Science and Natural History discussion

January nominations are now open! Choose one of your own books or find inspiration from the group's bookshelf.
***Only one nomination per person please ***
Nominations are open until 12pm* next Thursday the 8th of December.
All recommendations will be featured in our January read poll.

*U.K. time

This is going to be difficult. So many good books to choose from.....

I'm going to intially suggest two physics books:

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandries by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Anthony wrote: "I'm going to intially suggest two physics books:

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Death by Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandries by Neil deGrasse Tyson"

I am allergic to Tyson. He gives me rashes and I can hardly breathe.....

Besides, I thought we could only nominate one each?

I'm not quite understanding the anti-Tyson sentiment but that's fair enough - each to their own. I'll withdraw that suggestion and instead propose The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene.

Anthony wrote: "I'm not quite understanding the anti-Tyson sentiment but that's fair enough - each to their own. I'll withdraw that suggestion and instead propose The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene."

Oh, I did not mean for you to withdraw your book. I don't like Tyson as he is completely dumbing down science over here (especially in his TV programs). It is embarrassing....
So I view him as degrading science and being utterly stupid (even though I know that he is trying to increase the viewership and interest in science). He is just doing it the wrong way. He is clearly a narcissist that likes to be in the center of things (*yawn*)

E.g. Is this for 10 year olds?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUAro...

E.g. the intro of: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/...

I DO enjoy astrophysics (my brother's passion)!!! :)
Gotta crash now - 4am on this side of the pool!
Zzzzzzzzzzz......

Hmm, can we pick books in medicine/health sciences as well?

I realise that debate was not the point of this thread but I felt a need to comment further:

I don't like Tyson as he is completely dumbing down science over here...

To be fair, the majority of the public appear to need such dumbing-down of content. I fail to understand why that is a bad thing. It is not degrading science to present things in a more comprehendable light. Obviously I'm not as exposed to his output as are American viewers but I see Tyson as being an effective and important communicator of science. The vast majority of my exposure has been through lectures and presentations where he comes across very well indeed. If he can get others enthusiastic about science then I'm certainly not going to criticise his approach.

That Nova video may well be aimed at children; I really wouldn't know. The music, font and presentation certainly suggest as much. But then a great many nature programs for adults are presented similarly (which i find utterly baffling). I don't really see how you could blame Tyson for doing anything other than participating in a program designed to interest people in nature (even if it is using the old tropes of fear and horror with regards to leeches).

"...being utterly stupid..." Really? I'm not offended by that statement nor do I believe you mean it literally but it is still a bit of a silly thing to say.

Haaze wrote: "Hmm, can we pick books in medicine/health sciences as well?"

Indeed you can. Science is science is science.

Liking the book nominations so far!
So I didn't make it clear that everyone can only nominate one book each per month. I know it's difficult but for reasons of avoiding chaos and a MASSIVE poll I think it's fair. I'll make the opening statement clearer.

@Anthony - Your final nomination please ^_^.

Bharath wrote: "Emma wrote: "Liking the book nominations so far!
So I didn't make it clear that everyone can only nominate one book each per month. I know it's difficult but for reasons of avoiding chaos and a MAS..."

Sounds good!
I've been contemplating whether I should nominate and vote on the polls for the group. I haven't thus far because it was possible for me to completely change the group read with a single vote and as moderator that made me a little uncomfortable. Maybe it's time to get over it. There's enough activity in the group now to make sure I don't feel like a dictator. Oh no! Now I have to choose a book! Hummm...

@Anthony - Your final nomination please ^_^.

Gagh! Fine. :P
I'll go for The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene.

My January nomination is The Demon-haunted World by Carl Sagan

@Anthony "

The programs are aimed at adults and aired in the evenings. He IS dumbing down science which is NOT a good thing at all.

And, yes, I will be silly. Everybody cannot be serious. He he!

Emma wrote: "Bharath wrote: "Emma wrote: "Liking the book nominations so far!
So I didn't make it clear that everyone can only nominate one book each per month. I know it's difficult but for reasons of avoiding..."

Hmm, that sounds good as a moderator title. Dictator Emma...? The rest of us can be peons.

He IS dumbing down science which is NOT a good thing at all.

On that, we shall have to agree to disagree.

"Dictator Emma...? The rest of us can be peons." "'Her Majesty' is as far as I'll go"

I should tell you that she's likely to insist on 'El Presidente'.

Bharath wrote: "@Haaze : it does have a cool ring to it doesn't it. I bet no other group has got a dictator. I just hope Emma doesnt make us call her weird dictator-y names. 'Her Majesty' is as far as I'll go. ;-)"

You have a good point there Bharath! :)

You guys crack me up! I was retelling a tale of when I was called El Presidente to Anthony earlier. I used to play a PC game called Tropico where the player is essentially a dictator of a spanish speaking island and the aim was to build the island from a few inhabitants to a complex society. Funny that my spanish isn't that good. I could never learn to roll my Rs.

Bharath wrote: "@Haaze : it does have a cool ring to it doesn't it. I bet no other group has got a dictator. I just hope Emma doesnt make us call her weird dictator-y names. 'Her Majesty' is as far as I'll go. ;-)"

I am partial to afternoon tea and croquet. As long as there's cake involved and the corgies don't get in the way ^_^.

@Emma: I am partial to afternoon tea and croquet. As long as there's cake involved and the corgies don't get in the way ^_^.

That sounds dangerously like Alice in Wonderland....

Haaze wrote: "@Emma: I am partial to afternoon tea and croquet. As long as there's cake involved and the corgies don't get in the way ^_^.

That sounds dangerously like Alice in Wonderland...."

I'm halfway through it already!

Yes, it is a sweet short read. :) Are you having tea and cake at the same time..?

Anna wrote: "Hello Everyone!
It looks I'm a bit behind with my reviews and share in those great debates the group's been having. It's because of the end-of-year avalanche of tasks and research deadlines. All th..."

Ah yes! The end of year chaos. Hope everything is going well and that you get a bit of a break after all the deadlines.
I'd not heard of your nomination before but now I've looked it up it's going on my "to read" shelf. Looks good.
Take care and we'll be here when you surface from the avalanche.

Hello all!

I would like to nominate Barry Lopez's Arctic Dreams for the January read.



Amazon:
Based on 15 extended trips to the Canadian far north over a five-year period, Arctic Dreams celebrates the mysteries of what documentarians fondly call "last frontiers." Such places are everywhere in danger of destruction in the interest of ever-elusive economic progress, but Lopez writes no jeremiads. Instead, he aims to foster a kind of learned understanding of wild places, in this case the vast, scarcely knowable northern landscape. Writing of the natural history of the Arctic and its inhabitants--narwhals, polar bears, beluga whales, musk oxen, and caribou among them--Lopez draws powerful lessons from the land and imparts them assuredly and gracefully. Arctic Dreams deservedly won a National Book Award in 1986 when it was first published.

From Publishers Weekly:
This is one of the finest books ever written about the Far North, warmly appreciative and understanding of the natural forces that shape life in an austere landscape. The prize-winning author (Of Wolves and Men spent four years in Arctic regions: traveling between Davis Strait in the east and Bering Strait in the west, hunting with Eskimos and accompanying archeologists, biologists and geologists in the field. Lopez became enthralled by the power of the Arctic, a power he observes derives from "the tension between its beauty and its capacity to take life." This is a story of light, darkness and ice; of animal migrations and Eskimos; of the specter of development and the cultural perception of a region. Examining the literature of 19th century exploration, Lopez finds a disassociation from the actual landscape; explorers have tended to see the Arctic as an adversary. Peary and Stefansson left as a troubling legacy the attitude that the landscape could be labeled, then manipulated. Today, he contends, an imaginative, emotional approach to the Arctic is as important as a rational, scientific one. Lopez has written a wonderful, compelling defense of the Arctic wilderness."