05-19-2017, 08:50 AM | #1 |
Bah, humbug!
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June 2017 Book Club Nominations
Help us select the book that the MobileRead Book Club will read for June, 2017.
The nominations will run through midnight EST April 26 or until 10 books have made the list. The poll will then be posted and will remain open for five days. The book selection category for June is: Science. For a book to be included in the poll it needs THREE NOMINATIONS (original nomination, a second and a third). How Does This Work? The Mobile Read Book Club (MRBC) is an informal club that requires nothing of you. Each month a book is selected by polling. On the last week of that month a discussion thread is started for the book. If you want to participate feel free. There is no need to "join" or sign up. All are welcome. How Does a Book Get Selected? Each book that is nominated will be listed in a poll at the end of the nomination period. The book that polls the most votes will be the official selection. How Many Nominations Can I Make? Each participant has 3 nominations. You can nominate a new book for consideration or nominate (second, third) one that has already been nominated by another person. How Do I Nominate a Book? Please just post a message with your nomination. If you are the FIRST to nominate a book, please try to provide an abstract to the book so others may consider their level of interest. How Do I Know What Has Been Nominated? Just follow the thread. This message will be updated with the status of the nominations as often as I can. If one is missed, please just post a message with a multi-quote of the 3 nominations and it will be added to the list ASAP. When is the Poll? The poll thread will open at the end of the nomination period, or once there have been 10 books with 3 nominations each. At that time a link to the initial poll thread will be posted here and this thread will be closed. The floor is open to nominations. Please comment if you discover a nomination is not available as an ebook in your area. Official choices with three nominations each: (1) Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach Goodreads | Overdrive Print Length: 353 pages Spoiler:
(2) Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel Goodreads | Amazon US / Audible / Overdrive (audiobook) / Overdrive (ebook) / Kobo US Print Length: 191 pages Spoiler:
(3) Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson Goodreads Print Length: 224 pages Spoiler:
(4) What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe Goodreads | Amazon US Print Length: 321 pages Spoiler:
(5) And Then You're Dead: What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling over Niagara by Cody Cassidy and Paul Doherty Goodreads Print Length: 256 pages Spoiler:
(6) Physics: New Frontiers by Scientific American Editors Goodreads | S.A. Links Print Length: (about) 175 pages Spoiler:
Last edited by WT Sharpe; 05-24-2017 at 11:08 PM. Reason: Through post #34 |
05-19-2017, 08:54 AM | #2 |
Bah, humbug!
Posts: 39,072
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June 2017 Book Club Nominations
Nominations ("*" indicates one vote):
*** What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe [Dazrin, bfisher, CRussel] Goodreads | Amazon US Print Length: 321 pages Spoiler:
*** Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach [JSWolf, bfisher, Luffy] Goodreads | Overdrive Print Length: 353 pages Spoiler:
*** Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel [CRussel, issybird, Luffy] Goodreads | Amazon US / Audible / Overdrive (audiobook) / Overdrive (ebook) / Kobo US Print Length: 191 pages Spoiler:
*** And Then You're Dead: What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling over Niagara by Cody Cassidy and Paul Doherty [WT Sharpe, Dazrin, GA Russell] Goodreads Print Length: 256 pages Spoiler:
*** Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson [WT Sharpe, VioletVal, Dazrin] Goodreads Print Length: 224 pages Spoiler:
*** Physics: New Frontiers by Scientific American Editors [WT Sharpe, CRussel, GA Russell] Goodreads | S.A. Links Print Length: (about) 175 pages Spoiler:
Last edited by WT Sharpe; 05-24-2017 at 11:06 PM. Reason: Through post #34 |
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05-20-2017, 01:40 AM | #3 |
Wizard
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For reference, here are last year's nominations, the winner was The Future of the Mind, so that is ineligible, but the two runners up are eligible, A Crack in the Edge of the World and Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
The Science ebook recommendations thread also has a lot of good choices in it. |
05-20-2017, 02:01 AM | #4 |
Wizard
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I will go ahead and make a nomination too:
What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe (the author of XKCD and its spinoff). Goodreads | Amazon (Kindle Unlimited eligible) It is also available from some libraries in both Kindle and ePub formats. Print pages: About 300 (including illustrations) Spoiler:
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05-20-2017, 05:03 AM | #5 | |
Resident Curmudgeon
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I'm nominating Gulp by Mary Roach.
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05-20-2017, 02:45 PM | #6 |
Wizard
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I'll second Gulp.
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05-20-2017, 03:03 PM | #7 |
Wizard
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I second What If.
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05-21-2017, 12:26 AM | #8 | |
(he/him/his)
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I'll reprise my nomination from last year. I still think it's a wonderful book...
I nominate Longitude, by Dava Sobel. This is a short (191 pages) but fascinating exploration of the solving of one of the most important and difficult scientific puzzles of the 18th century - how to know your longitude at sea. Many lives had been lost because there was no good way to know how far around the world you had sailed. Quote:
This book is free if you're in Kindle Unlimited, and inexpensive if you're not. There is an excellent Audible version, available at a bargain WhisperSync price. And it's a great story. Amazon US : Free (KU) or $8.33 if not Audible: $5.49 WhisperSync or 1 credit or $19.93 Overdrive eBook Overdrive Audiobook Kobo : $11.89 and couponable |
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05-21-2017, 05:29 AM | #9 |
Resident Curmudgeon
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Come on people, Mary Roach needs a third. She's that good that we can forego any other author.
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05-21-2017, 07:52 AM | #10 | |
Bah, humbug!
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I'm nominating a most enjoyable book I read very recently entitied And Then You're Dead: What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Are Shot from a Cannon, or Go Barreling over Niagara by Cody Cassidy and Paul Doherty. It's a wonderful, informative, and quite humorous book about some of the more unusual possibilities for meeting our demise. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you accidentally stuck your hand in the particle stream at CERN? Your hand would not suffer as much damage as you might think, assuming you held it perfectly still. There would be pencil sized hole through it, but given time it would heal. The bad news is that you'd be long dead from radiation poisoning before that happened, but at least you'd get to see the world turn blue first as the radiation shot through your optic nerves, which would be really cool if you're particularly partial to blue. From taking a wrong turn and finding yourself accidentally on the surface of Venus to being sacrificed in a volcano, this captivating book gives us a glimpse into some of the fascinating possibilities in which our grand finale could play out; all augmented with case histories where applicable.
Quote:
Last edited by WT Sharpe; 05-21-2017 at 08:12 AM. Reason: Swypos corrected. |
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05-21-2017, 08:40 AM | #11 |
o saeclum infacetum
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I'll second Longitude.
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05-21-2017, 11:21 AM | #12 |
Wizard
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I third Gulp.
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05-21-2017, 11:26 AM | #13 |
Wizard
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Longitude sounds interesting. I third it.
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05-21-2017, 11:59 AM | #14 |
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It is! Thanks for the third. And, FWIW, if anyone ever finds themselves in London, I strongly recommend a visit to Greenwich. The National Maritime Museum is a fascinating and educational experience, and they have John Harrison's H1, H2, H3 and H4 clocks on display. They truly are incredible, and after we've read Longitude, I think we'll all find them even more fascinating.
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05-21-2017, 12:17 PM | #15 |
Wizard
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I will second And Then You're Dead.
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