Here are the ones I've actually read...now to get started on the TBR list.
OK, forget the long list,
here is the updated list on my WikiThing.
Message edited by its author, May 29, 2008, 12:00pm.
I wouldn't call it a page turner. :) I used it for a class on Gulf Coast Biology a few years ago.
Ooh, I love touchstones!
Misquoting Jesus was an excellent book. I think I gave it 4.5 or 5 stars. It's well written, well-researched, and much more accessible than most books you'll find on Biblical commentary and exigesis (sp?). It helps to already have at least a basic understanding of the New Testement. It really helps if you're like me and addicted to Mysteries of the Bible and such.
QB
Bad Astronomy-this is a GREAT one to read for the astronomy section if you haven't read it yet.
I went to the works page to look up
Bad Astronomy and then decided to wee what wikipedia had to say about the difference between astrology and astronomy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology_a... The article is noted as disputed and 'needs to be rewritten.' I was thinking that maybe astrology preceded astronomy, but we're into a messy area here.
Maybe, I need to consult my horoscope to figure this out! Hah!
Message edited by its author, Dec 1, 2007, 2:31pm.
I agree with the recommendation for
Bad Astronomy.
It's not one to read if you're interested in the science, or in black holes and galaxies and extrasolar planets, but it's good for talking about the more local things -- why the moon looks bigger when it's close to the horizon, refuting idiocy like astrology and "we never landed on the moon", and so forth. It's a fun read.
As for the age of astrology vs. astronomy, I suspect it's mostly going to come down to definitions. Certainly the earliest use of looking-at-the-stars was purely observational, just people looking up. Finding shapes in the stars and telling each other stories doesn't really count as either, but finding predictable patterns would be astronomy by my definition. By "predictable patterns" I mean things like "plant when the Pleiades rise at sunrise", knowing where the Sun will rise on the Solstice, or noticing that there are some objects in the sky (the planets) that move differently from the stars, and in regular, predictable patterns. The buildup of beliefs surrounding these observations necessarily came later -- you have to know there are planets before you can decide they influence human behavior.
The Chinese were predicting eclipses way back, and there are observations of supernovae in many cultures going back for a thousand years.
I'm not going to rant about the privileging of wikipedia, which any yahoo can edit, on an issue like this. Here's a case where NPOV is just inappropriate -- astronomy is science and makes testable predictions. Astrology is baloney.
I just finished my book for P-
Letter Perfect, which is a history of the alphabet and each letter. Very interesting. I'll post a real review of it later.
Wow, you're really making some progress!
Just trucking along now...
CS2309 .A84 1991
What's in a Name?--Everything You Wanted to Know-I also wouldn't recommend this one; however, it was hard to find any in CS in my library, so I took what I could get.
Message edited by its author, Jan 14, 2008, 10:44am.
TD171.7
You Can Prevent Global Warming-I would absolutly recommend this one. It's easy to read, accessible, and useful. I was walking around my house while I was reading it trying to implement as many suggestions as possible. Time will tell how much money it actually saves me!
OK, since it'd been so long since I've read a QM, I went ahead and updated that one.
So, QM:
Your Inner Fishand QP:
Bonk!Wow-it's been ages since I've been able to add one...
RM
The Demon Under the Microscope-this is a great one for those of you dreading anything medical-it's much heavier on the history than the science.
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