Excellent reflections on lack of scientific literacy
923336
Carl Sagan left behind a great legacy of skepticism, wonder, and curiosity.  Although taking on some extremes when considering the gross need for research and science literacy funding, Sagan casually discusses  bunk theories and superstitions that still exist today in our "modern  world".
This book makes you think about what really exists, and how  much you THINK you know about the universe.  Can you actually know the  things around you, or do you think you understand them because someone else  said so?
If you believe you can answer that question definitively, take  a moment to read this book.  You're assured to do a double take on your  beliefs.
3295645
Throughout history, innovators in science have risen from obscurity to fame by virtue of some original inspiration.  These are the tales of five such pilgrims and their journeys.  They are facinating biographical sketches of young boys, some poor or frail, whose life's work brought into clearer focus some aspect of the world around us.  In the course of the book the author coaxes us to a better understanding of the state of knowledge before and after these innovators.  We learn about gravity through Isaac Newton, hydrodynamic pressure through Bernoulli, electromagnetics from Faraday, thermodynamics from Clausius, and special relativity from Einstein.  Michael Guillen's book isn't about equations, or even math, as a quick flip through the pages will illustrate.  But the general reader, whom Guilen knows well through his television work, will not be disappointed by the lack of mathmatical notation.  Ultimately we come away believing that, understanding the five protagonists, we understand their contribution, ...if not the language of their legacies.
177436
A mature science, like Physics, has a panoply of formalisms, apparati, and methods for making epistemic progress.  But in a newer science, like semantics, how do you even get off the ground?

Cruse here provides a marvelous exposition of the methods employed by semanticists, and some results obtainable from them.  His intellectual honesty is such that he never claims more for them than what is warrented--he never tried to make too much stew from one oyster.  There are vast areas of semantics and linguistics which just can't be formalized.  But Cruse here shows us how at least to get started.

The approach he describes is one he calls a "contextual" approach--"the semantic properties of a lexical item are fully reflected in appropriate aspects of the relations it contracts with actual and potential contexts".  Astute readers will note the perhaps surprising agreement here between Cruse and Quinian Holism.  To get a grip on the meaning of a word, the best way is to systematically examing sentences which contain that word, and see if the sentences seem intuitively "wrong" somehow or "right".

For example, it tells us something about the meaning of the word "light" that the sentnece "It was too light for me to lift" seems wrong somehow.  Certain readers might at first consider this intuition-based method to be hopelessly unscientific, but as Cruse points out, every measurement, at some point, depends upon human judgements--e.g. when measuring temperature, you have to judge which line on the thermometer is closest to the mercury.  Indeed, that is what a measuring device does--makes quantities easier to make judment calls about.  A great insight.  Cruse developes analogous "measuring instruments" to help with investigating what words mean.  Again, Cruse's intellectual honest is such that he never presses these too far, and he always fully respects the limits of these tools.

Using these tools, Cruse then goes on to examine several ways in which words can be related to each other.  These are:

Taxonomical relations -- if fido is a dog, then he _is_ an animal, he _might_ be a poodle, but is _not_ a cat.

Meronomies -- a finger is part of a hand, but not a subset of a hand.

opposites --  if something is hot, it is not cold

and many others.  Always clearly written, always clear about the limitations, this book should be on the shelf of every semanticist.  This book could also be profitably read as a case study in an advanced course on philosophy of science, showing how to extract scientifically useful information from an as-yet-unformalizable body of knowledge.  Highly recommended.
3166463
I can't say I've ever been a huge fan of Dawkins - the only book I've read of his in full has been The God Delusion, and although I've read the beginning of most of his books since I'm sad to say that none of them captured my interest long enough for me to finish them. The only knowledge I had of "The Selfish Gene" was gained from watching his 1991 Christmas Lectures which I thoroughly enjoyed. Although I admire the way he succinctly and poetically writes his arguments, I had recently become a little bit put off by the dismissive and sometimes aggressive way he argues with religious representatives. His latest book, however, has completely reversed this negative perception I had of him.

Although I personally found the beginning to be a little slow, in time it reveals itself to be a wonderful account of his life. In particular I loved the amount of detail he puts into his childhood days and the reflective style of writing - he often contemplates his reasons for acting the way he did, sometimes citing experts' research on the subject in question. This made it a very engaging read, one that made me contemplate my own past and present behaviours. For example, he discusses the bullying nature of children and reflects on how he, despite being an empathetic boy, never did anything to stop bullies from targeting a defenseless victim. He then goes on to discuss whether we are the same 'person' now as we were as a child - even though we are literally made up of different material than that of our younger selves the continuity of memory makes it feel as though our identity is the same. This was a point that I discussed with people for many days after reading about it.

This engaging form of writing made me think (more than I ever have) like a scientist - wondering about things I'd never contemplated before, becoming enthused (rather than put off) by scientific explanations for behaviour and realizing more than ever how much there is to discover (and being thrilled by the concept). I am not a very educated person - a 21-year-old working in retail, having had a year of university experience before it became too hard for me - and Dawkins' book has re-awakened the part of me that inspired me to go to university in the first place.

The content itself is fascinating - his transitions from one part of his life to the next are well explained and his obsession with programming and scientific ideas are awe-inspiring and left me to perceive him as nothing short of a genius.

All in all, from someone who's not very well-read or well-educated, this book was incredibly valuable and inspiring. Although a few parts went over my head (despite re-reading certain paragraphs several times!), the vast majority was a pleasure to read. I feel like I understand Dawkins and his 'appetite for wonder' much better than before, and I've never been more eager to read all of his books to completion.

The only downside is that it only covers his life up to the release of his first book - I cannot wait to read the second half!
1670897
My physics students often have the deluded idea that scientific truths are discovered in a very linear fashion by boring white guys who know exactly what they are doing, and set out to do it. Their general perception is that these weird haired scientists get some material, do some experiments and then "ta da" the answers are revealed and they go onto the next bit of physics.

  The manner in which many physics textbooks treat the concepts in physics feeds into this misconception, everything is already decided, chopped into chapters with formulas helpfully placed in boxes (and if is really important, it is in bold type).  Physics experiments are only done to get the "right" answer.  The main goal is to learn where to plug in the information you have been given in order to get the answer at the end of the book.  They beg to be assigned the odd problems so that they can check their answers.

This book makes science real.  Dirty, convoluted, messy, imprecise and done by sometimes vain, often socially inept and occasionally cheating real human beings.  They ask questions, they fumble about, they fight with each other, they argue and eventually some sort of truth begins to emerge.
Leonard does an excellent job at presenting how thinking was so very different in the past.  Having been trained in the scientific method, it is hard to understand how people did not think to answer questions by experimenting, that this idea itself was revolutionary.

The Upright Thinkers starts with the rat like creature who was our common ancestor and ends with quantum mechanics.  That is a lot of material to cover, and it is done well, with humor and at a level that even those with no science training, but simply a curious mind, can follow.  Those of us in the field will see the equations swimming before our eyes as familiar names become real human beings, with all of their foibles.

Leonard himself comes across as the sort of person you would love to have over for dinner.  He talks with great fondness of his father and his struggle to explain physics to his uneducated but obviously quite bright father.  Perhaps those experiences are what make him into an approachable science writer today.  He is funny (I laughed out loud that he uses Max Planck as a name for dinner reservations, as his is too hard to spell) and tells the story of the evolution of science and scientific thinking in a way that makes it seem so much more human.

I shall be making part of this book required reading for my honors physics students.  They will be cheered by the fact that those names in their textbooks are not gods, nor infallible humans and that science is not a dry and dead topic but a constantly evolving and messy human endeavor.
1201675
This is a clear and thoughtful blend of data and stories that persuasively makes the case for a new paradigm in education -- a paradigm with more time for learning and much more mentoring by what the author calls "citizen teachers."  I liked the examples drawn from the author's own (privileged) life and examples of how the Citizen Schools program is providing to lower income students many of the same experiences that benefit upper income students.

So many education books get lost in wonkery.  But this one is highly readable and personal while packing a major punch in its insights and advocacy.  Worth reading for sure!
903938
This book is as difficult to describe as it is easy to appreciate. What we have here is a series of 52 mini-commentaries, each devoted to an insight or conviction that Alan Webber has formulated throughout his life thus far. As I worked my way through them, I was reminded of Isaac Asimov observation, "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's odd...'" Presumably Webber has encountered situations that struck him as odd and wondered about them, finally reaching conclusions that he characterizes as unofficial "rules" or "truths" about human nature. I suspect that are probably viewed by most people as guidelines.

Although Webber suggests that they can be applied to "winning at business without losing your self," I think they are relevant whenever and wherever there is human interaction. After about the first 12-15, I began to connect rules to specific situations. For example:

Rule #10: "A good question beats a good answer." This offers excellent advice to job candidates whose questions tend to reveal more about their abilities than their responses to an interviewer's questions do.

Rule #13: "Learn to take no as a question." Sometimes, no means no. However, on frequent occasion, no is a tentative rather than terminal response. Politely request an explanation and be well-prepared to respond to the reasons offered.

Rule #18: "Knowing it ain't the same as doing it." This reminds me of a book with an eponymous title, in which Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton discuss what they call "The Knowing-Doing Gap." Long ago, Thomas Edison said, "Vision without execution is hallucination."

Rule #43: "Don't confuse credentials with talent." Make no mistake, credentials can have substantial value but (as #18 suggests) they offer evidence of nothing more than what obtaining them required.

With regard to talent, I agree with Anders Ericsson and his research associates at Florida State University that its importance also tends to be overrated. Darrell Royal once observed that "potential" means "you ain't done it yet." In my opinion, the best credentials are redundantly verifiable accomplishments that are relevant to the given needs.

Rule #45: "Failing isn't failing. Failing is failing to try." I agree, presuming to add that that failing is also failing to learn anything of value from whatever is considered a failure. Back to Edison who cherished every setback in his Menlo Park research center as a precious learning opportunity.

After you read Alan Webber's book, he invites you to formulate your own Rule #53 and then share it with him (alan@rulesofthumbbook.com). I hope you do. Here's the one I came up with: "You better be there when your name is called," perhaps inspired by Woody Allen's assertion, "Eighty percent of success is showing up."
1305491
very eloquently written, writes in a way that conveys the message and can be understood by a person with no formal training in science while also retaining and portraying the complexity of the subject.
2886360
As a non-science oriented person, I found myself skipping around in this book, skimming parts about claw hammers and boomerangs, but reading the entire chapter on supermarket bills. Frankly, that doughnut on the cover got my attention, and the fact that I had just heard about the Ignobel Prize on the radio, which the author of this book won several years ago.

I enjoyed the chapter on The Physics of Sex, but had to read the notes to find out why a woman taking the antidepressant clomipramine supplemented her dosage with pepper. (You'll have to read it yourself, I don't want Amazon removing my review!)

In addition to making science more accessible, Fisher makes scientists seem more human. He describes colleagues of his reacting to successes by singing, shouting, and one who removed all his clothes and did a series of handsprings. Now that is a happy scientist.
3542567
I anticipated reading Francis Collin's book, the language of God, with great expectation.  It has indeed become one of the most quoted books on the faith-science question.  It is interesting then, that in reading the book, it is not really about apologetics or debate.  Rather, it reads like one man's testimony about his spiritual "evolution" (and his conversion from atheism to Christianity).  Although written in this style, the book does engage in logical arguments, and in some critique of;
The materialistic worldview that denies any knowledge outside of science (Dawkins, et al).
The overly fundamentalist faith-based views that deny most scientifically discovered truth of God's "book of nature" (e.g. Young-earth creationism).
Intelligent Design for its ultimately "God of the Gaps" (non-scientific) perspective.

If I have a criticism of the book, it's that Collins does not sufficiently explore his own theistic evolutionary view, or discuss problems in any depth of the Darwinian paradigm (its truth or otherwise).  Some people will not agree with everything that Collins says, I didn't, but there's no doubting the veracity of many of his arguments.  Overall, I think, the book is engaging and well written for the layman and scientist alike.  It conveys a strong morality and compassion at its core.  Collins, a true "top scientist", will exacerbate those who like the straw-man stereotype of Christian believers being non-thinkers.  He clearly loves both God and Science, and sees that they can only ultimately be in harmony.  I recommend this book.
2908336
One day, while on an international flight somewhere over the Pacific, Bill Bryson looked out the airplane window and realized he knew virtually nothing about the ocean -- indeed, the planet -- below him. As he says in his introduction: "I didn't know why the oceans were salty but the Great Lakes weren't...I didn't know what a proton was, or a protein, didn't know a quark from a quasar, I didn't know how geologists could look at a layer of rock and tell you how old it was...I became gripped by a quiet, unwonted urge to know a little about these matters and how people figured them out...and so I decided to devote a portion of my life to reading books and journals and finding saintly, patient experts prepared to answer a lot of outstandingly dumb questions." This book is the result of his three-year quest to distill all general scientific knowledge into one easily accessible, readable, and above all understandable volume.

Bryson covers the construction of the universe and the deconstruction of DNA; reintroduces us to scientific pioneers such as van Leeuwenhoek and Mendel, Newton and Hooke; and terrifies us with volatility of the not so solid ground beneath our feet and the sheer number of bacteria we carry around on our skin. But he doesn't just present us with facts. He also tells us how we discovered those facts: how we came to know what we know. It all makes for fascinating reading. His material can be a trifle dry at times, but Bryson does a good job of making even the most dessicated scientific idea entertaining. Plus, there's the additional cool factor of the occasional lovely oddball word, like fossiliferous.

Other than required basic biology courses, I've never formally studied science. But I'm curious, and I've developed a grand fascination with the subject over the years. I often tell my husband if I ever go back to college, my course of study will be in one of the -ologies. If you're like me and have the least bit of curiosity about the mechanics of the universe, you ought to read this book, too.
3023223
This book is a marvelous synthesis of research, by the author, his students, and many others, on how children learn the meanings of words. It makes clear why learning the meanings of words is a difficult task requiring explication, which is not immediately obvious, and then presents a great deal of evidence bearing on how it is done. As someone accustomed to reading very critically and frequently finding faults and gaps even in arguments to which I am sympathetic, I was amazed at how rarely I could find anything to quibble with. The book is also very balanced theoretically; the author considers a wide range of possible factors, from innate constraints on lexical semantics to general principles of theory of mind, and argues his case very fairly.
The book is not always easy reading, but it is always clear and pleasant. In a few cases the interpretation of an experiment described will not be entirely clear to someone with no background in psycholinguistics; in a few others, linguistic ideas are referred to without much explanation. Overall, however, the book should be accessible even to those without specialized trainng in linguistics or psychology.
322013
This book is a great introduction to the scientists and mathematicians of the Renaissance who first thought to examine the world rationally.  Men like Isaac Newton, Kepler, Gallileo and Rene Descartes turned the conventional view of a static earth at the center of the cosmos on its head with mathematics and empirical observations that have become so accepted we take them for granted.  This is an extremely well-written and engaging account of how this change occurred, with explanations of concepts in math and physics that don't require much prior study to understand.  Drawings of some of the experiments undertaken by these scientists help illustrate the author's points, but the writing is so clear that they are just icing on the cake.

It's hard to believe that before Descartes no one had thought to draw a graph of how things change over time (e.g., a basic stock performance graph, a grade curve, etc.), but until reading this book, it had never occurred to me to wonder why.  Interspersed with the discoveries themselves are vignettes about the personalities of the men who thought to question the existing world view as well as reactions to their discoveries and a brief examination of all the subsequent inventions and discoveries their work made possible.

A fun, easy and though-provoking read.
2643195
THE INCREDIBLE UNLIKELINESS OF BEING is a highly entertaining, beautifully researched book-length piece of popular science writing that explores the miracle (the scientific miracle, that is) of how we humans came to be. I purchased it at a local bookstore (not on Amazon) based on how much I've enjoyed Dr. Roberts's appearances on the BBC (especially "The Incredible Human Journey," on which this book is based). Her style in this book (as on TV) is engaging and conversational, and the information is accessible to the layperson, despite the fact that she is synthesizing all sorts of complicated science from different disciplines to show how singular and unlikely is the evolution of the human being (and, really any organism). Its very thesis, then, flies in the face of creationism, intelligent design, and the like. And to be clear, she is not shy about dismissing these movements in the book.

I mention all of this because when I went to the product page on Amazon to see what other readers thought, I was surprised by the negative reviews, which describe this book as "politically correct" or "claptrap," with recommendations to "send it back to England." And then a third negative review that mentions her critique of intelligent design. Which was when the coin dropped: these reviews are negative because THE INCREDIBLE UNLIKELINESS OF BEING is a book about the science of evolution, whereas these readers are believers in the religious miracle (and not the scientific one) of human creation. Evolutionary biologist and anti-creationist provocateur Richard Dawkins himself has endorsed this book in glowing terms, so there is no questioning where Dr. Roberts stands in this conversation.

In short, this book is highly recommended to all readers interested in a beguiling, eye-opening scientific look at human evolution--for those looking for a work about God's plan, and how human beings were fashioned in His image and so on, this book is sure to disappoint.
1202913
How do you pick the best science writing of the twentieth century? Really it all comes down to a matter of opinion, which almost always results in the complaint and special pleading for authors and works left on the cutting room floor (I mean no geology! Come on cant we get just a little respect). Richard Dawkins never the less makes the noble and very worthwhile attempt to collect some of the very best that science has to offer from the scientist themselves.

The book itself is a collection of over a hundred short passages, excerpts, essays, and even a few poems taken from the likes of Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Francis Crick, Stephen Gould, Brian Greene, Jared Diamond, Alan Turning, Richard Feynman, Carl Sagan, Primo Levi, the list goes on and on. Just this alone would make a great collection, but Dawkins also includes the men and women that contributed so much to the worlds of astronomy, oceanography, evolution, particle physics, and genetics that most and certainly I have never had the pleasure of coming across before. Dawkins introduces each and every essay with a humbling and often personal anecdote informing the reader on not just who the author is but why they are important and why they deserve to be included with the ranks of the very best.

The book is organized into four distinct groups What Scientists Study, Who Scientists Are, What Scientists Think, and What Scientists Delight in providing a unify theme that serves as a backdrop of the often awe inspiring essays that follow. At times the essays can be a bit dry, but Dawkins tries to reveal the whole spectrum that science has to offer. Its also not a light fluffy affair; some science literacy is needed because Dawkins does not shy away from the technical here. I found myself doing something I love with really great non-fiction works: further research. Not being so well versed in some of the genetics and higher mathematics/physics I was required to independent research and information gathering to grasp the full meaning of that particular essay. I learned so much more than I ever expected.

The excerpts and short passages could be so tantalizing that I was sometimes left wishing for more. Couple that with the exposure to works by scientist I would have never come across before has caused my wishlist to implode. I only wish there were more collections like this one by different editors to really show off the diversity of that science has to offer.
1555118
Wonderful overview and no need to be afraid if you don't have a science background!
4154271
Awakening to Zero point is a great book by Gregg Braden , a geologist, sacred journey guide and spiritual man. I have met Mr Braden in person and think he is a fabulous man, that really cares about the earth and with a profound intuitive insight regarding the changes that we are undergoing. The book is a collection of theories and ideas that attempt to bring together what many of us are feeling intuitively  ( "things on earth are changing" and "the past of humanity is not as we thought" ) with some solid evidence and scientific fact. I think Gregg does a very good job at this and provides plenty of food for thought.
The science in the text can be definitely improved upon though, as has been pointed out by a few reviewers with a scientific background. As a former physicist i too found that some of the science in the book is approximative. Maybe gregg's science, although better than that of most new agers, is not as good as some of the people for which science is their daily occupation. I too had some slight uncomfortablness at some of the statements within the book, from a scientific prospective. However I would not for this reason throw out the baby with the bath water. Gregg's science might not be fool proof, but his his intuition surely is. I ultimately found this book very valuable. At least it is a movement in the right direction. Science and Spirit will soon be meeting, if humanity is to progress at all. Gregg has definitely put a very positive foot forward in this endevour as well as sharing of his experience and very positive essence in this text. A very worthwhile read.