I don't know much about science or religion.

Scientists, if you were to recommend one book about science to an ignorant person like myself, what would you recommend?

Religionists, if you were to recommend one book about religion to an ignorant person like myself, what would you recommend?

There are tons of great science books that will teach you about all sorts of wonderful stuff like stars, geology, biology, etc..

Or are you looking for books that compare and contrast Science and religion?

How about something on the scientific method.

If I recall correctly, I used an early addition of this book as reference


http://www.cengagebrain.com/shop/en/US/storefront/US;CMGTJSESSIONID=1XYYJfTJl2NbCh217yMn6fYTqcd712TNJVW32ywDtRZZ5zTjJdbH!-183446515?cmd=catProductDetail&gclid=CK716qaw88ACFQZrfgodf3sASg&entryPoint=storefront&ISBN=9781111305550&cid=GSEM1&forceRegion=US&messageType=catProductDetail

But I would imagine that any intro to science text book would have a good account of the scientific process. Well, unless it came from a creationist university.

Stanovich's book that I mentioned down thread talks about methodology as well as the importance of critically thinking about the information, statistical information and what constitutes "good science".

The book is imminently readable even though it's generally used as a text in tertiary institutions for introductory research methodology classes.

Not necessarily the best, just personal favourites:

The Periodic Table, by Primo Levi
What Is Life, by Erwin Schrodinger

John Donne's Poems and Sermons
George Herbert's Poems

I've been reading a book written by Carl Sagan called "The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark".

Awesome book. I can't recommend it highly enough.

It explains the thought process of being a scientist and the scientific method by giving examples of the exact opposite. It's actually quite an entertaining read.

It goes back through history showing just how messed up people were in the middle ages when they believed in witches, demons and other just batsh*t crazy nonsense and how far we've come once we generally adopted a more data-driven approach to the world.

No1

I second: The Demon-Haunted World.....

I third that. It was on my list of about ten books that trashed my faith.

Me too........incredibley reader-friendly but also good science.

Human Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not necessarily the best, just personal
> favourites:
>
> The Periodic Table, by Primo Levi
> What Is Life, by Erwin Schrodinger
>
> John Donne's Poems and Sermons
> George Herbert's Poems


Great, great response.

Also Lives of a Cell and A Little History of Science

For the other -- the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and -- after that I have trouble. Care of the Soul. The author is a former monk. He might not be a believer any longer, but it is about the religious impulse and finding the sacred in everyday life. I would recommend it for anyone.

Also, I wanted to add Jung's Man and His Symbols as a great book for understanding religions.

My science book recommendation is A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. It's one of my favorites, and I even bought it for my mom, who actually read the whole thing.

I stole this summary from an Amazon review:

From primordial nothingness to this very moment, A Short History of Nearly Everything reports what happened and how humans figured it out. To accomplish this daunting literary task, Bill Bryson uses hundreds of sources, from popular science books to interviews with luminaries in various fields. His aim is to help people like him, who rejected stale school textbooks and dry explanations, to appreciate how we have used science to understand the smallest particles and the unimaginably vast expanses of space. With his distinctive prose style and wit, Bryson succeeds admirably. Though A Short History clocks in at a daunting 500-plus pages and covers the same material as every science book before it, it reads something like a particularly detailed novel (albeit without a plot). Each longish chapter is devoted to a topic like the age of our planet or how cells work, and these chapters are grouped into larger sections such as "The Size of the Earth" and "Life Itself."

I love that book and was about to suggest it. Fun fun.

For the religion side, I recommend C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity.
As a boy he was raised in the Church of England (I'm pretty sure.)
By college, he had become an athiest and was trying to "enlighten" some Christian fellow students. In the process, he converted himself to Christianity.

I second this. You may also like "The Screwtape Letters" by Lewis as well. It is a satirical piece set during the second world war.

I don't take the time to read many books anymore, but I love to listen to lectures--specifically lectures on science.

I know you asked for a book recommendation, but I think an excellent primer for science is the recently-aired COSMOS series hosted by Neil deGrass Tyson. It's on Netflix (if you have a subscription -- if you don't, it's worth the $8/mth)

Cheers

From a science perspective I think Keith Stanovich's book, "How To Think Straight About Psychology" should be recommended reading for everyone.

It was one of the textbooks assigned in one of the research methodology classes that I took as an undergraduate. Don't be deterred by the title including "psychology" it covers far more than psychology. You can read a review here:

http://psychcentral.com/lib/how-to-think-straight-about-psychology/0007892

Here's a small excerpt from the linked review:

"The title is slightly misleading, as the book is about much more than psychology. It could have been just as easily titled How To Think Straight about Science or How To Think Straight. If you have any interest in science, statistics, psychology, cognition, research methods or decision-making, this book has something for you."

Honestly, anyone interested in reading on science should read this book first!

For religion, "The Insecurity of Freedom" by Abraham Joshua Heschel on spirituality.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Insecurity-Freedom-Essays-Existence/dp/0374506086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411198849&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Insecurity+of+Freedom

For science, "Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design" by Stephen C. Meyer.
http://www.signatureinthecell.com/

For many years, Burke has worked as a science historian, author, television producer, and university lecturer. Info. about him is online. His book and the critically-acclaimed TV series based on "The Day the the Universe Changed" helps the viewer to understand how people's perspectives change as their knowledge changes.

Part of episode 1 is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REKRLYoz2fc&index=17&list=PL0RYY8t0gEFFBJ4xuL29RSGhx6GxjpjAl

Other segments are on YouTube.

I echo The 1st FreeAtLast's suggestion of James Burke's wonderful TV series.

I am also amused that the word "link" in his/her post's title means two things to me:

1. to click the hyperlink to find the series

2. that James Burke's whole series was about linking things that you'd never think to link: electricity, history, oatmeal, cotton stockings. Okay, I'm making up the last two, but the linkage style was entertaining as well as informative. Hubby and I never missed an episode in its original run. We were talking about the series just the other day and I'm delighted find a place to see it again.

Saree

Thanks for the suggestions.

Definitely these two by Richard Dawkins:

The Greatest Show on Earth

The God Delusion

Also great is 'The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True' which is aimed towards younger folk. This is available as an interactive eBook, which is fun on the iPad.

My favorite Richard Dawkins book is "River out of Eden"

It is fabulous AND it totally explains the DNA issues that mormons are dealing with. This book was written for laypeople and yet it clearly teaches basic science and Genetics.

Another great book is "A Brief History of Time".

That book made me realize that mormonism was not correct.

I'll add my support to the Bill Bryson book. It is very readable even with little background. Plus the science is pretty sound.

Science: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking; The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World by Paul Davies; Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Religion: The Orthodox Way by Timothy Ware; The Experience of God by David Bentley Hart

Origins: The Emergence and Evolution of Our Species and Its Possible Future by Richard Leakey and Roger Lewin

Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology by Kenneth L. Feder

The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America by Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey

The Final Superstition is a great book. Lots of information, and well documented.

the Secret History of the World by Mark Booth, appeals to science and religion, Its mot a conspiracy book, it gets you thinking

Science: no idea
Religion: The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell

I recommend this excellent book. You can google it and find it for free online in pdf form.

"God's Debris" by Scott Adams.

Short, easy to read, but very thought-provoking.

http://www.amazon.com/History-Begins-Sumer-Thirty-Nine-Recorded/dp/0812212762/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411420315&sr=1-1&keywords=sumer

Sumerians had the mythical story of Moses down pat.
... and a whole lot more parallel stories to the bible many CENTURIES prior to the Israelites coming up with a mythical history for themselves, and by "coming up with" I mean plagiarism.