Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond

By far one of the best books on history I've ever read. Diamond carefully and thoroughly examines the geographic and biological factors that lead to differentiation between human civilizations: why Europeans and east Asians ended up with advanced weapons and technology, and why other cultures like the Polynesians, native Americans, and African tribespeople seemed to remain almost in the stone age even to this century. I greatly appreciated Diamond's very simple writing style that manages to lead the reader to fairly complex conclusions without obscuring or distracting from his subject. He also makes a powerful case for taking a more scientific approach to historical study; a more rigorous and rational approach can give insights that the traditional academic/scholarly approach often seems unable to. Diamond makes no overt judgements about the cultures and civilizations he examines, and manages to dismiss racist beliefs, showing how the current state of world affairs is based on geographic happenstance, rather than any real innate qualities. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to provide a foundation of understanding for how the world came to be as it is today.
10/10 May 2002

Hubble Vision: Further Adventures with the Hubble Space Telescope - Carolyn Collins Petersen, John C. Brandt

A beautiful book of photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope. Some, especially the Hubble Deep Field, and images of stellar-nursery nebulas are truly incredible to look at. The prose seems directed at a well-educated audience however, and seems to assume a familiarity with the science of astronomy, so isn't for the casual reader. The book covers Hubble's work in exploring the planets, comets, our own galaxy, astronomical oddities, as well as the history of the Hubble project right from it's beginnings as a simple idea for an orbiting telescope.
9/10 February 2000

The Selfish Gene - Richard Dawkins

This is a much earlier work by Dawkins, somewhat more technical but still highly readable. He presents his idea of individual genes being the primary unit of evolutionary selection, rather than organisms, so that genes compete with each other for success in the genepool, and can use each other when necessary, allying themselves into successful groups of genes. Dawkins presents models and examples to demonstrate his idea, showing that in effect, any organism is a machine, a replicating machine that allows each gene to survive. Of significant interest to me was the fact that this book, written in 1978, originally proposed the idea of the meme, where ideas themselves propagate like genes throughout a genepool. Culture in effect becomes an environment in which cultural organisms (us) act as replication machines for memes which compete with one another for dominance. I find memetics to be a fascinating area of study, and really appreciated seeing where the concept was born.
9/10 January 2000

Cosmos - Carl Sagan

I grew up with Carl Sagan. If there's anyone in the world I might consider an idol, it would be him. I first saw the TV series Cosmos when I was about 10 years old, and his obvious passion for learning and discovery, his ability to communicate his sense of awe and wonder of the universe affected me deeply. I have always loved astronomy and cosmology; it is humanity's greatest quest to understand and explore the universe we live in. While the book is now somewhat dated, it still causes one to be caught up in the excitement of learning about our universe, and Sagan reveals a great deal about ourselves by looking at the history of astronomy. Particularly fascinating for me was learning about the Ionian scientists of 2500 years ago; who were taking the first real steps to rationally understand the world around them. Unfortunately, religion & superstition buried the knowledge they had gained; and it wasn't until the Renaissance that we renewed our scientific interest in the stars. Cosmos makes an excellent introduction on the history of the universe and our study of it for anyone new to the subject, and still offers enough unique insight and anecdotes to pique the interest of those who have had a life-long affinity for astronomy.
10/10 October 1999

Climbing Mount Improbable - Richard Dawkins

In the past few months I've developed an interest in learning about biological evolution, which is odd because through highschool and afterwards I just considered it a "dull" topic (as opposed to the elegance of physics or astronomy); it's certainly not. Dawkins takes us on a delightful trek up the slopes of Mount Improbable, his metaphor for complex biological constructions, such as the eye, which look to the uninformed observer as if undirected processes could never hope to develop. Focusing on some particular aspects of the natural world, he demonstrates how they can be modelled in a computer and how simple random changes can create advanced systems given enough time. Many of his comments are obviously directed at religious detractors, and it is unfortunate that biology should have to defend itself from the ignorant and uneducated masses. More importantly, for me, than just describing how simple evolutionary processes can result in the complex and diverse life we see today, is the deeper understanding of biology's answer to fundamental philosophical questions I gained through Dawkins' discussion of organisms as "survival machines" for DNA. DNA replicates, and we are an effective way of allowing it to do so. All else is peripheral, and any meaning or purpose we hope to find in the universe has to in fact come from us. Both the DNA we carry, and the universe around us, are indifferent to our brief existence. Oh, and of course, I must mention the fine illustrations in the book, rendered by Dawkins' wife Lalla Ward, whom I had quite a crush on when she appeared on Doctor Who in the 80s.
9/10 June 1999

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