Science and Inquiry discussion

Please post a comment below to nominate a book for the group to read for May 2017.

Please use the "add book/author" link just above the comment box to insert a link to the Goodreads book page for the book you are nominating, so other members can more easily assess it.

You may nominate a book which has been suggested previously and did not win. You may nominate more than one book, but we may not include all of your nominations in the voting.

Please do not nominate a book which is unlikely to be available to all members, such as one which was just published within the last three months or which is only available on Kindle.

Nominations will close on March 21 or when we have about 10 good nominations, whichever occurs first.

The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health

Oxygen: The Molecule That Made the World

What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World

This is for science right?
If so, I nominate Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.
Sorry, this is my first nomination as I am new to Goodreads so I don't know how all of this works yet

Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues
I've been wishing for the group to read this book. It gets a lot of stars and it's a timely and germaine issue.

I nominate these:

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do by Judith Rich Harris
How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker
What Do You Care What Other People Think? by Richard Feynman

The Physics of Everyday Things: The Extraordinary Science Behind an Ordinary Day

Sebastian, while Ender's Game is an excellent novel, it is science fiction, not science.

Ender's game most certainly is science. I've seen it myself. last summer on vacation in Angola, I met a human sized sentiant ant. And my high school had the best zero gravity battle room in the state!

Joel wrote: "I nominate these:

The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do by [author:Judi..."

"How the Mind Works" is fascinating and delightful. I recently read it and would love to see it as a selection. (I am still patiently waiting to read "Missing Microbes" with the group, though.)

The Evolution Of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating

Joel, we already read the book The Gene: An Intimate History in October, 2016. Here is a link to the discussion thread.

Also, How the Mind Works was on our book list in August, 2012. Here is a link to the discussion thread.

The mathematical theory of communication by Claude Shannon et al.

Radical Abundance: How a Revolution in Nanotechnology Will Change Civilization

David wrote: "Joel, we already read the book The Gene: An Intimate History in October, 2016. Here is a link to the discussion thread.

Also, How the Mind Works was on our book list ..."

New here... It would be useful if there was a list somewhere of all the books that have already been covered (or maybe there is already and I didn't find it...)

If HTMW has been done already, I'd instead nominate:

The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language

I don't know how my other nominations will be received.

What Do You Care What Other People Think? is a bio, not a lot of actual science. I picked it over the first part of his Ralph Leighton conversations because this one has a fascinating discussion about the Challenger disaster.

I noticed that most of the books nominated (and read) in this group are physics or cosmology. I love physics and cosmology but I'm a little tired of it (being a amateur astronomer and electrical engineer myself) and the last few months have been those types.

It would be nice to mix it up with a bio or something from psychology, like The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do.

I'll nominate A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie, by Kathryn Harkup.

Hayley wrote: "The Physics of Everyday Things: The Extraordinary Science Behind an Ordinary Day"

This book is not even due to be published until May, so it's not readily available. Try again in 5 or 6 months.

Mariana wrote: "The mathematical theory of communication by Claude Shannon et al."

It never hurt to go back to the source! Thanks for your suggestion Mariana.

Joel wrote: "...New here... It would be useful if there was a list somewhere of all the books that have already been covered (or maybe there is already and I didn't find it ..."

Each group has a bookshelf. In a computer web browser, it's on the right side of the screen just under the Group Home link. If you look at these shelves, you can see if they're marked as "read" or not.

I'll nominate Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History by Florence Williams. They're unique & quite amazing in many ways, but their resilience & how sensitive they are to our high tech environment really impressed me.

Homo Deus by yuval harrari
hope now it's easily available everywhere.

Ankit, I would really like to read Homo Deus, too. However it was published less than a month ago. I would suggest waiting a few months and then nominating it again.

I'll nominate The Triumph of Seeds: How Grains, Nuts, Kernels, Pulses, and Pips Conquered the Plant Kingdom and Shaped Human History by Thor Hanson

We live in a world of seeds. From our morning toast to the cotton in our clothes, they are quite literally the stuff and staff of life: supporting diets, economies, and civilizations around the globe. Just as the search for nutmeg and pepper drove the Age of Discovery, coffee beans fueled the Enlightenment and cottonseed sparked the Industrial Revolution. Seeds are fundamental objects of beauty, evolutionary wonders, and simple fascinations. Yet, despite their importance, seeds are often seen as commonplace, their extraordinary natural and human histories overlooked. Thanks to this stunning new book, they can be overlooked no more. This is a book of knowledge, adventure, and wonder, spun by an award-winning writer with both the charm of a fireside story-teller and the hard-won expertise of a field biologist. A fascinating scientific adventure, it is essential reading for anyone who loves to see a plant grow.

Also Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation by Andrea Wulf

From the bestselling author of The Invention of Nature, a fascinating look at the Founding Fathers like none you've seen before.

For the Founding Fathers, gardening, agriculture, and botany were elemental passions: a conjoined interest as deeply ingrained in their characters as the battle for liberty and a belief in the greatness of their new nation.

Founding Gardeners is an exploration of that obsession, telling the story of the revolutionary generation from the unique perspective of their lives as gardeners, plant hobbyists, and farmers. Acclaimed historian Andrea Wulf describes how George Washington wrote letters to his estate manager even as British warships gathered off Staten Island; how a tour of English gardens renewed Thomas Jefferson’s and John Adams’s faith in their fledgling nation; and why James Madison is the forgotten father of environmentalism. Through these and other stories, Wulf reveals a fresh, nuanced portrait of the men who created our nation.

Jim wrote: "Joel wrote: "...New here... It would be useful if there was a list somewhere of all the books that have already been covered (or maybe there is already and I didn't find it ..."

Each group has a b..."

Thanks Jim. I was using the mobile app (which sucks), but I see it now on the browser version.

This is a really good feature! I can explore all the books read by the group!

Nominations are now closed.

Please vote for your preference at the following poll:

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

Please note that we have not included The Mathematical Theory of Communication, even though it is an interesting and maybe important book, because of limited availability.