Smashbomb

Books Editor (673 KP) shared own list

Nov 27, 2017

Any of us without the knowhow might be totally lost if it weren’t for the talented writer-scientists who take the time to pen popular science books about their respective fields.

These are the best in popular science from the past year – books that will enlighten, entertain, terrify and make you feel bad about how little you remember from school.

List

The Times UK: Best Science Books of 2017

The Times UK team travels from our ancient past to a robotic future:

Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins

Garry Kasparov

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

In May 1997, the world watched as Garry Kasparov, the greatest chess player in the world, was...

computing technology science biography

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

Adam Kay

9.0 (44 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Adam Kay was a junior doctor from 2004 until 2010, before a devastating experience on a ward caused...

Face Value: The Irresistible Influence of First Impressions

Alexander Todorov

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The scientific story of first impressions--and why the snap character judgments we make from faces...

psychology science

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Max Tegmark

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

A.I. is the future of science, technology, and business - and there is no person better qualified or...

What Doesn’t Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude and Environmental Conditioning

Scott Carney

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

A New York Times bestseller Our ancestors crossed deserts, mountains, and oceans without even a...

science

and 1 other item

Kudos Comment

Mercy20 (8 KP) rated The Girl with All the Gifts in Books

May 18, 2017

The Girl with All the Gifts

M.R. Carey | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy

8

8.1

(43 Ratings)

Book Rating

Short, concise writing (3 more)

Characters are more than one dimesional

Decent ending for a zombie book

Cause of outbreak based in actual science

Gifts are subjective

Kudos

Greg Kirkpatrick (52 KP) rated Prince of Thorns in Books

Sep 6, 2017

Prince of Thorns

Mark Lawrence | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry

7

8.3

(11 Ratings)

Book Rating

Charming (0 more)

Derivative (0 more)

Better than I expected

Fallen World science fantasy is a bit tapped out now, but this series is one of the better examples.

Kudos

Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Chappie (2015) in Movies

Jul 21, 2017

Chappie (2015)

2015 | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

6

7.3

(33 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Good CGI (0 more)

Boring at times (0 more)

A mediocre piece of science fiction

It’s starting to feel more and more like District 9 was a fluke on Neil Blomkamp’s part.

Kudos

Mike (8 KP) rated The Science of Discworld in Books

Oct 10, 2018

Very interesting, I've not read any of the Discworld Science books before, it's cleverly done, a mixture of real facts woven in and out of a Discworld story

Kudos

The Chocolate Lady (94 KP) rated The Rosie Project: No. 1: Don Tillman in Books

Oct 5, 2020

Touted as the "feel good" book of 2013, I tend to agree! You can read my review here: https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2014/12/23/the-science-of-love/

Kudos

Sheridan (209 KP) rated The Day After Tomorrow (2004) in Movies

Jul 11, 2017

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

2004 | Action, Drama, Mystery

7

7.2

(61 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Special Effects (2 more)

Cast

Genuine Science behind it

Survived despite almost impossible odds (0 more)

An Enjoyable Film

A great movie. Special effects are ace, cast is excellent, and an interesting story line. The science behind this is reasonable, which makes it a pretty believable occurrence. Some of the possibilities of survival are a little bit unrealistic which let it down a little bit but other than that it was an genuinely enjoyable movie.

Kudos

Rose Byrne recommended The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in Books (curated)

"The rarest of books about the experience of a science writer uncovering and investigating a cell line that changed the world, all while being thrown into a transformative journey of discovering race and racism in America, the culture of African Americans in the USA, and the painful reality of loss and family. A truly remarkable read—and I failed at science. Fascinating and phenomenal, heartbreaking and utterly compelling."

Source

Kudos