Entertainment Weekly Bemoans Lack of Great Science Books

Bryan writes "A recent headline at Entertainment Weekly suggests that the '100 Best Reads' of the last 25 years do not include a single science book (not even a popular science book). In response, cosmologist Sean Carroll at Cosmic Variance has given an interesting analysis of EW's disappointing list, and Soul Physics is calling for suggestions on the Greatest Physics Books of the Last 25 Years. For all the great literature that science has produced in the last 25 years, EW's list seems to represent a major shortcoming in the field: it still isn't diffusing into popular culture." I'm not sure what Entertainment Weekly's standing to complain would come from. That aside, have science books ever in modern times been a driving force greater than ones intended as (mere) entertainment, religious instruction, etc? I'd put anything by Richard Feynman on this list, though.

Comments

I don't know about books...

[xtracto]

But Carl Sagan documentaires were *a must* when I was a kid.

Oh, and Isaac Asimov's non-SF books are great too (the book about Physics and the one about Maths are great).

Re:I don't know about books...

[Anonymous Coward]

Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" was, I think, a bestseller and was very good too.

Re:I don't know about books...

[syousef]

If you enjoyed Cosmos, you really should read:
Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan "The Demon-Haunted World: Science As A Candle In The Dark" (1996)
Carl Sagan "Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space" (1994)

Biographies on famous scientists are always interesting too. There are plenty to choose from. I've read about the lives of Sagan, Feynman, Newton and Einstein. Very entertaining and a wonderful insight into their work as well as their characters (and their character flaws! Did you know the rumour is that Einstein would try to seduce women by letting his robe fall open....oops)

Re:I don't know about books...

[Omestes]

Recommend "Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West" instead. That book was DAMN creepy, though beautifully written. No Country For Old Men was also good, as was "The Crossing", which also was haunting, but dark.

Not science books though. I like the "Einstein File", "The Mismeasure of Man" (can't go wrong with Gould), and the book on eugenics by the guy who wrote "IBM and the Holocaust". Good cautionary, or eye opening, tales of when science gets mixed with politics, for good or ill (ill for mankind, or Einstein's reputation)

As for more "pure" science, "G.E.B." is up there, I recommend it to anyone who can sit through it without bleeding through their ears. Sagan's Demon Haunted World, and Dragon's of Eden are also winners (anything by Sagan, like Gould, is gonna be good). "The World Without Us" was also brilliant, even if contentious.

Re:I don't know about books...

[TapeCutter]

If I had to pick just one book it would be Demon Haunted World. If I could pick a second I would add Dawkin's "Unweaving The Rainbow" to counter the common belief that only the religious can trully appreciate the awe inspiring beauty of the Universe.

Also it's hard to go past Brownowski's "The Acsent of Man" for a general history of science.

Good books?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who needs books? Most scientists read wikipedia. Or science journals as pdf's.

For Me...

[Wandering Wombat]

http://www.amazon.com/Science-Class-You-Wish-Had/dp/0399523138

"The Science Class You Wish You Had"

It covers a LOT of ground in very short time, and makes everything accessible. This is definitely for people who think that Harry Potter is the #2 best book of the last 25 years.

Any of Stephen Jay Gould's essay collections...

[Diomedes01]

What about the compilations of Gould's essays for "Natural History" magazine? My two favorites are "The Panda's Thumb" and "Bully for Brontosaurus".

GÃdel, Escher, Bach

[NJVil]

GÃdel, Escher, Bach has enough science in it (particularly cognition and neurology) to qualify as a "science book" (whatever that's supposed to mean).

Definitely a must-read for anyone interested in metacognition.

A Short History of Nearly Everything

[cetialphav]

I loved A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It is more of a history of science book. If you want to know something like how it is that we know the age of the earth and all the prior theories and how they were concocted then this is the kind of book for you. It is a very entertaining read as he often takes side tracks into the personalities behind the discoveries.

Re:A Short History of Nearly Everything

[eggoeater]

I've read the book multiple times and listened to the audio book. The audio book, although well read by the author, is actually heavily abridged; you lose a lot of the good anecdotes that are in the book.
My favorite one that wasn't in the audio book is about an 18th or 19th century astronomer that traveled to India to make accurate measurements of the transit of Venus. His voyage was delayed and was at sea during the transit but decided to stick around (12 years) until the next transit. The big day came and clouds rolled in just in time to obscure his viewing. On the trip back he got sick and had to spend a year in Africa. By the time he limped back home, nothing to show for his trip, he found out his family had had him declared dead, and looted his estate.

That book is great and is chocked full of historical anecdotes like that. It's also very well researched.

Re:re

[Hatta]

I'd add anything and everything from Feynman. Even his biographical writings are full of information.

Also, I'm surprised to be the first to point out "The Road to Reality" by Roger Penrose. There's nothing new in the book really, but he's the first to put real mathematics in a book targeted towards a general audience. If want a deeper understanding than you can get from A Brief History of Time, but you're not prepared to read a graduate physics text, The Road to Reality is for you.