need science related book recs

Kayne · Joined: 31 Mar 2007 Posts: 783

I am looking for some good books related to science. Some examples I have read include The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Flavia de Luce Mysteries, good autobiographies (like Dark Matter, about Newton). I am looking for stories that have a lot of science in them. (not science fiction) Thanks. K

KarenS · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 861 Location: Florida

Neal Stephenson's books would qualify for your request.

Kayne · Joined: 31 Mar 2007 Posts: 783

MMcA · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 624

I'd second Stephenson. The Baroque Cycle is about 17th scientists and has Newton as a character.
I should confess, I only made it through the first of the trilogy - Quicksilver - the book starts in 1713, shoots back to 1665 and 800 pages later has only made it back as far as 1689. I was a bit disheartened, or something - all that reading and I wasn't yet at the beginning of the story. Never quite got round to the next book.
But it was a really fabulous read, apart from one fairly distressing scene where they experiment on a dog - though, to be fair, it probably was drawn from life.

Edited to add - not fiction, but maybe worth mentioning, Queen of Science - personal recollections of Mary Somerville. I bought it because the bluestocking is such a stock character in Regency Romance that I thought it would be interesting to read about a real life example (she lived from 1780 - 1872) so I was reading it for the history really - I can't recall how much actual scientific content there was.

KarenS · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 861 Location: Florida

Cryptonomicon takes place between the present and WW2 and it's a stand alone.

Quicksilver, The Confusion, The Systems of the World are three volumes of the Baroque Cycle and should be read in order.

Even though you are not wild about sci-fi consider Anathem which is a science fiction/fantasy story set on parallel earth.

hannahi · Joined: 28 May 2010 Posts: 65

If you're looking for more nonfiction (based on your mention of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks), Mary Roach writes books that are amazingly funny. I also like Diane Ackerman's books such as A Natural History of Love.

Kayne · Joined: 31 Mar 2007 Posts: 783

Minerva · Joined: 05 Jul 2007 Posts: 126

Mary Roach writes incredibly witty books about science. I enjoyed Stiff, but I may just be excessively morbid. Bonk is far more entertaining. (Although it really makes you wonder about who volunteers for these studies about sex!)

I really enjoy books about medical history and can recommend some very good ones.

Atul Gawande has written several excellent books. His books Complications and Better are collections of essays he wrote for the New Yorker. They explore some of the intricacies and fascinomas of medicine is a very human way.

One of the best biographies I have ever read is My Own Country by Abraham Verghese. It focuses on the AIDS epidemic in eastern Tennessee.

I love this topic and would love to see other recommendations.

Minerva · Joined: 05 Jul 2007 Posts: 126

See, give me a minute and I've thought of some more recs!

Emilie du Chatelet is a fascinating real person to read about. She lived during the Enlightenment. She was a brilliant mathematician and was mistress to Voltaire.

There are two good biographies about her - authors are Judith Zinsser and David Bodanis