Science books - recommendations?

[bizzylizzy]

Hi
Does anyone have an recommendations for a good science book read? Not too populist ie not one of those why don't penguins get frozen feet or whatever it's called. Something challenging but not a text book. It could cover science and nature, mathematics, astronomy, quantum physics, whatever - I think what I'm saying is, it needs to be a book for someone who likes a more complex read not just one of those 'snippet' books brought out for Christmas. Having said that I've been told that a book called 'Bad Science' is a good read. Any recommendations gratefully received. Merry Christmas everyone.

[Maypole]

I liked A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. It covers all the areas in your question and is easy to read but has some flow to it

[WoWo]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fermats-Last-Theorem-S imon-Singh/dp/1857026691

Fermats Last Theorem is really good, more maths than science but ticks the boxes.

[bizzylizzy]

Thank you. You must be on the right wavelength because he already has both those books. It's so difficult to find something interesting for him to read .. there's such a lot of rubbish out there at this time of the year. Thanks again.

[jake-the-peg]

How good's his Maths?

If he read something like a short history of time and found it an Easy read I could recommend "The road to reality" by Roger Penrose.

This is a serious book! I'm still working through it myself.

It aims to provide a basic mathematical understanding of modern science from black holes to string theory. It starts with a level concepts like complex numbers and starts from there.

It's not a text book but fills that gap between text books and true popular science books .

This is also a very good book
http://www.worldscibooks.com/physics/5088.html

Not much maths but definately up a notch from your normal run of the mill "this is a quark" book.

[Avatar]

I had the Guinness Encyclopedia of science and found it perfect. Not sure if its still available though.

[bizzylizzy]

Thanks again for this, I'll go and check these out. I appreciate your helping me out everyone. BL

[Clanad]

If your giftee has already read and appreciated A Brief HIstory of Time by Hawking then he should also like The Illustrated Brief History of Time, Updated and Expanded Edition... I've certainly enjoyed it.

Additionally, The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene, explores the current debate concerning the current, rather intense debate about general relativity and quantum mechanics and the apparent fact that they cannot both be right. Publisher's Weekly states in its review "...Later chapters require careful attention to Greene's explications, but the effort will prepare readers to follow the scientific advances likely to be made in the next millennium through application of string theory..."

[eltelioni]

The Feynman Lectures on Physics
3 books
By Richard Feynman

[fo3nix]

I'd also agree with everything above too.

My first thought was also The Road To Reality.

However, it is a very heavy book. I'm not entirely sure who his intended audience was --- I'm a current theoretical physics PhD student, and find decent amounts of it very challenging.

[bizzylizzy]

Great, thanks very much for that, very useful. I'll do the research and then probably find that nobody will have anything in stock and in any case they can't deliver in time for Christmas. It's ok having been told by the post office today that they can't guarantee that a parcel be delivered before Christmas I'm a little jaundiced about this country at the moment. Thanks again everyone for your sage advice. BL

[wardie100]

You probably dont need anymore suggestions but here are some anyway:

If he likes Bill Bryson Mother Tongue: The English Language is a very interesting read.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Tongue-Language -Bill-Bryson/dp/014014305X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8& s=books&qid=1229375900&sr=8-6

Also The World Without Us seems to be along the lines you are looking for.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-without-Us-Alan- Weisman/dp/0753513579/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1 229376065&sr=1-1

Both appear to be available before christmas.

[Ice.Maiden]

And last but not least, the New Scientist magazines are brilliant!

[bizzylizzy]

Well thank you so much everyone. I usually buy a few mags for him to fill up the stocking. New Scientist is always a good read as you say. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and that 2009 turns out to be a better year than the press it's been given!! BL

[CT]

The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan.

[WoWo]

I fancy a subscription to the New Scientist so went on the web site and chose personal subscription - �128 per year, blimey.

The picked a gift subscription and it was �96 per year.

Suspect it's for the Christmas period but rather odd that they should have two different prices.