Books
clock | November 25, 2006You know that I think that Wallace Arthur is one of the sharpest writers on evolution today and that his Biased Embryos and Evolution is one of the best books I've read recently on the topic. I just saw that he has a new book out, Creatures of Accident. Has anyone read it yet? Is it good? Just in case, I placed it on my amazon wish list, so, if you think it is worth my while, I can get it once I get hold of some cash.
jlynch | November 22, 2006I've been involved in the creation/evolution battle - for such it is - since 1998. Over the years, I have talked to many groups - students, concerned citizens, scientists, lawyers - on this issue and have often been asked to recommend a book that would offer the non-scientist advice as how to deal with attempts to dilute academically sound science standards. In the past I have recommended books like Pennock's Intelligent Design Creationism and Its Critics and Young & Edis' Why Intelligent Design Fails. Both of these works, excellent though they are, are probably scientifically and…
jlynch | November 22, 2006
This illustration of a rather jovial looking Bradypus tridactylus (three-toed sloth) comes from Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber's Die Saugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen ['Mammals Illustrated after Nature with Descriptions', 1774, Vol I II & III].
(HT to BibliOdyssey)
jlynch | November 22, 2006Others have noticed that John Horgan has presented his own personal list of the ten "worst science books." Many of his choices aren't science books per se and he obviously ignores his own excerable The End of Science which was, frankly, drivel that brought much joy to postmodernist critics during the "Science Wars" of the 1990's. He's also, in my opinion, unfair to E.O. Wilson ... but that is an argument for another day.
Horgan does, however, get Gould's Rocks of Ages correct when he describes it as "Gould at his pompous, verbose worst. He managed somehow both to pander and condescend to…
pharyngula | November 22, 2006Horgan lists the Ten worst science books. Here's his criteria for a bad science book:
These books aren't merely awful, of course, but harmful. Most have been bestsellers, or had some sort of significant impact, which often means--paradoxically--that they are rhetorical masterpieces.
I find myself agreeing with his choices, at least of the ones I've read.
Capra, Frifjof, The Tao of Physics. Helped inspire the tedious New Age obsession with quantum mechanics.
I remember having to read this in some liberal-artsy class in college, and deciding that this lump of silly crap had convinced me that…
pharyngula | November 20, 2006Storm World(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll).
Now we just have to wait until June to read it.
clock | November 20, 2006The snake and the apple tree. The benevolent dictatorship and the tyranny of peer pressure. A floating library and a deadly fungus. The saga of the Baudelaire triplets has come to The End. Some loose ends are tied. Some mysteries remain. The atmosphere is not as treacherous, dangerous and heart-stopping as the previous twelve books, but that comes as a relief! Makes you think more instead of cowering for your life. Even with the final resolution, enough remains open-ended for Snickety to start a whole new series.
jlynch | November 20, 2006From here. The top ten are:
1. and 2. The Voyage of the Beagle (1845) and The Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin [tie]
3. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) by Isaac Newton (1687)
4. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei (1632)
5. De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres) by Nicolaus Copernicus (1543)
6. Physica (Physics) by Aristotle (circa 330 B.C.)
7. De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) by Andreas Vesalius (1543)
8. Relativity: The…
clock | November 14, 2006Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives, new book by Sen.John Edwards hit the bookstores today (I can't afford it right now but it is on my wish list for later). You can read an excerpt here, check the dates and places for his booksigning tour, see the schedule for his media appearances (lots of them, including The Daily Show and Letterman) here and discuss it here.
clock | November 14, 2006Michael Shermer has an interview in the latest American Scientist on Creationism and his new book Why Darwin Matters.
clock | October 29, 2006Just a quick note. I finally got to meet Chris Mooney, my fellow Seed Scienceblogger and the author of The Republican War on Science.
On Saturday, we met early enough to have coffee and a little chat before his book-reading and signing event at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. The long weekend in local schools (Friday off in Orange Co. and Monday off in Wake Co.) and a break in bad weather we had recently propably prompted a lot of locals to make that last trip out of town for the year this week, so the size of the crowd was not as impressive as it could have been, but those present were good…
clock | October 26, 2006Chris Mooney will be in the Triangle for three days - October 28-30th. Come to one of his book-readings:
Saturday, October 28
7:00 PM-8:30 PM
Quail Ridge Books
3522 Wade Ave.
Raleigh, NC 27607
Sunday, October 29
4:00 PM-5:30 PM
Regulator Bookshop
720 Ninth Street
Durham, NC 27705
Monday, October 30th
12 noon-1 PM
"Science Friction: When Science and Politics Collide"
Duke University Medical Center
Duke Center for the Study of Medical Humanities and Ethics
Room 2002, Duke North Lecture Hall
If you want to do more, i.e., meet Chris at some other time/venue, ask me, or even better, ask Abel who…
clock | October 19, 2006The Master explains just how deeply flawed the Santorum quip was:
But Aragorn didn't start the war!
Nothing in Middle-earth happens by accident
clock | October 18, 2006I tend to rant about sleep in adolescents for various reasons, but other people focus on other age groups. Infants are one such group, interesting because it takes a while for their circadian rhythms to consolidate resulting in "sleeping through the night".
For years, the only serious book on the topic was Ferber, much maligned for its advice to "let them cry it out", though the rest of the book is correct and informative. Apparently, there is a good new book on the topic - The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night (as well as The No-Cry Sleep…
clock | October 17, 2006Elizabeth Edwards will be reading from and signing her book in Pittsboro on Thursday at:
McIntyre's Fine Books & Bookends
2000 Fearrington Village Center
Pittsboro, North Carolina
919-542-2121
Thursday, October 19th at 7:00 p.m.
They'll have a digital camera set up if you'd like to have a picture taken with Elizabeth. Later, you can download your picture at www.myphotowithelizabeth.com.
clock | October 14, 2006A beautifully written edition of Tar Heel Tavern is up on Poetic Acceptance.
clock | October 12, 2006I went to Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on Monday to hear Elizabeth Edwards read from her new book, Saving Graces (I could not make it to the earlier event in Chapel Hill as I was picking up the kids from school at the time). Quail Ridge Books and the surrounding area can get quite busy when a famous person is coming in to sign books (e.g., when Al Gore and Jimmy Carter came there) so I made sure to come really early. By 6:45pm I have already dropped the kids off at grandma's yet I still had to make a couple of circles to find a parking space and the bookstore was already full. I'd say…
clock | October 10, 2006I went to Quail Ridge Books last night. I will post my report (hopefully with pictures and movie-clips) tomorrow at noon.
clock | October 7, 2006I just discovered (on my Sitemeter referrals list!) a cool new blog - Biology In Science Fiction. Several good posts so far. Go check it out!