Robert Hooke

“This book is an oldie but goldie. It was the first scientific bestseller, as near as I can tell. There’s a quote from Samuel Pepys—who was an original fellow of the Royal Society—that he stayed up until two ‘o’ clock in the morning reading Hooke’s book. Incredibly, the book is still in print. There are, I believe, 54 illustrations in it. It was the first book that really showed the public what the world they could not see with their naked eye looked like. It was really amazing…the illustrations in the book were done by Hooke himself and are breathtaking for their incredible accuracy, even today.” Read more...

The best books on Microbes

Paul Falkowski, Biologist