Updating My Library
Now, no one snicker, since I've already explained how much reading I have to do. But I'm wanting to update my library a bit. I try to keep only those books that I know I'll read again and again. Otherwise it's just a waste of money, & I'd have been better off going to the library. So, I have lots of classic literature and very little pulp, except the murder mysteries that I'm addicted to. There's one author, Andrea Camilleri, who is translated from the Italian and writes about Inspector Montalbano, sort of like the Sam Spade of Italy. Unfortunately, I have to wait until they're translated from the Italian, as my Italian isn't yet good enough to read and get the full meaning of it. But my goal is to be able to read all of Montalbano's adventures in the Italian. I want all the 007 Ian Fleming novels. I have a nice & tidy little philosophy shelf and a history corner and all that jazz.
What I want are some evolutionary material.
I know that I want Richard Dawkin's The Blind Watchmaker. I have his book The Selfish Gene, and I love his style of writing.
Anyone else have any suggestions for a sciency-physics kind of shelf?
posted by contemplator at Sunday, December 10, 2006
9 Comments:
Aaaaah, sometimes I wish I was a lot better read - then I go frolick in the woods and forget.
Inspector Montalbano sounds good, especially if you're trying to learn Italian. I'm a little sad I've never seen any of his TV episodes now.
Now as for sciency stuff (shudder), Steven Jay Gould's masterpiece (darn what's the word for a summary/culmination of a life time's work). It's not for casual readers, I think you can have a biology degree and still be lost. It's a monumental work though. (by all accounts)
Why evolution? Is it because it's an extra dimension, like history? I'd suggest far more pleasure could be obtained from nature book or natural history or the way things are. There is such a wealth of beauty and unimaginable biodiversity out there, that might be a more uplifting read.
Oh and that Behe guy rocks. ;)
As for sciency stuff. Oh my, where do you start? There are some geek books in the style of curiousities that present oddball facts and phenomena. They might be worth a browse is a store. Lot's of cool sites online too for actual reference stuff aimed at all ages.
Maybe I'll have better suggestions one day when I'm a little older and a little wiser. *skips off to play in the leaves*
Daniel C. Dennet's Darwin's Dangerous Idea is a good one.
I want books about evolution because I'm interested in scientists' explanations of it. I have a vague idea of how it works, but I'd like to be better versed in it. Plus, it fascinates me. I'm not interested in reading much else about science, except astronomy, occasionally.
Are you going to watch Casino Royale?
Gould wasn't too impressed with a philosopher extemporising about things he knew little of - bastardising science to fit fanciful supposition.
http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Debate/Gould.html
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Did you want to know how it works or why it works or how it worked (transitional forms etc), proofs of it?
You said how - so does that mean the genetics of it, or examples of how things have adapted?
I'm merely interested in reading more about it. Sciency things interest me sometimes.
Oh, and I've seen Casino Royale. And loooved it! And I'm a hardcore Sean Connery Bond girl, so I'm hard to impress.
Did you know there was a Sean Connery version of Casino Royale?
(It was a deliberate farce by all accounts I've read)
I think you mean to say that there was a version of casino royale DURING the Sean Connery era. However, Connery did NOT act in that version.
Oooops, that'll teach me to skim.
Thanks!
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