The Science-Book Challenge is easy: read three science books in 2009, then tell others about the books you've read and help spread science literacy.
Reading about science--by which we mean to include engineering, mathematics, and technology, too--is fun and rewarding. We encourage others to read about science, and help potential readers find books that they will enjoy and profit from reading, by publishing our Book Notes, which are written by Ars Hermeneutica employees, volunteers, friends, and science-book challengers.
We're looking for science-book readers to help us help would-be science-book readers by sharing their own opinions about the science books they've read.
If you'd like to sign up and make your participation in the Science-Book Challenge public, send us your name and a link to your blog, if you have one, using our comment form.
Please help us tell others, too! Use your own blog to spread the word; use our Science-Book Challenge 2009 graphic to make it pretty.
Everyone should feel free to accept the challenge any time before the end of 2009. Decide on your book list at the beginning or be more spontaneous and choose titles as you go. Let us know that you're taking the challenge and we'll put your name here with other challengers, along with updates about your notes as you contribute them. You can use the handy comment form to reach us. You might find it interesting to look at last year's list of challengers in the Science-Book Challenge 2008.
Here are the people we are aware of who have accepted the Science-Book Challenge 2009.
Challenger
| Link
| Titles & Links to Book Notes
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Melanie K. ( MK )
| The Indextrious Reader
| Gary Paul Nabhan, Where Our Food Comes From : Retracing Nikolay Vavilov’s Quest to End Famine< Richard Reeves, A Force of Nature : The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford
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Jenny S.
| n/a
| spontaneous
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Callista
| SMS Book Reviews
| spontaneous
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Lynda
| Lynda's Book Blog
| tentatively: Do Polar Bears Get Lonely? : And 101 Other Intriguing Science Questions, by Mick O'Hare A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson How to Dunk a Doughnut : The Science Of Everyday Life, by Len Fisher
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Violette Severin
| The Mystery Bookshelf
| spontaneous
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Lisa Clayton
| n/a
| spontaneous
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Lindy
| n/a
| spontaneous
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Jody
| The Year of Readers
| spontaneous
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Eva ( EVA )
| A Striped Armchair
| Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson, Napoleon's Buttons : How 17 Molecules Changed History Jonah Lehrer, Proust Was a Neuroscientist Oliver Sacks, Oaxaca Journal Deborah Blum, Ghost Hunters : William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life after Death Olivia Judson, Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation Ross King, Brunelleschi’s Dome : How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture V.S. Ramachandran, and Sandra Blakeslee, Phantoms in the Brain : Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind Oliver W. Sacks, Uncle Tungsten : Memories of a Chemical Boyhood David Suzuki and Wayne Grady, art by Robert Bateman, Tree : A Life Story Bill McKibben, Deep Economy : The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future Atul Gawande, Complications : Notes from the Life of a Young Surgeon
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Brandi
| The Reading Challenges Blog
| spontaneous
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Melanie ( MKI )
| Cynical Optimism
| Michio Kaku, Physics of the Impossible : A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel Philip Plait, Death from the Skies! : These are the Ways the World Will End-- Neil Shubin, Your Inner Fish : A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
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Care ( CBC )
| Care’s Online Book Club
| Susan Orlean, The Orchid Thief
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Kristi H. ( KNH )
| Books and Needlepoint
| Kay Chornook and Wolf Guindon, Walking with Wolf : Reflections on a Life Spent Protecting the Costa Rican Wilderness
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Pussreboots
| Puss Reboots
| Dr. Joe and What You Didn't Know by Dr. Joe Schwarcz Hawaiian Insects and their Kin, by F. G. Howarth and W. P. Mull Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, by Simon Winchester Mars, the Red Planet, by Isaac Asimov Roadside Geology of Hawaii, by Richard W. Hazlett and Donald W. Hyndman The Blind Watchmaker, by Richard Dawkins The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense, by Michael Shermerer The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin
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Joanna
| It's all about me
| The Story of God, by Robert Winston The Force, by Lynne McTaggart God and the New Physics, by Paul Davies Elephants on Acid and Other Bizarre Experiments, by Alex Boese Your Inner Fish: The Amazing Discovery of Our 375-Million-Year-Old Ancestor, by Neil Shubin What the Bleep do we Know?, by William Arntz and Betsy Chasse The Quirks & Quarks Guide to Space : 42 Questions (and Answers) about Life, the Universe, and Everything, by Jim Lebans
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Debi ( DAS )
| Reading Challenge Obsessed...
| Mark Schultz, The Stuff of Life : A Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA (Visit her blog for an extensive list of possible titles!)
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Jessi
| Casual Dread
| Tentative list: Misquoting Jesus, by Bart D. Ehrman The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan The Edge of the Sea, by Rachel Carson
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Rebecca
| Rebecca Reads
| Some possibilities: DNA, by James Watson Cosmos, by Carl Sagan Napoleon’s Buttons, by Penny Le Couteur and Jay Burreson Proust Was a Neuroscientist, by Jonah Lehrer The Ancestor’s Tale, by Richard Dawkins God’s Equation, by Amir Azcel A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking.
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Judy D.
| Intergalactic Bookworm
| spontaneous
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raidergirl3 ( RG3 )
| an adventure in reading
| spontaneous
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T. Robertson
| n/a
| The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Apirituality, by Dalai Lama Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales, by William Bass What Science Offers the Humanities: Integrating Body and Culture, by Edward Slingerland Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique, by Michael S. Gazzaniga
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Rich ( RTS )
| Dick-o's Deep Thoughts
| Pat Shipman, Taking Wing : Archaeopteryx and the Evolution of Bird Flight Chris Beard, The Hunt for the Dawn Monkey : Unearthing the Origins of Monkeys, Apes, and Humans Donald C. Johanson and Kate Wong, Lucy’s Legacy : The Quest for Human Origins
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EHL ( EHL )
| n/a
| Lorri Glover and Daniel Blake Smith, The Shipwreck that Saved Jamestown : The Sea Venture Castaways and the Fate of America Jennifer Hooper McCarty and Tim Foecke, What Really Sank the Titanic : New Forensic Discoveries Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Renée Fleming, The Inner Voice : The Making of a Singer.
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Adrienne ( AIJ )
| Titles are Irrelevant
| Steven H. Strogatz, Sync : The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order
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R. Williams
| facebook challenger
| spontaneous
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S. Poduska
| facebook challenger
| spontaneous
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C. Howard
| facebook challenger
| spontaneous
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J.P. Howard
| facebook challenger
| spontaneous
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J. Dorrance
| facebook challenger
| spontaneous
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T. Wilson
| facebook challenger
| spontaneous
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B. Kane
| facebook challenger
| spontaneous
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D. Robertson
| facebook challenger
| spontaneous
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Chile ( CC )
| Chile Chews
| Ben Sherwood, The Survivors Club : The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life A.D. Livingston and Helen Livingston, Edible Plants and Animals : Unusual Foods from Aardvark to Zamia
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Jen R.
| Living Life Simply
| tentatively: Blue Frontier, by David Helvarg The Earth Moved, by Amy Stewart Bottomfeeder, by Taras Grescoe
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Joyce
| tallgrassworship
| Watermania, by Eliazbeth Royte This is Your Brain on Music, The Science of a Human Obsession, by Daniel Levitin The End of Food, by Paul Roberts
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Matheus
| Second is the Rest
| possibles: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard Feynman The Linguistics Wars, by Randy Allen Harris Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology, by Daniel Dennett On Nature and Language, by Noam Chomsky Language and Mind, by Noam Chomsky The Empirical Stance, by Bas van Fraassen Pursuit of Truth, by W. V. Quine The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas Kuhn
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psuklinkie
| Light Up My Room
| In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollen The Anatomist, by Bill Hayes Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser The Way We Eat, by Peter Singer and Jim Mason
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Debra
| n/a
| spontaneous
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Rose
| Making the Shift
| spontaneous
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Brittanie
| A Book Lover
| tentatively: A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson Good Germs, Bad Germs: Health and Survival in a Bacterial World, by Jessica Snyder Sachs Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv
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Debbie ( DC )
| Rites of Passage
| George Johnson, Miss Leavitt’s Stars : The Untold Story of the Woman who Discovered How to Measure the Universe
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Ruchi (aka Arduous)
| Arduous Blog
| Uncertainty on a Himalayan Scale, by Michael Thompson and others TBD
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Killi M. ( KM )
| Killimengri's Weblog
| Graham Wellstead, The Ferret and Ferreting Guide
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Nymeth
| things mean a lot
| (Visit her blog for an extensive list of possible titles!)
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Rachel (Book Trout) ( RBT )
| Book Trout
| Bernd Heinrich, Ravens in Winter Robert Twigger, The Extinction Club Bully for Brontosaurus, by Stephen Jay Gould Equations of Eternity: Speculations on Consciousness, Meaning, and the Mathematical Rules that Orchestrate the Cosmos, by David Darling
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Cynthia Menard
| Withywindle Books
| spontaneous
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Gavin ( GG )
| Page247
| Daniel L. Everett, Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes : Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle Sean B. Carroll, Remarkable Creatures : Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species William Fiennes, The Snow Geese : A Story of Home Bill Streever, Cold : Adventures in the World’s Frozen Places. New York
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Raquel H.
| n/a
| Ian Stewart, Letters to a Young Mathematician
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Roy H.
| n/a
| spontaneous
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Jennifer G.
| Waiting on Sunday to drown
| spontaneous
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Abbie (AR)
| Farmer's Daughter
| spontaneous
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Joanne M ( JLS )
| Joanne Loves Science
| Philip Plait, Death from the Skies! : These are the Ways the World Will End-- Hannah Holmes, The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself David Michaels, Doubt is their Product : How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens your Health Theodore Gray, Theo Gray’s Mad Science Experiments You Can Do at Home--But Probably Shouldn’t Barbara Oakley, Evil Genes : Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed and my Sister Stole my Mother’s Boyfriend Trevor Paglen, Blank Spots on the Map : The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World Carl Zimmer, Microcosm : E. Coli and the New Science of Life Neil deGrasse Tyson, The Pluto Files : The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet James B. Nardi, Life in the Soil : A Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners Philip Alcabes, Dread : How Fear and Fantasy have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to Avian Flu Simon Winchester, Krakatoa : The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883
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M H Caro (MHC)
| n/a
| spontaneous
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Heather J. ( HJ3 )
| Age 30+ ... A Lifetime of Books
| Simon Winchester, The Man Who Loved China : The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom Richard Guy, The Mysterious Receding Seas Alan Lightman, A Sense of the Mysterious : Science and the Human Spirit Paul Hutchins, The Secret Doorway : Beyond Imagination
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Jenn
| Chasing the Mouse...
| spontaneous
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Danielle Meitiv
| Brave Blue Worlds
| spontaneous
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Sheila M Ryan
| Ryan Indexing
| spontaneous
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Ken Perrott ( KP )
| Open Parachute
| Gareth Morgan and John McCrystal, Poles Apart : The Great Climate Change Debate Victor J. Stenger, Quantum Gods : Creation, Chaos, and the Search for Cosmic Consciousness Alan Chalmers, The Scientist’s Atom and the Philosopher’s Stone : How Science Succeeded and Philosophy Failed to Gain Knowledge of Atoms John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York. Critique of Intelligent Design : Materialism Versus Creationism from Antiquity to the Present
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Richard ( RRT )
| n/a
| spontaneous
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Isaac ( SJB )
| n/a
| Robin Wilson, Lewis Carroll in Numberland : His Fantastical, Mathematical, Logical Life: An Agony in Eight Fits
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Jeff ( JNS )
| Bearcastle Blog
| Brian Fagan, The Little Ice Age : How Climate Made History 1300 – 1850 Michael S. Gazzaniga, Human : The Science Behind what Makes us Unique John Gribbin, The Birth of Time : How Astronomers Measured the Age of the Universe Leonard Mlodinow, The Drunkard's Walk : How Randomness Rules our Lives Steven Johnson, The Invention of Air : A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America Charles Seife, Sun in a Bottle : The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking Brian Fagan, The Long Summer : How Climate Changed Civilization Louisa Gilder, The Age of Entanglement : When Quantum Physics was Reborn Mark Wolverton, A Life in Twilight : The Final Years of J. Robert Oppenheimer Tom D. Crouch, Lighter than Air : An Illustrated History of Balloons and Airships Christopher Potter, You Are Here : A Portable History of the Universe John Gribbin, Schrödinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality : Solving the Quantum Mysteries John Gribbin with Mary Gribbin, Stardust : Supernovae and Life—The Cosmic Connection Andrew Chaikin, A Passion for Mars : Intrepid Explorers of the Red Planet Richard A. Muller, Physics for Future Presidents : The Science Behind the Headlines David Michaels, Doubt is Their Product : How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health Robert P. Crease, The Great Equations : Breakthroughs in Science from Pythagoras to Heisenberg
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