LunaLee Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 I am looking for secular, non textbook (Holt,Prentice Hall, Glencoe...) suggestions for high school science. The books can be textbook like, but it can't be something I have to order used from Amazon or get from a textbook company. Any ideas besides Power Basics and the STG's? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted April 2, 2010 Share Posted April 2, 2010 Are you looking for a particular science subject? I've listed some of the things my ds and I have read or watched in the last couple of years. My ds and I are huge fans of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. It is an excellent, readable, decidedly secular overview of basic science from the Big Bang to cells to chemistry and physics and the history of discovery and the scientists who made the discovery. It is funny but very educational. The Teaching Company has many science courses. My ds has enjoyed Biology: The Science of Life and the physics courses on quantum mechanics. Astro-physicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson writes exceptionally well. My ds and I enjoyed the Pluto Files book as well as Death by Black Hole. There are many natural history books out there too. King Solomon's Ring comes to mind. My ds also recently read Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5 million year journey of the human body. Browse Amazon, browse your library shelves and the gift shop at your area science or natural history museum and you'll find lots of interesting titles. Sometimes you can fashion a course around good books and some labs you can find on the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 Luna, I would second the Bill Bryson suggestion for A Short History of Nearly Everything. My dd is using it for a science course at our local ps and she loves it. We have had some great dinner discussions as a result of something she has read in the course. I can find out what else they have done if you are interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 For Biology, there's Mahlon Hoagland's The Way Life Works and Exploring the Way Life Works. The latter is a slightly deeper/more technical version of the former, which is used in some Bio-for-non-science-majors courses. http://www.amazon.com/Way-Life-Works-Illustrated-Reproduces/dp/0812928881/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270259216&sr=1-2 http://www.amazon.com/Exploring-Way-Life-Works-Science/dp/076371688X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270259043&sr=8-1 There's also David Macauley's The Way We Work: http://www.amazon.com/Way-We-Work-David-Macaulay/dp/0618233784/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270259276&sr=1-1 For Chemistry, Theodore Gray's The Elements is really beautiful as well as fun: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Visual-Exploration-Every-Universe/dp/1579128149/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270259569&sr=1-1 The Teaching Company also has some interesting non-typical science courses like The Physics of History and The Joy of Science. Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 There were plenty of good resources listed here: Any suggestions for living books for Biology? I also posted about Biology in the Movies here. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBS Posted April 3, 2010 Share Posted April 3, 2010 Joy of Science DVDs by Robert Hazen, paired with book Science Matters: Achieving Scientific Literacy by Hazen and James Trefil make a good pairing. (The Sciences: An Integrated Approach is their textbook.) LBS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunaLee Posted April 4, 2010 Author Share Posted April 4, 2010 Thanks guys. Those are all great suggestions. I have some of those and another one called "That's Not in My Science Book", which is similar to the "Don't Know Much..." books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted April 4, 2010 Share Posted April 4, 2010 CUrrently we are using The Teaching Company's History of the Earth for Earth Science. I am learning more than even the girls. I find it fascinating. It has Prof. Michael Wysession from Wash U. St. Louis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted April 9, 2010 Share Posted April 9, 2010 By the way, if you don't mind older books, there is Faraday's Chemical History of Candle and various books by Jean-Henri Fabre (Story Book of Science, Wonder Book of Chemistry, and all his insect books -- these are available online and in print). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted April 9, 2010 Share Posted April 9, 2010 Just a thought, but for "general reading", consider giving your student a subscription to "Scientific American". When I was in high school, I spent some of my allowance money on a subscription, and loved reading the issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted April 9, 2010 Share Posted April 9, 2010 What about Singapore Science? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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