Ye Olde Natural Philosophy Discussion Group

Books We’ve Read and Discussed

Here’s the list of books we’ve read and discussed as a group. We each gave
the books we read a rating from 0 to 10. However, we don’t necessarily share
the same rating standards. Three of us have made our standards explicit:

Rating Kirby’s scale Rosie’s scale Scott’s scale
0 Everyone associated with
producing this book
should be caned.
Don’t read. Worthless.
2 Wasted my time AND my money. OK for beginners only. Few things of interest.
4 OK, grudgingly admit
there are some nuggets of
interest there.
Fair; or review material
for our group.
Of some limited interest.
6 A bit above the average
pulp of popular science.
Good Quite a few points of interest.
8 Would recommend this
book to people with
an interest in this area.
Very good Much of interest;
well worth reading.
10 Would recommend this
book to everybody.
Terrific!!! Important/profound/
don’t miss it!

The book titles below which are highlighted are links to our collective
review or comments which one or more of us have written as individuals.


The First 40 Books

# Date Book or Topic Review (0 to 10)


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1 c. 12/87 Beyond Einstein, by Michio Kaku
& Jennifer Trainer (1987)
- - - 6 6 4 - - 5.4
2 c. 3/88 Quantum Universe, by Tony Hey
& Patrick Walters (1987)
- - - 8 8 8 - - 8.0
3 c. 6/88 In Search of the Big Bang,
by John Gribbin (1986)
8 - - 8 4 6 - - 6.2
4 10/25/91 The Big Bang Never Happened,
by Eric Lerner (1991)
- - - 8 8 8 - - 8.0
5 11/29/91 The Emperor’s New Mind,
by Roger Penrose (1989)
- - 6 4 4 2 - - 4.0
6 1/29/92 Grammatical Man, by Jeremy Campbell (1982) 8 - 8 6 6 6 - - 6.8
7 4/3/92 Improbable Machine,
by Jeremy Campbell (1989)
6 - 6 6 6 4 - - 5.6
8 9/18/92 The Ape That Spoke, by John McCrone (1990) 6 - 6 6 6 4 - - 5.6
9 10/30/92 Seeing Voices, by Oliver Sacks (1990) 8 - 10 8 10 10 - - 9.2
10 A Leg to Stand On, by Oliver Sacks
(1984) ["Extra credit"]
- - - - 8 4 - - 6.0
11 12/12/92 Synchronicity, by F. David Peat (1987) 0 - 0 0 0 0 - - 0.0
12 2/19/93 Artifical Life, by Steven Levy (1992) 6 - 10 6 6 6 - - 6.8
13 5/15/93 Consciousness Explained,
by Daniel C. Dennett (1991)
2 - 6 4 8 9 - - 5.8
14 8/21/93 Genie, by Russ Rymer (1993) 10 - 8 8 10 6 - - 8.4
15 10/30/93 Exons, Introns & Talking Genes,
by Christopher Wills (1991)
6 - 8 6 10 6 - - 7.2
16 12/18/93 Fritjof Capra movie: Mind Walk 6 - 4 8 4 0 - - 4.4
17 2/5/94 The Arrow of Time,
by P. Covener & R. Highfield (1990)
6 - 8 6 6 10 - - 7.2
18 4/2/94 Genius: Life & Science of R. Feynman,
by J. Gleick (1992)
8 - 8 10 8 8 0 - 7.0
19 5/28/94 The Third Chimpanzee,
by Jared Diamond (1992)
10 9 10 8 10 6 10 - 9.0
20 7/22/94 The Blind Watchmaker,
by Richard Dawkins (1987)
6 - 6 6 4 6 - - 5.6
21 9/10/94 Complexity, by M. Mitchell Waldrup (1992) 8 - 8 6 8 4 6 - 6.6
22 10/29/94 Science as Salvation,
by Mary Midgley (1992)
- - 6 - 4 4 - - 4.6
23 1/14/95 Post-Capitalist Society,
by Peter F. Drucker (1993)
8 7 4 6 4 0 - - 4.8
24 3/4/95 The Runaway Brain,
by Christopher Wills (1993)
6 - 4 6 6 6 - - 5.6
25 4/29/95 The Language Instinct, by Steven Pinker (1994) 2 - 6 2 8 6 - - 4.8
26 6/24/95 The Prisoner’s Dilemma,
by William Poundstone (1992)
8 5 8 6 6 4 2 - 5.6
27 9/9/95 Hyperspace, by Michio Kaku (1992) 6 2 6 6 6 2 2 - 4.3
28 11/18/95 The Quark and the Jaguar,
by Murray Gell-Mann (1994)
2 2 2 4 8 4 2 - 3.4
29 2/10/96 Emotional Intelligence,
by Daniel Goleman (1995)
8 8 4 8 8 4 4 - 6.3
30 4/6/96 The Map Makers, by John Noble Wilford (1981) - 6 10 6 7 6 7 - 7.0
31 6/15/96 Patty Hearst: Her Own Story (1982) 8 3 2 10 10 2 2 - 5.3
32 8/18/96 Being Digital, by Nicholas Negroponte (1995) 6 4 8 - 5 5 7 L 8 6.1
33 9/29/96 The Body Silent, by Robert F. Murphy (1987) 6 5 - - 6 4 8 - 5.8
34 11/16/96 Engines of Creation,
by K. Eric Drexler (1986)
- 5 2 4 6 6 - - 4.6
35 2/1/97 The Science of Revolution,
by Lenny Wolff (1983)
7 4 6 5 6 8 1 M 3 5.3
36 Scott’s Intro to Marxism presentation - - - - - - - - -
37 3/29/97 Virtual Reality, by Howard Rheingold (1991) 3 5 5 4 6 4 1 - 4.0
38 6/14/97 The Fourth Dimension, by Rudy Rucker (1984) 4 2 7 4 6 1 3 - 3.9
39 9/6/97 The Metaphysics of Virtual Reality,
by Michael Heim (1993)
1 0 3 1 - 1 - - 1.2
40 11/2/97 The Origin of Language,
by Merritt Ruhlen (1994)
9 5 9 6 6 9 4 - 6.9

Guests: L = Larry McKey; M = Maria Wiese


The Second 40 Books

# Date Book or Topic Review (0 to 10)


Reviewer ==>


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41 1/10/98 The Beak of the Finch,
by Jonathan Weiner (1991)
- - 9 - 5 8 - 7 10 8 9 - 8.0
42 3/21/98 Return to Sodom & Gomorrah,
by Charles Pellegrino (1994)
- - 9 - 5 10 - 5 7 4 9 - 7.0
43 5/2/98 Longitude, by Dava Sobel (1995) - - 7 6 7 5 - 7 - 6 6 - 6.3
44 7/12/98 The Measure of Reality,
by Alfred W. Crosby (1987)
- - 2 1 5 4 - 3 5 3 5 - 3.5
45 9/20/98 Consilience, by Edward O. Wilson (1998) - - 6 5 6 8 - 6 7 1 2 - 5.1
46 12/5/98 Guns, Germs, and Steel,
by Jared Diamond (1997)
- - 10 - 6 8 - 7 7 8 7 - 7.6
47 2/6/99 Science & the Retreat from Reason,
by Gillott & Kumar (1997)
- - 5 - 1 2 - 5 3 7 3 - 3.7
48 4/18/99 The Whole Shebang, by
Timothy Ferris (1997)
4 - 7 7 7 5 7 7 8 2 7 - 6.1
49 6/19/99 The Age of Spiritual Machines,
by Ray Kurzweil (1999)
7 - 1 - 1 4 3 3 7 7 1 - 3.8
50 8/29/99 What Remains To Be Discovered,
by John Maddox (1998)
- - 7 6 8 8 - 7 0 6 1 - 5.4
51 10/16/99 Billions and Billions,
by Carl Sagan (1998)
7 - 10 - 6 10 5 7 6 6 3 - 6.7
52 12/11/99 The Elegant Universe, by Brian Greene (1999) - - 7 8 5 7 9 10 9 6 7 - 7.6
53 2/5/00 Mystery of Mysteries, by Michael Ruse (1999) 6 - 2 - 2 5 1 4 1 6 0 - 3.0
54 4/8/00 Time Detectives, by Brian Fagan (1995) - - 8 - 3 8 7 6 8 6 5 - 6.4
55 6/17/00 Zero, by Charles Seife (2000) 7 - 7 6 8 7 9 7 9 4 7 - 7.1
56 7/30/00 The Scientist in the Crib, by
A. Gopnik, A. Meltzoff & P. Kuhl (1999)
- - - 7 - - - 5 7 9 5 - 6.6
57 10/7/00 Faster: The Acceleration of Just About
Everything,
by James Gleick (1999)
5 - 4 5 4 4 5 4 6 4 3 - 4.4
58 12/2/00 Genes, Peoples, and Languages,
by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (2000)
- - 5 3 - 7 - 6 5 8 - - 5.7
59 2/3/01 African Exodus, by Christopher
Stringer & Robin McKie (1996)
4 - 10 8 7 8 8 8 6 8 4 - 7.1
60 3/31/01 It Ain’t Necessarily So: The Dream of
the Human Genome Project and other
Illusions
, by Richard Lewontin (2000)
3 - 1 - 0 4 - - 8 9 0 - 3.6
61 6/9/01 Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors,
by Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan (1992)
3 - 7 - - 9 - - 4 3 4 - 5.0
62 9/8/01 Visions: How Science will Revolutionize
the 21st Century
, by Michio Kaku (1997)
- - 7 - 5 6 - 7 8 7 5 - 6.4
63 11/17/01 The End of Time, by Julian Barbour (1999) - - 2 - - 7 - - 8 1 - - 4.5
64 1/19/02 Descartes’ Error, by Antonio Damasio (1994) 7 - 7 - 6 7 10 7 7 7 1 - 6.6
65 3/2/02 Humanity: A Moral History of the 20th
Century
, by Jonathan Glover (2001)
- - 8 7 7 10 - 8 8 1 5 - 6.8
66 6/9/02 Emergence: The Connected Lives of
Ants, Brains, Cities and Soft-
ware
, by Steven Johnson (2001)
- 4 5 - 4 2 7 5 7 5 5 A 8,
EG 6,
ES 8,
J 2
5.2
67 8/25/02 Galileo’s Daughter, by Dava Sobel (2000) 7 - 5 9 5 6 6 5 6 1 - ES 7 5.7
68 11/2/02 The Battle for God: A History of
Fundamentalism
, by Karen Armstrong (2000)
9 8 9 - 8 10 6 10 10 2 - - 8.0
69 1/18/03 The Hole in the Universe, by K.C. Cole (2001) 0 - - - - 4 - - 8 3 - - 3.8
70 3/15/03 Dead Reckoning: The New Science of Catching
Killers
, by M. Baden & M. Roach (2001)
- 5 8 - 6 8 - 7 8 8 - - 7.1
71 6/7/03 The Engine of Reason, the Seat of
the Soul
, by Paul Churchland (1996)
6 - 5 - - 6 - 6 7 8 - - 6.3
72 8/23/03 Debunking Economics: The Naked Emperor of
the Social Sciences
, by Steve Keen (2001)
- - 8 - 7 8 - 8 8 8 - - 7.8
73 10/04/03 Isaac Newton, by James Gleick (2003) 10 - 7 - 8 7 - 6 8 6 - - 7.4
74 1/10/04 The Secret Life of Dust,
by Hannah Holmes (2001)
5 - 5 - 3 7 - 5 8 4 1 - 4.8
75 3/13/04 Assembling California,
by John McPhee (1993)
9 - 5 - - 6 - 4 5 8 - - 6.2
76 5/8/04 Einstein’s Luck: The Truth Behind
Some of the Greatest Scientific
Discoveries
, by John Waller (2003)
- - 9 - 7 9 - 7 5 6 - - 7.2
77 7/17/04 Wild Minds: What Animals Really
Think
, by Marc Hauser (2000)
4 - - - - 7 - - 8 8 - - 6.8
78 9/11/04 The Science of Good and Evil,
by Michael Shermer (2004)
9 - 6 - 7 8 - 9 2 1 - - 6.0
79 12/11/04 The Feeling of What Happens: Body
and Emotion in the Making of Con-
sciousness
, by Antonio Damasio (1999)
9 - 5 - - 6 - - 5 8 - Jim 4,
Kay 6
6.1
80 1/29/05 The Middle Mind: Why Americans Don’t Think
for Themselves
, by Curtis White (2003)
- - 1 - - 6 - 3 2
0 Jim 5,
Kay 6
3.3

Guests: A = Arnie Stoper; EG = Eric Goodman;
ES = Emily Stoper; J = Julie Goldstein; M = Maria Wiese;


Books 81 through 100

# Date Book or Topic Review (0 to 10)


Reviewer ==>


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81 4/2/05 Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail
or Succeed
, by Jared Diamond (2004)
9 10 8 10 9 - 10 4 8 Kay: 8 8.4
82 6/26/05 The Wisdom of Crowds, by James
Surowiecki (2004)
7 - 4 6 7 - 4 5 - - 5.5
83 9/10/05 Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt &
Stephen Dubner (2005)
4 7 6 3 7 - 6 3 - - 5.1
84 12/17/05 Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New
Science of Evo Devo
, by Sean Carroll (2005)
3 10 9 9 8 8 9 8 - - 8.0
85 2/18/06 Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic
of Suicide Terrorism
, by Robert Pape (2005)
- - 6 8 7 8 8 5 - - 7.0
86 4/22/06 Stem Cell Now, by
Christopher Thomas Scott (2006)
9 10 8 9 10 - 10 7 - - 9.0
87 7/15/06 Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural
Phenomenon
, by Daniel Dennett (2006)
9 2 0 6 2 0 0 4 - - 2.9
88 9/30/06 Why Geography Matters,
by Harm de Blij (2005)
- 8 8 7 7 8 5 2 - - 6.4
89 11/11/06 A Different Universe: Reinventing
Physics
, by Robert Laughlin (2006)
5 - 3 2 3 2 4 8 - - 3.9
90 1/6/07 Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest
for Global Dominance
, by Noam Chomsky (2003)
6 8 9 10 7 8 7 10 - - 8.1
91 3/24/07 The Trouble With Physics,
by Lee Smolin (2006)
4 8 5 5 8 5 4 5 - - 5.5
92 6/23/07 The God Delusion,
by Richard Dawkins (2006)
10 7 0 8 6 7 0 8 - - 5.75
93 8/25/07 American Theocracy,
by Kevin Phillips (2006)
8 9 5 9 8 6 8 6 - ES: 8 7.3
94 11/3/07 The World Without Us,
by Alan Weisman (2007)
8 6 9 9 5 8 3 5 - Th: 9 6.9
95 1/12/08 Presentation by physicist Tom Simonen about
fusion power and its prospects.
- - - - - - - - - - -
96 4/12/08 Euclid in the Rainforest,
by Joseph Mazur (2005)
3 1 1 4 3 0 0 7 - Th: 2 2.3
97 4/12/08 On Intelligence,
by Jeff Hawkins (2004)
9 9 9 10 7 7 7 8 - Th: 8 8.2
98 6/14/08 The Cooperative Gene: The Evolution of
Complex Beings
, by Mark Ridley (2001)
5 - 4 7 - 8 ... 6 - - 6.0
99 8/16/08 The Three-Pound Enigma,
by Shannon Moffett (2006)
8 6 5 4 7 6 8 4 - - 6.0
100 10/26/08 I am a Strange Loop,
by Douglas Hofstadter (2007)
3 2 0 8 5 0 8 8 - - 4.3

Guests: ES = Emily Stoper; Th = Thomas Francis


Books 101 through 120

# Date Book or Topic Review (0 to 10)


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101 1/10/09 What Is America?: A Short History of the
New World Order
, by Ronald Wright (2008)
- - 10 6 10 8 9 7 7 Th: 8 8.1
102 3/14/09 Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly
Improbable
, by Nassim Taleb (2007)
5 - 2 4 4 5 3 0 2 - 3.1
103 5/9/09 Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes
Everything
, by Don Tapscott & A. Williams (2006)
6 - 3 5
6 1 9 2 - 4.6
104 7/18/09 Lessons From the Living Cell: The Limits
of Reductionism
, by Stephen Rothman (2002)
9 - 3 5 8 4 5 5 7 - 5.8
105 10/3/09 The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness
Rules Our Lives
, by Leonard Mlodinow (2008)
2 - 6 - 6 - 7 6 8 - 5.8
106 1/09/10 Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes,
and the Greatest Race the World Has Never
Seen
, by Christopher McDougall (2009)
9 - 8 8 10 8 10 6 6 - 8.1
107 3/27/10 Bastard Tongues,
by Derek Bickerton (2008)
6 7 5 - 4 5 8 10 10 - 6.9
108 6/5/10 Adam’s Tongue: How Humans Made
Language...
, by Derek Bickerton (2009)
- 10 9 8 8 9 9 3 10 - 8.1
109 8/21/10 Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is
Uncommon in the Universe
, by
Peter Ward & Donald Browntree (2003)
9 9 9 7 8 9 8 9 10 - 8.7
110 11/6/10 Without Miracles: Universal
Selection Theory
, by Gary Cziko (1997)
5 - 6 4 6 4 4 6 5 - 5.0
111 1/22/11 The Grand Design, by Stephen
Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow (2010)
9 3 7 4 2 6 4 4 1 BG: 5
PA: 6
4.6
112 3/19/11 The Collapse of Complex Societies,
by Joseph Tainter (1990)
7 6 - 8 8 3 3 7 0 - 5.2
113 5/14/11 Nemesis: Last Days of the American
Republic
, by Chalmers Johnson (2007)
- 3 8 4 3 5 6 - 8 - 5.3
114 8/13/11 The Information,
by James Gleick (2011)
- 5 - 3 6 5 6 6 3 Dawn: - 4.9
115 11/05/11 Entanglement: ... Einstein’s
Spookiest Theory
, by Amir Aczel (2001)
- - 6 7 - 8 4 8 2 - 5.8
116 1/14/12 The 4% Universe: Dark Matter, Dark
Energy
, by Richard Panek (2011)











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Guests: Th = Thomas Francis; BG = Bob Gray; PA = Pablo Arbalaez




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