Netsurfer Recommendations

Segway Human Transporter
Dean Kamen
Segway

You're bound to be the first on your block come March when Segway starts shipping their handy-dandy human transporters. No, not that kind of transporter, you Trekkie, you. These are the efficient, electric two-wheelers that had tech types agog a while back. Of course, our favorite image of it comes from the episode of Frasier in which Niles gets in touch with his cool side. In a sly marketing move, Segway is providing a hand-numbered collector's print for holiday giving, the perfect IOU to the object of your affection. Our commute is 70 miles of expressway driving, each way, so it's not for us. But, something this neat deserves to find a good home. At the very least, read the description and technical specs on Amazon's pages. It's worth the trip.

Backyard Ballistics
William Gurstelle
Chicago Review Pr; ISBN: 1556523750

Tennis ball mortars, potato cannons, match powered rockets and 10 other spectacularly entertaining projects that throw things. Frankly, this is a boys-of-all-ages book since there seems to be something genetic about the desire of males to shoot things off in all directions. What makes this book a good recommendation for Netsurfer Science is the fact that it explains the physics behind each project and profiles such scientists as Alfred Nobel, Isaac Newton, and Robert Goddard. Needless to say, there's also a strong emphasis on safety. No guy will think this is a bad gift for the holidays.

The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies
Richard Hamblyn
Farrar Straus & Giroux; ISBN: 0374177155

For a phenomenon so pervasive (and so often the refuge of small talkers), weather really didn't start to come into its own until the early 19th century. The birth of meteorology can be traced rather specifically to a single event in 1802, to a lecture in which Quaker chemist Luke Howard proposed to one of London many learned societies that cloud formations should have descriptive names. As was practice, he fell back on Latin vocabulary, offering the evocative cirrus, cumulus, and stratus, terms still in use. From that modest kernel, meteorology sprang. Hamblyn doesn't confine himself to meteorology, though. He reminds us that its roots rest in a time when scientific lectures were an entertainment, attended by writers eager to echo new science in their own works. Not surprisingly, artists too found ways to bring science to their work. Two hundred years later, we teach Howard's innovation in grade school and weather forecasting, significantly less romantic in this age, is critical in public works budgeting, disaster planning, travel safety, and the tiny decisions we all make about how to tackle our day.

Farscape: The Complete Season I
Producers: David Kemper, Brian Henson; Cast: Ben Browder, Claudia Black.
ASIN B00006G8ES

Look, we don't want to get into a dust-up with Babylon 5 fans, so we'll just say that Farscape, the anti-Star-Trek, anti-Star-Wars, anti-antiseptic space adventure, ranks among the best science fiction ever produced for any visual medium. Marked by audacious stories, cunning writing, fiendish humor, difficult characters, and an incendiary love story, it's currently the subject of a viewer campaign to reverse Sci Fi channel's surprise decision to cancel the series that made Sci Fi's identity and reputation as a viable alternative network. Season I spends about two-thirds of its episodes setting the scene and beginning character development - then, with the introduction of the charming, sympathetically dastardly Scorpius - begins the complex, thoroughly compelling series arc that takes viewers on the kinds of completely unexpected journeys that are possible only in science fiction. If the full season isn't your cup of Raslak, pick from among the smaller selections. We rank this series with the likes of The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And, dammit, we want it back, too, so don't forget to tune in to Sci Fi when Farscape returns in January with what we fervently hope won't be its final 11 episodes.

The Next Fifty Years: Science in the First Half of the Twenty-First Century
John Brockman (Editor)
Vintage Books; ISBN: 0375713425

Editor John Brockman is a well known literary agent specializing in representing science writers. He has assembled 25 notable scientists and science writers to speculate on what will happen in science over the next half century. The selection of writers is impressive, as is the broad range of topics they tackle. The book is divided into theory and practice with, for example, theoretical subjects addressing cosmology, the nature of consciousness, and extraterriestal intelligence. Topics such as DNA science, quantum computing, and interplanetary exploration are examples of the practical side of future research. Anyone with a broad interest in science over a wide selection of fields will find the book to be a fascinating preview of the next 50 years.

Fart Proudly
Benjamin Franklin
Enthea Press; ISBN: 089804801X

Ben Franklin, for all his high-mindedness, had a devilish sense of humor, displayed proudly in Fart Proudly. It's not one long treatise on the subject, but rather a collection of smartly satiric commentary on subjects like science, freedoms, and the press of the day. Rightly revered for his political acumen, he should also be appreciated as a forerunner to later American satirists like Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce.