Title: 

This is a primer on the basic ideas of relativity. It includes great, illustrative cartoons and very little math. The author addresses many of the misconceptions people might have about concepts related to relativity because of pop culture and introduces some surprising ways relativity affects our daily lives.

Even though relativity is a topic I’ve been interested in since high school, I learned fascinating new facts from this book. The author made incredibly complex and counterintuitive concepts simple. He started with facts that made sense to me and built on them to make the odder results of relativity make sense too. I liked that he revisited the same thought experiments over and over. This made me comfortable with the ideas and helped me learn.

I liked that the author talked about the implications of relativity for our daily lives. He made a pretty convincing argument for why we should all care about the concepts he teaches here. I also loved that he taught the scientific method as he went. I think this is a book that would be perfect for introductory physics classes. It’s easy to follow and  could inspire students to become interested in the topic.

Amazon|Goodreads

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Title: 

Michio Kaku is first and foremost a theoretical physicist, so he begins his book describing a physicist’s perspective on how the brain works. Then he describes the latest and greatest advances in our understanding of how the brain works and makes some incredible predictions for the future. These include everything from the possibility of assisted telepathy and enhanced cognition to uploadable memories and recordable dreams.

I’ve loved Michio Kaku’s books since high school, maybe earlier. He was able to write about theoretical physics in such an approachable, interesting way. Since reading his books, this is a topic which I always want to learn more about. As someone in working in science, I now also appreciate his ability to bring science to the masses. This book was not quite as good at this as some of the earlier books. There were a few places where I felt an experiment on animals was inadequately explained to the point where it sounded like a mad scientist’s experiment. There were also a few typos that led to scientific inaccuracies in my ARC, but I think these will be fixed in the final version.

That said, I thought his discussion of future technologies was fantastic. As in Physics of the Future, his educated predictions about where science will be within the century were awe inspiring. Also similarly, he transitioned very smoothly from topic to topic and did a great job discussing the ethical implications of each potential technology. To finish with a quote from my review of Physics of the Future, which also applies to this book: “I would highly recommend this book to scientists as well as any non-scientists who’d like to be better informed (which in my opinion, should really be everyone, since that’s who this science is going to affect!). But for scientists in particular, it’s important to always remember three things: the social implications of your work; the ethical implications of your work; and the big dreams we should all be striving for in order to make our daily lives better. This book does a great job bringing home all of those points.”

Amazon|Goodreads

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Non-Fiction Friday is a link-up where you can find all of the awesome non-fiction happenings of the week. Be sure to link-up your non-fiction posts too!

• Today, two of the links I’d like to share are awesome links shared by Sophie at Paper Breathers in her weekly round-up. The first is a prize awarded to books with the strangest titles and they’re all non-fiction! And also all very strange. The second link is to Bill Gates’ bookshelf because he apparently has fantastic taste in non-fiction.
• This isn’t completely non-fiction but it is completely wonderful! Sync Audiobooks gives away free audiobook downloads all summer. Non-fiction titles in this summer’s schedule include: While The World Watched, Claudette Colvins, and The Hiding Place
• Exciting books coming out this week include:
  • Computing with Quantum Cats: From Colossus to Qubits
  • The First World War in 100 Objects: The Story of the Great War Told Through the Objects that Shaped It
  • Suspicion Nation: The Inside Story of the Trayvon Martin Injustice and Why We Continue to Repeat It
  • The Sugar Season: A Year in the Life of Maple Syrup, and One Family’s Quest for the Sweetest Harvest

The post Non-Fiction Friday appeared first on Doing Dewey.

Title: 

I think objectively this book is very well done. The author includes a lot of very detailed statistics but mixes them in with fun facts, first-hand anecdotes, and fascinating stories. However, for me, this was just more detail than I needed on the topic. I felt the story got bogged down by details of exact numbers and dates. There were a number of people mentioned, but I couldn’t keep them straight because we were never given any personal information about any them and they all blurred together. The timeline was hard to follow because (at least in my ARC) dates usually didn’t include the year and in chapters that spanned multiple years, this could be confusing. I think had I finished this, I’d have given it three stars because I didn’t enjoy it, but I think someone very interested in the topic would. I made it through about a third of the book before deciding that it just wasn’t for me.

Amazon|Goodreads

The post The Bombers and the Bombed – Mini-Review appeared first on Doing Dewey.

Non-Fiction Friday is a link-up where you can find all of the awesome non-fiction happenings of the week. Be sure to link-up your non-fiction posts too!

• I’m so glad this professor is encouraging more people to write creative non-fiction (aka narrative non-fiction) because I want to read more
• Speaking of creative non-fiction, just the description of this book of essays on the topic raises some fascinating questions!
• I was surprised to see that tumblr has some pretty interesting non-fiction related content! Now if only I were better at using tumblr…
• This week, these are some of the exciting new releases:
  • The Extreme Life of the Sea
  • It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens
  • Cured: How the Berlin Patients Defeated HIV and Forever Changed Medical Science
  • Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War
  • Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum
  • Blood Royal: A True Tale of Crime and Detection in Medieval Paris

The post Non-Fiction Friday appeared first on Doing Dewey.

Title: 

This is the story of five couples doing group marriage counseling and of one author who sat in on the sessions. I  liked that it became a story that was a little bit about the author too. This could easily have turned into a detached third-person narrative. Instead, it’s clear that the author connected with the couples, so it’s easy for the reader to connect too. That does make this some very unobjective non-fiction though. The author isn’t shy about inserting her own speculations about the couples’ feelings. However, she generally makes it clear when she’s speculating, so I didn’t mind too much. I think a similar fictional story could be a great character driven narrative, but I liked that this was non-fiction. It made the story more interesting that it was true. It made it easy for the author to hold information back without being manipulative because she shared information in the order she found it out. And of course, it made for a very believable story. This is in part due to the author’s ability to convey the personalities of the people involved, but I’m sure the fact that they were real people didn’t hurt either!

Title: The Neighborhood Project
Author: David Sloan Wilson
Source: library
Rating: ★★★★☆

This book describes some incredible examples of applied science. The author had studied a lot of questions relating to evolution before he decided that if an evolutionary approach is truly valuable, it should be possible to use that theory to improve our quality of life. He selected his hometown of Binghamton, NY as a testing ground. In the data collection phase, he discovered enough fun facts for any trivia lover to enjoy. The coolest parts though were those where he actually works to improve his city. This was a very inspiring story and the author does a great job giving people some idea of what being a scientist is like (although in my experience it’s more work and less cycling around the countryside than in his description). You get to see the vast knowledge at our fingertips, learn about great experiments, and hear stories of how many different people were attracted to working in science. I’d love to see this book read in high school or early undergrad science classes.

Title: Tiny Beautiful Things
Author: Cheryl Strayed
Source: library
Rating: ★★★★★

 When I just read a few of these essays in isolation, I thought they were a little strange and over-shared more of the author’s personal life than I ever wanted to know. But from Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness‘s review it sounded really good and so I decided to give it a try. I’m so glad I did! Something about the introduction putting context around the author’s writing and then reading it all together made me appreciate it in a new and different way. I actually loved that the author shared so much of her personal life. It was a very different approach to giving advice from the typical disintant columnist and, I think, far better. As the author writes more, you get to know her and you have to know someone before you can trust their advice. Occasionally, I was bothered by her advice, such as the essay where she unequivocally suggests that two women get divorced just because they’re not feeling it any more. Most of the time though, I found her encouraging, straight-forward, and insightful. Even when I disagreed with her, I was awed by her way with words and by her ability to speak so personally in a public forum. These short essays really pack an emotional punch. Highly recommended.

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Non-Fiction Friday is a link-up where you can find all of the awesome non-fiction happenings of the week. Be sure to link-up your non-fiction posts too!

• This isn’t specifically non-fiction news, but there’s a new book review site called Literally that I think has a ton of potential! First three people to ask are welcome to the invites I have
• Using non-fiction in the classroom seems to be a hot topic, from this post on bookforum advocating replacing fiction with non-fiction to the many responding articles
• This article on non-fiction for book groups was quite interesting, despite also advertising a specific book
• New non-fiction in the up-coming week includes:
  • The Mad Sculptor: The Maniac, the Model, and the Murder that Shook the Nation
  • The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945
  • Rise of an Empire: How One Man United Greece to Defeat Xerxes’s Persians [The true story behind the events in 300]
  • Flowers in the Blood: The Story of Opium
  • Last Ape Standing: The Seven-Million-Year Story of How and Why We Survived

The post Non-Fiction Friday appeared first on Doing Dewey.

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Lately, I’ve been in love with all things France, so this week is the perfect time for me to share with you some of my favorite books set in France. Whether you like historical fiction or non-fiction, translated fiction or chick lit or steamy romance, there’s a book set in France that’ll be perfect for you

Chick Lit/Memoir - Paris Letters
Although technically non-fiction, this sweet little confection of a book reads just like a light and fluffy romance. Nothing too serious here plus lots of beautiful paintings by the author (like the cover) are included! Full review here.

Historical Fiction - Somewhere In France
I just have so many good things to say about this book! It was a perfect historical romance. The love story is very sweet and is completely integrated into the era in which it takes places. The way the romance progresses is determined in part by factors unique to the time period, which makes the romance less cliche and is a great way to give the reader a feel for the era. Full review here.

Steamy Romance - The Dark Queen
The Dark Queen is another historical romance, with a plot so good that it’s not overwhelmed by the steamy sex. I also loved this book because I’m a sucker for a happy ending! Full review here.

Non-Fiction - How The French Invented Love
This was a fascinating bit of non-fiction! I’ve always assumed that the idea that the French view love differently than anyone else is just a stereotype. This book convinced me otherwise with lots of fascinating anecdotes and fun facts! Full review here.

Translated Women’s Fiction - The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles
This was a very character driven book and made for a fascinating look at many types of love. My favorite story was that of Josephine, who is really in need of some self-love and who grows in very believable ways throughout the book. Yet another fantastic experience with translated fiction. Full review here.

What are your favorites books about France or romance? If you have any other posts about literary love, be sure to add them to #LiteraryLove2014 link-up below!

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This is a nonfiction blog so while this is a bit of a geeky reason, it’s true for most of the books I read. I love fun facts, science, and history in particular. I’m equally likely to learn about history from fiction and I love that too

Although I definitely have favorite genres, I like to push my boundaries too. Reading books outside my comfort zone is a great way to find new genres and authors I love.

I used to hate books that made me cry and while I still avoid them  sometimes, The Book Thief has completely convinced me that books that make you feel deeply can be spectacular. Even in less sob-inducing stories, my favorite books are usually the ones in which I empathize with the characters.

I certainly don’t want to only experience the world through books, but I think its fantastic that I can visit other countries, experience historic events, and try out other careers by reading books. In some cases, books can be inspiration for experiences of my own. In other cases, they’re the only way to experience things I never can (historical fiction) or never want to (Orange is the New Black).

So, I lied to you in the title. This isn’t really a list of the top five reasons everyone should read – it’s all part of this one reason. A friend once presented to me the following hypothetical scenario: You’re in a burning building and you can save either the last copies of the works of Shakespeare or a person. Which do you save? For me, the answer is obviously the person, but I agree completely with most of his argument for why you’d save the works of Shakespeare. Books change lives and have shaped history. I don’t believe that the increasing literacy and the increasing inclusiveness of our society are unrelated. Books teach us things and in the best cases, they push us out of our comfort zone and teach us something about people we didn’t understand before. They make us empathize with people different from us, in race or gender, nationality or religion, sexual orientation or life experiences. There are very few problems in the world today that couldn’t be solved by increased empathy for our fellow human beings, which is why I think books can change the world. Pick one up today.

(Don’t believe me? Check out this fascinating study from PLoS One on how reading fiction can increase empathy)

The post Literary Love 2014 – 5 Reasons Everyone Should Pick Up A Book appeared first on Doing Dewey.

Non-Fiction Friday is a link-up where you can find all of the awesome non-fiction happenings of the week. Be sure to link-up your non-fiction posts too!

Non-Fiction News and Resources

• I loved this bookriot piece by Swapna Krishna on why she’s cheating on fiction (spoiler alert – because nonfiction is awesome!)
• If you want some February themed reading check out this list of non-fiction books for black history month or join Cinde at Nonfictionado for her President’s Day Reading Challenge
• The Poisoner’s Handbook  has inspired a TV show! Interested? Check out this author interview
• New releases this week include:
  • Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words
  • The News: A User’s Manual
  • Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes
  • The Caregivers: A Support Group’s Stories of Slow Loss, Courage, and Love
  • Wondrous Beauty: The Life and Adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte

The post Non-Fiction Friday appeared first on Doing Dewey.