From Slashdot:
“A recent headline at Entertainment Weekly suggests that the ’100 Best Reads’ of the last 25 years do not include a single science book (not even a popular science book). In response, cosmologist Sean Carroll at Cosmic Variance has given an interesting analysis of EW’s disappointing list, and Soul Physics is calling for suggestions on the Greatest Physics Books of the Last 25 Years. For all the great literature that science has produced in the last 25 years, EW’s list seems to represent a major shortcoming in the field: it still isn’t diffusing into popular culture.”
This intrigues me, since quite a few of my investigations encourages reading non-fiction, particularly science-related books for the teenage years. It’s tough to collate a short-list of popular science books that I enjoy, but here are a few that immediately come to mind that I’ve suggested in the past to young people.
Usually when there’s a debate in class as to whether science books (or even just non-fiction books) are fun or interesting to read. In fact, I suggested some of the following to a mother of a high-schooler today, because for his English studies he has to analyze episodes of ‘House’ and needed some additional intertextual links.
So whilst I’m leaving off ‘obvious’ ones like Carl Sagan, Michael Shermer, Richard Dawkins and James Randi that skeptics automatically reach for – here’s what I’d call ‘best reads for science that should help encourage an interest in the genre‘:
Oliver Sacks – The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat and Other Clinical Tales and Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood
Jennifer Ouellette - The Physics of the Buffyverse and Black Bodies and Quantum Cats: Tales of Pure Genius and Mad Science
Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine – Last Chance to See
Mary Roach - Spook : Science Tackles the Afterlife (I will admit, I love Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex but I think I’d hesitate recommending it to teenagers! I’d probably discuss it with the school librarian first and they’d probably pop it into the Senior Reading section. If they don’t take it for themselves first.)
Natalie Angier – The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science
Richard Wiseman – Quirkology: How We Discover the Big Truths in Small Things
Maryanne Wolf - Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain (AND if you haven’t checked out the interview on Proust and the Squid by Dr Ginger Campbell of the Brain Science Podcast, get a move on!! This inspired me to drive to three bookstores to track down a copy!)
Lynne Kelly – The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal
Jared M. Diamond – Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
My most recent reads and fast becoming faves (that I’ll pop up reviews for when I’m next travelling) -
Neil Shubin - Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst - Trick or Treatment? : Alternative Medicine on Trial
And yes, there happens to be women writers who, without question, are on my list of recommendations. They’re writers, full stop. If you’re after more books, there’s always my booklist in the link for Skeptic Readings, which includes books for children, teens and adults.
Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments!
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Interesting list… I just bought “Trick or Treatment” and it looks really good.
But, erm, hold on! “The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell is a science book, isn’t it? It’s on social science but it’s still science…
Yes, that’s a good one to add. ‘Popular science’, if you have a look on the ‘related’ lists on Amazon, appears to be quite a broad category.
I think your reading list is a good starting point. There is certainly no shortage of good science books for general audiences.
Ginger Campbell, MD
Brain Science Podcast
I look forward to meeting you at Dragon*Con. There will be a live episode of the Brain Science Podcast on August 31, 2008 at 2:30 PM.
Oh ABSOLUTELY! And if there’s one thing that you and Dragon*Con also show – there is certainly NO shortage of women engaged and involved in science as proactive supporters.
It was something Derek and Swoopy pointed out on stage, how there is now such a representative of both genders that we should focus more on getting to the general audiences.
As your podcast does!
More books to add to the ever-expanding list but thanks for the recommendations.
Best science book I’ve ever read is “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson. Had I read this back in my high school days (1970s), I would have chosen some branch of science as a college major rather than English as I did. It should be required reading in high school science classes, IMHO.
“Lives of a Cell” by Lewis Thomas is another I’d add to the list, as well as anything by Stephen Gould. Olivia Judson’s columns in the NYT are also excellent.
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