My husband doesn’t really enjoy reading but wanted a few books for things like camping or when the power goes out, he has typically not enjoyed reading any kind of fiction book but he does like reading articles about Science, Space, Computers, AI, Physics and stuff like that. Can someone recommend a book for that? Also are there adult picture books for science? I think that would be good.
by kindahipster
7 Comments
Starry Messenger by Neil deGrasse Tyson is a super interesting and approachable read!
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is informative and hilarious, and there is an illustrated edition.
Also Randall Munroe (of xkcd) has several excellent books in this vein. What If, What If 2, How To, and Thing Explainer.
Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Six Easy and Six Not-So-Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Pérez
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Ever Since Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould
Math on Trial by Leila Schneps & Coralie Colmez
I enjoyed Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths, and most books by Carlo Rovelli, who’s a physicist.
There definitely are “adult picture books” – I like Particle Physics (Brick by Brick) by Dr Ben Still which uses lego to visualise particle physics, and I also enjoyed the Thing Explainer which is just a bit of fun 🙂 Non fiction science is probably one of the easier genres to find this sort of thing for, but difficult to sort from the kids books.
Maybe consider some biographies on scientists he likes the work of too? I had a lot of fun reading “Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman!” which is a collection of edited conversations Richard Feynman had with a friend, and I haven’t yet read this next one, but I’ve had Carrying The Fire which is an autobiography of Michael Collins (the third astronaut on the Apollo 11 mission) recommended to me a number of times too.
There is a lot of good popular science being written now. I am enjoying The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean about the development of the periodic table.
Lots of historical anecdotes along with insights into chemistry and the scientific process.
For a readable history of science, I really liked The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes