Book Detective

The Jasons are a well-guarded group of world-class scientists, briefly outed in the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War, who have been meeting every summer since 1960 to tackle classified problems that the Defense Department cannot solve. Among many stunning innovations, they helped invent our electronic battlefield and Star Wars missile defense technology, and are now looking into ways to improve our intelligence gathering. Recounting the unknown story of these brilliant, stubbornly independent thinkers, Ann Finkbeiner takes advantage of her unprecedented access to this elite group to explore the uncertain bargains between science and politics. It is a story older than Faust and as timely as tomorrow's headlines.

The Pinball Effect by James Burke

Origin Story by David Christian

Science by John Gribbin

The Invention of Science by David Wootton

A Really Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Great Feuds in Science by Hal Hellman

The Scientists by John Gribbin

Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery by Isaac Asimov

The Clockwork Universe by Edward Dolnick

The Day the Universe Changed by James Burke

The House of Wisdom by Jim Al-Khalili

On Giants' Shoulders by Melvyn Bragg

Napoleon's Buttons by Penny Le Couteur

The Knowledge Web by James Burke

Inflight Science by Brian Clegg

And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

Dopesick by Beth Macy

Chernobyl by S. M. Plokhy

Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes