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Copyright © 2023 Pepijn van der Laan.
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When you push the laws of physics to their extremes, weird things can – and will – happen

When you push the laws of physics to their extremes, weird things can – and will – happen

Katie Mack – The end of everything

Highly entertaining take on building a rudimentary astrophysics.

Contrarian thinking is a powerful weapon, if combined with genuine curiosity and a deep respect for facts and data

Contrarian thinking is a powerful weapon, if combined with genuine curiosity and a deep respect for facts and data

Richard Feyneman – Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman

Not all anecdotes have aged well but there are enough gems to make the book worthwhile.

Metaphysical theories are constraint by the scientific knowledge, but plenty degrees of freedom remain for those in search (or need) of meaning

Metaphysical theories are constraint by the scientific knowledge, but plenty degrees of freedom remain for those in search (or need) of meaning

Sabine Hossenfelder – Existential Physics

Elegant combination of depth, playful curiosity and humbleness.

From its earliest origins math has been seen both as an formalization of divine perfection and as an effective, practical tool for solving real-world problems

From its earliest origins math has been seen both as an formalization of divine perfection and as an effective, practical tool for solving real-world problems

Paolo Zellini – The Mathematics of the Gods and the Algorithms of Men

Guided tour through the philosophy of mathematics, seldomly deviating from the expected and missing in-depth reflection on the role of data science in this regard.

The lack quality control on generic drugs opened the door to fraud and deceit, endangering health and lives of the world’s poor

The lack quality control on generic drugs opened the door to fraud and deceit, endangering health and lives of the world’s poor

Katherine Eban – Bottle of lies

Impressive and concerning whistleblower story illustrating the subtleties in developing and producing effective generic drugs.

Rivalry and pursuit of personal glory are major drivers for scientific progress

Rivalry and pursuit of personal glory are major drivers for scientific progress

Walter Isaacson – The Code Breaker

History blessed the author with a pandemic that made his subject even more topical, but unfortunately he could not resist the temptation to make it more a memoir than a biography.

The strive for ever greater precision has been a driving force behind all landmark engineering achievements

The strive for ever greater precision has been a driving force behind all landmark engineering achievements

Simon Winchester – The perfectionists

Nice collection of anecdotes which struggles to become more than just that.

Earth is an unremarkable planet in an average solar system in a plain-vanilla galaxy in just one-of-many bubble universes

Earth is an unremarkable planet in an average solar system in a plain-vanilla galaxy in just one-of-many bubble universes

Neil de Grasse Tyson, Richard Gott, Michael Strauss – Welcome to the universe

The great thing about this book is the emphasis on HOW we know what we know about objects that are light years far away that are to our eyes not more than a dot in the sky.

The early 20th century provided a thriving pan-European intellectual and scientific environment, for those men who had the brains and could afford to participate

The early 20th century provided a thriving pan-European intellectual and scientific environment, for those men who had the brains and could afford to participate

Margriet van der Heijden – Denken is verrukkelijk (“Thinking is delicious”; in Dutch)

Thorough biography of Paul Ehrenfest and Tatiana Afanassjewa.

The unlikely journey of a talented, black physicist from the hood shows the mechanics of ‘privilege’

The unlikely journey of a talented, black physicist from the hood shows the mechanics of ‘privilege’

Hakeem Oluseyi – A quantum Life

Impressive and heart-warming life story

Bayesian nets help prevent flawed statistical arguments and enable the leap from correlation to causation

Bayesian nets help prevent flawed statistical arguments and enable the leap from correlation to causation

Judea Pearl and Dana MacKenzie – The book of Why

The practical and relevant examples (health effect of smoking, impact of humanity on climate change) of causal inference alone make the book worthwhile.

Flawed data collection and interpretation hurt the position and prospects of women in many different ways

Flawed data collection and interpretation hurt the position and prospects of women in many different ways

Caroline Criado Perez – Invisible women

Great exercise in spotting biases, and understanding how these manifest themselves in how the world around us is shaped.

Folk tales about vampires and werewolves are based in an exaggerated fear for rabies

Folk tales about vampires and werewolves are based in an exaggerated fear for rabies

Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy

The detailed synopsis of (what seems like) every book, play, or movie that ever mentioned rabies gets boring pretty fast.

Feigning intelligence is not too difficult, considering that people can be fooled in many different ways

Feigning intelligence is not too difficult, considering that people can be fooled in many different ways

Brian Christian – The most human human

Unfortunately, the book does not explicitly challenge if humans are adequate judges in the Turing test.

Whenever you need to come to a rational decision: use Mathematics

Whenever you need to come to a rational decision: use Mathematics

Jordan Ellenberg – How not to be wrong

A cornucopia of charming mathematical anecdotes and facts

The left terrorizes the right while bathing in victimhood

The left terrorizes the right while bathing in victimhood

Gad Saad – The parasitic mind

The purposeful one-sided rant makes the book lose all credibility, in particular since the arguments can easily be reversed – especially in the wake of Trump’s desperate challenge the US election outcome.

20th century science gave rise to some truly mind-blowing concepts

20th century science gave rise to some truly mind-blowing concepts

Benjamin Labatut – When we cease to understand the world

A highly entertaining fictionalized history of landmark scientific breakthroughs.

Ongoing advances in technology make that ethical norms develop incredibly fast

Ongoing advances in technology make that ethical norms develop incredibly fast

Juan Enriquez – Right/Wrong

Filled with highly interesting statistics about the evolution of public perception on ethical issues.

Natural philosophy transformed into science thanks to the commitment and sacrifice of some thrill-seeking geeks

Natural philosophy transformed into science thanks to the commitment and sacrifice of some thrill-seeking geeks

Richard Holmes – The age of wonder

Conveys lively how science was considered an undertaking for daring adventurers.

Finding and copying manuscripts used to be a major factor in the preservation, transfer and loss of knowledge

Finding and copying manuscripts used to be a major factor in the preservation, transfer and loss of knowledge

Violet Moller – The Map of knowledge

Well narrated account of how Christian and Muslim scholars traveled the world in search of ancient knowledge and preserved it through diligent copying.

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Copyright © 2023 Pepijn van der Laan.
All rights reserved.