book pickings

a visual way to explore the brain pickings book archive :: otlet's shelf theme :: back to brain pickings

CREATIVITY :: DESIGN :: SCIENCE :: HISTORY :: PSYCHOLOGY :: ART

science

  1. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark Carl Sagan “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. … The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.” Carl Sagan on science and spirituality, a timelessly fantastic read:

    The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

    Carl Sagan

    “Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. … The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.”

    Carl Sagan on science and spirituality, a timelessly fantastic read:
  2. Darwin: A Life in Poems Ruth Padel Darwin’s life, adapted in poems by his great-grand-daughter, using his books, journals, autobiography, scientific papers, notebooks, drafts, and letters to summon an affectionate and imaginative memoir of rare poetic elegance.

    Darwin: A Life in Poems

    Ruth Padel

    Darwin’s life, adapted in poems by his great-grand-daughter, using his books, journals, autobiography, scientific papers, notebooks, drafts, and letters to summon an affectionate and imaginative memoir of rare poetic elegance.
  3. Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America Jon Mooallem “Maybe you have to believe in the value of everything to believe in the value of anything.” What an obscure endangered butterfly teaches us about parenthood, legacy, and being human

    Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America

    Jon Mooallem

    “Maybe you have to believe in the value of everything to believe in the value of anything.”

    What an obscure endangered butterfly teaches us about parenthood, legacy, and being human
  4. Cosmic Apprentice: Dispatches from the Edges of Science Dorion Sagan “A good scientific theory shines its light, revealing the world’s fearful symmetry. And its failure is also a success, as it shows us where to look next.” Dorion Sagan, son of Carl, considers the vital relationship between science and philosophy

    Cosmic Apprentice: Dispatches from the Edges of Science

    Dorion Sagan

    “A good scientific theory shines its light, revealing the world’s fearful symmetry. And its failure is also a success, as it shows us where to look next.”

    Dorion Sagan, son of Carl, considers the vital relationship between science and philosophy
  5. Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything Philip Ball Fascinating read on the difference between curiosity and wonder:

    Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything

    Philip Ball

    Fascinating read on the difference between curiosity and wonder:
  6. First Book of Space Travel Jeanne Bendick A whimsical primer on space exploration from 1953 – long before the first man on the moon – written and illustrated by a female author, a remarkable feat for the era.

    First Book of Space Travel

    Jeanne Bendick

    A whimsical primer on space exploration from 1953 – long before the first man on the moon – written and illustrated by a female author, a remarkable feat for the era.
  7. Turing: Pioneer of the Information Age Jack Copeland “He might ask you … whether you think a computer could ever enjoy strawberries and cream or could make you fall in love with it.” An uncommon portrait of Alan Turing, godfather of modern computing.

    Turing: Pioneer of the Information Age

    Jack Copeland

    “He might ask you … whether you think a computer could ever enjoy strawberries and cream or could make you fall in love with it.”

    An uncommon portrait of Alan Turing, godfather of modern computing.
  8. The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Denise Kiernan From janitor to chemist, the women of Oak Ridge worked hard and talked little.

    The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II

    Denise Kiernan

    From janitor to chemist, the women of Oak Ridge worked hard and talked little.
  9. The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America (Penguin History American Life) Ernest Freeberg “Light had come to the American city. And it was just awful.” A brief history of giving the people what they wanted, or why the lightbulb was a mere cog in the machinery of total illumination.

    The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America (Penguin History American Life)

    Ernest Freeberg

    “Light had come to the American city. And it was just awful.”

    A brief history of giving the people what they wanted, or why the lightbulb was a mere cog in the machinery of total illumination.
  10. The Speech Chain: The Physics and Biology of Spoken Language Peter B. Denes & Elliot N. Pinson A vintage illustrated guide to the science of language, reprinted 30 years later with art by Keith Haring

    The Speech Chain: The Physics and Biology of Spoken Language

    Peter B. Denes & Elliot N. Pinson

    A vintage illustrated guide to the science of language, reprinted 30 years later with art by Keith Haring
  11. Our Friend The Atom Heinz Haber Vintage science illustrations by Disney, extolling the virtues of nuclear power

    Our Friend The Atom

    Heinz Haber

    Vintage science illustrations by Disney, extolling the virtues of nuclear power
  12. The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral Diane Ackerman “I’m stricken by the ricochet wonder of it all: the plain everythingness of everything, in cahoots with the everythingness of everything else.” Diane Ackerman’s beautiful poems for each planet in the Solar System, which Carl Sagan sent Timothy Leary in prison

    The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral

    Diane Ackerman

    “I’m stricken by the ricochet wonder of it all: the plain everythingness of everything, in cahoots with the everythingness of everything else.”

    Diane Ackerman’s beautiful poems for each planet in the Solar System, which Carl Sagan sent Timothy Leary in prison
  13. The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter than You Think Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods Genius means that someone can be gifted with one type of cognition while being average or below average in another. […] There are many definitions of intelligence competing for attention in popular culture. But the definition that has guided my research and that applies throughout the book is a very simple one. The genius of dogs — of all animals, for that matter, including humans — has two criteria: A mental skill that is strong compared with others, either within your own species or in closely related species. The ability to spontaneously make inferences.

    The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter than You Think

    Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods

    Genius means that someone can be gifted with one type of cognition while being average or below average in another.

    […]

    There are many definitions of intelligence competing for attention in popular culture. But the definition that has guided my research and that applies throughout the book is a very simple one. The genius of dogs — of all animals, for that matter, including humans — has two criteria:

    1. A mental skill that is strong compared with others, either within your own species or in closely related species.
    2. The ability to spontaneously make inferences.
  14. Space Race Tom Clohosy Cole Astronauts vs. cosmonauts, Apollo vs. Sputnik, and what Gagarin had to do with JFK – a lovely illustrated chronicle of the Space Age.

    Space Race

    Tom Clohosy Cole

    Astronauts vs. cosmonauts, Apollo vs. Sputnik, and what Gagarin had to do with JFK – a lovely illustrated chronicle of the Space Age.
  15. I Died for Beauty: Dorothy Wrinch and the Cultures of Science Marjorie Senechal The story of a pioneering and controversial female mathematician who helped shed light on the molecular structure of proteins, was the first woman to receive a Doctor of Science degree from Oxford University, and embodied the cross-pollination of disciplines two decades before C. P. Snow’s famous lament about the “two cultures”:

    I Died for Beauty: Dorothy Wrinch and the Cultures of Science

    Marjorie Senechal

    The story of a pioneering and controversial female mathematician who helped shed light on the molecular structure of proteins, was the first woman to receive a Doctor of Science degree from Oxford University, and embodied the cross-pollination of disciplines two decades before C. P. Snow’s famous lament about the “two cultures”:
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