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1Samantha_kathy
Okay, so I don't really have a goal here. No set number of books, no set topics. I just want to discuss non-fiction the way fiction is discussed.
Do we need to have read a non-fiction book to comment upon it? Is browsing alone enough? Is spot-reading, like I do when reading 90% of the non-fiction books I use for my history study, enough?
Yes, I think you can comment meaningfully on a non-fiction book after browsing it. Spot-reading is certainly enough to comment upon it.
Honestly, I can already make a judgement on a non-fiction book simply by loooking for the presence/absence of a reference list and footnotes/endnotes. Take in illustrations and chapter titles, perhaps the introduction, and I can hold a whole discussion without ever reading further. You can't do that with a fiction book!
Can you have a meaningful discussion of a non-fiction book based on a review alone, like you can with fiction books?
Maybe. You can certainly discuss elements mentioned. You can compare (through asking questions and giving your own examples) books in the same genre/on the same topic based on a review. A dialogue can be opened.
Ready to take the plunge into discussion with me?
Do we need to have read a non-fiction book to comment upon it? Is browsing alone enough? Is spot-reading, like I do when reading 90% of the non-fiction books I use for my history study, enough?
Yes, I think you can comment meaningfully on a non-fiction book after browsing it. Spot-reading is certainly enough to comment upon it.
Honestly, I can already make a judgement on a non-fiction book simply by loooking for the presence/absence of a reference list and footnotes/endnotes. Take in illustrations and chapter titles, perhaps the introduction, and I can hold a whole discussion without ever reading further. You can't do that with a fiction book!
Can you have a meaningful discussion of a non-fiction book based on a review alone, like you can with fiction books?
Maybe. You can certainly discuss elements mentioned. You can compare (through asking questions and giving your own examples) books in the same genre/on the same topic based on a review. A dialogue can be opened.
Ready to take the plunge into discussion with me?
2Samantha_kathy
I read The Atlas of the Prehistoric World by Douglas Palmer. I did it as part of my history study, focussed on the dinosaur era right now. So I mostly did spot-reading of this book, but that still meant most of the book in this case. I also read the fossil pages in the last part of the book.
In the past months I've read a lot of books about the prehistoric (pre-human) world, a lot of them overview books. I've also browsed at least 50 other books, but didn't pick them up to read more in depth, either because the book didn't look trustworthy to me, wasn't up to date enough, or didn't seem to bring any new information to the table. I have to say, apart from one other book, this one is probably the best I've had in my hands.
My review:
This book has three distinct parts that can be read separately, but are also very complimentary to each other. The first part is about fifty pages of world maps, showing the changing land masses with brief information on what changed and how it affected the climate, landscape, and life on Earth. These maps cover the time period from about 620 million years ago until 18.000 years ago. For reference the outline of the modern day map is drawn on top, which takes a bit of getting used to when viewing the maps, but also makes it really easy to see the enormous changes that have taken place. I loved this part of the book, because usually you only see pictures of some of the more important moments, like Pangaea in the Triassic Period and the drifting of continents in the Tertiary Period. This book shows the changes in much more detail, so you can actually see how and when moves were made by landmasses. I also liked that the viewpoint of each map was not solely the ever-present European side of the world. Usually both sides of the world were shown next to each other.
The second part of the book was about twice as long as the first part and dealt with the time period of the beginning of life until 18.000 years ago. It showed the evolution of life in texts, with great illustrations, with a focus on explaining the evolutionary changes as a natural consequence of the changing geography, which made the landscape and climate change as well. There are so many books that either skip that step completely or gloss over it, that it felt like a breath of fresh air to see the focus on the ‘why’ instead of the ‘what’. Sometimes the story jumped a bit, as the topics here are ordered chronologically bit written as self-contained pieces. This makes it so the story doesn’t always flow well when reading this part front to back, but has the advantage that certain periods can be skipped and it makes it easy to look up particular information.
The last part of the book was about forty pages of facts, by which I mean it contained a brief summary of the history of the Earth, bits about different kind of rocks and sediments, geological processes (like tectonics), and fossils, just to name a few things. This part contained great information in a clear and concise format. None of it was necessary to understand the two previous parts, but it was relevant to the topics discussed and fascinating.
The book ends with a list of small biographies of important scientists (both historic and contemporary) in the various fields that contributed to the over-all knowledge in the book, a list os museums and websites to visit, a glossary, and a further literature list. The only thing missing was a reference list, but I expect a lot of the references, if not all, will be in the further literature list.
All in all, this book was really great. I’ve read about ten books on this topic and browsed even more, but this is one of the best out there. Not to be missed!
In the past months I've read a lot of books about the prehistoric (pre-human) world, a lot of them overview books. I've also browsed at least 50 other books, but didn't pick them up to read more in depth, either because the book didn't look trustworthy to me, wasn't up to date enough, or didn't seem to bring any new information to the table. I have to say, apart from one other book, this one is probably the best I've had in my hands.
My review:
This book has three distinct parts that can be read separately, but are also very complimentary to each other. The first part is about fifty pages of world maps, showing the changing land masses with brief information on what changed and how it affected the climate, landscape, and life on Earth. These maps cover the time period from about 620 million years ago until 18.000 years ago. For reference the outline of the modern day map is drawn on top, which takes a bit of getting used to when viewing the maps, but also makes it really easy to see the enormous changes that have taken place. I loved this part of the book, because usually you only see pictures of some of the more important moments, like Pangaea in the Triassic Period and the drifting of continents in the Tertiary Period. This book shows the changes in much more detail, so you can actually see how and when moves were made by landmasses. I also liked that the viewpoint of each map was not solely the ever-present European side of the world. Usually both sides of the world were shown next to each other.
The second part of the book was about twice as long as the first part and dealt with the time period of the beginning of life until 18.000 years ago. It showed the evolution of life in texts, with great illustrations, with a focus on explaining the evolutionary changes as a natural consequence of the changing geography, which made the landscape and climate change as well. There are so many books that either skip that step completely or gloss over it, that it felt like a breath of fresh air to see the focus on the ‘why’ instead of the ‘what’. Sometimes the story jumped a bit, as the topics here are ordered chronologically bit written as self-contained pieces. This makes it so the story doesn’t always flow well when reading this part front to back, but has the advantage that certain periods can be skipped and it makes it easy to look up particular information.
The last part of the book was about forty pages of facts, by which I mean it contained a brief summary of the history of the Earth, bits about different kind of rocks and sediments, geological processes (like tectonics), and fossils, just to name a few things. This part contained great information in a clear and concise format. None of it was necessary to understand the two previous parts, but it was relevant to the topics discussed and fascinating.
The book ends with a list of small biographies of important scientists (both historic and contemporary) in the various fields that contributed to the over-all knowledge in the book, a list os museums and websites to visit, a glossary, and a further literature list. The only thing missing was a reference list, but I expect a lot of the references, if not all, will be in the further literature list.
All in all, this book was really great. I’ve read about ten books on this topic and browsed even more, but this is one of the best out there. Not to be missed!
3qebo
1: Many of my non-fiction books are for reference, and I think absolutely you can discuss a book that you have not read cover to cover. Re Atlas of the Prehistoric World, now on my wishlist. Thanks for the extensive review.
4GoofyOcean110
>1 Samantha_kathy:
Enough for what?
To start a discussion - sure. Staying general and open-answered enough is much more conducive to discussions than focused questions... and these types of angles can be gleaned from spot-reading, as you call it.
But I guess it depends on what one is looking for.
I tend to read cover to cover ... or at least count those that I read cover to cover. With exceptions being books I spent either considerable time and/or effort and simply had strong antipathy towards for one reason or another.
Enough for what?
To start a discussion - sure. Staying general and open-answered enough is much more conducive to discussions than focused questions... and these types of angles can be gleaned from spot-reading, as you call it.
But I guess it depends on what one is looking for.
I tend to read cover to cover ... or at least count those that I read cover to cover. With exceptions being books I spent either considerable time and/or effort and simply had strong antipathy towards for one reason or another.
5aulsmith
I just read a great book Peak Learning which discusses different learning techniques. An entire section was devoted to the different learning styles that cause some people to read cover-to-cover and some to skip around. I'm definitely a skip around person. (When I picked up the Peak Learning book, I immediately skipped to that chapter.)
6sgtbigg
My family laughs at me because the first thing I do when someone gives me a book is to check for endnotes. Footnotes are apparently mostly a thing of the past. I'm very happy when the notes take up almost a third of the total pages.
7Samantha_kathy
Introduction to Ecological Genomics by Nico van Straalen and Dick Roelofs – 5 stars
First off, let me say that I did not come into this book with a clean slate. Not only am I a biologist, and therefore have some pre-knowledge of this subject, I also know both authors. Nico van Straalen and Dick Roelofs have taught me a lot over the years and the teach the way they write: very accessible. I’m sure everyone knows the type of textbook that has a lot of information but just isn’t readable. This book is very readable, has a well-thought out order and the voice of the authors sounds through in every word – but perhaps that last only if you know them like I do.
The aim of this book is to explore and explain a fairly new field, that of ecological genomics. It’s basically using genomics – research based on genes and everything associated with genes – to answer ecological questions and further ecological understanding. The first three chapters are fairly technical, focusing more on the relevant genomic techniques and ways to use them, where the other four chapters of the book focus more on ecological questions and how genomics can help answer them. This order is very logical, for you have to understand the techniques used before you can understand how to apply them (or how they have been applied already). The downside of this is that the ‘fun’ ecological stuff doesn’t start until chapter four.
While we’re talking about technical chapters and more ecological ones, I want to say some things about the level of knowledge that is required to appreciate this book. Let me make it very clear from the start that this book is not for the layperson. A reader might be able to follow without the assumed ecological knowledge, as a lot of the necessary ecological knowledge is explained in the book. But if you don’t have a firm grounding in genetics, you will be lost very, very fast. And with a firm grounding I do not merely mean knowing that DNA is transcribed into RNA and then into proteins. You need to know the specifics of the mechanisms involved in that process, as well as the difference between the different domains of life, and a working knowledge of transposable elements is also recommended. Knowledge of cellular processes and techniques commonly used in genetics research (which is different from genomics) is something I’d also recommend. So as you can see, background knowledge needed is fairly essential to understanding this book.
Even with the required background knowledge, it’s easy to get lost sometimes when there are a lot of gene names bandied about in a short amount of text. But that is often off-set by the very clear pictures that elucidate the text. All in all, this is a very good book if you’re interested in this subject, but I do recommend that you read a good book about genetics first.
First off, let me say that I did not come into this book with a clean slate. Not only am I a biologist, and therefore have some pre-knowledge of this subject, I also know both authors. Nico van Straalen and Dick Roelofs have taught me a lot over the years and the teach the way they write: very accessible. I’m sure everyone knows the type of textbook that has a lot of information but just isn’t readable. This book is very readable, has a well-thought out order and the voice of the authors sounds through in every word – but perhaps that last only if you know them like I do.
The aim of this book is to explore and explain a fairly new field, that of ecological genomics. It’s basically using genomics – research based on genes and everything associated with genes – to answer ecological questions and further ecological understanding. The first three chapters are fairly technical, focusing more on the relevant genomic techniques and ways to use them, where the other four chapters of the book focus more on ecological questions and how genomics can help answer them. This order is very logical, for you have to understand the techniques used before you can understand how to apply them (or how they have been applied already). The downside of this is that the ‘fun’ ecological stuff doesn’t start until chapter four.
While we’re talking about technical chapters and more ecological ones, I want to say some things about the level of knowledge that is required to appreciate this book. Let me make it very clear from the start that this book is not for the layperson. A reader might be able to follow without the assumed ecological knowledge, as a lot of the necessary ecological knowledge is explained in the book. But if you don’t have a firm grounding in genetics, you will be lost very, very fast. And with a firm grounding I do not merely mean knowing that DNA is transcribed into RNA and then into proteins. You need to know the specifics of the mechanisms involved in that process, as well as the difference between the different domains of life, and a working knowledge of transposable elements is also recommended. Knowledge of cellular processes and techniques commonly used in genetics research (which is different from genomics) is something I’d also recommend. So as you can see, background knowledge needed is fairly essential to understanding this book.
Even with the required background knowledge, it’s easy to get lost sometimes when there are a lot of gene names bandied about in a short amount of text. But that is often off-set by the very clear pictures that elucidate the text. All in all, this is a very good book if you’re interested in this subject, but I do recommend that you read a good book about genetics first.
8qebo
7: Not one for me then, too bad because it looks really interesting. I wish I had multiple lifetimes.
9Samantha_kathy
>8 qebo:: "I wish I had multiple lifetimes." Don't we all?
10Samantha_kathy
Review London: A Brief History by Charles River Editors
London: A Brief History is brief indeed, and more of a collection of facts about London than a story of its history. But this lightning fast overview of London is interesting nonetheless. It was a quick read, and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in London, but this is not the book if you are looking for a story of London throughout the ages.
I read this book as part of the TIOLI challenge # 20, and it sure managed to wet my appetite for a real book about London's history. Perhaps a good idea to find one to take with me to London in December? Anyone got a good rec?
