In our new science books section, we keep track of some of the books coming out by Five Books interviewees and frequently recommended authors. It's a golden age for science and science books are following suit, exploring all manner of subjects in an engaging and accessible style for a broad audience. We also are fortunate that the UK's national science academy, the Royal Society (which was founded in 1660 and so still has a wonderfully 17th-century official name: "The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge") has two annual book awards, one for adults and one for kids. We try to have the judges take us through the shortlists every year, to ensure those books are also included.
(We also have a separate section dedicated to new math books and new physics books).
The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos
by Jaime Green
Science journalist Jaime Green tells the history of our quest for intelligent life in the universe, exploring the complex science and the science fiction that helps us picture what we might find—and what that might means for humanity.
Worlds Without End: Exoplanets, Habitability, and the Future of Humanity
Worlds Without End by Chris Impey, a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona, is an accessible and highly readable introduction to exoplanets and the possibility of finding other life in the universe. We're taken through the discovery of exoplanets, the telescopes and technology used, the arguments for life beyond Earth and where science is at in terms of finding it. If you're new to the subject, it's a fun way to learn a lot.
“It’s a good primer. It’s not that short a book, actually, but it’s written in a very nice, concise way…Joshua Winn is part of the TESS team and it’s always interesting to hear about a subject from someone in the field who is at the top of their game. The book is also organized extremely well. He just leads you through the subject in what seems like a logical, sensible way.” Read more...
Chris Impey, Scientist
Radical by Nature: The Revolutionary Life of Alfred Russel Wallace
by James Costa
Radical by Nature is a biography of Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), the English naturalist who came up with the idea of 'transmutation' (now called evolution) at the same time as Charles Darwin, pushing the latter to publish On the Origin of Species in 1859. It's by James Costa, a Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Western Carolina University, who describes Wallace as "one of the great Victorian naturalist explorers." At 416 pages, this is a serious biography that examines Wallace's life and voyages of scientific discovery, his relationship with Darwin, his work on social causes and his spiritual turn which was so at odds with his scientific reputation.
Remnants of Ancient Life: The New Science of Old Fossils
by Dale E. Greenwalt
Remnants of Ancient Life: The New Science of Old Fossils is a really interesting look at advances in paleobiology by Dale Greenwalt, a paleobiologist who curates the fossil insect collection at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. While traditional paleobiology had to rely on the study of bones and teeth, paleobiologists can now use ancient molecules to study DNA, protein, pigments, and other organic materials. The shadow of Jurassic Park lurks behind this book: it opens with a description of the discovery of the fossil of a blood-engorged mosquito, a stunning 46 million years old.
Virtual You: How Building Your Digital Twin Will Revolutionize Medicine and Change Your Life
by Peter Coveney & Roger Highfield
Virtual You is by Peter Coveney, Director of the Centre for Computational Science at University College London and Roger Highfield, a science communicator and director at the Science Museum Group. In trying to figure out where we're at in terms of making digital copies of our individual human bodies (a big help as we go into an age of more personalized medicine), we also find out an awful lot about those bodies.
A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars
by Les Johnson
A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars is a nonfiction book about interstellar travel by Les Johnson, who works on propulsion technologies at NASA, though not currently on interstellar travel, which remains well beyond the realms of today's technologies. As he points out, "the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is about 4.2 light years away." Still, who knows what the future will bring? As he also notes, until the early 1990s the only planets we knew were those going around the sun. It's a nice account of where we are and what the future could hold, though there's no need to pack your bags yet.
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time and Motion
by Sean Carroll
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe by Sean Carroll is a book with a brilliant premise: that it is possible to write a popular science book that introduces the general reader to the "real stuff" of physics—in other words, equations. The book starts with the equation for momentum (p=mv) and goes all the way to general relativity (Rμν − ½Rgμν = 8πGTμν). It's a bold endeavour, and we can't yet confirm whether it's successful at taking the beginner-in-physics reader the whole way. However, it's nicely mixed with titbits from the history of physics—for example, that it was Ibn Sina (Avicenna), the Persian polymath, who first proposed the key idea that in the vacuum of empty space, with no air resistance, a moving body would keep moving forever.
Anaximander and the Nature of Science
by Carlo Rovelli
Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist who is brilliant at explaining his field in short books. Anaximander is about a philosopher who lived 26 centuries ago in Miletus, a Greek city on the coast of what is now Turkey. He was the first person to understand that the Earth is just floating in space, and doesn't need to be supported by anything. Anaximander also figured out where rain comes from. "I think it's my best book because it's about what I think science is," Rovelli said at an event at the annual Oxford Literary Festival on 20 January, 2023.
How the Universe Got Its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space
by Janna Levin
***A new edition of How the Universe Got Its Spots by Americal theoretical cosmologist Janna Levin***
“There’s not another book out there like it. It is truly unique. I read it when I was a postdoc. I read a lot of popular science, but I read this book and thought, ‘this is an entirely different genre of science writing!’ It’s very personal. She interweaves stories about her science and her science research from a first-person perspective with stuff going on in her personal life— her troubles with her relationship or when she feels depressed or lonely. That’s all in the book. You understand more what it is like to be a human being doing science from this book than anything I’ve ever read. I still think it’s profound. I occasionally go back and reread a chapter of it, also just to be inspired as a writer.” Read more...
The Best Books on the Big Bang
Dan Hooper, Physicist
“The reason that we thought this book was special was that some of these concepts would be really tough to understand without the book. For example, electromagnetic waves, or how sound is propagated; he gets you to learn some basic physics of how these things work. I think that’s important. It’s a challenging topic, because the physics can be sort of abstract, but he brings in examples of animals that can do all these tasks. It’s also funny and personal.” Read more...
The Best Literary Science Writing: The 2023 PEN/E.O. Wilson Book Award
David Hu, Scientist
“It challenges our assumptions…It’s really nice to read an account of scientific endeavor which tells you that across cultures and places, things were going on that gave insight into the world. For example, there’s the astronomer, Ulugh Beg, who five centuries ago calculated the length of the solar year to within 25 seconds of accuracy to what we’ve got today. That single episode encapsulates what this book is about. It encourages us to stop imagining that we are somehow at the center of the universe of progress and development and to recognize that there are other cultures out there who have been way ahead of the game and who we’ve learned from…The book is very accessible…I really appreciate a scientist helping me to understand scientific developments in a way that absolutely resonates and unpeels the complexities of our world. It’s a very significant book.” Read more...
The British Academy Book Prize: 2022 Shortlist
Philippe Sands, Lawyer
“Existential Physics is by Sabine Hossenfelder, a German theoretical physicist and physics popularizer, and is her take on some of the big questions. The book was not easy for me—I had to reread parts—but I loved the opening lines, based on a young man’s question to her. He asked: ‘A shaman told me that my grandmother is still alive. Because of quantum mechanics. She is just not alive here and now. Is this right?’ And Hossenfelder’s response, addressed to the reader: ‘As you can tell, I am still thinking about this. The brief answer is, it’s not totally wrong.'” Read more...
Nonfiction of 2022: Fall Roundup
Sophie Roell, Journalist
“In Atoms and Ashes, Ukrainian historian Serhii Plokhy, author of a brilliant book on Chernobyl, looks at six nuclear disasters around the world—starting with the testing of a hydrogen bomb in Bikini Atoll in 1954 and ending with Fukushima—to see what lessons can be learned from them. As citizens, the pros and cons of nuclear power is something we have a duty to think about, and this book is a gripping way in.” Read more...
Notable Nonfiction of Spring 2022
Sophie Roell, Journalist
Supernova
by Or Graur
In his book Supernova Or Graur, Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics at the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth, introduces his field. Graur does research on Type Ia supernovae but has also spent a lot of time doing public education and outreach, including working with high school students. The book is interesting, informative and very clear. It makes you want to go out and look at the night sky.
“Humans do science, that that means it’s flawed, you know? Maybe they over-hype their findings, sometimes they are biased in their analysis or data collection. He gives several well-known examples—Andrew Wakefield’s MMR paper, or Paolo Macchiarini’s work on transplantation. He reaffirms what science should be about—nullius in verba, take nobody’s word. Which is in fact the Royal Society’s motto. He comes up with ways to limit the damage to science, which makes it quite an important book because you want to ensure science is done to the highest possible standard.” Read more...
The Best Popular Science Books of 2021: The Royal Society Book Prize
Luke O'Neill, Scientist
“This is a bit like a detective story. O’Sullvan is a neurologist, who specialises in epilepsy. Some of the patients she would see have these strange seizures, that’s how she got into it, I suppose. In the book, she goes around the world to explore these examples of young women who have gone, suddenly, into comas, and cannot be raised. Or they’ve developed epilepsy suddenly. She goes to Sweden, upstate New York, Kazakhstan, and then characterises them all. It’s a good clinical account of our most unusual situations—which aren’t as uncommon as you might think.” Read more...
The Best Popular Science Books of 2021: The Royal Society Book Prize
Luke O'Neill, Scientist
“Imagine a whole book about breathing! But there was a necessity, I think. Nestor is a journalist; he goes into everything you need to know about breathing. We learn that no matter what you eat, no matter how you exercise, how wise you are—none of it really matters if you’re not breathing properly.” Read more...
The Best Popular Science Books of 2021: The Royal Society Book Prize
Luke O'Neill, Scientist
“It’s by a female astronomer in a very male-dominated science, historically. She describes her own career, and how she navigated that world. She gives a really good account of the telescopes in Chile and Hawaii—all the challenges, all the things that broke down, bad weather, all sorts—and goes into detail on the great discoveries astronomers have made. Towards the end, she talks about the future of astronomy: now you can do it all remotely, just download data from the telescope. She makes a compelling case of how the science will change because of this.” Read more...
The Best Popular Science Books of 2021: The Royal Society Book Prize
Luke O'Neill, Scientist
Lady Sapiens: Breaking Stereotypes About Prehistoric Women
by Eric Pincas, Jennifer Kerner & Thomas Cirotteau
Lady Sapiens is a nonfiction book, translated from French, that offers a great introduction to what we know about women who lived during the Upper Paleolithic period (40,000 to 10,000 years ago). The authors report on what the latest science says about our human ancestors in a clear, no-nonsense way and you learn a lot from reading it. The book is also very nicely illustrated.
Vaxxers: The Inside Story of the Oxford AstraZeneca Vaccine and the Race Against the Virus
by Catherine Green & Sarah Gilbert
Vaxxers is a book by two scientists at the University of Oxford who, with their team, developed the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19. Professor Catherine Green heads the Nuffield Department of Medicine's Clinical Biomanufacturing Facility and Sarah Gilbert is Professor of Vaccinology. Behind the impressive titles and incredible achievement, it's the story of two scientists working flat out and what it was like on a day-to-day basis—scientifically, practically and emotionally.
The title is telling: this is a book written with anti-vaxxers in mind, outlining what it is that vaxxers do, or did in the case of this particular vaccine. The writing of the book was prompted by a campsite encounter Green had with an anti-vaxxer, who had told her, "I'm not saying there is definitely a conspiracy...but I do worry that we don't know what they put in these vaccines: mercury and other toxic chemicals. I don't trust them. They don't tell the truth." Green had to tell her, "I am 'them': and, appropriately, at the end of the book all the ingredients of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine are listed.
I am a book. I am a portal to the universe.
by Stefanie Posavec & Miriam Quick (illustrator)
***Winner of the 2021 Royal Society Young People’s Books Prize***
“My very favourite of the books. In fact, I liked it so much that I bought fifteen copies and I’ve been giving them out to everyone…. I wasn’t the only one who loved this book. I think everyone was intrigued by it, because it’s so interactive. It’s a true and very creative art and science fusion.” Read more...
Best Science Books for Children: the 2021 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize
Katharine Cashman, Scientist
The Next 500 Years: Engineering Life to Reach New Worlds
by Christopher Mason
Have you ever worried about what will happen 4.7 billion years from now, when the Earth is so close to the Sun that we won't be able to live on it anymore? Or trillions of years from now, when the universe will most likely come to an end? Many of us haven't, but Chris Mason, a geneticist who runs a lab at Weill Cornell Medicine and focuses on the effects living in space has on the body, has. A lot. You can already imagine the blockbuster movie: the hero who saves humanity because he worried about things no one else did. In this book, The Next 500 Years, Mason lays out his plan for leaving our solar system, including the genetic engineering required so our bodies are better adapted to space and the possible transport options for getting there.
We also spoke to Chris about the best space travel science fiction, some of it more science than fiction.
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
by Walter Isaacson
The Code Breaker is the story of Jennifer Doudna, who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her development of the CRISPR technology that allows gene editing. It is also the story of genes and gene editing and women in science. Walter Isaacson is a veteran biographer. He writes in highly readable prose that is particularly welcome when it comes to writing about science, when the concepts can be difficult. He also writes it like a pacy story, where you want to know what happens next. It is little surprise that on coming out, The Code Breaker went straight to the top of the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list.
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
by Merlin Sheldrake
***Winner 2021 Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation***
***Winner The Royal Society Science Book 2021***
“This is an outstanding science book, actually. And again: who would imagine you’d enjoy a doorstopper of a book about fungi? He goes through everything you need to know about fungi: he talks about truffles, about psychedelic mushrooms, about yeast and alcohol, penicillin. He even makes the case that life wouldn’t have to moved onto land without fungi.I thought that was fascinating. So, again, great science and really well written.” Read more...
The Best Popular Science Books of 2021: The Royal Society Book Prize
Luke O'Neill, Scientist
Life's Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive
by Carl Zimmer
Just as many of us are still struggling with the question of the meaning of life, the brilliant popular science writer Carl Zimmer—whose books have been frequently recommended on Five Books—takes the question a step further back and asks what life actually is. This promises to be a fun read on a really important question, not least because the virus wreaking havoc across the planet at the moment is very lively and yet...not alive.
Viruses: A Very Short Introduction
by Dorothy H. Crawford
OK, OK, this book isn't strictly speaking new–it came out in 2018. However, the outbreak of a global pandemic featuring Covid-19 has meant we all need to know more about viruses, and Dorothy Crawford's introduction is excellent. She also spoke to us about the best books on viruses, and you'll find out a lot just by reading the interview (no need to buy/borrow any books).
Bedeviled: A Shadow History of Demons in Science
by Jimena Canales
When reading key works in the history of science—that story of how we turned from believing that everything that happens around us is the work of gods and supernatural forces to understanding bacteria, gravity etc—historian of science Jimena Canales noticed how often 'demons' made an appearance. Bedeviled is her exploration of—and reflections on—that contradiction, starting in the 17th century with René Descartes. This is not a book for beginners, but if you're interested in the history of science and how scientific discoveries are made, it's a really fascinating paradox that she explores.
Nuclear Choices for the Twenty-First Century: A Citizen's Guide
Richard Wolfson and Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress
Nuclear Choices for the Twenty-First Century: A Citizen's Guide is a must-read book if you're interested in anything nuclear. Many people watched the Netflix series about Chernobyl and, for many of us, it was the first time we really started to understand how a nuclear power plant works. This book is a chance to get better educated not just about nuclear power, but every aspect of nuclear, from the basic physics to nuclear weapons and medical technologies. It tries to take a disinterested approach, presenting the pros and cons, so we can each make a decision we're comfortable with about the role of nuclear technology in our societies.
The Human Cosmos
by Jo Marchant
In The Human Cosmos award-winning science writer Jo Marchant tells the history of our relationship with the stars, from our cave-dwelling ancestors to a NASA astronaut walking in space, observing the "velvet bottomless bucket of the universe stretching on forever". The stars have inspired and awed humans throughout history but nowadays not so much, which is a pity.
Quantum Reality: The Quest for the Real Meaning of Quantum Mechanics
by Jim Baggott
Science writer Jim Baggott has devoted his working life to making quantum physics accessible to the rest of us. As he mentions in the preamble, he has been called 'depressingly sane'. He is a strong advocate for a bigger role for philosophy in science, as we reach the limits of what our minds can get our heads around and wild speculation has taken the place of empirical evidence. In this book, he explores the relationship between quantum physics and reality.
A Series of Fortunate Events: Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You
by Sean B Carroll
Sean B Carroll is both a serious biologist and a gifted science communicator, and his books have been recommended several times on Five Books. A Series of Fortunate Events is a an informal, chatty book about the role chance has played in our lives, from the giant asteroid that hit the Yucatan 66 million years ago, to why we get cancer later in life. It's very informative and a lot of fun.
At The Edge of Time
by Dan Hooper
At The Edge of Time by astrophysicist Dan Hooper is a popular science book that explains, in lay person's terms, not only what we know out about the universe to date, but also what we don't know about it. "Right now, there’s a culmination of mysteries in cosmology that need to be told as a coherent story," he says in his Five Books interview on the Big Bang. "Maybe we’re in the 1904 of cosmology right now, and we're going to tear down everything we think we know to the ground and build something entirely new."
“This is a hugely chilling, but massively well-informed book. Obviously, a lot has been written already about climate change, but this should not put people off. The thing about Peter Stott is that it was he and his colleagues who were trying to persuade the world and particularly the powers that be that not only was global warming happening, but it was human activity that was making it happen. At the beginning, the consensus was that, well, the sea temperatures are going up, the snow is melting, but this is just something happening to the universe, this is not anything to do with us…It is satisfying that, now, every sensible person in the world knows that Stott and his colleagues were right. So this is a story of persistence, resilience and bravery. I like to think of it as the power of science: that, in the end, the scientific evidence will win out. It might take a long time, but it does. And that, of course, is what the Royal Society is all about.” Read more...
The Best Popular Science Books of 2022: The Royal Society Book Prize
“I think this book will appeal to lots of people. Well, we’re an ageing society. And it’s not only that we are all ageing, but also the workforce is aging. There are not enough people to contribute to the economy, so people are soon going to have to work into their seventies and even eighties if we’re not going to become economically distressed.” Read more...
The Best Popular Science Books of 2022: The Royal Society Book Prize
A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Chapters
by Henry Gee
***Winner of the 2022 Royal Society Science Book Prize***
“I see this book almost as one long poem. The style might not be to everyone’s taste, but I think everybody would agree that it’s amazing. The use of language is breathtaking. You feel like you’re part of this extraordinary evolutionary process, both physical and biological. He stops it from just being drearily descriptive, and takes you on this wave of fantastic imagery—describing what was happening, so that you can see it.” Read more...
The Best Popular Science Books of 2022: The Royal Society Book Prize
“This is an a really impressive book – especially in the light of current gender debates and brings new and very well written scientific perspective to the debate, based on the behaviour of primates.” Read more...
The Best Popular Science Books of 2022: The Royal Society Book Prize
“The Greywacke is, if you like, a classic history of science book. And it’s really, really fun. Nick Davidson paints a picture of these three Victorian geologists, at a time when many scientists were gentlemen; wealthy men who didn’t need to earn a living. Many, I’m sure, were very bright and enquiring, and wanted to do something other than just… go hunting, or whatever it was rich men did. It was a sort of fashion in the 19th century to try to understand mountains and fossils.” Read more...
The Best Popular Science Books of 2022: The Royal Society Book Prize
Spike: The Virus vs. The People - the Inside Story
by Jeremy Farrar & with Anjana Ahuja
“The politics of science is one of those topics that tends to be dealt with in clichés, often self-serving clichés: truth versus lies, reason versus magic, etc. But this is an exceptional account of the politics of science which deals with the messy realities of scientific diplomacy and scientific politics. It’s a very rare, frank account by a scientist about the realities of science-state relations, of science-policy relations.
It’s concerned with Covid, with the World Health Organization, with China, and above all British politics and Covid. One of the things it exposes in relation to the UK is the systemic mediocrity of British government, with very, very rare exceptions which are celebrated. This mediocrity led, according to this book, to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths. It is a serious intervention in our understanding of the politics of Covid, as well the epidemiology, the science, the vaccines and so on.”
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1
The Greywacke: How a Priest, a Soldier and a School Teacher Uncovered 300 Million Years of History
by Nick Davidson -
2
Different: What Apes Can Teach Us About Gender
by Frans de Waal -
3
Spike: The Virus vs. The People - the Inside Story
by Jeremy Farrar & with Anjana Ahuja -
4
A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Chapters
by Henry Gee -
5
Age Proof: The New Science of Living a Longer and Healthier Life
by Rose Anne Kenny -
6
Hot Air: The Inside Story of the Battle Against Climate Change Denial
by Peter Stott
The Best Popular Science Books of 2022: The Royal Society Book Prize, recommended by Maria Fitzgerald
The Best Popular Science Books of 2022: The Royal Society Book Prize, recommended by Maria Fitzgerald
The renowned UCL neuroscientist Professor Maria Fitzgerald, chair of the 2022 Royal Society Book Prize, talks us through the judges’ selection of the best popular science books of the year—including a whistle-stop tour of the history of the Earth, a self-help book offering evidence-based advice on how to live a longer life, and a primatologist’s study of gender among apes.
