(Part 2) Best science essays books according to redditors
We found 136 Reddit comments discussing the best science essays books. We ranked the 42 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
This book (in french, sorry!) suggest that they can cause oculo-motor dysfunctions that persists in time. It was written by an orthepedist from Belgium and it has a good bibliography.
Here's a list of books I've read that have had a big impact on my journey.
First and foremost tho, you should learn to meditate. That's the most instrumental part of any spiritual path.
Ram Dass – “Be Here Now” - https://www.amazon.com/Be-Here-Now-Ram-Dass/dp/0517543052 - Possibly the most important book in the list – was the biggest impact in my life. Fuses Western and Eastern religions/ideas. Kinda whacky to read, but definitely #1
Ram Dass - “Journey Of Awakening” - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006L7R2EI - Another Ram Dass book - once I got more into Transcendental Meditation and wanted to learn other ways/types of meditation, this helped out.
Clifford Pickover – “Sex, Drugs, Einstein & Elves…” - https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Drugs-Einstein-Elves-Transcendence/dp/1890572179/ - Somewhat random, frantic book – explores lots of ideas – planted a lot of seeds in my head that I followed up on in most of the books below
Daniel Pinchbeck – “Breaking Open the Head” - https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Open-Head-Psychedelic-Contemporary/dp/0767907434 - First book I read to explore impact of psychedelics on our brains
Jeremy Narby – “Cosmic Serpent” - https://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Serpent-DNA-Origins-Knowledge/dp/0874779642/ - Got into this book from the above, explores Ayahuasca deeper and relevancy of serpent symbolism in our society and DNA
Robert Forte – “Entheogens and the Future of Religion” - https://www.amazon.com/Entheogens-Future-Religion-Robert-Forte/dp/1594774382 - Collection of essays and speeches from scientists, religious leaders, etc., about the use of psychedelics (referred to as Entheogens) as the catalyst for religion/spirituality
Clark Strand – “Waking up to the Dark” - https://www.amazon.com/Waking-Up-Dark-Ancient-Sleepless/dp/0812997727 - Explores human’s addiction to artificial light, also gets into femininity of religion as balance to masculine ideas in our society
Lee Bolman – “Leading with Soul” - https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Soul-Uncommon-Journey-Spirit/dp/0470619007 - Discusses using spirituality to foster a better, more supportive and creative workplace – pivotal in my honesty/openness approach when chatting about life with coworkers
Eben Alexander – “Proof of Heaven” - https://www.amazon.com/Proof-Heaven-Neurosurgeons-Journey-Afterlife/dp/1451695195 - A neurophysicist discusses his near death experience and his transformation from non-believer to believer (title is a little click-baity, but very insightful book. His descriptions of his experience align very similarly to deep meditations I’ve had)
Indries Shah – “Thinkers of the East” - https://www.amazon.com/Thinkers-East-Idries-Shah/dp/178479063X/ - A collection of parables and stories from Islamic scholars. Got turned onto Islamic writings after my trip through Pakistan, this book is great for structure around our whole spiritual “journey”
Whitley Strieber – “The Key: A True Encounter” - https://www.amazon.com/Key-True-Encounter-Whitley-Strieber/dp/1585428698 - A man’s recollection of a conversation with a spiritual creature visiting him in a hotel room. Sort of out there, easy to dismiss, but the topics are pretty solid
Mary Scott – “Kundalini in the Physical World” - https://www.amazon.com/Kundalini-Physical-World-Mary-Scott/dp/0710094175/ - Very dense, very difficult scientific book exploring Hinduism and metaphysics (wouldn’t recommend this for light reading, definitely something you’d want to save for later in your “journey”)
Hermann Hesse – “Siddartha” - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/siddhartha-hermann-hesse/1116718450? – Short novel about a spiritual journey, coming of age type book. Beautifully written, very enjoyable.
Reza Aslan - “Zealot” - https://www.amazon.com/ZEALOT-Life-Times-Jesus-Nazareth/dp/140006922X - Talks about the historical Jesus - helped me reconnect with Christianity in a way I didn’t have before
Reza Aslan - “No god but God” - https://www.amazon.com/god-but-God-Updated-Evolution/dp/0812982444 - Same as above, but in terms of Mohammad and Islam. I’m starting to try to integrate the “truths” of our religions to try and form my own understanding
Thich Nhat Hanh - “Silence” - https://www.amazon.com/Silence-Power-Quiet-World-Noise-ebook/dp/B00MEIMCVG - Hanh’s a Vietnamese Buddhist monk - in this book he writes a lot about finding the beauty in silence, turning off the voice in our heads and lives, and living in peace.
Paulo Coelho - “The Alchemist” - https://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0062315005/ - Sort of a modern day exploration of “the path” similar to “Siddhartha.” Very easy and a joy to read, good concepts of what it means to be on a “path”
Carlos Castaneda - "The Teachings of Don Juan" - The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671600419 - Started exploring more into shamanism and indigenous spiritual work; this book was a great intro and written in an entertaining and accessible way.
Jean-Yves Leloup - “The Gospel of Mary” - https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Mary-Magdalene-Jean-Yves-Leloup/dp/0892819111/ - The book that finally opened my eyes to the potentiality of the teachings of Christ. This book, combined with the one below, have been truly transformative in my belief system and accepting humanity and the power of love beyond what I’ve found so far in my journey.
Jean-Yves Leloup - “The Gospel of Philip” - https://www.amazon.com/Gospel-Philip-Magdalene-Gnosis-Sacred/dp/1594770220 - Really begins to dissect and dive into the metaphysical teachings of Christ, exploring the concept of marriage, human union and sexuality, and the power contained within. This book, combined with the one above, have radically changed my perception of The Church as dissimilar and antithetical to what Christ actually taught.
Ram Dass - “Be Love Now” - https://www.amazon.com/Be-Love-Now-Path-Heart/dp/0061961388 - A follow-up to “Be Here Now” - gets more into the esoteric side of things, his relationship with his Guru, enlightenment, enlightened beings, etc.
Riane Eisler - “The Chalice and the Blade” - https://www.amazon.com/Chalice-Blade-Our-History-Future/dp/0062502891 - An anthropoligical book analyzing the dominative vs cooperative models in the history and pre-history of society and how our roots have been co-opted and rewritten by the dominative model to entrap society into accepting a false truth of violence and dominance as “the way it is”
For pleasure:
Undergraduate
Organic Chemistry as a Second Language, The art of writing reasonable organic reaction mechanisms
Graduate
Hello,
Je rebondis sur la phrase "3/4 des gens sont stupides".
Je t'invite à lire ce livre "Je penses trop" qui a changé ma vision du monde et apporter des réponses qui ont du sens à des questions sans réponse.
https://www.amazon.fr/Je-pense-trop-canaliser-envahissant/dp/2813201960
Je ne comprenais pas le comportement des personnes, ce livre apporte des éléments de réponses intéressant.
Ces personnes ont une forte émotivité et ressente plus de chose. Ils se questionnent sur tout sans arrêt.
Ils font parti d’un tout, et ne comprenne pas la méchanceté ou le fait de vouloir faire du mal à autrui.
Ils ne se sentent pas à leur place dans les fêtes, ne supporte pas les discussions futiles ou superficielle, et ne trouve pas d’interlocuteur pour les sujets et les débats d’idées de toutes sortes.
Je comprends mieux pourquoi certaine personne ont du mal à prendre des décisions, voir à réfléchir vite et bien.
Quackwatch is a great source for debunking medical pseudoscience, and if you scroll to the bottom of the main page, you'll find links to other sites that might also help you understand the science to debunk pseudoscience:
http://www.quackwatch.com/
If you want to understand basic science, but don't have time to take a course, there's plenty of good content that can be found on iTunes -- especially the online courses.
But ultimately, your best resource will always be books. Specifically, you should start with physics. Milton Rothman's A Physicist's Guide to Skepticism is perhaps the best book for understanding how to debunk pseudoscience: http://www.amazon.com/Physicists-Guide-Skepticism-Faster-Than-Light-Pseudoscientific/dp/0879754400
After that, read Damned Lies and Statistics by Joel Best
http://www.amazon.com/Damned-Lies-Statistics-Untangling-Politicians/dp/0520219783/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372276538&sr=1-3&keywords=joel+best
And then Lies, Damned Lies, and Science by Sherry Seethaler
http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Damned-Science-Scientific-Controversies/dp/0132849445/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372276572&sr=1-1&keywords=sherry+seethaler
And then finish it with Bad Science by Ben Goldacre
http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Science-Quacks-Pharma-Flacks/dp/0865479186/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372276598&sr=1-1&keywords=bad+science+by+ben+goldacre
Yeah, this is a safe space and all, and I think I get what you are trying to say, but I have to agree with other replies. Be careful who you talk about this too, as you do sound like a jackass. Can't say whether that impression is justified without meeting you, but I'm going to assume not. :)
So, if it helps, by the measures you chose I am in your intelligence range. Like other here, I was in a gifted kids program, sent to special extra educational events and courses, the standard stuff. Professionally you'd be impressed by my education and work experience, and I've ended up trading quips with various luminaries. So what does all that mean with regards to my IQ or my personal relationships - absolutely fuck all.
First, you are choosing IQ as a measure, but it is an incredibly abstract one. Its also one with a shady history of extreme selection bias and misuse. I think this book has a good overview of it in a chapter. Fundamentally, IQ demonstrates your ability to provide the expected answers for that particular test, and (at least for me) remains an unreliable indicator of intelligence in a broader sense. Even if you decide you think it is a good measure, it measures one sort of intelligence, and one that may correlate with academic success but doesn't necessarily correlate with being an original thinker, interesting to talk to or interested in the world.
So lets try and get to what I think you mean, stripped of the arbitrary units. You want to talk to interesting people. Is that right? If so then i think you need to reassess your view of interesting. An example, one fo my best friends is a carpenter. He has a fairly mediocre degree and not stellar grades, but he's a smart and fascinating guy. He is that because he has a thirst for knowledge, new ideas and systems. He knows much less than me about, say, the Greco-Persian wars or the conformation of transmembrane glycoproteins, but it really doesn't matter If I have something interesting to talk about he can and does pick up the essentials really quickly, and comes back with intelligent questions and insights. Is he as academically qualified than me - for sure. Is he less smart than me, I really don't think so. Equally I have a friend working at a very high level in an international organisations, one fo the smartest women I know. She has studiously avoided all news outlets for a decade at least.I;d try and talk to her about curent affairs and watch the disinterest flow over her face. She;s more interested in talking about the Eurovision song context. By your measure she's in the fraction of a percent you'd accept.
If you can only find engagement with people you can trade quips in Latin with, then I think you've missed out a lot. I also think you've yet to be struck by the between-the-eyes, spine-tingling type love for someone. When you are, it is quite possible that person will be entirely unlike you in every way but you won't be able to help yourself. I've seen it happen plenty of times, and I've seen it work out more than people who choose 'suitable mates' in the way you seem to be describing. Luckily, love and other emotions are what shifts a depressing numbers game to a more achievable, and ultimately satisfying, experience.
If someone doesn't interest you and you don't feel it, for sure don't get into a relationship with them. But to measure them against an arbitrary yardstick before you even consider them, thats just going to end with you miserable and alone. Even with the Japanese girl, it sounds like you were settling before you even started. Being with someone with an IQ under 120 doesn't mean settling, it just means considering alternates paths to the endpoint of a partner you can be happy with. And happy, thats the goal in the end, nto trophy wife (whether in smarts or looks).
Same for your kids, do you want smart kids of successful and happy ones. Smarts alone are not any guarantee of health, happiness or success. Once you have kids I would hope would want happiness for them more than just a high IQ score to brag about. Ans lastly, the heritability of IQ is not conclusively demonstrated, at least the genetic heritability. Intelligence of all sorts seems as connected to the social environment, support and aspirations of parents for their children as much as parental IQ. Biological determinism is misguided.
I went down to a bar one night and had a beer. I was reading a book entitled The Next Fifty Years (written in 2000). In it, one of the writers wrote about the Mars-bound European Spacecraft Beagle 2, "which is scheduled to be launched in June, 2003."
I looked up from my book. It was June 2003. In fact, according to the news article I had read earlier about this very launch, the launch was happening the very same week. A book written three years ago and the launch was right on time just as it described. Wow!
The weird thing is, I had been slowly mulling this book over for weeks now. It struck me as quite odd that I would be reading this book at this exact time. But I shrugged it off. Time to go home.
I got in my car and glanced at my radio display. I had guessed I would be done and back home by 6PM. The radio read 5:50. I was right on track. About halfway home though, a thought crossed my mind. My radio display is a bit odd. When you first start the car, if you have the radio on, it often seems to randomly decide to show the station you are listening to instead of the clock. What station was I listening to? AM 550. I looked at the display - sure enough, it wasn't the clock. It was the radio station. I pressed the clock button to get the current time.
5:50PM. On the nose. I laughed and wondered if I was actually dreaming this entire afternoon.
What a coincidence! (Well, we Christians wouldn't call it that, haha.) I just started reading "Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America". It's been a fascinating, eye-opening read so far, and I highly recommend it, particularly since you're a scientist.
EDIT: Took out my botched explanation because I don't want to pass along incorrect information
Taillez tous les arbres fruitiers https://www.amazon.ca/dp/2815306026/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Pgd7xbNSAD9YW
In french, really useful graphics and simple info
( quand je dis HTML+javascript, c'est javascript le langage de prog.)
Si tu veux apprendre le C++, sous windows tu peux télécharger VisualStudio Community (je crois que c'est comme ça que ça s'appelle la version gratuite maintenant) de Microsoft et essayer.
Sur le net ya des tonnes de cours sur google, en français en anglais pour commencer. Il faut déjà pratiquer et mettre les mains dans le cambouis.
A savoir après des années de stagnation le C++ évolue (presque) vite, certains livres parlent de C++11 alors qu'on est au standard C++17 et bientôt C++20
Après, si tu veux vraiment apprendre des trucs pour :
https://www.amazon.fr/Programming-Principles-Practice-Using-C/dp/0321992784
https://www.amazon.fr/Tour-C-Bjarne-Stroustrup/dp/0134997832/
https://www.amazon.fr/C-Programming-Language-Bjarne-Stroustrup/dp/0321563840/
https://www.amazon.fr/Effective-Modern-C-Scott-Meyers/dp/1491903996/
Sans oublier sur le net les bonnes pratiques, à jour:
http://isocpp.github.io/CppCoreGuidelines/CppCoreGuidelines
Et sur youtube il y a plein de vidéos aussi, et des conférences.
Et je conseille d'apprendre le C en même temps, parce qu'en C++ on utilise beaucoup de librairies en C.
https://www.amazon.fr/langage-2e-éd-Norme-ANSI/dp/2100715771
Aristotle wrote a book called Physics, but it's not about banging plastic cars into one another on a table: http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/physics.html or http://www.amazon.com/Aristotles-Physics-Aristotle/dp/0803250932
I'm not discounting your sincerity. Nevertheless, God exists and wants you a lot.
There is no point in telling anyone that you don't believe in God. You have this bursting desire, but do you know of any real-life stories where people have done this and it led to something good and wonderful?
Civil engineering to shipbuilding: Structures and The new science of strong materials, by J.E. Gordon. These are incredibly enlightening.
Physics (also some chemistry and biology): It Must Be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science is a collection of essays by great scientists - among others, it contains a very insightful discussion on the birth of the Schroedinger equation, which is rather different from the usual stories of cats in boxes, chicken crossing the road, gods playing dice, and the like.
Chemistry: The Elements: A Very Short Introduction, by Philip Ball.
Biochemistry: Chance and necessity, by Jacques Monod. Seems it's out of print, I guess my knowledge of the field is a bit out-of-date. There must be some other book out there that explains elegantly protein folding and enzymatic regulation, which are the base mechanisms of living matter.
I would suggest you watch End:Civ and read the essay Industrial Society and its Future and the book How Shall I Live My Life. I think those should give you a pretty decent idea without being too much info to absorb all at once.
Le dernier de reeves.. Très très très bien..
https://www.amazon.fr/La-terre-et-les-hommes/dp/2221198948
Merci pour le partage OP.
Dans la même veine il y a ce livre que j'ai trouvé plutôt bien fait : https://www.amazon.fr/Comment-pas-tout-remettre-lendemain/dp/2738117104
Je ne connais pas ton niveau, mais je te conseille ce bouquin pour une remise à niveau générale en mathématiques. Ça démarre très lentement mais c'est excellent.
https://www.amazon.fr/Tout-vous-appris-oubli%C3%A9-Maths/dp/2744076171
how do you get a deterministic system to spit out random numbers? If you can isn't that a bit disconcerting?
http://www.amazon.com/Group-Theory-Bedroom-Mathematical-Diversions/dp/0809052199
Has a good chapter on the subject matter
The problem with spitting out consecutive digits of pi is that you have indexed them to a non-random variable in n.
We do a pretty good job at approximating randomness with computers, but the quality of the random numbers is often questionable. This is of great importance in Monte Carlo methods. For one of the better random number generators, read up on the mersenne twister.
> do you know of any helpful formatting guides?
Here's a google search
that may help you get started. That said, just getting the words onto paper will be the hardest, longest portion of the work.
I would also suggest reading some non-fiction books for ideas of how you can layout your ideas.
"Group Theory in the Bedroom" for instance uses essays with postscripts/afterwords for each chapter. Each 'chapter' is it's own, self-contained work. You could yank out any chapter and have a cohesive work.
Meanwhile, "Guns, Germs, and Steel" breaks down more by topic/question and ties them together for a summary "the whole is greater than the parts" ending. You cannot take out a portion and still get the whole idea. They all intertwine.
Then you have biographies of all sorts that basically start with "So and so was born" and tell the story from there. You can yank out a portion and get a cohesive idea about "so and so's" high school years or education, but not the entire person.
I'd suggest leaning towards a Guns, Germs, and Steel style if you can. Tying together how fried chicken carries across cultures, connects huge portions of the planet, and carries an huge amount of "cultural capital" in popular culture and real life would be huge.
Some examples you can borrow/develop:
Last words: You're looking at the phenomenon of Fried Chicken, so sociological concepts like Phenomenonology and other Sociological terms will help you in the research phase of your question. Cultural rifts about fried chicken and "the right" way to make it for example will likely be discussed using terms like "cultural lag" and "norms".
I'll leave it to Richard Dawkins to explain. My skeptical bonafides do not require me to respond to ad hominem attacks.
French
best in English