# Recommend me some books
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 20, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073 "2005-02-20T22:55:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073/1 "2005-02-20T22:55:53Z")
I’ve just finished “The Code Book” by Simon Singh, and really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed his book about Fermat’s Last Theorem. I’ve also recently read “A Brief History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson, which I also enjoyed.
I like reading books on science in general, the ones listed above are more indicative of the style than the subject matter that I prefer. I’m a CS/AI undergraduate, if that information may help someone recommend something.
I recently bought “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” by Kuhn, but found the text too dry. I can really only grab twenty minutes (at most) of reading time at a time, and found that book too hard to get back into in such a short period. I may attempt to read it again if I get chance, though.
Can anyone recomment any well written books on any area of science?
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073/2 "2005-02-20T23:32:37Z")
“The Professor and the Madman” about the history of dictionaries and the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary
“The Map that Changed the World” - about the understanding of geological strata
both by Simon Winchester - also has a book on Krakatoa, but I haven’t read it.
The Dancing Wu Li Masters - by Gary Zukav - about particle physics and how it relates to Eastern spirituality - I liked it much better than the Tao of Physics by Capra
Godel, Escher and Bach - about how the disparate disciplines of this mathemetician, artist and composer were in fact related.
A History of Nothing (?) about the history of recoginition of zero.
e=mc^2 - a history of the most famous equation by Bodanis - very readable book on relativity and the discoveries the predated it…
A decent start…
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### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073/3 "2005-02-20T23:45:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Godel, Escher and Bach - about how the disparate disciplines of this mathemetician, artist and composer were in fact related.
Already read that one 🙂
The e=mc^2 one sounds interesting. Thanks for the recommendations.
Any more?
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### Author:  [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073/4 "2005-02-20T23:59:38Z")
_The Big Bang_, by Joseph Silk. As the title suggests, a look at modern theories about the origin of the universe.
_The Mathematical Tourist_, by Ivars Peterson. A look at how computers allowed modern mathematicians to take on problems that were previously intractible.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073/5 "2005-02-21T00:00:22Z")
The great influenza : the epic story of the deadliest plague in history by John M. Barry
The 1918 Spanish Influenza is the biggest forgotten event in World History.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073/6 "2005-02-21T00:09:26Z")
> [@+MDI](#):
>
> Already read that one 🙂
Have you read _Metamagical Themas_ by the same author? That’s at least as good, IMHO.
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### Author:  [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073/7 "2005-02-21T00:11:36Z")
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is a really meaningful book that you’ll be glad you read, but I don’t know that it is a particularly enjoyable read.
You might enjoy some Arture Perez-Reverte. I’m currently reading The Flanders Panel. It’s fiction with a chess puzzle theme, but very well written.
A classic Straight Dope recommendation is Guns, Germs and Steel.
You may also want to pick up some of the annual anthologies “The Best Science Writing of 200X.” This would fit well with your short time spans available to read, since they are collections of articles.
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### Author:  [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073/8 "2005-02-21T02:15:18Z")
You have all listed some of my absolute favourites so I will name some more favourites in the hope they similarly please. Anything by Simon Singh is wonderful, so I am in tune with the OP. I also adored the Bill Bryson.
_The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan_ by Robert Kanigel.
_The Man who Loved Only Numbers: the story of Paul Erdos and the search for mathematical truth_ by Paul Hoffman
ANYTHING by Ian Stewart - especially _Does God Play Dice: the new mathematics of Chaos_
The book which changed my whole thinking and I have read many times:
_Chaos: making a new science_
cheers,
Lynne
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073/9 "2005-02-21T02:28:14Z")
[Alan Turing: The Enigma](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802775802/)
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### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2005, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-books/291073/10 "2005-02-21T09:28:37Z")
Thanks for the recommendations, all. I’ll take a look at the bookstore today and see what they have.