Science and Technology

GOD’S DEBRIS: A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
by Scott Adams
God's Debris is a set of provocative questions (thought experiments) about God and science, wrapped in a fictional story. It is designed to inspire readers to question their views of reality.

FEED
by M.T. Anderson
In a future where most people have computer implants in their heads to control their environment, a boy meets an unusual girl who is in serious trouble.

SUPER CRUNCHERS: WHY THINKING-BY-NUMBERS IS THE NEW WAY TO BE SMART
by Ian Ayres
An economist shows how today’s best and brightest organizations are analyzing massive databases at lightning speed to provide greater insights into human behavior.

DAMNED LIES AND STATISTICS: UNTANGLING NUMBERS FROM THE MEDIA, POLITICIANS, AND ACTIVISTS
by Joel Best
While startling statistics shape the thinking about social issues, the author attests that these numbers can be wrong. This book is a lively guide to spotting bad statistics and learning to think critically about these influential numbers.

A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING
by Bill Bryson
Popular writer Bryson turns from geographical to temporal realms to summarize what has happened from the time of the Big Bang to now, especially as it pertains to items of local interest, such as the solar system, earth, life and humans.

THE DEVIL’S TEETH: A TRUE STORY OF OBSESSION AND SURVIVAL AMONG AMERICA’S GREAT WHITE SHARKS
by Susan Casey
While studying migratory birds on the remote Farallones Islands, 30 miles off the coast of San Francisco, biologists noticed red blotches in the surrounding waters. These sightings evolved into a full blown scientific study of great white sharks revealing unknown secrets of this prehistoric beast.

THE TASTE OF SWEET: OUR COMPLICATED LOVE AFFAIR WITH OUR FAVORITE TREATS
by Joanne Chen
A scientific and socioeconomic journey down candy lane for sugarholics, foodies and lovers of pop science and culture.

LITTLE BROTHER
by Cory Doctorow
After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.

ANOTHER DAY IN THE FRONTAL LOBE: A BRAIN SURGEON EXPOSES LIFE ON THE INSIDE
by Katrina Firlik
This compelling tell-all by a brilliant young doctor cracks open the demanding, fascinating world of brain surgery.

THE WEATHER MAKERS: HOW MAN IS CHANGING THE CLIMATE AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR LIFE ON EARTH
by Tim F. Flannery
What are melting glaciers, disappearing frogs and a season of perfect storms trying to tell us about the conditions of the planet we call home and what can we do to prevent a catastrophe?

THE BIG NECESSITY: THE UNMENTIONABLE WORLD OF HUMAN WASTE AND WHY IT MATTERS
by Rose George
It isn’t hidden behind the bathroom door or quietly flushed down the toilet in this book: a look at the dirty details of what happens to human waste around the globe and how it affects our health and sanitation.

THE RACE TO SAVE THE LORD GOD BIRD
by Phillip Hoose
The ivory-billed woodpecker is thought to be extinct, but some disagree. Hoose documents the scientific and bird-watching communities’ attempts to find this lost species and save its habitat in the Southern United States.

TOO FAR FROM HOME: A STORY OF LIFE AND DEATH IN SPACE
by Chris Jones
In the 37 years since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, space travel has seemed more and more a routine enterprise – at least until the shuttle "Columbia" blew up, and the "Challenger" before it. Now, this true-life adventure vividly captures the dangerous realities of space travel.

A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC: WITH ESSAYS ON CONSERVATION
by Aldo Leopold
This classic of environmental and nature writing, arranged by season, provides a poetic view through the window of the Leopold family farm in the Wisconsin meadows. Even 60 years after this book’s original publication, Leopold’s closing comments on land ethics and conservation are surprisingly relevant.

MOSQUE
by David Macaulay
Enter a community Mosque of the sixteenth century, and discover the techniques used to raise towering minarets and a beautiful prayer hall dome. This simplistic book for all ages glorifies these magnificent buildings that served as the center of religion, and also housed travelers, stored food, and provided public baths.

THE WAY WE WORK: GETTING TO KNOW THE AMAZING HUMAN BODY
by David Macaulay and Richard Walker
Concerned about taking freshman biology? Get a leg up on the course by letting Macaulay take you on a whirlwind tour of the human body with detailed illustrations and succinct explanations of its building blocks and systems.

AMERICAN EARTH: ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING SINCE THOREAU
edited by Bill McKibben
Author and activist McKibben gathers the essential American writings that changed the way the public looks at the natural world.

GREASY RIDER: TWO DUDES, ONE FRY-OIL-POWERED CAR, AND A CROSS-COUNTRY SEARCH FOR A GREENER FUTURE
by Greg Melville
Journalist Greg Melville was determined to do it. His college buddy joins him to ride shotgun, and these green-thinking guys – who're in love with the idea of free fuel – set out on an enlightening road trip. Their quest: to be the first to drive cross-country in a french-fry car. Will they make it from Vermont to California in a beat-up 1985 Mercedes diesel station wagon powered on vegetable oil collected from restaurant grease dumpsters? And can they survive 192 consecutive hours together?

THE BOTANY OF DESIRE: A PLANT’S EYE VIEW OF THE WORLD
by Michael Pollan
Pollan masterfully links four fundamental human desires: sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind's most basic yearnings. And just as we've benefited from these plants, the plants have also benefited at least as much from their association with us. So who is really domesticating whom?

THE WILD TREES: A STORY OF PASSION AND DARING
by Richard Preston
A thrilling true story of the adventurous scientists who discover, climb and explore the astonishing and unknown world of the planet's tallest trees.

STIFF: THE CURIOUS LIVES OF HUMAN CADAVERS
by Mary Roach
Those curious or brave enough to find out what really happens to a body that is donated to the scientific community can do so with this book. Dissection in medical anatomy classes is about the least bizarre of the purposes that science has devised. Mostly dealing with such contemporary uses such as stand-ins for crash-test dummies, Roach also pulls together considerable historical and background information.

HIDDEN FACE OF GOD: HOW SCIENCE REVEALS THE ULTIMATE TRUTH
by Gerald L. Schroeder
In a tour of science from cosmology to DNA, popular writer and MIT-trained scientist Schroeder explains how the most cutting-edge scientific theories point to a universal wisdom that lies behind matter and energy.

THE RADIOACTIVE BOY SCOUT: THE TRUE STORY OF A BOY AND HIS BACKYARD NUCLEAR REACTOR
by Ken Silverstein
What would you do if you came home to find your neighborhood quarantined? Learn the true story of how David Hahn’s teenage obsession prompted government agents to descend on his suburban backyard.

LOST DISCOVERIES: THE ANCIENT ROOTS OF MODERN SCIENCE, FROM THE BABYLONIANS TO THE MAYA
by Dick Teresi
Living in our modern technological society it’s easy to believe ancient cultures had little scientific or mathematical knowledge. Teresi, however, demonstrates that modern science is much older than we think, and shows how scientific and mathematical concepts of ancient cultures are the foundation of today’s technology.