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-centered
- 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.)
- 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- Highly recommended!)
- 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
- Warped Passages Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions by Lisa Randall
- Disturbing the Universe by Freeman Dyson
- Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku
- The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments by George Johnson
- Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking by Charles Seife
Other Sciences- Decoding the Universe by Charles Seife (information science and much more)
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (I've read it over the summer, quite a wonderful book!)
- 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
- 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 Timeby Dava Sobel (not allowed if you read it already for BLS)
- 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)
- Out of Gas by David Goldstein
- Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History by Penny LeCouture (chemistry)
- Mendelev and His Periodic Table by Robin Mckown (chemistry)
- The Genie in the Bottle: 67 All-New Commentaries on the Fascinating Chemistry of Everyday Life by Joe Schwarcz (chemistry)
|
|
