<p>Does anybody have suggestions for some science/neuroscience/math books that you've read and liked that I can read over the summer?</p>
<p>Could you be a little more clear about what you’re looking for? Like a textbook or a non-fiction sort of book? What kind of science/math?</p>
<p>The God Gene by Dean Hamer was about human’s genetic basis for belief in a supreme being. It was interesting and decently scientifically sound.</p>
<p>Guns, Germs and Steel by Diamond is an oldy but a goody. It focuses more on disease transmission than on neuroscience or math, but it is written in a fun and informative way.</p>
<p>The Selfish Gene by Dawkins. All about self awareness, altruism and genetics.</p>
<p>Ya’ know, Science has a book review section in each issue. That may be a good place to start.</p>
<p>Presuming belevitt is on the right track:</p>
<p>“On Intelligence” – about a theory of intelligence (it’s written for the public, though, so it’s easy to read).</p>
<p>“Predictably Irrational” – about why most people routinely do irrational things–very entertaining and interesting.</p>
<p>“The Eighth Day of Creation” – a great account of the early days of molecular biology, the discovery of DNA, etc. It’s long and slow-going, but definitely worth getting through.</p>
<p>“Natural Obsessions: Striving to Unlock the Deepest Secrets of the Cancer Cell” – mostly about the Weinberg lab before/after the discovery of oncogenes.</p>
<p>“Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Theory of Networks” – about the article titled “Collective dynamics of ‘small-world’ networks” by Watts and Strogatz published in Nature in 1998, which explains the notion of six degrees of separation.</p>
<p>“Journey Through Genius: The Great Theorems of Mathematics” – self-explanatory (I haven’t read this yet).</p>
<p>“The Discoverers” – a long history of human discovery (I haven’t read this yet).</p>
<p>Others that I haven’t read:</p>
<p>“Phantoms in the Brain”
“In Search of Memory”
“Godel, Escher, Bach”
“Soul Made Flesh”
“Taming the Infinite”
“The Scientists”</p>
<p>Also, Kurzweil’s books are fun to read; you may want to check his stuff out if you haven’t.</p>
<p>i liked all the books i’ve read by matt ridley. funny stuff.</p>
<p>oh, echoing the above poster, in search of memory was also good.</p>
<p>The Emperor’s New Mind, by Roger Penrose. It is full of math, physics, and understanding consciousness. Good stuff, imo.</p>
<p>The Fabric of Reality, by Deutsch, also addresses some of these topics, but it’s somewhat denser.</p>
<p>I will definitely double tap Godel, Escher, Bach. It’s sort of a union of theory of mind and mathematics/formal systems. I also recommend Jaynes’ Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. It’s a little scant on the evidence, but I thought it was an extremely interesting perspective into the nature of consciousness. It’s a highly debated classic.</p>
<p>thanks, this is indeed what i was looking for (non-textbooks).</p>
<p>For lighter but equally engrossing reading, try books by Oliver Sacks. His latest, Musicophilia, is about the neuroscience of our attraction to music.</p>
<p>For a real-life detective story: The Hot Zone
more infection than neuroscience, but fun (and scary because it happened)!
Reveals quite a bit on the psychology of scientists-so in that way it covers neuroscience…</p>
<p>The Hot Zone reads like a thriller. I couldn’t put it down.</p>
<p>Currently reading The God Particle by Leon Lederman, a bit out of date with recent advances in physics and particle accelerators but still a great read. Additionally I highly recommend What is Life by Schrodinger.</p>