Best Science Books 2014: NBC News [Confessions of a Science Librarian]

(Before It's News)

As you all have no doubt noticed over the years, I love highlighting the best science books every year via the various end of year lists that newspapers, web sites, etc. publish. I’ve done it so far in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

And here we are in 2014!

As in previous years, my definition of “science books” is pretty inclusive, including books on technology, engineering, nature, the environment, science policy, history & philosophy of science, geek culture and whatever else seems to be relevant in my opinion.

Today’s list is NBC News Brainy Reads: Top Science and Tech Books of 2014.

• The Age of Radiance: The Epic Rise and Dramatic Fall of the Atomic Era by Craig Nelson
• The Copernicus Complex: Our Cosmic Significance in a Universe of Planets and Probabilities by Caleb Scharf
• Proof: The Science of Booze by Adam Rogers
• Starlight Detectives: How Astronomers, Inventors, and Eccentrics Discovered the Modern Universe by Alan Hirshfeld
• The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection by Michael Harris
• The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson

And check out my previous 2014 lists here!

Many of the lists I use use are sourced via the Largehearted Boy master list.

(Astute readers will notice that I kind of petered out on this project last year and never got around to the end of year summary. The last few years I ended up featuring dozens of lists, virtually every list I could find that had science books on it. While it was kind of cool to be so comprehensive, not to mention that it gave the summary posts a certain statistical weight, it was also way more work than I had really envisioned way back in 2008 or so when I started doing this. As a result, I’m only going to highlight particularly large or noteworthy lists this year and forgo any kind of end of year summary. Basically, all the fun but not so much of the drudgery.)

• Induced second quantisation
• Constructive Conflicts: 3 Strategies to Move Toward Resolution
• #miadidas Studio – Berlin
• Quackademic medicine marches on: Essential oils and quackademia for the poor [Respectful Insolence]
• An interview with Cambridge NanoSystems’ Chief Scientist
• How to Fix Silverlight Update Errors on Netflix
• Pew Study Finds Americans Believe The Internet Makes Them Smarter
• Scientists Use Ancient Parchment DNA To Study Agricultural Development
• Monkeying Around With Math – Dopamine Plays A Role In Cognitive Reasoning
• A little detective story