Mr. Southwick Recommends…

Science Nonfiction Books

Most of these I have read, some have been recommended to me (on my own to-read list).  I think any could make a good science non-fiction for your reading, depending on your interests.

Physics

·       E=mc^2 The Biography of an Equation by David Bodanis

• The History of the Atomic Bomb – Richard Rhodes (quite a tome, you have to be up for it, but it teaches a lot)
• American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (I’ve heard its great;  also a weighty read, which I haven’t tackled yet.  This summer!)
• Six Easy Pieces - Richard Feynman
• The Pleasure of Finding Things Out - Richard Feynman
• The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question? by Dick Teresi and Leon Lederman (a witty, readable way to access particle physics and the standard model)
• Simply Einstein: Relativity Demystified by Richard Wolfson (readable introduction to what relativity is and why it’s a beautiful idea.)
• Five Equations that Changed the World - Michael Guillen
• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking  (a classic, but challenging)
• From X-rays to Quarks:  Modern Physicists and Their Discoveries by Emilio Segre
• Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris
• Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson 

Other Sciences

• The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology by Simon Winchester
• Decoding the Universe by Charles Seife
• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (read this summer, quite a wonderful book!)
• Wonderful Life by Gould, Stephen J.  Non-fiction story of finding the true meaning of the Burgess Shale organisms.  (recommended by Mr. Akeson)
• Omnivores Dilemma; Natural History of four meals by Michael Pollan (recommended by Mr. Akeson)
• Guns, Germs & Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (read last summer, some remarkable food for thought)
• Collapse by Jared Diamond
• The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World - Ken Alder
•  Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
• Hell and High Water: Global Warming--the Solution and the Politics--and What We Should Do by Joseph Romm  
• Molecules At An Exhibition by John Emsley (chemistry)