Hiromi_X
25 Greatest Science Books
I look at science the opposite way that I look at sex: I'd rather read about it than do it. Science was my favorite subject in high school, but when I got to the university level, I realized that there are few places I hate more than a lab. I was also permanently traumatized by organic chemistry. Anyway, about today's post: Rufus is always good for a nerd reference or two. Discover Magazine has compiled a list of the 25 Greatest Science Books of all Time. Like Rufus, I was surprised to see how many of these I've actually read, which kind of makes up for reading (and seeing) only the Shakespeare plays that were assigned in high school. I totally applaud Discover's choice of Charles Darwin's The Origin of the Species as number one. That book was actually tied for first with The Voyage of the Beagle, which I guess was included as a sort of Silmarillion to the Lord of the Rings of Origin. The elegance of Darwin's observations and the fact that he managed to create a grand unifying theory for biology indisputably puts him on any Top 10 science list, but there is a vitally important political reason to put him on top.
Anyway, the list has a kind of trickle-down feeling to it. First, there are towering figures like Aristotle, Newton, Copernicus/Galileo (I think of them as a unit -- you can't name one without the other), and Einstein. It seems like all the "big" discoveries have already been made, and now everyone is refining this or that subfield, which is fine, but kind of anticlimactic.
Also, the editors are dealing with books rather than actual scientific discoveries, which makes for strange bedfellows. Along with the groundbreakers, you have nontheoretical popularizations by Richard Feynman and Carl Sagan. Also, it looks like no great books have been written on chemistry, medicine is represented by only On the Fabric of the Human Body, and what about paleontology? There are a shitload of paleontology books. And it's strange to me that The Interpretation of Dreams was not included, but Gaia was. Ah well, it's easier to bitch about a Top 25 list than it is to make one.
Comments
I see "The Interpretation of Dreams" got honorable mention, but I would argue it's not really science. Very influential, like "the Communist Manifesto" but not too many theorems developed that you could really put to any kind of rigorous test. I guess it did launch the field of psychiatry so maybe it should qualify. But Vico's "The New Science" launched social science as a field and it didn't even make honorable mention. Still an interesting debate, like the one I was reading about last month on the most important medical advance of the last 150 years. No clear winner, x-rays, anti-biotics, germ theory, filtered and chlorinated drinking water.......
1. Posted by Captured Shadow on November 20, 2006
I don't know if he wrote a book, but where's Tesla?
I hated science until I discovered social sciences, which to me, are more narrative than numerical.
2. Posted by Whirly on November 20, 2006
Maybe you should make your personal top 25? Or even top 10? Might make for an interesting post.
3. Posted by Miss Syl on November 20, 2006
CS, I know Interpretation was an honorable mention, which is why I mentioned it as a better choice than Gaia. Aristotle was mentioned, and you could argue that Physica isn't really science, either. Discover handles the hard sciences and medicine, which is why social science was hardly mentioned. And because psychiatry is a field within medicine, it makes sense for the magazine to include it.
Whirly, that's why the list is weird. While it includes groundbreaking theories, it include only theories about which a book was written. Or an article, as in Einstein's case.
Syl, if I ever have the time, I might.
4. Posted by Hiromi on November 20, 2006
Your right Hiromi. Discover is consistent with their rules about what to include, but I think they chose some odd rules.
If you like discover you might like the New Scientist even better
(I do, but their online version is not too great.)
http://www.newscientist.com/home.ns
Keep blogging please
5. Posted by Captured Shadow on November 20, 2006
That's actually an impressive list. The people who should read the items on the list actually won't because well, it's not written with the layman in mind.
I personally liked Physics for the Rest of Us, but that's just me.
6. Posted by darkneuro on November 20, 2006