# Math, Science book recommendations!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 2, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449 "2003-12-02T05:44:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/1 "2003-12-02T05:44:42Z")
It’s that time of year again. Time to realize I have no idea what I want for Christmas…So, hopefully, I can get some great book recommendations from my fellow SDopers.
Hmm, where to begin…math books, science books, philosophy books…so many fascinating topics to choose from. I guess for starters I’d like to read something up-to-date on the latest quantum mechanics developments. I’ve heard “The Elegant Univerise” thrown around a few times. What do you guys all think? Math is the other topic…not textbook type math, but rather, a book that investigates the history of math, its development, its implications, etc. Any suggestions?
One of my favourite books is the infamous “Godel, Escher, Bach”. Anything along these lines I’m sure I would enjoy. I love books that combine the discussion of science and philosophy.
Lastly, I’m a big electronics hobbiest. I’ve often seen the ARRL suggested as a good book. Any suggestions for other books I could look into? (I’m into radio and computer interfacing)
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### Author:  [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/2 "2003-12-02T07:02:56Z")
As far as math is concerned, I checked out this [book](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465037712/qid=1070348604/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-1499067-6251334?v=glance&n=507846) recently and intend to start it by tomorrow.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/3 "2003-12-02T08:15:58Z")
Well, you already have GEB. Otherwise, that would be my first suggestion. If you generally like Hofstadter, I’d suggest _Metamagical Themas_ as a good place to go: It isn’t as coherent as GEB, because it’s a collection of his articles as published in _Scientific American_ (he had a feature under the name _Metamagical Themas_ for many years). It is, however, a lot of interesting nuggets on some of the same topics as GEB, but also a lot he didn’t cover in his best-known work.
Next, you might want to look into David Berlinski. I have two books of his, _The Advent of the Algorithm_ and _A Tour of the Calculus_. He writes at a level roughly commensurate with Hofstadter, but his style differs: Whereas Hofstadter is more of a `philosophical technician’ (my interpretation), Berlinski focuses on the philosophy and the poetry of logic. His prose is more flowery and he doesn’t spend nearly as much time on practical applications, to the point of de-emphasizing computers in his exploration of algorithms. He does, however, grant a unique grasp of the subjects he presents.
And I would like to second **Gyan9** ’s suggestion. _Where Mathematics Comes From_ is the only book I know of its kind, the only one that takes mathematics in the context of the physical human mind and explains how humans can reuse their limited physical capacites to comprehend the most esoteric Platonic realms.
As for science, I find it hard not to recommend one specific text that I think has been sadly overlooked in the rush to the frontiers: _Einstein’s Theory of Relativity_ by Max Born. By going back to the fundamentals in his largely chronological survey of the physical sciences, he takes the reader from Classical Greece to the dawn of the post-Newtonian era. He uses the sciences to build a foundation, much as scientists of all eras have, and that foundation will enable one to appreciate Einstein’s work in historical context.
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### Author:  [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/4 "2003-12-02T13:00:33Z")
Steven Pinker’s How the Mind Works is fantastic.
Anything by James Gleick is always interesting.
James Burke’s books always have loads of “Well, how about that!” nuggets in them.
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### Author:  [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/5 "2003-12-02T14:01:19Z")
The Institue of Physics are currently having a pre-Christmas booksale, I cna’t say I’ve heard of let alone read any of the books in their popular science section, but some of them are pretty cheap.
[http://bookmarkphysics.iop.org/br\_results.htm?ID=641Tb5n7qAFK-DGqrhif9K2A&gotopage=1](http://bookmarkphysics.iop.org/br_results.htm?ID=641Tb5n7qAFK-DGqrhif9K2A&gotopage=1)
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### Author:  [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/6 "2003-12-02T14:44:07Z")
I recently read “The Music of the Primes” by Marcus du Sautoy (I think I got the name right), and can’t recommend it enough. It’s on the history of the Riemann Hypothesis.
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### Author:  [@Indefatigable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indefatigable)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/7 "2003-12-02T14:48:23Z")
It’s a few years out of date, but I just read Dava Sobel’s _Longitude_. Awesome.
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### Author:  [@Indefatigable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indefatigable)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/8 "2003-12-02T14:49:49Z")
Er. Not that it’s irrelevant, just that it’s been on the shelves a few years already and you’ve probably already read it.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/9 "2003-12-02T15:22:48Z")
IMHO, you could check out [url=“[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=226209](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=226209)”]this thread currently running in IMHO 😉
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/10 "2003-12-02T15:28:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Tapioca Dextrin \*
> \*\*IMHO, you could check out [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=226209](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=226209)"]this thread currently running in IMHO 😉 \*\*
[this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=226209) :smack:
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### Author:  [@FriendRob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriendRob)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/11 "2003-12-02T15:32:19Z")
_The Mathematical Experience_, by Kirsch and Davis (?) - the best non-textbook math book I’ve ever read, talks about Goedel and the discovery of incompleteness in math, different kinds of infinities, and how different choices of postulates give rise to different kinds of math, not just in geometry but in many areas.
Personally, I find _The Elegant Universe_ too warm-fuzzy. He does a good job on relativity and quantum mechanics, but there are other authors who do better, e.g. _The Cosmic Code_ by Heinz Pagels. I like books that really tell you something, like Goedel, Escher, Bach. I’d recommend _QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter_, by Richard Feynman. No string theory, but a terrific description of quantum field theory, which is the basis of all modern fundamental physics theories.
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### Author:  [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-science-book-recommendations/216449/12 "2003-12-02T19:43:28Z")
Moved to IMHO.
- **xash**
General Questions Moderator