5 Top Indie Science Books of Spring

Science

It is often said that learning never ends. But that doesn’t mean it has to happen inside of a classroom. Some of the most interesting facts are taught in everyday life. One of the best ways to gain new knowledge is by reading. Passionate people write these books to educate and inspire with subjects on everything from space to Bigfoot. Learning doesn’t have to be boring with these engaging, intelligent books from our Spring 2016 issue that are sure to teach everyone something new and exciting.

Beyond Matter

Why Science Needs Metaphysics

Book Cover
Roger Trigg
Templeton Press
Hardcover $24.95 (176pp)
978-1-59947-495-3
Buy: Amazon

Science must be able to acknowledge things unseen, according to this well-reasoned philosophical work.

Thoughtful and well-reasoned, Beyond Matter makes a case that philosophy is a crucial part of the scientific process.

Science focuses on the hows of nature, but this book argues that the whys are at least as important. From astronomy to sociology, it argues, science is better off when it incorporates metaphysics. The book’s arguments are profound. Trigg points out that pondering invisible phenomena like atoms led to verification of scientific concepts, and he likens these theories and discoveries to current inquiries in theoretical physics.

The book references Richard Dawkins several times and could function as a philosophical answer to that thinker’s work, which also addresses the possibility of the existence of God. However, most of the book is aimed at showing that science needs to be able to acknowledge things that it can’t see and measure in order to reach its full potential. Several of the examples rely on a modern understanding of theoretical physics, which helps to ground the book in territory that even the most die-hard of data-based researchers will find convincing. Gentle in its method, the work goes out of its way to emphasize the importance of empirical science.

Beyond Matter is also a thoroughly academic text. Occasionally, the language that the book uses can be a little confusing. This is partially because this is a postgraduate-level text, partially because the subject matter is generally not easily explained, and partially because of the book’s style. Long, multipart sentences can exhibit a complexity that sometimes seem unnecessary. A standard example is the first sentence of chapter 2, which reads, “The reduction of science to a mere species of social practice may please those who disliked the scientific imperialism which makes science the only path to truth.” Those with backgrounds in philosophy and academia will appreciate this work must fully, but even for students of the genre, this book is likely to be a difficult read.

Still, Beyond Matter has the potential to transcend academia, thanks to its friendly tone and willingness to address atheism in a noncombative way—a rarity in works along the science-philosophy divide. In an age when belief and research seem pitted against one another, this book is a welcome window of bipartisan sanity. Ideal for researchers and thinkers, but also a good pick for interested armchair philosophers.

ANNA CALL (February 29, 2016)

Bigfoot Yeti and the Last Neanderthal

A Geneticist’s Search for Modern Apemen

Book Cover
Bryan Sykes
Disinformation Books
Softcover $19.95 (320pp)
978-1-938875-15-1
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

This is a massively entertaining investigatory quest to pinpoint the science behind Bigfoot claims.

An engaging look at the history, mythos, and science of Bigfoot and company, Bigfoot Yeti and the Last Neanderthal is a fascinating investigation and a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

Brian Sykes brings his geneticist’s expertise to the undertaking of a serious, scientifically guided effort to determine, once and for all, whether or not Bigfoot and the Yeti exist. As Sykes engages with the Bigfoot spotter community and runs genetic samples through endless laboratory tests, he also relates the rich, colorful history of the search for these human-like creatures. He also espouses his own theory that if ape-like humans still hide in the wild, they may be relatives or descendants of lost human species, such as Homo neanderthalensis.

The book begins with the history of Yeti and Bigfoot searches, from the rich eccentrics who originally funded ventures to Nepal to modern people who claim to have psychic connections to Bigfoot. Later, the author performs DNA analysis on possible Bigfoot hair samples. Despite some cringe-inducing moments with them, Sykes never disrespects Bigfoot enthusiasts in any way. On the contrary, according to this book, Sykes may be one of the only scientists in the world who is willing to pursue their interest seriously. His efforts to apply the scientific method to the existence of Bigfoot is laudable and will endear the geneticist to many a Bigfoot researcher.

Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal is highly readable. The style is lively, utilizing rhetorical questions and declarations of amazement to communicate the extent of the author’s personal enthusiasm for the subject. Unfortunately, this can undermine the text as a serious scientific piece. Considering all of the real work done for the book, writing it in such a dramatic manner seems like a wasted opportunity.

That said, Bigfoot enthusiasts may never see more validation from the science world than they will here. The author seems sympathetic to their cause, even eager to prove them right, albeit in a way that will also validate his own ideas. Finally, above all, Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal is massively entertaining. Ideal mostly for cryptozoologists, but definitely a good pick for the casually interested or curious.

ANNA CALL (February 29, 2016)

From the Great Wall to the Great Collider

China and the Quest to Uncover the Inner Workings of the Universe

Book Cover
Steve Nadis
Shing-Tung Yau
International Press of Boston
Hardcover $29.50 (214pp)
978-1-57146-310-4
Buy: Amazon

Scientific innovation and geopolitical interests collide in this significant new work of popular physics.

The 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN, in Switzerland, marked the beginning, not the end, of particle physics. In their exciting new book, From the Great Wall to the Great Collider: China and the Quest to Uncover the Inner Workings of the Universe, Steve Nadis and Shing-Tung Yau brilliantly connect the dots between the Higgs discovery and China’s ongoing plans to build the world’s largest, most powerful particle accelerator that would usher in a new era of scientific inquiry.

Nadis is a seasoned science journalist. Yau is a mathematics and physics professor at Harvard University and winner of the Fields Medal, among other prestigious awards. Needless to say, evidence of brain power is not lacking in the book’s six chapters, which trace the history of theoretical physics to modern-day research and the need for a bigger, better particle accelerator—100 kilometers in circumference—capable of smashing electrons and positrons together, as well as protons and super protons.

The book’s scope is vast. The authors illuminate the limitations of the famous collider at CERN, and how more exact collisions are needed to assess Higgs bosons in relation to theories of super symmetry and dark matter. While the theoretical physics explored can be both abstract and technical, Nadis and Yau write clearly, with simple analogies, and do their best to keep the layperson interested. The book makes a great companion to popular physics titles like Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time.

But the authors also investigate historical and political aspects of scientific innovation, the relative investments of different governments and nations, and the practical applications of those investments—such as the development of the World Wide Web at CERN—and how China, more than the United States, is poised to build the next great collider. This makes for an interesting read on geopolitics in addition to science.

Most importantly, Nadis and Yau tell a good story. They bring their narrative full circle to the Great Wall of China and its historical significance. Whereas that monumental wall was built to keep other nations out, a great collider, they argue, would unite every nation in a common pursuit of truth. From the Great Wall to the Great Collider captures that yearning for knowledge that “may be the key trait that defines us as humans.”

SCOTT NEUFFER (February 2, 2016)

Mars One: Humanity’s Next Great Adventure

Inside the First Human Settlement on Mars

Book Cover
Norbert Kraft, editor
James R. Kass, editor
Raye Kass, editor
BenBella Books
Softcover $16.95 (240pp)
978-1-940363-83-7
Buy: Amazon

An overview of the project to colonize Mars that will feed the imaginations of those interested in space travel.

Mars One: Humanity’s Next Great Adventure serves as an effective primer for the Mars One project, whose goal is the establishment of a human settlement on Mars.

The Mars One Foundation, and the associated Mars One Corporation, plan one-way manned missions to Mars, with the selected astronauts serving as the pioneers and founders of an ongoing Mars colony. Editor Norbert Kraft, a medical doctor with extensive experience researching space flight’s effect on the human body, and his coeditors, James and Raye Kass, both doctors of philosophy, serve as guides for Mars One, an overview of the project. The book is divided into four sections: Technical and Medical Skills, Health and Fitness; Culture, Cohesion, and Compatibility; With the Whole World Watching; and Life on Mars. In each section’s chapters, an impressive array of experts discuss everything from keeping fit on Mars, to keeping sane in cramped quarters, to surviving reality television, with every move under constant scrutiny.

Throughout the book are quotes from actual applicants to the Mars One program, explaining why they are willing to leave their former lives behind. These quotes provide fascinating glimpses into the psyches of the potential settlers of Mars, as they invoke utopian ideals, as well as practical explanations of why going to Mars will improve humanity’s long-term odds of survival.

Mars One‘s biggest flaw lies not in its content, but in what is absent. There’s little discussion of the actual funding and budgeting of the Mars One plan, just a strong conviction that the endeavor will be of such thorough and enduring interest to the world that filming and broadcasting the process, along with donations from the public, will produce much of the revenue required to pay the bills. While that’s certainly possible, the lack of specifics diminishes from the overall sense of professionalism that Mars One is hoped to convey.

Even if Mars One (the mission) never gets off the ground, Mars One (the book) will feed the imagination of anyone with an interest in space or the future of humanity on other worlds.

PETER DABBENE (February 29, 2016)

The California Current

A Pacific Ecosystem and Its Fliers, Divers, and Swimmers

Book Cover
Stan Ulanski
The University of North Carolina Press
Hardcover $30.00 (256pp)
978-1-4696-2824-0
Buy: Amazon

This celebration of Pacific ecosystems encourages conservation and an appreciation of biodiversity.

The California Current: A Pacific Ecosystem and its Fliers, Divers, and Swimmers is an exceptionally well researched and engaging examination of a vital 2,000-mile ocean community that extends along much of the Pacific Coast. Author Stan Ulanski, a geology and science professor at James Madison University, has written similar works on the Gulf Stream and fly fishing, and he is an informed and passionate guide to these watery environments.

The California Current examines myriad aspects of the Pacific coastal ecosystem, from microscopic phytoplankton to the massive humpback whale. Each chapter is informative and enlightening, layered with intriguing details about these creatures and illustrated with helpful maps and photos.

In the chapter on seabirds, for instance, we learn about the breeding and migratory patterns, physiology, and feeding habits of a variety of birds. That includes the kleptoparasitism of certain gulls and frigate birds, who will cunningly steal meals from other birds, even nestlings. The chapter describes how an extended wingspan and unique flight patterns enable the albatross to spend weeks or even months aloft over ocean waters and then contrasts that with the astonishing diving prowess of the Galapagos cormorant. The chapter’s concluding paragraphs note how global warming, commercial fishing, and other impacts are threatening seabird populations, while refuges like the Channel Islands and Farallones provide essential breeding grounds for dozens of important species.

Although his tone is urgent when describing man’s impact on this ecosystem, Ulanski is never alarmist. When reviewing the history of the fishing industry on the Pacific Coast, for instance, he recognizes the economic challenges of fostering sustainable fishing practices that also protect populations of turtles and dolphins. The book celebrates developments, such as species mapping and fishing nets lit with ultraviolet light, that have the potential to significantly reduce mortality rates for threatened species while allowing for viable fishery.

Spend several hours with this accessible, engaging book and emerge with a deeper understanding of these amazing animals, their life cycles, adaptations, interdependencies, food webs, and migratory patterns. At the same time, appreciate the important conservation research and work underway to help preserve these magnificent creatures for generations to come.

KRISTEN RABE (February 29, 2016)

Hannah Hohman

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