antqueen's 2011 nonfiction

This is just what I need, since I'm keeping up with my other groups (75 books and 11 in 11) so well. I like the idea of having nonfiction on its own, though, so... here I am :)

So far this year I've read:

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King
Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival by Bernd Heinrich
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene
Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finlay
Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest by Sharon Receveur and Tavia Cathcart
Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich
Why Do Buses Come in Threes? by Robert Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham
The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy by James Evans

I'm currently reading Mind of the Raven by Bernd Heinrich, which I picked up at a Border's closing sale recently. It's a combination of research and observations, and interesting so far.

Hi antqueen! Nice to see you here.

hi, and welcome! If you're enjoying the raven book you might like In the Company of Crows and Ravens. I especially love this book for its fine Tony Angell illustrations.

Another for the wishlist... thanks for the rec! I like Heinrich's sketches too, though Winter World has more than this one. They make me wish I was better at drawing.

antqueen,

Two of your books listed here I have read in the last year or so.

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson
and
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

I liked both of them, though Hawking's book threw me a bit at the end. Still very enjoyable. If you like that sort of thing, Big Bang: the Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh I found excellent. It is a history of cosmology.

Bill Masom

I already had Singh's The Code Book on my wishlist, but I don't think I'd seen Big Bang... yet another I need to read sometime...

I finished Mind of the Raven today. Overall, very good. There are a few places where I wished he'd summarized his details a little, and I skimmed through the (fortunately few) spots where he grumbled about the scientific establishment. His experiments into raven intelligence and consciousness are very interesting, and his stories about individual birds, both wild and tame, are fascinating as well. He wrote another book about ravens (Ravens in Winter) before this one, which I gather prompted him to make the experiments that led to this book. That one would be worth picking up sometime too.

It's been a long time since I stopped in here. Since May, I've read:

Why Do Buses Come in Threes? by Robert Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham

This was a quick, simple book with lots of little math trivia tidbits, mostly about why seemingly improbable things really aren't improbable at all. I'd seen most of it before, but it was fun, and I think would be a good introduction to things like this. I do wish my niece was a couple of years older so I could try out the card tricks in the last chapter... I can see middle school/junior high kids liking this one.

The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy by James Evans

This book explains the ways ancient astronomers did their work, and how they came by (or may have come by) various theories. Too much detail for me, sometimes... I had dipped into it before, but it took me a while to read all the way through, even without doing most of the exercises he gives. There are instructions and in some cases patterns for building instruments like sundials and astrolabes too. A pretty neat book.

I just have to say that Borders is killing my poor, groaning TBR shelves, not to mention my book-buying budget, 20% off nonfiction or not. And I know I'll go again when they drop it more...

8: They book look interesting. I have not been to my local Borders in ages. It's in an annoying location, and I'm not generally in the vicinity for any other reason, but I really should get there now. My shelves are a lost cause anyway in regard to TBR, so why not another round of discount book grazing...

I'm going to try to keep this up to date in 2012... but for now, the non-fiction books I read since my last post. It looks like I read 16 non-fiction books in 2011, and a pretty good set, overall.

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky
Sea of Glory by Nathaniel Philbrick
The Code Book by Simon Singh
The Map that Changed the World by Simon Winchester
An Ocean of Air by Gabrielle Walker

Currently reading "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" : Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard Feynman, which was a Christmas present.