recommended reading of non-fiction?

[DrPizza]

I figured this is the forum to ask in, since I'm looking for non-fiction books of a more technical nature; specifically, geared more toward mathematics and physics. Interesting books in quantum theories would be good, of course. I suppose any non-fiction of a more technical nature (i.e. Harry Potter doesn't quite make it as a recommendation here) could be helpful to others frequenting this forum with slightly different interests.

So, without further ado, your recommendations?

 

[f95toli]

"The physics of Star Trek" by Lawrence Krauss is pretty good.

Krauss uses examples from Star Trek to discuss modern phyiscs: Black holes, anti-matter etc.

 

[sjwaste]

For popular press science, Atom by Larry Krauss is excellent. Hyperspace (Michio Kaku) and The Fabric of the Cosmos (Brian Greene) have also been good reads.

QED by Feynmann was great if you want something more challenging.

 

[icarus4586]

Never read it, but I saw a recommendation in Reader's Digest for a book called Genius Factory, by David Plotz. It's about a sperm bank that was set up in the '70s, supposedly for Nobel Prize winners and others who had a high enough IQ. I guess it tells some stories of kids meeting up with their father, many of whom were not in the least bit qualified for... umm... donating.
Sounded interesting to me.

 

[pm]

• "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman - about the origins and effects of globalization. I'm reading this right now... about halfway through... interesting.
• "Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud" by Robert L. Park - a series of anecdotes and examples about pseudo-science from mesmerism, to cold fusion, to perpetual motion matchines. Very readable.
• "The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography" by Simon Singh - a history of codes and codebreaking. Very interesting and readable. Very interesting section on the German Enigma machine from WWII.
• "The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory" by Brian Greene - discussion of the future research into string theory. Very good, although gets a little slow near the end.
• "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking - a very interesting book on a fascinating subject written by an acclaimed author who is clearly better at physics than writing, but the subject matter is compelling enough to overcome any criticisms of writing style.
• "The Microprocessor : A Biography" by Michael S. Malone - an interesting and very readable account of the history of the microprocessor with lots of anecdotes about key players.

My favorite of all of these was the "Voodoo Science" book, followed by "The Code Book" followed by the "The Microprocessor" - although they are all good (or I wouldn't have recommended them )

 

[PowerEngineer]

Since you seem to enjoy physics, I suggest any of the books/lectures authored by Dr. Richard P. Feynman.

 

[Future Shock]

I purchased a set of Feynman's live lectures on CD last year, and then lent them out to a number of very tech people. Everyone enjoyed at least the first few of them, especially as their is something magical about his presentation of advanced physics. Of course, almost no one, myself included, could make it all the way through - there is just a limit on what you can comprehend without the visual and the textbook. Still, I highly recommend them - I think I got them at a Border's Books.

Also I would HIGHLY recommend "A Brief History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. Not extremely technical, but more of this decades version of Burke's "Connections" book. But well done, and a lot more on biology and the soft sciences than Burke's efforts.

And while I'm at it, I'll second the motion for Friedman's "The World is Flat." Excellent.

FS

 

[Gibsons]

While we're on a Feynman kick, I'll recommend the biography by James Gleick. Text

 

[Cawchy87]

Feynman's video biography by Nova was excellent as well.

 

[unipidity]

Ahhh... feel the Feynman love.

Greene writes well imo, but all of his diagrams in The Elegant Universe sucked. Might have been improved in later editions.


Not maths or physics, but if you have never done a proper course in evolution, it is absolutly *essential* that you read at least one Dawkins book. Climbing Mount Improbable or The Blind Watchmaker are probably the broadest (though The Selfish Gene is a groundbreaking book). He is a brilliant empiricist.

 

[DrPizza]

All sound like excellent titles so far. Hopefully others are being inspired to put down the romance novels and read something educational.

 

[DrPizza]

All sound like excellent titles so far. Hopefully others are being inspired to put down the romance novels and read something educational.
Hopefully we get some more titles, too.

 

[zinkpig]

hmm.....carl sagan hasnt been mentioned. this is one of my favorites

 

[cquark]

Originally posted by: Gibsons
While we're on a Feynman kick, I'll recommend the biography by James Gleick. Text

I'd recommend reading Mehra's The Beat of a Different Drum instead.

 

[cquark]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
I figured this is the forum to ask in, since I'm looking for non-fiction books of a more technical nature; specifically, geared more toward mathematics and physics.

I'm reading a set of popular math books centered around Euler and the Riemann hypothesis at the moment that are good.

e: The Story of a Number by Maor
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de...6795-8548911?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

Euler: The Master of Us All by Dunham
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de...1/102-2806795-8548911?v=glance&s=books

Gamma : Exploring Euler's Constant by Havil
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de...6795-8548911?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Riemann's Zeta Function by Edwards
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de...6795-8548911?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance

 

[Wreckage]

Fermat's Enigma : The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography

I read a brief article on Fermat's last theorem and it lead me to these books.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: cquark

Originally posted by: Gibsons
While we're on a Feynman kick, I'll recommend the biography by James Gleick. Text

I'd recommend reading Mehra's The Beat of a Different Drum instead.

Interesting, I didn't know about that one. From the reviews I suspect I'd like it.

Next on my list, though, is the Sydney Brenner book. Text

 

[IronWing]

The Making of the Atomic Bomb - Richard Rhodes

 

[sao123]

Brian Greene, who wrote The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory has published a new book earlier this year.
I would recommend reading it, if you enjoyed the first.

The Fabric of the Cosmos : Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene

 

[cquark]

Originally posted by: ironwing
The Making of the Atomic Bomb - Richard Rhodes

That's a good one, as is his book Dark Sun, which tells the history of the hydrogen bomb.

 

[cquark]

Originally posted by: Gibsons
Interesting, I didn't know about that one. From the reviews I suspect I'd like it.

Next on my list, though, is the Sydney Brenner book. Text

Sounds good. I've been reading a fair bit of biology this summer, like Sean Carroll's Endless Forms Most Beautiful, but I haven't read much about biologists.

 

[herm0016]

life of the cosmos by somiln, fabric of the cosmos, elegent universe by green a short history of nearly everything by bill bryson,

 

[dcaron]

The teaching company has some very good 'lecture on DVD' series that I enjoyed. Specifically, I have seen "My Favorite Universe" and "Einstein?s Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists", and found them very interesting. I am also reading "The Elegant Universe" by Brian Greene and it is pretty good as well.

edit:
here is the link to the teaching comany's website:
http://www.teach12.com

 

[Stretchman]

I was at Barnes and Noble the other night, and noticed an interesting book in the physics section entitled, The Dancing Wu Li Masters: The New Physics by Gary Zukov. It looked like a very readable, enjoyable introduction to physics.

I've read one of his other titles, and enjoyed his style of writing.

 

[just4geeks]

The Math Instinct: Why You're a Mathematical Genius (Along with Lobsters, Birds, Cats, and Dogs) by Keith Devlin is also a good read.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/.../ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-1138833-6603848