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Summer Reading/Book Review: Four Laws That Drive The Universe, by Peter Atkins

Lowell Thomson | Mon, 07/31/2017 - 14:49

In a previous blog post, I shared a book Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction, by Dr. Peter Atkins. For my summer reading I wanted to get back to reading some chemistry non-fiction. I did, however, diverge from my original plan to read Eric Scerri's The Periodic Table: It's story and significance. Instead. "Four Laws That Drive the Universe" (with an alternative title of The Laws of Thermodynamics: A Very Short Introduction) became my next book as I so thoroughly enjoyed the writing style of Peter Atkins. The Kindle Version is only $6.15 and worth every penny in my opinion.

A Review of "A Global Warming Primer"

Hal Harris | Thu, 05/25/2017 - 14:20

In “A Global Warming Primer”, Jeffrey Bennett provides a template for conversation about the most pressing global environmental issue of our time. The author also recommends a link to the ACS Climate Science Toolkit that offers many useful resources for learning about and teaching the concepts related to climate science.

Book Review: "Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction" by Peter Atkins

Lowell Thomson | Sat, 03/18/2017 - 10:43

I was at a workshop recently, when a friend suggested I read, Chemistry: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Atkins, Oxford University Press. The friend suggested the book would not take long to read, and given the name included the phrase "A very short introduction" who was I to argue? So I bought the Kindle Version of the book for about $7 U.S. and got to reading.

Visible Learning for Teachers by John Hattie

Chad Husting | Mon, 08/08/2016 - 09:14

John Hattie is a guy who spent twenty five years doing over 50000 meta analysis studies on about 80 million students and wrote a book called “Visible Learning”. He has also done a number of TED talks. Essentially, he asks the question, “What affects students learning?” and clearly as well as simply defines what an “effect” is. He told the story of a researcher who spent years recording classroom interactions from the perspective of the student and the teacher. The researcher was surprised to learn that about seventy percent of learning was not visible to the teacher. So..even the best teachers with the best data only get about thirty percent of the picture. Next came the book, Visible Learning for Teachers and the website “Visible Learning Plus”.

The Poisoner’s Handbook

Doug Ragan | Tue, 06/21/2016 - 23:11

In the June 6th, 2016 Chemical and Engineering News magazine put out by the American Chemical Society, C&EN talks with Deborah Blum, journalist and author: From the article’s description, ‘The Poisoner’s Handbook’ writer talks about the beauty of chemistry and why she wants people to know more about it.

Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words by Randall Munroe

Michelle Okroy | Mon, 06/06/2016 - 23:59

How did someone figure that out? Can you explain to me why this happens? No matter the topic, individuals are always seeking information as they look to explain complex objects and theories. “Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words” by Randall Munroe uses only one thousand of the most common words to explain various inventions and phenomena in the field of physical science.

Rust

Scott Robowski | Fri, 07/31/2015 - 09:43

A great book for summer reading is "Rust: the longest war".

Cars rusting! Bridges collapsing! Rust, and corrosion in general, is probably the most important topic that is not on most people's radar. This is definitely something people should be paying more attention to.

Project Exodus

Hal Harris | Mon, 06/01/2015 - 16:34

Critical reviews of "Beyond" by Chris Impey, "How We'll Live on Mars" by Stephen L. Petranek, "Exploration and Engineering: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Quest for Mars" by Erik M. Conway, by Elizabeth Kolbert.