Books like New Worlds, Ancient Texts — picked by fans

I love books that debunk widespread popular myths. Most people think Charles Darwin was an anti-religious crusader who sailed around the globe trying to find evidence to disprove the biblical story of creation. Many people have told me this; even more have written about it. They are all so wrong it would be hard to imagine them being more wrong.

Darwin, shortly after some studies to become a priest, boarded the Beagle with a Bible and a traditional Anglican faith—a faith that survived his many explorations as he circled the globe. His theory “tormented” him as it gestated for he understood the damage it would do to the beloved story in Genesis.

I loved this book for its sparkling, eloquent prose. As a young writer, I strove to emulate the author. The book’s engaging, often novelistic, narrative tells the tale of how we came to understand and accept that our planet moves, that the universe is very old and very large, and began with a Big Bang.

The characters—Galileo, Newton, and Einstein—come to life as real people struggling to understand. Their bewilderment at our strange cosmic home pulled me into the story. The unwelcome realizations reveal the power of science to force us to abandon our cherished notions of how we wish the world to be—to “Come of Age in the Milky Way.”

I have always been intrigued by thoughtful doubters who reject mainstream ideas, whose intellects “boldly go where nobody has gone before.” Most of our intellectual revolutions start with such doubters, who look at widely accepted ideas and say “I am not so sure about this.”

I really loved the author's discussion of poor Job as he wrestled with the prevailing belief that a good man would be blessed by God with a happy life. Jennifer Hecht is a gifted writer. She reminds us that now-mainstream thinkers from the past—Pythagoras, Jesus, Marx, Galileo, Freud, Darwin—were radicals in their own time.

Faith journeys fascinate me. I love the dramatic tales of how we come to religious faith, or more commonly today, how we lose that faith. Our individual stories of loss are microcosms of the 19th-century loss of faith, which saw so many Europeans lose their belief in God but not their need for something transcendent to ground their understanding of reality.

I love the way A.N. Wilson tells this story as a sobering tale of loss rather than liberation. He dispels the notion that external forces like science are the full or even most important part of the story. Biblical scholarship was casting doubt on the veracity of the Bible long before Darwin challenged Genesis with his theory of evolution.

All sorts of islands have been spotted from afar and printed on our maps, only to be revisited years later and found to be ephemeral or just plain delusions. This book is a historical survey of late nineteenth-century British and American attempts to verify islands and establish a final, accurate map of the world. It was an impossible task back then and it is even more challenging today, for islands are coming and going with increasing speed.

This nonfiction picture book takes an unusual approach in presenting the story of the Curiosity rover. Curiosity tells the reader about her extraordinary journey to Mars. I was fascinated and enlightened reading details about the construction, launch, and landing of this complex robot. The illustrator’s earthy palette compliments the subject matter. The last illustration of the tiny rover on the red planet left me in awe. It reminded me of standing at the rim of the Grand Canyon and gazing at a scene so vast I couldn’t possibly take it all in. Check out the rover’s path here!

Do you recall when the Hubble Space Telescope was launched with supposedly the world’s most perfect mirror, but proved out of focus, a billion-dollar “techno-turkey?” Despite widespread doubts (including mine), it was repaired in space and became arguably the most powerful telescope ever, making extraordinary discoveries about the birth of stars, the age of the universe, what happens when comets smash into Jupiter, and much more. Behind the scenes there were engineering quandaries, inter-agency disputes, and MacGyvering repairs by astronauts. Dave Leckrone, the ultimate insider who worked on Hubble for 33 years, ending as its top Project Scientist, knows what really happened, the “story behind the story,” aided by what must be a photographic memory, incessant notetaking, and one guesses, closely-held Hubble X-files. He tells all of it here.

This book by Paul Spudis is scientifically accurate and well-written for any proverbial intelligent layperson to enjoy. Paul’s (sadly, now a name on a crater near the lunar south pole) book is a popular introduction to the Moon 4.5 billion history, describing its catastrophic formation, its strange landforms and their geology, and especially the exploration by robotic spacecraft and Apollo astronauts – all of which Paul was involved with. In his lunar column for Smithsonian Magazine, Paul perfected his knack for revealing the fascinating history of the Moon and the reasons for humans to return. And now, 50 years since the last Apollo astronaut left the Moon, women and men will return starting this decade. You need to read The Once and Future Moon to be prepared - maybe prepared to go yourself.

In the United States, New Mexico is a habitual contender for both poorest and most violent/dangerous.

Stan Hoig’s comprehensive examination of the conquistador expeditions into the region leads one to believe the place never had a chance. Men like Nuno Beltrán de Guzmán and Coronado worked under the guise of spreading the word of God to the New World. 

The reality is much different: the kingdom of Castile had bankrupted itself with their defeat of the Moors on the Iberian Peninsula. What Spain really needed was gold, and the kingdom was willing to do anything to stay solvent. From its inception, what we now know as New Mexico had little time for justice: justice takes time. 

For anybody planning a visit to New Mexico—and its natural beauty is, to my mind, second-to-none—Came Men on Horses provides a pivotal, historical context to its continued milieu.

For me, this book melded many ideas I had as I grew up on humanity’s place in the Universe. Dr. Sagan’s writing just pulled many of my ideas and understanding into one strong framework.

As with many of the books I recommend, Sagan's writing showed me that I can do science and still remain grounded without my ego expanding faster than the universe!