Science at the Center

The Center of Things

Jenny McPhee
Call Number: MCPHEE

Marie has been working on her thesis in particle physics for some time, but her day job is as a journalist for a tabloid newspaper where current research involves a dying film star. Her sanctuary from the stresses of her life is the New York Public Library's Science Library, where she meets an eccentric intellectual. A delightful mix of quirky characters, plot turns and romance.

Easter Island

Jennifer Vanderbes
Call Number: VANDERB

The archaeological mysteries of Easter Island provide the setting and focus for the intertwined stories of two women sixty years apart in time.

The Fabric of the Cosmos

Brian Greene
Call Number: 523.1 GREENE

Physicist Greene uses characters from TV and popular culture to illustrate concepts of modern thinking about energy, time, quantum reality and string theory. One of the most readable versions of subjects almost beyond our logic or imagination.

The Helium Murder

Camille Minichino
Call Number: MINICHI

A Congresswoman is killed in a hit-and-run accident that appears to be involved with the government's helium reserves and superconductivity research. Physicist Gloria Lamerino and friends find themselves in jeopardy as Gloria tries to decipher the clues left by the dead woman.

The Hidden Face of God: How Science Reveals the Ultimate Truth

Gerald Schroeder
Call Number: 215 SCHROED

Schroeder is an Israeli physicist and biologist who explores the workings of the universe and the intricacies of molecular biology to gain transcendental insights that follow neither Darwinism nor Biblical creationism.

In Search of Klingsor

Jorge Volpi
Call Number: VOLPI

A suspense novel set in Germany just after World War II. An American physicist GI attempts to trace Hitler's work on an atomic bomb and the code-name Klingsor, the key to the research. He tries to unravel the deceit and intricacies told to him by a German mathematician, while conversations with Bohr, Heisenberg and Planck and his relationship with a mysterious woman add twists to his search.

Irons in the Fire - “The Gravel Page”

John McPhee
Call number: 081 MCPHEE

With the current fascination with forensic science in crime fighting, McPhee's chapter “The Gravel Page” in this journalistic collection will also prove fascinating. Geology has its own role to play in solving mysteries, as minute traces of dirt and minerals can be traced to their origins by sleuthing geologists.

Letters from Yellowstone

Diane Smith
Call number: SMITH

A lady botanist ventures into wild Yellowstone with her university expedition in the 1890s. Academic politics, wilderness adventure, plants and gentle romance develop through the letters written by various members of the expedition.

The Lives of a Cell

Lewis Thomas
Call Number: 301.3101 THOMAS

A modern classic of ideas about the interconnectedness of all life on Earth, based on Thomas' work in cell biology, his career in medicine and research, and his wide-ranging interests. These essays are poetic and hopeful.

The Star Thrower

Loren Eiseley
Call Number: 818.5409 EISELEY

Eiseley was an anthropologist and naturalist, and his scientific background blends with his compassion and poetry in essays about the state of modern humanity.

T. Rex and the Crater of Doom

Walter Alvarez
Call Number: 576.84 ALVAREZ

One of the original researchers who proposed an asteroid impact as the cause of dinosaur extinction writes of the search to solve the puzzle of finding the crater such an asteroid would have left on the face of the earth. Scientific sleuthing and coincidental serendipity play their roles in this non-technical account.

Volcano Cowboys: The Rocky Evolution of a Dangerous Science

Dick Thompson
Call Number: 551.2107 THOMPSO

The 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens provided an opportunity for advancing the understanding of volcanoes' behavior. However, in the days before the eruption, the learning curve was steep, the unknowns great, and the safety risks high as vulcanologists converged on the rumbling mountain.

Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival

Bernd Heinrich
Call Number: 591.43 HEINRICH

From the winter flights of tiny golden-crowned kinglets to the hidden nests and cocoons of insects, the author lovingly studies the lives and survival secrets in the woods around his Maine home.