antqueen's 2012 nonfiction

I started out ok last year, but reverted to lurking around everyone else's thread by the end of the year. Here's to hoping I'll do better in 2012 both with posting my own books and with commenting in everyone else's :)

So far in 2012:
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" : Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman
A Year in the Maine Woods by Bernd Heinrich
Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler by Jessica Speart
Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions by Mark Moffett

Currently reading:
Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" : Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman

A series of autobiographical anecdotes by physicist Richard Feynman, from his childhood through to after he won the Nobel Prize. Very funny, and often insightful. He comes across as both astoundingly cocky and oddly uncertain... probably more realistic than a lot of biographies I've read, where they try to make everything overly consistent. Several of the sections deal with the way people perceive science, and the way we try to teach it (the one where he talks about reviewing math text books is hilarious). Unfortunately, I don't think we've improved much since the times he's talking about. Definitely worth reading. Something related that I thought was interesting is how willing he was to ask stupid questions, the ones that obviously every person who knows anything about physics already knows the answers to. Also, his need for physical examples to keep in mind while going through the math. I remember having trouble with some of the abstract stuff in school. Maybe if I'd been as willing to ask the dumb questions and insist on something to hold in mind I'd have done better, or at least enjoyed it more. And if my textbooks had been less like the ones he reviewed...

1: I started out ok last year, but reverted to lurking around everyone else's thread by the end of the year.
Heh, it's my group and reverted to lurking from October onward, while I continued to read but ceased to produce reviews. I'm glad you're back for another round.

At least I'm not the only recovering lurker :)

A Year in the Maine Woods by Bernd Heinrich

I discovered Heinrich last winter when someone in the 75 books group read Winter World. He has a meandering style that can occasionally take him to things I don't really care much about, but, then again, you never know what little gems he'll wind up throwing in either. I especially enjoy his descriptions of the landscape and flora and fauna. But not enough, I must say, to make me want to spend a winter in a non-centrally-heated cabin with snow coming in through the cracks...

Winged Obsession: The Pursuit of the World's Most Notorious Butterfly Smuggler by Jessica Speart

I didn't know this was "narrative nonfiction" when I picked it up at Borders last year. I don't think I'd ever heard the term. But with everybody talking about that, now seemed like a good time to read it. The book follows a US Fish and Wildlife undercover agent as he tries to catch a butterfly smuggler, plus a few forays into the world of hawk-killing pigeon owners. The agent had recorded quite a few conversations for evidence, so Speart had a lot of material to reconstruct scenes, and the glimpses into both his life and the smuggler's were very interesting. I admit, though, that by the end I was heartily tired of hearing about the smuggler's sexual proclivities, which started to feel like a book-marketing ploy. Though, in the author's defense, it did have an impact on the case. I think this book worked pretty well, but in general I withhold judgment on the narrative nonfiction genre...

Currently reading: Adventures Among Ants by Mark Moffett

Oh, I almost picked up Adventures Among Ants last time I passed through a book store, then had a silly rational moment of wondering when I'd actually get to reading it. Now it's merely on the wish list.

Definitely worth reading. And his photographs are gorgeous. If that seems like an odd thing to say about pictures of ants, then go find a copy of the book and see for yourself :)

Adventures Among Ants by Mark Moffett

Lots of fascinating information about ants, with the focus mainly on ants with large colonies, such as marauder ants, army ants, weaver ants, driver ants, Argentine ants. Moffett makes a lot of comparisons with human cultures and practices as well; sometimes it was interesting and sometimes it felt like it was distracting from the ants. I think my only quibble would be those distracting times, and there weren't too many of them. He talks a lot the way the different species of ants interact, both within the colony and with their surroundings. It has a lot of information in it, but I think it would be accessible to anyone. He's a good, non-technical writer. I did come away with a list of his references that I want to read sometime, though...

Currently reading: Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh

7: If that seems like an odd thing to say about pictures of ants
It does not seem odd at all. :-)