Bunn (details) This is an excellent introduction to the world of crystals, by
one of the greatest crystallographers. It is also a refreshing read for those already
into the subject, especially if you're stuck in a taught course and sometimes wondering
"what are they on about?" Among polymer scientists, Bunn is especially
famous for describing the unit cell of polyethylene. This book is easy to read,
but also easy to put down and take up again, and ideal for taking to read during
intervals at concerts.
Invitation to Contemporary Physics
Q.Ho-Kim, N.Kumar, C.S.Lam, World Scientific, 1991 A good introduction to Lasers,
Superconductivity, Symmetry, Chaos, Stars and Black Holes, Fundamental Particles
and Cosmology. The Astrophysics may be slightly dated now, but it's still worth reading,
and will take one beyond A-level and prepare the mind for a university course.
Physics for Poets
Robert H. March, McGraw-Hill, 1996 A ride through the central thread of Physics,
from Galileo and Newton through Einstein to the superuniverse (?)
Great Feuds in Science
Hellman (details) This book gives the history of ten famous feuds in science,
from Galileo to Margaret Mead, with insight into what was really at stake.
Especially useful for scientists who (like myself) are complete non-starters in philosophy.
The Day the World Took Off
by Sally and David Dugan, Channel 4 books, 2000. This book attempts to answer
why the Industrial Revolution took place in Britain, and present a series of interesting
perspectives reaching backwards from Stevenson's "Rocket" through the ages
to the dawn of agriculture.
Studies in Words
by C.S.Lewis, traces the evolution of words whose meaning we take for granted, such
as "nature, conscience, sad", which we think we understand but which have
changed significantly over the centuries.
Titles to follow ?
This is simply a convenient piece of text to help me as I update this page.
