The Amoeba's Secret by Bruno Marchal (2014, ISBN 9781495992797)

I found out about this book on Always Asking 

Is seemed like something I'd be interested in. The book is an autobiography. However, parts of it, for example chapter 8 are beyond anything I could understand. There are lots of references to Gödel, Church, Kleene, Tarski and many many others.

This seems to be about Digital Mechanism or Computationalism.

 

The back cover says this -- 

The Amoeba's Secret tells the story of Dr Bruno Marchal's quest for understanding some of the deepest aspects of reality, starting from an initial interest in invisible immortal beings as a child, and a realisation that amoeba are both invisible and effectively immortal. This led to questions touching some of the most fundamental theorems of computer science and mathematics, and a surprising reversal in the ontological status of psychology and physics. For this, he was awarded a PhD at the university of Lille, and received the coveted Prix Le Monde de la Recherche Universitaire. This book, Le Secret de l'Amibe, was commissioned by Le Monde for publication by Grasset, and then mysteriously, the prize was withdrawn, and the book never published. Now translated into English for the first time, you can read the incredible journey and ordeals that Dr Marchal faced. Plus, this book remains the most accessible introduction to Dr Marchal's ideas, as he explains what motivated him to formulate and study these questions in this way.

 

Purchased 2021-05-26 from Amazon for 19.99. 

 

The Astronomy Book by Jacqueline Mitton, Robert Dinwiddie (+3 co-authors) (2017, ISBN 978-1-4654-6418-7)

 Contains a series of short articles about various Astronomy related topics.  Planets, Stars, Galaxies, etc. The articles are arraigned by date, so the first is about Aristotle, the last is about LIGO.

Aristotle believed the Earth was the center of the Universe. (He was wrong.)

 Since the dawn of humankind, people have looked upward to the heavens and tried to understand them. This encyclopedia takes you on an expedition through time and space to discover our place in the universe.

 History of Astronomy 

Purchased 2020-01-24 from Powells (Burnside) for $12.98
 

The Three-Body Problem from Pythagoras to Hawking by Mauri Valtonen (+5 co-authors) (2016, ISBN 978-3-319-22725-2)

This book, written for a general readership, reviews and explains the three-body problem in historical context reaching to latest developments in computational physics and gravitation theory. The three-body problem is one of the oldest problems in science and it is most relevant even in today’s physics and astronomy.

 Great book I loved it. lots of science but not too hard core.

Purchased 2022-07-19 from Amazon for $38.56
 

 The Biggest Ideas In The Universe space, time. and motion by Sean Carroll (2022, ISBN 9780593186589)

Popular science explanation of Mechanics from Newton to Einstein.

Purchased 2022-10-25 from Powells (Hawthorne) for $23.00

The Motion Paradox by Joseph Mazur (2007, ISBN 978-0-525-94992-3)

Subtitle- The 2,500 year old puzzle behind all the mysteries of time and space.

The book is about Zeno's paradoxes of motion.

Zeno's paradoxes are discussed and then a variety of physics topics are discussed and related back to the paradoxes.

 I enjoyed this book.

Purchased at (unknown) on 2008-7-1 for (amount unknown, possibly 24.95$.)
 

 The Theoretical Minimum by Leonard Susskind and George Hrabovsky (2013, ISBN 978-0-465-07568-3)

Subtitle: What You Need To Know To Start Doing Physics.

The one thing I learned from this book was-- There is No Royal Road to Physics.

In 227 pages the books covers a lot of territory!  Mathematics-- Spaces, Trigonometry, Vectors, Differential Calculus, Integral Calculus, Partial Derivatives, Vector Fields-- DIV, GRAD & CURL. That is a lot and doesn't include the Physics!

Physics-- Introduction, Motion, Dynamics, Energy, Lagrangian, Hamiltonian Mechanics, Poisson Brackets, Electric and Magnetic Forces, Newton's Laws and Kepler's Laws. And a whole lot more!

I doubt you can do Physics after reading this book, unless you are a genius. But you might get a feeling for whether or not this stuff interests you. If you are interested I suggest you get a proper College Physics book (for example Theoretical Physics by Georg Joos ISBN 978-0-486-65227-6) and study for real.  The book Classical Mechanics by H.C.Corben and Philip Stehle (ISBN 978-0-486-68063-7) covers many of the same topics (not the Math, they assume you know that) but it isn't for people who don't know the basics. Another book is Classical Mechanics with Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control, An Intuitive Introduction by Mark Levi (ISBN 978-0-8218-9138-4)

Classical Mechanics, The Theoretical Minimum by the same authors is just the UK version of the above book. (ISBN 978-0-141-97622-8)

I got these books for Christmas 2019.

The Zoomable Universe, by Caleb Scharf (2017, ISBN 978-0-374-71571-7)

Describes the Universe from the very large 10^27 (the whole universe) to the very small 10^-35 (the Planck scale.) It goes in steps of powers of 10 of meters. The humans are at between 10 meters and 1 meters.

Received for Christmas 2017.

Seven Brief Lessons On Physics by Carlo Rovelli (2014, ISBN 978-0-399-18441-3)

A series of seven essays for the general reader about topics in physics.  Topics include-- Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Cosmos, Sub-atomic particles, etc.

Purchased at Powell's on 2018-3-15 for 9.98$

QED by Richard P. Feynman (1985, ISBN 0-691-02417-0)
Subtitle-- The Strange Theory of Light and Matter.

A series of four lectures made into essays about QED or quantum electrodynamics. It is supposed to be for the general reader but is still difficult.

Purchased at Powell's on 2018-3-15 for 10.50$

Modern Physics: an introductory survey by Arthur Beiser (1968, ISBN 0-201-00515-8)
Topics covered-- Electromagnetic Waves,  Relativity, Quanta, The Atom, Complex Atoms, Molecules and  Ions, The Solid State, The Nucleus, Nuclear Transformations, and Elementary Particles.
This book was used in a course of beginning Physics that I attended in the 1970's. Some of it is out of date, the author has a newer book that is more current. Still I think the book is worth a read.
Purchased at University Bookstore, probably in 1974-1975, for 5.95$

The Physics Book by Clifford A Pickover (2011, ISBN 978-1-4027-7861-2).
Subtitle-- From the Big Bang to Quantum Resurrection, 250 Milestones in the History of Physics.
Provides a brief summary, one page of text and a picture for 250 physics topics--
For example, Eratosthesnes Measures the Earth- describes how a scientist in 240 BC figured out how to measure the circumference  (yes they knew the Earth was sphere even then) of the Earth using measurements and math.
--or-- Photoelectric Effect, 1905, explains how shining a light on a copper plate can induce a electric current.
Many topics covered, worth reading if you are interested in science.
Purchased on 2017-12-11, AmazonMarketPlace (ChristianBookBag), 13.99$

Introducing Quantum Theory by J. P. McEvoy and Oscar Zarate  (1996, ISBN 1-874166-37-4)
This is a "Graphic" book discussing the History and Ideas around Quantum Theory. The text is by J. P. McEvoy and the art work is by Oscar Zarate. The book covers the early part of the 1900's when various European physicists (Einstein, Pauli, Dirac, Schrodinger, Planck, Born, Bohr, De Broglie, Heisenberg, etc.) developed the modern theory of Atomic and sub-Atomic particles and forces.
The book may seem simplistic to some because of the graphics, but I think it does a good job of introducing the reader to the History and Ideas of Quantum Theory.
Purchased from Powell's books 8-26-2004 for $7.50.

Calculating The Cosmos by Ian Stewart (2016, ISBN 978-0-465-09610-7)
Subtitle-- How Mathematics Unveils The Universe.

Talks about the mathematics of astrophysics from gravity to multiverse.  Excellent read. Despite the title, there is very little math. The book mostly talks about the math used to calculate various things.

Received as Christmas present 2016.

Welcome to the Universe by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A Strauss, J. Richard Gott (2016, ISBN 978-0-691-15724-5)
Subtitle-- An Astrophysical Tour.
Very interesting popular science book. It is divided into three sections-- I) Stars, Planets, and Life II) Galaxies III) Einstein and the Universe.

One chapter explains why Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Another chapter use the Drake equation to estimate the number of  active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. Time travel is explained.
The famous equation E=MC² is explained. Finally, a chapter is devoted to describing the ultimate fate of the Universe.
Christmas present 2016.

The Story of the World in 100 Species by Christopher Lloyd (2016, ISBN 978-1-4088-7638-1)

The book has sections like viruses, simple cells, symbiosis, sea life, etc. Covers the whole spectrum of life on earth. The first 50 species are examples of those species that made the world the way it is before humans became a powerful force. The last 50 species are those that have been modified by humans, for example, grasses like rice, wheat, maize. Also, covers some animals that humans have modified, for example, horses, cows, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats.

Purchased new at Barnes and Noble, 30$, 2017-6-22.

Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari (2017, ISBN 978-0-06-246431-6).
Subtitle-- A Brief History of Tomorrow. Discusses some ideas about what the future may hold for Humans. It is possible that we may create an AI the will replace us. The dominate theme is the Data Religion wherein the AI of the future will monitor us 24/7 and make all of decisions for us. An interesting book to read, would like to read it again sometime.
Purchased at Powells, 2-21-2017 for 35$.

A Many-Colored Glass by Freeman J. Dyson (2007, ISBN 978-0-8139-2973-6).
Subtitled Reflections on the Place of Life in the Universe.
Page-Barbour Lectures for 2004.
Seven lectures. I liked the last three the best, especially Looking For Life.
Received for Xmas 2015.

The Biology Book by Michael C. Gerald and Gloria E. Gerald (2015, ISBN 978-1-4549-1068-8).
Subtitled: From the Origin of Life to Epigenetics 250 Milestones in the History of Biology.

250 topics, each gets one page of text and a picture. Seems like a good overview of Biology, but for the non-technical reader.

Purchased in December 2016 at Powell's books for 29.95$.

The Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas (1974, ISBN 978-0-14-004743-1)
Subtitle-- Notes of a Biology Watcher.
This book contains a series of essays originally published by the New England Journal of Medicine. I enjoyed these essays, found interesting. A few time I found stuff that was out of date, nut that should be no surprise, since they were written more than 40 years ago. Was an xmas gift, xmas 2015.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (2015, ISBN 978-0-06-231609-7)
Subtitled-- A Brief History Of Humankind.
Very interesting book, one of those books that I feel like I want to re-read as soon as I have finished it. Discusses the long history of humans, from the first humans 2 million years ago up to present time.
Divides human history into three basic eras: Cognitive Revolution, Agricultural Revolution and Scientific Revolution.
Was a xmas present, xmas 2015.