Dmmetler Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 DD and I just found"How I killed Pluto and why it had it coming" by Mike Brown, the Cal Tech Astronomer who discovered many of the larger Kepler bodies, including Eris, and ended up being one of the strongest advocates for NOT making Eris the 10th planet (which meant also demoting Pluto). It's just a really neat book and example of the scientific process and research, the good,bad, and ugly (he does sometimes diverge into discussing his wife and young daughter at length, which was a little frustrating for DD, who hasn't had the experience of having major life accomplishments at work linked to and superseded by things like becoming engaged, getting married, or becoming a parent yet). http://www.amazon.com/How-Killed-Pluto-Why-Coming-ebook/dp/B003F3FJTG/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8 Anyone else find any really cool books lately? I'm in the time of year where I spend a lot of time driving and waiting :) . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 You linked to a Kindle edition and mentioned driving. Are you looking for hard copy, electronic, or audio? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted April 12, 2015 Author Share Posted April 12, 2015 E-books, mostly. I end up sitting and waiting a lot while DD is counting tadpoles or checking cultures :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted April 12, 2015 Share Posted April 12, 2015 I'm not sure what qualifies as cool.... Predictably Irrational Thinking, Fast and Slow Manifold Destiny (Kind of a joke about how much time you're going to be in the car. Kind of.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black-eyed Suzan Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 An intriguing book with a lot of food for thought I read recently is Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard by Laura Bates. Our library uses OverDrive for ebooks and this book was recently featured. Have you read The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett? We're enjoying the audio book in the car currently. It's more family-friendly than my previous suggestion… :laugh: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Hey I do a lot of waiting and reading in the car too! So far this year, I've finished almost all books by Kate Morton and Jojo Moyes (I like me some escapist fiction once in a while...I loved Morton's The Distant Hours!). Others on my list in various stages of being read or going to read: The Element and Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott The War of Art by Steven Pressfield The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Siddhartha by Hesse Mythology by Edith Hamilton Others I loved: Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos H. Papadimitriou The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows ETA: I am also currently riveted by The Language of Cells by Spencer Nadler...so touching and so informative all at the same time...haven't read any other living books style biology book in a while that both touches the heart and describes the science well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eternalsummer Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Siddhartha changed my life for a while in college. I called my mom and said, "Mom! I found this amazing book and just read it in one go at Barnes & Noble! You should totally read it! It's called Siddhartha!" She said, "Sara, duh. Everyone in my generation has read that book already." (she's a boomer) I thought I'd discovered some unknown gem :) I haven't read much recent fiction that is all that great. My mother (a librarian) provides pretty much all of my reading material - when I try myself, I end up with massive failures. There are a lot of terrible but well-reviewed books out there. If you're okay with much older stuff, I just discovered Rosemary Sutcliff while looking for historical fiction for DD - she's a beautiful writer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakpak Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 Not sure if you want to read nonfiction, but this thread will likely attract others, so: My friend Rob Dunn writes excellent popular science books. I haven't read his newest one about hearts, "The Man Who Touched His Own Heart", but the NPR story is a great teaser (NPR story: http://www.npr.org/2015/01/30/382717129/the-man-who-touched-his-own-heart-changed-medicine). Science-y kids would enjoy the NPR story at least. I don't read a ton of nonfiction for fun, but I am always highly engaged by his books. They might cover some adult concepts (you'd want to preread), but I bet your DD would really enjoy the science/ecology in them as well. His other ones are The Wild Life of our Bodies (is has some neat hypotheses about human coevolution with other animals) and Every Living Thing. Although maybe there is too much human behavior in them to retain her interest right now... I love that Rob is an ant ecologist by trade but he writes about everything BUT ants in his books. :) He also has gotten into exploring the local ecology of your body (armpit, bellybutton), home and neighborhood lately with some cool citizen science projects. I sent in some swab samples and found out what kinds of germs were around my house :) You can find some neat projects and writing samples here: http://www.yourwildlife.org/our-projects/ Great ideas for a budding ecologist... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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