Corfield starts at Mercury and works his way out. In the process he summarizes what we know now about the solar system (circa 2007) now that we’ve had several decades of (mostly) robot exploration.
All in Non Fiction
Richard Corfield's THE SILENT LANDSCAPE: THE SCIENTIFIC VOYAGE OF HMS CHALLENGER
In 1872 the HMS Challenger left England on a two year voyage of scientific discovery.
Ed Regis' WHAT IS LIFE: INVESTIGATING THE NATURE OF LIFE IN THE AGE OF SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY
In this fascinating and accessible book Ed Regis concludes that the maintenance of metabolic processes is really the primary indicator of “life.” But by the time that point is reached in the book, it doesn’t really matter.
Chiara Frugoni's A DAY IN A MEDIEVAL CITY
If all you know about the Middle Ages consists of warfare, popes, and kings, and you want to know what daily life was really like, this is the book for you.
Thomas B. Allen and Norman Polmar's CODE-NAME DOWNFALL: THE SECRET PLAN TO INVADE JAPAN AND WHY TRUMAN DROPPED THE BOMB
Allen and Polmar convincingly demonstrate Truman’s justification for dropping the atom bomb on Japan to end World War II.
Sue Halpern's “FOUR WINGS AND A PRAYER”
The subtitle of this book is “Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly.” I was caught by this book’s beguiling tone, its lovely writing, and its respect for science and the mystery of the unknown that drives people to “do science.”
Oliver Sacks' SEEING VOICES: A JOURNEY INTO THE WORLD OF THE DEAF
This 3-part book by Oliver Sacks from 1989 reviews the history of deaf education and language, the neurological underpinnings of language acquisition and deafness, and the student uprising at Gallaudet College in 1988.
Anthony Lewis' FREEDOM FOR THE THOUGHT THAT WE HATE: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT
This little volume is packed with an amazing amount of readable information about the history of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, libel, privacy, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.
Helen Nicholson's THE CRUSADES
I assigned three tags to this book review:
Evelyn Fox Keller's THE CENTURY OF THE GENE
Cloning, evolution, and the Human Genome Project are often in the news. One of my 2008 New Years’ Resolutions was to learn more about genetics and molecular biology. I had resolved to “get smarter” about DNA and its role in evolution and in generation-to-generation stability and inheritance.
Lisa Jardine's INGENIOUS PURSUITS: BUILDING THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
Late 17th Century London and the Royal Society provide the setting for this book. It concentrates on the “great men” who created modern Western science.
Stephen Jay Gould's ROCKS OF AGES
Scientist Gould in this short book attempts to demonstrate both (a) how Science and Religion can learn to co-exist and (b) how efforts to control Science through Religion-imposed limits are prime examples of the two “magisteria,” as he refers to Science and Religion, transgressing on each other’s territory.
Stephen Alter's FANTASIES OF A BOLLYWOOD LOVE THIEF: INSIDE THE WORLD OF INDIAN MOVIEMAKI
This book is a great read if you are at all interested in the nuts and bolts of film production.
Will Eisner's THE PLOT: THE SECRET STORY OF THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION
It is common knowledge that the book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which tells about a sinister Jewish plot to take over the world, is a 19th-century fabrication that emerged in Europe during the time of the infamous Dreyfuss affair.
Chiara Frugoni's BOOKS, BANKS, BUTTONS, AND OTHER INVENTIONS FROM THE MIDDLE AGES
Beautifully translated by William McCuaig from the original Italian, this lavishly illustrated book tells the surprising story of the many important inventions that emerged from Europe during the Middle Ages.
Elie Wiesel's NIGHT
This short book, newly re-translated into English, is the memory of a teenage Jewish boy who is sent to a series of German concentration camps during World War II.
Michael Carlowicz and Ramon Lopez' STORMS FROM THE SUN
Many years ago my dad and my brothers and I would take our telescope out to the back yard during the day and point it at the sun. Holding a white card about a foot away from the eyepiece we would watch sunspots projected on the card, the easily visible evidence of massive solar magnetic storms.
Evan Thomas' "SEA OF THUNDER"
This extremely well researched and written tale of World War II tells the story behind the climactic Battle of Leyte Gulf. This was the last great sea battle fought by huge opposing forces — the Americans and the Japanese — involving both battleships and aircraft carriers.
Freeman Dyson's “THE SCIENTIST AS REBEL”
This collection of essays and reviews by the physicist/mathematician Freeman Dyson makes for fascinating reading. The range of topics is broad and the style of writing is clear and approachable. Topics include religion, hydrogen bombs, Isaac Newton, the relative roles of technology and ideas in the advancement of science, the future of humanity in space (think: comets), and the role of amateurs in scientific research.
Gerard J. DeGroot's DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
As a longtime fan of the U.S. space program my current lack of interest in the International Space Station and the recently announced Lunar Colony comes as a bit of a surprise to me.