Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel (1997) W.W. Norton & Company, 1999 If I had hesitated in including this amongst my reads for the Science Book Challenge, my doubts were laid to rest when I realized that Guns, Germs and Steel won the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science. (There must
Raj Patel's The Value of Nothing HarperCollins, 2009 "Examining everything from free lunches to military spending, from love to television, The Value of Nothing reveals the hidden social consequences of our global culture of 'freedom' and explains why prices are always at odds with the true value of what matters
Norman Doidge's The Brain that Changes Itself Penguin, 2007 As Olduvai suggests here, there is something different about writing a response to non-fiction, just as I have found a difference in the way that I approach reading it. She's right: it's not as though we are being graded. But, I want
Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006) Penguin, 2007 I included this on my list of Must Reads for the year, knowing that it would overlap with the Science Book Challenge, because I'd started it several times and had not persisted. I figured a dual incentive would seal the deal. But,
L. Frank Baum’s The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902) Illus. Mary Cowles Clark Dover Publications, 1976 Of course when I was young, I would read this any time of year. But as an adult, I revisit it on the holidays. The way that other readers turn to Dickens
