Top Hacker News Book Recommendations in Science & Math (all time)

All Time Past 6 Months

Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth

Avi Loeb

4.5 on Amazon

5 HN comments

The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life

Arthur Firstenberg

4.8 on Amazon

5 HN comments

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy

Jenny Odell

4.2 on Amazon

5 HN comments

Turn Left At Orion: Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope - and How to Find Them (Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope – and How to Find Them)

Guy Consolmagno

4.7 on Amazon

5 HN comments

Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World

Paul Stamets

4.8 on Amazon

5 HN comments

How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices

Annie Duke and Penguin Audio

4.4 on Amazon

5 HN comments

The Longevity Diet: Discover the New Science Behind Stem Cell Activation and Regeneration to Slow Aging, Fight Disease, and Optimize Weight

Valter Longo

4.4 on Amazon

5 HN comments

The Circadian Code: Lose Weight, Supercharge Your Energy, and Transform Your Health from Morning to Midnight

Satchin Panda PhD

4.6 on Amazon

5 HN comments

Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English

John McWhorter

4.5 on Amazon

5 HN comments

The Art of Statistics: How to Learn from Data

David Spiegelhalter

4.6 on Amazon

5 HN comments

The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World

Steven Johnson

4.5 on Amazon

5 HN comments

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope (P.S.)

William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer

4.6 on Amazon

5 HN comments

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Neil deGrasse Tyson

4.7 on Amazon

4 HN comments

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Robin Wall Kimmerer and Tantor Audio

4.8 on Amazon

4 HN comments

Ants: Workers of the World

Eleanor Spicer Rice and Eduard Florin Niga

3.8 on Amazon

4 HN comments

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turingbikeonJuly 3, 2019

Stamets' book, Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World [0] is very good, and his enthusiasm is definitely contagious. I will check out the podcast, thought tbh Joe Rogan is pretty hit or miss for me.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Mycelium-Running-Mushrooms-Help-World...

ryanneviusonMay 6, 2019

If this interests you, Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets is an interesting dissertation on how mushrooms can "save the planet." His TED talks are a decent intro as well.

mulokaonNov 4, 2013

I first heard about this in Paul Stamet's book Mycelium Running.

Its too bad they include this period of Earth's history more prominently in high school.

fmakunboundonOct 2, 2020

Cool. 1/2 way Stamet's book Mycelium Running which I highly recommend. This dude seems to have the same, highly infectious enthusiasm on the same topic.

Alex3917onMar 26, 2021

Most people would probably recommend Paul Stamets' book Mycelium Running in response to this question. I haven't read it personally (despite owning 20+ mushroom books), but that's probably the closest to what you're looking for. Langdon Cook's book The Mushroom Hunters is also a lot of fun, but it's definitely not comprehensive -- it's just stories about the commercial mushroom harvesting world.

If you want to get into mushroom foraging then the best way to learn (in addition to joining your local mycology club) is by getting some of the picture books, e.g. Mushrooming Without Fear and Mushrooming With Confidence. (Field guides aren't good for beginners, even the simplified ones.) If you're in the northeast, Lawrence Millman's book Fantastic Fungi of New England is also great.

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