Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Geology Book Recommendations

"Reading around the subject" is a definitive muss when applying to higher Universities. If you have read or heard about any good non-fiction title relating to topics of Geology, Natural History, Palaeontology, Seismology, Petrology (etc) that is both enjoyable and informative; care to recommend it? I would be truly thankful!

My Recommendations

Natural History

•

- The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Colbert

•

- On The Origin Of Species by Charles Darwin

•

- Voyage of The Beagle by Charles Darwin

•

- Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne

•

- The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins

•

- The Origin of Life by Paul Davies

•

- Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker

Planetary Sciences (overview of astrophysics)

•

- The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking

•

- A Brief history of time by Stephen Hawking

•

- A Short Story of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Related fiction (recreational)

•

- Ashfall by Mike Mullin

•

- Jurassic Park Duology by Michael Crichton

Reply 1

AKell17

I always think a good starting point for further reading is the Very Short Introduction series :smile:

when I started reading around for Geography some of the ones I looked at were Landscapes & Geomorphology, The Earth, Deserts etc. (as well as human geography ones, but I doubt that's where your interest lies). They give a good basic grounding and also suggest further readings on the topics covered at the back

Reply 2

Chlorophile

Original post by Citipati

•

- The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Colbert

•

- On The Origin Of Species by Charles Darwin

•

- Voyage of The Beagle by Charles Darwin

•

- Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne

•

- The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins

•

- The Origin of Life by Paul Davies

•

- Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker

The problem with Dawkins is that once you read The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene, there isn't really anything new. The Selfish Gene is, in my opinion, the only book of his that is truly brilliant. The Greatest Show on Earth (if I remember correctly, it's been years since I read it) basically just rambles on about lots of different examples on an issue that I think was addressed much more effectively by his earlier books. If you've not read The Selfish Gene, I highly recommend it! I'd definitely recommend it over Darwin's texts, just because he was partially responsible for coming up with the idea doesn't mean his explanation is the best (it definitely isn't in my opinion).

How scientific is The Sixth Extinction? I was thinking about getting it but not if it's an overly melodramatic pop text about how humans are completely destroying everything.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 3

Citipati

Original post by Chlorophile

Books that I really enjoyed:
-The Two-Mile Time Machine, Alley (probably one of the best books I've ever read)
-The Goldilocks Planet, Zalasiewicz & Williams
-How to Build a Habitable Planet, Langmuir & Broecker

Definitely agree that the very short introduction series is great.

The problem with Dawkins is that once you read The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene, there isn't really anything new. The Selfish Gene is, in my opinion, the only book of his that is truly brilliant. The Greatest Show on Earth (if I remember correctly, it's been years since I read it) basically just rambles on about lots of different examples on an issue that I think was addressed much more effectively by his earlier books. If you've not read The Selfish Gene, I highly recommend it! I'd definitely recommend it over Darwin's texts, just because he was partially responsible for coming up with the idea doesn't mean his explanation is the best (it definitely isn't in my opinion).

How scientific is The Sixth Extinction? I was thinking about getting it but not if it's an overly melodramatic pop text about how humans are completely destroying everything.

The Sixth Extinction does not offer anything new, most of the stats can be easily found in any evolution/Extinction novels; at times it feels like it is written for a mass audience, rather to shock than to inform. Still, it was a light and pleasurable bus-drive read. It allowed me to see extinction in more realistic approach rather than just numbers. It puts you into shoes- or at least it did me.
Even when having nothing to do with geology- I recommend Jon Ronson books- they adress controversial/odd cases with humour and are light to read.

And cheers (adding The Selfish Gene to the to-read list).