Post: #26

"annals of the former world" by John McPhee. If you guys liked Bryson's book then this may intrigue you- basically the author travels across North America on a road trip with earth scientists to describe the geological history of the continent. Everything from plate tectonics to paleontology is covered. I have a degree in geology and learned more from this book than in most of my classes, yet is still very accessible. I also found it to be full of interesting little random facts that are always fun to bring up in conversation!

Post: #27

THE END OF SCIENCE by John Horgan is good. It came out in 1996 and I read it when I was still working in the chemical industry. The book makes a strong argument that future scienctific revolutions are going to be hard to come by since they are becoming costly. For instance, how the hell do you prove String Theory? He goes a little off his road by including Noam Chomsky, but most of the book is sound. I made me decide not to pursue an academic career in science.

Post: #28

(02-08-2014 12:53 PM)komatiite Wrote:  "annals of the former world" by John McPhee. If you guys liked Bryson's book then this may intrigue you- basically the author travels across North America on a road trip with earth scientists to describe the geological history of the continent. Everything from plate tectonics to paleontology is covered. I have a degree in geology and learned more from this book than in most of my classes, yet is still very accessible. I also found it to be full of interesting little random facts that are always fun to bring up in conversation!

McPhee's book "The Pine Barrens" is really good for anyone who's lived in NJ or just finds US history and regional subcultures of interest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pine_Barrens