Best Science Books 2011: Boing Boing Gift Guide 2011

Another list for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure.

Every year for the last bunch of years I've been linking to and posting about all the "year's best sciencey books" lists that appear in various media outlets and shining a bit of light on the best of the year.

All the previous 2011 lists are here.

This post includes the following: Boing Boing Gift Guide 2011.

• The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson
• The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You by Eli Pariser
• Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army & Other Diabolical Insects by Amy Stewart
• Biopunk: DIY Scientists Hack the Software of Life by Marcus Wohlson
• Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal
• Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer
• Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid by Wendy Williams
• Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology by Alexis Madrigal
• The Compass of Pleasure: How Our Brains Make Fatty Foods, Orgasm, Exercise, Marijuana, Generosity, Vodka, Learning, and Gambling Feel So Good by David J. Linden
• The Open Laboratory 2010 By Bora Zivkovic, Jason Goldman
• The Physics Book: From the Big Bang to Quantum Resurrection, 250 Milestones in the History of Physics by Clifford A. Pickover
• The Beekeeper's Lament: How One Man and Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America by Hannah Nordhaus
• Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us by Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman
• The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick
• Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling by Kembrew McLeod and Peter DiCola
• Context: Further Selected Essays on Productivity, Creativity, Parenting, and Politics in the 21st Century by Cory Doctorow

I'm always looking for recommendations and notifications of book lists as they appear in various media outlets. If you see one that I haven't covered, please let me know at jdupuis at yorku dot ca or in the comments.

I am picking up a lot of lists from Largehearted Boy.

The summary post for 2010 books is here and all the posts for 2010 can be found here. For 2009, it's here and here.

For my purposes, I define science books pretty broadly to include science, engineering, computing, history & philosophy of science & technology, environment, social aspects of science and even business books about technology trends or technology innovation. Deciding what is and isn't a science book is squishy at best, especially at the margins, but in the end I pick books that seem broadly about science and technology rather than something else completely. Lists of business, history or nature books are among the tricky ones.

And if you wish to support my humble list-making efforts, run on over to Amazon, take a look at Steve Jobs and consider picking that one up or something else from the lists.