Books!

[Orca]

I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread where folks can recommend good books they've read.

I will get the ball rolling. I am currently reading The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins. It's a thoughtful and methodical explanation of the theory of evolution. I first heard about the book while reading an excerpt from an interview of Douglas Adams. He said it was one of the most eye-opening books he'd ever read; so far I have to agree. Of course, with a statement like that coming from Adams, I had to look it up. Also, I'd meant to read more on the topic anyway; I have always been more interested in the physical sciences and feel I've neglected some other important areas.

[owlice]

Orca, I've seen "The Blind Watchmaker" around -- maybe even in my house (our book collection is in great disarray) -- but haven't read it yet. It sounds like something I'd like; thanks for the write-up!

I'm currently reading "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Daniel Pink, which is excellent so far, and which, honestly, I think every parent should read! It really brings home the power of intrinsic motivation and the damage that using external motivators can cause.

I've also got a number of books going for school (the ancient returns to the classroom... as a student this time ), including "Leading Change," by John P. Kotter (who was kind enough to answer a question I posed after discussion ensued in the classroom about something he'd written). Also excellent.

I need to find a book for my kid; we were in Borders last night and he didn't want anything. This is a kid who has always been a voracious reader, and though he sat and read the whole time we were there and I told him I'd be happy to buy him a book, he .... wanted nothing. Tells me he's not reading much these days. I'm still in a state of shock!

[rstevenson]

Don't be too worried. I've been a voracious reader for most of the 6+ decades of my life, but I stopped buying books almost completely sometime in the last several years. Simple reason: I can find more than enough to read on a far wider variety of subjects than ever before by simply sitting down at my computer.

I haven't completely stopped. Recent acquisitions include Mapping Mars, by Oliver Morton; The Feynman Lectures on Physics, by what's his name; and Cosmology, by Harrison.

Rob

[Amir]

i'm reading "How to Build a Time Machine" by Paul Davis, he discusses the possibility of time traveling, and really explains the steps toward Building a Time Machine, although that would be a bit hard way to go: dealing with black holes, neutron stars,...!
and i'm a big fan of Paul Auster, by the way!

[owlice]

Amir, are you working on blueprints for a time machine? I don't know Auster at all; so many books, so little time! Thanks for the link!

Rob, thank you; yes, the kid does read online a lot, and certainly he reads for school, too. It's very unusual for him to turn down a gift, especially a book. ("Do you want the book you've been reading?" "No; it's too expensive." "Kiddo, I'm happy to buy it for you!" "No thanks; they want too much for it. I'm not reading much these days anyway." ) Maybe we need to hit the used bookstore.

One of my recent fiction reads was "The Lovely Bones," which I'm very glad I read, though parts are so difficult to read. It's a book that will stay with me for a long, long time.

[wonderboy]

By all accounts, the best book I've ever read has to be the Lord of the Rings. I got right into that story. I'm also going to admit that I loved the Harry Potter books haha.

[Amir]

By all accounts, the best book I've ever read has to be the Lord of the Rings. I got right into that story. I'm also going to admit that I loved the Harry Potter books haha.

Lord of the Rings! i'm so lazy, i just saw the movie, 11hrs: easiest way!
if you like fantasy books, you should take a look at Darren Shan's "The Saga of Darren Shan" (12-part) & "Demonata" (10-part) story series.
"The Saga of Darren Shan" (about Vampires) was one of the best fantasy stories i ever read!

...so many books, so little time!...

agree, so let's take advantage of communications, people: talk about your favorite writers & books!

[wonderboy]

I know I'll probably get savaged because of it, but I really like Dan Browns books. They might not be "scientifically" correct all of the time, but theyre bloody exciting. I'll have a look at those books as well Amir, i like a bit of fantasy. To be honest, im easy pleased. I even admitted to liking harry potter.

[Orca]

Harry Potter always seemed too silly to me. I did enjoy the Lord of the Rings books. I even read The Silmarillion.

But mainly I tend to read non-fiction.

Here's one I would recommend:

Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle In the Dark is a great book about science and skepticism and how it applies to life in our modern technological world. Sagan was a great thinker and a fantastic writer. I'd recommend this to anyone...especially anyone remotely interested in science.

[owlice]

I'm not afraid to admit that I loved the Harry Potter books. One Christmas, the now-tall child, then small-child, got his first Harry Potter books, and his dad, the kid, and I did pretty much nothing until all the available books were read by all. (Good thing we're all fast readers!) I like kiddie lit in general, though, even in my decrepitude. I enjoyed the Lemony Snicket A Series of Unfortunate Events books right along with my kid.

Amir, for favorite authors, I have to go back in time! Though there are certainly modern authors whose works I love, if I were to name "favorite books," I'd be more likely to name works by long-dead authors. Fiction I loved and have read multiple times (and will no doubt read again) include My Ántonia, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, Far from the Madding Crowd, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the D'Urbervilles ... most works by Austen and Hardy, actually.

Some books have a music to their writing (Out of Africa, Cry the Beloved Country, for example) or a rhythm (Go Tell It on the Mountain) which appeals to me a great deal, and others are so beautifully written that it's impossible to read them straight through (A Soldier of the Great War); they require that they be set down, lest one (or me, anyway) be overwhelmed. (I'd put Out of Africa in the "beautifully written" category, too.)

One work of fiction that has stuck with me since I first read it years ago is Earth Abides. Such a small book, but it had a huge impact on me, on my thinking and outlook. I don't own the book -- I should fix that, I suppose -- so haven't read it in many years, but it is never far from my thoughts.

For non-fiction... hmmm... I don't know that there's one author I could really single out. Perhaps Oliver Sacks, as I've read most of his books and am always willing to read his works. We have a lot of books about language/linguistics and math around, as the kid always gets books for Christmas and the past few years has concentrated on these. I have a few books on music around, too, including one I really need to find a good home for, because though it's well-thought of, I hated it and know I will never finish it! (It's a biography of Beethoven, by Maynard Solomon. Just give me facts, buddy, and keep your pseudo-pop-psychological poo-poo imaginings to yourself!! Ick!!)

Heh. If we started a conversation on books we hated, I'd have a few others to mention, too!

[Chris Peterson]

Some books have a music to their writing (Out of Africa, Cry the Beloved Country, for example) or a rhythm (Go Tell It on the Mountain) which appeals to me a great deal, and others are so beautifully written that it's impossible to read them straight through (A Soldier of the Great War); they require that they be set down, lest one (or me, anyway) be overwhelmed. (I'd put Out of Africa in the "beautifully written" category, too.)

Another Helprin book you shouldn't miss (maybe you haven't) is Winter's Tale. Some passages are so beautifully written that I need to stop at the end and read them out loud.

[wonderboy]

Now that I think about it, I also loved "Dune" and another book (the name escapes me) about a drug courier who got caught trying to smuggle drugs out of bangkok (bad move) and got put into prison. One bit i remember about that book is the torture recieved at the hands of the prison officers. One time they blindfolded him and walked around him in all different directions and every now and then one officer would tap him somewhere with a kendo stick. This would go on for a few minutes then they would really whack him in the face. Another time they put him in the sceptic tank in the blistering heat (imagine the smell) until it was up to his chin. bleugh, what a book though, it got me thinking about a lot of things.

[owlice]

Another Helprin book you shouldn't miss (maybe you haven't) is Winter's Tale. Some passages are so beautifully written that I need to stop at the end and read them out loud.

I have missed it so far; thank you very much for mentioning it!

Now that I think about it, I also loved "Dune"

I might be the only person on the planet who hasn't yet read Dune. When I was a college freshman, I had a sociology professor who alternated Dune with The Past Through Tomorrow with his Soc 101 classes; my class read the Heinlein. I loved it, and most of other Heinlein's stuff, but one of his books (read many many years after that long-ago Soc 101 class) produced such a strong "Ick!" reaction in me that I haven't read Heinlein since!

[Orca]

If you haven't checked it out, I would recommend Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson. Naturally, the book explores the life and accomplishments of our favorite Austrian patent clerk. But it also delves into the history of the period, other scientists and thinkers that influenced Einstein, and sheds light on his political and social views.

Ah, I am a fan of the Dune series as well. I've read the first three, though by then the story had moved very far from the original. It has been a while since I have read the original, I might have to do that.

One of my favorites is 1984. I guess I have an odd fascination with the "anti-utopia" story; Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, that sort of thing. 1984 is especially fascinating to me because of its complex concepts and the way they are put forth in such a clear, precise writing style. I remember the first time I read it, when the main plot was finally revealed, I suddenly noticed that my jaw was gaping open...

[owlice]

Orca, I haven't read the Isaacson book on Einstein. Some years ago, I read Einstein: A Life by Denis Brian and thought it quite good. It's been many years since I've read 1984 and Brave New World; they are around here somewhere and I should probably re-read them.

note to self: move 1984 and Brave New World to bathroom bookshelf

[bystander]

NASA Releases Stunning Hubble Telescope 20th Anniversary Book

NASA set out on a monumental journey with the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in April 1990. Since then, it has captured the minds and imaginations of people around the world. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of this scientific icon, NASA has collaborated with leading illustrated book publisher Abrams to release a dynamic and unique collection of Hubble images and commentary.

"Hubble: A Journey Through Space and Time" takes an in-depth look at this unique, ground-breaking telescope. It serves as an authoritative account of the observatory, which has revolutionized astronomy and photography. The book highlights Hubble's spectacular visual legacy to humanity in stunning images and includes what many consider Hubble's 20 most important scientific findings to date. The classic images, all selected by NASA astronomers, show stars being born and dying; galaxies colliding and reforming; and the young universe in the throes of creation.

"This book represents a sampling of 20 years of Hubble discoveries that have forever changed the view of the universe and our place within it," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington and the book's author. "The new and improved Hubble will continue to have a positive impact on the world for decades with many of its greatest discoveries yet to come."

Complementing the stunning imagery are commentaries by notable scientists and testimonies by the veteran astronauts who manned NASA's missions to repair and maintain the telescope. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who piloted the space shuttle that launched the telescope, contributed the foreword. The result is a firsthand, complete story of one of history's most important astronomical tools

Hubble: A Journey Through Space and Time

[Amir]

Owlice, you posted a topic lately: "Tales of the small world", i thought this might be interesting for you: "True Tales of American Life"(aka I Thought My Father Was God and Other True Tales from NPR's National Story Project) by Paul Auster. actually Auster just edited the tales, they are sent to NPR by Americans after Auster asked them to write an interesting event in their life to be read on National Radio.
there were really amazing tales in the book (some were boring though!). reading the book , it was like i'm shifting to many lives!

[owlice]

Amir, thanks for posting about that! I've heard some of the tales on the radio, some indeed amazing. I'll look for the book; thanks!

(I was going to say that this sounds like the perfect bathroom book, as Bailey White's books ["Mama Makes Up Her Mind," "Sleeping at the Starlite Motel"] are, but whatever would people think if I did?! )

[bystander]

The Eerie Silence

Why have we not made contact with aliens after so many years searching the depths of space? The Eerie Silence, a new book by SETI researcher Paul Davies, provides a fresh and thoughtful look at this question.

[bystander]

Ice Fishing For Neutrinos From the Middle of the Galaxy
Discover / Physics & Math / Subatomic Particles / 15 April 2010
Excerpted from The Edge of Physics by Anil Ananthaswamy

About 25 million years ago, Earth parted in the southeast corner of Siberia. Since then, countless rivers have converged on the gaping continental rift, creating the vast body of water known as Lake Baikal. Surrounded by mountains, this 400-mile-long inland sea has remained isolated from other lakes and oceans, leading to the evolution of unusual flora and fauna, more than three-quarters of which are found nowhere else on the planet. Russians regard it as their own Galápagos. The lake contains 20 percent of the world’s unfrozen freshwater—or just a little less during the severe Siberian winter when, despite its enormous size and depth, Baikal freezes over.
...
For more than two dec­ades now, Russian and German physicists have camped on the frozen surface of Lake Baikal from February to April, installing and maintaining instruments to search for the elusive subatomic particles called neutrinos. Artificial eyes deep below the surface of the lake look for dim flashes of blue light caused by a rare collision between a neutrino and a molecule of water. I was told that human eyes would be able to see these flashes too—if our eyes were the size of watermelons. Indeed, each artificial eye is more than a foot in diameter, and the Baikal neutrino telescope, the first instrument of its kind in the world, has 228 eyes patiently watching for these messengers from outer space.

The telescope, which is located a few miles offshore, operates underwater all year round. Cables run from it to a shore station where data are collected and analyzed. It is a project on a shoestring budget. Without the luxury of expensive ships and remote-controlled submersibles, scientists wait for the winter ice to provide a stable platform for their cranes and winches. Each year they set up an ice camp, haul the telescope up from a depth of 0.7 mile, carry out routine maintenance, and lower it back into the water. And each year they race against time to complete their work before the sprigs of spring begin to brush away the Siberian winter and the lake’s frozen surface starts to crack.

What is it about the neutrino that makes scientists brave such conditions? Neutrinos—some of them dating back to right after the Big Bang—go through matter, traveling unscathed from the time they are created and carrying information in a way no other particle can. The universe is opaque to ultraenergetic photons, or gamma rays, which are absorbed by the matter and radiation that lie between their source and Earth. But neutrinos, produced by the same astrophysical processes that generate high-energy photons, barely interact with anything along the way. For instance, neutrinos stream out from the center of the sun as soon as they are produced, whereas a photon needs thousands of years to work its way out from the core to the sun’s brilliant surface.

Neutrinos therefore represent a unique window into an otherwise invisible universe, even offering clues about the missing mass called dark matter, whose presence can be inferred only by its gravitational influence on stars and galaxies. Theory suggests that over time the gravity wells created by Earth, the sun, and the Milky Way would have sucked in an enormous number of dark-matter particles. Wherever they gather in great concentrations, these particles should collide with one another, spewing out (among other things) neutrinos. It is as if a giant particle accelerator at our galaxy’s center were smashing dark-matter particles together, generating neutrinos and beaming them outward, some toward us..

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[bystander]

Top 10 greatest science fiction detective novels
New Scientist: Culture Lab: 30 April 2010

1. The City And The City by China Miéville
2. A Philosophical Investigation by Philip Kerr
3. The Retrieval Artist novels by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
4. When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger
5. Tea From An Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan
6. The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez
7. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
8. Gun, With Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem
9. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams
10. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
11. The Caves Of Steel by Isaac Asimov
    The Naked Sun
    The Robots of Dawn

I've read The Automatic Detective, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, and, of course, Isaac Asimov's Robot Series. I've read Philip Kerr, but not that particular book. There are also several Honorable Mentions. Great entertainment. See the article for synopses.

[owlice]

I've read none of the books on that list.

Here's a list one of my music buddies posted, along with my comments and whether I'd read the particular entry:

• Interesting that whoever came up with the list doesn't consider "Complete Works of Shakespeare" to include "Hamlet." Also, "the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" is one volume of "The Chronicles of Narnia," so no need to list both. Where did this list come from? I, as you, question why some of the books are listed!
  
  1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen ... YES
  2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien ... some, not all
  3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte ... YES
  4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling – YES
  5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee ... YES
  6 The Bible ... many parts of it
  7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte ... YES
  8 1984 - George Orwell ... YES
  9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman ... NO
  10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens ... YES
  11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott ... YES (also other Alcott books)
  12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy ... YES (also other Hardy books)
  13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller ... YES
  14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (of Stratford. The one and only!) ... NO
  15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier ... NO
  16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien ... YES
  17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks ... NO
  18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger ... YES
  19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger ... NO
  20 Middlemarch - George Eliot ... YES
  21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell ... NO
  22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald ... YES, and I hated it each time I read it
  23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens ... NO
  24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy ... NO
  25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams ... YES
  26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh ... NO
  27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky ... NO
  28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck ... YES
  29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll ... YES (and I know the proper name of the book, too, unlike the person who put this list together!)
  30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame ... MAYBE
  31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy ... NO
  32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens ... MAYBE
  33 The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis ... YES
  34 Emma - Jane Austen ... YES
  35 Persuasion - Jane Austen ... YES
  36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe ... YES
  37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini ... YES
  38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres ... NO
  39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden ... NO
  40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne ... YES
  41 Animal Farm - George Orwell ... YES
  42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown ... NO – Why is this on the list??? <- good question!
  43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ... YES
  44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving ... NO
  45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins ... NO
  46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery ... YES
  47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy ... YES
  48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood ... YES
  49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding ... YES
  50 Atonement - Ian McEwan ... NO
  51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel ... YES
  52 Dune - Frank Herbert ... NO
  53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons ... NO
  54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen ... YES
  55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth ... NO
  56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon ... NO
  57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens ... MAYBE
  58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley ... YES
  59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon ... YES
  60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ... YES
  61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck ... Hmmm, MAYBE
  62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov ... YES
  63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt ... NO
  64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold ... YES. Well worth reading with a fresh box of tissues handy
  65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas ... YES
  66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac ... NO
  67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy ... YES
  68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding ... YES, and it was a waste of time
  69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie ... NO
  70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville ...NO
  71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens ... NO
  72 Dracula - Bram Stoker ... YES
  73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett ... YES
  74 NOtes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson ... NO
  75 Ulysses - James Joyce ... NO
  76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath ... NO
  77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome ... NO
  78 Germinal - Emile Zola ... NO
  79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray ... NO
  80 Possession - AS Byatt ... NO
  81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens ... YES
  82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell ... NO
  83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker ... YES
  84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro ... NO
  85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert ... NO
  86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry ...NO
  87 Charlotte's Web - EB White ... YES
  88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom ... NO
  89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ... NO
  90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton ... NO
  91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad ... NO
  92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery ... YES, and I recently saw an opera performance of it which was completely charming
  93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks ... NO
  94 Watership Down - Richard Adams ... YES
  95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole ... NO
  96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute ...NO
  97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas ... YES
  98 Hamlet –– Shakespeare ... YES
  99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl ... NO. I did read James and the Giant Peach and HATED it, so no more Dahl for me!
  100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo ... NO

I don't know where my friend got this list. A lot of good books, but others... I have to wonder about their presence.

[bystander]

A physicist finds God in cosmic harmonies
New Scientist | Culture Lab | 19 May 2010

Bernard Haisch is a very interesting physicist. Together with Alfonso Rueda, he has pursued the idea that inertial and gravitational mass have their origin not in the interaction of subatomic particles with the hypothetical Higgs field but in their interaction with the more familiar quantum vacuum. I've previously written about his work in New Scientist.

But, in addition to being a physicist, Haisch is also a man of God. Before entering science, he entered a seminary, fully intending to become a Catholic priest. Now he has a deep desire to square the science he pursues with his religious conviction.

In The Purpose-Guided Universe, Haisch makes his case for a physical cosmos that is deity-driven. The principal piece of evidence he uses is the apparent fine-tuning of the laws of physics for us to be here.

[bystander]