

Steven Weinberg: Science books for the general reader - Hooke
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/03/steven-weinberg-13-best-science-books-general-reader

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abecedarius
_It is as if in some post-apocalyptic future, scholars would learn about the
work of Newton and Einstein from surviving articles in Scientific American or
New Scientist._

Yes. Lucio Russo in _The Forgotten Revolution_ made the same point and tried
to figure out what got lost in that game of telephone. (A lot!)

Here's a book not exactly for the general reader but that I think is
underappreciated: James Clerk Maxwell's _Matter and Motion_.
[https://archive.org/details/mattermotion00maxwiala](https://archive.org/details/mattermotion00maxwiala)
It's a textbook on mechanics assuming a high-school math background.

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projectileboy
Thank your for the link to Matter and Motion. I had never heard of it, and I'm
enjoying what I've read thus far. It reminds me in a way of the Feynman
Lectures. The greats often seem to have a way of explaining concepts in the
most clear, concise way possible.

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adestefan
_The Making of the Atomic Bomb_ is one of the best books I have ever read.
It's one of the few history of science books that I feel didn't get dragged
down in details or gloss over things to be superficial.

The follow-up _Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb_ is also good, but
not as well done as the former.

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gjkood
I was blown away after reading this book. It is by far the best book on
general physics I have read. I recommend it to all parents to give their
children the opportunity to read this book. I think it will change their lives
and channel them to a love of physics (if they are so inclined). It is an
example of how so few could influence so many.

Personal anecdote. I met Robert Oppenheimer's grandson a few years back and he
mentioned that this book is one of the few books that treated his grandfather
fairly.

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brainflake
Glad to see The Character of Physical Law on there. One of my all time
favorites. The emphasis on symmetry and conservation principles was a real eye
opener when I read it.

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Cr3w
The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature by Matt Ridley is one of
the best science books I ever read.

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Lost_BiomedE
Thanks, will check it out. I loved reading Nature Via Nurture a long time ago.

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DyslexicAtheist
one of the most interesting (and also funny) books to get the general reader
interested in science is probably Bill Bryson's: A short history of nearly
everything:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Ever...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Everything)

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aorth
Indeed! I'm currently 400 pages into this one and really enjoying it; I was
surprised it wasn't on the list.

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trcollinson
It's sad to see that James Gleick did not make the list, but you must draw the
line somewhere. For anyone who sees this, may I suggest Chaos: Making A New
Science.

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jleyank
FWIW, I preferred Gleick's Feynman biography over Chaos, but that's ss much
due to the topic as the writing. I've read, I think all of his works and
they're all worth a read. I'm glad to see Tim Ferris on the list as well. Both
good choices for popular science and how it interacts with the world.

Others will mention Sagan, and I recommend the Halley chapter in Comet as he's
quite the individual.

edit: While they might be old, Asimov or Martin Gardner are also good reads.

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douche
It's somewhat dated now, but I picked up Isaac Asimov's The Intelligent Man's
Guide to Science years ago at an Elk's Club booksale, and it was a fantastic
overview of physics and biology, of course from the 1960s perspective in which
it was published.

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enry_straker
I Second that. A Fantastic book which inspired me to go into science.

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mad44
I am reading "The Science of Discworld" and I like it a lot. It is accessible,
engaging, and makes you really think and question why things are the way they
are.

[http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Science-Discworld-Terry-
Pratchet...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Science-Discworld-Terry-
Pratchett/dp/0091951704)

"Pratchett provides a very funny 30,000-word novella about Discworld science,
beginning in the High Energy Magic faculty of Unseen University and leading
his eccentric wizards to investigate an alien cosmos where there's no magic to
keep things going. This is the Roundworld universe--ours. The key point: much
that's true only on Discworld (eg that suns orbit planets and not vice-versa)
was once believed on Earth and the wizards' comic misunderstandings echo the
history of real science...Unusually, Pratchett's story is split into chapters
and in between his chapters Stewart and Cohen wittily discuss the concepts
underlying the fiction, from the Big Bang through stellar formation to life
and evolution.

Much of the science we know, they cheerfully insist, is "lies-to-children":
good stories that are mostly untrue, like thinking of atoms as tiny solar
systems.

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russell
I suppose that George Gamow is a bit dated now, but half a century ago he was
an inspiration to me and I read everything of his I could get my hands on.
Lisa Randall's Warped Passages was also a lot of fun.

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spdustin
It's a shame more people don't know his name. He postulated that the
primordial universe was hot (mostly energy/radiation), described how that
radiation condensed into matter, and gave us stellar nucleosynthesis - the
science behind, "we're made of star stuff," in a paper attributed to Alpher,
Bethe and Gamow.

Who doesn't love a cosmologist with a sense of humor?

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CamperBob2
Yep, and Bethe had no clue until the paper came out with his name on it. Gamow
just couldn't resist adding his name as a joke.

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jszymborski
If there are biomedical scientists reading this, you might (as I have)
confused Mr. S. Weinberg, the Nobel Laureate and Physicist, with Mr. R.
Weinberg, the prolific cancer scientist.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Weinberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Weinberg)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Weinberg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Weinberg)

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cynus_a
I didn't find The Elegant Universe all that mind blowing, but it was
interesting enough since it included some modern physics (though some of it
was speculative).

On the other hand, Origins by Donald Goldsmith and Neil deGrasse Tyson was
excellent, in case you're interested in hearing about the formation of the
universe after the big bang.

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Myrmornis
The Elegant Universe contains the best introduction to special relativity and
quantum mechanics for a non-specialist audience that I've ever come across.
Not modern but hard to see what could be more mind-blowing if it's new to you.

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jecs321
I am so happy that A Brief History of Time did not make the list. I tried to
read it several times and never made it through, because he glosses over so
many things, never providing sufficient reasoning.

I highly recommend The Age of Entanglement, one of the best general audience
books on quantum physics! Quite a page turner!

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ihaveajob
I read A Brief History of Time during high school, and I thought it was great.
Perhaps if I had been more knowledgeable in the topic (I was only familiar
with classic physics at that point) when I read it, I might have felt
otherwise. But I would say it serves the general audience superbly.

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morazow
I highly recommend, _Uncertainty: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr, and the Struggle
for the Soul of Science_ by Lindley, David

Great read about the beginning of quantum mechanics. I really liked how
Lindley depicted thoughts and reactions of great minds to one of controversial
topics in physics, quantum mechanics.

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astazangasta
I'll add "Physics and Philosophy" by Heisenberg as a personal favorite.

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derrasterpunkt
A great little book! I read it last year and can recommend it, too.

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Myrmornis
I was please to see that the list contains the two science books I recommend
to everyone.

    
    
      The Elegant Universe (1999) Brian Greene
      The Selfish Gene (1976) Richard Dawkins

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ochoseis
I feel like A Brief History of Time should have made this list.

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hownottowrite
Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin

Dust by Joseph Amato

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku

Most collections by Stephen Jay Gould (though I like "I Have Landed")

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enry_straker
No Asimov, the greatest writer of books on General Science for the public?

