From Eros to Gaia - Freeman Dyson (Pantheon 1992)

A brief not to mention that there was an earlier collection of non-technical papers from Freeman Dyson.  The section in this one are Stories, Things, Institution, Politics, Books, and People.  For me the higlight articles are Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere and the Biosphere, To Teach or Not to Teach, and Death of a Project.  If you like Birds and Frogs you will like this and vice-versa.

The Life and legacy of G.I. Taylor - George Batchelor (1996)

Published by Cambridge University Press in 1996 - the story of the long and productive life of Geoffrey Ingram Taylor.  One of the greatest minds of the twentieth century - he was an active and productive researcher for more than 60 years.  apart from Taylor series, if you come across some mathematics or a physical principle with the name Taylor on it, GI is probably the Taylor in question. Taylor was the grandson of George Boole.  On testament to his talent is that Taylor was able to accurately measure the yield of the early atomic tests by dropping some scraps of paper and observing them.  Likely the authority on blast waves in the late 1940s.  His contributions range from gravity waves in the atmosphere, to turbulence, to electrohydrodynamics.  Read the book to learn about this highly original mind - and then, if you are able to understand them, read his collected papers (in 4 volumes) - many of his ideas are still waiting to be followed up.

Night of the New Moon - Laurens van der Post (1970)

Published by the Hogarth Press in 1970 and clearly not a book on mathematics or science.  I read this soon after it was published so I would have been 14 or 15.  The book influences the way that I think down to the present day.  Laurens van der Post is a renowned author who wrote many books on Africa (and I have read them all as I am an explorer at heart.)  In this book the author details how he was a guest on an un-named talk show.  The earlier guest was a survivor of Hiroshima and he detailed what a tragedy it had been for Japan.  van der Post agrees that it was a tragedy, but as a POW for three-and-a-half years in Java, the use of the atom bomb was his salvation.  He and his fellow prisoners were at a low ebb and would not have lasted much longer.  You should read it - it was also sold as The Prisoner and the Bomb.  The book was written after the TV appearance - he talked of his experiences rather than his planned talk about Africa.

It continues to influence me because it taught me to find out all sides to a story before coming to a conclusion.  I won't retell the story, but I will note that it is the probable source for many stories of prisoner of war camp stories that appeared after it was written.  It is not the source for Bridge over the River Kwai - that was a 1952 book by Pierre Boule and was a work of fiction.  Looking at some of the shared elements, it seems reasonable that Boule talked to van der Post or some of his contemporaries.

Dreams of Earth and Sky - Freeman Dyson (2015)

Freeman Dyson's other new book.  This one is a collection of his columns and reviews for the New York Review of Books. The book contains 21 separate columns on everything from Feynmann to Biotech to global warming.  Dyson has an interesting take on global warming.  Again, a great overview of the way a public intellectual should contribute.  I read this one from beginning to end too, but most will probably want to jump around.  I reread Dyson's books with some regularity.

Birds and Frogs Selected Papers, 1990-2014 - Freeman J. Dyson

Freeman Dyson has long been my favorite physicist.  He is also my favorite polymath and one of the all-time best science writers.  This just published (2015) collection of papers includes talks about science, memoirs, articles on politics and history, and some technical papers.  Included is the famous paper which introduces the classification of mathematicians into frogs and birds.  Indeed Dyson was described as the Frog Prince of Physics in Salon in 1999.  Include is an homage to George Green - and there is a technical article on partitions and the grand partition function - so Green Functions and partition functions in the same work - those who know me that this alone would likely cause me to add the book to my collection!  This isn't a book that you would sit down and read from cover to cover (at least after the first time.)  This is a great chance to read a variety of works by one of the greatest problem solvers who has ever lived. - Dyson is not a Nobel Prize winner, but if he wasn't going to get one for his seminal work in quantum field theory, he should have won for his work in adaptive optics.  The paper on the origins of life should be read by every scientist - if you like it you should read Dyson's book Origins of Life, the second edition of which appeared in 1999.  I'll write a review of this book at some point in the future.

So, in summary, a worthy addition to anyone's personal library - and a must read if you want to see what a first-rate public scientist does.