Wednesday, October 10, 2007

As deep as any ocean, as sweet as any harmony

My school's acronym was SFS, which people joked stood for Safe From Science, due to the lack of any math or science requirement. So I took few science classes then, aside from a course on nuclear weapons technology. I regret this, as I find science fun and enriching, but I do have trouble finding books that aren't geared towards specialists or written at too basic a level. I've just started Natalie Angier's The Canon, which is meant to provide an understanding of some core concepts of scientific thinking and learning. This got me thinking about the science books which do speak to the educated non-specialist. Here are some that I found enlightening.

The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. A brief explanation of evolutionary theory. Told remarkably well and without the heavy anti-religious tone that has dominated some of his recent work.

The Moral Animal by Robert Wright. This one is about sociobiology which is where evolution crashes into sociology.

The Whole Shebang by Timothy Ferris. This is a lucid book about a challenging topic, cosmology, or the study of the universe and how it began and operates.

No comments: