The Grid by Bakke

The Grid, by Gretchen Bakke. This book is about our aging electrical grid.  Even if you have never given a moment’s thought to how electricity reaches your outlets, I think this book would convince you that the electrical grid is one of the greatest engineering wonders of the modern world. I think you would also come to see why modernizing the grid is so complex and so critical for building our clean-energy future. 
Paraphrased from Bill Gates review

Rovelli Reality Is Not What It Seems

 "Reality Is Not What It Seems: the path to quantum gravity". 

I was enthralled. He writes very entertainingly about the long history of scientific thought, from Democritus forward. He also explains to the educated layman both relativity and quantum theory well enough to show where they are incompatible. His description of the concept of fields clarified my thinking significantly. 

He then goes on to "explain" the contributions of loop quantum gravity, especially the quantization of space-time. 

I actually got a chill when he showed the expression for the "Bronstein" length, sometimes called the Planck length, the smallest dimension possible. It is simple, contains, c the speed of light from relativity, h, Planck's constant, from quantum mechanics and G from Newton's square law, math operators square root, exponent cube, and pi, the ratio of circumference to diameter of a circle, times 2. Brought it all together. He does not claim all is complete, but only that this looks to be worthy of spending big bucks to find evidence. 

My arcane enthusiasms are not for everyone; but IMHO it is very well written.

Recent books about politics and individual experiences of diverse U.S. citizens

It's even worse than it looks : how the American constitutional system collided with the new politics of extremism / Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Orenstein. Hyperpartisanship is as old as American democracy. But now, acrimony is not confined to a moment; it's a permanent state of affairs and has seeped into every part of the political process. Identifying the overriding problems that have led Congress—and the United States—to the brink of institutional collapse, It's Even Worse Than It Looks profoundly altered the debate about why America's government has become so dysfunctional. Through a new preface and afterword, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein bring the story forward, examining the 2012 presidential campaign and exploring the prospects of a less dysfunctional government. As provocative and controversial as ever, It's Even Worse Than It Looks will continue to set the terms of our political debate in the years to come.

Muslim girl : a coming of age / Amani Al-Khatahtbeh.

At nine years old, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh watched from her home in New Jersey as two planes crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. That same year, she heard her first racial slur. At age eleven, when the United States had begun to invade Iraq and the television was flooded with anti-Muslim commentary, Amani felt overwhelmed with feelings of intense alienation from American society. At thirteen, her family took a trip to her father’s native homeland of Jordan, and Amani experienced firsthand a culture built on pure religion, not Islamic stereotypes.

Inspired by her trip and after years of feeling like her voice as a Muslim woman was marginalized and neglected during a time when all the media could talk about was, ironically, Muslim women, Amani created a website called MuslimGirl. As the editor-in-chief, she put together a team of Muslim women and started a life dedicated to activism. I.e. Screaming Islamaphobia constantly.

Hillbilly elegy : a memoir of a family and culture in crisis / J.D. Vance

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.

The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love,” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility.

But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that this is only the short, superficial version. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. Vance piercingly shows how he himself still carries around the demons of their chaotic family history.

A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.

In the country we love : my family divided / Diane Guerrero

Diane Guerrero, the television actress from the megahit Orange is the New Black and Jane the Virgin, was just fourteen years old on the day her parents were detained and deported while she was at school. Born in the U.S., Guerrero was able to remain in the country and continue her education, depending on the kindness of family friends who took her in and helped her build a life and a successful acting career for herself, without the support system of her family.

Homo Deus by Yuval Harari

Yuval Noah Harari, author of the critically-acclaimed New York Times bestseller and international phenomenon Sapiens, returns with an equally original, compelling, and provocative book, turning his focus toward humanity’s future.

Over the past century humankind has managed to do the impossible and rein in famine, plague, and war. This may seem hard to accept, but, as Harari explains in his trademark style—thorough, yet riveting—famine, plague and war have been transformed from incomprehensible and uncontrollable forces of nature into manageable challenges. For the first time ever, more people die from eating too much than from eating too little; more people die from old age than from infectious diseases; and more people commit suicide than are killed by soldiers, terrorists and criminals put together. 

What then will replace famine, plague, and war at the top of the human agenda? As the self-made gods of planet earth, what destinies will we set ourselves, and which quests will we undertake? Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.

With the same insight and clarity that made Sapiens an international hit and a New York Times bestseller, Harari speculates about our future.

Seven Brief Lessons in Physics. by Carlo Rovelli

This one made me remember why I loved being a physicist.

“One of the year’s most entrancing books about science.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Clear, elegant...a whirlwind tour of some of the biggest ideas in physics.”—The New York Times Book Review

This playful, entertaining, and mind-bending introduction to modern physics briskly explains Einstein's general relativity, quantum mechanics, elementary particles, gravity, black holes, the complex architecture of the universe, and the role humans play in this weird and wonderful world. Carlo Rovelli, a renowned theoretical physicist, is a delightfully poetic and philosophical scientific guide. He takes us to the frontiers of our knowledge: to the most minute reaches of the fabric of space, back to the origins of the cosmos, and into the workings of our minds. The book celebrates the joy of discovery.  “Here, on the edge of what we know, in contact with the ocean of the unknown, shines the mystery and the beauty of the world,” Rovelli writes. “And it’s breathtaking.”

The Universe within by Neal Shubin

The Universe within by Neal Shubin
Well written description of why we are what we are. Lots of interesting geology.

https://www.amazon.com/Universe-Within-Discovering-History-Planets/dp/0307378438/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=

Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality

Tegmark writes with excellent clarity, but this takes on some concentration.

"Max Tegmark leads us on an astonishing journey through past, present and future, and through the physics, astronomy and mathematics that are the foundation of his work, most particularly his hypothesis that our physical reality is a mathematical structure and his theory of the ultimate multiverse. In a dazzling combination of both popular and groundbreaking science, he not only helps us grasp his often mind-boggling theories, but he also shares with us some of the often surprising triumphs and disappointments that have shaped his life as a scientist. Fascinating from first to last—this is a book that has already prompted the attention and admiration of some of the most prominent scientists and mathematicians."

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Mathematical-Universe-Ultimate-Reality/dp/0307744256/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459205307&sr=1-1&keywords=our+mathematical+universe

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Will annoy and surprise some, but I think he has good insight into the big picture.

"From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”

One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one—homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?

Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book that begins about 70,000 years ago with the appearance of modern cognition. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.

Dr. Harari also compels us to look ahead, because over the last few decades humans have begun to bend laws of natural selection that have governed life for the past four billion years. We are acquiring the ability to design not only the world around us, but also ourselves. Where is this leading us, and what do we want to become?

Featuring 27 photographs, 6 maps, and 25 illustrations/diagrams, this provocative and insightful work is sure to spark debate and is essential reading for aficionados of Jared Diamond, James Gleick, Matt Ridley, Robert Wright, and Sharon Moalem."

http://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-A-Brief-History-Humankind/dp/0062316095/ref=pd_sim_14_21?ie=UTF8&dpID=51xwPegEzlL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_&refRID=1QNR737QW0CWNY6X0Y90

The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature

Delightful read! Enjoyed every page.

Winner of 2013 Best Book Award from the National Academies.
Finalist for 2013 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction.
Winner of the 2013 Reed Environmental Writing Award.
Winner of the 2012 National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History Literature.
Runner-up for 2013 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

"A biologist reveals the secret world hidden in a single square meter of forest

 

Written with remarkable grace and empathy, The Forest Unseen is a grand tour of nature in all its profundity. Biologist David George Haskell uses a one-square-meter patch of old-growth Tennessee forest as a window onto the entire natural world. Visiting it almost daily for one year to trace nature's path through the seasons, he brings the forest and its inhabitants to vivid life. Beginning with simple observations--a salamander scuttling across the leaf litter, the first blossom of spring wildflowers--Haskell spins a brilliant web of biology, ecology, and poetry, explaining the science binding together ecosystems that have cycled for thousands--sometimes millions--of years."

http://www.amazon.com/Forest-Unseen-Years-Watch-Nature/dp/0143122940/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459205126&sr=1-1&keywords=the+forest+unseen

The Vital Question;Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life

I recently finished a book that goes immediately to my shelf of favorites, "The Vital Question; Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life" by Nick Lane. It took me about 6 weeks to read. The closely argued story of life ascending was only clear to me after rereading many passages several times, and only when I was alert and rested. In every session of reading I found multiple epiphanies and delightful passages. I have been reading about evolutionary biology, genetics, epigenetics and biochemistry for about a dozen years, with excursions into geohistory and biochemistry. This very clearly written book severely stressed my layman's knowledge.

Lane brings together the current knowledge of geohistory (what the earth and oceans were like 4 billion years ago), alkaline hydrothermal vent discoveries, and basic redox chemistry, to make plausible the bacterial beginnings of life. The process included discussion of bioenergetics and lipid chemistry, with genetics of bacteria and archaea. These two domains hung around very little changed for about 2 billion years, making a living by various biochemical tricks, and sharing their genes haphazardly. They could not take much advantage of natural selection because they had no organized nucleus. They produce clones. They proliferated widely over the earth, and are still everywhere, and continue to adapt to their environments. 

Then a very unlikely event happened. An archaea merged with a bacteria and the combination prospered. Their genomes interacted and one, the archaea, became host and the bacteria became the mitochondria via natural selection. All multi celled creatures and plants are descended from that event. This story, modulated by the energetics of all life, ATP production,and modern genomics and biochemistry, is what this book is about, why is complex life the way it is. 

There is a 4 page section plus a figure starting on page 238 that brought home to me why this book is so fascinating. The passage discusses the respiratory proteins in mitochondria, which transfer electrons from food to oxygen, along a series of protein complexes embedded in the mitochondrial membrane while pumping protons across the membrane. The complete story is more complicated than I can reproduce here, but the depth of scientific knowledge is breathtaking. Each complex is made up of dozens of proteins, consisting of hundreds of amino acids. The exact  positioning of the complexes and the amino acid placement is critical in the quantum tunneling of the electrons along the membrane from complex to complex to the ATP synthase all embedded in the membrane. Many genetic diseases arise from slight faults in the arrangement if the proteins. One angstrom makes a 10 fold difference in the transfer rate, in turn affecting the ATP production rate. The figure shows a model of the membrane with the embedded complexes. The figure has shading that shows which part of the overall structure is produced from the DNA blueprint in the cell nucleus and which part is from the blueprint in the 13 genes in the mitochondria!. There is a discussion of how the bioenergetics and natural selection brought this complexity about. He also shows 

why complex beings have sex, just  two sexes, and death as part of this discussion. Consilience!

The knowing detail in this passage blows my mind. How can human beings decipher this amazing factory that is in all animal cells? Lots of Nobel prizes came out of this area.  This type of passage fills the book. My enjoyment in this reading comes from putting the discovered facts into a logical structure, suddenly seeing "the big picture"

I also like to read history, economics, mysteries and modern novels, but this kind of book thrills me. 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Vital-Question-Evolution-Origins/dp/0393088812?ie=UTF8&keywords=Lane%20Nick&qid=1459201268&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1