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| BumFluff |
 Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:17 pm Post subject: What non fiction books are you reading? |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 06 Mar 2008
Posts: 393
Location: Canada
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I enjoy a good non fiction book a couple times a month. Right now I am looking for Brian Greenes The Elegant Universe. I'm currently reading Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle but I'm almost done. After I finish I'm going to begin reading The Science of Leonardo by Fritjof Capra.
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"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt" - Bertrand Russell |
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| (Q) |
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:15 am Post subject: |
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Forum Professor
Joined: 12 May 2005
Posts: 1564
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| Currently, The God Delusion. I also just recently purchased From So Simple A Beginning which I'm going to read together with my son. |
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| paralith |
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 8:23 am Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 06 Jun 2007
Posts: 1078
Location: Washington, DC
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I was recently gifted Blink by Malcom Gladwell (which I'm reading right now), as well as a collection of works by the Russian behaviorist Konrad Lorenz. I'm also working through Primate Behavioral Ecology by Karen Strier, the Human Career by Richard Klein, and Natural Selections by David Barash. One that I finished a few months ago that I highly recommend is Baboon Metaphysics by Cheney and Seyfarth.
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Man can will nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth.
~Jean-Paul Sartre
Monkeys in Clothes - hosted by SFN blogs |
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| Bunbury |
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 26 Sep 2007
Posts: 838
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Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, Oliver Sacks.
The tales of musical hallucinations, suddenly acquired musical ability after being struck by lightning, and other mental phenomena are further evidence of the strictly biological basis of our individuality. |
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| KALSTER |
| Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Cosmic Wizard
Joined: 08 Sep 2007
Posts: 2208
Location: South Africa
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Dark Nature: A Natural History of Evil - Lyall Watson (quite good)
Has Hawking Erred? - Gerhard Kraus (not so good  )
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"Gullibility kills" - Carl Sagan
As jy dom is, moet jy kak. |
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| BumFluff |
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 06 Mar 2008
Posts: 393
Location: Canada
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| (Q) wrote: |
| Currently, The God Delusion. I also just recently purchased From So Simple A Beginning which I'm going to read together with my son. |
The God Delusion is a good book and the first of the authors books which I've read. Reading various personal reviews posted on the web concerning the book though I've learned that it no where near one of his best but still a good read in my peronal opinion.
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"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt" - Bertrand Russell |
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| Dishmaster |
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:39 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 30 Apr 2008
Posts: 313
Location: Heidelberg, Germany
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| I always enjoy reading the stories of Stanislaw Lem, the late Polish author. The most famous one is probably "Solaris", but there are dozens more and maybe even better. I often find that whatever sophisticated idea someone seems to have for a brilliant Sci-Fi movie, you find it already in Lem's stories. Just brilliant. He was the master of combining philosophical lectures of varying degree with intriguing and sometimes even funny or absurd plots. My favourites are: The star daries, Return from the stars, Fiasco, The invincible, The futurological congress |
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| paralith |
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 06 Jun 2007
Posts: 1078
Location: Washington, DC
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| Dishmaster wrote: |
| I always enjoy reading the stories of Stanislaw Lem, the late Polish author. The most famous one is probably "Solaris", but there are dozens more and maybe even better. I often find that whatever sophisticated idea someone seems to have for a brilliant Sci-Fi movie, you find it already in Lem's stories. Just brilliant. He was the master of combining philosophical lectures of varying degree with intriguing and sometimes even funny or absurd plots. My favourites are: The star daries, Return from the stars, Fiasco, The invincible, The futurological congress |
Those are fiction books. We're talking about non-fiction here.
_________________
Man can will nothing unless he has first understood that he must count on no one but himself; that he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth.
~Jean-Paul Sartre
Monkeys in Clothes - hosted by SFN blogs |
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| Selene |
| Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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Banned
Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 1060
Location: I live in Bertrand Russells teapot!
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Kick ass Paralith! Go girl!
I am currently studying religion as part of my degree so i am reading
The Open University, Christianity, A217 Introducing Religions,
and.....
Woodhead, Linda. Christianity: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press
These Very Short Introductions the Oxford U. Press has released are very good. Small books you can slip in a pocket but packed through with very good information. There's loads of titles in the series across the board!
and i have just been to the library and i am attempting to read:
Jung, Carl Gustav. Modern Man In Search Of A Soul. Routledge.
Always interesting, i love Jung!
Sheldrake, Rupert. The Sense Of Being Stared At. Arrow Books.
Interesting stuff, makes you wonder harder! Sheldrake, a biologist, has done tests on telepathy, proper experiments that have come up with interesting results that definitely point to humans and animals having this capacity. Always good to keep an open mind (But not too open so that....yes...we...know!)
Broks, Paul. Into The Silent Land. Atlantic Books.
Story of a neuropsychologist and his dealings with patients with brain damage with interesting insights on how they perceive the world
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| smellincoffee |
| Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 06 Jun 2008
Posts: 11
Location: Montevallo, AL
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I'm reading The Origin of Species by this fellow named...Darwin? Seems it caused quite a stir when it was first published. Wonder why?
| BumFluff wrote: |
| (Q) wrote: |
| Currently, The God Delusion. I also just recently purchased From So Simple A Beginning which I'm going to read together with my son. |
The God Delusion is a good book and the first of the authors books which I've read. Reading various personal reviews posted on the web concerning the book though I've learned that it no where near one of his best but still a good read in my peronal opinion. |
The God Delusion was my second by Dawkins, I think. The first I read was Unweaving the Rainbow.
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This Week in Science] |Let Me Be Frank... | The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe
"There is a grandeur in this view of life in which endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." - Charles Darwin |
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| JaneBennet |
| Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 2:57 am Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 06 Apr 2008
Posts: 874
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I’m reading A Short History of Modern Philosophy (1995 2nd edition) by Roger Scruton. It deals with philosophy from René Descartes to Ludwig Wittgenstein. 
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Did You Know?
Random Fact: Pablo Neruda |
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| Ophiolite |
| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:20 am Post subject: |
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Forum Radioactive Isotope
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
Posts: 4804
Location: Scotland
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As a Gemini, I indulge myself in a mercurial approach to reading a mutiplicity of books at the same time. Currently on the bedside table, piano stool, or in the briefcase are:
Vital Dust by Christian de Duve
The Nobel laureate offers his take on the origin of life and concludes it is inevitable, arising from the laws of the universe. He sees consciousness and intelligence as having the same inevitability.
Biocosm The new scientific theory of evolution: intelligent life is the architect of the Universe by James N. Gardener
The Strong Anthropic Principle on steroids. Imaginative and falsifiable.
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory by Stephen J. Gould
The co-author of the theory of punctuated equilibrium left his magnum opus as his final legacy. At 1431 pages in length, I am taking my time working through it.
Track Plans by C.J.Freezer
A selection of varied track plans for model railways. (Everyone should have a hobby.  )
A History of the English Speaking Peoples by Winston S. Churchill
Finally got around to reading this. Only at Volume one and, only as far as King Alfred.
| smellincoffee wrote: |
| I'm reading The Origin of Species by this fellow named...Darwin? Seems it caused quite a stir when it was first published. |
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The Universe is not only weirder than we imagine it is weirder than we can imagine. J.B.S.Haldane. |
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| BumFluff |
| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:32 am Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 06 Mar 2008
Posts: 393
Location: Canada
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I've bought a few books recently and after I finish reading the one I'm currently working on, Darwin the Indelible Stamp (4 of his books in one), I plan on reading them. Them being The Living Cosmos by Chris Impey, Grave Secrets of Dinosaurs by Phillip Manning and Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku. The last of which I've heard posted in this forum before.
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"The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt" - Bertrand Russell |
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| marnixR |
| Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Isotope
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Posts: 2555
Location: Cardiff, Wales
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| Ophiolite wrote: |
| As a Gemini, I indulge myself in a mercurial approach to reading a mutiplicity of books at the same time. |
in that case i must be a crypto-gemini
i have the following on the go at the moment :
God is not great - Christopher Hitchens
A perfect mess - Eric Abrahamson & David Freedman
The economic naturalist - Robert Frank
The revenge of Gaia - James Lovelock
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if you find this place too crowded or too confrontational, how about trying Philosophorum,
the amicable forum where small is beautiful and even the trolls are intelligent
biology without evolution is but stamp collecting |
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| johnnyinNY |
| Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:16 am Post subject: |
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Forum Freshman
Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 1
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I just finished the book 'Harmonic Wealth' by James Ray and thought it might interest you. It deals with all five pillars of your life (financial, relational, mental, physical, and spiritual) and shows you how to create true wealth (as in well-being!) in your life. The very practical applications have made a big difference in my life – and could do the same for you.
Â
Here’s the link: harmonicwealth.com/read
a James Ray fan |
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