NonFiction - What to read?

Thorpe · 01-30-2007, 06:49 AM

A good friend of mine suggested that I read the follow books, and was wondering if anyone here has had a chance to read them.

Amazon.com: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference: Books: Malcolm Gladwell
Amazon.com: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking: Books: Malcolm Gladwell
Amazon.com: The Universe in a Nutshell: Books: Stephen William Hawking
Amazon.com: A Brief History of Time: Books: Stephen Hawking
Amazon.com: Cosmos: Books: Carl Sagan

And as for fiction, he also suggested;

Amazon.com: 2001: A Space Odyssey: Books: Arthur C. Clarke

darksensei · 01-31-2007, 12:50 AM

If you could respond with what level of text you are looking for I could direct you to some good physics books. (I don't think the Hawking books are worth reading)

The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by Richard Feynman (More biography than science, but probably the most entertaining reading you'll find related to physics and one of my favorite all time books).

The Great Physicists from Galileo to Einstein by George Gamov (Also more biography, but includes some rudimentary science.

In terms of the science fiction novels, I'd just refer you to the other threads we have here on the subject.

Eomer · 01-31-2007, 06:21 AM

I read A Brief History of Time. It's a fairly light read, not very in depth, but interesting enough if you don't have much of a background in physics.

Critical Mass by Phillip Ball was a very interesting book about how interactions on very small scales, and very large scales have lots in common, and how it may be possible in the future to formulate a "physics of society."

Eduardo · 01-31-2007, 08:10 AM

"Zen and the Brain" by James H Austin is essential reading, though a bit heavy in spots, it helped in my physics studies. edit: can't forget Godel, Escher, Bach, another essential.

And if you are looking for interesting physicists to read: Hannes Alfven, Ilya Prigogine, David Bohm,,, as a start.

If you want an interesting book on Cosmology check out "The Big Bang Never Happened" by Eric Lerner and "Cosmic Plasma" by Hannes Alfven.

edit: and I agree that hawking isn't really worth reading, except as a study of one of the fallacies of the gravitationally dominated cosmological view.
edit2: added links to amazon for those interested

chaos · 02-01-2007, 04:50 AM

I've been reading this lately:

Amazon.com: The Adventurer's Handbook: Life Lessons from History's Great Explorers: Books: Mick Conefrey

It's really pretty awesome, a basic overview of some of the most famous expeditions in history. The author tells it from a sort of pragmatic viewpoint, like if you were going to go on an expedition to wherever, what would you need to do and what mistakes would you want to avoid etc, he does this by retelling the stories of actual expeditions. Thor Heyerdahl is my favorite I think, but there is a lot of interesting stuff in there.

DoctorSpooge · 02-04-2007, 07:32 PM

Brian Green (Elegant Universe, Fabric of the Cosmos) are by far the best popular physics books I've read. Didn't care for Hawking.

Dirus · 02-20-2007, 12:11 PM

If you are interested in biology and conservation...

Just about anything by E.O. Wilson

The Future of Life
The Naturalist
The Creation

All excellent reads

Rune · 02-22-2007, 07:49 AM

I just finished Underwater to Get Out of the Rain by Trevor Norton, and it's sort of about marine biology, with a shade of everything. Very well written, British-style funny at parts. 9/10

prescient63 · 02-22-2007, 09:09 PM

One book I found entertaining if you are into the outdoors is the Army's field survival guide. I grabbed it for $10 and a good deal of it is common sense but some of it was pretty cool like how to build a tent in the dessert. At the very least it is an interesting read.

Just found it at amazon

Its also available free online, though I hate reading on the computer and it would probably cost more for you to print it yourself

Rune · 02-23-2007, 04:20 PM

Shadow of the Bear - Brian Payton

In much of the same vein as the marine biology book I recommended earlier, goes over the mythology and present day situation of the 8 surviving bear species. Not an omg conservation book.

The Last Season - Eric Blehm
The Last Season examines the extraordinary life of legendary backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson and his mysterious disappearance in California's unforgiving Sierra Nevada, and the search for his body.

Three good history books I read recently also, some overlap between 'em
Cod : A biography of the fish that changed the world by Mark Kurlansky
Salt : A world history by Mark Kurlansky
The Basque History of the World: The Story of a Nation by Mark Kurlansky

The three above are probably more suited for your trivial pursuit fans, the first two just sort of general purpose light reading.

vurt · 02-28-2007, 11:18 PM

I'm listening to The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality now and it's full of mind-blowing goodness. He tries to apply pop culture (as of 2004) references to his descriptive examples and I find them distracting and unhelpful, but the vast majority of the book is a real eye opener to the implications of modern physics.

Eomer · 03-01-2007, 06:41 AM

Just finished Scar Tissue. Pretty interesting, light read. Not amazingly well written, a little scatter brained (Keidis jumps all over the place sometimes, makes it difficult to follow what time period he's talking about), but overall if you're even a passing fan of the Chili's or music in general it's interesting to read about the rise, fall, rise, fall, etc etc of one of the biggest bands in the past quarter century, and how their lives intersected with a lot of other bands and famous people.

Just started State of Denial by Bob Woodward, and even in the first two chapters it's staggering the amount of access and information that guy is able to obtain. Entire conversations between Bush and others, or just people surrounding the administration, that you'd think would be impossible to obtain.

Rune · 03-02-2007, 04:44 AM

State of Denial was pretty good, but so was Fiasco and my personal favorite, Imperial Life in the Emerald City.

Also reading Wild : An Elemental Journey by Jay Griffiths. Pretty fucking trippy so far, has to do with the author just deciding to start touring out of the way places on earth. Probably the best written, most 'literary' book I can remember reading. Apparently though it's not for everyone.

... but Griffiths can be a little intense - the sort of person you might want to avoid at a cocktail party. An immersionist, she wants to let her blood course into the earth, to lie naked in the sun, to feel the tides flood her body, "inside and out." Fine, but Griffiths bracing prose is too often stoked with anger, with a hair-trigger contempt for anything that epitomizes the bridled world, including indoor sex, clean fingernails, golf ("greenery made stupid"), missionaries and the measurement of land, money or time.

Maybe it's just me but I think these reviewers need to take a stick out of their ass.

Here's from a user amazon review heh: Her sneering dismissal of Christianity--which many of her readers may find acceptable--is laden with ignorance about the actual facts, and amusing (although not surprising) in comparison to her unquestioning veneration of Eastern and other indigenous spiritualities.

All she said was that it was interesting how we venerate a dead guy on a dead tree who saved our souls and a tribe in the amazon has the legend of a woman who grows a living tree out of her vagina to save the world.

Khorum · 03-02-2007, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rune

a tribe in the amazon has the legend of a woman who grows a living tree out of her vagina to save the world.

That's preposterous. Next she'll be insisting that women have souls.

Castigator · 03-03-2007, 02:54 AM

If you've ever wondered what freaks up europeans about american democracy (or why europeans don't get all those american concerns about extensive social welfare, etc.. being counterproductive to a truly liberal society), read Post Democracy from Colin Crouch. Excellent stuff and a nice smooth read on top of it.

01-31-2007, 08:10 AM	#4 (permalink)
Eduardo Cinnamilk cures homeopathy Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 545 -2 Internets	"Zen and the Brain" by James H Austin is essential reading, though a bit heavy in spots, it helped in my physics studies. edit: can't forget Godel, Escher, Bach, another essential. And if you are looking for interesting physicists to read: Hannes Alfven, Ilya Prigogine, David Bohm,,, as a start. If you want an interesting book on Cosmology check out "The Big Bang Never Happened" by Eric Lerner and "Cosmic Plasma" by Hannes Alfven. edit: and I agree that hawking isn't really worth reading, except as a study of one of the fallacies of the gravitationally dominated cosmological view. edit2: added links to amazon for those interested Last edited by Eduardo : 02-01-2007 at 04:34 PM.

02-22-2007, 09:09 PM	#9 (permalink)
prescient63 You can't blame women for what they do wrong in the same way that you can't blame a dog for what it does wrong. Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 1,372 -6 Internets	One book I found entertaining if you are into the outdoors is the Army's field survival guide. I grabbed it for $10 and a good deal of it is common sense but some of it was pretty cool like how to build a tent in the dessert. At the very least it is an interesting read. Just found it at amazon Its also available free online, though I hate reading on the computer and it would probably cost more for you to print it yourself Last edited by prescient63 : 02-22-2007 at 09:15 PM.

03-02-2007, 04:44 AM	#13 (permalink)
Rune Bonafied Misanthrope Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: ATX Posts: 902 -2 Internets	State of Denial was pretty good, but so was Fiasco and my personal favorite, Imperial Life in the Emerald City. Also reading Wild : An Elemental Journey by Jay Griffiths. Pretty fucking trippy so far, has to do with the author just deciding to start touring out of the way places on earth. Probably the best written, most 'literary' book I can remember reading. Apparently though it's not for everyone. ... but Griffiths can be a little intense - the sort of person you might want to avoid at a cocktail party. An immersionist, she wants to let her blood course into the earth, to lie naked in the sun, to feel the tides flood her body, "inside and out." Fine, but Griffiths bracing prose is too often stoked with anger, with a hair-trigger contempt for anything that epitomizes the bridled world, including indoor sex, clean fingernails, golf ("greenery made stupid"), missionaries and the measurement of land, money or time. Maybe it's just me but I think these reviewers need to take a stick out of their ass. Here's from a user amazon review heh: Her sneering dismissal of Christianity--which many of her readers may find acceptable--is laden with ignorance about the actual facts, and amusing (although not surprising) in comparison to her unquestioning veneration of Eastern and other indigenous spiritualities. All she said was that it was interesting how we venerate a dead guy on a dead tree who saved our souls and a tribe in the amazon has the legend of a woman who grows a living tree out of her vagina to save the world. Last edited by Rune : 03-02-2007 at 04:46 AM.

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01-31-2007, 12:50 AM	#2 (permalink)
darksensei Registered User Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 872 +0 Internets	If you could respond with what level of text you are looking for I could direct you to some good physics books. (I don't think the Hawking books are worth reading) The Pleasure of Finding Things Out by Richard Feynman (More biography than science, but probably the most entertaining reading you'll find related to physics and one of my favorite all time books). The Great Physicists from Galileo to Einstein by George Gamov (Also more biography, but includes some rudimentary science. In terms of the science fiction novels, I'd just refer you to the other threads we have here on the subject.

01-31-2007, 06:21 AM	#3 (permalink)
Eomer You mean I can change this? Neat! Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 9,771 +26 Internets	I read A Brief History of Time. It's a fairly light read, not very in depth, but interesting enough if you don't have much of a background in physics. Critical Mass by Phillip Ball was a very interesting book about how interactions on very small scales, and very large scales have lots in common, and how it may be possible in the future to formulate a "physics of society."

02-01-2007, 04:50 AM	#5 (permalink)
chaos Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 4,297 +6 Internets	I've been reading this lately: Amazon.com: The Adventurer's Handbook: Life Lessons from History's Great Explorers: Books: Mick Conefrey It's really pretty awesome, a basic overview of some of the most famous expeditions in history. The author tells it from a sort of pragmatic viewpoint, like if you were going to go on an expedition to wherever, what would you need to do and what mistakes would you want to avoid etc, he does this by retelling the stories of actual expeditions. Thor Heyerdahl is my favorite I think, but there is a lot of interesting stuff in there.

02-04-2007, 07:32 PM	#6 (permalink)
DoctorSpooge Cock Dentist Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 415 -2 Internets	Brian Green (Elegant Universe, Fabric of the Cosmos) are by far the best popular physics books I've read. Didn't care for Hawking.

02-20-2007, 12:11 PM	#7 (permalink)
Dirus Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 130 +2 Internets	If you are interested in biology and conservation... Just about anything by E.O. Wilson The Future of Life The Naturalist The Creation All excellent reads

02-22-2007, 07:49 AM	#8 (permalink)
Rune Bonafied Misanthrope Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: ATX Posts: 902 -2 Internets	I just finished Underwater to Get Out of the Rain by Trevor Norton, and it's sort of about marine biology, with a shade of everything. Very well written, British-style funny at parts. 9/10

02-23-2007, 04:20 PM	#10 (permalink)
Rune Bonafied Misanthrope Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: ATX Posts: 902 -2 Internets	Shadow of the Bear - Brian Payton In much of the same vein as the marine biology book I recommended earlier, goes over the mythology and present day situation of the 8 surviving bear species. Not an omg conservation book. The Last Season - Eric Blehm The Last Season examines the extraordinary life of legendary backcountry ranger Randy Morgenson and his mysterious disappearance in California's unforgiving Sierra Nevada, and the search for his body. Three good history books I read recently also, some overlap between 'em Cod : A biography of the fish that changed the world by Mark Kurlansky Salt : A world history by Mark Kurlansky The Basque History of the World: The Story of a Nation by Mark Kurlansky The three above are probably more suited for your trivial pursuit fans, the first two just sort of general purpose light reading.

02-28-2007, 11:18 PM	#11 (permalink)
vurt vurtvertvirtvyrtvort Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: FSJ, BC Posts: 1,256 -4 Internets	I'm listening to The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality now and it's full of mind-blowing goodness. He tries to apply pop culture (as of 2004) references to his descriptive examples and I find them distracting and unhelpful, but the vast majority of the book is a real eye opener to the implications of modern physics.

03-01-2007, 06:41 AM	#12 (permalink)
Eomer You mean I can change this? Neat! Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 9,771 +26 Internets	Just finished Scar Tissue. Pretty interesting, light read. Not amazingly well written, a little scatter brained (Keidis jumps all over the place sometimes, makes it difficult to follow what time period he's talking about), but overall if you're even a passing fan of the Chili's or music in general it's interesting to read about the rise, fall, rise, fall, etc etc of one of the biggest bands in the past quarter century, and how their lives intersected with a lot of other bands and famous people. Just started State of Denial by Bob Woodward, and even in the first two chapters it's staggering the amount of access and information that guy is able to obtain. Entire conversations between Bush and others, or just people surrounding the administration, that you'd think would be impossible to obtain.

03-03-2007, 02:54 AM	#15 (permalink)
Castigator Registered User Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Phnom Penh Posts: 950	If you've ever wondered what freaks up europeans about american democracy (or why europeans don't get all those american concerns about extensive social welfare, etc.. being counterproductive to a truly liberal society), read Post Democracy from Colin Crouch. Excellent stuff and a nice smooth read on top of it.