Feast your eyes and feed your brain with our favorite science books worthy of the coffee table. Topping our list are volumes commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 400th anniversary of the invention of the telescope.

Galápagos: Preserving Darwin’s Legacy
edited by Tui de Roy. Firefly Books, 2009
Editor and principal photographer Tui de Roy documents life on the islands that helped inspire Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Essays by 30 experts cover such topics as the social behavior of the Galápagos hawk (above) and efforts to restore tortoise populations.

Far Out: A Space-Time Chronicle
by Michael Benson. Abrams, 2009
Journalist Michael Benson leads readers from our own Milky Way back in time and space to the earliest galaxies with this glorious collection of astronomical images from the finest ground- and space-based telescopes, as well as a few amateur astrophotographers.

The Heart of the Great Alone: Scott, Shackleton, and Antarctic Photography
by David Hempleman-Adams, Emma Stuart and Sophie Gordon. Bloomsbury, 2009

No Small Matter: Science on the Nanoscale
by Felice C. Frankel and George M. Whitesides. Harvard University Press, 2009

BIOGRAPHIES
Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century
by Masha Gessen. A biography of Grigory Perelman. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009

The Passage to Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the Shaping of America
by Laura Dassow Walls. University of Chicago Press, 2009

Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King
by Brad Matsen. Pantheon, 2009

Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age
by Kurt W. Beyer. MIT Press, 2009

OTHER NONFICTION
The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures
by Nicholas Wade. Penguin Press, 2009

Green Intelligence: Creating Environments That Protect Human Health
by John Wargo. Yale University Press, 2009

Dinosaur Odyssey: Fossil Threads in the Web of Life
by Scott D. Sampson. University of California Press, 2009

Mathletics: How Gamblers, Managers, and Sports Enthusiasts Use Mathematics in Baseball, Basketball, and Football
by Wayne L. Winston. Princeton University Press, 2009

Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach Us about Humanity
by G. A. Bradshaw. Yale University Press, 2009

EXHIBITS
Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World.
November 14, 2009–August 15, 2010, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

The Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato.
October 10–April 11, 2010, at the Detroit Science Center.

Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "Recommended."

1 Comments

1. 1. Dov Henis 02:50 PM 1/21/10

   On "The Faith Instinct"
   
   Religion, Virtual Reality
   
   
   A. From "Book Review: The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved & Why It Endures by Nicholas Wade"
   http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/54387/title/Book_Review_The_Faith_Instinct_How_Religion_Evolved_%2Bamp%3B_Why_It_Endures_by_Nicholas_Wade
   Review by Bruce Bower
   
   Wade, a science journalist, grounds his ideas on two controversial assumptions: that natural selection acts on groups, not just individuals, and that genes can provide the basis for faith.
   
   B. "Life And Culture Are Virtual Realities"
   http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/life-and-culture-are-virtual-realities-794583.html
   
   "Religion Is But A Legitimate Virtual Reality Tool"
   http://www.sciencenews.org/index/generic/activity/view/id/39622/title/Book_Review__Superstition_Belief_in_the_Age_of_Science_by_Robert_L._Park
   
   
   C. Natural selection? Genes 'provide basis for faith'?
   
   Natural selection is the mistermed natural survival, which - in life - is survival of Earth's biosphere and - within it - survival of its primal life organisms, the genes and - within genes - survival of specific genes cooperatives, genomes, which are the cores of mass formats we call cellular organisms. Thus as stated above (A) natural survival is indeed definitely about groups, not 'just' about individuals.
   
   And since genes are organisms, Earth's primal organisms, they can be manipulated and are indeed manipulated Pavlovwise. In other words, genes can be made to and are in fact made to be effected to function by virtual reality mechanism. In this sense, only in this sense, genes can be conscripted to contribute to matters of faith. After all Life And Culture Are Virtual Realities and Religion Is A Legitimate Virtual Reality Tool.
   
   
   Dov Henis
   (Comments From The 22nd Century)
   "Cosmic Evolution Simplified"
   http://www.the-scientist.com/community/posts/list/240/122.page#4427

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