namin

Quantum Computing since Democritus

Dreams of My Father -- Barack Obama writes candidly and beautifully about his childhood and early adulthood; it's not a political book, and it's worth reading for the writing alone.

The Facebook Effect -- well-written insider's account of the history of Facebook and its ambitions.

The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris -- a zoological study of homo sapiens.

Vehicles by Valentino Braitenberg -- a study of theoretical robots whose behavior is interpreted as more and more biologically plausible.

I heartily recommend Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules, a varied collection of short stories selected by Sedaris.

Flesh & Machines -- a lightweight history of robotics and some wacky speculations by MIT's Rodney Brooks.

Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty: a chatty history of mathematics, and its perception.

Our Inner Ape by Frans der Waal.

The Language of Life: DNA and the Revolution of Personalized Medecine -- a well-backed account of what is or will be possible in medicine thanks to a better understanding of the genome and increase use of DNA sequencing for prevention, diagnostic, and treatment.

The Quantum Enigma -- an accessible digest of quantum mechanics and its philosophical consequences.

Perhaps The Santaland Diaries for something light but really amusing