This past weekend I made a five-hour drive across the state to my hometown near Scranton, PA. To make the drive a little more interesting, I borrowed the audiobook version of Natalie Angier’s The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science. If you’re not already familiar, Natalie Angier is a science writer for The New York Times. The Canon is her attempt to write a book that explains the most crucial aspects of the major hard sciences from physics through astronomy, and she does a terrific job of it.
In fact, she did such a good job that all I’ve been thinking about since being immersed in 13.25 hours of science love is how much more I need to learn. Of course, I now need to buy a stereoscopic microscope, a chemistry set, and a telescope. But I also need to read more too, so here are a few books where I might begin:
The Joy of Chemistry: The Amazing Science of Familiar Things by Cathy Cobb and Monty L. Fetterolf
Physics Made Simple by Christopher G. De Pree
Biology: An Everyday Experience by Albert Kaskel, Paul J. Hummer, and Lucy Daniel
Astronomy: A Self-Teaching Guide by Dinah L. Moche
Earth: An Intimate History by Richard Fortey
Have you begun any new love affairs with knowledge lately?
–Wes
Eleventh Stack 