If you ’re front for a perfect holiday gift for skill lovers , debate these ten amazing books . They bear witness skill is awesomer than fable , and are packed with beautiful pictures too .
On the Origin of Species : The Illustrated Edition by Charles Darwin with David Quammen
Darwin ’s original Bible did n’t just kick off the fiercest scientific disputation of the last 200 years … it ’s also a well - written volume that is really surprisingly fun to read . But this new edition liberate to celebrate the Christian Bible ’s 150th day of remembrance bring it into a whole raw property , incorporating over 350 beautiful photographs and illustrations that provide visual setting for Darwin ’s ideas . Even well , this version incorporates selection from Darwin ’s earlier travel journal The Voyage of the Beagle as well as various letters and diary entry , exploring the more personal side of his journey to one of account ’s greatest scientific discovery .
The Six - Cornered Snowflake by Johannes Kepler
It ’s not every book by a pioneer scientific virtuoso that advertises itself as a great natural endowment , so this Holy Writ by the founder of modern astronomy merit some attending . Back in 1611 , Kepler write an essay question why snowflake always had unadulterated , six-fold symmetry . It ’s a simple enough question , but one that no one had ever asked before and one that could n’t in reality be answered for another three 100 . Still , in trying to work out an solution , Kepler raised some fascinating questions about physics , math , and biology , and now you could catch in admiration as a great scientific genius unleash the full force of his intellect on a ostensibly fiddling head , complete with new illustrations and essays to put it all in linear perspective .
The Disappearing Spoon : And Other True Tales of Madness , Love , and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean
We ’ve discover 112 officially recognized elements , and every last one has a story – sometimes screaming , sometimes frightening – to tell apart . This Holy Writ recounts the breakthrough and use of every last constituent , introducing us to some of scientific discipline ’s most colorful and eccentric public figure . The titular story of the go away spoon is a great instance – because atomic number 31 melts at 84 degrees Fahrenheit , scientist wish to wager a practical joke where they shape samples of the element into spoon , then look out with amusement as their acquaintance ’ utensil evaporate before their eyes . But this is n’t just about the lighter side of the periodic mesa , as Kean also uses these anecdotes to avail excuse just why elements acquit the way that they do .
Star Vistas : A Collection of Fine Art Astrophotography by Greg Parker and Noel Carboni
We like to offer our fair share of space porn , but this book is the glossy , authoritative 50th day of remembrance Playboy collection of quad smut . ( I ’m indisputable that pullquote will be going on the next edition of this Scripture . ) The cool affair about this book is the every picture was made using the same equipment and computer software any amateurish principal - watcher would do to take pictures of the Nox sky . These photo look at the Moon and nearby constellations that more enquiry - orientate scope like Hubble typically ignore . This book may not revolutionize our agreement of the universe , but there are n’t many ripe compendium of beautiful exposure of the heavens .
America In Space : NASA ’s First Fifty Years by Steven Dick , Robert Jacobs , Constance Moore , and Bertram Ulrich
These days , NASA is at something of a crossroads , its space birdie program winding down and its successor program still up in the melodic phrase . Yes , NASA has see better days … so why not lionise them ? This book , publish in 2007 for administration ’s fiftieth day of remembrance , covers every facet of its history from the first rockets and spaceman enlistee to the quad birdie and International Space Station , with even a little room set aside forpoor sure-enough Skylab . As a bonus , the book get with a foreword from the Neil Armstrong , the loosely reclusive first human on the Moon .
Packing for Mars : The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach
If you ’re front for a scuzzier companion piece to the shiny history of NASA , then I have got just the book for you . Roach ask every possible question one could possibly have about what ’s it like out in space , bring out the mystery of astronaut etiquette , the often off-the-wall test people have to pass so as to prove they have the proverbial right poppycock , the danger of space vomit , and all the trivial random average things on Earth that become extraordinary when you do them in zero gravity .
Sizing up the Universe : The Cosmos in Perspective by J. Richard Gott and Robert J. Vanderbei
It ’s one thing to search the macrocosm – how about put it all in position ? But here you run up against a trouble pointed out bythe twentieth 100 ’s outstanding source : “ Space is big . You just wo n’t believe how immensely , hugely , mind - bogglingly big it is . ” That ’s why this book is so awesome . It ’s pageboy and pages of different cosmic objects put to scale next to each other : the United States compared to a macula , the Grand Canyon dropped into Mars ’s immense Valle Marineris , the Sun equate with star supergiant , and even our solar organization put next to the planet orbiting other stars . It ’s an amazing prospect to amplify your view , but do n’t take my word for it – check outthis glowing praisefrom our acquaintance at New Scientist .
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
This leger is a small cloggy than some of the others on this list , but this is one of the most compelling , for the most part untold stories of twentieth century science . 59 years ago , a poor African American woman in Baltimore died of an exceedingly aggressive form of cancer . Unbeknown to her or her family , doctors took a sample of her cell and discovered that , unlike any other human samples , her cancerous cells thrived in laboratory conditions . These so - call immortal cell were a boon to biological science , admit service find a cure for poliomyelitis . Rebecca Skloot recounts not just the scientific side of what these cells accomplish , but also the human floor of what happened when Henrietta Lacks ’s family discovered her secret purpose in twentieth 100 medicine .
Wicked plant : The Weed That Killed Lincoln ’s Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart
break down the Time Barrier : The Race to Build the First Time Machine by Jenny Randles
Time travel is ever so slightly starting to sneak back into serious scientific discussions , and this book takes an awesomely kitchen cesspool approach to examine what we jazz , what we do n’t sleep together , and what we might eventually know . Randles considers what cutting boundary scientific discipline has to say , but she also surveil more than a century ’s Charles Frederick Worth of scientific discipline fiction on the subject . Even substantially , she looks at time travel research on the fringes of science . It can be hard keeping direct what ’s science and what is n’t – with time travel , that pretty much comes with the territory – but it ’s all vastly entertaining .
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