Best Science Books - Non-Fiction Only (693 books)

Best Science Books - Non-Fiction Only

Popular or even technical science books that you thought were really well done.

Note: Please keep it to actual science - no politics or nutrition, unless the focus is very definitely on science. No science fiction, politics, history, or self help. Any book that doesn't meet the criteria will be removed.

all votes add books to this list

1	A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson 4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 avg rating — 83,728 ratings score: 25,243, and 253 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking 4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 67,235 ratings score: 19,718, and 201 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
3	Cosmos by Carl Sagan 4.35 of 5 stars 4.35 avg rating — 26,424 ratings score: 18,395, and 188 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author) 4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 31,846 ratings score: 15,600, and 157 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
5	Green Illusions by Ozzie Zehner (Goodreads Author) 4.54 of 5 stars 4.54 avg rating — 326 ratings score: 13,512, and 143 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
6	Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond 3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 95,851 ratings score: 12,116, and 122 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan 4.31 of 5 stars 4.31 avg rating — 18,876 ratings score: 11,857, and 122 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
8	The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin 3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 avg rating — 27,844 ratings score: 8,960, and 93 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
9	The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory by Brian Greene 4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 avg rating — 27,249 ratings score: 8,747, and 89 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author) 3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 avg rating — 74,381 ratings score: 8,688, and 85 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
11	Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! by Richard P. Feynman 4.32 of 5 stars 4.32 avg rating — 34,149 ratings score: 7,955, and 83 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter 4.3 of 5 stars 4.30 avg rating — 16,137 ratings score: 7,648, and 78 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
13	The Hot Zone by Richard Preston 4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 avg rating — 33,756 ratings score: 6,469, and 66 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt 3.83 of 5 stars 3.83 avg rating — 275,496 ratings score: 6,467, and 67 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
15	The Invention of Religion by Alexander Drake 4.31 of 5 stars 4.31 avg rating — 170 ratings score: 6,271, and 60 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Goodreads Author) 4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 avg rating — 146,606 ratings score: 6,200, and 65 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
17	The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution by Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author) 4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 avg rating — 8,207 ratings score: 6,023, and 60 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author) 4.19 of 5 stars 4.19 avg rating — 16,188 ratings score: 5,902, and 62 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
19	Chaos: The Making of a New Science by James Gleick 3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 avg rating — 11,010 ratings score: 5,625, and 59 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean 3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 avg rating — 9,977 ratings score: 5,523, and 57 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
21	The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author) 4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 avg rating — 11,740 ratings score: 5,480, and 56 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22	Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of his Time by Dava Sobel 3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 18,415 ratings score: 5,259, and 55 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
23	The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Richard P. Feynman 4.58 of 5 stars 4.58 avg rating — 2,307 ratings score: 5,256, and 54 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters by Matt Ridley 4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 7,842 ratings score: 5,223, and 54 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
25	Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence by Carl Sagan 4.17 of 5 stars 4.17 avg rating — 5,979 ratings score: 5,215, and 54 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics By Its Most Brilliant Teacher by Richard P. Feynman 4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 5,356 ratings score: 5,201, and 54 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
27	Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell 4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 146,797 ratings score: 5,111, and 53 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
28	The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene 4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 10,955 ratings score: 5,094, and 53 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
29	Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan 4.33 of 5 stars 4.33 avg rating — 7,917 ratings score: 5,091, and 52 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
30	Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (Goodreads Author) 4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 avg rating — 57,829 ratings score: 5,038, and 51 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
31	The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking 4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 avg rating — 11,506 ratings score: 5,032, and 51 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
32	Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin (Goodreads Author) 3.95 of 5 stars 3.95 avg rating — 5,699 ratings score: 4,994, and 48 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
33	The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks (Goodreads Author) 4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 avg rating — 44,467 ratings score: 4,991, and 52 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
34	Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond 3.9 of 5 stars 3.90 avg rating — 27,800 ratings score: 4,963, and 50 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
35	The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher by Lewis Thomas 4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 2,986 ratings score: 4,939, and 51 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
36	The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language by Steven Pinker 4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 avg rating — 6,812 ratings score: 4,937, and 50 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
37	Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem by Simon Singh 4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 7,711 ratings score: 4,935, and 49 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
38	How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker 4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 avg rating — 6,698 ratings score: 4,912, and 49 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
39	The World Without Us by Alan Weisman 3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 avg rating — 15,858 ratings score: 4,872, and 47 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
40	Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams 4.3 of 5 stars 4.30 avg rating — 8,393 ratings score: 4,807, and 50 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
41	Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell 3.8 of 5 stars 3.80 avg rating — 146,828 ratings score: 4,758, and 50 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
42	Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould 4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 avg rating — 3,331 ratings score: 4,752, and 48 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
43	Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the Tenth Dimension by Michio Kaku 4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 6,142 ratings score: 4,693, and 48 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
44	The Double Helix by James D. Watson 3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 avg rating — 5,908 ratings score: 4,529, and 48 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
45	The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance by Laurie Garrett 4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 avg rating — 3,934 ratings score: 4,496, and 44 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
46	The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S. Kuhn 3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 6,774 ratings score: 4,474, and 46 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
47	The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra 3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 6,626 ratings score: 4,461, and 45 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
48	The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John M. Barry 3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 7,558 ratings score: 4,446, and 45 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
49	The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski 4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 avg rating — 1,781 ratings score: 4,226, and 44 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
50	The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes 4.29 of 5 stars 4.29 avg rating — 5,831 ratings score: 4,009, and 40 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
51	The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker 4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 avg rating — 7,256 ratings score: 3,980, and 42 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
52	The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson 3.92 of 5 stars 3.92 avg rating — 11,541 ratings score: 3,932, and 41 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
53	Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson 4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 avg rating — 6,116 ratings score: 3,848, and 38 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
54	QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by Richard P. Feynman 4.21 of 5 stars 4.21 avg rating — 4,197 ratings score: 3,704, and 39 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
55	The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow 3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 6,055 ratings score: 3,608, and 39 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
56	The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution & Future of the Human Animal by Jared Diamond 4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 7,273 ratings score: 3,432, and 37 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
57	Bad Science by Ben Goldacre 4.11 of 5 stars 4.11 avg rating — 9,067 ratings score: 3,347, and 34 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
58	The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson 3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 avg rating — 1,778 ratings score: 3,297, and 32 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
59	Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea by Charles Seife 3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 avg rating — 3,477 ratings score: 2,908, and 29 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
60	Relativity: The Special and the General Theory by Albert Einstein 4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 avg rating — 4,794 ratings score: 2,879, and 31 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
61	Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End... by Philip C. Plait 4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 1,667 ratings score: 2,801, and 30 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
62	Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould 4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 1,187 ratings score: 2,661, and 27 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
63	An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It by Al Gore 3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 avg rating — 3,737 ratings score: 2,658, and 29 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
64	The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking 3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 16,049 ratings score: 2,636, and 30 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
65	The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan 4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 23,132 ratings score: 2,234, and 23 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
66	The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould 4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 avg rating — 3,539 ratings score: 2,206, and 24 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
67	The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology by Robert Wright 4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 avg rating — 3,204 ratings score: 2,199, and 21 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
68	Silent Spring by Rachel Carson 3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 13,339 ratings score: 2,180, and 24 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
69	The New Way Things Work by David Macaulay 4.25 of 5 stars 4.25 avg rating — 427 ratings score: 2,102, and 22 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
70	The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh 4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 avg rating — 6,153 ratings score: 1,876, and 20 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
71	Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson 4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 724 ratings score: 1,770, and 18 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
72	The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman 4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 4,540 ratings score: 1,764, and 19 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
73	Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder by Richard Dawkins (Goodreads Author) 4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 3,309 ratings score: 1,759, and 19 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
74	The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould 4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 2,454 ratings score: 1,740, and 19 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
75	What Do You Care What Other People Think? by Richard P. Feynman 4.3 of 5 stars 4.30 avg rating — 7,117 ratings score: 1,662, and 18 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
76	Man and His Symbols by C.G. Jung 4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 7,325 ratings score: 1,639, and 19 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
77	Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love by Dava Sobel 3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 avg rating — 11,083 ratings score: 1,608, and 14 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
78	How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff 3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 1,341 ratings score: 1,599, and 16 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
79	Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe by Simon Singh 4.14 of 5 stars 4.14 avg rating — 4,244 ratings score: 1,587, and 17 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
80	The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God by Carl Sagan 4.34 of 5 stars 4.34 avg rating — 3,364 ratings score: 1,530, and 15 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
81	Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier 4.17 of 5 stars 4.17 avg rating — 2,353 ratings score: 1,507, and 14 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
82	The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner 4.17 of 5 stars 4.17 avg rating — 2,757 ratings score: 1,473, and 15 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
83	A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing by Lawrence M. Krauss 3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 avg rating — 4,501 ratings score: 1,428, and 16 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
84	The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee 4.24 of 5 stars 4.24 avg rating — 17,090 ratings score: 1,427, and 14 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
85	Why Evolution Is True by Jerry A. Coyne 4.19 of 5 stars 4.19 avg rating — 4,938 ratings score: 1,410, and 12 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
86	Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely 4.03 of 5 stars 4.03 avg rating — 22,686 ratings score: 1,389, and 15 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
87	Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman 4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 avg rating — 21,528 ratings score: 1,330, and 14 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
88	Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku 4.07 of 5 stars 4.07 avg rating — 8,393 ratings score: 1,308, and 14 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
89	The Diversity of Life by Edward O. Wilson 4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 avg rating — 1,776 ratings score: 1,280, and 15 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
90	Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott 3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 avg rating — 17,357 ratings score: 1,248, and 14 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
91	Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science by Carl Sagan 4.01 of 5 stars 4.01 avg rating — 3,747 ratings score: 1,237, and 13 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
92	Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics by Gary Zukav 3.97 of 5 stars 3.97 avg rating — 4,649 ratings score: 1,220, and 12 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
93	The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos by Brian Greene 4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 3,929 ratings score: 1,147, and 13 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
94	Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin 3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 2,181 ratings score: 1,140, and 10 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
95	The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell 3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 avg rating — 227,208 ratings score: 1,058, and 12 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
96	A Sand County Almanac: With Other Essays on Conservation from Round River by Aldo Leopold 4.2 of 5 stars 4.20 avg rating — 9,363 ratings score: 1,018, and 7 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
97	SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt 3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 avg rating — 38,483 ratings score: 1,017, and 6 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
98	Black Holes & Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy by Kip S. Thorne 4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 avg rating — 1,899 ratings score: 1,015, and 10 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
99	The Illustrated A Brief History of Time and The Universe in a Nutshell by Stephen Hawking 4.27 of 5 stars 4.27 avg rating — 3,119 ratings score: 999, and 11 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
100	Coming of Age in the Milky Way by Timothy Ferris (Goodreads Author) 4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 avg rating — 1,058 ratings score: 977, and 10 people voted	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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693 books · 1,351 voters · list created August 22nd, 2008 by Cindy (votes) .

Tags: best, non-fiction, popular, science

192 likes · like

Lists are re-scored approximately every 500 seconds.

People Who Voted On This List (1351)

Cindy
6015 books
96 friends

Eli
4 books
2 friends

Alleyprowler
32 books
4 friends

Matthew
69 books
12 friends

Tara
825 books
197 friends

Aaron
15 books
2 friends

Jill
1489 books
79 friends

Greg
279 books
7 friends

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Comments (showing 1-27 of 27) (27 new)

date

newest »

message 1: by Keely (new)

Mar 15, 2009 10:33pm

I adore Sophie's World, but it's a philosophy book rather than a science book.

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message 2: by Cindy (new)

Jul 09, 2010 08:15pm

Brave New Woprld is science fiction, not science.

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message 3: by Phoenixfalls (new)

Aug 20, 2010 09:49am

There are four Isaac Asimov novels on this list: The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, Robots and Dawn, and Robots and Empire; please, can they be removed?

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message 4: by Xenophon (new)

Sep 04, 2010 09:41am

Phoenixfalls wrote: "There are four Isaac Asimov novels on this list: The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, Robots and Dawn, and Robots and Empire; please, can they be removed?"

Done.

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message 5: by Themis-Athena (last edited Feb 15, 2011 09:57am) (new)

Feb 15, 2011 09:56am

"Longitude"? "Sophie's World" (again)? "Galileo's Daughter"?

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message 6: by Lesli (new)

Feb 24, 2012 12:38pm

Disappearing Spoon is in position 43 and 203.

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message 7: by Themis-Athena (new)

Feb 24, 2012 01:06pm

Fixed -- there were several duplicates, in fact. I've combined them.

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message 8: by Cindy (new)

Feb 24, 2012 05:40pm

Thanks!

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message 9: by Dreeanna (new)

Mar 15, 2012 06:45pm

Cindy wrote: "Brave New Woprld is science fiction, not science."

Agreed. Although, soma is now an actual drug and we do embrace an American society based on alphas and betas so it may have crossed the line into reality.

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message 10: by Themis-Athena (new)

Mar 16, 2012 02:22am

I assume someone already removed Brave New World? I just went through the list and I could no longer find it.

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message 11: by Hayes (last edited Mar 16, 2012 04:13am) (new)

Mar 16, 2012 04:09am

What about Sophie's World (Re-again, or again again... or something.) It's philosophy really, which I suppose is a science, but...

and I voted for Levi's The Periodic Table, but that's not really science either (despite the title), although there are some scientific elements.

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message 12: by Themis-Athena (new)

Mar 16, 2012 04:25am

Well -- Sophie's World has a chapter about Aristotle, who wrote about (natural) science as well, and who believed that reality, or the natural world, is actually just a mirror of our conceptions of it (or something along those lines, I'm sure I'm badly misstating it). But that's really more a six degrees of separation thing for purposes of this list, as far as I'm concerned ...

Cindy?

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message 13: by Cindy (new)

Mar 16, 2012 10:16am

If the main concern is science, a biography of a scientist, or the history and development of a science, then it fits. If those are briefly mentioned, but the main thrust of the book is something else, then it doesn't fit. I haven't read Sophie's World or The Periodic Table, so I can't really decide on that.

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message 14: by Themis-Athena (last edited Aug 02, 2012 03:01am) (new)

Mar 16, 2012 02:16pm

Oh, there's no doubt that the main concern of Sophie's Choice is philosophy. Like I said: more of a six degrees of separation kind of thing as far as science is concerned, insofar as it deals with philosophers who also wrote about science (like Aristotle for example) and had a world view generated from both disciplines!

ETA: Removed.

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message 15: by Grace (new)

Aug 01, 2012 05:43pm

Did anyone else here notice that almost ALL of the authors here are men? This is an important trend to note. Males are much more likely to practice science and to publish popular books about science. So one may say science is a male-dominated field. This is a useful thing to notice, so that we can work to make the field of science less male-dominated and more equal for everyone :)

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message 16: by Themis-Athena (new)

Aug 02, 2012 03:00am

Grace wrote: "Did anyone else here notice that almost ALL of the authors here are men? This is an important trend to note. Males are much more likely to practice science and to publish popular books about science..."

That was an issue when I went to school already (several decades ago) -- and even then people were saying it's not a new issue; in fact, anything but. Seems we're not making a lot of progress there, are we? (And no, I'm not a scientist, either, alas ...)

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message 17: by Oni (new)

Sep 13, 2012 09:23pm

This is the best list I have ever found on goodreads. The other list on goodreads are mostly just jumble of books who people like or dislike, and some are even misclassified.
Thank you for bringing up this list.

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message 18: by Ravi (new)

Oct 07, 2012 12:09pm

Why Freakonomics? Is the Definition of Science broad to include applied economics.Same applies to the Sequel and Dan Ariely's works.

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message 19: by Celeste (new)

Jan 05, 2013 02:03am

This is a great list! Thanks for creating this :)

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message 20: by Ankita (new)

Jan 09, 2013 12:25pm

every day on earth..................a fact of 24 hours

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message 21: by Susanna (last edited Jan 14, 2013 10:41am) (new)

Jan 14, 2013 10:27am

Why is The Secret Magdalene on here? It appears to be historical fiction.

ETA: Or, for that matter, The Zombie Room, which would appear to be a thriller about zombies.

Or Squire, by Tamora Pierce, a YA fantasy novel?

The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho?

Mickey Mouses Picnic?!?!?!

Eternal Darkness, Blood King, a vampire novel?

Leaving Paradise, a YA romance?

Evil Star, a YA fantasy thriller?

Goodbye to All That, by Robert Graves, which is a memoir, mostly about the First World War.

The Mists of Avalon, a King Arthur novel???

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message 22: by Rebecca (new)

Jan 14, 2013 02:19pm

There are quite a few novels here:

The Mists of Avalon
Tigana
A Conspiracy of Paper
The Road
The Egyptian

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message 23: by Cindy (new)

Jan 14, 2013 02:42pm

Looks like we have a bunch of new voters who totally don't get it. I can remove the books, but can't remove the votes.

(naming names, there's Joyce, Denver, who else?)

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message 24: by Rebecca (new)

Jan 14, 2013 02:50pm

Anne McCaffrey, JK Rowling, Ray Bradbury, Cassandra Clare, John Steinbeck.

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message 25: by Cindy (new)

Jan 14, 2013 03:47pm

OK, I just spent over an hour getting all those fiction books off of the list. Also, no politics, no religion. The Constitution is a great document, but it is NOT science. There are other lists for things like that. No popular nutrition books.

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message 26: by Cindy (new)

Jan 14, 2013 03:48pm

I'll be back tomorrow to clean up the rest.

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message 27: by Cindy (new)

Jan 15, 2013 12:01pm

There, I think I got it all. I'm not 100% sure that architecture counts as a science, but I left those in for now. Also not sure about the mathematics books. Math is closely related to science, but not the same thing. Plus there are other lists for math books. Again, I left them in for now.

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