a book I've wanted to read for a long time. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it, Charbel.

[Charbel]

I'll definitely let you know Jean!

[Charbel]

Every time I come close to picking up X-Events: The Collapse of Everything, I get depressed just from the title. I was meant to read it at the beginning of the month, but I feel like it will be a depressing read, and I might need to prepare myself.

[Diana]

You might like Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin.

It is sometimes advertised as something like "A Civil Action" but the legal aspects took a back seat to the environmental science throughout. It's a great read.

[Charbel]

Diana wrote: "You might like Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin.

It is sometimes advertised as something like "A Civil Action" but the legal aspects took a back seat to the environmental ..."

Thanks for the recommendation Diana. Sounds like something I'd enjoy.

[Diana]

Also! I think a must-read for you would be Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America, especially given your current and potential studies.

[Charbel]

Diana wrote: "Also! I think a must-read for you would be Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America, especially given your current and potential studies."

Thanks! Diana, I'm starting to sense that you are a fellow science enthusiast.

[Charbel]

Adding to the challenge:

The Mathematics of Life by Ian Stewart.

An Ocean Of Air: A Natural History Of The Atmosphere by Gabrielle Walker.

[Charbel]

X Events proved to be very similar to The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. It wasn't as depressing as I thought it would be, very simple and clear, but barely offered anything new.

[Charbel]

I've just had a chance to update my challenge, and now I see that I'm behind. Damn exams!

[Pink]

Haha, how did the exams go Charbel, have you finished them now?

[Charbel]

Hopefully well, thank you Pink. But now that I've started summer term, I have two next week, but they're not as intense.

[Pink]

I'm glad the worst are out of the way and good luck for the next two. When does your summer term end?

[Charbel]

Early August.

[Pink]

Not too long then. I wondered as summer term finishes earlier here in England.

[GeneralTHC]

I'm pretty into this kind of reading, Charbel. If you haven't read Bill Nye's book, Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation, I most certainly recommend it.

Some other must-reads I would suggest, if you haven't read them already:

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body

Why Evolution Is True

The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution

Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe

Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time

The Grand Design

The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus

The Universe in a Nutshell

And of course, the book by which science popularization books are measured:The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.

And probably some of the most beautiful writing about science and the human condition I've ever read is Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.

[Charbel]

I haven't read the Bill Nye book, Chuck. I'm familiar with his show though, and saw his debate against Ken Ham, so thanks for the recommendation!

But I have read some of the others such as those by Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins, and others are on my to-read list. In fact, The Grand Design is one of my all-time favorite books, and I find The Greatest Show on Earth to be the best book on evolution out there. But I am ashamed to say that I haven't read anything by Sagan yet. Therefore, it might be a shame to finish this challenge and not include one book by Sagan.

The Man who Mistook his wife for a hat is another book that I really want to read. It just never crossed my mind to include it in this challenge.

Have you read The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics by Leonard Susskind? It's a brilliant wonderful read. I highly recommend it.

[Charbel]

I am so behind on my challenge! I did start reading Does God Play Dice?: The New Mathematics of Chaos and I Think You'll Find it's a Bit More Complicated Than That. And I am still making my way through On the Shoulders of Giants.

[Leslie]

Charbel wrote: "I am so behind on my challenge! I did start reading Does God Play Dice?: The New Mathematics of Chaos and I Think You'll Find it's a Bit More Complicated Than That. An..."

Well, it is just for fun so I hope you aren't stressing about that! Although I admit that seeing how far behind I am on the 2015 GR Reading Challenge every day on the Home page does make my stomach roil :/

[GeneralTHC]

Charbel wrote: "Have you read The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics by Leonard Susskind? It's a brilliant wonderful read. I highly recommend it.
."

No, I sure haven't, but I certainly will. Thanks for the recommendation! I'm probably about to delve back into my science reading too. Here are some titles I'm considering:

What Is Life?: How Chemistry Becomes Biology

Creation: How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself

The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God

Once Before Time: A Whole Story of the Universe

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning: Why the Universe Is Not Designed for Us

God and the Multiverse: Humanity's Expanding View of the Cosmos

Edge of the Universe A Voyage to the Cosmic Horizon and Beyond

Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution

Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality

Finding Zero: A Mathematician's Odyssey to Uncover the Origins of Numbers

Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters

And I gotta say again, Charbel, Bill Nye's book is awesome!

[Charbel]

@Leslie- I guess I am stressing about it a bit. It's meant to be fun, not a chore. And anyway, maybe I'll make a part 2 for 2016, and read the books that I don't get to by then.

@Chuck- that list looks amazing! I'm going to search for Bill Nye's book on kindle. Please let me know which ones of these you think are good, especially Genome; the title caught my attention.

[Charbel]

Finished On the Shoulders of Giants: The Great Works of Physics And Astronomy, which I liked. I think it may have broken a record having taken me so long to finish it. Still a brilliant read though. Best parts were Newton and Einstein, as their works were so elegantly written and beautifully expressed.

[Charbel]

I finished Does God Play Dice?: The New Mathematics of Chaos by Ian Stewart. My review is here.

[Charbel]

Started The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design today.

It also looks like this challenge might drag into 2016.

[Paul]

And that is no bad thing. Was going to recommend the one I am reading at the moment to you: Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World

[Charbel]

Paul wrote: "And that is no bad thing. Was going to recommend the one I am reading at the moment to you: Stuff Matters: The Strange Stories of the Marvellous Materials that Shape Our Man-made World"

Sounds like a material science book. How is it so far?

[Paul]

It is indeed. Very good for an introductory text on materials.