It's back! The Science Book Challenge is being hosted by Jeff at Bearcastle Blog for another go-round in 2009. The official challenge page is found at his science education company, Ars Hermeneutica. I love this Challenge as I really need to focus on reading some non-fiction in there during the year. I was thinking of posting about some of the Challenges I want to join in 09 next week, but couldn't wait. I've joined my first '09 challenge.......
The 'rules' are simple:
1. Read at least three nonfiction books in 2009 related somehow to the theme "Nature's Wonders". Your books should have something to do with science, scientists, how science operates, or science's relationship with its surrounding culture. Your books might be popularizations of science, they might be histories, they might be biographies, they might be anthologies; they can be recent titles or older books. We take a very broad view of what makes for interesting and informative science reading.
2. After you've read a book, write a short note about it, giving your opinion of the book. What goes in the note? The things you would tell a friend if you wanted to convince your friend to read it--or avoid it. Naturally, you can read some of the existing Book Notes for ideas. You might like to read our Book-note ratings for ideas about how to evaluate your books.
3. Don't worry if you find that you've read a book someone else has also read; we welcome multiple notes on one title.
4. Get your book note to us and we'll post it with the other notes in our Book Note section. Use the book-note form or the comment form to get in touch with us.
5. Tell other people about the Science-Book Challenge: http://ArsHermeneutica.org/besieged/Science-Book_Challenge_2009
I'm going to go the spontaneous route and read whatever comes to mind as I go along. However, I do have a couple of really good books in the TBR and may read one or all of those. A few of those titles are:
Empire of the Stars / Arthur I. Miller
Reinventing Gravity / John W. Moffat
(the publisher has also just sent me a link to a wonderful site called BookWrap; read a book excerpt or an interview, view video of Moffat talking about his book. Great stuff!)
Mauve: how one man invented a colour that changed the world/ Simon Garfield
Hope that some of you will join, too!
This is a very tempting challenge. I really like reading about science, but I don't seem to do it often enough. So I could do with some extra motivation. Hmm, it's only 3 books and you can join at any time. Definitely one to keep in mind.
ReplyDeletePS: I wanted to let you know that the Kate Story book arrived today. Thank you so much!
Mel, it's great to have you back on board for another great year of science reading! It seems fitting that you're our first, and we're your first, which could get dizzying rather quickly.
ReplyDeleteYour choice of books looks very interesting, but I've only read one, Mauve, which I expect you'll enjoy quite a bit. It's memorable, among other reasons, because I was reading it while I was in the hospital waiting for surgery on my broken leg three years ago. It made me feel much better.