On last year’s Earth Day, the Paris Agreement was signed by the United States, China and many other countries from around the world. These countries signed this treaty agreeing to take steps to protect the climate of the world. This year on April 22, there will be a March for Science across the U.S. According to the March for Science website, the march would be “the first step of a global movement to defend the vital role science plays in our health, safety, economies and governments.”
Books about science are a great way to keep up with science advancements and the way that science affects our lives.
“It’s important to read about science because it’s everywhere around us: how our energy is produced and delivered, how our food is produced,” says civil engineer Andi Barendt. “The single biggest question I hear is, ‘How does science affect me?’ Have you ever had an X-ray, clean drinking water in your home or driven a car? That’s all science. We all need to know about it because science makes a person literate in how the world works.”
If you don’t read a lot of science, she recommends that you “start with books. Don’t trust what you read on the internet. Unless it comes from a reputable publisher, you shouldn’t take it as fact. Because of the way articles are produced on the internet, quickly and with little investment, data can often be blown out of proportion or misrepresented. Books must be held to a higher standard because there is a larger investment of time and money in their production.”
A good book to start with is Death by Black Hole by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson is well known for taking complicated scientific ideas and simplifying them for the layman: “I like it because he is funny and the science is approachable.” Often, science literature can be extremely dense and hard to wade through, which isn’t the case with Tyson.
Death by Black Hole is a collection of Tyson’s essays exploring everything from what it would feel like to get sucked into a black hole to why Hollywood can’t get the night sky quite right in its pictures.
Clint Mcknight, Maria’s Bookshop bookseller, enjoys Tyson. “Neil deGrasse Tyson is simply inspiring. He has the ability to present complex astrophysical subjects in a way that makes me wish I’d studied harder in my freshman astronomy class.”
Barendt also recommends Unscientific America, by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum. “There’s a big difference between American attitudes surrounding science during the time of the space race and the moon landing and now. For various reasons, science isn’t part of the conversation anymore.”
Unscientific America explores why this is the case in an age when solutions to most major problems will be scientific in nature.
There are also many different scientific subgenres to choose from. If you aren’t interested in space, but like animals, McKnight recommends The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery.
”It is one of those wonderful revelations that show how foolish humans are to believe animals are ‘lesser’ lifeforms,” he said.
This book explores the mind of an octopus, the way they solve problems, communicate and have relationships with those who interact with them.
Whether you are just discovering scientific literature or have been reading it for years, there are many different books to choose from. These books, and many others, can be found at the Durango Public Library and at your favorite local bookstore.
