Via an interesting discussion on LibraryThing, what are the top science books that everyone buys but almost no one reads?
Culled from that topic: Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking Darwin's Dangerous Idea by Daniel C. Dennett Consilience by Edward O. Wilson The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell by A. Zee A First Course in String Theory by Barton Zwiebach The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene The Structure of Evolutionary Theory by Stephen Jay Gould Life on Earth by David Attenborough A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram
I've already read The Elegant Universe and The Structure of Evolutionary Theory although I have a biased quibble with the above list--too little biology.
On my personal list (which I always keep putting off), I have yet to finish Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene (although I did finish The Ancestor's Tale!), Matt Ridley's The Red Queen, and a whole slew of "Best Science Writing" collections stacked forlornly on my bookshelf. Does anyone else own some must-have science books which (somewhat embarassingly) have been left unread?
Hmm, I devoured The Selfish Gene because it was all new to me at the time. I can see how it would be less exciting to get through when you're already familiar with evobio.
As for me, I have some Henri Poincaré around that is interesting when I actually get myself to open it, and yet I hardly ever do.
I'll ask in return: Were there any books that sent you on your current path? (where "path" means whatever you want it to mean.)
I did make a reading chronology about three years back (inspired by Jason Kottke's about page) which probably explains my semi-eclectic reading habits. I'd like to waffle and say, "All the books have had small cumulative effects." But the first book that popped into my head when you asked that question was Michio Kaku's Hyperspace. I read that while I was a senior in high school doing college applications...
I was guilty of caring around "Gödel, Escher, Bach" from move to move for years, trying to read it about 5 times, and finally giving up. However, I did plow through "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. As I dislike most forms of fundamentalism, I just can't bear Dawkins. The ideas he presents are available elsewhere without all the evangelism.
