Help create a JREF recommended science books list?

andyandy said:
quite - and the reviews will also have comments enabled beneath them so that if you disagree with a review you can add your own views....

that is when it's up and running :)
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Cool, but it seems ironic, to the extent this is endoresed by the jref.

I'd have to use things like evidence and skepticism to set the record straight.

Who bent the record? Individuals with the jref's stamp of approval (assuming this since the thread's stickied). The jref being the educational foundation whose mission is to promote skepticism.
 
bpesta22 said:
Cool, but it seems ironic, to the extent this is endoresed by the jref.

I'd have to use things like evidence and skepticism to set the record straight.

Who bent the record? Individuals with the jref's stamp of approval (assuming this since the thread's stickied). The jref being the educational foundation whose mission is to promote skepticism.
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The recommeded books section is not books endorsed by JREF but books which JREF members recommed - there is a distinct difference....although i can see that the title of the sticky is open to misinterpretation :) When it's open, anyone will be able to submit a book review and anyone will be able to comment on it (i think). An exchange of opinions is how things will be conducted....
 
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In the "introductions to..." area, would Trefil's work be considered too broad?
A Scientist at the Seashore was a great introduction for me, as a layperson. I also enjoyed A Scientist in the City.

Just a couple of suggestions.. and I second Sophie's World in the same vein. A novelization of a decent introduction to Philosophy.
 
I do lots of geology. Therefore...

Simon Winchester -
The Map that Changed the World
Krakatoa
Crack in the Edge of the World

Michael Novacek-
Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs
Time Traveller - Hunting Dinosaurs from
Montana to Mongolia
 
A new, skeptically-oriented novel--humbly suggested

Great ideas gang! Saw the note in the forum email and wanted to make a humble suggestion: my new novel, A Secret of the Universe: A Story of Love, Loss, and the Discovery of an Eternal Truth.

In stores in October (though now available for early/review purchases at asecretoftheuniverse.com--before the public release); this is fundamentally a novel about beliefs. It's about how we come to form certain "knowledge" about the big questions in life: God, sexual ethics, morals, political ideology--even which medical treatments we will choose to fight our cancers. More importantly, it's about how those beliefs affect our actions, our lives, and the world around us! Told through two friends’ struggle to make sense of life’s triumphs and tragedies-which they interpret through very different religious filters-A Secret of the Universe is ultimately an allegory about skeptical thinking. Perhaps best of all, one of the characters is subtly influenced by a white-bearded marvel by the name of James Randi.:)

Anyway, I registered a long while back but haven't posted much as I've stayed extremely busy with my podcast (Truth-Driven Thinking) and this book project. That said, I hope you'll forgive the self-serving post here, but I'd truly love it if someone wanted to review this unique work of fiction--written explicitly to introduce skeptical concepts and encourage intellectually honest discourse about the significant impact of dogmatic beliefs (often without evidence). Many thanks for the consideration!
--Steve Gibson
 
Such a list would be incomplete without

Stanislaw Lem. One of the most amazing literary intellects I've ever read. If you don't know him, you should.
 
Darat said:
grunion's volunteered to review "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Sacks" - thanks!
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Darat,
May I suggest you come up with a protocol for this before other people waste their time. After volunteering I reread the book and wrote a review only to find that someone had beaten me to it. I would post my review as a "comment" but it really doesn't make sense since it doesn't respond to the other review at all.
 
Really sorry for that grunion, I knew a review was due and didn't think who it was from. There is a simple solution for this - I'll add your review as a separate review. This is something I need to work out some protocol for future conflicts.
 
Ginarley said:
I'd reccomend pretty much anything written by John Gribbin especially:

Deep Simplicity (Chaos, complexity etc)
In Search of Schrodingers Cat (Quantum Physics)
The Birth of Time (Cosmology and age of universe)
The Fellowship (History of science in the Royal society)
And many others.
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Except I wouldn't recommend "The Jupiter Effect" and "Beyond the Jupiter Effect":boggled:
 
i heard the Mismeasure of Man includes a refutation of the Bell curve. i'll read it, but that idea sounds a bit silly.
 
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I´m currently reading "Climbing Mount Improbable", by Dawkins. It´s kind of old (1996), but it´s a great book.

If it goes to the list, I can write a review.
 
I just read a great book that covers the basic freshman level concepts of physics in a very interesting and fun way. The book is called "The Physics of Superheros" by James Kakalios, I enjoyed it immensely and think any high schooler or middle schooler depending on the individual should be able to grasp and enjoy its material. Also "In Search of Schrodinger's Cat" and "Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality" both by John Gribbin both are interesting, non-mathematical and non-technical approaches to quantum mechanics for the interested. If anything these books are a interesting read, quantum mechanics is bizarre stuff.
 
I have just joined and I have to say this is a great starting to point. I have read 'The selfish gene' and 'Godel Escher and Bach' (I found it a little difficult first time round). Very useful.
 
the Standard Model represents one of the greatest achievements of mankind. unlike many ideas in string theory and cosmology, it has been tested. i'm referring to QED and QCD specifically. i don't know which, if any, books are best.
 
illogical said:
the Standard Model represents one of the greatest achievements of mankind. unlike many ideas in string theory and cosmology, it has been tested. i'm referring to QED and QCD specifically. i don't know which, if any, books are best.
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Q.E.D. by Feynman?

Linda
 
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