Here is a list of some science-related stuff I find cool; items are presented in no particular order. If you check on any item on this list, feel free to contact me and let me know what you think!
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan: “How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science?”
Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman: “In his mega bestseller, […] Daniel Kahneman, world-famous psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think.”
Turing’s Vision: The Birth of Computer Science, by Chris Bernhardt: “Turing’s fascinating and remarkable theory, which now forms the basis of computer science, explained for the general reader.”
Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth, by Apostolos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou: “Covering a span of sixty years, the graphic novel Logicomix was inspired by the epic story of the quest for the Foundations of Mathematics.”
Proofs and Refutations: The Logic Mathematical Discovery, by Imre Lakatos: “Proofs and Refutations is essential reading for all those interested in the methodology, the philosophy and the history of mathematics. Much of the book takes the form of a discussion between a teacher and his students.”
The Critical Thinker’s Dictionary: Biases, Fallacies, and Illusions and What You Can Do About Them, by Robert Carroll: “The Critical Thinker’s Dictionary isn’t a collection of dry definitions, but a colorful, three-dimensional portrait of the major obstacles to critical thinking and what we can do to overcome them.”
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea, by Charles Seife: “In Zero, Science Journalist Charles Seife follows this innocent-looking number from its birth as an Eastern philosophical concept to its struggle for acceptance in Europe, its rise and transcendence in the West, and its ever-present threat to modern physics.”
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, by Edwin A. Abbott: “This masterpiece of science (and mathematical) fiction is a delightfully unique and highly entertaining satire that has charmed readers for more than 100 years.”
Who Am I? And If So How Many? A Journey Through Your Mind, by Richard David Precht: “Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, history, and even pop culture, Richard David Precht deftly elucidates the questions at the heart of human What is truth? Does life have meaning? Why should I be good? And presents them in concise, witty, and engaging prose.”
Freedom Evolves, by Daniel C. Dennett: “Can there be freedom and free will in a deterministic world?”
The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence, by Paul Davies: “In this provocative book Davies refocuses the search, challenging existing ideas of what form an alien intelligence might take, how it might try to communicate with us, and how we should respond if it does.”
Probability Theory: The Logic of Science, by E. T. Jaynes: “The standard rules of probability can be interpreted as uniquely valid principles in logic. In this book, E. T. Jaynes dispels the imaginary distinction between ‘probability theory’ and ‘statistical inference’, leaving a logical unity and simplicity, which provides greater technical power and flexibility in applications.”
How to Prove It: A Structured Approach, by Daniel J. Velleman: “This bestselling text’s […] helps students transition from solving problems to proving theorems by teaching them the techniques needed to read and write proofs.”
An Introduction to Functional Programming Through Lambda Calculus, by Greg Michaelson: “This well-respected text offers an accessible introduction to functional programming concepts and techniques for students of mathematics and computer science.”
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell: “Animation videos explaining things with optimistic nihilism since 12,013.”
3Blue1Brown: “Videos here cover a variety of topics in math, or adjacent fields like physics and CS, all with an emphasis on visualizing the core ideas.”
Cool Worlds: “Space, astronomy, exoplanets, astroengineering and the search for extraterrestrial life & intelligence. The Cool Worlds Lab, based at the Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, is a team of astronomers seeking to discover and understand alien worlds, particularly those where temperatures are cool enough for life, led by Professor David Kipping.”
PBS Eons: “Join hosts Kallie Moore, Michelle Barboza-Ramirez, Gabriel Santos, and Blake de Pastino as they take you on a journey through the history of life on Earth.”
Numberphile: “Videos about numbers and mathematics. Videos by Brady Haran since 2011.”
Computerphile: “Videos all about computers and computer stuff. Sister channel of Numberphile.”
Philosophy Tube: “I’m giving away a philosophy degree for free!”
Crash Course Philosophy: “Hank hosts Crash Course Philosophy, produced in association with PBS Digital Studios.”
Hygiène Mentale (in French): “Zététique , Scepticisme, Étude scientifique des phénomènes dites ‘paranormaux’.”
Canal do Pirulla (in Portuguese): “Canal voltado às coisas que mais me interessam: ciência, religião e evolução. Este canal faz parte da iniciativa Science Vlogs Brasil, um selo de qualidade colaborativo que reúne os divulgadores de ciência mais confiáveis do Youtube Brasil.”
Wait but why: “We want you to think it’s a real website and when you forward the link to someone we don’t want you to say, “Check out this guy’s blog” cause then it seems like it’s just this guy writing and it’s just a blog. We want you to say, “Check out this site” cause then we seem like a bigger deal and it seems like a legit thing. Okay?”
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: “The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy organizes scholars from around the world in philosophy and related disciplines to create and maintain an up-to-date reference work.”
LessWrong: “LessWrong is an online forum and community dedicated to improving human reasoning and decision-making. We seek to hold true beliefs and to be effective at accomplishing our goals. Each day, we aim to be less wrong about the world than the day before.”
Your logical fallacies: “Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies.” (Don’t forget to check their free-to-download awesome posters!)
Project Euler: “Project Euler is a series of challenging mathematical/computer programming problems that will require more than just mathematical insights to solve. Although mathematics will help you arrive at elegant and efficient methods, the use of a computer and programming skills will be required to solve most problems.”
The alignment problem: “How to steer AI systems towards humans’ intended goals, preferences, or ethical principles?” (Spoiler: it’s much harder than it looks, and if we get it wrong on the first try, humankind could be doomed. No, seriously!)
The Fermi paradox: “The discrepancy between the lack of conclusive evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life and the apparently high likelihood of its existence”.
(A fascinating book on this topic is The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence, by Paul Davies, listed in the section on Books on the popularization of CS, Math, Logics, and Science just above.)
The problem of free will: “What does it mean to have—or not have—free will? Were the actions of mass murderers pre-determined billions of years ago? Do brain processes trump personal responsibility? Can experiments prove that free will is an illusion?”
(Ok, it’s probably a bit pretentious of me to have this list under the “cool stuff” label, but I couldn’t find any better place for it. Please be forgiving…)
Quando criptografia não garante segurança (When cryptography is not enough to ensure security), Summer School in Computer Science, DCC-UFMG.
Uma abordagem Bayesiana sobre o método científico e a navalha de Occam (A Bayesian interpretation of the scientific method and of Occam’s razor), Summer School in Computer Science, DCC-UFMG.
O que é “teoria” em ciência da computação? (What’s “theory” in computer science?), Introduction to Computer Science, Computational Mathematics, Data Science, and Information Systems.