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Help create a JREF recommended science books list?

andyandy

anthropomorphic ape
andyandy
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
8,377
just an idea - perhaps it's been tried before....

basically a grouping together of the best, most accessible books to introduce layfolk to different scientific fields

as a kind of rough and ready outline there could be

General science - books that take in the whole lot, either as reference [like Pears?] or as overview [Bill Bryson A short History?]

and then more specific areas of interest - [for example]

Cosmology

Evolutionary biology

Psychology

etc etc.

If we can get any kind of consensus, then a recommended list [perhaps with review, further reading etc] could be compiled....

i guess i'll see how the thread develops, to see if this is feasible or not....:)
 
Yes the book reviews are (or will be - it's only just started) written by us.

We've teamed up with a company that sells (mostly) Prometheus books so we get all the good stuff. :D

It should build up to be a nice little resource for skeptics over time.
 
Might as well get a couple of the obvious out of the way.

Cosmos by Sagan (general)
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Sagan (evolutionary biology)
Selfish Gene, River Out of Eden, Ancestor's Tale by Dawkins (evolutionary biology)
Guns, Germs and Steel by Diamond (general{anthropology})
 
Taner Edis has been working with CSICOP to maintain a Skeptic's Bibliography since the 1980s.

Submissions and book reviews are always welcome.

I would also investigate whether the JREF would volunteer to make the index available for their extensive on-site library.
 
Demon Haunted World - Sagan

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Neroscience)

Dead Men do tell Tales - Maples

Nibbling on Einstein's Brain (Childrens) Sawnson

Pale Blue Dot - Sagan

The Lady Tasting Tea - Salsburg (Statistics)

Mauve - Garfield

Longitude - Sobel

Flu - Kolata

Frauds, Myths and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology - Feder

Billions and Billions - Sagan

Awakenings - Sacks

The Boy who could not stop Washing - Rapopart

Sputnik - Dickson

These are most of the science books that helped me understand the world better. I have a lot more books but haven't really read them, just browsed them. Several/Most of these books I use when thinking or explaining new things. The neurology books are used whenever someone tells me they "sense" god or the know because they "saw" it.

I love books that explain the history of events or life, such as Flu, Sputnik, Mauve, The Lady Tasting Tea, and Longitude.

Hope this helps

Susan
 
cool - some good suggestions/ideas so far -

two of my favourites

Dawkins' Selfish Gene

Greene's Fabric of the Cosmos
 
Some that were enormously influential to me:

Atom by Issac Asimov. That book triggered several "Oh! Now I get it" moments for me.

Broca's Brain .
&
The Dragons of Eden Both by Carl Sagan. These (along with Cosmos) really opened my eyes to the sense of wonder and emotional fulfillment that could be gained through science.

The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins. I already had a sound understanding of evolutionary theory before reading it but after reading it I understood it in so much more detail.
 
Someone said Awakenings by Sacks and I agree that's good for neurology.

Phantoms in the Brain is also good with some simple neurology.
 
Does anyone think a selection of books on the history or philosophy of science would be useful for this effort? If so, I have some good suggestions appropriate for a general audience.

Also, does mathematics count?
 
ceo_esq said:
Does anyone think a selection of books on the history or philosophy of science would be useful for this effort? If so, I have some good suggestions appropriate for a general audience.

Also, does mathematics count?
Click to expand...

definitly to both :)
 
andyandy said:
definitly to both :)
Click to expand...


OK then.

  • David C. Lindberg's The Beginnings of Western Science (U of Chicago P 1992)

  • Edward Grant's The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages (Cambridge UP 1996)

  • Grant & Olson's Science & Religion (Johns Hopkins UP 2004) in two volumes (From Aristotle to Copernicus and From Copernicus to Darwin)

  • Steven Shapin's The Scientific Revolution (U of Chicago P 1996)

  • David Bohm's Wholeness and the Implicate Order (Routledge 1980)

  • Stewart Shapiro's Thinking About Mathematics (Oxford UP 2000)
 
The Song of the Dodo - David Quammen

Chaos - James Gleick

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea - Charles Seife

Measuring America - Andro Linklater

I know the last one will be pretty obscure to most people. It is a history of science text on surveying in the US, but it touches on economics, mathematics, and, most importantly, how to devise and select a system of weights and measures, and why the US ended up with the set we use today.
 
Two books that changed the way I see the world around me:

Salt by Mark Kurlansky - Imagine if everything you think you know about history is just a thin film over the real forces that drive mankind. One of those forces might just be something you would never expect.

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan - What do you eat when you can eat anything? And why do you eat it? You probably don't know as much about what's on your plate as you should.

and if we ever get a fiction section, I always liked The Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison.
 
CapelDodger said:
On the history/science interface, The Day The Universe Changed by the incomparable James Burke.
Click to expand...

Seconded and I'd like to add Connections in the general science category because it's a great example of how one discovery leads to another.

I'd also add one to the evolution list because it gives a frustrating, supportive and fascinating perspective on the Creation v. Evolution debate What does it mean to be 98% Chimpanzee by Jonathan Marks.

Along that line, while I haven't read them, I recommend The Naked Ape and The Human Animal by Desmond Morris.
 
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