Science And Mathematics Books

[TheSelfishMeme]

So, after the last forum had a few of these perhaps we could do with a "book club"?

Ill go first...

Ok, so its almost time for me to begin writing a personal statement for University (hoping to do medicine/neuroscience).
I've read as much as I can on these things and would like some suggestions for some more further reading. Generally, most stuff on the subjects is cool (bonus points if it is linked to both) but would prefer books along the lines of how Dawkins writes (don't bother suggesting him, I've read them all) or how "The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat" / "Phantoms in the Brain" are written.
Also, it would be good if its interesting, not least because I have to read it, but also I want to be able to want to talk about it and interest potential interviewers.
Thanks.

 

[Ozymandyus]

I'm a big fan of Daniel Dennett... He has some pretty fun to read books about how we think.

Jared Diamond for his history/sociology stuff... Guns Germs and Steel and Collapse were both great.

Feynman is obviously awesome for physics, and Hawkins brief history of time is pretty fun too. Carl Sagan rules too.

I enjoyed Zero: the history of a dangerous idea by Charles Seife, though it has been a while. Don't remember it all that well but it was pretty fun for a math oriented book.

Malcom Gladwell, Thomas Freidmen are rather enjoyable though not quite as scientific as these other guys. Still, they paint a decent, though incomplete, picture of some human behavior and cultural progress and are overall worth reading. I would throw Freakonomics in this group too by levitt and dubner.

These mostly err on the pop side of science rather than the stuffy side, so I am not claiming that they are the best science/math books or anything.

 

[infrared]

'Discarded science' is a book has theories that did not make it because they where stupid or religious and unsupported by evidence. I think at east one was from Darwin

 

[RouletteRog]

John Derbyshire has a couple of good popular science/mathematics books. Prime Obsession is about the Riemann Hypothesis, and Unknown Quantity is a history of algebra.

 

[Dumbfounded]

Irrationality by Stuart Sutherland. A fairly comprehensive look at the many ways in which we deceive ourselves.

I agree with the Dennett plug, and especially recommend Darwin's Dangerous Idea.

Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin, the discovery of Tiktaalik and what it means, plus lots more.

Scams from the Great Beyond! and More Scams from the Great Beyond! by Peter Huston, not strictly science but an interesting account of the money-making activities that surround psychics, pseudoscience, UFOlogy, etc.

 

[felixthecoach]

"The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat"

Yes, I enjoyed this book. Another goodie is "When Science Goes Wrong." --Simon Levay

Of course I always suggest my favorite, "The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature" --Steven Pinker

They are good.

 

[AntiSkill42]

The Discovery of Heaven (Harry Mulisch)

not scientific but it has some nice ideas...

If youre german and want to learn something about the human body I recommend "Biochemistry" by là¶ffler/petrides.

If your not german: The english books are usually better and more up to date.
But I'll "stick to my guns"

 

[Aught3]

The red queen - Matt Ridley

Covers the evolution of sex and human nature. It's an easy read similar to Dawkins' style.

 

[blinddesign]

what's that book with the two-dimensional beings who live in pentagon houses and 1D beings that just move along a line. it's pretty old and it's meant to be a good introduction to the idea of dimensions.

 

[blinddesign]

and the book i'm reading at the moment is "the ascent of man" by Dr Jacob Bronowski.

 

[blinddesign]

what's that book with the two-dimensional beings who live in pentagon houses and 1D beings that just move along a line. it's pretty old and it's meant to be a good introduction to the idea of dimensions.

it's "Flatland" by Edwin Abbott Abbott.

 

[Dumbfounded]

First a disclaimer: I have not read this book.

Quantum Gods by Victor J. Stenger

Many popular books make such claims and argue that key developments in twentieth-century physics, such as the uncertainty principle and the butterfly effect, support the notion that God or a universal mind acts upon material reality.

Physicist Victor J. Stenger examines these contentions in this carefully reasoned and incisive analysis of popular theories that seek to link spirituality to physics. Throughout the book Stenger alternates his discussions of popular spirituality with a survey of what the findings of twentieth-century physics actually mean. Thus he offers the reader a useful synopsis of contemporary religious ideas as well as basic but sophisticated physics presented in layperson's terms (without equations).

Like his bestselling book, God, The Failed Hypothesis, this new work presents a rigorously argued challenge to many popular notions of God and spirituality.

But I'm going to. Oh, most assuredly I'm going to!

 

[Penguin_Factory]

A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson is the book that got me interested in science. Not very "hardcore" but it's hugely entertaining and absorbing.