Science Books
recommended by scientists and science writers
Last updated: November 19, 2024
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1
The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places
by Bernie Krause -
2
Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World
by Nina Kraus -
3
The Musical Human: A History of Life on Earth
by Michael Spitzer -
4
Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuhn As Told by a Friend
by Thomas Mann, translated by John E. Woods -
5
The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants
by Karen Bakker
The best books on Sound, recommended by Caspar Henderson
The best books on Sound, recommended by Caspar Henderson
Sound encodes incredible amounts of information—not only words, music, and other audible forms of communication, but complex spatial data too. Caspar Henderson, author of the ‘auraculous’ new essay collection The Book of Noises, selects five of the best books on sound, from the buzzing of bees to the ghostly whisper of the aurora.
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1
The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers
by Emily Levesque -
2
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
by James Nestor -
3
The End of Bias, A Beginning: The Science and Practice of Overcoming Unconscious Bias
by Jessica Nordell -
4
The Sleeping Beauties: And Other Stories of Mystery Illness
by Suzanne O'Sullivan -
5
Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth
by Stuart Ritchie -
6
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures
by Merlin Sheldrake
The Best Popular Science Books of 2021: The Royal Society Book Prize, recommended by Luke O'Neill
The Best Popular Science Books of 2021: The Royal Society Book Prize, recommended by Luke O'Neill
Every year the Royal Society, the world’s oldest independent scientific academy, awards a prize for the best new popular science book. Here, Luke O’Neill—Professor of Biochemistry at Trinity College, Dublin, and chair of the 2021 judging panel—discusses the latest shortlist: six new popular science books that are topical, accessible and infinitely interesting.
Books on the Deep Future, recommended by David Farrier
What trace of our lives will we leave, and what stories might they tell about us? In Footprints, David Farrier explores how our generation will be remembered in the traces it leaves behind in myths, stories… and the fossil record. Here he talks to Caspar Henderson about books to help reflect on ‘the deep future.’
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1
Micrographia: The Complete Facsimile of the First Printing of 1665
by Robert Hooke -
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Stonehenge Decoded
by Gerald S Hawkins -
3
A Brief History of Time
by Stephen Hawking -
4
The Double Helix
by James Watson -
5
The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms with Observations on their Habits
by Charles Darwin
The best books on Popular Science, recommended by Adam Hart-Davis
The best books on Popular Science, recommended by Adam Hart-Davis
Adam Hart-Davis says clear simple writing is the key to an accessible science book. Selects the five books he believes offer the best introduction to Popular Science. Includes works from Darwin, Watson and Hawking
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1
The Moon: A History for the Future
by Oliver Morton -
2
The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter
by Paul J. Steinhardt -
3
The Snow Leopard Project: And Other Adventures in Warzone Conservation
by Alex Dehgan -
4
The Gendered Brain
by Gina Rippon -
5
Waters of the World
by Sarah Dry
The Best Science Books of 2019, recommended by Barbara Kiser
The Best Science Books of 2019, recommended by Barbara Kiser
It’s been another fabulous year for science books that make important scientific developments accessible to a general audience. Barbara Kiser, Books & Arts Editor at Nature, talks us through her favourite science books of 2019.
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1
Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art
by Rebecca Wragg Sykes -
2
Evolution's Bite: A Story of Teeth, Diet, and Human Origins
by Peter Ungar -
3
Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live
by Marlene Zuk -
4
Tales Teeth Tell: Development, Evolution, Behavior
by Tanya M. Smith -
5
Our Human Story
by Chris Stringer & Louise Humphrey
The best books on Anthropology, recommended by Brenna Hassett
The best books on Anthropology, recommended by Brenna Hassett
New techniques have uncovered an enormous amount of information about how humans evolved and new human species continue to pop up on a regular basis. Biological anthropologist Brenna Hassett, author of Growing Up Human, recommends books to learn more about our ancestors and how we became the human beings we are today.
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1
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
by Caroline Criado Perez -
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Six Impossible Things: The ‘Quanta of Solace’ and the Mysteries of the Subatomic World
by John Gribbin -
3
The Remarkable Life of the Skin
by Monty Lyman -
4
Clearing the Air: The Beginning and End of Air Pollution
by Tim Smedley -
5
The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter
by Paul J. Steinhardt -
6
Infinite Powers: The Story of Calculus
by Steven Strogatz
The Royal Society Science Book Prize: the 2019 shortlist, recommended by Nigel Shadbolt
The Royal Society Science Book Prize: the 2019 shortlist, recommended by Nigel Shadbolt
“Science is a profoundly human endeavour. The stories of triumph and success in science, alongside the failures and despair, are compelling.” From a data-driven account of air pollution to a book that makes calculus fun, 2019 has been a great year for science books. Nigel Shadbolt, chair of judges, discusses the six books shortlisted for the 2019 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize.
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The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data
by David Spiegelhalter -
2
Do Dice Play God?: The Mathematics of Uncertainty
by Ian Stewart -
3
Humble Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors
by Matt Parker -
4
Infinite Powers: The Story of Calculus
by Steven Strogatz -
5
The Creativity Code: Art and Innovation in the Age of AI
by Marcus du Sautoy
The Best Math Books of 2019, recommended by Kit Yates
The Best Math Books of 2019, recommended by Kit Yates
As math becomes increasingly important in our daily lives, eminent mathematicians and statisticians have stepped up to the plate, writing books that are engaging for non-experts—and sometimes even funny. Kit Yates, a mathematical biologist and author of The Math of Life and Death, recommends the best math books of 2019.
The best books on Time, recommended by Carlo Rovelli
Our experience of time is only weakly related to the fundamental realities of physics, says the physicist and best-selling author Carlo Rovelli. Here he selects five works for understanding the nature of time in its truer sense.
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Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton
by Richard S. Westfall -
2
A Portrait of Isaac Newton
by Frank E. Manuel -
3
Newton and the Origins of Civilization
by Jed Z. Buchwald & Mordechai Feingold -
4
Priest of Nature: The Religious Worlds of Isaac Newton
by Rob Iliffe -
5
Isaac Newton and Natural Philosophy
by Niccolò Guicciardini
The best books on Isaac Newton, recommended by William Newman
The best books on Isaac Newton, recommended by William Newman
John Maynard Keynes famously cast Isaac Newton not as the first scientist of the age of reason, but the last of the magicians. How should we interpret the million words he wrote, in secret, on alchemy? What should we make of Newton’s heretical religious views? William Newman talks us through the best books for a better understanding of the complex man who was one of the greatest physicists of all time.