My brother loaded a ton of PDF's on my laptop. Some of them have been mentioned itt. Has anybody read any of these 3?

A Brief History of Nearly Everything, Bryson
The Ethics of Killing, McMahan
Why Sex Matters, Low

Lemme know if any are worthwhile.
Oh right keep in mind I'm a layperson.

Bryson's Brief history is great for sweeping overview of alot of science and history of science, awesome, well worth the read.
Havent read the rest.

Yes I'm almost done with this book. Very well written.

2 excellent maths books (readable by maths nerds and non maths nerds alike)

Music of The Primes by Marcos du Satuoy
Fermat's Last Theorem by Andrew Wiles

1 AutobiographyThe Strangest Man (Paul Dirac) by Graham Farmelo

Biography on some of the best work by Leonhard Euler (a bit maths this one but amazing)
Leonhard Euler: The master of us all by William Dunham

Popular Science Book
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Meh, I thought Bryson's book was a little middle-school for my taste.

Anyone read/have any opinion on The Perfect Swarm: The Science of Complexity in Everyday Life by Len Fisher? Pretty new I think. Nature had a review this week, but not much to it.

Science:
Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body

I finished The God Particle: If the Universe is the Answer, What is the Question? by Leon Lederman not too long ago.

In the physics department, it was a little basic for me, but it was an awesome read. Lederman does a good job mixing humor and science.

Highly recommended.

Got The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God for $3.99 at Borders. Can't go wrong with Sagan. Based on his 1985 Gifford Lectures.

Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions
By Lisa Randall, one of the top theoretical physicists.
The author does a great job of explaining the perplexing queries about our universe that modern scientists deal with these days.

From the New Yorker:
"Randall, a professor of physics at Harvard, offers a tour of current questions in particle physics, string theory, and cosmology, paying particular attention to the thesis that more physical dimensions exist than are usually acknowledged. Writing for a general audience, Randall is patient and kind: she encourages readers to skip around in the text, corrals mathematical equations in an appendix at the back, and starts off each chapter with an allegorical story, in a manner recalling the work of George Gamow. Although the subject itself is intractably difficult to follow, the exuberance of Randall's narration is appealing. She's honest about the limits of the known, and almost revels in the uncertainties that underlie her work—including the possibility that some day it may all be proved wrong."

Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics (2003), by John Derbyshire

Deals with the history, math, and implications of the Riemann Hypothesis. You don't need a high-level math background to appreciate the book.

I came across this series, and it always amazes me how I can pick a book at random and still be glued to it. It might be that I am easily entertained, but my gosh how much fun it is!

Notice how many of the recommendations posted in this thread are listed.

Yea that series is definitely full of gems. I've been wanting to acquire either that series or the Harvard Classics, but I can't find a good set of either for a reasonable price.

Did you buy them or just check them out of the library?

I check them out of the library.

Honestly I don't find amazones price too stiff. It's a set of books that wont loose it's relevance, in my time atleast, and the volumes can be reread with great benefits.

imo, the real value in the series is that it gives such a strong foundation.

I'm about halfway through The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's an entertaining and unpretentious approach to practical philosophy.

In my opinion, philosophic discussion in general (especially outside of academia) would be a lot better if everyone read the following:

Critique of Pure Reason-- Kant
Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding-- Hume
Phenomenology of Spirit-- Hegel
Foundations of Arithmetic-- Frege
Problems of Philosophy-- Russell
Tractatus-- Wittgenstein
Investigations-- Wittgenstein
Blue and Brown Books-- Wittgenstein
On Certainty-- Wittgenstein
Intention-- Anscombe
Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind-- Sellars
Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature-- Rorty
Davidson's articles
Naming and Necessity-- Kripke
Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language-- Kripke
Mind and World-- McDowell