The rating system is as follows:
- Read it so long ago I can't rate it now until I do a re-read.
-
Don't bother reading this one. It was not worth the time.
-
Probably not worth the bother, but if you like this author, you may want to
read it.
- A
good read. You may or may not enjoy it, but I liked it.
- I
recommend this book. I enjoyed it, and feel that others will too.
-
Among my favorites of all time. I heartily recommend this book to any and all.
(unless otherwise noted in the paragraph)
- And
this little symbol next to a book means that at some point in time it was
BANNED by someone, somewhere!! Click on the symbol to find out who banned or
challenged it when.
-
And this little symbol means that there are more of my notes on the book on
another page. Interesting tid-bits I learned about the book, or from the book,
or around the book, that I found made the thing more interesting to read. You
might like to know some of these facts as well.
- This means I've seen the movie version of this book as well. It is also a
link to the IMDB description of the movie.
The links provided will lead you to Wikipedia for more information on the author, or the particular book. If you want to see what other people thought - click on the Amazon link and read the reviews.
|
|
A Natural History of Love What makes Love; what chemistry; what brain wiring; what in the world is it, and why do we feel it. This book is not purely science; but more like scientific literature. Included in this exploration of Love is history, chemistry, psychology – all woven together by a superb story teller. Tons of little facts that make this such a fun read. Recommended. |
|
|
|
A Natural History of the Senses I don’t know which of Ackerman’s books I read first, but they are both delightful. Here she explores the way we sense the world around us. Again she weaves science and anecdote into a magical little volume that will fascinate you from start to finish (the section on vanilla alone makes the whole book worthwhile. Did you know that artificial vanilla is a by-product of making paper? And why real vanilla is so valuable?) Again, another fun read from this author. |
|
|
Baker, Robin
|
Sperm Wars: The Science of Sex I used to think I knew how sex worked.. I'd gotten the usual education in high school, and I'd had years of practice. But until I read this book I had no clue what was really going on. When you read this it opens your eyes to a whole lot of things we humans do that we paint a veneer of conscious thought over.. but which is really governed by built-in sub-conscious and genetic systems evolved to keep the species going and to win the (literal) Sperm Wars!!! The writting style is a little hard - first he tells a story, then explains the subconsious motivations and the science behind the story. But it's a good introduction to this field for people that don't want to read a purely scientific tome. |
|
|
|
An interesting read into the capabilities of the NSA, what it is they do, and how they do it. I was reading this in Denmark, and knowing the the NSA uses computers to monitor calls to set off alarms I tried using various phrases to see if I could set off those alarms. Either I didn't, or I did and will never know. Anyway, an interesting read on one of the most secret organizations we have in this country. |
|
|
|
Well, the movie PRETTY WOMAN was fiction, but this is the real deal. How a Mayflower descendent managed to enter and then run a prostitution ring catering to some of the most up-scale clients in the world. Well written, and fun to read. |
|
|
Blechman, Andrew D.
|
Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird This was a vacation read, and it was fun. Did you know we know the exact date and time when the last Passenger Pigeon died; and who killed it. This is the only bird to ever receive military honors. And the myth about it being dirty.. well.. it’s no dirtier than the one creature if follows everywhere. Man. This is a fun little light read. Take it on vacation with you. |
|
|
|
The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History This book tries to show that "evil" is not some force living outside of human nature, but is an integral part of human nature - that evil is built into our genes. Actions many consider evil can be explained in evolutionary terms (see previous comments on racism). This books examines human history against human nature. How our genes drive us to conflict - and why. How memes can take hold in a society looking for resources. It scales up individual foibles to societial foibles - and not to unconvincingly. I did a lot of writting in this book. Always a good sign. |
|
|
|
The Climb If you heard of the book, Into Thin Air, this is Boukreev's account of the 1996 Mount Everest expeditions that resulted in the deaths of eight people. Apparently the first book painted Boukreev as careless with his client's safety. Near as I can tell, EVERYONE was careless about safety. You would think that the people who put these climbs together would have a little more forethought, but nope. No rules, No guidelines. No plan. Nada. They couldn't communicate, and they thought that if they played it by ear everything would be ok. Well, everything turned to S**T pretty damn fast, and there was nothing anyone could do to save the people who died. Boukreev seems to be one of the few who made an effort at rescue - though, from the reading, if others had attempted to assist him they too would probably have died. What I found amazing was the fact that, once you are dead on the mountain, it owns you. At one point they come across a body on a clear day and an easy slope. No attempt to identify who it is or remove it. If you die on Everest, you stay on Everest (which makes the name seem much more appropriate.) And death comes easy. All I can say is, if you ever find yourself attempting to summit Everest and you can't make the top by 2 o'clock... TURN BACK or you are pretty much dead. |
|
|
Burnham, Terry & Phelan, Jay
|
Mean Genes: From Sex To Money To Food; Taming Our Primal Instincts Another book on how genetics affect behaviour. Nothing really new in this one, and written in kind of a pop style, but good for someone who does not want to read the heavier stuff I have listed here. A little anecdotal, but obviously based on a collection of research. Has a set of notes on-line that looks interesting www.meangenes.org |
|
|
|
The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating This book was very interesting in terms of how various aspects of the way men and women get along today are affected by what went on during evolution. One of the most interesting stories.. and most amusing.. was the story about the Coolidge Effect. This is the effect noted in most men that your steady partner tends to become less attractive sexually over time. You know the old puns about sex before the marriage versus after; put a marble in the jar every time you have sex before you are married, and take one out of the jar each time you make love after you are married and you'll never empty the jar in the same time it took to fill it. Sexual desire for the same partner fades over time. But put a NEW partner in and sexual desire will immediately jump to it's old levels. If your a man you know EXACTLY what I am talking about. It's been documented to occur in other mammal species as well. Disguising the normal partner has no effect (sorry, gals.. the old saw about dressing up in lingerie when he comes home from work .. well.. it might work once.. but won't work steady). Anyway.. the story goes that President and Mrs. Coolidge were
visiting a WPA Farm one day when the First Lady saw a rooster servicing a hen.
She commented on it, and the farm hand said something like, "Oh he does that 20
times a day!". The First Lady thought this was amusing so she said that the
farm hand should be sure to relay this information to the President when he
came by. "20 times a day you say. Always with the same hen? "Oh no, sir. A different one each time." "Would you please relay THAT fact to the First Lady." And thus the name for this aspect of human sexuality was given a name... The Coolidge Principle. |
|
|
|
The Aladdin Factor This little book...... is simply amazing. It teaches you how to ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT. Which is something we all forget we have to DO in order to GET WHAT WE WANT? It's simple to read and will open your eyes to things possible that you never thought of before. It's written mostly for sales people, but the lessons apply to all of us. If you want something you need to ask for it. What stops you from asking for what you want? Lots of things. Most of the book teaches you how to get around the issues we all have that stop us from asking for what we want. |
|
|
The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution What a great book! Hand this to the next creationist you come across. Basically, we don't need ANY fossil record to prove evolution. Gaps in the fossil record!! Who cares. We have the proof of evolution inside every cell of our bodies. Our DNA proves that evolution happened, and that it is still happening. It provides the time line. It provides the family line. Everything you need to see how evolution works is right there in the DNA. You don't need a single fossil to prove this theory (indeed, Darwin didn't look at fossils to come up with the theory in the first place). There is some mathematics involved, but its pretty simple statistical analysis to understand how things will change over time and a bit of probability. But there is nothing essoteric in this that is beyond the comprehension of the average high schooler. Like I said... Hand this book to the next creationist spouting off about the fossil record. |
||
|
|
Had Enough?: A Handbook for Fighting Back This book came out before the 2004 election and was a wake up call to democrats on how to fight the republicans on their own political turf. Of course, never letting an oppurtunity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the democrats ran their typical wishy washy campaign, and lost. To bad they didn't read this book. It would still help today. Every liberal should read this to see how to take back dominance in all the issues we have lost. Yes, liberals can lead, but they have to show some B**LS to do it. |
|
|
|
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion |
|
|
Davies, Pete
|
If this book doesn't scare the heck out of you, nothing will. The world was nearly destroyed at the start of the last century by a flu pandemic that killed 3 out of ever 10 people on the planet. In fact, the biggest killer in the last century was - not Stalin - not Hitler - not all the wars combined - It was flu. Don't believe me.. read this book and be afraid. And keep in the back of your mind that we are due for another... any day now. |
|
|
|
Richard Dawkins doing the same thing Sam Harris did in the End Of Faith, only Mr. Harris did it much better. Dawkins, though, is a bit of a story teller, and that makes this interesting. As a respected scientist, he is often button holed on his thoughts on God and religion, and he has no qualms about saying, if you can’t measure it, if you can even postulate a testable theory, then its not worth the time of day to discuss. Just replace the word “GOD” with “FLYING SPAGEHTTI MONSTER” and you come up with something that makes just as much sense. Read Harris first and this one if you just want more. |
|
|
Dell, Dianna L.
|
The PMDD Phenomenon PMS... the bane of everyone's existance. But, what if it is more. This book talks about regular PMS and beyond. I read it trying to understand what my wife was going through every month, and how I could live with it. I'm giving this 3 stars because it is well written, but I only recommend it to women (and men) who think they might be living with MORE than normal PMS. |
|
|
|
The Lessons of History This is Will Durant’s summary to the ten volume set of his history. All the lessons learned from mankind while creating his great work are summed up here – and we are doomed to repeat them over and over – so it seems. |
|
|
|
The Life of Greece The Age of Louis XIV Caesar and Christ Our Oriental
Heritage The Age of Faith The Age of Reason Begins The Reformation The Renaissance There are 10 volumns to this set, but these are the ones I managed to finish. I had a job one year as a security guard, and I worked the midnight to eight shift. During that time I took Will Durant to work and WOW. If you have any interest in history at all I urge you to buy these books and be entertained forever. Durant treats history globally – talking about what is happening everywhere during the period of the book. You cannot go wrong reading these. |
Note: This link is ONLY for the 1st volume. The entire set can cost a mint. |
|
|
The Ethical Slut: A Guide to Infinite Sexual Possibilities It is possible to have new kinds of relationships in a post evolutionary world. This is a book about Polyamoury – relationships that involve more than two people and how to make them work. |
|
|
|
The Whole Shebang : A State-Of-The-Universe(S) Report I have always been interested in physics and the big bang. This book explains it all better than anything I have ever read on the subject. Yes, it's a deep subject, and requires some patience and background knowledge (you should at least be aware of what relativity means). But with the anecdotes about physicists and their lives mixed in with the latest theories on the big bang (inflation is in here too.. ) this book is my top recommendation on this subject. I loved it. It covers one of the most interesting new aspects of cosmology around.. the INFLATION theory of the Big Bang. Apparently, shortly after the Big Bang occurred, something (some mysterious force) caused the expansion of the universe to speed up even faster than it would have just given the strength of the initial bang. The time frames we talking about are in the nano-seconds, but this inflation at the very start of the universe explains some of the strange observation |
|
|
Fields, Rick
|
Chop Wood, Carry Water So how do you go about integrating a spiritual life into the lives we live now. This book will tell you. The title is based on a Buddhist proverb that goes: Before Enlightenment, Chop Wood, Carry water. After Enlightenment, Chop Wood, Carry Water. Which is trying to say that you live in this world, and as long as you do, you have to get the basics done, no matter HOW spiritually in-tune you are? It's a very enjoyable read. |
|
|
This is an interesting little book on what makes people successful - and sometimes it not what you think. In fact, sometimes it's just the right circumstances coming together in just the right way. Successfull people are not necessarily better than you and I... most of them hit a set of circumstances and were in the right place at the right time. One example: There is a system in place in Canada to "grow" the best hockey players so that eventually, only the best are playing on the national teams. But the system has a bias built into it. A bias that means that 90% of all the top Canadian hockey players are born in Jan. Feb or March. If you are born in November, it doesn't matter how good you are... you're not going to make it to the top. Why? Read the book and find out. Another example: Korean airlines used to have the worst safety record of any airlines. The planes were maintained well. The crew was competent. So what made these plane crash so much more than any other airline on the planet. Turns out.. it was the Korean culture itself. Once someone recognized that new training was put into place, and now the airline is as good as any, and better than some that still suffer the same problem (don't fly on any airliner with a south american crew). What in the culture was doing this? Respect for authority. This book is, well, anecdotal. Not as good as The Tipping Point because it doesn't give you a blue print for success. But interesting to see how people who think they made it all on their own really got their boost from a set of circumstances that were completely outside their control. The moral: It pays to be in the right place at the right time. |
||
|
|
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference Excellent book on how change happens. Analyses all the factors that cause a small change to sweep the nation. Examples from the real world are analyzed (Hush Puppie Shoes, Sesame St., Paul Revere's Ride, Crime rates in New York, Blues Clues, etc) to show how the following factors affect whether an idea, product, or trend takes off, or languishes in the doldrums. Stickiness - Does the concept have something that makes it stick Mavens, Connectors, Salesman - Does it have people who can promote the idea in different ways. more to write here.. |
|
|
Glover, Robert A.
|
No More Mr. Nice Guy! A pretty good book for men who have problems communicating their wants and needs; who rely on passive aggressive methods, and non-verbal deals that just never seem to work out. I’ll confess to having problems getting my needs out there for other people to know, so this is probably a good book for guys like me. |
|
|
|
Sexing the Millennium: A Political History of the Sexual Revolution An interesting book about the sexual revolution from a woman's point of view. A review of history, and a look ahead to the future. Many people seem to think that things have not improved for women sexually in the last century. Nothing could be further from the truth - in fact - the changes have been revolutionary, and Linda Grant explores them in this slim little volumn. |
Out Of Print - You can search yourself. |
|
Gray, Michael
|
Drug Crazy: How We Got Into This Mess and How We Can Get Out The title says it all. How did we get into this mess with drugs. How can we get out. Once upon a time heroin was le gal and available, and the addicts were tax paying citizens.Then we made it illegal – increasing crime – increasing disease – increasing suffering – and for WHAT? When it was legal 90% of the addicts would kick on their own once they were no longer getting the high they wanted. This is the new prohibition and it’s just as stupid as the old prohibition – which gave us organized crime that lasts until today. Read this and get a wake up call. |
|
|
|
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory String theory is hard to understand. This book makes it understandable. I didn't make it to the end as the sections on how folded space can be equal to a differently folded space, but the first 2/3rds of the book are magnificent. The absolute best explanations for Special and General Relativity ANYWHERE. The best explanations for how the universe can have more than the 4 dimensions we can see and feel. A completely clear explanation of how fast we are all traveling through the dimension of TIME (we are traveling at the speed of light through the dimension of time.. simple once he explains it). This, with The Whole Shebang is all the physics you should need if you want to know where we all came from. |
|
|
|
The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do Judith Harris was a child psychologist to towed the line about nurture being the primary force that controls how children turn out in life. But then she began to study the research and found that this was not the whole story. Any one of you who have seen how boys pop out being boys right away, and girls pop out being girls, will realize that something BIG is going on in the background that has nothing to do with nurture. This is another book I picked up on my quest to understand evolution and evolutionary psychology. I’d recommend it to ANYONE who is interested in how kids grow, develop, and become the people they will be. |
|
|
|
Sam Harris wrote The End Of Faith - in which he pointed out how religion makes no sense, and does actual harm. Much of that book was spent on Islam, but Christianity took it's lumps too. Well, apparently he got lots of (hate) mail defending Christianity, so he decided to write a short book that focuses on the arguments in the letters like a laser beam. The book is short, concise and to the point. One can read it in less than a day. I takes all the reasonable sounding arguements in defense of Christianity... and shows them to absurd, and in fact, harmful. (Ex. Missionary who teach that condoms are bad or a sin in Sub-saharran Africa where millions are dieing of AIDS every year. These people are committing genocide because their GOD cares whether they wear a sheath of rubber on their penis. God save us.) If you are a Christian, then nothing anyone can say will shake your belief - so no harm can come from reading this. If you have your doubts, then this can provide clarity And if you worship Zuess then you can use the arguements in here to prove that YOU are right and everyone else is wrong... And if you are a fan of the flying Spaghetti monster then you probably already know everything in here.. but it doesn't hurt to read it anyway. I give this a big thumbs up. |
|
|
|
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason It took a while, and I was coming to it on my own, but this is the book that completely turned my opinion of organized religion 180 degrees from benign tolerance to believing that religion is the problem, not the solution. In parts this books gets pretty heavily philosophical, but for the most it slams it’s point home, again and again – with examples we all can relate to. It makes the argument that religious belief should be defined as insanity because we treat it like any other belief (i.e. things we can test) and as a result we run governments, have wars, and commit genocide – because of religion. Think of it this way: No person could ever be elected U.S. President without professing a belief in an invisible being who watches over us. A being we do not know; who cannot be shown to exist; and for which no evidence exists. Yet, all candidates must admit to this insanity in order to control the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet. If that does not scare you, nothing will Extremely Recommended. |
|
|
|
October Sky: A Memoir (a.k.a.) The Rocket Boys I saw this movie ages ago, and years later decided to read the book. The book is marvelous at giving you a sense of what it was to grow up in a mining community, but have your heart on the stars. |
|
|
|
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything Dude, you are preaching to the choir. Another in the recent spate of books discussing god and religion objectively - and why both are poisions our civilizations need to stop drinking. It's obvious that Mr. Hitchens has explored deeply into the religious life (attending several different religious institutions before deciding they were all dreck.) All the standard arguments are fully covered some more readable than others (get out your philosphy waders at points). I recommend this book to anyone who, like me, thinks religion is for the birds, and that continued indulgence of this sort of "beleif" is going to become toxic in the future. |
|
|
|
The Doors of Perception and Heaven and Hell I was in college when I read this book for the first time... It opened doors for me that I had never thought of... amazing doors that allowed me to go places my scientific western orientation had never let me go before. Basically it's like this... What if your brain... the organ of your perception... was really a FILTER, designed to eliminate input that was not important for the survival of the entity it was controlling? Of course, your thinking ... it has to filter out things otherwise we would be bombarded with sensory input. You can't constantly be feeling your left foot (in fact, I know you weren't feeling it until you read this)... it would all be too distracting The question then becomes.... exactly what is it filtering OUT? It's like complaining to the post office about not getting your mail and having them say... "Well, what mail are you not getting?" You have no way of knowing... Ever learn a new word... and suddenly you see that word in lots of place in print? Was it being filtered out before? Ever drive a rental car that you never drove before, and all of a sudden you see them everywhere on the road? Were they being filtered out before? Ever hear someone talk about experiencing GOD directly and think they must be completely nuts? Is your filter in place? Talking to GOD does not put food on the table... In fact, it has a tendency to have the opposite effect. Perhaps the ability to perceive GOD directly was evolved OUT because it didn't ensure the survival of the species. In any case, this little book (actually 2 short essays) will make you wonder about what your own brain is filtering out... and about some of those experiences that everyone has that cause that filter to break down... how you can have a non-filtered experience, if you care to pursue that.. and to wonder about what you really do experience when you go beyond your normal perceptions.. |
|
|
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World The lowly banana. Our grand-parents ate a kind of banana called the Gros Micheal. It was sweeter, and easier to ship because of a tougher skin thant the banana's we eat today. And now it's extinct. Today we eat the Cavendish banana. And it's going extinct. Better enjoy your bananas while you can. Because in the future, the only bananas available will be genetically manipulated. Ever find a seed in a banana? Every banana is a clone of every other banana... which is why when something hits.. that kind of banana gets wiped out. The only answer to save them is genetic manipulation. An interesting book with more about how banana companies (with the help of the U.S. Government) over-threw any south american government they didn't like all so we could keep eating cheap fruit. |
||
|
|
Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World I'm not a chemist, but this book managed to explain things to me in a way that made them readily comprehensible. First, the amazing chain of events that allowed oxygen to form in our atmosphere and the influence of early chemistry and life on how to got to be where we are now. If people think that the chances of evolution are preposterous, they should read this book and realize how entirely incredible it is that we have the atmosphere we have today. Later in the book the process of respiration is explained - and if this doesn't scare your socks off, something is wrong with you. Free radicals are explained as juggernauts of destruction, and every breath you take imbues your system with a ton of the these monsterous little destroyers. Turns out the worst thing for your health is breathing !!! How evolution found was to stop these guys is an interesting part of this book. Complicate, but a good read, I recommend this to anyone with a scientific bent. |
|
|
|
What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East A history of Islamic identity, and a pretty good summary of why the hate us today. The Islamic world lives with its history – remembers it’s past – and cannot get over how, in various ways, they were screwed with in the past, and in some ways are still screwed over today. However, this book does not point the finger at western civilization since it points out all the instances where the Islamic world screwed themselves over by turning inward and backward in time. Something good to read for background on the conflicts we will be having in the future. |
|
|
|
Flu: The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic Another truely scary book about the great flu pandemic of the early 20th century. And a detailed discussion of the search for preserved bodies from that time that may contain the virus still. You get to go on an expedition to the permafrost where old records show several people were buried whose bodies my yet contain the preserved virus due to the cold. ookie !!! |
|
|
|
SALT: A World History Salt. The only rock we eat. How much history can it have. Amusingly enough... plenty. Lots of fun little facts in this book (like that any english town that ends in ..."wich" once had a salt works - or that the word SALARY and SOLDIER come from the word salt which was used as form of payment). How salt helped contribute to the American Revolution. How salt taxes were collected by monarchies - and how people got out of paying them. How important it was in preserving food - with recipes going back to roman times. This is a fun little read - perfect for a vacation or beach trip. |
|
|
Macpherson, Malcolm
|
The Black Box: All-New Cockpit Voice Recorder Accounts Of In-flight Accidents This is an interesting and hard read. The last words of many pilots and personel who died in plane crashes, and what caused those crashes. Don’t recall why I bought this, but it was interesting. Let's face it, we all want to know what is going on up front in the plane; particularly at the last minutes before a crash. Its interesting to hear how they handled the situation, usually, right up to the point of impact. |
|
|
|
When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism Bill Maher is a pretty controversial fellow. I don't agree with everything he says, but in this book is RIGHT ON THE MONEY!!! The title is a refernce to an old WWII poster that said, "When you ride alone you ride with Hitler." - meaning that everyone needs to conserve gas to help the war effort. If it was true then, it's even more true now. But the American people have not been asked to sacrifice a single thing... NOTHING to winning the so-called "War on Terror". Bill rants intelligently about Profiling, Our Fuel Economy, Terrorism.. and everything linked to the insanity that George Bush imposed on this country for 8 years. And he does so with his own style of abbrasive wit... that I happen to really like. |
|
|
Mayer, Kathleen
|
How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art Hey, it’s a skill we all should know. |
 |
|
|
Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do : The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country This is a great book about victimless crimes, and how laws against them make no sense. It’s a thick book, but divided up into various sections based on various crimes. Each presents a great argument as to why it should not be a crime; how it got to be a crime; the negative effects that criminalization has. |
|
|
|
I had to read this for a course in college, and I have to say it's one of the few assigned books that I found totally gripping. Basically it was predicting that by the time I reached 45 the world was going to collapse. Not good news. The feedback systems of the planet, the out of control population growth, the demand and eventual scarcity of resources was going to be bad news for mankind in a few years.. Well, they were wrong, but only just. Global warming IS going to wreck havoc, and the world's oil based economy is going to come crashing down. But apparently improvements in food production and manufacturing have staved off their predictions for a while. I give this 2 stars because... for now.. it's fairly out of date. There is an updated version, but I have not read it. |
|
|
Miller, Alan S. & Kanazawa, Satoshi |
Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters This is a nice intro to Evolutionary Psychology if you are looking for one. References all the classics in this field. The format of the book is a series of questions (Why does having sons reduce the risk of divorce? Why are diamonds a girls best friennd? Why are most suicide bombers Muslim?) Each is answers based on studies in psychology that lend themselves to an evol. psych. interpretation. It's all pretty mild stuff.. you don't need a degree to read it. And.. just to be fair, they ask a number of questions that evol. psych have no answer to .. yet. If you have any interest in this I recommed it. |
|
|
Miller, Geoffrey(authors own webpage !!)
|
The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature This is a great introduction to evolutionary psychology. It has breadth and depth. For example, it explains the two sexual strategies that humans pursue and from this offers theories on how ART, and MUSIC, and LITERATURE and even SPORTS came into being as a direct result. It offers a theory of how language developed, and how it became so complex. Of why we feel compelled to create art and write poetry. Why we have wars and enjoy sports. All this, as Robin Williams once said, "To woe women." |
|
|
|
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex The Essex is the ship on which Herman Melville based the novel Moby Dick. The story of the Essex, however, is true. It was a whaleship out of Nantucket that was rammed by a whale and sunk. This book explores the Nantucket whaling culture, the lives of whale ships, and "fishie" men, and the particular story of the last voyage of the Essex and how some of the crew managed to survive to tell the tale. I have to admit that since Moby Dick is my favorite book of all time that discovering that there was a real ship on which that story was based just blew me away. This was a great read. But, take my recommendation with a grain of salt (pun intended).. if history and stories of immense suffering (including cannibalism) is not your cup of tea, you might want to pass this by. But I loved it. |
|
|
|
This is a great book if you want to understand where human psychology comes from. Psychology being the study of human behavior as it relates to the individual... and it all takes place in the "mind" so you better know what the mind is and how it works. This book does well with explaining various mental sub-systems and how these come together to create what we call our mind.. or ourselves. |
|
|
|
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature This is the same author mentioned in another section. This book is more of a philosophy book than a psychology book, but I put it here because the author is making the claim that you can arrive at human nature and morality without claiming any sort of supernatural or higher law that is outside the realm of human psychology. He makes the arguments that various philosophical ideas from the past (tabula rasa for example) had negative effects on moral thinking, and the they were just plain wrong. |
|
|
|
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance I read this so long ago, that I believe I have to re-read it to give it a proper review. All I can remember from the first reading (early in High School) was that the book was an easy read, and had a calming effect. |
|
|
|
Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters There are 23 chormosomes that make up a human being. This book takes each on of these and explores one set of genes on that chromosome, and how they affect the way we live and behave. It explores how genes interact with other genes, and how we have these in common with other creatures, and the role they play in all of us. It makes you realize that you only need a little twist here.. a little shove there, and the whole animal changes, or dies, or has some illness that cannot be cured. A good light introduction to genes and what they do for you. |
|
|
|
Is it NURTURE or NATURE that governs who we turn out to be. Ridley says it's both, and that our genes are actually affected by our environment. We have over 30,000 gene's that can switch on or off based on environmental cues. It makes sense that we should have some adaptability to our environment built into us as animals. This is another great book by a great author, and one I would recommend to everyone who has ever wondered about Nature vs. Nurture. |
|
|
|
The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture |
|
|
|
The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature The problem with evolution is that, like the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland, you have to run as fast as you can just to stay in one place. If you want to get anywhere you have to run faster. The same is true when it comes to the sexual motivations of any species, including humans. As far as sex goes, humans can be treated as two separate species that each pursues the mating strategy that is most successful for them with an opposite sex that is NOT motivated by the same thing. This is a good read. |
|
|
|
The Origins of Virtue: Human Instinct and the Evolution of Cooperation Another great book from Matt Ridley. Amazingly readable for a subject that can be pretty complicated. (He does get a little dense when talking about variations of the prisoner's dilemma and the Tit-for-Tat strategies and modifications thereof.) Answers the question of how morality and our feelings of fairness managed to evolve when supposedly the best strategy for anyone is every-man-for-himself. Covered in bits and pieces in other books but nicely summarized here. |
|
|
|
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex Mary Roach is a funny writer. Her footnotes are simply a hoot. And this book contains plenty of little known and down-right strange facts about the science of sex. But it's just not up to her previous book STIFF. If you have to read one of these first.. read STIFF... then read BONK. |
|
|
|
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers There are so many more options regarding what to do with a human body other then burn or bury. You could contribute it to “science” – which might get you dissected; left out in the woods to study decomposition; get your head cut off so plastic surgeons can practice new techniques; used in so many squeamish ways over which you have no control that it will make your head spin. If you can stomach it, this is an interesting book. |
|
|
Royte, Elizabeth
|
Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash One woman’s quest to find out where her garbage goes. Ms. Royte literally followed it from her front curb to all the places it ends up. It’s surprising where it goes; who handles it; how it is handled; and what we are ultimately going to do about the growing trash problem in this country. It was also an excersize in trash reduction - what kinds of reductions are meaningful, and what aren't. An easy read, and fun to boot. |
|
|
|
Shadows of Forgotten
Ancestors I was first attracted to the book because it purported to explain where racism comes from.... I had to read this. I thought I knew how evolution worked... I had the standard introduction to it in high school.. It made sense, but I anthropomorphized it like everyone has a tendency to do.. like there was a goal or a reason for it. This book cleared that up once and for all.. It also DID manage to explain the origins of racism. And believe it or not, racism was a beneficial evolutionary feature. It enhances the growth of the species!!! I was knocked out by this. It left me with a lot to think about. That racism is NOT a matter of education or up-bringing... it's a hard wired fact in our genetic and psychological make up. Of course, that does not justify it when the evolutionary advantage for it disappears. But it's amazing to see how it could be beneficial to evolution in general. We have many evolutionary triggers built into us. Some of which we consciously chose to ignore. This is one I think we should ignore. It just makes it more understandable WHY we have such a hard time as a species ignoring these impulses. |
|
|
|
||
|
Shields, Charles J. |
Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee I ran across this in a book store in Connecticut on clearance and snapped it up. I’ve always been interested in the interplay between Harper Lee and Truman Capote; between To Kill A Mockingbird and In Cold Blood. Well, all the juicy details are here in this book. Both Lee and Capote recognized in each other a “character” from a young age. Both played foils for each other as their writing lives progressed. And Lee acted as Capote’s assistant while he researched in Kansas for In Cold Blood. It’s interesting to see how she made it possible for him to meet and be-friend the locals who, frankly, didn’t get Truman Capote. And it’s interesting to see what Lee thought of the Clutter family that never made it into the final book (and why). How Lee produced To Kill a Mockingbird. What happened when she tried to publish and was told to revise it. The gift she received that let her concentrate on writing. How her father and sister didn’t think what she was doing would work. And what happened when it (and she) became famous. If you liked, To Kill A Mockingbird, then you will probably enjoy this biography of its author, and how the novel came to be. |
|
|
|
“There’s shit in the meat.” Literally. This book is not just about our nations obsession with fast food, but how the growth of the fast food industry has affected the way we grow, process, and look at food in general. A meat packer’s job used to be one where you could support a family for life, but since the growth of the Fast Food Nation it’s a complete dead end where you are most likely to retire when you lose a limb. How is our food processed? Who gets hurt in the process? How is it flavored? How is it marketed? (McDonald’s Corporation is the largest buyer of satellite imagery – just to figure out where to put the next McDonalds.) And how is our obsession with fast food affecting the rest of the world. If you start reading this, you won’t be putting it down anytime soon. Highly Recommended. |
|
|
The Science of Good and Evil: Why People Cheat, Gossip, Care, Share, and Follow the Golden Rule |
||
|
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time |
||
|
|
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts OH MY GOD... this book is down-right shocking. Not for what it presents - the fact that all humans try to reduce cognative dissonance when ever it strikes. But for the extent to which whe all delude ourselves into thinking we are rational beings. If, after reading this book, you don't begin to question every decisions, every story, every memory you've ever had... well, then you simply missed the point. THIS BOOK IS SCARY... read it if you want to be shocked at how really stupid people can think they are just brilliant.... and how really smart people can be really stupid when it comes to their own failings. |
|
|
|
This book appeared in the 1970's and described the "shock" that people and societies where suffering from the extremely pace of change. It was a little doom and gloomy, arguing that the rapid pace of change in society would have severe negative effects. It's true that many people get left behind by change, but most people seem to adapt fairly well. And change is only happening faster and faster since this book came out. Some handle it just fine. Some suffer from "information overload" - a term Toffler invented. The book has something to say, but I think we've all lived through much of what it predicted already, so reading it now might seem like a look at slower more pastoral times. (ironic) |
|
|
|
Yes Man TOTALLY RECOMMENDED YES MAN is about the author, Danny Wallace, who, after a random encounter on a bus, decides that his life has been closed off and limited because he is saying NO too often. So for 6 months he decides to say YES to everything. And he means EVERYTHING. This book tells of his adventures and mis-haps; his ups and downs; the effect the world of YES has on him, and the effect his YESing has on those around him. In the end he faces a major crisis, and a major oppurtunity, and YES prevails. It had me in tears. READ THIS BOOK - it will make you laugh and it will make you think. |
|
|
|
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think If you are trying to lose a little weight, this is the absolute best book in the world. The reason you gain weight is that you eat more calories than you need. But why do you do that? Especially when, if you didn’t eat those few extra calories, you wouldn’t miss em anyway. This book is about the psychology of food and eating. Wansink runs a nutrition laboratory where he does experiments to discover what will make people eat more and what will make people eat less. These are fascinating. Some examples….
This book will give you plan for a diet that doesn’t involve changing what you eat, but the way you eat it. Diets that make you feel deprived will not work. But the hints in this book will trick you into eating less without your even consciously noticing it. And the writing style is just plain entertaining… the experiments are fun. You will have lots of AH-HAH moments reading this one. |
|
|
|
The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology This is one of the best books on Evolutionary Psychology that I've come across so far. It uses an interesting approach to examine the various predictions that Evol. Psych. can make; it examines the life of Charles Darwin in particular and Victorian English Morality in general to see how that life and that societies morals fit with the Evolutionary Psychological view of how humans would normally behave. |