Mercator by Nicholas Crane

The fascinating story of one of the great mapmakers of his or any time. Working carefully with limited data the world began to appear. Carefully separating error and fact and conjecture and gathering some data of his own, he beautifully brought a world together. This was done over many years in a hostile divided world of intrigue and shifting alliances. Imprisoned for his unspoken beliefs, he ran the gauntlet of his age surviving only with the help of Erasmus. It seems he was a quiet protestant who kept his thoughts to himself to do his work but left clues of his true feelings hidden in his work.

Information: The New Language of Science by Hans Christian von Baeyer

An attempt to make information the basic building block of science, even of matter, in the form of the qubit. The author tries to go past Shannon to include meaning of messages. In my opinion his explanation of Shannon is incomplete and his approach to message content is very vague. His discussion of Bayes is interesting and intriguing and may in fact be a mathematical path towards meaning in messages.

Einstein's Clocks, Poincaré's Maps by Peter Galison

A very good book about Poincaré who anticipated relativity but wouldn't give up "ether." This book makes a very good case that far from languishing bored in a patent office, Einstein took to the job, applied himself and perhaps even was stimulated in his thinking of time by patents for methods of coordinating distant clocks. Time is the subject of this book and simultaneity is the entrance to relativity. Well done.

State of Fear by Michael Crichton

Surprisingly interesting popular novel that is really an argument about global warming, science, and the politics of fear. Fun plot, long discussions which make thinking about the topic easy. Final notes about the author's own beliefs are interesting. Bibliography is probably very good.

Driver: Six Weeks in an Eighteen Wheeler by Phillip Wilson

Wilson graduates from driving school after being laid off from an engineering job and rides and drives for six weeks with "Trainer" all over the U.S. Everything you wanted to know about long-haul trucking. A good book - read this and you don't need to do it!

3:16 by Donald E. Knuth

This is a gem. A "stratified sampling" of the Bible done with great care, reverence and beauty. A concentration of intellect, care, attention and a virtuosity of thought, true piety. A feast of calligraphy and typography, but the real beauty is in the text. It is a spiritual journey through the Bible sampling but surprisingly comprehensive in depth and scope.

Electric Universe by David Bodanis

Good little book, well-written and rehash of much I have read before. Interested me about Faraday. Joseph Henry seems an interesting character, quite selfless it seems. The section on radar was most interesting. A good survey, but largely a review of other things I've read. Maxwell seems to lurk quietly and as a great but not well-imaged presence.