Source for Reviews/New Listings for STEM Titles

[RJ Emery]

The WSJ and the NY Times, among other media sources, have their best sellers/new titles lists of published books. I seek the same but for STEM titles. (STEM is the acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.) I can find such lists recommending history or biography or other subjects, but not STEM.

If you know of a authoritative source for new and/or reviewed STEM titles (but excluding vendors), please share it with me. Thank you.

 

[fresh_42]

I do not think that such lists exist. The market for STEM titles is considerably smaller than for essays and novels. And there are system immanent difficulties, too.

1. What makes a good book is heavily depending on your learning preferences. This individual criterion is much stronger than it is regarding taste, which is usually the measure for prosa. Taste is an add-on.
2. STEM is not the true category here: certain areas in certain fields in certain sciences are. A physicist most likely won't purchase a book about bacteria. And a biologist specialized on megafauna possibly won't either. So the entire market structure is a giant tree, where the number of people who are interested in a certain leaf is finally very small.

If you are interested in books which match your personal needs, level of understanding, and way to learn, it is best to ask someone for recommendations whom you can trust and rely on.

 

[RJ Emery]

I do not think that such lists exist. The market for STEM titles is considerably smaller than for essays and novels. And there are system immanent difficulties, too.

You may be correct. My search for same has not been satisfactory. Even a compendium of new titles from the various university presses would be helpful. My interests span all of STEM. Thank you for responding.

 

[fresh_42]

You may be correct. My search for same has not been satisfactory. Even a compendium of new titles from the various university presses would be helpful. My interests span all of STEM. Thank you for responding.

The question is not STEM or not, the question is at which level! Hofstadter (GEB), Hawking (Time) and Singh (Fermat) made it onto the usual charts, but they can hardly be called a STEM title. On the other hand and for example I have a book about Virasoro algebras, but I assume it would be difficult to find other interested readers even here on PF - let alone among the readers of NYT or WSJ.

 

[RJ Emery]

The question is not STEM or not, the question is at which level! Hofstadter (GEB), Hawking (Time) and Singh (Fermat) made it onto the usual charts, but they can hardly be called a STEM title. On the other hand and for example I have a book about Virasoro algebras, but I assume it would be difficult to find other interested readers even here on PF - let alone among the readers of NYT or WSJ.

I am a reader of the NYT and the WSJ, and I am interested in all things STEM qualitative or quantatative. The level of complexity is not important. If I do not know the mathematics, I will learn it to add to my repertoire. I have no idea what Virasoro algebras are, but I will soon find out.

One limiting factor for reviews of STEM titles could well be book price. If more than $100 (or other amount), it is probably too technical or of limited scope for most readers.

 

[fresh_42]

You may be correct. My search for same has not been satisfactory. Even a compendium of new titles from the various university presses would be helpful. My interests span all of STEM. Thank you for responding.

A good in between are our insight articles. They are over 400 in number and usually range in difficulty somewhere between a Wikipedia article and a textbook. They are certainly nowhere near to substitute a textbook, but they are interesting appetizers which indicate the directions of research.

 

[martinbn]

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