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Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry)
    #13493227 -

Dear all

I am afraid to admit that I did not pay attention at school. As part of my efforts to catch up on what I missed I have already read 'introductory' books on religion, mathematics, statistics, philosophy, linguistics and psychology. It is now time for science.

Will the 'A Short Introduction to. . . ' books suffice for biology, physics and chemistry, or will these not be comprehensive enough? Have you read any yourself that you thought particularly informative, inclusive, yet not of text-book size?

I have read Bill Bryson's A short history of nearly everything.

Thanks

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: hdo3hc]
    #13493257 -

Well, after looking on Amazon, it seems there aren't any Very Short Introductions to either of the three I mentioned.

I am at your mercy.

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: hdo3hc]
    #13493289 -

I suppose the first question that comes to mind is what exactly is your goal? Personal knowledge and 'catchup' or perhaps your prepping for something in particular, maybe specific experiments or hobbies.

Maybe your getting ready to go back to school or towards a career that may need these courses.

Those are important points in regards to what sort of book you'd be looking for.


--------------------
Master Slants Made Simple

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: hdo3hc]
    #13494997 -

http://www.amazon.com/Principles-General-Chemistry-Martin-Silberberg/dp/0073221058

This is a good book for intro to chemistry. 

http://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Cell-Bruce-Alberts/dp/0815341059

This is a great cell bio book.  It may be a bit advanced but I can't remember the title of my first intro bio book.


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Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.


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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: hdo3hc]
    #13495995 -

Yeah, depends what your goal is as our dark demonic overlord has said, above.

But don't worry man.  I took no chem or physics in high school and only had a biology class (mostly birds and crap like disection) in high school, and now I'm studying chemistry and biochem, so don't worry bout your background.

The thing that's nice about science, is that your only limited by your motivation and little else. i.e. I learned the math I needed as I went along.  I understood none of it from highschool (took an algebra class, that was it) and am doing fine.

I would recomend just buying a first year old-edition chem, physics, and biology book and see what strikes you.  There's no reason you can't just follow along old books that might cost you 5-10 dollars rather than a 150$ new edition.

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: johnm214]
    #13496309 -

Hi

Thanks for the replies so far.

I'm not preparing for University or any other formal studying. My goal is really just to know stuff I should know. Like, the difference between watts and volts, basics of ecology, facts about the most important elements, the developments away from Newtonian physics etc.

I would prefer to avoid text books--which typically take a long time to read--as there are many other things on my reading list.

Perhaps I should just get some revision guides?

I am aware of Feynman's Six Easy Pieces. Would that be a good starting point for physics?

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: hdo3hc]
    #13496391 -

Well, depends on what you like then.  For chemistry and biology, which I'm most familiar with, there is little math or technical knowledge you need to digest the textbooks, so if that's your fear, don't worry.  You can just follow along and pick up the big picture. 


If you still don't want textbooks, then I can't really offer too much except figure out what you like and look around.  I would just caution you to beware of mystical mumbo jumbo- quantum mechanics in particular has been an idiot magnet lately and there's all sorts of professional-looking books that tell you all sorts of rubish about the nature of the universe- completely lieing about the physics.

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: hdo3hc]
    #13496506 -

It is hard to beat the The Feynman Lectures on Physics for physics.  You will need a decent math background to get the most from them.  You can find video of the lectures on the web.


--------------------
Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: Seuss]
    #13496639 -

Videos of The Feynman Lectures? Where can I find them?

I know mr Gates was so kind to offer the messenger series in silverlight (link) so that everyone with Windows can view them. And there are the "The Douglas Robb Memorial Lectures". But I have never seen any other lectures by Feynman.

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: Annom]
    #13497073 -

> I know mr Gates

I believe it is the same...


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: johnm214]
    #13497638 -

johnm214 said:
If you still don't want textbooks, then I can't really offer too much except figure out what you like and look around.  I would just caution you to beware of mystical mumbo jumbo- quantum mechanics in particular has been an idiot magnet lately and there's all sorts of professional-looking books that tell you all sorts of rubish about the nature of the universe- completely lieing about the physics.


Examples of books to avoid? :smile:

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: hdo3hc]
    #13497658 -

b0blet said:
Examples of books to avoid? :smile:


Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics

The Tao of Physics


And a documentary to avoid:  What the bleep do we know?

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: DieCommie]
    #13498560 -

DieCommie said:
b0blet said:
Examples of books to avoid? :smile:


Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics

The Tao of Physics


And a documentary to avoid:  What the bleep do we know?


haha, I'll second that!


--------------------

Signature (up to 750 characters).

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: cortex]
    #13499397 -

Boblet I don't think getting a text book is bad in any way.  Seriously, because things like Chem and Physics require mathematics and practice a text will offer you problems to evaluate and solve and most times you can at least check answers to odd ones. 

There is a difference between reading about something and actually performing tasks or solving problems from what you've learned and that is where the gratification from your effort comes in.  Physics is great to learn things like volts and watts... I say again to get text books because they will show you mathematically, theoretically, and experimentally how the things we know and use today were derived.  As a neuroscience major I took chem through organic chem without knowing much about energy, electric fields, and how they were derived so when I took physics as an elective it really amazed me how it tied all of my loose ends up.  I finally understood what a Joule, calorie, and watt was and where it came from and how they are all interchangeable. 

You also get a great appreciation for math when a lot of the time it seems cumbersome and annoying until you get into more advanced sciences and it is essential and really is a backbone for almost everything.  I use a lot of probability/statistics and algebra on a daily basis... not calculus so much but still integrating once in a while. 

You can find old editions for cheap, international up to date editions (softbacks on ebay) for $50 +, and even electronic versions.  Don't let pieces of paper and titles discourage you from being an autodidact!


--------------------


Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.


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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: DieCommie]
    #13501818 -

DieCommie said:
b0blet said:
Examples of books to avoid? :smile:


Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics

The Tao of Physics


And a documentary to avoid:  What the bleep do we know?


That's interesting. I read The Tao of Physics around 6 six years ago. I honestly can't remember any of it though, so don't worry! I also read The Hidden Connections by Capra, which I remember really enjoying.

No qualms about Quantum Psychology then? :smile:

I have no content-based objections to using text books (indeed, I recently re-read one of my first year Economics text books cover to cover). It's just that if I were to commit to reading them, I would have to focus myself on one book(s)/subject(s) for such a long period that I would be missing out on others - I generally only have 30-60mins of reading time a day and always make notes, which slows things down.

Nevertheless I shall look at them as an option in the future if I ever do want to focus more time on science.

Thanks all

Edited by hdo3hc (07/12/15 05:45 AM)

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: hdo3hc]
    #13502639 -

Quantum Psychology is bullshit too.

I have a degree in physics, my wife has a degree in psychology - we talk shit about quantum psychology every time we hear about it.  :grin:

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: DieCommie]
    #13513406 -

DieCommie said:
Quantum Psychology is bullshit too.

I have a degree in physics, my wife has a degree in psychology - we talk shit about quantum psychology every time we hear about it.  :grin:


I'd actually be quite interested to hear your criticisms. I've tried looking for some online but have only found praise.

A friend's criticism was that RAW presents logical positivism as a be all and end all, and ignores the debates and counter-arguments that followed its introduction into philosophy. . .

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: hdo3hc]
    #13513787 -

b0blet said:
DieCommie said:
Quantum Psychology is bullshit too.

I have a degree in physics, my wife has a degree in psychology - we talk shit about quantum psychology every time we hear about it.  :grin:


I'd actually be quite interested to hear your criticisms. I've tried looking for some online but have only found praise.

A friend's criticism was that RAW presents logical positivism as a be all and end all, and ignores the debates and counter-arguments that followed its introduction into philosophy. . .


I don't know what quantum psychology even is (generally this is part of the problem, vague conclusory claims) but in general the problems with this quantum nonsense is mistating the consequences of the experiments, and then building on that basis.

They simply claim such and such experiment shows something to be the case, without demonstrating this is the case.  Especially when they have no authorities backing them up, such a claim should be sceptically evaluated.

As an example:  the double slit experiment shows that conciousness effects the system- the photon does not have a point-like location until a concious being observes it, hence consciousness changes the nature of mater.  This isn't true, but is widely repeated- conciousness has nothing to do with it.  Some guy was 'teaching' me about this in the philosophy forum just a bit ago.  Most of the nonsense I've read about quantum physics starts with this basis.

Another problem is they go from the uncertainty principle to claim macroscopic matter has this property, when they don't (or rather it is irrelevant just as relativity can be neglected when determining how fast your car is traveling.).

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: hdo3hc]
    #13513920 -

Johnm basically hit it on the head.  Nearly all of the quantum psychology bullshit starts with a non-scientific, mystical interpretation of quantum mechanics. 

There is no such thing as quantum psychology in science.

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Re: Please recommend good 'introductory' science books (biology, physics, chemistry) [Re: DieCommie]
    #13516687 -

textbooks are where its at to get a basic understanding. Once you got the basics down start reading books by people who write about stuff in the field your interested in.

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