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Experiment with these great reads!
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Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air. Into Thin Air is a riveting first-hand account of veteran journalist and seasoned climber Jon Krakauer's catastrophic expedition up Mount Everest. Despite the expertise of the expedition's leaders, by the end of summit day eight people were dead. Into Thin Air clearly evokes the majestic Everest landscape, and as the journey up the mountain progresses, Krakauer puts it in context by recalling the triumphs and perils of other Everest trips throughout history. |
| Russell, Martin. Beethoven's Hair. A well-publicized 1994 Sotheby's auction listed, among other musical artifacts, a lock of Beethoven's hair. How did the lock end up on the auction block? What can we learn anything from a 175-year-old snippet of hair? Author Russell Martin weaves biographical information about Beethoven's life with scientific findings about his hair, as well as trace the path the hair took, from the great composer's head right into the present. |  |
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Fisher, Len. How to Dunk a Doughnut: The Science of Everyday Life. IgNobel Prize winner Len Fisher uses "the science of the familiar” as a key to open a door to science. Each of his nine chapters focuses on a relatively mundane affair (the best way to dunk a doughnut, how to catch a fly ball, how simple tools function, how to throw a boomerang, how an egg and a sperm manage to unite to form a new life) and poses scientific questions about the underlying premises and principles involved. |
Crichton, Michael. Jurassic Park. An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Creatures once extinct now roam Jurassic Park, soon-to-be opened as a theme park. Chaos ensues when a rival genetics firm attempts to steal frozen dinosaur embryos, and it's up to two kids, a safari guide and a paleontologist to set things right. Until something goes wrong and science proves a dangerous toy. A “must-read” if you enjoyed the movie! Prey. In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles, or micro-robots, has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent, learns from experience, and has been programmed as a predator. Every attempt to destroy it has failed. And we are the prey. |
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Weider, Ben and Hapgood, David. The Murder of Napoleon. The history books say that Napoleon died of natural causes. Napoleon himself suspected otherwise and ordered a thorough autopsy. The authors of this fascinating book assert that his suspicions were well-founded. Until recent developments in forensic science, it was impossible to prove the case a murder, let alone name the killer. Now, it has been done by a brilliant man whose 20-year inquest, a feat of detection, has produced one of history's greatest surprises. |
| Bruce, Colin. Conned Again, Watson. Colin Bruce re-creates the atmosphere of the original Sherlock Holmes stories to shed light on an enduring truth: Our reliance on common sense and ignorance of mathematics often gets us into trouble. In these cautionary tales of greedy gamblers, reckless businessmen, and ruthless con men, Sherlock Holmes uses his deep understanding of probability, statistics, decision theory, and game theory to solve crimes and protect the innocent. |  |
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Fridell, Ron. DNA Fingerprinting: The Ultimate Identity. DNA evidence convicts and exonerates criminals, traces our ancestors' origins in the Human Genome Diversity Project, and helps protect wildlife and feed a hungry world. Yet, the future promise of DNA research may be the most important of all as the Human Genome Project unlocks the intimate secrets of who we are. In this book, Ron Fridell clearly explains what science believes: Knowing the genome in the human body may lead us to longer, healthier lives and to our ultimate identity . |
| Ondaatje, Michael. Anil's Ghost. Anil Tissera, a young woman born in Sri Lanka and educated in England and America, returns to her homeland as a forensic anthropologist sent by an international human rights group to discover the source of the organized campaigns of murder engulfing the island. What follows is a story about love, family, identity, the unknown enemy, the quest to unlock the hidden past, and a riveting mystery. |
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Donna and Fellenbaum, Charlie. The Bone Detectives. In 1987, a skeleton was turned up near a Boy Scout camp in Missouri. A forensic anthropologist was brought and, using clues from the skeleton and some decaying clothes found nearby, determined that the victim was a young Asian woman. From there, police were able to determine the identity first of the victim and then of her killer. Using the Missouri case as a jumping-off point, The Bone Detectives provides an introduction for young readers to the science of forensics. |
| Junger, Sebastian. The Perfect Storm. In October 1991, "the perfect storm" was created by so rare a combination of factors that it could not possibly have been worse. Forming waves ten stories high and winds of 120 miles an hour, the storm whipped the sea to inconceivable levels few people on Earth have ever witnessed. Few, except the six-man crew of the Andrea Gail , a commercial fishing boat tragically headed towards its hellish center. |  |
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Murphy, Jim. An American Plague. In 1793 Philadelphia, the nation's capital and the largest city in North America was devastated by an apparently incurable disease. This powerful, dramatic narrative describes the illness known as yellow fever and the toll it took on the city's residents. Thoroughly researched, generously illustrated with fascinating archival prints, and unflinching in its discussion of medical details, this book offers a glimpse into the conditions of American cities at the time of our nation's birth while drawing timely parallels to modern-day epidemics. Nominated for the 2003 National Book Award for Young Adult Literature. |
| Gould, Stephen Jay. Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin. In light of fossil evidence and overwhelming biodiversity, Harvard paleontologist Gould concludes that there is no linear pattern or ultimate design to evolution. His insightful study even applies to sports systems, accounting for the apparent extinction of .400 hitting in baseball. Variation, rather than progression, is nature's expression of excellence. Consequently, he argues that our species is not the inevitable end-goal of evolution. |  |
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Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. In A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson tackles the American wilderness. Accompanied only by his out-of-shape, middle-aged college buddy Stephen Katz, Bryson starts out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail's end atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. A very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail whether you plan to make a trip like his or only care to read about it. |
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