Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
Vogel's Cat's Paws and Catapults
More catching up. Months ago I finished reading Steven Vogel's Cat's Paws and Catapults : Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People (New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 1998, 382 pages). I enjoyed it immensely. Here's my book note. This book comes with a confession on my part, all about judging a book by its […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
On Reading Doubt, A History
At the end of 2007 I finished reading Jennifer Michael Hecht's Doubt, A History : The Great Doubters and Their Legacy of Innovation from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickenson (New York : HarperSanFrancisco, 2003, 551 pages). What a fun book it was to read, too! I thoroughly enjoyed both the reading […]
On Reading Diamond's The Third Chimpanzee
Recently I finished reading Jared Diamond's The Third Chimpanzee : The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (New York : HarperCollins Publishers, 1992, 407 pages). I quite enjoyed it. It's the third of his books I've read. I previously enjoyed Collapse and Guns, Germs, and Steel, but I didn't mind that this was a […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
On Reading Napoleon's Buttons
Also a few months back, I read the delightful Napoleon's Buttons : How 17 Molecules Changed History, by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson (New York : Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2003, 375 pages). I haven't run across so many popular chemistry books so far, but this clearly is one of the good ones. I enjoyed […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
A note on Aspirin
Here's another book that I read some months ago, but only get around to mentioning now: Diarmuid Jeffreys, Aspirin : The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug (New York : Bloomsbury, 2004, 335 pages). Here's my book note about it. This was a book by a journalist rather than a scientist. Occasionally the writing was […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
Beard of the Week XXXI: Beauty in Science
This week's beard belongs to geneticist Sean Carroll, professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and author of the book Endless Forms Most Beautiful, which is what this post is really about. The book, that is to say, although it does demonstrate that I'm not above finding a scientist attractive for his […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
On Reading Raymo's Walking Zero
I've recently finished reading Walking Zero : Discovering Cosmic Space and Time Along the Prime Meridian. (New York : Walker & Company, 2006; 194 pages) by Chet Raymo. It was an absolute delight. It's sort of a poetic rumination on how, since antiquity, what we know about how old the Earth is, how old the […]
In: All, Books, It's Only Rocket Science
Beginning Ideas
Last night was, as is traditional at our house, library night. In need of new ideas for books to read, I prepared myself by noting down some recommendations various people have provided more or less recently.* Some time back Bill reported hearing an author on the radio and thought I might find that author's book […]
In: All, Books, The Art of Conversation
Raymo on the Nature of Science
For science to be possible, we must make two assumptions: (1) That the world exists independently of our knowledge of it; and (2) that we can know the world with ever increasing verisimilitude. As obviously true as these statements might seem, in fact their veracity has been long and vigorously debated by philosophers. Nevertheless, they […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
Science-Book Challenge
Melanie, who is a regular visitor here at Bearcastle Blog, writes about books and books that she's read and books that she's going to read at her blog, The Indextrious Reader. A common–shall we say, "characteristic"?–of book lover is excess. Visitors to our home will recognize that we keep what some people would consider and […]
The Kinsey Report at 60
It was on this date, 5 January in 1948, that W.B. Saunders Co., a medical-textbook publisher in Philadelphia, published Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, by Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell B. Pomeroy, and Clyde E. Martin. The cover price was $6.50. Exceeding all expectations, The Kinsey Report was a sensation, going through at least 11 […]
In: All, Books, Personal Notebook, Writing
On Finding the Way
If at the end of our journey There is no final Resting place, Then we need not fear Losing our way. — Ikkyu Sojun (1394–1482), Zen master and poet [quoted in Jennifer Michael Hecht, Doubt: A History. New York : HarperSanFrancisco, 2003. p. 268.]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book
To Listen More Hearingly
The New York Times (here) said that Alex Ross' The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century is one of its ten best books of the year. It's his history of the century past as heard through the century's "classical" music. I have no complaint, by the way–I like Alex Ross' writing and the […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book, Such Language!
Get Free Books
I happened across this nice blog post by "the frugal panda" (pace, Chris), called "17 Ways to Get Free Books". Of course, to an impoverished but avid reader like myself — with a friendly but not quite adequate public library — this title was like catnip to a cat. Such fun and a nice summary […]
In: All, Books, Briefly Noted
On Reading Pinker's The Stuff of Thought
Although many things diverted my attention at various times, I have finally finished reading Steven Pinker's The Stuff of Thought : Language as a Window into Human Nature (New York : Viking, 2007, 499 pages). I enjoyed it, and I found it useful and enlightening. No doubt it's not for everyone, but it's engaging and […]
On Reading Breaking the Spell
I am a fan of philosopher (and noted atheist) Daniel Dennett. I like reading his books, I like his style, I like his writing. Last year I read a couple more of his books. So far nothing has excited me more than Darwin's Dangerous Idea, which I thought absolutely brilliant, but they're still pretty good. […]
Some Elizabethan Food
I like to read cookbooks, and sometimes I take a particular delight in reading cookbooks that reveal some of the history of cooking. Recently I enjoyed Francine Segan's Shakespeare's Kitchen : Renaissance Recipes for the Contemporary Cook (New York : Random House, 2003). She takes a nice tour of choice recipes from Elizabethan sources and […]
Novel Characters
Last night Isaac and I watched "Farenheit 451", the film byFrançois Truffaut based on the novel by Ray Bradbury. It's a good film even if its attempt to look modern and futuristic looks dated. There has been a small kerfuffle lately with Bradbury saying (again) that the story is not about censorship but about the […]
Pascoe Snorts
I was quite pleased to discover on Monday night (typically "library night" around our house — more on that someday) that the Bowie Library had a copy on its shelves of the latest book by Reginald Hill, because I'm very fond of Reginald Hill's writing, particularly his decades-long series of Dalziel & Pascoe detective novels, […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book, Writing
Lienhard's How Invention Begins
How Invention Begins, by John Lienhard (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2006) was a fascinating book. I picked it up because the cover looked nice when I was shelf surfing at the library. It was a fortunate if serendipitous choice, because I really enjoyed reading it. Lienhard is an engineer, and he takes an in-depth […]
In: All, Books, Common-Place Book