Tag Archives: science

Life Ascending

Posted on March 31, 2012 by smellincoffee

Life Ascending: the Ten Great Inventions of Evolution© 2009 Nick Lane344 pages For my money, few subjects are as impressive, beautiful, and awe-inspiring as biology and evolution. Is there a greater drama in the cosmos outside the long play of … Continue reading →

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The Ingredients

Posted on February 11, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Ingredients: A Guided Tour of the Elements© Phillip Ball 2002216 pages There’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium […] (Tom Lehrer, “The Elements”). Chemistry is not an arcane subject solely practiced in a … Continue reading →

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Death from the Skies!

Posted on January 29, 2012 by smellincoffee

Death from the Skies! These are the Ways the World Will End…© 2008 Phil Plait326 pages By anyone’s standards, 2011 was a banner year for disasters, with Earth’s ful inventory of catastrophes on display. Flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions, hurricanes, … Continue reading →

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The Oceans

Posted on January 21, 2012 by smellincoffee

The Oceans© 2000 Ellen J. Prager with Sylvia A. Earle314 pages Seventy percent of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, constituting a vast and largely unknown world of its own — vitally important to ours, but scarcely explored and … Continue reading →

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Incognito

Posted on December 19, 2011 by smellincoffee

Incognito: the Secret Lives of the Brain© 2011 David Eagleman304 pages Carl Sagan once described astronomy as a ‘profoundly humbling experience’, for it allows us to appreciate how infinitesimally small Earth — and ourselves –are in relation to the size … Continue reading →

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Physics of the Future

Posted on December 6, 2011 by smellincoffee

Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100© 2011 Michio Kaku389 pages We live in a remarkable time of human history. Since the industrial revolution, society has been radically altered … Continue reading →

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The Planet that Wasn’t

Posted on October 17, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Planet that Wasn’t© 1976 Isaac Asimov237 pages Isaac Asimov routinely penned science essays in various magazines, and given his eagerness to publish books, often produced collections of said science essays. The Planet that Wasn’t is one such collection, covering … Continue reading →

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Walking with Dinosaurs

Posted on September 28, 2011 by smellincoffee

Walking with Dinosaurs: A Natural History© 1999 Tim Haines288 pages A dull pre-dawn light spreads across the horizon, illuminating a landscape covered in forest. Rivers trace silvery lines through the dense vegetation, and along their banks icy puddles are melting. … Continue reading →

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This Week at the Library (19 June)

Posted on June 19, 2011 by smellincoffee

In addition to the reviews posted this weekend, I also finished Biology Made Simple — which proved to be too simple for my needs. Although the book improved vastly as the author covered the bodily systems, the opening chapters on … Continue reading →

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Earth Science Made Simple

Posted on May 20, 2011 by smellincoffee

Earth Science Made Simple© 2004 Edward F. Albin224 pages Earth science! Fun!  I enjoy reading these little guides as introductions to a subject or refreshers on it, and Earth Science Made Simple fits the bill.  Four separate sections cover Geology, Oceanography, Meteorology, and Planetary … Continue reading →

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