Intro- Blinded Me By Science

This is a little challenge for anyone that likes to read a little science now and again. Six books spread out over a year or so. Pick the six right away if you wish to or as they come up in your TBR pile. Comment as much or as little as you like on your science reads. There are no pressures to dazzle anyone here.

This group is an experiment to see if there is an interest in mini-challenges. Some of the challenges require some pretty heavy reading. This one comes out to one book every other month. So sixty days or thereabout to read a science book. It might be too narrow of a challenge to attract much interest. I shall see.

I love science books. At least, now that I'm out of school and can read whatever I feel like reading! Thanks for providing the opportunity to read just a few books. I like your idea of a mini-challenge. Six books in a year shouldn't be too hard, especially since we are free to be creative in our selections. I probably read that many most years, anyway.

Hi sjmccreary, You're the first signer-upper to this challenge. Yay! I have a feeling this challenge will stay sorta small which is fine with me. Maybe I will be able to keep up the threads. Like you, I don't think I'm going to pick my science books in one session. I'll post them as I read them. That way I don't get that locked-in feeling.

Hey VisibleGhost, I followed you over from Book Talk. I'm really interested in making my 75 Challenge into smaller challenges... A lot less daunting. I'm not so big on science though, but it gives me an excuse to broaden my reading horizons :)

Just wondering what kind of science books falls under this challenge. I'm sure heavy science like texts, genetics, astronomy, etc works, but I was wondering about the softer sciences like.... oh great time for brain freeze--examination of culture, language, etc--can't think of the darn -ology words....

I'm really glad someone started the mini-challenge, maybe I'll think of one too :)

Hi katelisim, I'm not even sure how many main branches of science there are now much less the number of all the tributary branches. Complexity Theory, for one, is poking its nose into every discipline out there.

I think these mini-challenges are going to start small and probably stay that way. A lot of LT users access Talk through Your Groups or Your Posts. Less often do they use All Topics because they're not even staying caught up with the groups they are in now. It takes awhile for new groups to get noticed and catch on, if they ever do.

What subject or genre would you most like to see a mini-challenge in? The possibilities seem endless. They could run for a quarter, a half-year, a whole year or some other time frame. They don't have to begin at the first of the year. The number of books to read are variable also.

If you start a mini-challenge it looks like it won't take a lot of time to keep up with it. Then again, you might come up with a more popular subject or genre than science. ;)

Hmm... I guess I'll use my best judgment on what's science enough? --you don't really need to answer that question, just how I thought/said it :)

I'm not entirely sure what categories I would like to see yet. Those possibilities do indeed seem endless. I mostly read YA and science fiction, so that would be easy, but outside of that would keep me out of a rut....
I looked at that 'What's in a name challenge' and thought that looked interesting because it was broader/open to interpretation. It gave you something specific(body part) to have in the title... makes it a scavenger hunt too :)

I kind of like the idea of a smaller group. All of my other groups are bursting with members and it's a little overwhelming to keep up with the overall, or even some single threads that get a ridiculous amount of posts in a day.

#4 I was thinking along the lines of science = dewey decimal 500's (natural and life sciences) and 600's (applied sciences and technology). Culture and language are (I think) 300's and 400's. I won't count them as science, but I don't mind if you do. (I can't think of the -ology words, either). I guess my own bottom line will be if it "feels" like a science book, then I am going to count it.

That's what I thought would be the leanings... I think I will only count the culture-ish books if they take a scientific approach, like actually dissecting/examining the culture and why it is how it is, instead of just a telling of experiences.

I have Proust and The Squid to be read sometime- this year I hope. It's been mentioned by several people here on LT. It's a 600 book with the subtitle; The Story and Science of the Reading Brain so I'll include it as a science book.

My futurism books usually have quite a bit of science in them but a lot of it is speculation so I won't include them. I'll keep them in a separate category or mini-challenge.

I read Einstein: His Life and Universe, a biography, last year and I count it as a science book. As I would many of the history of science books. I like the idea that if it 'feels' like science to you, then include it.

"culture-ish" = sociology

I finally thought of it!

And I thought of the one I was thinking of

anthropology :)

Thanks to kidzdoc for bringing this thread back up. It has some good science books to peruse when you're wondering what to dive into next. It is The Royal Society Prizes for Science Books nominees and winners.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/11564

So I think I finally had a good idea for a mini-challenge... if it's not already been taken... and I thought I'd get some opinions from the others that have interest in these challenges.

6 degrees of separation

Where you'd start with any old topic/thing(WWII, Mars, painting) find a book on/with it then find something else in the book to connect to another book and another, til you reach 6. Then finish with a different topic/thing.

Example: Genetic Splicing, Maximum Ride has children with bird genes spliced. Part of the book takes place in New York, as does The Good Fairies of New York. Or use author, character, building, idea, ice cream flavor, etc

What do you guys think?

#13 I think that sounds like a fun challenge - could be even more challenging by designating an ending place in advance - a sort of "target".

Ex. Beginning with "ice cream" and ending up at "ice berg", or "genetic splicing" to "vegetable slicing"

I went ahead and started a group. Feel free to check it out
http://www.librarything.com/groups/minichallenge6degree#forums

or feel free to ignore it :)