Recommend a book

[Cyberman]

Oh, where to start...

Ok, I've spoken about this one before several times and I can't recommend it enough:



(Click image for Amazon listing.)

Simon Singh takes the reader on a voyage of discovery from the earliest mythological speculations about our origins right up to the current knowledge and schools of thought. On the way we encounter some of the real people involved in this fascinating story, giving flesh and character to the bare bones of what are generally merely names on scientific papers.

Singh writes in an easily digestible style, meaning this book isn't some dry, dusty academic tome filled with equations and demanding knowledge of advanced physics of the reader, meaning that it's as engaging to the uninitiated with an interest in the subject as it is to the professional.

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On a totally different subject, here's another of my favourites:



(Again, click for the listing.)

Here, we follow the late Leslie Reade in a compelling and thorough investigation into the characters and events surrounding the Titanic disaster, with emphasis on the rôle of the infamous Leyland line steamer Californian. Almost literally, no stone is left unturned and no piece of evidence, however small, is left unexamined.

For instance, he devotes several pages to the analysis of the oft-repeated claim that the rockets seen by the Californian's bridge officers were merely company signals; Reade goes through the records of all known shipping lines, where their vessels were at the time, whether their signals were rockets, flares or some other device, coloured or plain white etc so as to determine whether such a misidentification is feasible. The events of those final hours, as petaining to evidence given to the two official inquiries, are recreated in such detail as to make the reader believe they are actually there. A stunning and revealing book.