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Ask HN: Looking for an Engaging Science Book
I want to learn more about the natural sciences, and I'm looking for a great book that'll give me the basics and keep me interested. I have a terrible attention span for reading so I want something designed to keep an idiot like me engaged.
Does anyone have any recommendations?
- bediger4000 3y agoWhen Life Almost Die, Michael Benton Nominally about the Permian-Triassic extinction, but more about history of geology and how science recognizes catastrophic events.
- fuzzfactor 3y agoDepends on what you call engaging, there's always Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimov%27s_Biographical_Encyclopedia_of_Science_and_Technology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asimov%27s_Biographical_Encycl...
- gsatic 3y agoSync by Steven Strogatz
- meristohm 3y agoA brief list, without the links to library aggregator worldcat.org in the interest of time: An Immense World, by Ed Yong; grabbed my attention right away Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are, by Frans de Waal; got here from dog training and Temple Grandin and animal behaviorist Patricia McConnell How Far the Light Reaches, by Sabrina Imbler; looks fascinating Feral, by George Monbiot; Iteland used to be a rainforest, and salmon used to choke the rivers out here in the Pacific Northwest
- sn9 3y agoBill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything is great.
- akasakahakada 3y agoThis one is for babies. But I think it will suit any curious adult. https://www.dk.com/uk/book/9781465491022-the-physics-book/ https://www.dk.com/uk/book/9781465491022-the-physics-book/