# Recommend me a book about science.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 1, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992 "2005-05-01T23:21:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/1 "2005-05-01T23:21:27Z")
I am nearly done reading [Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body](http://armandleroi.com/mutants/) by Armand Marie Leroi, and I am truly enjoying it. I recognize that there’s a fair amount of pop culture in there (a mention of Putin’s comb-over in the chapter on baldness), but I’ve enjoyed the historical aspects of the book as well – the passages from Ovid, Plato, etc. (Although I do think I’m being had on the sonic hedgehog issue – how can they get away with naming a gene sonic hedgehog? Where were the grown-ups?)
It’s occurred to me that this can’t be the only interesting, approachable book about science out there, so I’m looking for recommendations. I’m indifferent at this point about the branch of science (although I have never taken a class in physics, so that may be an uphill battle). I have a dictionary, so big words don’t scare me, but my background is solidly humanities, so be gentle.
My one disappointment in all this is that I didn’t take advantage of more science classes when I was in school, because I would learn so much more if I had the ability to discuss these types of things with people who were reading the same book (but there’s no way I can make the time for a class now). But, then, hindsight is twenty-twenty and all that.
So, tell me, what should I read to further my scientific education?
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/2 "2005-05-01T23:27:17Z")
[A Short History of Nearly Everything](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076790818X/qid=1114990313/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-8544499-2583944?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Bill Bryson.
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### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/3 "2005-05-01T23:28:09Z")
Have you read Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything”? It’s extremely well written, but it may be too general for your tastes (it covers everything from geology to quantum physics).
Other than that, Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time” may interest you, if you haven’t read it already. It’s quite physics intensive, but Hawking’s explains the subject well enough that virtually anyone can understand the majority of it.
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### Author:  [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2005, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/4 "2005-05-01T23:29:12Z")
I highly recommend any Carl Sagan, particularly _Cosmos_ and _The Demon Haunted World_. Cosmos focuses mostly on the history of science and current astronomy, while the latter generally discusses critical thinking and why today’s society seems to lack it (and repeatedly falls for pseudoscience). A more lighthearted approach to astronomy would be _Bad Astronomy_ by Phil Plait, which explains all the astronomy misconceptions you never knew you had.
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### Author:  [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/5 "2005-05-01T23:39:11Z")
Anything by Paul Davies or John Gribin. In fact, they co-authored a book titled “The Matter Myth”. Excellent reading for non-technical types. (Like me)
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### Author:  [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/6 "2005-05-01T23:40:33Z")
Make that John _Gribbin_
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### Author:  [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/7 "2005-05-01T23:42:39Z")
In addition to what’s already been mentioned:
[The Science Class You Wish You Had](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0399523138/qid=1114990846/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-9618191-5113666)
[The Beak of the Finch](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067973337X/qid=1114990936/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-9618191-5113666) (absolutely outstanding!)
[Private Life of Plants](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0691006393/qid=1114991049/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-9618191-5113666?v=glance&s=books)
Stephen Jay Gould’s always approachable and enjoyable, but beware of _Wonderful Life_, which has become both controversial, and probably outdated. (A shame, because it’s a terrific read).
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### Author:  [@EmeraldGrue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmeraldGrue)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/8 "2005-05-01T23:46:22Z")
This isn’t the first time I’ve plugged [Blueprints](http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140132651/qid=1114991240/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/701-2906777-9079568) by Maitland Edey and Donald Johanson but it’s worth another mention. And, yes, the people in charge of naming genes are indeed the same sort of people who would name them “sonic hedgehog” and the like. Science is cool. 😃
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### Author:  [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/9 "2005-05-02T00:16:39Z")
Well, there’s always [Connections](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316116726/qid=1114993254/sr=8-2/ref=pd_csp_2/002-3042608-1362435?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) or [The Day the Universe Changed](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316117048/ref=pd_sim_b_1/002-3042608-1362435?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance).
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### Author:  [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/10 "2005-05-02T00:20:29Z")
In the Beginning by John Gribbin
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### Author:  [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/11 "2005-05-02T01:31:52Z")
So, tell me, what should I read to further my scientific education?
[/QUOTE]
“The Elegant Universe” is a fascinating book about the Superstring Theory, but it also has the most lucid explanations (albeit brief) of Einsteins’ Special and General Theories of Relativity I’ve ever read.
When it gets into Quantum Mechanics it will make your brain hurt, but it really is a wonderfully well-written tome on difficult subjects.
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### Author:  [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/12 "2005-05-02T01:42:12Z")
You might try, although they may be dated, the [non-fiction books by Isaac Asimov](http://homepage.mac.com/pockyrevolution/asimov/style1.htm). He wrote them for various age groups.
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### Author:  [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/13 "2005-05-02T01:44:17Z")
[Guns, Germs and Steel](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393317552/qid=1114998541/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-0338031-5530522?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Jared Diamond. I think it technically falls under science (anthropology anyway).
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/14 "2005-05-02T01:45:16Z")
Matt Ridley has written some excellent books on genetics: _Genome_, _The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature_ (my personal favorite), _Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human_ (republished as _The Agile Gene_, and _The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation_.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/15 "2005-05-02T01:47:39Z")
Dropped a parenthesis in my last post which may have confused the meaning. _The Agile Gene_ was a republication of _Nature via Nature_ only. _The Origins of Virtue_ is a seperate book.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/16 "2005-05-02T01:58:22Z")
For a general introduction to all the natural sciences (it doesn’t touch on the social sciences), try _Almost Everyone’s Guide to Science_ by John Gribbin – [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0300084609/qid=1114999180/sr=8-10/ref=sr\_8\_xs\_ap\_i4\_xgl14/104-8981198-1809531?v=glance&s=books&n=507846](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0300084609/qid=1114999180/sr=8-10/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i4_xgl14/104-8981198-1809531?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). It’s a slender paperback, very readable.
If you want something heavier and deeper, try _Asimov’s New Guide to Science_ – [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465004733/qid=1114999287/sr=1-1/ref=sr\_1\_1/104-8981198-1809531?v=glance&s=books](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465004733/qid=1114999287/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-8981198-1809531?v=glance&s=books) – a comprehensive guide to what was known in every branch of (again, natural) science as of the date of publication (1984). Also very readable, Asimov was really good at that, but much more detailed than Gribbin’s book.
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### Author:  [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/17 "2005-05-02T04:19:21Z")
I’m more thanhalfway through Tudge’s The Impact of the Gene. It’s a decent read. I haven’t read them, but my brother and father really liked books by Feynman. It’s a very narrow topic, but I loved Mauve, the History of a Color. It’s about the birth of artifical colors, from the point of view of chemists. Not enough structural formula for me, but then again, I’m a chemist.
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### Author:  [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/18 "2005-05-02T04:31:33Z")
[The Blind Watchmaker](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393315703/103-7964810-1091030?v=glance), by Richard Dawkins. Think Evolution 2.0.
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### Author:  [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/19 "2005-05-02T04:35:46Z")
I’d highly recommend _ **The Blind Watchmaker** _ by Richard Dawkins. It’s a superb treatment of the science behind evolution. His other book _ **The Selfish Gene** _ is also good reading. I can also second the suggestions by others about books by Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould.
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### Author:  [@furthur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furthur)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-a-book-about-science/301992/20 "2005-05-02T04:37:05Z")
I’m fond of biology myself. Are you? What about Carl Zimmer’s **Parasite Rex** , which gives the most amazing details about the cycles and types of parasites in nature and is not a bit dull, very interesting and ghoulish in the best kind of way?
Or you could try **Rats** by Robert Sullivan. It’s an interesting examination of rat habits, preferences, etc. as manifested in New York City over a year. Sullivan observed them himself, tagged along with exterminators, the lot. I found it fascinating.
Yet another suggestion is **A Primate’s Memoir** by Robert Sapolsky. I can’t recommend this book enough, literally. He details his research in Africa observing and darting baboons. It has a wealth of detail on baboons – wonderful creatures, very social – as well as hilarious passages about his trials and tribulations. Amazingly enough there are some quite poignant moments too. This book inspired me to write my first fan letter; Sapolsky was very kind and wrote back. Wonderful man.
On the ecology side, there’s **Last Chance to See** by Douglas Adams. It’s written as much as a travelogue (perhaps more) than a straight-up examination of ecology or extinction, but Douglas gives quite a few facts about various species. It’s hilarious as well. I took this with me for jury duty, and all the other jurors were dead jealous I had a lovely book to make me laugh while we were shut away waiting on the lawyers. 😉
Other suggestions:
David Quammen. Personally I prefer his essays to his longer work, although The Song of the Dodo really got me thinking about island biogeography. I think I started with The Boilerplate Rhino and raced through it.
Stephen Jay Gould. I enjoy his essays.
My husband is very fond of Richard Dawkins (evolution, genetics) and Brian Greene (cosmology, I think) as well. He would also recommend Jonathan Weiner (evolution, genetics).
Mrs. Furthur
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