Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Recreational Reading List

Recreational Reading List

bfesser - 6-2-2008 at 11:05

(If a similar thread already exists, I apologize. I couldn't find one.)

I was wondering if anyone has any interesting books to recommend relating to chemistry and science in general. I'm especially interested in the history of science, and here are some books that I have read recently and would highly recommend. Some books aren't so much history of science as just plain interesting.

In Alphabetical Order:
<ul type='circle'>
<li>Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold - Tom Shachtman -- I checked it out from the library, but had to return it before I got a chance to finish it. I plan to pick up a copy very soon, the intro was that good.</li>
<li>Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug - Diarmuid Jeffreys</li>
<li>A Chemical History of a Candle - Michael Faraday -- A series of lectures given by Michael Faraday... should be required reading.</li>
<li>Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries - Neil deGrasse Tyson</li>
<li>The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins -- If you don't like this book being in my list, please don't let it turn you off to the rest of the books. I promise you will still enjoy those.</li>
<li>Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World - Simon Garfield -- Possibly my favorite book of the list.</li>
<li>Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History - Penny LeCouteur</li>
</ul>
Anyone have any recommendations?

[Edited on 2/6/08 by bfesser]

The_Davster - 6-2-2008 at 11:20

Radioactive Substances- Marie Curie, a reprint of her origional book, it is a great read.
Elements of Chemistry - Lavosier. My reprint has issues with many lowercase s showing up as an f, once you get through the spelling of Phofphorus, it is a great read
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists - Robert Jungk- 1956- Very interesting insiders look at LANL in the 40s.

chemkid - 6-2-2008 at 12:08

The Radioactive Boyscout- Not for it's factual content, or its technique but an interesting chapter of home chemistry
The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments- contains some interesting experiments and some rather hazardous ones. Another interesting chapter in home chemistry; available online
Uncle Tungsten- a biography of Oliver Sacks growing up with chemistry

gsd - 7-2-2008 at 06:41

I have recently posted the thread : books by George Gamow :

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=9893

Very High recreational content in each of these books

To the uninitiated I would recommend to start with 1,2,3........infinity.
This book is simply "unputdownable"

gsd

bfesser - 7-2-2008 at 10:16

I don't have access to that forum. Who should I ask about that?

chemoleo - 7-2-2008 at 15:52

You'll have to make a few more genuine posts showing interest in this site, rather than books, and you can ask a moderator for access.

CyrusGrey - 7-2-2008 at 16:17

The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire, and Phosphorus by John Emsley
305 page book detailing the history of the element, for example: matchmaking, poisoning, firebombing of hamburg, phossy jaw, etc.

['thred-rez']

bfesser - 7-3-2012 at 21:01

Books I've read recently and recommend:
<ul><li>Oppenheimer: Portrait of an Enigma - Jeremy Bernstein</li>
<li>Deadly Sunshine: The History and Fatal Legacy of Radium - David I. Harvie</li>
<li>The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler - Thomas Hager</li>
<li>Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a New Science in an Age of Revolution - Madison Smartt Bell</li>
<li>Alpha & Omega: The Search for the Beginning and End of the Universe - Charles Seife</li>
<li>A Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals About the Past and Future of Our Species, Planet, and Universe - Gino Segré</li>
<li>Sun in a Bottle: The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking - Charles Seife</li>
<li>Quantum Physics for Poets - Leon M. Lederman & Christopher T. Hill</li></ul>
Book(s) I've read recently and do not recommend:
<ul type="circle">
<li>Fermat's Last Theorem: Unlocking the Secret of an Ancient Mathematical Problem - Amir D. Aczel

This book was alright. I'm sure there are better on the subject, though.</li>
<li>Much Ado About (Practically) Nothing: A History of the Noble Gases - David E. Fisher

Don't bother with this book! It's just 264 pages of Fisher masturbating his ego on paper. Very little to no content whatsoever about the actual history of the noble gases. Plenty of history about the author, and everything he's ever thought, ate, had sex with, or experimented on. Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold by Shachtman tells much more, even in passing, about the noble gases–and it's a great book! This is not a great book. It's not even a decent book. Perhaps it would be an entertaining read if one were breathing an atmosphere with low oxygen content and very very high helium content . . . but I sincerely doubt it. I'd rather spend a month in Nebraska than read this book over again.</li></ul>

Would anyone like a positive review or commentary on any of the books I recommended? Too bad! Read them yourself or check the reviews on Amazon. They're good books. You should read them. What else matters?

[Edited on 3/8/12 by bfesser]

jamit - 8-3-2012 at 06:46

Quote: Originally posted by bfesser

(If a similar thread already exists, I apologize. I couldn't find one.)

I was wondering if anyone has any interesting books to recommend relating to chemistry and science in general. I'm especially interested in the history of science, and here are some books that I have read recently and would highly recommend. Some books aren't so much history of science as just plain interesting.

In Alphabetical Order:
<ul type='circle'>
<li>Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold - Tom Shachtman -- I checked it out from the library, but had to return it before I got a chance to finish it. I plan to pick up a copy very soon, the intro was that good.</li>
<li>Aspirin: The Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug - Diarmuid Jeffreys</li>
<li>A Chemical History of a Candle - Michael Faraday -- A series of lectures given by Michael Faraday... should be required reading.</li>
<li>Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries - Neil deGrasse Tyson</li>
<li>The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins -- If you don't like this book being in my list, please don't let it turn you off to the rest of the books. I promise you will still enjoy those.</li>
<li>Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World - Simon Garfield -- Possibly my favorite book of the list.</li>
<li>Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History - Penny LeCouteur</li>
</ul>
Anyone have any recommendations?

[Edited on 2/6/08 by bfesser]

The book by Dawkins is a joke. It is not science but nonetheless his attempt to use psedo-science to make fun of religious people. Just recently he refused to debate William Craig at Oxford (oct 2011), a philosopher and theologian in the USA. Even his fellow atheists felt he should put up or shut up.

Books I would recommend?

1. Godel, Escher, Bach, by Douglas Hofstadter

2. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) by Isaac Newton (1687)

3. The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes (1986) A beautifully crafted and definitive history examining the personalities and science behind humanity's most destructive weapon.

These are all good reading, both informative and entertaining in the best sense!

Bfesser - I agree with you, the book on aspirin the wonder drug and Michael faraday's book are excellent.

[Edited on 8-3-2012 by jamit]

Vogelzang - 8-3-2012 at 14:58

http://sciliterature.50webs.com/4shared.htm

Magpie - 8-3-2012 at 15:10

I'd like to recommend:

1. Thomas Edison, Chemist, by Byron M. Vanderbilt
2. Alfred Nobel, by Kenne Fant
3. Poisoner's Handbook, by Deborah Blum
4. Jac. Berzelius, by J. Erik Jorpes

ScienceSquirrel - 8-3-2012 at 15:14

If you can get hold of a copy, The Green Flame;

http://www.dequasiebooks.com/green.html

BromicAcid - 8-3-2012 at 19:15

Of course don't forget:

Excuse Me Sir, Would You Like to Buy a Kilo of Isopropyl Bromide? by Max Gergel

The Ageless Gergel - Again by Max Gergel

Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants - John D. Clark

Adventures of a Chemist Collector - Alfred Bader

Further Adventures of a Chemist Collector - Alfred Bader

And I highly recommend The Green Flame. I had the pleasure of exchanging a series of e-mails with Mr. Dequasie regarding his book and life and he was nice enough to sign my copy

Gearhead_Shem_Tov - 11-3-2012 at 05:02

Quote: Originally posted by BromicAcid

...
Ignition!: An informal history of liquid rocket propellants - John D. Clark
...

I want to thank you, Bromic, for suggesting this book. I read the whole thing in two sittings. Eye opening stuff!

-B

Vogelzang - 27-5-2012 at 16:00

Cantor, G.N. and M.J.S. Hodge, eds. Conceptions of Ether: Studies in the history of ether theories, 1740-1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

http://www.sciencemadness.org/scipics/CantorHodge.pdf

http://www.sciencemadness.org/scipics/CantorHodge2.pdf

http://www.sciencemadness.org/scipics/CantorHodge3.pdf

Schaffner, K. Nineteenth-Century Aether Theories. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1972.

http://www.sciencemadness.org/scipics/NineteenthCenturyAethe...

http://www.sciencemadness.org/scipics/NineteenthCenturyAethe...

-------------------------------------------------------------------

A history of the theories of aether and electricity : from the age of Descartes to the close of the nineteenth century (1910)

http://www.archive.org/details/historyoftheorie00whitrich

http://books.google.com/books?id=CGJDAAAAIAAJ&printsec=f...

Aether and matter: Larmor, Joseph,

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&output=search&sclient=p...

http://sciliterature.50webs.com/RelativityDebates.htm

[Edited on 28-5-2012 by Vogelzang]

Vogelzang - 30-6-2012 at 10:49

The Hydrodynamic Researches of Professor Bjerknes by Conrad W. Cooke

http://www.sciencemadness.org/scipics/BjerknesHydrodynamic_S...

http://www.sciencemadness.org/scipics/BjerknesHydrodynamicEn...

99chemicals - 30-6-2012 at 17:55

I am suprised that no one mentioned

Silent Spring (Rachel Carson)

Slow Death by Rubber Duck (Rick Smith Bruce Lourie)

Slow Death by Rubber Duck actually exists

It is very informative and eye opening about all of the toxic chemicals we are exposed to without our consent or knowledge. Mind you this is NOT written from the perspective of a chemophobe.

I would recommend it to anybody that I know.

Niether of these are really educational content but Slow Death by a Rubber Duck shows how ignorance on the part of chemical companies making chemicals marketing them, then they realize that they are dangerous but keep going and trying to keep legislation from being passed against them.

In that book the authors expose themselves to commercial products purchased OTC and measure blood/urine levels of the chemical in question. Their results for mercury BPA Phalates, triclosan,and BFRs is astounding!