To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.Copyright © 2005-2024 Christopher P. Winter. All rights reserved.
This page was last modified on 10 September 2024.
| SCIENCES |
I have categories for certain individual sciences: anthropology, astronomy, biology, physics. But in order to limit my categories, I'll collect books on other scientific topics here. |
| PRINCIPAL AUTHOR |
TITLE (Linked to review) |
RATING (0-5) |
REVIEW DATE |
ONE-LINE DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agin, Dan | Junk Science | 5.0 | 2/24/2008 | Dan Agin examines the damage that results when scientific findings are distorted for political ends, or to evade corporate responsibility. |
| Bowen, Mark | Censoring Science | 5.0 | 7/05/2008 | In his second book, Mark Bowen takes us inside NASA and NOAA to observe in detail the censorship by political appointees at those organizations of scientific work on climate change. |
| Bowen, Mark | Thin Ice | 5.0 | 8/17/2008 | Physicist and mountaineer, Mark Bowen ably takes part in and reports on Dr. Lonnie Thompson's high-peak investigations of climate change. |
| Broecker, Wallace | Fixing Climate | 5.0 | 5/15/2009 | With the help of science writer Robert Kunzig, climatologist Wallace Broecker ably describes the current state of our climate and the prospects for averting unwanted changes. |
| Chown, Marcus | The Matchbox that Ate a Forty-Ton Truck | 5.0 | 12/28/2010 | Here Chown exploits his estimable writing skills to elucidate some abstruse phenomena of science. |
| Cook, Nick | The Hunt for Zero Point | 3.5 | 9/26/2005 | Intrepid editor for British bastion of defense data uncovers secret (pseudo)science of anti-gravity, time travel & zero-point energy — or does he? |
| Cox, John D. | Climate Crash | 5.0 | 12/28/2005 | A good layman's introduction to the history of climate science, and a glimpse of what we are learning portends |
| Davies, Paul | The Eerie Silence | 5.0 | 6/24/2012 | On the 50th anniversary of SETI, astronomer Paul Davies gives us an overview of progress to date, and offers some cogent thoughts on possible new directions for the future — including searches right here at home, in our solar system. |
| Davis, Frederick Rowe | Banned | 4.5 | 6/28/2015 | DDT and a host of other organic pesticides, developed in the twentieth century, revealed their dangerous properties only after wide use. The author lays bare the complicated history of discovering those dangers. |
| Elert, Emily | Global Weirdness | 5.0 | 6/30/2013 | Here's a clear description of the current and future state of Earth's climate for those who need to bone up on the basics without the jargon and the politics. |
| Frank, Adam | Light of the Stars | 5.0 | 12/22/2019 | Professor Frank describes his effort, with colleagues, to model a generic civilization and ecosystem as a way to guide us in preserving ours. |
| Grazier, Kevin R. (ed.) | The Science of Michael Crichton | 5.0 | 1/03/2011 | Several authors well-versed in science investigate how well the novels of Michael Crichton treat the scientific underpinnings of his plots. |
| Impey, Chris | How It Ends | 4.0 | 1/26/2011 | An astronomy professor, Dr. Impey writes more about beginnings than ends. (Descriptions of most endings are, of course, sheer speculation.) His book is enjoyable nevertheless. |
| Kershenbaum, Arik | The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy | 4.5 | 9/25/2022 | In this readable tome, British zoologist Dr. Kershenbaum draws on his worldwide research to guide our understanding of what aliens might really look like. |
| McConnell, Brian | Beyond Contact | 3.5 | 9/03/2001 | How to construct an encoding scheme for interstellar messages that ET will want to read |
| Michaels, Patrick J. (ed.) | Shattered Consensus | 3.5 | 7/10/2014 | Dr. Michaels has assembled a serious compendium on climate science — but one that fails to achieve the purpose of its title. |
| Miles, Kathryn | Quakeland | 5.0 | 1/14/2018 | Science writer Kathryn Miles gives us a sometimes flippant book that is also a serious wakeup call to all Americans about earthquake hazards. |
| Mooney, Chris | Storm World | 5.0 | 12/20/2010 | A thorough examination of the phenomenon of hurricanes, the men who study them, and their disparate theories. |
| Morton, Oliver | Eating the Sun | 5.0 | 9/20/2010 | Photosynthesis is a mystery only partly unraveled. Oliver Morton is our guide for an entertaining journey along the tangled pathways already pursued. |
| Pearce, Fred | With Speed and Violence | 5.0 | 9/20/2007 | Fred Pearce looks at cutting-edge research that suggests the IPCC prediction of troublesome climate change may be far too mild. |
| Powell, James Lawrence | The Inquisition of Climate Science | 5.0 | 12/05/2011 | Former professor of geology Powell shows us in a clear, comprehensive and well-organized analysis why none of the persistent attacks on climate science and the scientists who investigate it should be taken seriously. |
| Regis, Ed | Great Mambo Chicken | 5.0 | 8/25/1996 | Regis explores cutting-edge scientific ideas that are literally far out — and the scientists behind them. |
| Ruddiman, William F. | Plows, Plagues, and Petroleum | 5.0 | 5/24/2010 | We humans, says Dr. Ruddiman, took control of Earth's climate 8,000 years ago. Evidence? It's right here in the book. |
| Shapiro, Robert | Planetary Dreams | 5.0 | 5/21/2001 | An examination of the quest to understand the origins of life |
| Shostak, Seth | Confessions of an Alien Hunter | 4.5 | 2/06/2010 | We still listen for alien signals, and we're getting better at it. Astronomer Seth Shostak tells us why and how in this interesting update on SETI — the search for extraterrestial intelligence. |
| Shulman, Seth | Undermining Science | 5.0 | 8/01/2007 | The administration of any president contains at least some crooks and liars. But none made a systematic effort to toss aside facts (and people) that don't support the party line — until George W. Bush became president. Shulman documents the debacle. |
| Specter, Michael | Denialism | 4.0 | 9/16/2011 | With particular focus on drugs and vaccination, journalist Michael Specter examines the phenomenon of denialism in his first book. |
| Vacca, John | The World's 20 Greatest Unsolved Problems | 2.0 | 11/15/2005 | Not content with describing the 20 unsolved problems mentioned in the title, John Vacca presents a credulous compendium of scientific and pseudoscientific ideas. |
| Ward, Peter D. | The Flooded Earth | 4.5 | 9/01/2010 | In another must-read book, Dr. Ward continues his cautionary forecasts and explanations of climate change. |
| Ward, Peter D. | The Life and Death of Planet Earth | 4.0 | 5/30/2005 | An informative but needlessly pessimistic projection about the bleak future that awaits us and our home planet |
| Ward, Peter D. | Out of Thin Air | 5.0 | 6/15/2007 | In a book that is fascinating but somewhat technical, Dr. Ward investigates the relationship between body forms and changes in oxygen levels on prehistoric Earth. |
| Ward, Peter D. | Under a Green Sky | 5.0 | 5/07/2010 | After pretending in his introduction to be Hunter S. Thompson, Dr. Ward turns serious as he tells of some early fossil-hunting expeditions and the once-radical theories they support — theories that relate to global warming. |
| Washington, Haydn | Climate Change Denial | 3.5 | 12/06/2011 | The authors, both scientists, provide more well-reasoned arguments against the rampant climate-science denial that still persists. |
| The books are rated from 0 to 5 in increments of 0.5. Colors represent the following quality ranges: | ||||
| 4.0 to 5.0 | Quality: | HIGH | (Color = Aqua) | Competent to exceptional; well worth the money |
| 2.0 to 3.5 | Quality: | FAIR | (Color = Lime) | Useful despite some flaws; may or may not be worth buying. |
| 0.5 to 1.5 | Quality: | POOR | (Color = Yellow) | Seriously flawed; read it if you wish, but don't buy it. |
| 0.0 to 0.0 | Quality: | YUCK | (Color = Fuchsia) | Avoid this book at all costs! |
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.