Sciency Stuff

The physical and life sciences have never been my strong suit; in fact I marvel at how someone with as much education as I have could have gotten through with so little science. Ahh, the permissive '70s.

Anyway, I've lately taken to remedying these shortcomings on my own - never too late and besides I avoided learning a lot of stuff that isn't true anymore! For example, did you know that the term 'protoplasm' that used to be so important has largely been ushered out. By the way, a simple Google search will fail you in this instance and bring up a lot of outdated info.



Anyway, here are some excellent science books aimed at the general reader.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change by Elizabeth Kolbert. Explains the science behind climate change. A quick read.

The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design by Richard Dawkins . Explains the science behind the theory of evolution.

Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe (P.S.) by Simon Singh. Explains the science behind the Big Bang theory, but also a very readable history of cosmology going back to Ptolemy (the Earth-is-at-center guy).

And here's one I haven't read yet, but looks to be along the same lines:

The Quantum Zoo: A Tourist's Guide to the Never-Ending Universe by Marcus Chown. From Publishers Weekly: "Chown (The Universe Next Door) admirably takes on the task of elucidating two of the most commonsense-defying concepts in modern science: quantum mechanics and relativity."






As Grace Slick sang:

Remember what the dormouse said:


'FEED YOUR HEAD_______________FEED your head'