Member: Karenoke

Hey "Karenoke" ;-)

Try Joe Schwarcz (he's a prof. at McGill & a frequent guest on Jay Ingram's show). His books are primarily about food chemistry, but he has the gift of making it very entertaining. Search by his last name on my LibraryThing profile, and you'll get a list of his books.

Another really interesting book is
"Napoleon's Buttons : 17 Molecules That Changed History" by Penny LeCouteur. Here, the chemistry gets a little more technical, but it's all explained in the book, so one doesn't need a chemistry background to understand it. It's short stories, like the fact that the buttons on the uniforms of Napoleon's soldiers were made of tin (which starts to turn to powder when the temperatures get really cold), which may have had a big impact on why Napoleon failed to conquer Russia. In the extreme cold of a Russian winter, if the soldiers couldn't protect themselves from exposure, they couldn't fight very well. That could have changed the course of European history.

Instead of Musicophilia, you might try the Oliver Sacks that I bought and loaned to you when I was in Vancouver "The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat", I enjoyed it more than Musicophilia, and it doesn't have the music connection to make him feel bad. Yes, it has some psychology, but Sacks can be very entertaining.

If he likes genetics, try "Genome" by Matt Ridley.

If he likes geology, try "Canada Rocks" by Nick Eyles.

If he likes astromomy, try "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan (a little out of date now, but a classic in it's field)

If he likes animals & nature, try anything by Gerald Durrell (an entertaining writer, animal advocate & very funny), you can find a list of most of his books in my profile).

A writer who writes on miscellaneous non-fiction topics is Simon Winchester. I only have his books on topics that appeal to me, but you can find a bunch of his books on my profile as well.

Hope that this helps. I'm leaving for a couple of days at the cottage with Darlene and Jordan in about an hour, but if you want any more ideas, let me know, and I'll think of more when I get back.

- Mom (aka Geophile) ;-)

posted by geophile at 7:57 am (EST) on Aug 18, 2009